SHAKEN BY ACCUSATIONS KARUNANIDHI SAYS ACTION WOULD BE TAKEN AGAINST ALL HAVING NEXUS WITH TAMIL TIGERS

By Walter Jayawardhana

Obviously reacting to strong criticism against him that he was supplying camouflaged support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) in providing a safe haven for their arms procurements the Chief minister of Tamil Nadu Muthuvel Karunanidhi said action would be taken against all including political leaders for having a nexus with Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka.

Karunanidhi’s own daughter, Kanimozhi , whom he has publicly anointed as his literary successor has been accused of providing a safe cover for the Tamil Tigers to operate in Tamil Nadu by opposition politicians. Opposition politicians have even said that for the sake of India’s law and order situation Karunanidhi’s government should be dissolved by the center under the Indian constitution.

Obviously before such campaigns of opponents become stronger Karunanidhi said, "Strict instructions had been issued not to show any lenience to those who are in nexus with the LTTE and try to supply arms to them" The LTTE is a banned terrorist group in India and is accused of assassinating the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu at a time when Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister of the state. Following the assassination , as a fall out his government was dissolved by the center.

Karunanidhi in a statement said that his party DMK’s sympathy for Sri Lankan Tamils should not be taken as an approval to smuggle arms to the LTTE. But strangely appeals for the Sri Lankan Tamils from him have always come when the LTTE was attacked.

The Chief minister said, "There is a difference between political parties' appeal to the Centre on saving the lives of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka being killed by the Sri Lankan army and making the state a distribution point for arms and ammunition to the LTTE".

Obviously appeasing the Central government in New Delhi , Chief Minister Karunanidhi said, "None can even dream that the state (Tamil Nadu government) will intervene in the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, ignoring the steps taken by the Centre in the interests of the country and its security".

By investigations both by the Sri Lankan Security forces and many Indian law enforcement agencies it has been found that Tamil Nadu where 60 million Tamils live has now become the main supply route for the insurgents of the LTTE not only for arms and ammunition but also for fuel and food for their military activities.

India’s Janata Party President Subramaniayan Swami in a statement said, "The security forces have reported in the media today that the LTTE killer squads and their weapons-carrying boats are "hibernating" in the back waters of the Tamil Nadu coastline. This confirms my charge that the UPA's DMK-led Tamil Nadu Government has allowed a free run of the State to the LTTE much as it was in 1989-91 before the Chandrasekhar Government (in which I was a Minister) dismissed the State Government under Article 356 of the Constitution, and restored law and order.

"This revelation of hibernation also confirms the statement of Defence Minister A.K. Antony that what has been discovered in Tamil Nadu regarding LTTE presence, is "just tip of the iceberg
"The problem is the DMK is a camouflaged LTTE political front in Tamil Nadu, unlike the MDMK and PMK which are open supporters of the LTTE. All these parties are UPA partners. The CM, Mr. Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi who he had only yesterday had anointed as his "literary successor", has been a formal member of the LTTE in Malaysia and Singapore for several years before she returned to India.

"Hence, Tamil Nadu cannot be safeguarded, and India's national integrity cannot be protected, unless the DMK government is dismissed by the Centre. The Karunanidhi government is a threat to the basic structure of the Indian Constitution, and hence eligible for the application of Article 356 of the Constitution".