KP has not been released - Hulugalle

The Sri Lankan government today refuted media reports that the senior most surviving Tamil Tiger leader, Kumaran Pathmanathan has been released.

Pathmanathan who is under special protection was permitted to engage in his NGO work and has not been released as claimed by media, Director General of the Media Centre for National Security Lakshman Hulugalle was quoted as saying by the Government Info. Department. 

Media reports earlier today had stated that Kumaran Pathmanathan, alias ‘KP’, who was arrested in August 2009, is a ‘free man’ now as he was no longer in detention and was free to carry out work for a charity.

Various foreign media, quoting Mr Hulugalle’s remarks at a press briefing, had stated that there was “no case” against KP and that “Practically, there is no detention now.”

Pathmanathan, the chief international arms buyer for the Tamil Tigers, was appointed the head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by its elusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran just before he was killed by Sri Lankan troops in 2009.

India regards the 58-year-old Pathmanathan as a key suspect in the May 1991 assassination of Gandhi by a Sri Lankan Tamil suicide bomber during an election rally in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

He is on Interpol’s “wanted” list: the international police organisation says he is sought by India on charges of terrorism and of crimes involving the use of weapons or explosives.

The government intends to utilize the services of a non-governmental organization (NGO) headed by Kumaran Pathmanathan for development activities in the North,  Hulugalle had said during a press conference earlier today.

He said that no NGO can operate in the Northern Province without the approval of the Presidential Task Force, and that the organization headed by KP has received its consent.