It started by Tamils killing Tamils, it ended as Tamils killing Tamils

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Michael Moore in his bitingly satirical book `Dude Where`s My Country?` refers to Osama bin Laden and asks Who`s his travel agent? Well, the same can be asked about Kumaran Tharmalingam alias Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP who was appointed head of `LTTE International` by Velupillai Prabakaran in January 2009. Michael Moore asks the question a bit late in the day and considering what has happened because it was not asked and answered at the proper time, I believe there is little time to dilly-dally with regard to this man. So I ask, Who`s KP`s travel agent? Since he is on Interpol`s most wanted list and still on the run with no sign of getting caught he obviously has the right contacts in high places. I offer that the USA`s Bruce Fein (who will tell any diabolical lie without batting an eyelid if paid by the hour) and UN`s Vijay Nambiar (who ducked into an airport toilet at Katunayake, Sri Lanka to answer KP`s call to rescue his beleaguered boss) could very well be two (of the several?) travel agents used by the man.

The word in the international street called Notoriety is that KP is planning to set up a `government in exile` not with any idea of continuing the struggle for so-called Tamil liberation of course (that`s a dead-end idea and he knows it) but to have absolute control over the huge empire the Tigers built during their heyday. KP knows that `Sri Lanka` is out as far as Eelam is concerned. He knows that India has run out of patience. But he knows that his `government in exile` requires two things: first he has to sell the myth of `genocide` and secondly, he needs some big names in his `government`, personalities that are not known to have engaged in or had links with drug trafficking, weapons and human smuggling, piracy, credit card fraud, arson, murder, extortion or other such crimes.

The UN being a notoriously corrupt organization at the bureaucratic level, it would come as no surprise if such a `government in exile` receives the blessings of those in the higher echelons of that international body, never mind the fact such a move is being mooted by notorious fronts for the LTTE such as Tamil Canadians, Tamil Eelam Society of Canada and organisations having links with other terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda. We should not be surprised if such a `government` would eventually include the names of those foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, arrogant and intellectually compromised individuals who are these days shouting from the rooftops about human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navaneetham Pillai has already got dressed down by the Indian and Algerian representatives for her complicity in KP`s project but the woman doesn`t seem to be taking a break from her rant. This can be explained by the possible acrimony on her part after being in no uncertain terms snubbed at the Special Session on Sri Lanka a few weeks ago. Perhaps KP, more than anyone else, understands this very human of weaknesses and is but continuing to play Pillai for a sucker, for we hear that the lady is tipped to be `president` of this `government in exile`.

But let`s get back to KP. Who is this man. Here`s the curriculum vitae, in brief.

Being arrested twice in India in the early 90`s once each in Thailand and once in Indonesia, KP has succeeded to escape partly due ignorance and partly due to the corruption of some of these countries. He was, like quite a few other `loyalists` who betrayed Prabakaran, implicitly trusted by both Prabakaran and Madivadini till the last.

KP`s actives stretch from the Zimbabwe to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. He has many useful contacts all over the world, and has managed the entire arms procurement network of the LTTE, named KP Department (also known as sea pigeons ), and subsequently parts of the operations of Aiyanna Group which looks after fund raising and international intelligence operations. KP succeeded in strengthening his relationship with various intelligence groups from Europe to Asia such as MI5 or SB (Malaysian Special Branch) in Thailand. Small wonder that he is the darling of David Miliband and the M15!

KP has been directly implicated in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination plot (he slipped out of India 5 days after the assassination). Indian intelligence the Indian Central intelligence Bureau (CBI) made sure he was a wanted terrorist in more than 22 countries. This was naturally a big problem for both the LTTE and of course for KP. According to CBI reports he was supposed to have stated that LTTE would be assassinating senior Indian leaders just before the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. According to confidential dossiers put together by the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) KP is one of the 20 top prime suspects named though not amongst the 41 accused in the plot by the Jain Commission. However he has avoided the Special Investigation Team (SIT) since the probe began. The SIT questioned KP`s brother Yogeswaran and Sivakumar his brother-in-law but these yielded no results.

