Sri Lanka calls French Ambassador on publishing LTTE stamps by French mail service

Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs, Prof. G.L. Peiris has called in the Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka Christine Robichon to express Sri Lanka's concern over the issue of four stamps by the French mail service La Poste depicting images of the banned Tamil Tiger terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Minister Peiris has notified the Ambassador that although the issue of stamps is not facilitated by the French government, it is the government's responsibility to ensure publication of such images of a banned terrorist group should not have happened and urged the French government to cancel the circulation of the stamps with immediate effect. According to a statement issued by the Ministry, Minister Peiris has protested in the strongest possible terms, and urged the French Ambassador for her government to take immediate action for the non-circulation of the stamps. Emphasizing that this action by an LTTE front organization would harm the reputation of the French government globally, the Minister expressed confidence that the government of France would take immediate action not to give credence to such moves by a terrorist front. Professor Peiris has pointed out that when governments, especially in the West allow the pro-LTTE groups to operate in such a manner, the Sri Lankan public will question those countries' bona-fides and the Sri Lankan government has to consider the public opinion since the pro-LTTE groups overseas are still seeking to achieve their objectives through different means. Responding to Minister's concerns, the French Ambassador has said that French Embassy in Colombo has issued a statement stating that these are neither a part of the official philatelic programme of France nor on sale in the French Post Office. Ms. Robichon has explained that the individuals through the La Poste's online services could order personalized stamps and La Poste had failed to detect the violations of the conditions and had printed the stamps by mistake. The French Ambassador has confirmed the publication of 360 stamps by La Poste. However, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed La Poste that LTTE is a terrorist group banned by the EU in 2006, the mail service has assured that no such stamps will be printed further. The Minister has pointed out that this is a devious manner the LTTE is raising funds and underlined the need to halt such activities.