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Lankan minister forced to leave after protests by Tamil groups

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COIMBATORE: Faced with protests by Tamil outfits, Sri Lankan agriculture minister Reginald Cooray on Thursday cut short his Coimbatore visit despite offer of police protection. He was scheduled to tour the sugarcane breeding institute here but called it off when he was informed by police officials that several groups were planning to stage a protest in front of his hotel.

While 80 people staged a protest in front of the hotel, the minister and his delegation exited through the back door and left for the airport. They departed for Chennai on a 10.30am flight.

The minister had arrived in the city on Wednesday night and was put up at a hotel, close to the airport. MDMK cadres and several organizations got wind of his visit.

This is the first such incident after chief minister J Jayalalithaa wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 7 requesting him to take steps for discouraging Lankan VIPs from making frequent visits to Tamil Nadu as it created law and order problems. She had also requested him to ensure that the state government got prior information from the Centre regarding such visits so that precautions could be taken in advance. The PM had responded on March 18 assuring her that the state government would be intimated in advance on such visits.

"The state government has passed a resolution seeking an economic ban on Sri Lanka. But bureaucrats are inviting delegates from Sri Lanka. They are guilty of genocide and must not be allowed to visit our country," said V Eswaran, MDMK district secretary.

On March 8, members of some pro-Tamil groups as well as MDMK cadres barged into the conference venue at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU) and protested against the participation of Jeeva Niriella from the law faculty of the University of Colombo in a three-day international conference.

In January this year, Thirukumaran Nadesan, husband of Nirupama Rajapaksa, niece of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered harsh treatment when slippers were hurled at him in Rameswaram where he visited to offer prayers at the temple.

Lankan minister forced to leave after protests by Tamil groups - The Times of India
 
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