Sri Lankan police release TNPF MP but claim boycott campaign is ‘illegal’

Sri Lankan police released Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) MP Selvarajah Kajendren after he was arrested by Sri Lankan police yesterday for campaigning for a boycott of the Sri Lankan presidential elections.

After hours of questioning, the TNPF MP was released but the Sri Lankan police claimed that his party’s boycott campaign was ‘illegal’. Kilinochchi Magistrate court has issued a summons for Kajendren to appear at the court on September 18 in regards to the boycott campaign. 

Over recent weeks, Kajendren and other TNPF members have been obstructed by Sri Lankan police officers whilst they have been campaigning across the North-East. The TNPF have been calling for a boycott of the presidential elections which will take place on September 21. 

Earlier this year TNPF leader, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, said to participate in the upcoming elections would be “an acceptance of that state machinery”; when the reality is that “the entire government machinery is anti-Tamils”.

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