LTTE has obtained a stockpile of chemical weapons. According to sources close to Colonel Karuna, the breakaway LTTE faction in Eastern Sri Lanka, a foreign power has provided the LTTE with modern weapons and this includes a stockpile of nerve gas similar to the one used by the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein against the Kursish rebels. A 400 men strong LTTE special task force sent by the LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan to search and destroy cadres of the breakaway rebel group led by Colonel Karuna in Eastern Sri Lanka is equipped with modern weapons including the nerve gas.
Sources close to Colonel Karuna has confirmed that this special task force is in possession of chemical weapons with instructions from the LTTE leader to use these weapons only against Karuna cadres. This specific instruction was because the foreign power which provided these chemical weapons to the LTTE has reportedly obtained from the Sri Lankan rebels an assurance that they should not use these weapons against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.
How did the LTTE, the Sri Lankan terrorist organisation, get a stockpile of chemical weapons? Which country has provided the LTTE with these deadly weapons banned all over the world? These are disturbing questions asked in Colombo diplomatic and military circles in the backdrop of an impending announcement by the LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan during his Heroes' Day address later this month of his plans for declaring a separate Tamil homeland in North East Sri Lanka.
News that the LTTE is possessed of chemical weapons has reportedly alarmed the Sri Lankan Security Forces as LTTE is known to easily renege on promises. Further, LTTE has no compunction in using any weapons or methods against perceived enemies as demonstrated by its use of suicide bombers in past attacks. It may be recalled that the LTTE used crude a chemical weapon, the chlorine gas, when it attacked the Sri Lankan security forces in the early 1990s when they attacked the Sri Lankan Army Camp at Kiran in the Batticaloa district.
The risk of a chemical weapons attack on Sri Lankan Army bases in North East Sri Lanka in the event of an outbreak of another Eelam War is reportedly being urgently analysed by the Sri Lankan military establishment. Fears are heightened in the light of information that the LTTE has developed an air wing and is possessed of at least five small aircraft capable of launching suicide missions. It is learnt that Indian authorities have been alerted of this latest acquisition by LTTE.
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and their Destruction which came into force in 1993 has banned the production, use and stockpiling of chemical weapons. Given this worldwide ban, which country has provided the LTTE with the deadly nerve gas is a question that is seriously being investigated by the Sri Lankan military establishment and the Indian military authorities. There are suspicions that a West European country closely aligned with the LTTE and which espouses LTTE's causes may be the offender. This West European country, it is said, might have provided these chemical and other modern weapons to the LTTE via another East European country under a bi-lateral agreement with that country with special secret instructions for onward shipment to the Vanni based Sri Lankan terrorist organisation.
(http://www.voiceofeelam.com/?q=node/68)
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