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Editor held for ‘alleged’ links with LTTE
The editor of a Tamil daily was picked up by police for “questioning” in connection with the news on last week’s LTTE aircraft attack on the capital that targetted a government building, reports Sutirtho Patranobis.
A prominent editor of a leading Tamil editor was arrested by the police on Thursday for alleged links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
N. Vithyatharan, editor-in-chief of Colombo-based Sudaroli and Jaffna-based Uthayan, was attending the funeral of a relative in a Colombo suburb called Mount Lavinia when policemen, packed in three vans, picked him up.
Incidentally, both newspapers have faced threats and attacks in recent year.
Initially, rumours were flying that Vithyatharan had been abducted by unidentified miscreants, as has become a common trend in Colombo. The police, however, came out with a statement subsequently, saying that the editor was picked up for questioning about some articles carried in his newspaper.
The arrest comes six days after Vithyatharan was grilled by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Department (TID).
The TID had questioned him on Sunday for six hours on news and views that appeared in his papers on Army attacks on civilians and about his interactions with the officials of LTTE in the past.
LTTE swimming pool located
On the war front, the military on Thursday claimed to have located a swimming pool believed to have been used by the high profile LTTE leaders in the rebels’ last stronghold, Puthukkudiyiruppu. The swimming pool is 50 feet long and 30 feet width. Its deep end is over 7 feet and a diving board was also available.
