Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has called upon Western countries to hand over LTTE funds and its other assets that were found in their territories.
He told the BBC that the arrested LTTE chief and arms procurer, Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP, was “slowly” coming out with details of the assets held abroad, estimated to be between $300 million and $1 billion.
“He’s a seasoned man, so he’s coming out with information very slowly during interrogation. He was the person who ran a massive network to purchase arms and ammunition for the LTTE for nearly 30 years. Once it is proved that these assets belong to the LTTE, then concerned countries should hand over the assets as well as the remaining LTTE members to Sri Lanka,” Gotabaya said.
144,000 REFUGEES REGISTERED: The Sri Lankan government had completed registration of 144,000 out of the 280,000 Tamil war refugees living in camps in the north of the island nation by August 19, Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe told Parliament.
The government had also handed over to the police, 100,000 identity cards to be given to the registered refugees. Out of these, 75,000 had been distributed.
De-mining operations were on in Mannar and north of Vavuniya, clearing the way for resettlement. But the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts were still ‘no go zones’ because of the mines, said Secretary to the Disaster Management Ministry, Dr Rajiva Wijesinha.
He said here on Friday, “that the UNDP and other UN organisations had cautioned against rushing into resettlement without doing “humanitarian de-mining” and certified by the UN.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Army Commander, Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya, denied the Tamil politicians’ claim that 80 per cent of the conflict zone of Wanni was free of mines and therefore free for immediate resettlement.
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