KUALA LUMPUR: Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador has urged Pakatan Harapan politicians to stay calm and let the police investigate claims that two state leaders and others were involved in the now defunct Liberation of Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) movement.
He said politicians should let the law enforcers do their job when it comes to matters of national security.
“This is purely a national security issue and it has nothing to do with politics, race or religion.
“I will make sure they are given their rights to counsel and allowed to meet their family members while in detention. I do not want anyone to say they were denied their rights,” he said.
Hamid was asked to comment on the arrests of two DAP state assemblymen, G Saminathan and P Gunasekaran, as well as five others under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) over their activities linked to LTTE.
On Thursday, Pakatan Harapan Indian leaders had said the government should release them without any conditions.
They said the arrests and detention under Sosma were a gross travesty of justice and cannot be justified under the new PH government.
The PH leaders said the arrests are beyond comprehension as the LTTE, as a Tamil liberation force, was decimated in Sri Lanka during the final stages of the civil war in 2009.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the party will provide their legal counsel, Ramkarpal Singh and RSN Rayer, to assist Saminathan and Gunasekaran.
He added the party was shocked over the arrests and believed both men were innocent of the accusations against them.
Bukit Aman counter-terrorism chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said LTTE is still defined as a terrorist group under Malaysian laws.
He added Saminathan and Gunasekaran previously attended a function to pay tribute to LTTE sympathisers.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, who was previously investigated for alleged links with LTTE, also said he was prepared to be arrested.
In May this year, it was reported that India had also extended the ban on LTTE for five more years, saying it “threatened the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country”.