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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