Malaysia denies Vaiko entry over 'LTTE links'

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko was on Friday stopped from entering Malaysia and detained at the Kuala Lumpur airport where officials questioned him over his alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

He will be sent back to Chennai by a Malaysian Airlines flight later in the evening, the MDMK said in a release.

The Tamil leader was scheduled to attend the wedding reception of the daughter of the deputy chief minister of the Malaysian state of Penang, P Ramasamy, on June 10.

The party said when Vaiko landed at the Kuala Lumpur airport in the morning, immigration authorities told him that he had been banned from entering the country since his name figured "in the list of persons dangerous to Malaysia."

Officials told him that "he belonged to the LTTE in Sri Lanka," and quizzed him over the outfit, the party said.

When Vaiko was told that there were "several cases against him in Sri Lanka," he denied it and told them that he was an Indian citizen and showed them his passport too.

"Still, the authorities did not accept it and made Vaiko sit in an enclosure in the immigration office. They took away his passport and told him that he should not step out of that place," the release said.

Vaiko apprised Deputy Chief Minister Ramasamy on the development.

Despite Ramasamy and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's efforts, officials did not permit the pro-Tamil leader to enter Malaysia saying they "have got an order from the office of Malaysian deputy prime minister," the party said.

Ramsamy also talked to Vaiko over the phone. The latter told him that he had not been "harmed" but was "made to sit in a place where I could not meet anyone," the MDMK said.