The government yesterday dismissed UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent claim that the TMVP (Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal) was the first Tamil armed group given the political recognition.

"An absolute lie," a senior official said while accusing the UNP and the TNA (Tamil National Alliance) of trying to undermine forthcoming local government elections in the Batticaloa district.

Pillayan, a hardcore ex-LTTE cadre seized control of the renegade outfit, which was once loyal to Karuna, who now faces the prospect of a jail term in the UK.

The official said that the TMVP wouldn’t be able to lay down arms as long as the LTTE carried weapons. "Without arms, TMVP cadres would be vulnerable," he said while recalling President JR Jayewardene’s decision to issue hundreds of weapons to all registered political parties including the UNP, SLFP and now defunct USA (United Socialist Alliance) to face the JVP challenge in the late 80s.

The UNP had conveniently forgotten the political recognition given to the LTTE during Ranasinghe Premadasa’s tenure as President, sources said.

Addressing a gathering of party activists at Sirikotha on Tuesday (22) Wickremesinghe said that this would be the first time an armed group was registered as a political party. He warned that the forthcoming elections would be marred by violence due to the TMVP factor.

US Ambassador Robert Blake during a visit to Batticaloa reiterated Wickremesinghe’s concerns. He emphasized the urgent need to disarm all armed groups operating in the East.

A senior official with the Elections Department Wednesday told The Island that the PFLT (People’s Front of Liberation Tigers)-the political wing of the LTTE, which was recognised by the then Polls Commissioner Chandrananda de Silva, remained a registered political party.

This writer covered the press briefing given by LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham on December 20, 1989, at the Colombo Hilton where the advisor to the newly formed political front revealed that their flag would be red of rectangular shape with the Tiger emblem in the middle. Mahattaya, Velupillai Prabhakaran’s second-in-command was named the President of the PFLT and Yogiratnam Yogi its General Secretary.

Flanked by armed LTTE bodyguards, Balasingham and Yogi declared that they wouldn’t lay down their arms until the IPKF pulled out of Sri Lanka. The LTTE had written to Polls Chief on December 4, 1989 and received political recognition on December 19.

This was done at the behest of President Premadasa, government sources said. The UNP leader couldn’t have been unaware of this, the sources said. The political recognition followed the double assassination of TULF leader A. Amirthalingam and Vettivelu Yogeswaran at the latter’s Colombo residence.

Military sources said that political recognition was given in the midst of a bloody LTTE campaign in the North and East where it hunted down the TNA (Tamil National Army) created by the IPKF and TELO, PLOTE, EPRLF and EPDP cadres. The LTTE received arms, ammunition and equipment from the government while security forces received strict instructions not to interfere with the LTTE action, the sources said. In fact, security forces provided tactical support for LTTE units to carry out massacres, the sources said.

The LTTE which won political recognition to contest the North East Provincial Council forced Premadasa to dissolve it, the sources said. The LTTE/PFLT continued killings with impunity. The victims included M. Mansoor, a member of the North East Provincial Council.

Chandrananda also recognised TELO, PLOTE, EPRLF and EPDP as political parties despite all of them retaining arms, during Premadasa’s administration. This came about after the LTTE resumed hostilities in June 1990 thereby forcing the UNP to forge an alliance with Tamil groups which it helped the LTTE to target.