COLOMBO:LTTE today asked the international community to intervene and investigate how their new leader Selvarasa Pathamanathan was detained in Malaysia and flown to Sri Lanka for questioning, and ensure his safety and security. If the government of Malaysia from where Pathamathan was reportedly arrested does not have any information on the matter, we demand an inquiry into the whole episode, a statement from the now defunct LTTE said.
If Pathamanathan has been brought to Colombo as claimed by the government of Sri Lanka, we call upon the international community to become involved in this matter in order to assure the safety and security of Pathamanathan according to international standards and to facilitate access to legal representation, it said.
Selvarasa Pathamanathan better known as KP who controlled a vast network that supplied arms to LTTE for nearly three decades was arrested in a South East Asian nation on Wednesday and brought to Colombo the following day.
The statement said in the case of Pathamanathan’s abduction, the rule of law has once again been violated by international actors with respect to Tamils.
The proper procedure would have been to secure the extradition of Pathamanathan if he had broken any law rather than taking action outside the law, the statement said.
The statement issued by LTTE coordinator Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran said the government of Malaysia should announce the details surrounding the abduction of Pathamanathan if he was indeed abducted with the help of its authorities.
It said Pathamanathan has been leading the new politico-diplomatic path of the LTTE in recent months.
Some media reports suggest that Pathamanathan has been abducted in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Based on information collected through various sources within the Tamil community including sources close to the LTTE, we suspect that the abduction has taken place at the tune hotel in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, the statement said.
--PTI.