Sri Lanka’s prime minister and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are “very active” and poses a “great threat to the national security of any country,” as he called on British authorities to ensure a ban was kept on the organisation after a ruling found that the decision was “flawed” and unlawful.
Despite claiming that the LTTE remained “very active,” Rajapaksa also said that Sri Lanka had “defeated the LTTE & put a stop to its brutal terrorist activities”. His tweet was referring to the military offensive that he oversaw as president in 2009, which led to tens of thousands of Tamil civilians being killed in mass atrocities.
Since the massacres at Mullivaikkal, which remain unaccounted for, there has been increasing miltiarisation of the Tamil North-East and continued reports of human rights abuses.
“Remnants of LTTE terrorism remain very active around the world & pose a great threat to the national security of any country,” Rajapaksa tweeted.“I hope the British Government will maintain the proscription on the LTTE.”
#SriLanka defeated the LTTE & put a stop to its brutal terrorist activities. But, remnants of LTTE terrorism remain very active around the world & pose a great threat to the national security of any country. I hope the British Government will maintain the proscription on the LTTE https://t.co/m1qje7LT1L
— Mahinda Rajapaksa (@PresRajapaksa) October 22, 2020
His comments come after a statement from Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry which said that though the government “could not make direct representations”, it had “assisted the Government of the United Kingdom by providing relevant information with regard to continued terrorist activities”.
It added it would “continue to closely monitor the progress of the case”.
The appeal on the LTTE proscription in the UK was put forward by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), an organisation who has been labelled an “LTTE front organisation” by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry.
The decision from Britain’s Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission this week however, paves the way for the organisation to possibly being legalised in the United Kingdom.
The ruling has sparked hope amongst campaigners, particularly from the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) who led the application to remove the LTTE from the UK’s list of proscribed organisations.
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