A students’ organisation spearheading ongoing protests against Sri Lanka on Wednesday warned that it would go to any extent to stop Sri Lankan cricketers from playing in IPL matches in Chennai.
Urging the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to prevent Sri Lankan players from participating in the IPL matches here, the ‘Students’ Federation for Free Eelam’ coordinator V. Prabhakaran said students would disrupt the match if Sri Lankan nationals were allowed to play. He called for a permanent boycott of IPL matches if Sri Lankans played here.
The Federation is coordinating a massive students’ agitation across Tamil Nadu demanding that India should vote for the resolution against Sri Lanka in the ongoing United Nations Human Rights Council meet in Geneva. It sought an independent international investigation into war crimes charges in the island nation.
“There is no question of allowing the Sri Lankan players to participate in cricket matches here. We have nothing against IPL or the game, but allowing them to play in Tamil Nadu will be a great insult to millions of Tamils who are fighting for justice. We will go to any extent to stop this,” Mr. Prabhakaran told The Hindu on Wednesday.
The Federation nominated coordinators in 26 districts in the State and thousands of students were already enrolled. “We are communicating with the students through email/social network and hundreds of them are joining us daily,” he said.
Networking sites under scanner
In a related development, intelligence agencies have brought some social network sites under their scanner following specific inputs that some hate messages were being spread by some groups.
“There is an input that some groups of members are spreading hate messages online. We are keeping tabs on the activities of at least half-a-dozen such groups. Any content that incites violence will attract legal action irrespective of the medium,” a top police official said.
