COLOMBO: Tamil National People's Front Jaffna District MP Selvarasa Gajendran and two others, who were arrested in the Sri Lankan city of Jaffna on Thursday for violating quarantine regulations and holding a memorial to commemorate the death anniversary of former LTTE leader, Thileepan, were released on bail on Friday, police said.
Gajendran and the police got into a scuffle on Thursday during the memorial observation organised in connection with the 34th death anniversary of Thileepan, who had died in 1987 while staging a hunger strike against the Sri Lankan government.
Gajendran was dragged into the police vehicle and taken into custody.
Police said the Jaffna MP was arrested not only for violating quarantine norms but for participating in an event to show solidarity towards a former member of the LTTE, a banned outfit.
Tamil parties have slammed Gajendran's arrest, terming it a case of police high-handedness.
An MP being dragged by the police like a common criminal is a high-handed act. To my knowledge there is no law which states that we cannot remember our dead, former Chief Minister of the Tamil majority northern province CV Wigneswaran said.
He added that such actions not only expose the government but will only make the Sri Lankan Tamils more determined in their struggle for political self-determination.