The leader of the extremist ‘We Are Tamil Party’ (Naam Tamilar Katchi), S. Seeman was denied entry into the US when he arrived at the New York Airport on Saturday morning. Members of his party were quoted by Indian media as saying that US immigration officials cited his pro-LTTE leanings, which in their view was a ‘threat to national security.’
Seeman’s planned 10-day US visit was for the purpose of attending the annual meeting of the World Tamil Organization (US Chapter) in New York, party member Ayyanathan said.
The Naam Tamilar leader had obtained his visa a month ago and arrived in NYC via Dubai. “When the Tamils who had come to receive him queried why he was not let in, they were told that he was deemed a ‘threat to national security’ because of our party’s leanings,” alleged Ayyanathan.
Seeman, a wellknown filmmaker in Tamil Nadu, is the second pro-LTTE activist to be denied entry at a airport in recent weeks. Last month, India denied entry to Rev Father S.J.Emmanuel the President of the LTTE rump group Global Tamil Forum (GTF) at Chennai airport, who was carrying a visa issued by the Indian high commission in Germany. The controversial priest with was scheduled to meet the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and to address meetings in Madras University and JNU Delhi.
Seeman whose newly-launched party uses the leaping tiger symbol often glorifies the Chola rulers and portrays himself as the successor to Tamil Tiger supremo V. Prabhakaran. Virulently anti-Sri Lankan, he agitated to stop Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya from playing at a corporate cricket tournament final at Mayajaal ground in Chennai.
"18 million Sinhalese may think they have conquered Tamils. We should remember 75 millions are here," he said at the inauguration of his party.
Swiss Court Approves Return of Tamil Refugees to Sri Lanka
Resettled refugees. Photo credit:Karl Grobl
UPDATE: SL-USA
The Swiss Federal Administrative Court has upheld a decision made early this year by the Swiss Federal Office For Migration that it is safe to repatriate Tamil asylum seekers back to Sri Lanka.
The court said the general security situation in Sri Lanka has improved and stabilized since the end of the war in 2009, with the exception of the Wanni, the former stronghold of the Tamil Tigers where landmines and the extensive of devastation has slowed rebuilding.
Under the court order, asylum seekers will not be forced to return if they have no place to go other than the Wanni area.
The Court has also ruled that rejected asylum seekers from Sri Lanka can be sent back.
Switzerland, home to an estimated 50,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, has been a hotbed of illegal LTTE fundraising activity. In June, Swiss police arrested ten Tamils for money laundering, extortion, and membership of a criminal organisation.
The suspects allegedly forced other Tamils in Switzerland to donate large sums of money to the LTTE by obtaining fraudulent credit loans for which they used fake salary statements.
Meanwhile, forty-nine refugees will voluntarily return to Sri Lanka from Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency has said.
Comprising 12 families, presently residing in different camps across the State, they belong to the second batch of refugees who will go back to Sri Lanka with UNHCR assistance. The Tuticorin-Colombo service, launched earlier this year, transported the first batch of 37 refugees in October and will transport Tuesday’s group as well.
The Sri Lankan government announced last week (Nov. 4) that only 10,000 out of over 300,000 displaced civilians were left to be resettled.
“We have just 2100 families or around 10,000 people left to be resettled,” Minister of Resettlement Gunaratna Weerakoon on Friday said, adding that they are currently housed in the displaced camps at northern Vavuniya district’s Settikulam.
“The people who are left to be resettled have come from areas where de-mining is yet to be completed,” Mr/ Weerakoon said.