AP

KP in an undated LTTE handout.

AROUND 10 p.m. on August 6, mobile phones in Sri Lanka buzzed a text message that robbed the sleep of a number of concerned citizens and diplomatic and political observers of the situation in the island nation. It read, “A top LTTE official Kumaran Pathmanathan known as KP has been arrested - state media”. The news spread like wildfire and a sense of disbelief gripped Colombo.

There were valid reasons for scepticism. Several weeks before the end of Eelam War IV and the demise of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran on May 19, news emanated from a South-East Asian country that KP had been detained and was being questioned. Colombo confirmed the news but, to the disappointment of many in Sri Lanka, it proved to be false. To date, no one has any clue as to what transpired and speculation continues on the subject.

So around 11 p.m., when confirmation of not just the arrest of KP but also the news of his being flown to Colombo came from the highest quarters in the establishment, all those who had been on a high since the LTTE’s military decimation in May were overjoyed.

The website of the Presidential Secretariat ( http://www.priu.gov.lk/) said that “the self-appointed LTTE leader” had been arrested in a foreign country and that he was accused of smuggling arms and conspiring to assassinate VVIPs, including Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, in 1991.

The Government Information Department website ( www.news.lk) too carried a story on KP’s arrest on August 7. But none of the government agencies said where, when and how KP was picked up. A detailed report by D.B.S. Jeyaraj (The Hindu’s former Sri Lanka correspondent, now based in Toronto) posted on August 6 on his website (http://dbsjeyaraj.com) gives details of the dramatic circumstances leading to KP’s arrest.

It says: “Selvarasah Pathmanathan alias ‘KP’ a.k.a Kumaran Pathmanathan was seized in Malaysia on Wednesday August 5th and brought to Sri Lanka on Thursday August 6th…. Pathmanathan had met with two visitors from London, England at a hotel room in KL [Kuala Lumpur] in the afternoon of August 5th. He had received a call on his cellular phone. KP had then signalled to his visitors that he was going out to the corridor and walked away while conversing on the phone. He had not returned for a long time and when the worried visitors from Britain went out in search there was no sign of the new global tiger chief.

“Meanwhile the friend who had been talking to KP on the phone had heard a sudden thud and some noise while chatting. The phone went dead and repeated calls were not successful. The friend then alerted some assistants of KP in Malaysia who went in search of KP to the place where he was staying in KL. The place was empty but KP’s insulin and syringes and other medical stuff was still there. The visitors from London also got alarmed and contacted circles close to KP. Meanwhile KP was taken to Bangkok.

“Sri Lankan authorities were contacted and a team from the Police Terrorist Investigation Department flew to Bangkok in the early hours of August 6th. The team returned with KP on a special flight the same day. KP was handcuffed and had a mask covering his head and face when disembarking from the plane at Katunayake Airport.

“He was whisked away in a vehicle with tinted glasses to a high-security, secret location run by the terrorism investigation department personnel. KP is to be interrogated intensively by Sri Lankan anti-terrorist sleuths. It is widely believed that the arrest was made possible through ‘inside information’ supplied by some members of the LTTE abroad who were opposed to KP donning the leadership mantle after the demise of Prabakaran.

“KP known as Tharmalingam Shanmugam Kumaran in India was proclaimed as a wanted offender by that country through INTERPOL. India wanted INTERPOL to apprehend KP for interrogation regarding charges like criminal conspiracy, arms smuggling, violation of Indian terrorist act, breach of Indian Explosives Act and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

“Pathmanathan, a native of Myliddy in Jaffna, was born on April 6, 1955. He is an old student of Nadeswara College, Kankesanthurai, and Mahajana College, Thellippalai. Pathmanathan was also an undergraduate at the Jaffna University but did not complete his degree.” (“KP’s claim and challenge”; story on page 50.)

B. Muralidhar Reddy