COLOMBO, Feb 9: Sri Lanka has mounted a diplomatic drive to shut down Tamil Tiger offices abroad after Britain's Prince Charles visited the country and condemned rebel bombings, officials said today. The devastating bomb attacks before and after Charles's visit -- blamed on the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- helped focus international attention on the problem, a senior minister said.Industries minister C V Gooneratne told reporters last night he expected Britain to take stronger action against the LTTE operations in London after what he called a ``successful visit by the Prince.''
Charles, the chief guest at Sri Lanka's 50th anniversary of Independence celebrations, described the bombing of the 16th century Temple of the Tooth a week before he arrived here as a ``brutal and malign act.''
Within six hours of his leaving the country, a woman suicide bomber, believed to be a member of the LTTE, blew herself to pieces, killing eight others at a checkpoint at the entrance to thetightly-guarded City Centre.
Charles said he was ``horrified'' by that suicide bombing which came shortly after he appealed for ethnic peace in the country.
Minister Gooneratne said British attention to Sri Lanka's ethnic strife could pressurise the British government to close down the LTTE'S international secretariat in London. ``We hope it will happen very soon,'' Gooneratne said. During Charles's visit, deputy defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte criticised foreign governments which give Tamil Tiger rebels a safe haven.
Media minister Mangala Samaraweera, who accompanied Charles as his minister-in-attendance, said Buckingham Palace had received 300 to 400 letters asking the Prince not to go ahead with the visit to Sri Lanka.
``We are grateful to him for going ahead with the visit despite all these lobbies,'' Samaraweera told reporters after opening an Independence golden jubilee exhibition last night.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
