Sri Lanka to contest European Union's delisting of LTTE

Sri Lanka to contest EU's delisting of LTTE Colombo, Oct 19 (PTI) Sri Lanka will contest the decisionby a European Union Court to delist the LTTE as a terroristorganisation and will send an envoy to Strasbourg to lobby theEU against the order.

Sri Lanka's EU Ambassador Rodney Perera is to travel toStrasbourg tomorrow to attend the EU parliament's plenary session and to mobilise two key committees, foreign affairs and security and defence.

He will also lobby the European Council to challenge theCourt's ruling.

Last Thursday, the Court of Justice of the European Unionruled that the LTTE would no longer be kept on the Council's designated terrorist list.

It was however based on a fundamental procedural ground.

The said annulment would be maintained temporarily for aperiod of three months where a reassessment would be made.

Sri Lankan government would be able to appeal against the decision within two months.

The EU ban of the LTTE came in 2006.

Apart from the EU, the LTTE is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the USA, India, Canada, the UK and Sri Lanka.

The LTTE was engaged in an "armed conflict" with the SriLankan government forces for nearly-three decades, but were defeated in 2009 following the death of its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.