A former senior Sri Lankan naval officer has admitted that the Indian Navy directly assisted Colombo in destroying Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) vessels during the final phase of the Mullivaikkal genocide in 2009.
D. K. P. Dassanayake, who served as Commander of the Northern Naval Forward Defence Zone and as the Navy’s official media spokesperson, revealed in a recent social media interview that while the LTTE possessed 26 ships throughout the course of the conflict, “the destruction of these 12 vessels was carried out with the assistance of the Indian Navy.”
“The LTTE, from the onset of the thirty-year conflict until its final phase, owned 26 ships,” Dassanayake said. “These were destroyed in the course of the conflict by the Sri Lankan Navy. However, in the last stage of the war, 12 ships were eliminated. Those are the ones most remembered today.”
He went on to allege that LTTE members had attempted to repurpose other vessels after the armed conflict’s end to move people out of the island.
Dassanayake’s comments, however, underline India’s critical military role in Sri Lanka’s campaign to annihilate the Tamil resistance, an offensive that culminated in mass atrocities and the deaths of tens of thousands of Tamils in 2009.
India’s support for Sri Lanka’s military efforts has long been criticised by Tamil politicians and civil society, who have consistently warned that New Delhi’s collaboration helped enable Colombo’s genocidal offensive. Despite pledges of support for Tamil rights, successive Indian governments have prioritised security cooperation with Colombo, even as evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity mounted.
The revelation comes as New Delhi continues to deepen ties with Sri Lanka, providing financial assistance, infrastructure development and defence cooperation.
