MADRAS: The Tamil Nadu chief secretary T V Antony said Wednesday that there were no records on the alleged meetings between former state chief minister M Karunanidhi and the LTTE representatives on June 26 and July 2 last year
A thorough check of the records in the departments that handled the subject indicated this Antony said when his attention was drawn to the former union minister P Chidambaram’s demand and statements.
Chidambaram had demanded on May 31 the publication of the minutes or the notes of discussion of the various meetings between Karunanidhi and the LTTE leaders in 1990 in which he said the then home secretary was also present. He had also alleged that he was aware of at least three or four such meetings which he said had taken place in the city.
Chidambaram had also stated that publishing the minutes of these meetings would help us know the extent of involvement of different officials of the erstwhile DMK government with the LTTE.
Karunanidhi replying to Chidambaram’s charge said he had offered to negotiate with Sri Lankan Tamil militants only on the guidelines issued by the regimes of Rajiv Gandhi and later V.P.Singh and that he had no objection to the minutes or notes being made public.
Replying to another question of the LTTE activities in the state Antony said combing operations had been intensified in all the coastal areas of the state.
We have booked a number of persons after a meeting of the coordination committee consisting of police navy coast guard customs and fisheries officials in the city on May 28 he said and added the police had been told to intensify road blocks all along the coastal areas.
There are no militant activities anywhere in the station now he said.
Asked to comment on Chidam barams June 2 remarks that follow-up action on the assassination was Nil and that no police or jail official had been suspended even 14 days after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi Antony said the administration had taken the maximum possible measures. The death of cight policemen and injuries to another 18 policemen showed that the cordon was complete he added.
Anthony said a new type of explosive had been used in the blast which was never used in the country so far. Deterrent action would be taken against those responsible if the enquiry commission found any security lapses he said adding that the type of protection provided to V VIPs and the rules regarding their protection will have to be re-examined in the light of the unfortunate incident.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 14, 1991
