The British government allowed former SAS officers to train the Sri Lankan army in the 1980s as it attempted to defeat Tamil insurgency groups, according to recently released government documents reported The Guardian yesterday.
According to the newspaper, a document revealed that days after the Amritsar Temple killing, the Indian Premier asked Margaret Thatcher to stop aiding the Sri Lankan military.
According to the newspaper, a document revealed that days after the Amritsar Temple killing, the Indian Premier asked Margaret Thatcher to stop aiding the Sri Lankan military.
"We hope that you will use your influence to persuade [Sri Lanka's] President Jayewardene to give a positive lead by making constructive suggestions at the All Parties Conference.The Guardian also wrote,
"Military aid and anti-insurgency assistance are not enough to overcome a political crisis which has to be faced and resolved."
'The new documents show that in September 1984 foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe's private secretary, Peter Ricketts, wrote to David Barclay, private secretary to prime minister Margaret Thatcher about a request to allow a British company with SAS connections to work in Sri Lanka.See full article here.
At the time the Sri Lankan government was trying to put down an insurgency by the Tamil Tigers and other groups in the north and east of the island.
Ricketts wrote: "The Sri Lankan government have engaged another British company [name removed] to provide training in counter-terrorist techniques … The presence of [the company's] employees, including some ex-SAS personnel, in Sri Lanka, has aroused controversy and the Indian government have expressed concern to us about the firm's involvement.
"We have made it clear that this is a purely commercial matter and that HMG are not involved." The firm was allowed to continue working in Sri Lanka.'