Sri Lankan courts ban LTTE commemoration events

Two Sri Lankan courts have banned events commemorating LTTE cadres, who died during a 30-year armed campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east provinces.

"The magistrate's courts of Vavuniya and Mannar have issued restraining orders on anyone trying to commemorate the LTTE," police spokesman Ajith Rohana said on Thursday.

Anyone trying to commemorate a terrorist group will be charged under the civil procedure code, he said.

Some 13 people have been banned from organising the events, Rohana said.

The police said they have received information on plans for the commemoration of the LTTE cadres next week.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which led an armed rebellion for over three decades against the Sri Lankan government to set up a separate Tamil homeland, was defeated by the Sri Lankan Army in May 2009.

Before 2009, the LTTE celebrated November 26, the birthday of the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran, as Hero's Day. The LTTE leader used to make a policy speech on their struggles on this day.Since the end of the war, Tamil politicians Organised events to light lamps.The LTTE was fighting the government troops since the mid-1970s to set up a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern regions of the island nation.

Sri Lanka's human rights record, particularly over the impunity enjoyed by law enforcement officers, has been the subject of international condemnation.The UN Human Rights Council has called for an international probe into the alleged war crimes during the military conflict with the LTTE.

According to the government figures, around 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts, including the war with Lankan Tamils which claimed at least 100,000 lives.

(IMAGE CREDITS:Twitter/@ltteof)