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Tamil activists move to involve Sri Lanka in London arrests
British MPs of a pro-Tamil lobby and Tamil activists are trying to drag the Sri Lanka Government and its High Commission in London into the arrests last Monday of four Tamils demonstrating against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presence at the Oxford Union. Tamil groups claim they were detained and released the next day following complaints by Sri Lankan officials.
The British MPs, in a letter to Home Secretary Sajid Javid and copied to the British Foreign Secretary, allege that action against the protestors was urged by Sri Lanka Government officials who also filmed the protest. Our inquiries suggest this is another case of “fake news” provided to mislead British MPs. Curiously, this letter purportedly coming from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) that carries the names of 8 signatories, but not a single signature, states, “According to information provided to us by sources at the scene, the arrests were carried out at the behest of Sri Lankan Government officials who were filming the protest”.
Our sources suggest, the complaint to the Thames Valley police, against some protestors carrying the LTTE flag and one wearing a tee-shirt displaying Prabhakaran’s portrait, was made by a British citizen and not by a Sri Lanka official or one at the High Commission. The Tamil protestor who was detained overnight and his London residence searched and some items examined by police, was a member of the Transitional Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) led by New York resident Visvanathan Rudrakumaran who was one time Legal consultant to the LTTE.
In an attempt to tie up the Oxford event to Sri Lanka Independence Day celebration at the London High Commission, which resulted in the recall of the Mission’s Defence advisor, Tamil news reports say the “official” who urged the police at Oxford to act, was also spotted at the London celebration. “This is an attempt, not only to mislead the MPs, but also pressure the British Government for an inquiry into the purported action of High Commission officials or, ones from the Sri Lanka Government”, Sri Lanka diaspora sources said.
It is understood that, though the unsigned APPG-T letter is copied to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the FCO is not expected to pursue this matter, leaving it to the Home Secretary to respond. Though, those held overnight last Monday were released next day, police are expected to continue with its investigations under UK’s Terrorism Law Sections 11 and 13 which states that:
A person commits an offence if he belongs to a prohibited group.
An offence is committed if a person wears an item of clothing or, carries and displays items that arouse suspicion that they are part of a forbidden organisation.