Indian intelligence, following a lead around this time found that KP had been provided a sanctuary by the Norwegian government. Following the Red Corner Notice issued in his name, the India Govt. took up the issue with Oslo but in a communication they received in December 2003 Norwegian authorities claimed they had no knowledge of his whereabouts. In January 2004 Oslo denied all knowledge of KP`s visit to Oslo, and a grateful KP left for London. The CBI used all the possible diplomatic resources to trace KP`s assets and bank accounts in London through the Indian High Commission and his passports.

In 2000 Thai police sized a trawler near Ranong carrying Gustav rocket launchers. The incident was covered up by `higher authorities` in Thailand. This cargo clearly established the link KP had with anti-Yangon Karen guerrillas and the Arakan Liberation Party. This was followed by a series of arrests of LTTE operatives (including Thai nationals) in Ranong province in Thailand most of them got away scot free.

This pattern annoyed Thai Army Chief General Surayuh Chulanont that he complained that KP was using front companies in that country for arms purchasing and gun running operations. It was during this same period that the Norwegian Government gave released Lawrence Thilakar the LTTE Naval expert in Thailand on bail.

In 2002 when the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government and the Tigers was in force, the LTTE is reported to have drawn up a master plan with the Norwegians. KP was at the time one of the most wanted terrorist criminals in the Interpol list because of India the Norwegians and Anton Balasingham devised a plan to rectify this situation by slipping KP`s name into the list of delegates from the LTTE for the 1st round of peace talks. If the Norwegians and LTTE had succeeded KP would have been adequately `laundered`.

Unfortunately for KP and the LTTE, the then Government, led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, had to consult India on all moves, and India naturally objected.

KP and the LTTE then knew they had to draw up a bigger and long term laundering plan to bring him into the open and get him off the Red Notice of Interpol Headquarters in Lyons after persuading India of his innocence.

KP had heavily bribed Thai military officials. In 2002 when the LTTE delegation went for peace talks in Bangkok certain members of the Sri Lanka delegation were taken by a senior Thai military commander accompanied by soldiers to meet KP in the North Eastern jungles in Thai military vehicles. They had a lengthy discussion and in a tea boutique and discussed various operational issues of the LTTE. The Thai military provide a complete security blanket during this four hour meeting with KP. The `friendships` established then probably last to this day and may have had something to do with the way Prabhakaran`s last days were played out in the theatre of war in Mullaitivu.

With the election of the current president and commencement of Maviralu military operations KP`s luck began to change. He may have known what Prabhakaran did not know or did not wish to acknowledge that the LTTE could not fight a committed, adequately equipped Sri Lankan military offensive backed by a strong political leadership. He quickly switched to Plan B: he set in motion a process aimed at securing the leadership of the LTTE for himself. The KP Department started expanding the LTTE`s military arsenal. In the end, the LTTE had arms three times what the manpower could effectively use.

KP was arrested in Thailand on the 10th of September 2007. Around about the same time four of his ships (the infamous floating warehouses) were blown up by the Sri Lanka Navy in the high seas off Sri Lanka in their first ever blue water naval military operations by what was essentially a brown water navy. Both India and Sri Lanka made desperate attempts to get KP extradited, but KP prevailed thanks to heavy bribery.

There was plenty of drug money floating around in neighbouring Myanmar. Weapons that disappeared after the Cambodian and other wars in South East Asia were being smuggled by KP to other conflict zones in Afghanistan and African nations like Sierra Leone.

Prabhakaran was meanwhile under heavy pressure. Out of desperation he appointed KP as Head of International Relations with a mandate to engage the international actors. This was in January 2009. By this time KP knew it was only matter of time before the LTTE was completely destroyed. He knew that Prabakaran`s days were numbered. All he had to do to was to play the game in such manner that the Tamil Diaspora would not suspect his motives or actions.

A `rescue plan` was put in place accordingly. Intelligence sources believe that the LTTE paid up to US$ 70m to key...