Sri Lankan intelligence officers in Valvettithurai have launched intensive inquiries into a blood-donation camp that was organised to mark the birthday of the Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last week.
The event, held on the 26th of November, was the 83rd blood-donation camp coordinated by the Valvettithurai Blood Donors’ Association. According to its Chairperson, P. Veerasurendran, the initiative was organised by local youth in response to the severe blood shortage currently affecting Jaffna hospitals.
Veerasurendran said the association had been conducting these camps for years despite numerous challenges, but this time the pressure from state authorities was unprecedented. From the moment the camp began, officers from the occupying Sri Lankan police station in Valvettithurai and multiple intelligence units arrived in rotation to question the organisers, he explained, causing significant mental distress to volunteers and creating a climate of fear.
He added that the repeated interventions amounted to targeted intimidation, with intelligence officials clearly attempting to suppress a humanitarian initiative simply because it coincided with a symbolic date for the Tamil nation.
Veerasurendran added that if such intimidations continue and legal action is pursued, he would be compelled to withdraw entirely from blood-donation service.
Prabhakaran’s birthday was marked in several places in Jaffna, including in his hometown of Valvettithurai, Nallur and Paruthithurai.
A cake cut at a celebration in Paruthithurai last week.
