Defeat LTTE ideology, says Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena

Speaking at a ceremony in Colombo on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the war, Sirisena said although the LTTE had been defeated militarily, its ideology and agents are very much alive. “We have defeated the LTTE physically and militarily, but their ideology has not died. Their agents in the diaspora in the LTTE’s international network are very much alive,” he said.

“They are still working to create their Eelam (separate Tamil state) dream,” he said. He said the LTTE was still challenging the Sri Lankan government, referring to a demonstration held against him by the group’s sympathisers in London. While the government and the military commemorated the fallen soldiers at the heroes’ day in the south of the island, the Tamils in the north commemorated their war dead.

On Friday, around 5,000 people took part in the commemorative ceremony held at Mullaivaikkal in the Mullaithivu district, the scene of the final battle between the Lankan troops and the LTTE.

Except Northern Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran, no other Tamil politician had participated in the event.

Wigneswaran has declared that May 18 must be identified as Tamil genocide day in the coming years.