Colombo: Sri Lanka has reacted sharply to
attempts by the LTTE proxies to hold elections for
"transnational government" amongst Tamil diaspora, as it asked
foreign governments not to allow any separatist activities on
their soil.
Elections for the "transnational government" of Tamil
Eelam will be held in April, 2010 among the community diaspora
'The Advisory Committee for the Provisional Transnational
Government of Tamil Eelam' had said on November 5.
"If they try to perpetuate LTTE terrorism in the guise
of various other front movements, this will also be countered
by us," Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said.
"No country should be allowed to host any groupings or
meetings that serve a separatist cause in Sri Lanka," the
Minister told the state run Sunday Observer.
"The LTTE is banned in countries including the US
where Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran who is said to have taken over
the diaspora activities of the LTTE, is based," the newspaper
said.
Rudrakumaran, who is the so called "coordinator of the
group" said the poll will be conducted among the diaspora
community to elect members for what they called the
"Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (PTGTE)".
International terrorism expert and Professor of the S
Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, Rohan
Gunaratna says the LTTE international wing has factions with
Rudrakumaran heading its political affairs part.
Gunaratna said the government should now build a
robust capability to counter the post-Prabhakaran threat
landscape, it said.
According to the press release issued by the Tiger
proxies without a dateline on Thursday, "The Advisory
Committee for the Provisional Transnational Government of
Tamil Eelam is making arrangements to hold the
elections in April 2010."
"Over the coming two months it expects to conduct
consultations with the Tamil Diaspora community to get
feedback to its proposal to date and to discuss some of the
questions that have been raised," the release said.
The release issued by Rudrakumaran said the group
welcomed democratic initiatives. "We welcome all democratic
initiatives. However at this time we neither support nor
oppose these initiatives because, as stated earlier, to do so
would be presumptuous and undemocratic on the part of the
Formation Committee," he said in the release.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 08, 2009, 15:53