Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested two Tamil men at Colombo airport this week, as they returned from the Middle East to visit their families on holiday.
Kandasamy Karunananidhi, a 36 year old man from Mankadu, Batticaloa and Thamodaram Baskaran, a 29 year old from Kokkaddicholai, Batticaloa were both arrested on arrival in Sri Lanka on 2 February. They are currently being detained in the notorious fourth floor of the CID headquarters in Colombo, reports Colombo Mirror.
Both men, who were working in Doha and Qatar, had returned to the island in order to visit their wives and children. Tamil National Alliance MP P Ariyanenthiran said that both men had returned several times over the past without facing any difficulty.
“According to the parents, these two boys had briefly been in the LTTE, but they left the outfit long ago and were working in Doha and Qatar,” said Mr Ariyanenthiran. “They have often visited their families from time to time without any problem in the past. But this time, they have been arrested and detained by the CID at the Fourth Floor.”
Commenting on the arrests, the Batticaloa district MP said all Tamils on the island still faced intimidation from state security forces, saying “it is clear the situation is not yet conducive for the diaspora Tamils to return.”
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