Tamil Nadu imposes ban on pro-LTTE rally, 257 held

Tamil Nadu imposes ban on pro-LTTE rally, 257 held
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

CHIDAMBARAM, MAY 7: P Nedumaran of Tamilar Desiya Iyakkam and his associates numbering 257 were taken into custody here on Sunday when they tried to take out a rally and organise a conference meeting in support of the Eeelam Tamils.

Police said the arrest was due to the violation of the ban order already promulgated under Section 144 in Chidambaram by the cadres of Nedumaran.

Nedumaran is also an organiser of the co-ordinating committee for solidarity of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Earlier, an anonymous call about a bomb being planted at the conference venue turned out to be a hoax.

The cadres of Nedumaran resorted to a road blockade on North Main Road here in defiance of the ban order.

Cuddalore Superintendent of Police Abhaykumar Singh, ASP Maheshwar Dayal and more than 100 policemen were engaged in security duty in Chidambaram in view of the conference.

Meanwhile, Nedumaran, in a statement, strongly condemned the ban on the conference. He noted that no untoward incident had occurred anywhere in Chidambaram as had been claimed by the police. The ban amounted to murder of democracy, he alleged.

He was firm that the conference would be held as planned and appealed to the activists to maintain peace and solidarity at all costs.

He said that steps had also been taken to file a petition in the Madras High Court against the ban order.

Collector Sandeep Saxena has been taking steps to tackle the impending flow of refugees from Sri Lanka following the ethnic conflict in the island nation, according to a Press release issued by the district Information and Public Relations Office on Sunday.

A meeting to discuss the impending flow of refugees from Sri Lanka and precautionary steps to tackle the situation was held recently under the chairmanship of Collector Sandeep Saxena.

District Revenue Officer Jothinirmala, Superintendent of Police Abhaykumar Singh, besides revenue officials participated in the meeting.

Orders had been issued to the revenue officials to keep 150 houses in Aabatharanapuram and 50 in Ambalavananpettai, besides cyclone relief shelters and a few marriage halls ready in the event of refugees' entry from Sri Lanka.

Twentythree refugees, who got stranded at Manal Thittu in Palk Straits after boat operators who carried them from Sri Lanka forced them to disembark, were rescued by the Indian revenue officials and brought here Saturday night, ENS reports from Rameswaram.

Officials said here refugees had been arriving at Dhanushkodi in large groups for the past four days, and many of them got stranded in mid-sea forcing Indian fishermen to rescue them on humanitarian grounds.

They said a child in one batch of 27 refugees who arrived on May 5 died of hunger and cold in mid-sea. The refugees who were forced to get off at Moonramtheedai had suffered in the mid-sea for more than 24 hours before they were rescued by Indian officials and brought to Rameswaram coast.

Meanwhile, armoured vehicles carrying Air Force personnel were moving towards Rameswaram island, Ramanathapuram district officials said, adds PTI. They said about 50 Air Force personnel arrived in Rameswaram in two helicopters. Various facilities were being created in the coastal area to closely monitor the Palk Strait as the LTTE militants had gained an upper hand in the Jaffna peninsula.

They said there would be more refugee inflow in the next two or three days, and security had been tightened in the coastal areas. Besides, additional police personnel have been posted to check the refugees.