But they dictated neither mainstream politics nor foreign policy. Many hard-line Tamil activists in Tamil Nadu shared a deep emotional connection with the LTTE even after the Rajiv Gandhi assassination in 1991. Though India abetted the creation of the LTTE in the late 1970s and ’80s, its association with the outfit was complicated. Several Sri Lankan diplomats, on condition of anonymity, have repeatedly insisted that “India’s categorical support was of great importance to Colombo in eliminating the LTTE”. While extending humanitarian assistance and support for a political solution to the conflict, India was firmly opposed to the LTTE. That distinction was also the cornerstone of India’s foreign policy regarding Sri Lanka. It did not matter that the LTTE was the principal voice of the Sri Lankan Tamils: it was a terrorist outfit and support for it was illegal in India. At that time, there was a well-demarcated line separating support for the terrorist outfit and sympathy for the Tamil cause. Despite their ostensible commitment to the Sri Lankan Tamil cause, ruling parties in Tamil Nadu acted against those who offered support to the LTTE. Several others who supported the LTTE were also arrested and kept in prison for prolonged periods. In 2008, he was arrested again on charges of sedition by the DMK government. What has happened in Tamil Nadu over the last five years that such demands are seen as the “unanimous wish” of the state’s political forces? Why is carrying out an execution in such an enormous case so difficult and why should this be any different from the case of, for instance, the alleged Kashmiri militant Afzal Guru? A decade ago, in 2002, Jayalalithaa’s government arrested Vaiko under the Prevention of Terrorist Act for making pro-LTTE speeches. It was as if their crime was somehow less horrific than those committed by the 96 other convicts in jails across the Tamil Nadu who are serving life sentences for over 20 years.
In that quest, it does not seem to matter that these seven people had links to the deadly Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and were convicted in a monstrous crime. The political agenda is obvious for Vaiko, Jayalalithaa, DMK chief M Karunanidhi and every other Tamil politician aspiring to be the champion of the Tamil cause. The next morning, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party announced that all seven convicts serving a life term in the case would be released. Even though the death penalties had been commuted only because of an "inordinate delay" in carrying out the executions, the Tamil politician seemed to portray the verdict as an exoneration of sorts. “This is a great victory and we now appeal for the release of those in jail,” declared the former Member of Parliament, who has been closely involved in the case.
The first political reaction that played out on TV screens after the Supreme Court commuted death sentences of three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case on Wednesday was from Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko.
Julio Ribeiro: An old police chief’s lament for the sorry state of the force he once led.Assam: Photographer seen in video desecrating body of protestor killed in police firing arrested.