Thiruvananthapuram: Asserting that the United Democratic Front (UDF) government was firm on bringing to justice within the shortest possible time, all culprits involved in the Marad carnage which left nine persons dead, Chief Minister A K Antony said no leniency would be shown to anyone involved in the crime, whichever party or group they belonged to.

"The Marad incident came as a shock to me. All the accused in the case will be arrested soon," Antony said.

Stating that the government machinery and police alone could not prevent recurrence of such incidents, he said all religious, social and political organisations should ensure that their rank and file did not involve themselves in criminal activities and communal violence.

Enquiries on communal clashes over the years had revealed that people belonging to different parties and religious groups were involved in such crimes.

It was the duty of party leaderships to come forward to correct their followers and isolate those fomenting trouble.

"Putting all the blame on the government without attempting to correct their rank and file is a dangerous trend," he said.

On the police action at Muthanga during the February tribal agitation, where the police used force as a last resort, that too while trying to save the life of a constable, he said the incident had 'personally grieved' him.

Antony, however, took exception to the Opposition, which haunted him over the Muthanga incident by branding him as the perpetrator of a massacre.

He said the Opposition carried out propaganda as if the most heinous carnage had taken place. They also planted stories in the media and the latter was carried away by the campaign. "The misunderstanding between government and the media in the wake of Muthanga has now been cleared."

Asked about criticism of his government's police policy, not only from the Opposition, but from within the Congress, he said, "Ever since I took over, the police has been asked to be impartial towards all sections. We do not interfere in the routine functioning of the police. But the government still has control over the force."

Police had been given freedom to function impartially. But complaints of misuse of this freedom had been promptly attended to. "Everybody should get justice. Police is not the handmaid of the ruling party. It is the UDF policy and the people of the state have accepted it," he said.

PTI