Despatch aid for Lankan Tamils through Red Cross: Jaya

Chennai, Nov 18 (UNI) AIADMK Supremo J Jayalalithaa today urged the Centre to despatch the essential food and medical items to the suffering Lankan Tamils through the International Red Cross.

In a statement here, she referred to the Indian Government's announcement of providing food and medicine to the Tamils and said considering the present situation, there were apprehensions on whether these items would reach the Tamils if it were sent through the Lankan Government.

''It should be sent through the Red Cross instead of routing it through the Lankan Government,'' she said.

She also condemned the DMK Government for refusing permission to MDMK General Secretary Vaiko for staging a demonstration to protest against the genocide of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Observing these agitations were part of democratic duty, Ms Jayalalithaa said permissions were granted for such programmes during the previous AIADMK regime.

''The DMK Government refusing permission for it was an anti-people act'', she alleged.

DPI General Secretary Thol Thirumavalavan took exception to some remarks made by C R Jeyasinghe of the Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi that LTTE was misleading the world with wrong information.

It was the Lankan Government which had violated the ceasefire agreement and was indulging in killing of innocent people and had closed the Colombo-Jaffna Highway, causing misery to Lankan Tamils, he claimed.

''By indulging in such acts, it was the Lankan Government which had been sending wrong signals to the world,'' he alleged.

UNI GV LS MIR KP2009