At a time when the entire State was breathing fire over the atrocities perpetrated by Lankan forces on Tamils in the Island nation, three Sri Lankan Tamil youth landed at Arichalmunai near Dhanushkodi in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The parents of the three youth — Prasanth (19) of Vallipunam in Mullaitivu, Vijayaraj (24) of North Meesalai near Paruthithurai and Vasantha Kumar (24) of Savakatcherry — had engaged a boat to reach Tamil Nadu from Mannar coast on Monday evening.
The boat man alighted the trio at Arichalmunai before fleeing the spot. While, the three were walking towards Muhuntharayar Chattiram following tyre marks of vehicles, Dhanushkodi police, based on a tip-off from locals, rushed to the spot and picked them up.
Prasanth of Mullaitivu said the Lankan army abducted Tamil youth and lodged them in Boosa prison near Colombo. The condition of those lodged in the prison there was pitiable, and many of them were also injured by the forces. Moreover, the Sinhalese were trying to enter and dominate Tamil pockets, he alleged.
Expressing the fear that there was no safety for Tamils in the island nation, he said, “My mother had made arrangements for my journey to India so that I can escape the brutalities of the Lankan forces.”
During interrogation, some cops allegedly beat them up pressuring them to reveal the reason behind their visit. The three youth had planned to reach Chennai after registering themselves at Mandapam transit camp and search for jobs.
Vasantha Kumar complained that the Lankan government was providing employment opportunities to Chinese at the expense of Tamils. However, ‘Q’ branch inspector Kennedy said the trio had so far not revealed the true purpose of the visit. They were planning to flee to Australia via Rameswaram, he suspected.