Off the wire
• China stock index futures close lower Monday  • Hushen 300 Index closes lower Monday  • Shenzhen stock indices close lower Monday  • ChiNext Index closes higher Monday  • Shanghai stock indices close lower Monday  • Fiji congratulates Nauru on 47th anniversary of independence  • S.Korea's bank household loans grow most in eight years  • Clash kill 2 militants, wounds 7 in E. Afghanistan  • Indonesia records 186.8 mln USD trade surplus in Dec.  • China's manufacturing activity remains weak in January: HSBC  
You are here: 　 Home

Sri Lanka says no move to lift ban on Tamil diaspora groups

Xinhua, February 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Sri Lanka's new-elected government will not lift any bans imposed on the several Tamil diaspora groups for their alleged involvement with the Tamil Tiger rebels and over their attempts to revive terrorism in the country, local media reported on Monday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith P. Perera said that the new government hopes to maintain the ban imposed on the Tamil organizations that were alleged to have links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and there had been no discussion or consideration by the new administration about lifting the bans imposed on them.

The move came just weeks after a diaspora group, banned by the former Mahinda Rajapakse government, called on the newly elected government to engage with the Diaspora in good faith and in a meaningful and constructive way.

During the former government, the LTTE and 15 Tamil diaspora groups including the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) were banned and had been classified as "terrorists" in Sri Lanka.

However, soon after Rajapakse's unexpected defeat during Jan. 8 presidential elections, the GTF said in a statement that the Tamil diaspora wanted to engage with the Maithripala Sirisena administration in a meaningful and constructive way, adding that the Tamils and Tamil speaking Muslims had rejected the way the minority communities were treated under former government by coming out and voting unprecedentedly in high numbers. Endi