Eastern Provincial Councillor Govindan Karunakaran (Jana) of TELO today rejected the claim of TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran that those who protested in France and disrupted a TNA meeting were people who had been victims of TELO.

A meeting attended by TNA MPs Selvam Adaikalanathan, A. K. Kodiswaran, Northern Provincial Councillor M.K. Sivajilingam and Councillor Karunakaran held at a restaurant in La Chapelle, Paris on October 9 was disrupted by a group of protestors.

When contacted by the Daily mirror MP Sumanthiran quoting MP Adaikalanathan said that those who had protested were people allegedly harassed by the military and TELO in the 1990s and their family associates.

He also said the protestors had accused Councillor Karunakaran of excesses against them in the 90s.

However, rejecting the claim Karunakaran said that he had no connection of the nature as claimed by Sumanthiran.

“We were attending a meeting in La Chapelle to explain the current political situation in Sri Lanka and about the resolution adopted by the UNHRC,” Jana said.
“As the meeting was proceeding, we heard a tense situation outside. One of the participants at the meeting went outside and he returned claiming several individuals were picketing outside the restaurant. We invited the protestors as well to discuss the matter,” he said.

He said two men in their thirties had entered the restaurant and scolded him for leaving the country for the UK back then.

“A member of Voice of Tigers, the LTTE’s pirate broadcast, and a former intelligence member of the LTTE were the two who shouted against me.

“They accused me of leaving the country amidst LTTE threats, as if being on the hit list of the LTTE was a good thing. They are the members of a group which clandestinely collects money from Tamils in Europe forcibly,” Jana said.

“The two just made me a target in their attempt to prevent us from explaining the peaceful situation in Sri Lanka. If people knew the real situation, they would stop giving money to these groups,” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)