Strict police vigil at Eelam memorial: Entry restricted to Mullivaikkal site
Entry restricted to Mullivaikkal site post memorial wall demolition.
By : s. irshad ahamed
Update: 2013-11-15 08:28 GMT
Thanjavur: The police on Thursday blocked the main road leading to the Mullivaikkal Memorial. A day earlier, officials of the highways department demolished the wall of the memorial erected by the World Tamils Confederation on the Vilar bypass near here in memory of civilians and militants killed in the ethnic war in Sri Lanka.
The memorial site too is now under the police’s control, entry of people and vehicles being restricted. Even the media, present to cover the latest developments, could enter only with permission. Meanwhile, the second judicial magistrate court here rejected the bail applications of Ulaga Thamizhar Peramaippu president P. Nedumaran and 81 others.
Despite these restrictions, the visitors were making a beeline to the memorial. “Police did not allow visitors till 11 am. Only after we protested were they admitted,” alleged Sami Karikalan, member of the Mullivaikkal Memorial Trust, who also objected to the presence of a large number of police personnel on the premises of the memorial.
“We have no objection to the police protecting the area belonging to the highways department. But the presence of police personnel on the premises of the memorial instills a sense of fear in visitors. The police also hasten the visitors out of the memorial which is located on private, but patta, land,” Karikalan alleged.
Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam founder president K. Ramakrishnan, who visited the memorial on Thursday, also appealed to the authorities to immediately withdraw the police force from the memorial site and allow entry of visitors without any restrictions.
“The state government must protect the Mullivaikkal memorial for those dead in Eelam war and make it easy for visitors to come and see it without any restrictions or fear,” Ramakrishnan said.