LTTE will soon give up, says KPS Gill

Meenakshi Iyer

New Delhi, July 26, 2006

Extolling the Sri Lankan government for its efforts to control the present crisis in the island nation, India's super cop and counter-terror expert, KPS Gill, says that the LTTE will soon give up its fight.

"With international pressure mounting and the European Union banning the group, the Tigers will soon have to bow down," Gill, who is credited with flushing out terrorism from Punjab, told HindustanTimes.Com.

"You cannot support terror in any part of the world and that has been realised globally," he said.

A surge in violence since the end of 2005 has inflamed the situation in Sri Lanka.

The government blames the rebels for mine attacks on its forces, attacks in the sea, and the killing of innocent civilians.

But the Tigers deny the charge and accuse the military of abuses against civilians.

Ever since the abortive suicide bomber attack on Army Chief Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka, killings by both sides have increased threatening to take beautiful Serendib back to war again.

Gill suggests strong action against terror.

"Terror has to be dealt with firmly. The war against terror has to be sustained and fought every minute of the day."

After the withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in March 1990, Gill was invited to Sri Lanka to advise the government on V V I P security. During his visit in 2000, the counter-terror expert met the then President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was very impressed with the top cop's anti-militancy work in Punjab.

On the constant allegation that the Sri Lankan security forces were committing excesses on civilians and killing them wantonly, Gill said: "It is one of the techniques of terror to spread such stories about the security forces. This is done to affect the opinion of the general masses and the LTTE did this very successfully."

In an earlier interview to HindustanTimes.com, Gill had stressed that the IPKF experience was not a sour one.

Had the peacekeepers stayed on for six more months, the situation would have returned to normal in Sri Lanka, he said.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times