Colombo: Sri Lanka's state television on Thursday announced that the new head of the remnants of the Tamil Tiger rebels had been arrested in Thailand.
Selvarasa Pathmanathan, better known as K.P., was detained in Bangkok, the state Rupavahini channel said without giving details.
However, it said the man, along with another rebel, was now in the hands of Sri Lankan authorities.
Pathmanathan, an overseas-based leader who took over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) following the killing of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in mid-May, was also wanted by Interpol on gun-running charges.
LTTE regrouping: Lanka
Warning that the LTTE was trying to
regroup under a new leader, Sri Lankan Prime Minister
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake today said any plot to create law and
order problems in the country will be dealt firmly.
Without naming LTTE's new leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan
directly, Wickremanayake told the Parliament that "another
person was trying to mobilise the LTTE cadres to regroup" and
that it would be dealt firmly.
Vowing to pursue its campaign for "Tamil Eelam", the
LTTE last month named alleged arms smuggler Pathmanathan alias
KP as its new leader to succeed the slain tiger Supremo
Velupillai Prabhakaran who was killed in May.
The announcement came amid reports that differences have
cropped up among the few remaining LTTE leaders who are based
abroad. It was also not clear whether the huge Tamil diaspora
will back 54-year-old Pathmanathan.
Wickremanayake pledged to root out any remnants of tiger
rebel militancy after the defeat of the LTTE.
"We will eradicate the germs that may still be there from
the decades of LTTE terrorism", the Sri Lankan Prime Minister
said, adding, there could still be some "remnant germs" of
the militancy that had plagued the country for nearly three
decades.
"We will finish these remaining germs", he said, adding,
the authorities had received information from the Vavuniya
camp housing over 2.6 lakh Tamil IDPs that the LTTE cadres
were trying to regroup.
Wickremanayake said it was necessary to extend emergency
in the country to meet with such challenges.
The separatist outfit, which was virtually annihilated
by Sri Lankan troops three months ago in a statement had said
that it will "modify" the strategies of its "struggle" but
will continue to work for a "free Tamil Eelam".
The LTTE has also threatened to hold elections for its
so called "transnational government" amongst the Tamil
diaspora.
Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, the so called "coordinator of
the committee for the formation of provisional Transnational
Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)" claimed the elections would
be held next year.
"We envisage a transnational government (TG) that does
not require a host state. This government will be elected by
the Tamil diaspora. There is no precedent of a TG created by
an ethnic group", Rudrakumar had said in an interview.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, August 06, 2009, 23:29