Description

On 7th June, Member of Parliament, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam was arrested at his house in Colombo by the Maruthankerny Police station in Jaffna, for allegedly obstructing Police officers a several days ago. While the Police had summoned him to provide a statement at the Police, he had come to Colombo to take part at parliamentary sessions after informing the speaker of the parliament and the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Maruthankerny Police station. A few days ago, while participating at a meeting with a sports club member in Maruthankerny in Jaffna, participants of the meetings had noticed three unidentified persons at the venue. As Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam had intervened to verify their identities, the strangers had attempted to flee the scene, while the crowd had captured one of them while others had fled. The person captured has been revealed to be a state intelligence officer. One person who fled the scene had threatened Ponnambalam pointing a gun at him before getting away. After the incident, the Police had summoned Ponnambalam to record a statement at the Maruthankerny Police station in Jaffna on 8th June. Ponnambalam had refused to accept the summon notice as it was written in Sinhala language and he was unable to understand it. Then the Police had read the summon notices for him. After verbally informing the OIC of the Police station that he will attend the Police station once Parliamentary sessions are over, he had come to Colombo. However, as the Police filed a case against him at the Kilinochchi Magistrate court, the court ordered him to provide a statement at the Police station, and issued an order preventing him from travelling abroad. Following the magistrate’s order, the officers of Maruthankerny Police station arrested him at his residence in Colombo, and took him to the Police station in Jaffna to record the statement. Intimidation, and surveillance on politicians and activists from minority communities by state intelligence services is a common pattern in the North and East.