Nedumaran holding multiple Indian passports

According to sources close to former LTTE international finance head Emdon Seevaratnam, the seventy five year old pro LTTE activist in Tamil Nadu Pala Nedumaran is in possession of multiple Indian passports. He had applied to the British High Commission in Chennai with one passport for entry clearance to the UK which was refused on the grounds of his involvement with the proscribed LTTE. A refusal stamp had been duly placed in the passport preventing him entry to the country.

Pala Nedumaran had used another Indian passport to apply for visa to enter France at the same time. The French Embassy in Delhi without assessing his bona fides granted him the Schengen visa. Schengen visa facilitates the traveller to freely visit any European Union countries without further visa’s or entry clearance from the visiting EU country within the duration of the visa given by one Schengen country.

Having visited France and participated in political activities of the LTTE, the controversial leader arrived at the Heathrow Airport with the Schengen visa. Pala Nedumaran is on the Immigration alert system due to his involvement with the LTTE and when he reached the Immigration desk at the airport the computer alerted about him. He was said be taken in for questioning and held for three hours.

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Catholic Bishops ask LTTE to vacate Madhu precincts

The Security Forces have not engaged in any offensive within the area of the sacred Madhu shrine but the LTTE had taken control of the Madhu church and removed the statue of Our Lady of Madhu into an uncleared area.

The Security Forces’ operations map to liberate the Wanni front does not include the sacred Madhu area considering the security of the Madhu Shrine, Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

He was responding to a statement by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CBC) requesting the Forces not to enter into the sacred area of the Madhu shrine.

The CBC in a press release appealed to the LTTE to adhere strictly and observe International Law regarding sacred places of worship and asked the outfit occupying the sacred precincts to vacate the premises forthwith.

“We, the Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka are concerned about the grave situation prevailing in the Madhu sanctuary and in its sacred area, where the LTTE and the Security Forces are engaged presently in military operations and demand that both parties adhere strictly and observe the International Law regarding the sacred places of worship,” the statement said.

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http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/04/22/sec02.asp