Archives

MADRAS, India, Sunday (AFP) A Sri Lankan MP was denied entry to India and sent back to his country from the airport in southern Madras city, police said Sunday.

M.K. Eelavendan, who represents the pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tamil National Alliance in the Sri Lankan parliament, flew in from Colombo on Saturday afternoon and was sent back by late night.

He was due to attend a World Tamil Confederation conference in Bangalore on Sunday.

Police said the MP was sent back as there has been a clear directive from the home ministry since January 2001 denying him entry to India.

Eelavendan had allegedly provided shelter to a suspected member of the Tigers when he lived in Madras in 2000 as a Sri Lankan refugee, police said.

He had been booked under the Arms and Foreigners' Act and later deported to Sri Lanka on the grounds that "his continued presence on Indian soil was undesirable due to his pro-LTTE activities."

Police said that after becoming a MP, Eelavendan must have obtained a diplomatic passport which enabled him to board the flight to India without a "proper visa" from the Indian high commission (embassy) in Colombo.

www.ceylincoproperties.com

www.Pathmaconstruction.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager