Tamil Nadu MPs delegation to see IDP internment camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 11:45 GMT]
Eight Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu, from the ruling Congress Party and its supporting political parties Dravida Munetra Kazhakam (DMK) and Viduthalai Chiruththaikal (VCK) are expected to arrive in Colombo Sunday and from there they will be taken to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa where the Vannin IDPs are detained, sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, opposition parties in Tamil Nadu and India including Communist Party have expressed their strong protest for not having included any MP from the opposition or prominent leaders who had stood up for Eezham Tamils for many years. Sri Lanka government intends to take this delegation on a ‘guided tour’ to ‘selected spots’ in an effort to hide the true conditions under which the IDPs are suffering, representatives of IDP welfare organizations said.

The delegation consists of T. R. Baalu, Kanimozhi, T. K. S Elangovan, and Helen Davidson (all DMK); Sudarsana Natchiappan, J M Haroon, N S V Chithan and K S Azhagiri (all Cong) and Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK).

The visiting MPs will first meet Sri Lanka President in Colombo and from there will proceed to Vavuniyaa probably accompanied by the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.

The delegation is also expected to go to Jaffna where they will be taken to SLA IDP internment camps in Thenmaraadchi, sources in Jaffna said.

Meanwhile, SLA authorities are hastily making arrangements to bring 418 IDPs including 103 pregnant women and 650 IDPs originally from the islets of Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps to Jaffna Saturday saying that all of them are to be allowed to go to their homes, the sources added.

The visiting Tamil Nadu MPs are also expected to taken to Jaffna University where IDP students who had gained admission to the university are following lectures.

They are also scheduled to meet civil society representatives at Jaffna Public Library and the representatives will make use of the opportunity to tell the visiting MPs the true state of affairs in the peninsula as well as the plight of IDPs brought to the islets of Jaffna and detained again in Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) internment camps.