Vaiko taken into preventive custody ahead of Rajapaksa visit

Chennai, June 8 (ANI): Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) founder Vaiko and several other Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Communist Party of India (CPI) leaders were taken into preventive custody on Tuesday, when they attempted to stage demonstrations at various places here to protest against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India.

The protestors raised black flags near Nageswara Rao Park and proceeded towards the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner's office, where they were detained.

It has been reported that Vaiko addressed the protestors and alleged that thousands of minority Tamil civilians were killed towards the end of the war between the Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last year.

Demanding that the Sri Lankan President be tried in an international court of law, Vaiko also alleged that Rajapaksa was responsible for killings of many innocent Tamils.

The Sri Lankan President will begin his three-day India visit from Tuesday and is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.

President Rajapaksa is expected to help the island nation enlist more support from India in rebuilding and rehabilitating people in the northern part of the country, which was liberated from the Tamil Tigers last year ending decades of strife. (ANI)