ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

The Rediff Special/Syed Firdaus Ashraf

'I thought I would be killed in the crossfire'

I requested the LTTE to let my crew and I leave the ship. They then contacted their ground base. I don't know who sent the message, but we were all told to abandon the ship.

After evacuating all of us, the Tigers took the crew, barring me, into the interior. I couldn't figure out why they detained me on the beach. They handed me a walkie-talkie, and interestingly it had a communication facility.

Again, on their instructions, I started sending false messages to the Sri Lankan navy -- not to bomb the ship since we all were still on board.

After some time, the navy called me and asked where the LTTE captured us, at what time, and what we proposed to do.

I was surprised by that question and said I could not do anything because I was under the LTTE's control.

So they told me either to abandon ship or proceed with sailing the ship. I was shocked by this answer and replied angrily, 'How can I do that since I am totally under their control? I cannot do anything, please try to save us.' And, I started sending SOS messages.

After sending those messages, there was no response from the navy.

Around 1500 hours we got a final message. 'Princess Kash, we are going to bomb the ship. Either abandon ship or proceed in the other direction.'

After half an hour, they blew up the ship without realising that we were on the ground.

I could see three jets flying over us at great speed. The planes then dropped bombs. At that time I was in a shed, and before I realised it, the LTTE literally carried me and sheltered me in a bunker.

I was cramped inside along with five LTTE guys. The Sri Lankan navy bombed the place so thoroughly that the shed where I was sitting earlier was reduced to ashes.

Then the LTTE guys started firing at the planes. This was literally a war-like situation with the jets and LTTE firing at each other. I think there were nearly 200 people along with women cadres on the beach. And all of them were firing at the planes.

After the jets flew back, they showed me my ship which had been bombed out of existence. I think nowhere in the world has a merchant navy ship been bombed so badly. It is sad because the Sri Lankan navy had loaded the ship, and both the LTTE and navy knew there was no weapons on the ship. Still, they bombed the Princess Kash.

I think the navy bombed the ship because they did not want any proof left behind about their communication failure.

They did not even realise that so many people's lives depended on that ship. My certificates and clothes, everything had been destroyed. I was left only with the clothes I was wearing.

After this the Tigers took me to the guesthouse where all my crew had been kept hostage. At noon the next day, they took me to the Red Cross office by bus. It is the safest place as nobody bombs it. They told us that the LTTE has released you. However, the four Sinhalese on board the ship were not released. The Tigers told me that their rules were different for the Sinhalese. I feel sad because till this day, the Sinhalese crew members are with the Tigers.

Staying with the Tigers, even for a day, was an experience. Though the LTTE is fully equipped in arms and ammunition, they do not have any electricity. During the night, they start the generators for some time; but in the day they use it only during an emergency.

The LTTE also gave us a lecture on their cause and why they wanted friendship with India. I don't know why they said what happened with Rajiv Gandhi was not good -- since the general belief is that the Tigers killed Gandhi. They told me that the then Lankan president Premdasa played dirty politics and therefore they killed him.

In their words, Premdasa use to say that let the LTTE and the Indian Peace Keeping Force fight with each other, we will be spectators. Since I was under their control I did not question them about their views on Rajiv Gandhi. My only concern was to be a free man along with my colleagues.

They told me to inform all Indians not to have ill-feelings about them. They also mentioned that Sri Lanka is buying weapons from enemy countries like China and Pakistan. They wanted me to tell the Indian government to be friends with them since they were our immediate neighbours, and share the same culture and god. 'You are a captain and I am sure the Indian people will believe your words,' they told me.

Interestingly, they did not even have a telephone connection. I pleaded with them that I wanted to call my wife and tell her I was all right. But they said there was no way to contact the outside world.

The place where we were was completely dark and the place is ravaged. We were there for two days and we had no problem with the Tigers. They showed us video films on how they captured the Sri Lankan army base, and bragged about all their achievements.

After reaching Colombo on the 17th, I immediately contacted my family who were in a state of shock after reading that my ship had been bombed.

Journalists who interviewed me in Sri Lanka took their government line that I was siding with the LTTE. I asked them, 'You tell me what was your navy doing for six hours before the LTTE captured me? Because for me to reach the LTTE base, would take some hours. So when they knew I was going there, why didn't they intercept me?'

I told them how ignorant the Sri Lankan navy was, since they do not know about the LTTE's equipment. They could have intercepted and sent me a message that I was not interacting with them but with the LTTE all through, but they didn't do that.

I feel the LTTE is a brilliant organisation, they had all the information about my ship. They knew that at Colombo, my ship was loaded at an army jetty.

They intercepted my ship because they thought I had loaded defence equipment onto it.

I feel the Sri Lankan government bombed the ship because they wanted nothing to go to the LTTE.

Till the time I was in the LTTE's camp I did not think I was a free man. Even when I was passing through the war zone, I thought anytime now I would be hit in the crossfire. It was only when I reached Madras airport that I thought I was a free man.

My only regret is I could not convince the LTTE to free my Sinhalese friends. I told them that we merchant navy people have no boundaries. For us whichever port we approach is our country and home. But they refused my request.

The Rediff Specials

Tell us what you think of this feature