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Colombo: arms deal behind attack on envoy

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Tuesday said Pakistan's envoy Bashir Wali Mohamad was targeted by the LTTE due to the robust defence co-operation between the two countries.

Pakistan's High Commissioner on Monday survived a claymore attack on his convoy in the heart of the capital. Four Army personnel in a back-up defence jeep were killed.

Policy Planning Minister and defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told a news conference here that the LTTE targeted the envoy because he arranged arms supplies to bolster Sri Lanka's war against Tamil Tigers.

"Pakistan — like our other neighbours — has been working closely with our defence authorities in the war against terrorism."

He said the beating LTTE got in the north and east could be the other reason. "The Tamil Tigers are desperate and want to divert attention for their losses in the north and east."

Mr. Rambukwella took exception to a report in a local newspaper on the supposed defence shopping list of Sri Lanka from Pakistan.

Pledges support

"The LTTE reads everything that is published and obviously they took note of what was said about the Pakistan arms deal," he argued. When a journalist told him that a section of the Indian press had carried the report before the Sri Lankan media did, he said "interested parties" might have given the news to those newspapers.

He did not rule out a wider plan to target the Pakistan envoy.

On Monday night, the envoy appeared on the state run Rupavahini television and pledged support for Sri Lanka's battle against terrorism. He has finished his tenure in Colombo and is scheduled to return to his country soon.

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