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By V.S. Sambandan
"The de-proscription is now in force," the Cabinet spokesman, G.L. Peiris, told a press conference today, adding that the ban could be reimposed "anytime" if required. The President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, had said that the de-proscription should be linked to progress made in the talks. She told a delegation of hardliners protesting the move that "legal avenues" were available if the ban was lifted, but did not elaborate. Asked today if the President could take any such measures, Prof. Peiris, who is also the Constitutional Affairs Minister, said, "She has no legal options whatsoever." The de-proscription meets a key condition set by the Tigers to start direct talks with Colombo, scheduled to start in Thailand on September 16. The Tigers were banned on January 26, 1998, a day after they attacked the Dalada Maligawa (the Temple of the Tooth Relic), in Kandy, with an explosives-laden truck. The domestic ban, Prof. Peiris said, "was largely symbolic" as it did not have any effect on the Tigers. However, he emphasised that despite the de-proscription "criminal and civil laws" would apply. The Tigers were keen on de-proscription before the commencement of talks for two reasons. Parity in delegation-level talks with Colombo is a more immediate one. In the longer term, the Tigers intend to use the de-proscription to get other countries that have either banned or designated them as terrorist organisations to revoke their positions. However, there has been no such indication. To the contrary, India, which outlawed the Tigers for their involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, recently extended the ban. The British Government yesterday made it clear that for their ban to be revoked, the Tigers would have to give up violence. "Before the proscription of the LTTE in the U.K. could be reconsidered by the British Government, the LTTE would have to demonstrate a complete and convincing renunciation of terrorism," a statement from the British Foreign Office said. The de-proscription ended the second ban on the Tigers in Sri Lanka. They were first outlawed in 1978 by the J.R. Jayewardene Government through the `Proscription of the LTTE and Other Similar Organisations Ordinance'. Since 1978, when the Mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiyappa, was shot dead, the LTTE has masterminded several assassinations and attacks on civilian installations. Their most potent weapons have been their suicide bombers, 241 of whom have lost their lives along with those of their victims either in assassinations or in vain bids and in other operations. The first and the latest major attacks on civilian targets were on air installations. In 1978, an Avro aircraft belonging to Air Ceylon was blasted by the Tigers at the Ratmalana airport, in Colombo, the day a new Constitution was introduced in Parliament. That Constitution, which has been blamed for much of the nation's woes, is still in force. A year ago, Sri Lanka's only international airport at Katunayake was attacked in an operation which set the island's airlines industry as well as its economy back by several years. In addition to the long list of political victims — Rajiv Gandhi, President R. Premadasa, A. Amirthalingam, Sam Thambimuttu, Neelan Tiruchelvam, Sarojini Yogeswaran and Sivapalan to name a few — several militant leaders were taken out in fratricidal killings.
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