New Delhi, Aug 14: A delegation of MPs from DMK,
MDMK and PMK today urged the Pota review committee to declare
the detention of MDMK leader Vaiko and eight other MDMK party
functionaries under Pota by the Tamil Nadu government as
"gross misuse and blatant abuse of the act" and sought their
immediate release.
"Every individual and every political party has
sympathised with and supported Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka who
have been subjected to untold atrocities and gruesome genocide
at one time or the other. To accuse Vaiko as one to be
supporting terrorism on the ground of his verbal support to
the cause of Eelam Tamils is far-fetched and politically
motivated", they said in a memorandum submitted to Justice
Arun Sahariya, heading the committee.
Vaiko's speech had never abetted anyone to indulge in
terrorism and therefore it did not attract Pota, they said
adding that the Centre had given assurances that the act would
not be misused and abused and yet Tamil Nadu had blatntly
"misused and flagrantly abused" the act.
Citing the affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme
Court on the issue, the memorandum said that the Centre had
enacted Pota and so the stand of the enacting authority be
valid and given more weight.
Members of the delegation are : M Kannappan, Gingee
Ramachandran and C Krishnan (all MDMK), Kuppuswamy and
Viduthalai Virumbi (DMK) and Ponnuswamy of PMK.
Bureau Report
