'Lanka strengthening diplomatic ties to reduce LTTE network'

Sri Lanka is strengthening its diplomatic ties to reduce the LTTE's international network and its ability to raise funds, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said, after a US report alleged that Tamil Tiger rebels' global network and funding is intact.

Colombo: Sri Lanka is strengthening its diplomatic ties to reduce the LTTE's international network and its ability to raise funds, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said, after a US report alleged that Tamil Tiger rebels' global network and funding is intact.

Samaraweera said?Sri Lanka?cannot afford to risk the security and stability of the?country again on "poorly planned or non-inclusive strategies, and on failures in diplomacy".

The Foreign Minister was responding to an opposition query in Parliament yesterday on the US State Department's 2014 terrorism report which said the LTTE's international network was pretty much alive.

"Now is the time to address the root cause of violence, to use global law enforcement cooperation, to improve domestic criminal justice systems and to increase outreach to affected communities.

"These will be the tools with which we permanently steal away the hearts and minds, the very oxygen, from terrorist organisations," he said.

He warned that there is a?threat of new forms of terrorism emerging which?will be difficult to predict and may be hard to control if Sri Lanka?isolates and radicalise aggrieved communities in the country.

"The government's approach is very different. We are using soft power and diplomacy, while ensuring our borders remain strong and our maritime security remains firm, to win the hearts and minds of all those who may oppose the state ? whatever ethnic, religious, class or cultural group they may represent," he said.

The Minister said, "The government agencies maintain close cooperation in intelligence sharing with all interlocutors, particularly those committed to combating terrorism. This includes combating financial networks."

Samaraweera said it is the government's intention to remove the base of support of violent radical groups, by diminishing their popularity and legitimacy among the populations who might otherwise sustain them with material and moral support.

The US State a Department report released recently said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's international network and funding was intact. It said that the defeated group was very much alive internationally.

The report noted that there have been no known attacks in Sri Lanka that could verifiably be attributed to the LTTE since the end of the war, but a total of 13 LTTE supporters, several of which had allegedly planned attacks against the US and Israeli diplomatic facilities in India were arrested in Malaysia in 2014.

Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.