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Alert in TN on Prabhakaran's birthday

N Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai

The Tamil Nadu police keenly watched the goings-on in pan-Tamil camps Monday as the dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam celebrated its chief V Prabhakaran's birthday in Jaffna jungles in Sri Lanka.

Though fiery speeches by Tamil nationalist leaders once used to the order of the day in Tamil Nadu on Prabhakaran's birthdays, the celebrations were low key this year in light of the LTTE link in Dr Rajakumar's abduction by forest brigand Veerappan.

The celebrations in the state were led by Tamil Nationalist Movement leader Pazha Nedumaran, who played a vital role in securing Dr Rajakumar's release.

Dr Rajakumar's abduction has catapulted Nedumaran to the top rung of the pan-Tamil leadership in the state.

Various leaders had donned the mantle in the past, including MDMK chief Vaiko, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss and Dravida Kazhagam general secretary K Veeramani.

Vaiko these days has been playing safe after being caught in a controversy over his meeting with LTTE advisor Anton Balasingham in London.

Against this, Ramadoss has been taking a soft line towards Veerappan. He even sent a letter for Veerappan with Nedumaran seeking Dr Rajakumars' freedom.

For his part, Veeramani, who was once a leading light of pan-Tamil peripheral groups in the state, is confused. His sympathies are with the Tamil militants in Veerappan's company, but politically he is aligned with the AIADMK, which has criticised the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham government for its failure to nab Veerappan.

While Colombo, as also New Delhi, are keenly watching Prabhakaran's birthday message for LTTE reaction to the Norwegian peace initiative in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Nadu government is looking for hints on the intent of the pro-LTTE, pan-Tamil leaders like Nedumaran, and also the next moves of groups like the TNLA and TNRF.

As intelligence sources point out, Nedumaran has been careful enough thus far in the days following Dr Rajkumar's freedom, not to mention LTTE in his speeches.

His focus at a felicitation meeting organised by some Tamil groups in Chennai last week was Veerappan. He was against the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka deploying the Special Task Force to nab the brigand. He also wanted adequate compensation to be paid to the civilian victims of the STF in the past.

"However, attempts may now be made to paint the two state governments black, at least in the minds of the pan-Tamil periphery, saying that they have not stood by the promises that Nedumaran made to Veerappan on their behalf,' a source said.

"Somewhere along the line, you can expect this negativism combining with the cause of the LTTE, and other pan-Tamil demands unacceptable to the Indian state. How and when it happens is the question. What toll, political and otherwise, it would take, also remains to be seen," he added.

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