Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister says that topics such as  lifting the proscription of the LTTE or war crimes allegations did not feature in his recent discussion with the Global Tamil Forum and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in London. 

“There was absolutely no discussion of lifting the proscription of the LTTE. That was never discussed,” Mangala Samaraweera said.

“And also we did not discuss any issues regarding a political solution. Nor did we discuss about the impending domestic mechanism which the government, at the moment, is preparing,” he told Parliament on Friday (12). 

Responding to questions raised by the Leader of Opposition relating to the discussions, which was given immense publicity in sections of the media, Samaraweera stated the needs of the displaced people and prisoners held under the PTA without charges were the main subjects discussed.  

He also said that the annual review of the persons listed under gazetted regulations 1758/19 dated 15th May 2012 and 1760 of 31st May 2012 (by the previous Government) to give effect to UN Resolutions 1373 and 1267, was discussed. 

“This annual review is mandatory as per the regulations that have been gazetted by the previous Government,” he said. 

Samaraweera said he considers the proscribing of over 400 Tamil diaspora individuals in 2014 as “an election gimmick” because it was “not well considered at all.” 

“There were people who were included in the list who had died several years before this list came out. That shows that it was a hurriedly compiled list without taking into consideration the actual facts,” he charged.   

The foreign minister said that the discussion was attended by TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran, GTF representative Suren Surendiran, representative of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation M.S. Jayasinghe, a representative from the South African Government, a representative from the Swiss Government, former Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Tore Hattrem and Mr. Eric Solheim, who participated briefly on the 1st day to share his experiences in engaging the diaspora.