LTTE using Tamils as 'human shields': Jaya

Accusing the LTTE of using Tamils as "human shields" in the ongoing war with Lankan army, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa today demanded that the Tamils caught in the crossfire should be allowed to go to safer places.    

"If they (LTTE) allow the Tamils to go to a safer place, then there will not be any civilian loss," she said here, when asked on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.    

"As far as the Indian government is concerned, the LTTE is a banned organisation. LTTE will not solve the ethnic crisis," she said.    

Jayalalithaa said the AIADMK's stand was that Tamils living in the island nation should be given rights on par with the Sinhalese.