Date:07/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/07/stories/2006010704501300.htm

National

Swamy demands inquiry

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has demanded a thorough inquiry into the telephone tapping issue and urged the Centre to enact stringent laws to punish the guilty.

The issue exposed the dangerous consequences of large-scale privatisation of the telecom sector, Dr. Swamy told newspersons here on Friday.

He urged the Centre to provide new safeguards and congratulated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for his courage and conviction in exposing the Centre's "role" in tapping the telephones of his party leaders.

Dr. Swamy, however, criticised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for saying without proof that her telephone too was tapped.

The terrorist attack in Bangalore was a clear indication of the United Progressive Alliance Government's "appeasement" of terrorists, Dr. Swamy said and demanded an effective counter-terrorist policy and the reenactment of the repealed POTA. An "undeclared emergency" was in force in the country and wanted Lalu Prasad and Sharad Pawar to come out of the UPA alliance and work for an alternative government.

He welcomed the Indo-Sri Lanka joint communiqué and urged Sri Lankan President Rajapakse to be firm in keeping his promise to pursue a federal constitutional solution to the ethnic crisis. He criticised the MDMK and the PMK for not protesting against the Centre's decision to withdraw the education facilities and the rice subsidy to Sri Lankan refugees in India.