NEW DELHI, March 26: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa said on Tuesday that Indian Premier League (IPL) matches will be permitted in Chennai only if there are no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff in these matches.

As protests in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils continue, she said in Chennai: “In view of the popular antipathy and anger in Tamil Nadu against the actions of the Government of Sri Lanka, the Government of Tamil Nadu is of the view that IPL matches involving Sri Lankan players, umpires and other officials should not be played in Tamil Nadu.”

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she said the Central Government may advise the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to prevail upon the IPL organisers not to allow Sri Lankan players, officials, umpires and support staff to take part in the tournament in the state.

“The Government of Tamil Nadu will permit IPL matches to be held in Tamil Nadu only if the organisers provide an undertaking that no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff will participate in these matches”, she said.

Ms Jayalalithaa said the recent continuous agitations in the southern state during the debate in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva have revealed the “great angst and anguish” among the people with regard to the highly emotive Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

“In this surcharged atmosphere, the IPL cricket tournament is scheduled to be held at various locations, including Chennai from April 3 onwards and will go on for over a month till May 26,” she said.

Eight of the nine IPL teams have a total of 13 Sri Lankan cricketers in their squads.

The civil strife in Sri Lanka is a “lamentable saga of an ethnic pogrom” launched by the Sri Lankan government against Tamils, she said.

“These painful events of genocide of innocent Sri Lankan Tamils have had a deep impact amongst the people of Tamil Nadu…”

“Recently, against the background of increasing and credible evidence of continuing atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil Nadu witnessed mass agitations, hunger strikes, self-immolations and large-scale spontaneous involvement of many sections of society, including the student community, protesting against the Sri Lankan action against the Tamils,” she said.

Recalling her letter to the prime minister on the attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, she said: “Understandably, their sentiments, too, have been hurt by these brutal and hostile acts of the Sri Lankan Navy.”

“All political parties in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly voiced their grave concern regarding these issues. The atmosphere is, therefore, already surcharged with a groundswell of popular public opinion against the Sri Lankan Government,” she said.

“In such a hostile and tense environment, we apprehend that the participation of Sri Lankan players in the IPL tournament, with many games to be played in Chennai, will aggravate an already surcharged atmosphere and further offend the sentiments of the people,” Ms Jayalalithaa cautioned.

Amid protests over the alleged brutal killing of slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s son Balachandran, she said last month that her government will not host the 20th Asian Athletics Championships in Chennai in July, claiming that Sri Lankan players have no place in the state.

In September 2012, Ms Jayalalithaa had sent a Sri Lankan football team back home and suspended a state official for allowing them to play a friendly match in Chennai. (BY S. VENKAT NARAYAN)

Source: The Island (Sri Lanka)