Colombo, Jan 3 (IANS) Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris Tuesday met French ambassador to Colombo Christine Robichon and lodged a protest over postage stamps issued in France with images of rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Peiris said it was the responsibility of the French government to ensure that such publication should not have happened and their circulation should be cancelled with immediate effect, Xinhua reported citing a foreign ministry statement.
He said failure to take action in this regard would portray in an erroneous manner the French attitude to global terrorism.
Robichon told the minister that a press statement has been released by the French embassy in Colombo that said the stamps were neither a part of the official philatelic programme of France nor on sale in French post offices.
She said individuals had used the online service offered by La Poste through which customers could order limited quantities of personalised stamps.
The French envoy said La Poste had failed to detect the violation of the conditions and had printed the stamps by mistake.
The Sri Lankan military brought an end to the 30-year civil war by defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009.
