Karunanidhi gets tough with politicos having LTTE links

by Thava Sajitharan

Hot on the heels of the detection of an explosive-laden LTTE boat off India's Southern coast, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said last week that his State would not interfere in matters concerning the Sri Lankan Tamils if it threatened the security of India. He said stern legal action will be taken against Tamil Nadu politicos who have links with the LTTE.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's remarks appeared in 'Murasoli', the official newspaper of his Dravida Munnetra Kazhaham party . Tamil Nadu police recently detected a factory which distributed aluminium to make weapons for the LTTE. Some persons have been apprehended in Tamil Nadu in this connection. Indian naval forces, frontier security forces and the Tamil Nadu state police have confiscated several weapons in the past three months.

A boat was seized in the sea on February 13 which possessed a AK 56 gun, explosives, chemicals and suicide suits. The Chennai edition of the 'Hindu' daily had stressed in its editorial last Thursday that the LTTE should not be allowed to exploit Tamil Nadu as a place to exchange weapons.

Answering a question raised by a reader in this regard Karunanidhi said that his government is aware that 'to urge the central government to safeguard the innocent Tamils who are suffering from the military atrocities in Sri Lanka and to permit the Tigers to use Tamil Nadu as a venue to distribute weapons are two different things.'

'Those who engage in such activities are being monitored and arrested. No mercy will be shown to those who are found to have connections with the LTTE', Karunanidhi said.

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