COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
―The PLOTE originated as an LTTE splinter group, but it was never well armed and its military
activities remained low key. In time, internal feuds and a souring of relations with its Indian
sponsors fuelled the PLOTE's slow demise and the group was largely wiped out by the LTTE in
1986. After the [1987] Indo-Lanka Accord, the PLOTE renounced its armed rebellion against the
Sri Lankan government, but maintains armed cadres to this day.‖ (Jane‘s Sentinel, Country Risk
Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka, accessed on 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17
January 2012) 574
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)
Leader: Mahinda Rajapakse
Vice-president: Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan [aka Karuna Amman]
―The SLFP is the largest party within the ruling UPFA coalition.‖
―In April 2004, a new electoral alliance between the SLFP and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi
Peramuna (JVP) became the basis of a winning UPFA electoral coalition, which ending the
UNF's 28 months in power. The SLFP prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse became the UPFA's
presidential candidate in the November 2005 elections, with the strong backing of the JVP and
the hard-line Sinhala Buddhist party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU). Rajapakse is a
seasoned SLFP leader, and comes from a very well known political family in the Hambantota
district of southern Sri Lanka - his father was one of the founding members of the SLFP in 1951.
However, Rajapakse's rise to power represents a historic break in the SLFP from the virtually
uninterrupted leadership of the Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga clan. Rajapakse is a popular and
strong personality within the party, and has positioned two of his brothers into commanding
positions of power.‖ (Jane‘s Sentinel, Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka,
accessed on 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012) 575
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) http://www.slmc.org.uk/
Leader: Rauff Hakeem
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress officially crossed over to the government side during the
parliamentary sessions of 22 November 2010.
―At the last general election [April 2010] the SLMC contested under the main opposition United
National Party (UNP) led opposition alliance United National Front and won 8 seats.‖ 576
―In the 2011 local elections, the SLMC, previously a constituent party of the UPFA, campaigned
alone in 42 local authorities.‖ (Jane‘s Sentinel, Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri
Lanka, accessed on 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012) 577
Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (Tamil People’s Liberation Party) (TMVP)/Karuna
faction
574 Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka,
http://sentinel.janes.com/docs/sentinel/SASS_country.jsp?Prod_Name=SASS&Sent_Country=Sri%20La
nka& [subscription only] date accessed 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012
575 Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka,
http://sentinel.janes.com/docs/sentinel/SASS_country.jsp?Prod_Name=SASS&Sent_Country=Sri%20La
nka& [subscription only] date accessed 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012
576 ColomboPage, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress to sit in the government side from today
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_10C/Nov22_1290416406CH.php date accessed 9 June 2011
577 Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka,
http://sentinel.janes.com/docs/sentinel/SASS_country.jsp?Prod_Name=SASS&Sent_Country=Sri%20La
nka& [subscription only] date accessed 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012
228 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.