Lankan minister Devananda claims amnesty under 1987 accord
June 11, 2010 06:11 pm
Sri Lankan Minister Douglas Devananda, who was declared a
proclaimed offender by a Chennai court in 1986 and is accompanying President
Mahinda Rajapaksa on his
Devananda, whose presence in the presidential delegation
created a stir in
“According to the Indo-Sri Lanka agreement, they have given pardon to all leaders, all political leaders,” he told reporters here. “If there is anything legal, I am prepared to face that.”
Devananda, now Minister for Traditional Industries and Small Enterprises, was declared a proclaimed offender and an absconding accused by a sessions court in Tamil Nadu over a shootout-cum-murder in Chennai in 1986.
Devananda was then a member of the separatist movement Eelam
People’s Revolutionary Front (EPRLF) in
Devananda also asserted that his visits to
He has found backing from
A Sri Lankan official agreed that Devananda ceased to be a
proclaimed offender after the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka accord and has visited
“After the India-Sri Lanka accord in 1987, many political
leaders belonging to former separatist groups were pardoned. Devananda ceased
to be a PO (proclaimed offender) after the accord,” Sugeeswara Senadhira,
consultant director, policy research and information, in the presidential
office, told IANS in
“This is not the first time he has visited
Describing Rajapaksa’s ongoing visit to