Need for a long-term systematic strategy at the wake of Swiss and UK courts’ recognising aide and abet of LTTE as freedom fighters

     Nothings is more threatening a sovereign nation than another nation implicitly or explicitly recognising a military outfit within its borders. Regarding Sri Lanka, this is exactly what the Switzerland Federal Court ruling did on 3^rd of December and the ruling of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 6^th of December. These rulings systematically try to undermine Gotabaya Rajapaksha’s new administration. There is no guarantee that these ideological and monetary space created by so-called-friendly-nations will not be exploited with weapons in the future. The Sri Lankan administration needs a multi-dimensional strategy to curtail these actions. One undeniable part of it is the urgent need to uplift the livelihood of minority communities within its territory, especially within the North and East.

The Swiss court ruled that 12 individuals acquitted for collecting money in Switzerland for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a EU proscribed terrorist organisation, did not directly served a criminal purpose. The court sees that the LTTE was a quasi-state administration of an area and fought for the independence of their ethnic community. And at the same time in the UK, the whole justice system failed to see the illegality of allowing to wave flags of LTTE in front of Sri Lankan embassy. Witness and the Judge seems to be colour blind. They argue that the few dozen of flags waved were not of LTTE but of slightly different colour. What a friendly nations!

Now that those aide and abet of Taliban, ISIS, IRA, Hamas and many more outfits can raise funds in Switzerland and wave the flags of slightly different colors in UK with no consequences at all. Those terrorist outfits also have or had maintained quasi-state status within their respective territories. However, these rhetorical questions will take us nowhere as a nation. Though, the Swiss verdict is as precarious as how their civility is maintained by the taxes collected from their banking system and, at the same time, being the neutral leader in no-man's-land and hosting UN headquarters within their own territory.

 However, the concerns of Sri Lankan Gov are so real. Soon after the Swiss verdict those aided and abetted raised the flag of LTTE with the Swiss flag and hoisted the pictures of their terrorist leader. So now these guys can raise funds in Switzerland for sure. Would not they now cross the borders to Germany, France, and Norway and to UK to raise funds? 

And where this ideological and monetary loosening of terrorists will take them? They will be soon looking at black-market weapons too. Learning from these experience, and from past, we need to learn that these western nations cannot be relied upon.

The damage that those political rulings did to the sovereignty of Sri Lanka is now irrevocable. The dramas played by ambassadors like Swiss are to be continued. The chances of legally repatriating traitors are also becoming thin issue. These attacks on our sovereignty require multi-dimensional approach by the Sri Lankan government , within western nations and within her own borders. One obvious part of it is the development of infrastructures in North and East offering the minorities a better opportunities.