They defeated the Tigers earlier this year but is the Sri Lankan government's war with the Tamils really all over?

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."
 
What is particularly worrying for Tamils living in the diaspora is the suggestion that the Sri Lankan government has plans to target other enemies who live abroad.  According to media reports in Sri Lanka, the government has a blacklist of 100 Tamils living overseas it wants to prosecute.  Professor Gunaratna, who is close to Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary, told Dateline,
 
"I can share with you that the Sri Lankan government is already planning to bring a number of other people home."
 
Tamil community leaders in Australia, who are sometimes accused of supporting the Tamil Tigers, are concerned - and say Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs is taking their concerns seriously.  According to Dr Victor Rajakulendran, Secretary of the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations,

"They have also advised us whenever we are travelling outside Australia, we should let the authorities know here, so they can keep an eye on us."

Find out more this Sunday 8:30pm on SBS ONE.

On air: 18th October 2009