Chief minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday suspended M. Thomas, the stadium officer at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium near the Central Station here, for ‘insulting Tamil sentiments’ by allowing a Sri Lankan college soccer team to play a ‘friendly’ match on Friday with the Customs team.

Thomas had given an ‘oral approval’ and allowed the match on an ‘oral request’ from a sports official of Reserve Bank of India in Chennai after the football team from Royal College of Colombo contacted him. “Not only did the officer not have the authority to permit the use of the Stadium, but he has also insulted the feelings of Tamils in the state,” the chief minister said in a statement.

She said she had instructed chief secretary Debendranath Sarangi to place the officer under suspension and initiate departmental action against him.

“Also, I have ordered that the Sri Lankan football players should not be permitted to play any matches in Tamil Nadu and steps be taken to send them back to their country forthwith”, the chief minister said.

She has also instructed that another team of eight football players and a coach from Hilburn International School in Rathnapura, Sri Lanka, which had come for a tournament organised by Velammal Higher Secondary School in Chennai, should be sent back.

The chief minister also slammed the Centre for ignoring the TN Assembly resolution seeking economic sanctions against Colombo until the Tamils languishing in camps in the island are rehabilitated on par with Sinhalese.

On the other hand, Delhi was arranging training for Lankan military personnel and now allowing sportspersons from the island to play matches in Tamil Nadu, she said.

Footballers from Lanka packed off on CM’s order

State police swung into action following the chief minister’s diktat to pack off all the Sri Lankan footballers and got the players on the first available flights late Sunday night.

Some of the players could not find seats during the night flights and are being flown out on Air India early Monday morning, airport sources said.

Eight students of Hilburn School in Ratnapura were put on the early evening Jet Airways flight and the remaining two from this group accommodated on the Sri Lanka Airways that left later in the night.

Of the 20 players from the Royal College, Colombo, 11 were found by the police team at their quarters close to the Nehru Stadium while nine had gone out for shopping.

The police arranged to reach all the players safely to the airport, taking care to ensure they did not run into any hostile demonstrations by Tamil groups in the city.

Senior officials from the Sri Lankan deputy high commission in the city were at the airport through Sunday night to make sure their boys were well fed and flown out safe.

Jayalalithaa’s action demonstrated that she would oppose all forms of Lankan presence — not just military personnel but even sportspersons — in Tamil Nadu until her demand for justice for the Tamils in the island is met.

She has been in the forefront of vociferous opposition from all the political parties in the state against India training Sri Lankan military personnel in view of the serious war crimes committed during the Eelam war.