Gammanpila decries Mullaivaikkal events as tribute to LTTE

• Criticises Govt. for its cowardice in permitting Mullaivaikkal commemoration events 
• Acknowledges rights of family and friends to memorialise fallen combatants but said events that celebrate terrorists should not be allowed
• Claims Mullivaikkal event was not remembrance of deceased relatives but commemoration of terrorists, as evidenced by display of LTTE flags
• Challenges Amnesty International’s Agnès Callamard to try celebrating terrorists in her home country of France 

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila criticised the Sri Lankan Government yesterday for permitting Mullaivaikkal commemoration events in the North, describing them as gatherings to honour Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorists killed in the war.

Addressing a press conference, Gammanpila said he acknowledges the right of family members and friends to memorialise those who died as combatants. However, he asserted that the celebration of terrorists should not be allowed. “It was not a remembrance of deceased relatives by Tamil people, but a commemoration of LTTE terrorists, as evidenced by the display of LTTE flags in the surrounding area,” he noted in reference to the red and yellow flags used at the event. 

“No one can prevent friends and family from memorialising a deceased loved one through a religious rite or social event. However, as civilised people, we believe that celebrating brutal terrorists who murdered children and pregnant women, along with their unborn children, should not be permitted anywhere in the world,” he said. “Our opposition is to events raising them to the status of heroes, which may encourage youth and children to follow the same path,” the MP added.

He also accused the Sri Lankan Government of cowardice and condemned it for allowing commemoration events to be held both in the North and in Colombo while arresting those who tried to obstruct them. 

The MP also criticised Amnesty International Secretary General Dr. Agnès Callamard for participating in a commemoration event held in Mullivaikkal, Mullaitivu, over the weekend.

In a statement directed at Callamard, the MP asked “Why didn’t you drop by India on your way to Sri Lanka to commemorate Sikh terrorists killed by Indian military forces at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984? Alternatively, you could have gone to Mumbai to honour the terrorists killed by police during the 2008 Mumbai attacks,”

“You don’t even have to travel abroad—you could do it in your own motherland, France. Why don’t you commemorate the Islamic terrorists killed by French military forces during the 2015 Paris attacks? If you attempted such mockeries in your own country, you would be stopped not only by the French authorities but also by patriotic French citizens,” he added.

The MP suggested Callamard should consider organising a protest at Ground Zero in the US, where authorities have refused permission to construct a mosque near the site of the 2001 Al Qaeda terrorist attacks, citing concerns of potential violence. He pointed out that if she attempted such a protest, it would likely be her last foreign trip, as she would risk imprisonment in the United States.