Use ‘iron fist’ to root out terrorists in Tamil Nadu

By Ananth Palakidnar

[email protected]
 

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Muthuvelu Karunanithi has called upon the State’s police force and top Government officials to eliminate the activities of the LTTE armed groups with an ‘iron fist’ in the State.

The Chief Minister was speaking at a conference attended by top brass of the Tamil Nadu police and senior government officials at the State Secretariat on Thursday.

Chief Minister Karunanithi who expressed concern over the increasing extremist activities in the State in the past few days said that the Lankan armed groups would in no way be allowed to use the State as a safe haven for their terrorist activities .

“The state of Tamil Nadu is for a peaceful settlement to the national crisis in Sri Lanka.

We have been sheltering innocent Lankan refugees who have reached our shores since the crisis started in the island. It is estimated that there are 117 refugee camps throughout Tamil Nadu sheltering 73,433 Lankan Tamil refugees.

However, there are armed groups from the island who are trying to infiltrate into Tamil Nadu under the guise of refugees and they are up to all sorts of terror activities.

Therefore, the Tamil Nadu police should be extra vigilant and crush the extremist activities with an ‘iron fist’.

The extremist forces which operate in Tamil Nadu are trying to create a chaotic situation in the State. The police and Government officials must be extremely watchful and curb the menace,” Karunanithi said. Commenting, on the troubles faced by the Tamil Nadu fisherfolk in the Palk Straits, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that South Indian fishermen should be given proper guidelines on fishing in the waters of the Palk Straits.

“We are aware of the warring conditions in Lankan waters stretching from Mannar to the seas off Trincomalee. Therefore, innocent Tamil Nadu fishermen should be safeguarded from being made the ‘scapegoats’ in South Indian waters.

It was also brought to the notice of the Chief Minister at the conference that certain elements are using fake documents as Lankan refugees to engage in all sorts of mischief in the state.