In a strongly-worded statement Jayalalitha wondered: ``Is it not the duty of the Government of India and the defence minister, in particular, to order our Army and Air Force to drive out the intruders from our territory? Should we not annihilate any stragglers and teach them such a lesson that they will never dare to stealthily intrude into our territory again? How can we talk about providing safe passage to them?''

It is unfortunate that the prime minister, instead of rebuking George Fernandes has also chosen to support the outrageous statement of the defence minister, she said.

Jayalalitha asked ``after so manyvaliant sons of India have laid down their lives while defending our country and protecting our territorial frontiers, are we going to provide safe passage to their killers?''

``There has never been before in our nation's defence history such a defence minister like George Fernandes who has proved to be such a severe liability and embarrassment to our nation, she said adding that ``we have also never before seen such a weak and ineffectual prime minister like Vajpayee''.