Where Was Selvarasa Pathmanathan Arrested?

[george]

Where was Selvarasa Pathmanathan arrested?

By John Le Fevre

BANGKOK (thaivisa.com): -- A day after international news agencies and publications reported that international terrorist Selvarasa Pathmanathan had been arrested in Bangkok and sent to Colombo, confusion remains as to where the arrest actually occurred.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday that no arrest had been made inside the kingdom and the head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tamil Tigers as they are better known, was apprehended in Kuala Lumpur.

According to the PM, confusion may have arisen because Pathmanathan was flown from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo via Bangkok.

Meanwhile, Thai Special Branch commander Theeradej Rodphothong insisted that the LTTE leader was captured in Singapore, not Thailand.

Police Lieutenant General Theeradej said Thailand was mentioned in news reports because Pathmanathan formerly had a Thai wife and often moved between Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

He said that a Thai court had issued an arrest warrant for Pathmanathan last November because he was wanted by the Sri Lankan government.

Acting Thai government spokesperson Panittan Wattanayakorn earlier Friday said an initial report showed that Pathmanathan had traveled in and out of Thailand because he was married to a Thai and formerly lived in the northern part of the country.

On Thursday evening a number of international publications and news agencies quoted Sri Lankan military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara as saying the 54-year-old Pathmanathan “has been arrested in Bangkok. That is all we know at the moment".

Mr Abhisit said he had been informed of the news reports on Thursday evening and had ordered the country’s security agencies to provide details.

The Tamil Tiger leader was being questioned by Sri Lankan authorities in Colombo on Friday, while details of his arrest and return to Colombo remained shrouded in mystery.

One news report said he was arrested in a Hotel in Kuala Lumpur after leaving a room to answer a telephone call while being interviewed by a pro-rebel website, however, when questioned on the matter, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

"I don't have the facts with me. Let me find out first," he said.

The strictly controlled Malaysian media has also been extremely quiet on the matter given the large Indian and Tamil communities in the country.

Either way, the arrest of the outlawed groups new leader is expected give Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his allies a boost ahead of local government elections in the northern towns of Jaffna and Vavuniya – just outside the rebels' former heartland – on Saturday.

Arrest warrants had been issued by both Sri Lanka and India for Pathmanathan, with India wanting the fugitive in connection with the assassination of former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

During a 25-year battle for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority more than 70,000 people are reported to have been killed, with the LTTE responsible for hundreds of suicide attacks.

-- thaivisa.com 2009-08-08

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The blind leading the blind.

[ratcatcher]

The blind leading the blind.

Five words to sum up this whole fiasco perfectly. :

"They caught him here,

they caught him there,

they caight him, nobody knows quite where.!"

[RickBradford]

The Thai-language Daily News has the 4 pix of the guy plastered on the front page, along with a government statement denying he was arrested in Thailand, and suggesting Malaysia as the place of arrest.

The logic behind this piece of journalism escapes me....

[silverhawk_usa]

The blind leading the blind.

Five words to sum up this whole fiasco perfectly. :

"They caught him here,

they caught him there,

they caight him, nobody knows quite where.!"

They caught him "where", who cares?