COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - The Tamil Tiger rebels called on the international community Sunday to intervene to ensure the safety of their new leader, a former weapons smuggler who is being held by Sri Lanka's defence authorities.
The government announced last week that Selvarasa Pathmanathan, who at one time ran the rebels' vast international smuggling ring and was wanted by Interpol, had been arrested in Southeast Asia and sent back to Sri Lanka for questioning.
Pathmanathan, known by the nom de guerre KP, had been working to turn the remnants of the violent insurgent group into a peaceful liberation movement after the government routed the rebels on the battlefield in May and killed their revered leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.
A statement from the group's remnants said they fear for the safety of Pathmanathan, who was named the rebels' new leader last month.
"We call upon the international community to become involved in this matter in order to assure the safety and security of Mr. Pathmanathan according to international standards, and to facilitate access to legal representation," the statement said.
The circumstances of Pathmanathan's capture remain in dispute, with the government saying only that he was arrested within the Asian region and refusing to provide details.
The rebels say Pathmanathan was arrested Wednesday near a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. But Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters he could neither confirm nor deny the report.
Sri Lanka's Island newspaper, quoting anonymous sources, said Pathmanathan was captured in Thailand. Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn denied he was arrested there.
The rebels, who had been fighting to create a separate nation for minority Tamils for more than a quarter century, once controlled a shadow state in parts of northern Sri Lanka that Prabhakaran ran as a virtual dictatorship.
Pathmanathan, who was believed to be based in Southeast Asia, helped fund the state by running an international smuggling ring that Jane's Intelligence Review estimated earned up to $300 million a year. Sri Lankan officials said he travelled on dozens of passports.
