Chennai, Dec 07: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today alleged that it was the LTTE which had captured the 32 Indian fishermen, who had allegedly strayed into Sri Lankan waters and not the island's navy, as was earlier believed. Stating that the LTTE action was an 'affront' to the nation's sovereignty, Jayalalithaa, in a letter to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, asked him to take effective steps to stop its recurrence.

"I am now informed that these 32 fishermen were, in fact, captured by the LTTE. This places the entire matter in a totally different perspective, involving not only the fragile security of the east coast of Tamil Nadu, but indeed the security of the nation itself," she said in the letter, released to the press.

Stating that the incident involved serious national concerns, both external and internal, she wanted the Centre to immediately issue a stern warning to the LTTE to avoid such provocations by indulging in renegade acts of illegal capture of innocent Indian fishermen".

The Chief Minister said that it would be appropriate for the Centre to take up with the Sri Lankan government, the proposal of embarking on joint patrols to eliminate such 'unauthorised" naval operations in international waters by LTTE.

Bureau Report