(COLOMBO) – The Sri Lankan authorities are set to take legal action on those preparing to celebrate ‘Mahavriu Day’ that commemorates the fallen cadres of the now defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE).
The island-nation’s police top brass have given an undertaking to the Court of Appeal that action would be taken against such individuals, under the Criminal Procedure Code.
This development follows a petition filed in the Appeals Court by a retired intelligence officer of the Sri Lanka Army, seeking legal action against those planning to participate in the Mahaviru Day celebrations to be held in the North and East of the country on November 27.
Sympathizers and covert supporters of the LTTE have made feeble attempts in the past to mark the so-called ‘Mahaviru Day’ or Martyr’s Day on November 27 but without any success.
The LTTE is a designated terrorist organization in the US, UK and much of Europe as well as in several Asian countries.
The group waged a bloody and protracted 30-year war against the Sri Lanka State where the UN has said that some 80,000 persons mainly civilians were killed and an equal number injured during this period.
The aim of the LTTE was to carve out an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country.
There are an estimated two million ethnic Tamils from a population of some 21 million with the majority being Sinhalese Buddhists in the Indian Ocean island-nation.
The LTTE leadership and their infrastructure were decapitated in June 2009 following a relentless assault by the security forces on their bases in the north and east of the country.
