The common opposition has accused President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government of colluding with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and pledged to recover the organisation's assets from abroad.
Jathika Hela Urumaya General Secretary Champika Ranawaka, a key member of the opposition coalition the New Democratic Front, said they would arrest and punish all remaining “LTTE terrorists” once they come into power.
Ranawaka said the government maintained links with former LTTE members Kumar Pathmanathan and others, and allowed the Global Tamil Forum and the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam to flourish.
"There are no LTTE members with us. The government has blood on their hands but not us. We will protect the war heroes. The Mahinda Chinthana manifesto is an empty document. We will not allow anyone to touch the unitary nature of the country,” he said.
The JHU leader said Rajapaksa used to have a “federalist mindset” and was willing to discuss a solution with LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
“In the 2005 Mahinda Chinthana manifesto, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said he would discuss a solution with Prabhakaran. He was of a federalist mentality and it was we who got him to a unitary viewpoint. We will not do anything harmful to national security. We will resettle the displaced and stop illegal land grabs. It is the government that is funding the LTTE activities and not the Diaspora, he remarked,” he added.
Ranawaka vowed that the opposition would take steps to recover the LTTE's assets in other countries, "including ships and money".
See our feature on Maithripala Sirisena: Who is Maithripala Sirisena?
We will not allow LTTE to rise aided by Tamil diaspora - Maithri (30 Dec 2014)
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