Activists of the Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam protest against MR visit -25 arrested

Activists of the Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam, protesting against the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Tirupathi visit on February 8, picketed an express train at the Puducherry railway station on Wednesday.

Police arrested 25 activists picketing the Howrah Express. The activists, led by Arumaidass, raised slogans against the Central government. The train was delayed by half an hour. Thirty-four activists of a human rights organisation, staging protest near a temple run by Tirupathi trust, were arrested. Federation of People’s Rights secretary K Sugumaran, in a statement, urged the Central government not to allow the visit and added that the international community held Rajapaksa responsible for the massacre of Tamils during the final phases of Eelam war in Sri Lanka. He said that Rajapaksa had openly said the devolution of power in Tamil-dominated areas would not be implemented. Condemning the decision to go ahead with the proposed visit, he said the Central government should, instead, support the Tamils’ cause in the island nation.