By Manish Chand
IANS
New Delhi : Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for India's swift dispatch of naval aircraft amid a firefight at sea that sunk a vessel believed to be loaded with Tamil Tiger guerrillas and weapons.
Maldivian Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed told IANS over telephone from Male that his country sought help from New Delhi May 16 night after spotting a suspicious vessel near the Exclusive Economic Zone at sea.
The vessel turned out to be Sri Krishna, an Indian fishing trawler the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had seized off Tamil Nadu March 12 while detaining its dozen occupants.
"We asked the Indian government's assistance," the Maldivian minister said. "The Indian response was swift."
As the Indians provided aerial reconnaissance, Maldivian security forces engaged the occupants of Sri Krishna in a fierce gun battle that ended with the vessel getting sunk.
Four of its occupants were killed and five detained, including Simon Soza, who was one of the dozen Indian fishermen abducted by the LTTE in March.
Minister Shaheed said he was not sure if the dead and captured men were from the LTTE but added that investigations were on.
In a coincidence, within days of the incident, 11 of the dozen missing fishermen returned to Tamil Nadu and alleged that the Tamil Tigers had held them captive in northern Sri Lanka.
On May 18, Gayoom rang up Manmohan Singh and appreciated the Indian Navy's quick response to a request by the Maldivian government for aerial reconnaissance.
Manmohan Singh told Gayoom that it was the responsibility of India to help a friendly country like the Maldives – the Indian Ocean atoll nation known for its coral reefs and luxurious resorts.
"An investigation is underway. Krishna was doing about 8 or 9 knots, was believed to have been hijacked for over two months, and made no attempt to leave Maldivian waters even after it was spotted by local fishing boats," Shaheed said.
Interestingly, Huravee, the Maldives Coastguard ship that sank the trawler, was given to the Maldives by India when then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee visited Male last year.
In its earlier avatar, Huravee was called INS Tillanchang.
According to Shaeed, Simon Soza, who jumped from the trawler, told them that "Tamil-speaking persons" who hijacked Sri Krishna first threw out its fishing equipment and later brought in arms including AK-47s and RPG launchers.
Soza, who is from Kerala, said he was kept on board because he was the mechanic of the trawler.
Sri Lanka too is awaiting details from the Maldives about the incident. New Delhi is in touch with Male over the identity of the dead and arrested men.
Sri Krishna's crew of 12 included one man from Kerala and 11 from Tamil Nadu. The boat had been reported missing since March 12 from its last known position south east of Pamban island.
This is not the first time India has helped the Maldives. In November 1988, India sent troops to the Maldives to avert a coup by armed Tamil men belonging to another Sri Lankan group who were linked with anti-Gayoom politicians.