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A three-member MPs delegation from the BJP today impressed on the
Chief' Minister, Mr. M Karunanidhi, that -the Pakistani
Intelligence ' Agency, ISI, was active in Tamil Nadu an d urged him
to take effective steps to curb its operations.
It told the Chief Minister that the ISI operations were taking
place mainly in the coastal areas.
Disclosing this at a news conference after the meeting with the
Chief Minister, Mr. Sikander Bakht, Leader of the Opposition in the
Rajya Sabha, who headed the delegation, said that the activities of
the ISI had become "widespread" both in the South and in the North
East of the country.
"The general attitude of the Chief Minister and the officials was
positive," he said.
Mr. Bakht, who visited Coimbatore along with two other party MPs -
Messrs O. Rajagopal and Anandakumar - to assess the situation after
the recent communal flare-up, said that the people there, were in
fear still. The leaders alleged that there was a lapse on the part
of the police initially to take prompt action, but they did a good
job" in the last two weeks. The delegation discussed the communal
situation with the Chief Minister.
Asked whether the delegation was fully "satisfied" with the
Government's earnestness in putting down communal clashes, Mr.
Bakht said: "we are fully hopeful." People in the North believed
that South was the most peaceful place. It was a tragedy that the
South was being handed over to these elements who were out to
disrupt the peaceful atmosphere here, he said.
To a question, he said that it was the ISI which acted as a "spark"
to conflagrate a tense ,communal situation. After the ignition,
anything could happen. The spark was the focal t, he added.
Mr. Rajagopal said the delegation told the Chief Minister that
anti-national elements were very active in Keelakarai
(Ramanathapuram district), Nagapattinam and Coimbatore. The
delegation met people in open sessions and they came forward to
brief, cutting across partylines. Women came in large numbers.
The cry of Coimbatore was "peace and security", he said.
As for the INL charge that the communal amity in Tamil Nadu got
disturbed after the BJP decided on an "aggressive Hindutva"
campaign, Mr. Bakht said that party was a splinter of the Indian
Union Muslim League which created Pakistan where a section of
Muslims still felt that it was homeless.
The BJP believed in respecting all the faiths and it was not for
the League to accuse Hindutva as communal, he said.
On the BJP aligning with the Akali Dal in the Punjab Assembly
elections, Mr. Bakht said the alliance was the most distinctive
activity of the BJP At present, society was fragmented in the name
of religion, caste, forward and backward etc. The BJP and the
Akali Dal had contested the elections in the name of unity.
"This is a candle we have lighted in Punjab. We will carry it to
every nook and corner of the country," he said.
Mr. Bakht and Mr. Rajagopal claimed that the response from the
Chief Minister was in the "affirmative" to their plea for an
enhanced compensation to the families of victims of communal
clashes ("we have asked for Rs. 2 lakhs per family but the Chief
Minister did not commit himself to any specific quantum"), location
of permanent police outposts in the disturbed areas and extension
of compensation to those who fell victims prior to January 28, 1997
(the day Palani Baba was attacked) also.
Mr. Anandakumar said that the Chief Minister agreed to consider the
plea for payment of compensation also to those injured in such
clashes.
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