Call to ban LTTE in Norway

by Manjula FERNANDO

Following the secret interrogation of a top LTTE leader in Norway, a member of the Norwegian Parliament has called for banning the outfit within the country.

Chairman of the Defence and Security committee of the opposition Conservative Party Peter Gitmark has expressed it was wrong to allow the Tigers to operate in Norway, BBCSinhala.com reported yesterday.

The LTTE has been a banned terrorist organisation in the EU since June 2006. But despite criticism that the country had become a safe haven for terrorist activities Norway has refrained from endorsing the decision of the EU Parliament to date.

Confirming the detention of Perinpanayagam Sivaparan aka Nediyawan, the top man of the criminal faction of LTTE according to terrorism experts, Gitmark said he hoped the Norwegian Police will also be able to interrogate the man and shed light on LTTE activities within Norway. "I think it is not in the interest of the people of Sri Lanka for the LTTE to raise money in Norway and other places to renew its violent struggle against the government of Sri Lanka," the Conservative Party MP has told the BBC.

Nediyawan was interrogated by an investigative team from Netherlands. It was reported that he had given a statement before a Dutch judge in Oslo. In April last year the Dutch police arrested seven LTTE activists, after a sweeping chain of raids involving the search of sixteen houses and businesses. They were charged with extortion and fund raising for terrorist activity.

Among the suspects arrested were members and leaders of the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC), the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO), the Tamil Women Organisation (TWO) and the Tamil Arts and Cultural Organization Netherlands (TKCO).

Prof.Rohan Gunaratna a counter terrorism expert who works as an expert witness in many international hearings involving LTTE criminal activities told Sunday Observer in an earlier interview that Nediyawan was head of one of the three factions of the post Prabhakaran LTTE.

He was masterminding the fund raising and criminal activities from Oslo and was deemed to be the biggest threat to Sri Lanka. He was the deputy of the LTTE procurement and shipping network until May 2009. After the killing of his Boss 'Castro', Nediyawan succeeded the post. It had been his team that was involved in the Human smuggling operations, Princess Eswary and MV Sun Sea to Canada. However, subsequent reports indicated that he had become unpopular among the moderate membership. There is also an intense power struggle between Nediyawan and the US based lawyer Rudrakumaran, the self proclaimed leader of the LTTE. Nediyawan was reportedly working as a common aide in a kindergarten school in Norway at the time of his detention.