Permission denied to meet Lankan refugees

Tamil Nationalist political partymen (Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi) in Tamil Nadu are disenchanted with the police in the district after they were reportedly denied permission on Wednesday to meet Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the settlement in Bhavani Sagar.

The Hindu reportd that the Party functionaries led by its State deputy general secretary Vanniarasu had gone to meet the refugees who had represented to VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan that they were hounded by functionaries of mainstream political parties when the team was not only denied permission, but also detained for about an hour.

Irked by unfair treatment at a local sports event, unidentified people in the refugee camp had torn posters of some politicians, triggering demand from the political parties for shifting of the refugee camp out of Bhavani Sagar. The VCK only intended to interact with the refugees to know the facts, said zonal organising secretary of VCK, Vinayagamoorthy. There was no rule as such that the people in refugee camp must be kept in isolation. No such situation prevails in the refugee camps in other districts, Mr. Vinayagamoorthy said.