Karunanidhi warns of action against LTTE nexus

[Saddle Bronc 124]

BBC Link

Tamil Nadu CM gives Tiger warning

The chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has warned that stern action will be taken against people linked to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers.

He said the warning applied to political leaders and individuals.

The Tamil Tigers are banned in India, which designated them as terrorists after the murder of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

He was killed by the Tamil Tigers in a suicide bombing while electioneering 15 years ago in Tamil Nadu.

Armed struggle

"Strict instructions had been issued not to show any lenience to those who are in nexus with the Tamil Tigers and try to supply arms to them," Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said.

Traditionally, Mr Karunanidhi's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party is seen as sympathetic towards the struggle of Sri Lankan Tamils.

But he stressed that his party's sympathy for Sri Lankan Tamils should not be seen as an approval for the Tamil Tigers' armed smuggle.

The BBC's LR Jagadheesan in Madras says that security agencies have seized huge caches of arms, ammunition and bomb-making components at sea between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

Indian security officials suspect the arms were meant for the Tigers, who are engaged in an armed struggle against the Sri Lankan army in pursuit of their demand for a separate state.

Sri Lanka's Northern Province has a sizeable Tamil population and a strong Tamil Tiger presence. It is only separated from Tamil Nadu by a narrow stretch of sea.

But following Mr Gandhi's death in 1991, the Tigers lost political clout and public sympathy in Tamil Nadu.

Our correspondent says that they have been trying hard to regain public support and political patronage in the state, which has a population of more than 60 million people.

Notes on the red text:

it may be true that the DMK shows an "ethnic sympathy" for Sri Lanka Tamils; however the state's OTHER major party, wrongly known as "ALL INDIA Anna DMK", has long been considered more openly sympathetic to LTTE; as even "acknowledged" by former Sri Lanka president JR Jeyawarene's reference in 1987 to LTTE as "(MG) Ramachandran's private goonda army". Ramachandran, the founding leader of AIADMK, was Tamil Nadu's CM from 1977 till his death 1987-12-24. The presence of LTTE providing an EXCUSE to dismiss the Karunanidhi government just prior to elections in 1991 certainly hasn't helped in engendering any DMK goodwill towards LTTE.