Malaysia’s opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) has slammed the deportation of three Tamil men to Sri Lanka as “most unacceptable”, warning that the men face torture in Sri Lanka.

DAP vice-chairman M Kulasegaran said earlier,

Tamil refugees have been left in a “state of fear” after Malaysian authorities deport three Tamil men to Sri Lanka last week and announce investigations into all refugees in the country under the premise of links to terrorism.

“Anything can happen at any time”, a Tamil refugee in Malaysia, Selvan (not his real name), told Tamil Guardian over the phone from Kuala Lumpur.

Over 6,000 Tamil refugees in the country were now living in fear that they too could be deported to Sri Lanka, said Selvan, fearing torture and violence at the hands of the Sri Lankan government on return.

“There are children, elderly, pregnant women, young people among us… The Malaysian government are treating us like illegal immigrants. We are from Mullivaikal, from the final battle [and] we came here injured”, he said, adding that the fear of being sent back to Sri Lanka was lingering over all those that escaped.

“The fear that we didn’t have there, we now have on Malaysian soil… we don’t know what will happen next," Selvan added.

As May draws to an end, and Tamils remember their loved ones, killed as the armed conflict ended in 2009, we publish the last in our collection of selected Poems from the classical Tamil anthology, the Purananuru (the 400 Puram poems).

Song 192 - Kaniyan Poonkunran sings
Tinai – Potuviyal (General heroism)

Every Town a Home Town

Every town a home town

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said it is “deeply concerned” over the fate of three Tamil men deported from Malaysia and forcibly returned to Sri Lanka warning that they are at risk of “serious harm”.

The three men were last reported as being held by the Terrorist Investigation Division in Kilinochchi.

The UNHCR, the body's refugee agency, said in a statement,

Despite insistence from the newly elected Indian Prime Minister that a political solution to the ethnic conflict must go beyond the 13th Amendment, the Sri Lankan government said today that a Parliamentary Select Committee would address the matter and determine the way forward, reports the Island.

"President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s position is that a solution to the issue should be evolved only through the PSC," Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told a press conference at the party head office today.

The Tamil National Alliance has written to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa, congratulating her on election victory and welcoming her continued concern regarding the Tamil question on the island, earlier this week.

The letter, sent earlier this week, called the AIADMK victory “an astounding achievement and is indicative of the influence which you [Jayalalithaa] have the capacity to wield”.

India should facilitate a UN investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka said Amnesty International India's Advocacy Co-ordinator, in a piece published in the Economic Times.

Raghu Menon, in his piece 'Sri Lanka: sifting through the killing fields', noted the Sri Lankan government's “aggressive campaign” against accountability and called on India to take the lead on delivering justice.

Menon stated,

A protest against landgrabs by the Sri Lankan military, organised by the Tamil National People’s Front and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, concluded earlier today in Kilinochchi, despite the detention of the party’s regional coordinator last week by the Sri Lankan army.

Protestors called for the release of Thangavel Jegatheeswaran, who was arrested after defying threats by army officials, who demanded that this demonstration be cancelled.

Human Rights Watch has called on Malaysian authorities to assure the safety of three men who were arrested and forcibly deported from the country and sent to Sri Lanka this week.

The three men, who are currently being detained by the government's Terrorist Investigation Division in Kilinochchi, are supposed to have been under the protection of the UN agency for refugees. They were arrested by Malaysian authorities for “terrorism”, before being deported to Sri Lanka.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch said,