No let-up in arrests of Tamil youths at Katunayake airport

February 5, 2015

Despite regime change and claims of relaxing security measures especially against the ethnic Tamils, the arrests of Tamil youths at the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake continue to take place unabatedly.

According to official sources, at least Two Tamil youths have been arrested by the CID on arrival from the Middle Eastern countries at the airport two days before Independence Day and detained at the notorious Fourth Floor in Fort.

Kandasamy Karunananidhi (36) from Mankadu, Batticaloa has been arrested on February 2nd at the airport by the CID when arrived in from Qatar on holiday to visit his wife and child. Similarly, 29-year old Thamodaram Baskaran from Kokkaddicholai, Batticaloa has been arrested by the CID on arrival from Dubai. He too was returning home on holiday to visit his wife and child.

Batticaloa district parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) P. Ariyanethran has said these two youths, working in the Middle-Eastern countries have often been visiting Sri Lanka during vacations to visit their families.

“According to the parents, these two boys had briefly been in the LTTE, but they left the outfit long ago and were working in Doha and Qatar. They have often visited their families from time to time without any problem in the past. But this time, they have been arrested and detained by the CID at the Fourth Floor,” he said.

“The President is changed, the government is changed but the security-related intimidations against the Tamils have not changed and continue as it was during the Rajapaksa regime,” the Batticaloa district MP said.

These incidents have happened at the country’s international airport barely a few days after the government and its top ministers made a public announcement requesting all the Tamil expatriates to return home and join the new government’s effort to collectively take forward the embattled nation.

“I raised this issue in parliament today. I told the House clearly that the situation for the Tamils in the country remains the same regardless of who comes to power. There is no freedom for Tamils in the country. Looking at these developments, it is clear the situation is not yet conducive for the Diaspora Tamils to return,” MP Ariyanethran said.