According to reports in the pro-government newspaper, Island, Sri Lanka's External Affairs minister, G.L. Peiris, accused the West of allowing the LTTE to "operate with impunity". Peiris added, that even now the West were "playing ball with the LTTE" and "facilitating LTTE operations".
The External Affairs minister went on to accuse an unnamed UK minister of "receiving a well paid job from an LTTE front organisation".
His comments were made at a conference on reconciliation and the international community, over two years after Sri Lanka proclaimed victory over the LTTE.
Extracts of the article in the Island are reproduced below:
He [Peiris] expressed the opinion that had Western powers took tangible action, the LTTE wouldn’t have been able to operate with impunity in spite of being a proscribed organization.
Prof. Peiris explained the difficulties experienced by Sri Lanka due to strong relationship between the LTTE and those foreign powers still facilitating LTTE operations.
Instead of supporting ongoing indigenous efforts aimed at national reconciliation efforts, some countries were undermining the process, the External Affairs Minister alleged.
He alleged that a High Commissioner had been targeted for participating at a function presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at which a group of rehabilitated LTTE cadres were released. Prof. Peiris expressed shock and disappointment over the attitude of some of those pushing Sri Lanka over the accountability issue.
The External Affairs Minister cited the recent example of a defeated European parliamentarian receiving a well paid job from an LTTE front organization to underscore the nexus between the LTTE and some of its vociferous supporters abroad.
The politician in question, according to Prof. Peiris had raised the Sri Lankan issue in the legislature he/she represented on many occasions. And immediately after losing the parliamentary polls, the politician had found a job courtesy the LTTE rump, the minister alleged.
The minister questioned the motivation factor and the inducement on the part of the LTTE to secure the support of politicians. He asserted that this wasn’t an isolated case.
While playing ball with the LTTE and those representing its interests, some Colombo-based diplomatic missions had not been supportive towards the Sri Lankan cause, the minister alleged.