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| Sunday, 28 July 2002 |
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Vaiko's arrest sparks global campaign : T'Nadu probes extremist protests by S. Selvakumar The Tamil Nadu police have launched a top-level probe into the recent wave of protests in support of the LTTE in the state, and the state government is watching the situation following the arrest of pro-Tiger politician Y. Gopalaswamy. The police top brass are reportedly highly perturbed following the appearance of posters, banners and scribblings on walls in several cities in Tamil Nadu expressing solidarity with the LTTE. A high level probe has been ordered to ascertain who was behind the scenes. The posters first appeared in Trichy on Thursday, fifteen days after the arrest of Y. Gopalaswamy, leader of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (MDMK) for speaking in support of the LTTE at a meeting in Madurai. Following Gopalaswamy's arrest thousands of his supporters courted arrest and are still locked up in several jails in Tamil Nadu, while police have launched a two-pronged probe into the incidents. Whether it was the work of Gopalaswamy, popularly known as Vaiko, supporters or expatriate Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu, is now being probed. Vaiko, a Parliamentarian, is a constituent partner of the ruling Barathiya Janatha Party and his arrest angered New Delhi so much that Indian Defence Minister George Fernandez was despatched to Chennai where he held talks with Vaiko in prison. By yesterday, the pro-LTTE poster campaign had spread to Coimbatore and Madurai, reports reaching Colombo indicate. Several houses of Sri Lankan expatriates were raided by the police for any clues, but so far police have drawn a blank. Meanwhile, in London thousands of Tamils, both Indian and Sri Lankan, demonstrated opposite the Indian High Commission on Friday from 11 am to 1.30 pm and at the end of the demonstration handed over a petition to the Consular Division head A. Singh urging the release of Vaiko. |
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