Lay off, Malaysian minister tells Karunanidhi

MUD ON FACE: The Malaysian minister said that Karunanidhi should worry about his own state and not about Malaysia.

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New Delhi: Malayasia has reacted sharply to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi's appeal to the Prime Minister to intervene on behalf of that country's ethnic Tamils.

Malaysian Justice Minister Nazri Aziz has asked Karunanidhi to back off, saying the matter has got nothing to do with him.

"His place is in Tamil Nadu, not Malaysia. He should worry about his own state. His own state has got problems," news agency PTI quoted Nazri Aziz as saying.

He added that it had nothing to do with him and said he should, “lay off”.

Karunanidhi had on Tuesday written a letter to Prime Minister Manomhan Singh asking him to take "immediate and appropriate action on the sufferings and bad treatment of Tamils in Malaysia".

Scores of ethnic Tamils and others of Indian descent have been arrested and detained since last Sunday's 10,000 strong protest.

They were demonstrating against what they felt were the government's discriminatory employment practices.

Aziz also refused to apologise for calling Sunday’s protestors thugs. The organisers of that rally the Hindu Rights Action Force have denied allegations that the gathering was politically motivated or racist.

Earlier on Thursday the leader of the Hindu Rights Action Force Ganapathy Rao was arrested.

He and two others had organised and led Sunday's demonstration that drew more than 10,000 people. Ethnic Tamils form about 8 per cent of Malaysia's population and have long complained of limited employment opportunities.