According to a senior journalist, the late LTTE political head, Mr. B Nadesan, consulted him over some messages Nadesan had been receiving from a US based former LTTE member that assurances had been given by the US State Department about evacuation of the LTTE cadres during the final stages of the war. The journalist, who cautioned Nadesan to be sceptical, says that he is prepared to give affidavit to any international investigation if the investigative body could arrange his safe appearance. The US based former LTTE member cited by Nadesan was known for claiming that he was associated with a ‘think tank’ of Prof. James Clad, who between 2007 and 2009 served as the US Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.
Jon Lee Anderson in a recent The New Yorker article, described Prof. Clad as a “great friend of Sri Lanka.”
On the night of May 16, Nadesan telephoned to a university professional in Norway, told him about what he had heard about an evacuation programme and asked him to verify whether any ship was coming for evacuation.
When the university professional in Norway contacted the Norwegian embassy in Colombo in the middle of the night Sri Lankan time, the Deputy Ambassador told him that she had not heard of any such arrangement. Yet the Deputy Ambassador contacted the Ambassador and the Ambassador in turn contacted Mr. Robert Blake, finally to get the verification that no such plan was there.
Informed sources in Colombo said that the US based former LTTE member cited by Nadesan has recently gone to India where he held discussions with Indian National Security sources about forming a political party.
Apart from the senior journalist, there are also other sources in Europe that have witnessed Nadesan receiving messages from the US based former LTTE member.
The senior journalist says that he had seen emails originating from the USA, before he passed his opinion to the LTTE Political Head.
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