India to take up issue of detained Tamils in S'pore

New Delhi, July 23: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said he would take up with his counterpart in Singapore the plight of the Tamils who had been detained in that country on charges of overstaying.

Mr Mukherjee gave this assurance to Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu, who appealed to him to secure their early release through his 'personal intervention' as well as diplomatic channels.

In a letter to Mr Mukherjee, Mr Baalu said family members of the detained Tamils had made strong representation to the authorities at the Indian High Commission in Singapore for securing their early release.

''However, the response of the officials in the Indian High Commission n Singapore has not been encouraging,'' Mr Baalu said.

He also drew attention of Mr Mukherjee to the claims made by some recently deported Tamils that hundreds of Indians were still languishing in various jails in Singapore despite their completing the legal term of detention.

Mr Baalu appealed to the External Affairs Minister to ascertain the factual position in this regard.

He also urged Mr Mukherjee to exercise his personal intervention in advising the Indian High Commission in Singapore to play a ''more proactive and vigilant role'' in solving the problems of detained Tamils in that country.

Mr Baalu said Mr Mukherjee assured him to take up the matter with his counterpart in Singapore for ''arriving at an amicable solution'' to mitigate the ''uncalled for suffering'' of the detained Tamils.

UNI