He was not allowed the trip for a launch in Jaffna in late November of a Sinhala translation of a collection of his work.

Following this revelation by radiogagana.com website, foreign affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera said he extended him an open invitation to visit the country.

Samaraweera told Sri Lanka Mirorr that he had ordered the ministry secretary to investigate the matter pertaining to Jeyapalan, considered a pioneer in Tamil poetry.

Fresh application

After that, a top official at the Sri Lankan high commission in India asked Jeyapalan to submit a fresh visa application.

However, he has refused to do so, asking that his previous application be responded to.

Rejecting that application, the high commission informed Jeyapalan that it could not issue him visa as he already had resident visa, which he denies having.

Blacklisted

When Jeyapalan inquired from the high commission official who asked him to apply again, he was told that the real reason for his application being turned down was that he had been blacklisted by the Rajapaksa administration after he was deported from the country in 2013.

Jeyapalan said that before inviting him to make a visit, what Samaraweera first should do was to remove him from the blacklist and to advise Sri Lankan officials to grant him visa.

He asked Sri Lankan literary figures and civil society activists to mediate in this matter.

Being a Tamil

Heir continued silence made him to decide that the intellect in the south too, has not changed its stand on his being a Tamil, the poet said.

He has told radiogagana.com that if that was the case, he would spend the rest of his life without visiting a place like that.

Related articles:

Tamil poet denied visa to attend book launch
Mangala invites Jeyapalan to come to SL