Friendship of Keith Vaz and LTTE

The MP who heads the parliamentary body scrutinising Britain’s counter-terrorism laws addressed a rally at which a plea for support for suicide bombers was broadcast, The Times has learnt.

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, addressed the annual Tamil rally in the ExCel centre in East London.

He spoke after partipants watched a televised address by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organisation banned by the Home Office.

Mr Vaz, the MP for Leicester East, was joined by a fellow Labour MP, Joan Ryan. Their presence drew an angry response from the Sri Lankan High Commission, which released a statement claiming that the event was a “clear violation of the UK terrorism laws”.

The rally was organised by British-based Tamils on the birthday of the Tamil Tiger leader. In his address, Mr Vaz told an audience of more than 10,000 people: “I understand the demands made by some for an independent Tamil state. They will grow, unless there is justice.”

Ms Ryan, the MP for Enfield North, told the rally: “I am sorry to have to remember the 70,000 innocent Tamils who lost their lives in the struggle. We must pursue the aims and values for which they lost their lives.”

Earlier in the day, Mr Prabhakaran, in full military dress and in front of the LTTE flag, appeared on six giant screens calling for “the entire Tamil-speaking world to rise up for the liberation of Tamil Eelam”.

In a reference to the LTTE’s use of suicide bombers, he said: “The immeasurable dedication and sacrifice of our heroes is delivering a message to the Sinhala nation.”

The Sri Lankan High Commission accused Mr Vaz yesterday of being “partisan to a proscribed terrorist group” and claimed that the event was organised by apologists for terrorists. “This event was organised by a front organisation of a terrorist group for fundraising and propaganda purposes,” a spokesman said.

When told of the contents of the LTTE leader’s speech and of the criticisms of the Sri Lankan Government, Mr Vaz, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, responded: “I’m not really interested in [the contents of Mr Prabhakaran's speech].

“I was there to deliver a message from the all-party group, which is what I do. I was there to deliver a message from my constituents. I have many Tamil people in my constituency.” Mr Vaz said he was unaware that the Tamil leader was going to speak.

Under the UK Terrorism Act, the Tigers are banned from raising funds, holding property or operating in any form. It is an offence to glorify their activities, or incite others to support them.

Ms Ryan also said that she did not realise that Mr Prabhakaran had spoken. “I told the meeting that we need to find peace through peaceful means and, as is the case in all such conflicts, a negotiated settlement needs to be found urgently,” she said.

As well as watching a speech by the Tamil Tiger leader, people at the event displayed LTTE symbols, and remembered LTTE suicide bombers.

The Sri Lankan High Commission alleged that the rally served as a fundraising event for the group. On arrival all guests, including a reporter from this newspaper, were approached and asked to purchase a single glorylily (the LTTE “national” flower) for £5.

A Times investigation earlier this year discovered that Tamil shopkeepers were being asked to contribute up to £50,000 towards the cost of “the final war”, with threats made against relatives in the country if they failed to comply.

The date of the rally, November 27, Heroes Day, is linked with the LTTE. It falls on the birthday of Mr Prabhakaran, and it is marked by Tamil Tiger sympathisers around the world. Mr Prabhakaran’s speech from the Sri Lankan jungle has been televised at every previous UK Heroes Day.

The British Tamil Forum, which helped to organise the event, says that the funds went towards covering the costs of hiring the venue, and says it is the victim of a smear campaign by the Sri Lankan Government.

Mr Vaz, 51, has been vocal in his desire that UK restrictions on the Tamil Tigers should be lifted.

Mr Vaz, the former minister for Europe, was suspended from Parliament for a month in 2002 for obstructing an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting a separatist war for an ethnic Tamil homeland in the north of Sri Lanka for 25 years.

Since then, the LTTE has formed its own de facto one-party state in the north of the country, becoming one of the best-organised rebel groups in the world.

Its “Black Tiger” brigades pioneered the art of suicide bombing, and were linked to the 1991 assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

In 2004, Amnesty International said that LTTE fighters were beating up parents who refused to give up their children as child soldiers.

The police, who recorded the gathering, told The Times that they were “assessing material from the event to ascertain if there is any evidence of criminal offences being committed”.