14 people with terror links barred from entering Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government has banned the entry of 14 people, having alleged links with the terrorist organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from entering the country.

As per a gazette notification by Secretary of the Ministry of Defence Kapila Waidyaratne, the names of the 14 persons, believed to be living overseas, have been listed for "terrorism-related activities" or for "financing terrorism" or both, Colombo Page reported.

Also, the foreign and local addresses of the suspected people have been included in the notification.

The gazette is an extension of the list of names published initially in the "List of Designated Persons under Regulations 4 (7) of the United Nations Regulations No. 1 of 2012" on November 9, 2016, as per the report.

The 14 people include - Nadaraja Sathyaseelan aka Seel Maran, Kamalasinham Arunakulasinham aka Kamal, Antonyrasa Antony Calistor aka Parathan, Sivasubramaniyam Jeyaganesh aka Ganesh, aka Samraj, Ponnasami Paskaran aka Jeyakaran, Velaudan Pradeepkumar aka Kaleeban, Siwarasa Surendran aka wadann, Sivagurunadan Murugadas aka Kadirawan, Thirunilakandal Naguleshwaran aka Pushpanadan, Maheshwaran Ravichandran aka Mendis, aka Thirukkumaran, Suresh Kumar Pradeepan, Kandasamy Krishnamoorthi, a.k,a Moorthi, Jeewarathnam Jeewakumar, a.k,a Siranjeew Master, and Tony Jihan Murugesapillai.

The LTTE, founded by Velupillai Prabhakaran in 1976 waged a secessionist civil war with the Sri Lankan government to form an independent state of Tamil Eelam for Tamilians in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.

At its peak, it conducted several suicide attacks in the country and plotted the assassination of several Indian and Sri Lankan politicians.

The LTTE is suspected to have killed former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Sri Lankan president R. Premadasa.