Britain urged to crack down on LTTE front organisations

UK: A Parliamentary seminar on “A way forward to peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka organised by the Campaign for Peace and Unity in Sri Lanka was held on March 19 at the House of Commons with a packed audience comprising Members of the British and European Parliaments and a large gathering of Sri Lankans of all communities, British academics and media representatives, states a press release from the Campaign for Peace and Unity in Sri Lanka (CPUSL).

Among the key speakers were TULF Leader V. Anandasangaree, M. H. Sulaiman of the Sri Lanka Muslim Council, Douglas Wickremaratne of the Sinhala Association in the UK and British Parliamentarians Barry Gardiner, Andrew Love, Andrew Pelling, Colin Breed, John Austin, Brian Binley as well as Geoffrey Van Orden MEP, Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.

The Rt Hon Lord Naseby of Sandy, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka presided.

The speakers urged the British Government to take tougher action to crack down on the activities of LTTE front organisations and LTTE activists in local councils in the UK that were continuing to fund the LTTE’s war chest and engage in propaganda activities in spite of the LTTE being a listed terrorist organisation in the UK and EU.

They unanimously acknowledged that any political solution aimed at addressing the grievances of all communities in Sri Lanka should recognise the need for pluralism and that the LTTE was not the sole representative of the Tamil community.

The representatives of the Muslim Council called for the recognition of Muslim community representation in future talks aimed at resolving the conflict in the north and east of Sri Lanka. They also highlighted the need to fully implement the Official Languages Act as a step towards strengthening national unity.

The speakers responded to questions from the audience on a number of issues relating to the current conflict, in particular issues relating to devolution of power as a means towards resolving the current conflict and bringing peace to Sri Lanka.