Off the wire
• Foreign exchange rates in Singapore  • Update: One killed in KFC attack in town north of Cairo  • Unknown armed shot dead police, wound another in Afghanistan  • Majority of Japanese firms willing to expand operation in Vietnam: survey  • Singapore stocks close 0.32 pct lower  • 1st LD: Iraqi authorities lift curfew in Baghdad  • Gold price closes higher in Hong Kong  • Pakistan PM seeks meaningful dialogue with India  • Truck firebombed in Bangladesh leaving two dead  • China Voice: Don't be prejudiced against China's Internet regulation  
You are here: 　 Home

Sri Lankan court bans LTTE leader from leaving country

Xinhua, February 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

A Sri Lankan court on Thursday banned top leader of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) from leaving the country.

Pathmanathan is on Interpol's most wanted list for various charges including arms smuggling and criminal conspiracy linked to terrorist organization LTTE. He is also wanted by India's law enforcement agencies for connection with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and for violation of the Terrorist Act and the Indian Explosive Act.

KP, as he is known locally, was appointed to lead the LTTE after it was militarily defeated by the Sri Lankan government in 2009. He was arrested in Malaysia and deported to Sri Lanka but was subsequently freed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

However, calls for his arrest were renewed after Rajapaksa was ousted from power early last month. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a coalition partner of the new government, filed a Writ Application in a bid to obtain an order to arrest and prosecute KP who was one time LTTE's arms procurement wing leader.

The order to impound his passport was issued when the Writ Application was taken up for hearing before Justice A.H.M.D. Nawaz and Justice Vijith Malalgoda.

KP has publicly stated he is still living in Sri Lanka. Endi