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Tuesday Oct 08, 2024
Tuesday, 21 October 2014 00:37 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
UNP Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya said in a statement issued yesterday that the European Court of Justice ruling relaxing the terror controls on the LTTE was a failure of the Government, which should appeal the ruling legally by making submissions to the court.
“The UNP has never held a soft position towards the LTTE. Even the simplest minds will understand that if that were true, the LTTE had no reason to enforce a boycott to ensure the defeat of an UNP candidate at the 2005 presidential election,” Jayasuriya said in a media statement.
Government representatives and the State media claimed that the European Court ruling had come just days after UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe allegedly held meetings with LTTE diaspora organisations during a recent visit to London. “That is an outright lie,” Jayasuriya said.
Jayasuriya called the allegations a propaganda war by the Government in light of elections that are expected to be called in early 2015.
“It is the current Government that has a great affection for and nourishes the LTTE and its foremost members,” the senior politician charged.
He said that Vellupillai Prabhakaran’s second in command within the terrorist organisation and the brutal commander responsible for the execution of 600 Sri Lankan Police personnel and the attack on the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, was now garbed in ‘patriotic’ clothes and holding ministerial positions within the Government.
“The man who became the leader of the LTTE after Prabhakaran’s death, ‘KP’ is also in alliance with the Government,” Jayasuriya asserted in his statement.
The Leadership Council Chairman said that the Government’s hypocrisy was showing.
“While assigning Tiger labels to other political parties and civil groups, it is the Government that is actively engaged in politics with brutal terrorists,” he charged.
The UNP had always believed the LTTE to be a brutal terrorist organisation, Jayasuriya said. “It is no secret that it was the UNP that changed Sri Lanka’s armed forces from being a ceremonial army to a fighting force capable of combating brutal terror,” he said.
He claimed that the current President had already commenced his election campaign for the presidency by violating election laws left and right. Jayasuriya’s statement said that President Rajapaksa was compounding ‘lies upon lies’ and turning his official residence into election headquarters. (DB)
