The spectre of the LTTE is “is always raised by the Sinhala-majority political parties, ahead of an election” notes R.K. Radhakrishnan in Frontline magazine on Tuesday, after a former Tamil fighter was arrested in Kilinochchi this week.
"Although there has been no terror incident involving the Tamils in Sri Lanka since the conclusion of the war between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil Tigers in 2009, the LTTE bogey is always raised by the Sinhala-majority political parties, ahead of an election,” he writes. “It is no different for the presidential election to be held on November 16.”
Radhakrishnan also noted that alongside the arrest of a former LTTE cadre this week, the multiple arrests of Tamils in Malaysia have given a “boost” to Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“The timing of the release of the news of the investigation helps no candidate more than Gotabaya, who is ahead in a close race,” he writes.
Read his full piece here.
