Colombo: Former Tamil state minister of Sri Lankan Cabinet, Vijayakala Maheswaran, was arrested on Monday for her controversial comments favouring the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Maheswaran, who worked as a State Minister of Child Affairs from the northern Tamil region representing the ruling United National Party (UNP) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, resigned in July after her allegedly provocative statement that led to an uproar in the Parliament. 

Maheswaran, during an event, said, “To enforce the safety of our children and women, to see them come home safely from their schools, LTTE governance must come into operation.” 

The 45-year-old minister also said that there were no social violations during the LTTE time. The banned organisation had worked as a military campaign for a separate Tamil home nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009.  LTTE collapsed after the Sri Lankan Army killed its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Police officer SP Ruwan Gunasekara said Maheswaran had been summoned to the Police Organised Crimes Preventive Division to record a statement this morning where she was arrested. The probe was to establish if she was openly promoting banned terrorist organisation LTTE.