Chennai: In what can be seen as mounting pressure in relations between India and Sri Lanka, the latter’s U-15 cricket team were deported citing security concerns on Monday.
The cricket team arrived in Chennai to play the JM Haroon cricket tournament on Sunday but were asked to leave in the wake of intensifying protests against a derogatory article on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sri Lanka’s Defence website.
The article triggered widespread public and political outrage in the state prompting Sri Lanka to remove it and issue an unqualified apology to the two leaders.
Incidentally, in 2012, Jayalalithaa had, in line with her strident stance against Sri Lanka, ordered the sending home of a soccer team from that country which arrived here to play a friendly match.
The action came against the backdrop of her opposition to India training Sri Lankan military personnel not only in the state but also anywhere else in the country, saying the Lankan forces had committed war crimes against Tamils in the island nation.
According to reports, an official in the Nehru stadium of the state government has been suspended for giving oral approval for the match.