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Jaffna terror targets Tamil political leaders

One month since the military attack on the Jaffna University, threatening notices have been issued accusing prominent Tamil politicians in the north for 'creating unrest among the students with the aim of reviving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).'

Thousands of leaflets, printed in Sinhala language and distributed among university students in the south have described the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) as ‘Tiger outfits’ while warning the southern students not to engage with the Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU), which is ‘determined to divide the country.’  The leaflet carries photographs of former parliamentarian and TNPF General Secretary S Kajendran alongside the TNA parliamentarian E Saravanapavan accusing them of being top leaders in a ‘pro LTTE & TNA/TNPF Network in Jaffna University’. 

The leaflet further accuses the political groups in the south including Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) and Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) for providing assistance to ‘revive the defeated terror outfit’ and calls on the Sinhala students not to provide support to any such groups.

‘Do not fall into the trap laid by these sinister elements aiming to divide the country’ it urged.

Sri Lanka’s main Tamil parliamentary party TNA and the TNPF have been working alongside student and academic unions for the release of four Jaffna University students detained in the Welikanda military detention camp. The campaign has also been supported by students, academic and several left wing organisations from the Sinhala majority south.

Jaffna Students' Union Secretary Paramalingam Darshananth, Arts Faculty Union President Kanakasundaraswami Jenamejeyan, Science Faculty Union member Shanmugam Solomon and Students’ Union President V. Bavanandan were taken into custody on November 29 and 30 by Sri Lanka police following a military crackdown  on peaceful student protests.

‘Southern links’

The evidently state sponsored leaflet distributed among students in the south has also published photographs of the FSP activist Udul Premarathne and IUSF activist Sanjeewa Bandara, while accusing them as 'pro-terror elements' in the south backed by 'LTTE groups based overseas.'

Rejecting local and international calls for the freedom of detained Tamil undergraduates, Sri Lanka has stated that there will be no release until they complete government’s rehabilitation programme ‘designed for terror suspects’. In a recently held  meeting with the parents and university dons, the top military officer in Jaffna has told them ‘not even dream of’ an earlier release of detained students. However, Tamil organisations who continue to protest have also won the support of Sinhala dominated organisations in the South while the Jaffna undergraduates’ boycott of lectures has progressed for a month.

TID summon the TNPF leader

While the threatening notice was distributed as the detained students reportedly refusing to confess that they are LTTE members, police have summoned the TNPF leader and former parliamentarian Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalam to the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) on the 29th of December. The police summons, served at his Colombo residence, does not disclose any details about the ‘investigation.’

Photo courtesy: Tamilnet

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