Malaysia: MDMK chief Vaiko detained at Kuala Lumpur airport for alleged links with LTTE
Vaiko was invited by Penang’s Deputy Chief Minister Ramasamy Palanisamy to attend his daughter’s wedding on June 10.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief V Gopalasamy, commonly known as Vaiko was detained at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia and denied entry into the country on Friday, reported ANI. He was interrogated for several hours by officials on his alleged links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant organisation in Sri Lanka involved in an insurgency to create an independent state of Tamil Eelam.
Tamil Nadu politician Vaiko was invited by Malaysian state Penang’s Deputy Chief Minister Ramasamy Palanisamy to attend his daughter’s wedding on June 10, reported India Today. He was held at the airport for a speech he made in 2009 in support of the LTTE.
In that speech, Vaiko had criticised the government in connection with Sri Lanka’s war on the LTTE. He had warned that India would not remain a united country if the Sri Lanka operation was not brought to an end. On April 2, Vaiko was sentenced to 15 days in jail for the ‘seditious’ speech. He got bail in the case on May 24.
Vaiko, one of the most vocal sympathisers of the LTTE, was earlier in M Karunanidhi’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party.