Sunday, 1st June 2014
By P.K. Balachandran
Colombo: the recent arrest of three top activists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the Malaysian police stemmed from a growing anxiety in that country about the LTTE’s attempts to sow seeds of Tamil separatism in Malaysia and to use that country to plan terrorist strikes in Lanka.
The alarm is heightened by the fact that some Malaysian Tamil leaders of Indian origin have links with the LTTE, say sources close to Lankan security.
Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysian Inspector-General of Police, said on May 27, that the arrested Lankan Tamils, Sandralingaraja Kusanthan, Mahadevan Kirubakaran and Sellathurai Kirubananthan had “used Malaysia as a base to collect funds and do propaganda, and were attempting to revive the defunct terrorist group at the international level.”
A source close to the Lankan security establishment told Express on Saturday, that Malaysia is alarmed over the bid by the local Indian-origin Tamils, who constitute 8 per cent of the population, to openly brandish a new found passion for the LTTE. The alarm is heightened by the fact that Malaysian Tami leaders of Indian origin like Prof. P. Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister of Penang State and S. Pasupathi, President Tamil Foundation Malaysia (TFM), have close links with the LTTE. According to Ramasamy, 90 per cent of them support the LTTE.
In 2003, the LTTE had asked Ramasamy to help draft its proposals for an interim administration in North-East Lanka.
According to the Sri Lankan security source, since the end of the war, Ramasamy had been working closely with Selvathurai Kirubananthan who had earlier been a key functionary of the Intelligence Wing of the LTTE led by Pottu Amman.
Besides touting the LTTE line, Pasupathi’s website, www.semparuthi.com, had organized public events to mark Great Heroes’ Day on November 27, 2013, and Mullivaikkal Day on May 18 this year, the latter to mark the death of Prabhakaran. Most of the participants were Malaysian Tamils of Indian origin. Sandralingaraja Kusanthan had been “very close” to Prabhakaran and was a relative of Shankar who had masterminded the LTTE’s air force. Mahadevan Kirubakaran had been working under the Norway-based LTTE leader, Nediyavan, since the end of the war.
The activities of the trio in Malaysia came to light following the arrest of Nediyavan’s deputy, Nandagopan, by the Iranian police in April, and his interrogation by the Sri Lankan TID.
