Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, warned that the Tamil diaspora was misusing the "freedom to arrive in Sri Lanka on a tourist visa". (See here for report published on Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence website).
"At present, it is very difficult to obtain a visa to go to Western countries such as Canada and the United States of America. In contrast, foreigners have the freedom to arrive in Sri Lanka on tourist visa and enjoy their visit. However, we can observe that the Tamil Diaspora is trying to misuse this freedom," said Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
Adding that there 'people involved in terrorism and manufacturing of bombs, who are now trying to speak about human rights', he said,
In November last year, a Norwegian Tamil poet was detained by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) on charges of 'inciting communal tensions', and later deported. Reports suggested that he was detained after holding lectures in the University of Jaffna.
See previous comments on the Tamil Diaspora by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa:
Gotabhaya accuses Cameron of pandering to LTTE rump (18 Nov 2013)
Concerned about efforts to sanitise LTTE rump - Gota (14 Nov 2013)
Gotabhaya's bogeymen... (14 Jun 2013)
'Rump of LTTE is still causing problems' - Gotabhaya (26 Mar 2013)
Who is to blame? The evil Diaspora, of course. (21 Aug 2011)
"At present, it is very difficult to obtain a visa to go to Western countries such as Canada and the United States of America. In contrast, foreigners have the freedom to arrive in Sri Lanka on tourist visa and enjoy their visit. However, we can observe that the Tamil Diaspora is trying to misuse this freedom," said Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
Adding that there 'people involved in terrorism and manufacturing of bombs, who are now trying to speak about human rights', he said,
"We cannot allow people to go about projecting false propaganda on human right violations against the country. These people don't even know the meaning of the term human rights."His remarks come as the Canadian Tamil MP Rathika Satsabaiesan said she experienced political intimidation during her recent trip to the North-East, after meeting with the TNA MP S. Sritharan.
In November last year, a Norwegian Tamil poet was detained by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) on charges of 'inciting communal tensions', and later deported. Reports suggested that he was detained after holding lectures in the University of Jaffna.
See previous comments on the Tamil Diaspora by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa:
Gotabhaya accuses Cameron of pandering to LTTE rump (18 Nov 2013)
Concerned about efforts to sanitise LTTE rump - Gota (14 Nov 2013)
Gotabhaya's bogeymen... (14 Jun 2013)
'Rump of LTTE is still causing problems' - Gotabhaya (26 Mar 2013)
Who is to blame? The evil Diaspora, of course. (21 Aug 2011)