Off the wire
• Lakers lose in Kobe's final game against Raptors  • Feature: Bangladesh's poor benefiting from domestically produced medication  • Colombia to hold Ibero-American foreign ministers conference  • Spotlight: China plays responsible role in fighting climate change, promoting African development  • Aussie agriculture output revised upwards for 2015-16 financial year  • China Voice: Booming service sector will not replace industry  • S. Korea's household debts post record monthly growth in October  • S. Korea wins approval to sell yuan-denominated sovereign bonds in China  • Canadian gov't announces tax cut to strengthen middle class  • S. Korea to frontload 68 pct of 2016 budget in H1 to bolster economy  
You are here: 　 Home

Sri Lanka defends de-listing of groups accused of terrorism links

Xinhua, December 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday defended the de-listing of several diaspora groups and individuals earlier accused of having links to terrorism.

State Defence Minister Ruwan Wijeywardena, speaking in Parliament, said that the de-listing was carried out following a comprehensive study conducted on the groups and individuals by a high level committee.

He said the study concluded that the diaspora groups and individuals who were de-proscribed recently were not involved in terrorism related activities over the past three years.

Opposition parliamentarian Dullas Alahapperuma earlier questioned the basis on which the groups and individuals were cleared of links to terrorism.

He said that even the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), a powerful Tamil diaspora group based in London, which was de-listed, has not publicly denounced separatism and continues to promote "Eelam" on its official website.

Sri Lanka in March 2014 proscribed 16 organisations and 424 individuals. The then government raised concerns over the alleged activities of the Tamil diaspora, saying they could fund another war in Sri Lanka.

However, the new government said it was willing to negotiate with the diaspora and look at their concerns and work with them instead of sidelining them.

The government recently de-listed eight organisations and 267 persons. Endit