Two MPs among 27 Tamils banned from Mullivaikkal commemorations

Seven police stations in the Mullaitivu district have obtained court injunctions against 27 individuals, including two MPs, preventing them from carrying out Mullivaikkal commemorations.

The applications were put in by the Mullaitivu, Puthukudiyiruppu, Mankulam, Oddusuddan, Mallavi, Iyankankulam and Mulliyawalai police stations.

The 27 individuals include elected politicians and civil society activists. The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) MPs Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and Selvarajah Kajendran were targeted by three different police stations.

The Mulliyawalai police did not single out individuals but requested a blanket ban on Mullivaikkal commemorations within its area.

The bans come in the midst of a crackdown on attempted commemorations of the genocide, and on the same day when the Mullivaikkal memorial was found smashed and a memorial stone stolen from the regular commemoration site. Although the Sri Lankan army has denied responsibility for the attack, the site had been cordoned off by soldiers at the time and boot prints left near the damage.

The 27 individuals served with injunctions are:

1. Tamil National People’s Front MP and leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam

2. Tamil National People’s Front MP and general secretary, Selvarajah Kajendran

3. Head of the Mullaitivu district association of the families of disappeared, Mariyasuresh Eeswari

4. Former Northern Provincial Council member, Thurairasa Ravikaran

5. Former Northern Provincial Council member, Andiaiya Bhuvaneswaran

6. Chair of the Karaithuraipattu Divisional Council, Kamalanathan Vijinthan

7. Vice chair of Puthukudiyiruppu Divisional Council, Kanagasundaraswamy Jenamejayanth

8. Member of Puthukudiyiruppu Divisional Council, Arumugam Johnson

9. Member of Puthukudiyiruppu Divisional Council, Ganapathipillai Vijayakumar

10. Member of Puthukudiyiruppu Divisional Council, Ramalingam Sathiyaseelan

11. Member of Thunukkai Divisional Council, Raghunathan Suyanson

12. Antony Jeganathan Peter Ilancheliyan

13. S. Vimaleswaran

14. Thavarasa Ganeswaram

15. Sabaratnam Jayanathan

16. Thambiya Yogeswaran

17. Jesudas Peter Jude

18. Velu Thiyagarasa

19. Thilakanathan Kinthujan

20. Raghunathan Dushyanthan

21. Kunchuthanathan Ravindran

22. Rasamani Sivarasa

23. Chinnathurai Vedavanam

24. Dharmalingam Jeevaratnam

25. Thangaraja Niranjan

26. Rasakulasingam Malurasan

27. Linkeswaran Vailaja