Three arrested for commemorating death of LTTE fighter released on bail

The three arrested in the Sri Lankan city of Jaffna on Thursday for holding a memorial to commemorate the death anniversary of LTTE fighter Thileepan was released on Friday on bail. Tamil National People's Front Jaffna District MP Selvarasa Gajendran is one among the three arrested.

LTTE fighter Thileepan died in 1987 while holding a hunger strike against the Sri Lankan government. This year, it was his 34th death anniversary. Gajendran and the police clashed at the memorial. He was then taken into custody. The police have informed that the Jaffna MP was arrested for violating quarantine norms and participating in an event expressing solidarity for a former member of a banned organization.

Tamil parties have slammed Gajendran's arrest, terming it a case of police high-handedness."An MP being dragged by the police like a common criminal is a high-handed act. To my knowledge there is no law which states that we cannot remember our dead," former Chief Minister of the Tamil majority northern province CV Wigneswaran said.