Sri Lanka ready to handover KP if India makes a request – Keheliya

Defence spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, yesterday said that if India requests the extradition of K.P. alias Kumaran Pathmanathan, the new LTTE leader in exile, now in the custody of Sri Lankan Defence authorities, the Government is willing to comply once we conclude our preliminary investigations. He will be extradited in compliance with international treaties and conventions.


Asked whether India has already requested extradition of KP, the Minister answered in the negative.

Highly placed sources from the Defence establishment said KP's interrogators are confident they would elicit vital information on LTTE's network and vast assets.

Asked if any Sri Lankans were also involved in the arrest of KP, the Defence spokesman answered in the affirmative.

Asked to name what particular Sri Lankan agency from the Defence establishment was specifically involved with their international counterparts, he declined to comment.

Rambukwella appreciated the cooperation extended by other countries in apprehending the elusive LTTE leader. Certain elements both in Sri Lanka and overseas, had made the public to believe KP will make a come back and revive the LTTE with the support of the Tamil diaspora.

The same elements were trying to ridicule the achievements made by the security forces and the defence establishment by saying that the LTTE was still alive and kicking as long as KP and the support of the Tamil diaspora is there. With KP brought back to Sri Lanka, all these theories have been disproved, the Minister said.

According to top defence sources, KP had been moving from place to place in South East Asia and in the last couple of weeks, had been shuttling between Thailand and Malaysia.

Our intelligence had laid a dragnet for his arrest with the cooperation of the countries in the region after Prabhakaran and his lieutenants were killed.

A top of intelligence officer who had been posted to a South East Asian capital recently, had gathered vital information about the elusive LTTE leader and sought the cooperation of his counterparts in those countries. He was arrested with the support of the political leadership of those countries on Wednesday in Malaysia and brought to Thailand, the sources said.

According to these sources, KP had been brought to Colombo on Thursday in a chartered flight from Bangkok.