Deputy Foreign Minister says LTTE re-proscription a Govt. achievement

Tuesday, 31 March 2015 02:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Chamodi Gunawardana Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Ajith P. Perera yesterday said that the current Government had achieved a great victory by getting the European Union (EU) to relist the LTTE as a terrorist group.

The European General Court had ordered that the LTTE be removed from its list of terrorist groups last October. But through decision number 2015/521 they placed the organisation back on the list on 26 March. “We are delighted as a Government about the EU’s new decision. They have re-proscribed the LTTE. We believe it is a huge achievement of the present Government. This court decision will be useful to reduce the growth and spread of the LTTE. But unfortunately media institutions in our country did not report this news item with the same eagerness that they reported the de-listing of the LTTE as terrorist group in October,” Perera said. Speaking further, Perera revealed that present Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, during his tenure as Opposition Leader, wrote to the Foreign Affairs Security Policy Union High Representative Federica Mogherini and requested her to reconsider the ban on the LTTE. “We believe that this is a result of that request,” Perera added.