Sri Lanka plans to lift ‘terrorist’ ban on Tamil groups
Sri Lanka’s new government has announced plans to remove 16 groups and hundreds of Tamils from a list of “foreign terrorists” as part of reconciliation with its largest ethnic minority.
The country’s foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, said the previous administration of hardline president, Mahinda Rajapakse, had linked overseas Tamil outfits to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which was crushed by his forces by May 2009.
“They banned several Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora groups… for their alleged links to the LTTE,” Mr Samaraweera told parliament.
“This was done to build up the hysteria about the LTTE regrouping.” A further 424 individuals, some of whom had been dead for years, had also been listed as terrorists and banned.
Announcing a review with a view to lifting the banning and terrorist classifications, the foreign minister said the action was part of the reconciliation plan by the president, Maithripala Sirisena.
Official sources said the lifting should happen soon. “Reviewing this list of individuals and entities is an important exercise at this juncture when the government of president Sirisena is seriously committed to expedite the reconciliation process,” the minister said.
The former regime of Mr Rajapakse, who ruled for a decade until he was defeated in January elections, had said the ban was to prevent them from funding Tamil rebels to regroup in Sri Lanka.
The terror designation applied to several organisations in Australia, Britain, Canada and the US. Among the 16 groups was the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), which was banned in April last year, accused of financing terrorism. The ATC was formed in 2009 and has chapters in five Australian states. Mr Samaraweera said most of the groups, as well as the individuals, designated terrorist had merely been vocal proponents of Tamil rights. “There was hardly any tangible evidence to link them to the LTTE,” the minister said.
Sri Lanka’s main Tamil political party has accepted efforts of the new government to ensure reconciliation after 37 years of ethnic war that claimed more than 100,000 lives.
Security forces under Mr Rajapakse crushed the LTTE leadership in a military campaign that ended in 2009 but sparked allegations that up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were also killed.
(AFP)
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Looks like waving to another WAR…
Enjoy!
The problem with the likes of Samaraweera is gangster politicks and the only dravidians he knows of the high end whisky totting ones like his mentor Ranil. The darvids obviously knows the weaknes of the Sinhalese for booze. There was this story about of him being robbed by his kolla of a laptop and his price collection of booze and of all the places in Panaduara or was it Kalutara. Isaw it once posted in utube and it was a strange story. Having good connections in sri lanka is like having god on your side (courtsey Bob Dylan)
The electorate is more enlightened than they were a few years back still until they get thier teeth into it they will not bite their way out of poverty level. Even if they doo they need the leadership and anything emerging or a threat it is nipped in the bud.
Not all terrorists are terrorists just as much not all subscribe to Arabs subscribe to either alqueda or the ISIS ..boko haram but a handful ideologues modelled after characters like Prabhakaran could intimidate the immediate pupoulation. Fortunately for sri lankas the politicians are there to rob the population and Managal Samaraweera is no exceotion and then talk big!!! Chandrika knew how to deal with Mangala for when he threatened to strip she retorted that she would have his balls wrpped round his neck…Ha Ha