The United National Party (UNP) today accused the government of treating the senior most surviving Tamil Tiger leader as “a pet” and providing him with “diplomatic privileges” while pocketing LTTE money in return.

Immediately after the arrest of Kumaran Pathmanathan, alias ‘KP’, the government declared him as the chief arms procurer, international fund raiser and current leader of the LTTE, UNP MP Tissa Attanayake said.

He claimed that man who is not only a suspect in the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, but also supplied state of the art weapons to Prabhakaran to kill Sri Lankan forces, has now become a “pet” of the government and has obtained freedom.

When KP was brought down to Sri Lanka following his arrest, the government stated  that the LTTE’s assets amounting to around Rs. 200,000 million, its bank accounts, ships and fuel stations will be acquired by the government, he said.

The government itself said the money in LTTE accounts amount to 600 million dollars and that 18 ships were controlled by the Tamil Tigers, Attanayake said while inquiring as to what has now happened to this Rs. 200,000 million in assets and under whose custody they are.

“We can understand the government’s necessity to release Kumaran Pathmanathan.”

Either this large sum of money has “gone into someone’s pocket” and KP was released in exchange or he was released with an ulterior motive, the UNP spokesman said at a press briefing today.

Attanayake said he believes releasing such an international criminal without any form of trial or hearing is a grave crime in its own.

Comparing the plight of the country’s soldiers who won the war and how the man who supplied weapons to kill the soldiers is being treated, he stated Kumaran Pathmanathan is enjoying “diplomatic privileges.”