{"id":42117,"date":"2015-03-08T17:09:50","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T23:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=42117"},"modified":"2015-03-08T09:13:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T16:13:35","slug":"supporting-ltte-a-criminal-offence-in-u-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/03\/08\/supporting-ltte-a-criminal-offence-in-u-k\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting LTTE a Criminal Offence in U.K."},"content":{"rendered":"

Ira de Silva\u00a0London, Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The Island newspaper has published an article on March 6,2014 which states that the\u00a0British High commission in Colombo claims that the LTTE is a proscribed organization in the U.K. Showing support for the LTTE by fundraising, waving flags and other means is a criminal offence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sri Lankans would like to ask the British High Commission to explain why there have been no arrests made, when there have been hundreds of instances that supporters of the LTTE in the U.K. have had fundraising activities supported by British parliamentarians. \u00a0Waving LTTE flags are the norm whenever there is a rally, protest march of any type and \u00a0demonstrations \u00a0by the supporters of the LTTE in the U.K. The police are seen at these events doing nothing \u2013 is it that they are just watching for lack of anything else to do or have they been told not to make arrests when British citizens are committing a criminal offence? Are the police just incompetent or corrupt? The LTTE has had it’s headquarters in London throughout the war and still has offices in the U.K. which are used to organize various activities to “show support for the LTTE” which the British High Commission states is a criminal offence. British law enforcement however has done nothing regarding these “criminal offences”. Could it be that it is because successive British Governments have used political pressure to stop enforcement of the law in the U.K?<\/p>\n

Britain does not miss any opportunity to criticize Sri Lanka and its security forces, makes much noise about law and order, accountability, and transparency yet while claiming that support for the LTTE is a criminal offence has yet to apply it\u2019s own laws in the U.K. \u00a0It is well known that the LTTE\u00a0\u00a0has had it’s headquarters in London throughout the war and still has offices in the U.K. which are used to organize various activities to “show support for the LTTE” which the British High Commission states is a criminal offence. British law enforcement however has done nothing regarding these “criminal offences”. Could it be that it is because successive British Governments have used political pressure to stop enforcement of the law in the U.K?<\/p>\n

It is essential that even now the GOSL ask Britain for accountability and action regarding the encouragement of LTTE supporters based in the U.K. when by their own admission is is against the law. Britain has not acted against the LTTE in the past and Sri Lanka has not pressed them to be accountable in this regard. Will Sri Lanka\u2019s new government demand accountability from the British for their support of the LTTE as a vital part of it\u2019s change in foreign policy? Sri\u00a0 Lankans who have suffered because of British support for the LTTE expect no less. Based on this statement Sri Lankans look forward to the arrests of many supporters of the LTTE in the U.K., prosecution in British courts and if found guilty sentenced \u00a0for breaking the law. Until Britain acts to implement it’s own laws it has no right to criticize other countries particularly Sri Lanka which has been terrorised by the LTTE supported by British citizens.<\/p>\n

Yours truly,<\/p>\n

Ira de Silva<\/p>\n

London, Canada<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ira de Silva\u00a0London, Canada The Island newspaper has published an article on March 6,2014 which states that the\u00a0British High commission in Colombo claims that the LTTE is a proscribed organization in the U.K. Showing support for the LTTE by fundraising, waving flags and other means is a criminal offence\u201d. Sri Lankans would like to ask […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ira-de-silva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}