Suggesting that the New Delhi's help should be cut off from the Tamil insurgents would be to acknowledge a separate Tamil Eelam, India said that it has ‘no problem’ with Indian assistance flowing through the Sri Lankan Government to LTTE areas soon after the 2004 Tsunami, a latest Wikileaks cable revealed.

Indian Ministry of External Affairs Director Taranjit Singh Sandhu explained, however, that New Delhi found ‘unacceptable’ the LTTE statement that aid should be given directly to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization.

The US cable also said in a January 2005 sent by then US Ambassador David Mulford in New Delhi said “the United States Government approach was similar, adding that we have conveyed the message that US relief could be channeled through others, but that no US military deployments or military relief projects would take place in Tiger controlled areas.”

The Cable also clarified the extent of the US military presence in Sri Lanka which has attracted considerable media attention in India, including suggestions that the GOI needs to check US intrusion in India's ‘backyard.’ Sandhu seemed surprised to learn that the widely reported figure of 1,500 US troops in the country was incorrect, and that the USG was going to refocus some military assets on Indonesia because India was doing a very good job of providing assistance to Sri Lanka. (Note: We have heard from others that the Indian Embassy in Colombo has been a source of some of these alarmist reports about US military plans for Sri Lanka.)

Sandhu responded that it was ‘wishful thinking’ on the part of the LTTE that a disaster relief turf war would drive a wedge between the US and India. Sandhu was also unaware that conversations between Washington and New Delhi had taken place through the core group before any US military movement into Sri Lanka.

Sandhu predicted that the tsunami could have long term political implications in Sri Lanka. What at one time seemed like critical issues in the conflict seem irrelevant in light of the much larger issue of surviving the disaster, he explained. Neither the GOSL or the Tigers are in any position to resume armed conflict, he observed, and they may be 'forced' to cooperate. If both sides see the current situation as an opportunity, he continued, that could be the 'silver lining' in this tragedy. He added, parenthetically, that Foreign Minister Natwar Singh had canceled his scheduled mid-January trip to Sri Lanka.
(The Hindu)