The government under President Maithripala Sirisena is pro-separatist and is too lenient on Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran, according to the leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaiya, Udaya Gammanpila.

Mr Gammanpila, who is also a councillor in the Western Provincial Council, said the removal of the security forces form the North would be "a green light" for the return of the LTTE.

He said "the government's continuing silence has encouraged Wigneswaran to make such a demand in the North. In 1990 the Sri Lankan troops were withdrawn from the North, and the LTTE immediately occupied the area."

"Wigneswaran's demand to remove the military from the North was anticipated. There are some who are urging the international community to ensure the successive genocide of the Tamils. When Tamil National Alliance's Sivajilingam brought the resolution calling for an international probe into alleged human rights violations, it was Wigneswaran who cautioned him. Yet, Wigneswaran has the guts to make such a statement now. Our pro-separatist government cannot do anything about it. There is a secret agenda to tolerate them," he said.

The councillor, who broke away from the JHU and formed the PHU when the former allied itself to then-presidential candidate Sirisena, accused the new government of being lenient on Wigneswaran by not charging him with contempt of court for allegedly participated in a memorial for LTTE cadres.