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Radio licence to LTTE flayed

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO DEC. 20. Sri Lanka's main Opposition, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), today charged the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration with "treason'' for granting a radio broadcast licence to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) "without an application from the rebels''.

"To our knowledge, the LTTE did not even apply. There is no written application. There is a law in this country that makes a written application mandatory. This could have been a strong negotiating tool, but instead the Government has sold out to the Tigers," the Opposition spokesman, Sarath Amunugama, was quoted by an official website as telling a press conference.

"This is an act of treason with everyone involved someday having to answer to the public," Dr. Amunugama said. The SLFP also blamed Norway for "misusing'' its "diplomatic immunity'' as the equipment imported under its name was given to the Tigers.

The radio licence to the Tigers to broadcast on the FM band has become controversial within Sri Lanka for two reasons.

The Opposition says that the broadcasting equipment, which was imported by the Norwegian Embassy here, was subsequently handed over to the Tigers and taken to northern rebel-held Sri Lanka with Government help.

The second charge made today was that the Government had issued the licence to the Voice of Tigers (VoT) without an application.

The Norwegian Embassy had declined comment. Norway was chosen as the facilitator for the latest peace process by the earlier People's Alliance administration, in which the SLFP had the predominant role.

In addition to the domestic controversy, the Indian concern was whether the VoT's transmissions would reach southern India.

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