United States and its coalition partners have neither sought nor will it use any military facility in Sri Lanka in their campaign against global terrorism.

Pentagon officials in Washington are learnt to have set the record right after reports from Colombo that Trincomalee, one of the world's deepest natural harbours, has been offered as a re-fuelling facility.

The US Navy, a defence source pointed out, had the largest replenishment fleet in the world. During the East Timor crisis, their enormous capability was demonstrated when they carried out mid sea replenishment for British and other navies.

Soon after the September 11 attacks in the United States, Secretary of State, Colin Powel, wrote to several Governments, including Sri Lanka and neighbouring Maldives, seeking their support and co-operation to fight terrorism.

The Government offered US its 'unhesitating' willingness to extend all assistance. However, no specific request for any form of assistance, barring intelligence information, has reached the Government so far, according to an authoritative official source. 

bin Laden's buddy

The Central Intelli gence Agency had an important assignment for their counterparts in Sri Lanka a few days ago. They wanted to arrest a most wanted man said to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden, who was suspected to be heading for Sri Lanka.

Intelligence sleuths were there in their numbers at the Bandaranaike International Airport but the man, Haji Malik carrying a Pakistani passport did not arrive.

Instead news reached sleuths that the man had been arrested in Hong Kong. 

Pottu Amman in the east?

The warning by Special Branch, the Police intelligence arm, that Tiger guerrillas would attack to capture Jaffna town on or before September 26, did not materialize. For whatever reason, they did not carry out a major attack.

Now comes the Special Branch revelation that the LTTE's elusive intelligence boss, Pottu Amman, the man who among other things plotted the assassination of former Indian Premier, Rajiv Gandhi, is touring the east. The reason ? To boost the LTTE's recruitment drive.

Sleuths in other agencies, however, say Amman is very much somewhere in the Wanni jungles plotting fresh offensives.

Thank God

Like father, the son also joined those brave men in the artillery.

But the young man was wholly embarrassed when it came to the last rites of his late father.

The gun salute began with a loud bang. Instead of the customary 11 rounds for a Brigadier, the guns fired only seven rounds. There was a long pause thereafter. It turned out that the gun was stuck. As one wag remarked "thank God it did not happen in the battlefield !!!" 

Rajpal Abeynayake's Column

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