Four young Tamil pilgrims arrested by SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 08:52 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) troops at Valliamman Aru camp, Uganthai, in Amparai, arrested four young Tamil pilgrims from Kaluwanchikkudy, Batticaloa who were walking through the jungle paths in a pilgrimage to Kathirkamam Murugan Temple, a sacred Hindu shrine in the South said S.Pathmanathan, the welfare officer for the pilgrims.

The youths, T.Vimal, K.Kamalrajan, T.Ravikkumar and M.Rajan of Kaluwanchikkudy set out on 26 July.

Pathmasri Rajapakse, the Secretary for the Presidential Secretariat Action Committee for the Kathirkamam Festival and the Coordinator for the President of Sri Lanka, was informed about these arrests, he further said.

Meanwhile, the kith and kin of the pilgrims who are already on their way to Kathirkamam by foot are very much concerned about their fate.

Many Hindu pilgrims, as an offer to the God, every year walk to Kathirkamam temple to attend the annual festival from July to August.