Jayalalitha for extradition of LTTE leaders

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JULY 10. The AIADMK general secretary, Ms. Jayalalitha, today urged the Centre to take steps for the extradition of LTTE leaders Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman to make them stand trial in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Listing out a series of demands for the consideration of the Centre, Ms. Jayalalitha called for the arrest of the MDMK leader, Mr. Vaiko, ``for shielding and supporting'' Prabhakaran and for committing ``high treason'' by organising a conference on behalf of the LTTE.

The AIADMK leader wanted the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, to step down ``for contributing his share to anti- national activities by making a guest appearance at the Erode conference.''

The MDMK, the PMK and the DMK must be removed from the Union Ministry ``for their support to terrorism and separatism in Sri Lanka and for placing India in an embarrassing position in the international arena.''

The President of India must give a ``clear direction'' to the Government of India on the issue of State autonomy and the responsibility of the political parties in the ruling coalition. The Jammu and Kashmir Government must be dismissed for passing the autonomy resolution and President's Rule must be imposed in that State, she said.

Ms. Jayalalitha also demanded the dismissal of the DMK Government for supporting the formation of Tamil Eelam and for allowing the MDMK conference and rally to be held in Erode. She wanted clear- cut instructions to be issued to constituent parties of the Central Government to prevent them from unilaterally making announcements on the country's foreign policy.

The BJP-led Government should step down if it was unable to enforce these ``terms and conditions'' and if it failed to keep the constituent parties of the coalition under control.

Mr. Vaiko, she said, was only following the example of the Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, who was hailed as ``Mujibur Rahman of Tamil Nadu'' in the wake of the 1971 war and the liberation of Bangladesh.

Mr. Karunanidhi raised the cry of autonomy at every opportunity and went back on his own statements the very next day, she said. ``Mr. Karunanidhi's prevarications should not be taken merely as contradictory statements to please the BJP on the one hand and Prabhakaran on the other. It is a deep-rooted sinister plan to Balkanise India and carve out a pan-Tamil country comprising Tamil Nadu in India, the Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka and ``parts of Malaysia, Singapore, and perhaps, even South Africa.''

Mr. Karunanidhi, she said, had been consistently supporting Prabhakaran and it was during his previous tenure that the LTTE went on a killing spree in Tamil Nadu.

``The so-called champions of Tamil Eelam have no concern for the lakhs of Indian Tamils living in the tea estates of central Sri Lanka or for the numerous Tamils in places other than Jaffna or for the Tamil-speaking Muslims in Colombo and elsewhere,'' she said.

``It is indeed sad and a standing shame that India which is fighting terrorism and separatism on its own soil should have parties like the DMK, the PMK and the MDMK ruling it - parties that openly support terrorism and separatism in a neighbouring country,'' she said.

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