This week on Dateline, Amos Roberts investigates the mysterious disappearance of Kumaran Pathmanathan, or "KP" as he is known, who became the new leader of the Tamil Tigers after the death of Velupillai Prabhakaran in May.
For more than two decades KP had been the Tigers' chief arms smuggler and money launderer, and is still listed on Interpol's "Wanted" list. Now it appears that in a clandestine operation two months ago KP was snatched from a budget hotel in Malaysia and whisked back to Sri Lanka.
The rendition of KP has sparked controversy, with human rights groups accusing Sri Lanka of violating international law. Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi told Amos,
"What we have is an unlawful process that takes somebody basically outside the law. And that makes it vigilantism, that makes it vengeance, but it doesn't make it justice".
But Professor Rohan Gunaratna of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore, argues,
"There was no other way for the Sri Lankan government to do this. I don’t think any human rights organization, if it is a human rights organization, should criticise this. Because KP was the biggest human rights violator."
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