Sunday, 11th May 2014
By Arthur Wamanan
Sri Lanka will not rush the process of providing details of organizations and individuals recently proscribed by the country, External Affairs Ministry said. But during a press briefing held last Thursday (8), Military Spokesperson, Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that steps had been taken by Sri Lanka to provide information about 16 organizations, including the LTTE, and 424 individuals that were proscribed by Sri Lanka.
However, a high ranking official of the Ministry speaking to The Nation said that information on organizations and individuals proscribed by Sri Lanka would only be shared based on the necessity and on the response of the countries towards the issue.
The official further pointed out that sharing information of the organizations could hamper investigations carried out by Sri Lanka on the said entities. “Therefore, we need to be certain that whatever investigations that we are carrying out are not hampered when we share information,” the official said.
In addition, the official also stated that the move to share information would also be based on how the countries react to the list. “Canada had rejected the list. But the official who rejected has failed to understand that the LTTE, and World Tamil Movement (WTM) have been banned by Canada itself,” the official pointed out.
“Therefore, we need to ascertain that the countries with which we share information will work with us in taking action against the said entities,” the official added.
