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MPs in row over pro-LTTE rally

LONDON: The Sri Lankan High Commission here has strongly protested over the presence of three Labour MPs, including Keith Vaz , the high-profile Asian MP from Leicester, and Virendra Sharma from Ealing Southall, at a rally in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) although the organisation is banned under Britain’s terror laws.

Joan Ryan, the third Labour MP present at the event, is ironically an outspoken supporter of the government’s controversial anti-terrorism policy. Mr Vaz, on the other hand, has often criticised the government for overlooking human rights considerations in the name of fighting terror.

The rally, organised by the Tamil National Remembrance Foundation, to pay homage to LTTE activists killed in clashes with Sri Lankan security forces, also received messages of “support” from London Mayor Ken Livingstone and the Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, according to TamilNet, the worldwide pro-LTTE website.

The rally’s highpoint was a “live” televised “Heroes’ Day” address by the LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabakaran, who urged “the entire Tamil-speaking world” to rise up.

Reacting with fury to the presence of Britain’s ruling party MPs at such a function, the Sri Lankan High Commission accused them of being “partisan to a proscribed terrorist group”.

“This event was organised by a front organisation of a terrorist group for fundraising and propaganda purposes,” it said.

TamilNet claimed that more than 25,000 British Tamils attended the event held in east London on November 27.

Mr Vaz, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, was reported as telling the gathering: “I can totally understand the demand of some Tamils for an independent state. These calls will only get louder and louder unless there is just peace.”

Mr Sharma was more vocal in his support for the LTTE’s aims, reportedly saying he had “long supported the Tamils’ demand for their rights”.

Ms Ryan said that over 70,000 Tamils had lost their lives in their “struggle” for an independent homeland.

“We must pursue the aims and values for which they lost their lives,” she said.

Mr Vaz could not be reached but was quoted by The Times as saying that he was not aware that Prabakaran would address the rally.

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