Vaiko arrested for comments in support of LTTE

CHENNAI: For the second time since he floated the MDMK in 1993, Vaiko, a vocal supporter of the LTTE, was on Thursday arrested for making a speech in support of the banned group.

He was charged under sections of the IPC and Unlawful Prevention Act and remanded in 14 days of judicial custody.

Vaiko was later taken to the central prison here. MDMK presidium chairman and former Union minister M Kannappan was also arrested under the same sections at his native village in Negamam in Coimbatore district, police said. The MLA will be produced before a magistrate in Chennai.

Vaiko was arrested in 2002 under POTA by the then Jayalalithaa government for his speech at a MDMK meeting supporting the LTTE. He was in the high security Vellore prison for 17 months.

Vaiko, who had even made a clandestine visit to LTTE- held areas in 1998, was vocal in his support for the cause of a separate homeland for Sri Lankan Tamils.

At a public meeting here on Tuesday, Vaiko said he would not hesitate to lead an armed struggle for the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils and a separate homeland was the only solution to the ethnic strife in the island republic.

He came down heavily on the UPA government for what he termed "supply of arms and ammunition and logistical support to the Sri Lankan government to wage a war against Tamils".

Taking to reporters soon after his arrest, he said the UPA government had "betrayed" the Sri Lankan Tamils.

The AIADMK and the Congress had been demanding arrest of those supporting the LTTE in Tamil Nadu.

The government's move is apparently seen as a step to counter AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa's criticism that the DMK government was "soft" on LTTE supporters, sources said.