Tamil Nadu recommends entry to Prabhakaran’s mother

CHENNAI - The Tamil Nadu government has urged the central government to let the 79-year-old mother of the late Tamil Tigers chief to visit India for medical treatment in the state.

Announcing this in the state assembly Monday, Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said: “The government considered the request made by Parvathi and has written a letter to the union home secretary to accord permission to her to enter India for treatment, subject to certain conditions.”

He said once the central government accords permission, Parvathi, who is now in Malaysia, can come to Tamil Nadu and get medical attention.

On April 30, Parvathi emailed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi expressing her desire to undergo medical treatment in Tiruchirappalli, about 350 km from here, and sought his help.

On April 16, Parvathi, suffering from paralysis, arrived here with an aide from the Malaysian capital to be treated in a city hospital.

Indian immigration officials, however, refused her permission to alight from the aircraft and sent her back to Malaysia on the same plane, saying she was considered a law and order problem.

The issue was raised by different political parties in Tamil Nadu and in parliament by the DMK.

Slain Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s parents lived in Tamil Nadu for many years.

They moved back to Sri Lanka in 2003 when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) led by Prabhakaran came to control large areas of Sri Lanka’s northeast.

After Prabhakaran was killed by the Sri Lankan military in May 2009, his parents were taken into custody. Later, Prabhakaran’s father died, and his mother moved to Malaysia.

According to Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, the central government had imposed a ban on the entry of Parvathi, based on the letter written by the AIADMK government in 2003.

–Indo Asian News Service