Madras HC quashes preventive detention order against LTTE cadre; Increased vigil along Rameswaram coast to prevent HMK activists hoist national flag on Kachatheevu; Reports: LTTE constructing bigger runway at Mullaitivu
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    • The Madras High Court Bench quashed a preventive detention order passed under the National Security Act, 1980 by the Ramanathapuram Collector against a Sri Lankan national, Satheesh alias Tamilvanan alias Thatheeswaran alias Nagulan (31) of Kilinochi, a member of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). The Bench termed the order unwarranted as there was only a remote and not imminent possibility of the petitioner coming out on bail1. The detention order was passed by the district administration on the ground that there was an imminent possibility of the Sri Lankan being released on bail in a criminal case and the possibility of the individual indulging in activities harmful to the relationship between India and the island nation.

    The Ramanathapuram district administration also clamped a blanket ban on entry into Kachatheevu. The state and central security agencies stepped up vigil along the Rameswaram coast to prevent the Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) and other organisations from hoisting the national flag on the island on Independence Day2. HMK planned to unfurl the national flag in Kachatheevu to protest against the Sri Lankan Navy’s frequent firing on Tamil Nadu fishermen and to demand the retrieval of the island, ceded to Sri Lanka in 1964. It also urged the governments to ensure the rights of fishermen on Kachatheevu.

    Meanwhile, reports noted that the Sri Lankan security forces which had captured the LTTE-held Mulankavil were now hoping to capture the entire region before the end of the current year. The LTTE on its part has urged its cadres to unite in transforming Wanni into a graveyard of the advancing forces. LTTE political leader P. Nadesan, while speaking at the second commemoration of 53 girl students killed in air attacks at Chencholai charged that government forces had “stepped into the land of the Tamils to swallow it. The time is up for the government forces to be taught the right lesson3."

    The LTTE was also expanding a second runway capable of accommodating heavy aircraft in Mullaitivu even as government forces backed by air, artillery and armour battled through fortified LTTE defences on the western and eastern flanks. The construction activity was going on in spite of the unprecedented army build-up on multiple fronts in Vanni, where ground forces have inflicted massive losses on the Tigers. The Sri Lankan military noted that the second runway could accommodate larger aircraft as it was longer and wider than the Iranamadu strip. Both runways are located east of the A9 road4. The Sea Tigers were also reportedly shifting its assets to the Mullaitivu theatre.

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