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Sri Lankan minister warns against commemorating LTTE

A Sri Lankan government minister warned people from holding memorial events for cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as Sri Lanka prepares to commemorate 6 years since the end of the armed conflict this month.

“Anyone trying to commemorate the LTTE which was a terror group will not be approved by the government,” said minister Karu Jayasuriya.

“There are elements who want to misuse the new democratic freedom in the country to show that terrorism could rise its head again," he added.

His comments come as members of the Northern Provincial Council declared the days between May 12 and 18 as remembrance week, marking the deaths tens of thousands of Tamils. Sri Lankan police and intelligence officers behaved in an intimidating manner, during an earlier memorial ceremony, suddenly amassing at the location, but did not cause any disruptions.

See our earlier post: Beginning of Mullivaikal remembrance week marked, under watch of security forces (12 May 2015)

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