Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister GL Peiris told the Australian government that the remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were still active in Australia and asked them to proscribe the organisation.
In an interview with an Australian newspaper, The Australian, Peiris stressed that although the organisation was defeated in Sri Lanka and the war was over, the LTTE networks still intimidate Tamil families in the diaspora to extort money.
He then went on to suggest that all people fleeing Sri Lanka were not genuine refugees but economic migrants, alleging that the LTTE were involved in aiding illegal migration and tarnishing the image of Sri Lanka as part of a new campaign against the country.