SLA denies permission to Thirumavalavan to meet public in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 07:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna turned down the request of Thol. Thirumavalavan, Tamil Nadu Parliamentarian and leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Kadchi (VCK) Party, to meet the public in Jaffna when the delegation of Tamil Nadu MPs was taken to Jaffna Public Library for a meeting Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna University Students expressed their strong protest against India for having let down the Eezham Tamils and for deceiving them continually, when the MPs met students in Jaffna University Sunday, the sources added.

The group of Tamil Nadu parliamentarians landed at the SLA base in Jaffna Fort Sunday around 9:45 a.m in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter and from there they were taken to Thanthai Chelva Monument where the visiting MPs offered flowers.

The MPs who had come to see the state of the Vanni IDPs held in SLA internment camps were taken in procession with percussion band from the Monument to Jaffna Public Library.

Minister Douglas Devananda, Northern Province Governor and former Jaffna SLA Commander, G. A. Chandrasiri and Ruling UPFA Jaffna Mayor, Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam received the MPs and joined the procession.

When the minister and governor requested the visiting MPs to urge India to assist in the development of the North during the meeting, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Provincial Council members intervened to emphasise that the resettlement of the IDPs held in SLA internment camps in their own places is the urgent need of the hour and that India should exert pressure on Sri Lanka to attend to this issue immediately.

After the meeting when Thirumavalavan wanted to go out and meet the public, permission was refused to him.

The students of Jaffna University expressed their anger and blamed the Central Government of India for crushing the voice of the people of Tamil Nadu when they rose in unison for the sake of Eezham Tamils.

“On the day the election results were out in India, Sri Lanka Army shelled Vanni and I lost five members of my family when we were in a bunker,” an undergrad from Vanni who had also been interned in Vavuniya camp said amidst tears.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Tamil Nadu delegation of MPs did not go to the SLA internment camps in Thenmaraadchi as scheduled.

The measured response of the MPs to issues raised by representatives of various organizations revealed that they were trying to guard their hosts at the expense of the suffering Eeham Tamils in SLA internment camps, civil society sources in Jaffna said.

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