Date:22/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/22/stories/2008092254870400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Impose President’s rule in Orissa and Karnataka: TMMK

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Centre should dismiss Orissa and Karnataka governments where communal violence was raging, M.H. Jawahirullah, president, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), said here on Sunday.

He said that the current moves of the government to bring back draconian anti-terror laws suggested that there was no difference between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He was speaking at a function organised by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) to celebrate International Peace Day. Earlier, V. Suresh, president, PUCL, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, said that 80 per cent of the provisions of POTA had already been incorporated into the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Still the Centre was playing along with the BJP to bring in tougher legislation without addressing the core issue behind terrorism. Quoting a UN resolution from 1981, he said, “War begins in the minds of people and it is in the minds of people that the seeds of peace should be sown.”

Mano Ganesan, Sri Lankan MP, said that this aspect was ignored in the Sri Lankan conflict. People were categorised as pro-LTTE or anti-LTTE without realising that it was a people’s problem and not a government or LTTE problem. Hasan Ali, MLA, said that people should change their mindsets and broaden their intellect.