Twentyfive activists of pro-LTTE Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi were arrested yesterday in Chennai for trying to burn an effigy of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse. They had gathered to stage a demonstration near the Perambur railway station demanding immediate resettlement of Internally Displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka, lodged in camps, to their original places.
Interestingly, the party's leader Thol Thirumavalavan, an ally of DMK-led front, was part of the MPs delegation that recently visited Sri Lanka.

Later in a statement, Thirumavalavan has alleged "gross human rights violations" and inhuman conditions in the Sri Lankan camps and said he would spearhead a protest on October 22 demanding, among others, slapping of sanctions on the island nation. Thirumavalavan alleged that many Tamils in and outside the camps were suffering from depression and fear as army was 'controlling them.'

According to him the entire Tamil populated region in Sri Lanka is under Army control. He has alleged that Tamils in the camps are compelled to beg even for a morsel of food. The barbed wire fences prevent close relatives held in different camps to meet one another, he has alleged. ‘Only long sighs, moans and murmurs emanate from them.  In a tent which could accommodate only a couple of persons, eight to ten Tamils are stuffed in.  The agony they undergo in finding drinking water is indescribable.
Countries including India should take note of sufferings of the Tamils and highlight the "human rights violations" in global arena.’ he has said.

I have deliberately omitted certain sentiments of Thirumavalavan since they are either too strongly worded or too tragic to restate. And, he had the opportunity to have a first hand look at what exists in the camps. May we hope that at least now the world community will wake up to the tragic reality and take suitable and immediate action?