LTTE holds meeting to commemorate their dead in Wembley arena

A meeting commemorating dead terrorists including suicide bombers was held in the Wembley arena on 27.11.2005 by front organisations of the LTTE, which is a banned terrorist organisation in the UK, states a press release from the Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc (SPUR).

The release: The person considered the chief ideologue of this banned terrorist organisation, Anton Balasingham, addressed this meeting where he stated the following:

The terrorism that the LTTE has been directing against the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka for the last 25 years is justified. He clarified the ultimatum given by Prabhakaran, the leader of the terrorist group LTTE, to the democratically elected government of Sri Lanka, threatening the Sri Lankan Government with further terrorism if the Sri Lankan government didn't accede to the LTTE's preposterous demands for a separate country.

It seems extraordinary that a country that was recently subjected to a heinous suicide bomb attack, allowed a meeting to be held to honour suicide bombers of the LTTE, a terrorist organisation banned in the UK. It is even more extraordinary that a leading member of this proscribed terrorist organisation, Anton Balasingham, was allowed to address the meeting and was allowed to justify the terrorism of the LTTE and threaten the Sri Lankan Government with further terrorism.

All of the above actions were being directed against Sri Lanka, a democracy, a fellow member of the commonwealth and a nation friendly towards the UK.

We are left with serious doubts about the application of the proscription of the LTTE in the UK. It appears to us that there may be a double standard being adopted by the UK government, where terrorist groups not directly threatening the interests of the UK are treated leniently.

You must be no doubt aware that the LTTE are the pioneers of suicide attacks on both land and sea. There are numerous reports about the suicide bombing technology of the LTTE been transferred and/or copied by other terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida. Hence we believe that it is in the interests of the UK to coerce the LTTE to decommission its weapons, abandon terrorism and separatism and enter the democratic mainstream in Sri Lanka.

We urge you to ensure that the proscription against the LTTE is strictly enforced and to ensure that terrorist groups such as the LTTE do not use the UK to promote and sustain terrorism.