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DEFENSE SECRETARY ADMITS THAT HE KNEW VSAT MILITARY COOMUNICATION EQUIPMENT WAS TO BE BROUGHT TO SRILANKA THROUGH NORWAY EMBASSY; BUT THEY WERE MISSING AT THE EXAM
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles Commenting on the latest controversy that that the terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has imported VSAT military satellite communication equipment with the radio transmitter the Ranil Wickremesinghe government and the Norwegian Embassy helped them to bring into the country Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary Austin Fernando said he knew there were preparations made to bring in such additional equipment into the country by the terrorist group but at the inspection they were found missing. During an interview with the BBC’s Sinhala service, Sandeshaya Austin Fernando admitted it was true there were preparations made to bring in such equipment in addition to the much publicized radio transmitter but at an examination he ordered by some “experts” such equipment was not found. Austin Fernando said, “They may have been removed before the inspection by the experts or after that.” VSAT military communications equipment or very small aperture terminal has been described as software driven earth station used for the transmission of data, video or voice via satellite. In the hands of the LTTE it would enable them to transmit voice, pictures or video films without any interception from Sri Lanka or abroad compromising the security of Sri Lanka and India. The Defense Secretary’s statements at the interview revealed that the examination of the equipment by the experts was not ordered by anybody at the ministerial level like the Minister of Defense or by the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. When asked by the interviewer whether anybody in the government ordered such an examination to be done Austin Fernando replied, “ I am part of the Sri Lanka government. When I heard such equipment was coming I appointed this committee of experts, on my own initiative, whom I thought having a technological knowledge about the equipment and requested them to examine since I do not have such expertise. I had to be satisfied with their report that the equipment (available for their examination) would not compromise our security.” The committee the Defense Secretary claimed to have appointed consisted of R. D. Somasiri, Advisor at Ministry of Mass Communications, Brigadier Y.S.A. de Silva, Director Signals of the Sri Lanka Army, Group Captain A. Gunawardena, Director Electronics and Telecommunications of the Air Force and Upali Arambawela, Additional Director General Rupavahini Corporation. In the list of equipment, submitted to the government for approval the Norwegian Embassy listed the $25,000 worth VSAT equipment. Ministry sources said mystery surrounds the disappearance of the vital equipment at the time of the examination by the “experts” appointed by the Defense Secretary. The “experts” specifically mentioned in the report that they did not see the VSAT equipment in the package they examined. The Sunday Times of Colombo said, “Officials are wondering whether it was cleared earlier or pilfered from the government.” According to the Sunday Times the report of the experts said, among them of the other equipment that the radio data system (RDS) equipment that has now been delivered to the LTTE is capable of sending data from point to multi-point and cannot be monitored without a special decoder. If the government was unable to obtain such equipment the security forces of Sri Lanka or India would not be able to intercept the LTTE military messages. According to the Sunday Times report the FM frequency allotted to the LTTE was broader than the frequency allotted to other licensed broadcasting stations. (EOM) (23/12/02 go2lanka.com) |