Tamil Nadu gears up for more protests

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 05:27 GMT]
A state-wide common front of college and university students' organisations in Tamil Nadu launched protests against New Delhi and the state government demanding immediate action in stopping the war, which seeks to subjugate Tamil people who have refused to surrender into the hands of the Sri Lanka Army despite the physical and psychological war on them. 200,000 students took part in the 32 districts of the state on Wednesday, according to Dr. Vengadachalam, the organisor of the College Students' Coordinating Committee, a newly formed alliance of the students' organisations.
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Unprecedented civilian carnage in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 18:44 GMT]
Fifteen civilians including 5 children were killed and 29 seriously injured in the relentless artillery barrage that Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) kept pounding the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Visuvamadu, Udaiyaarkaddu, Chuthanthirapuram and Maa'nikkapuram areas in Mullaiththeevu district Tuesday, sources in Vanni said. SLA continued its artillery barrage on the IDP settlements Monday from 11:00 a.m till 12:30 p.m in Chuthanthirapuram and Theavipuram areas in Vanni killing two IDPs and seriously injuring nine including children.
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'Madaraasi Madam' on Eezham Tamils: comments of a Tamil journalist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 19:29 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu opposition leader Ms. Jeyalalithaa, in an interview reported by BBC on Saturday, has said that it is wrong to call the Tamils of the island of Sri Lanka as Eezhath Thamizhar, because there is no country at present called Eezham. In her opinion the right term is Ilangkaith Thamizhar. What is explicit in the statement of this leader who was made a Chief Minister twice by the people of Tamil Nadu as leader of a political party having a Dravidian label that doesn’t stand for any people at present, is her heartbeat of desire not exactly to see the elimination of the LTTE, but to see the nullification of the nationalism of Eezham Tamils inclusive of all its symbols, writes a Tamil journalist based in Chennai.
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Thirumavalavan drops fast, signals 'change of strategy'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 18:02 GMT]
VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, in his fourth day of the fast-unto-death said that he was forced to reconsider his decision to continue the fast because of the emotional pleading by his frenzied cadres, particularly women cadres who threatened self-immolation, and the shoot at sight orders that had been given by the state police department. "At this stage, I have to ensure that those who lay their love and trust in me should not lose their lives," Mr. Thirumavalavan said. He added that henceforth the VCK had snapped all ties with the Congress party.
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Tamil Nadu CPI, BJP leaders slam Delhi’s inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 22:13 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), D Pandian charged Saturday that it was not enough to merely condemn the genocide in Sri Lanka, but instead one should be prepared to embrace a martyr's death. He was speaking about VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan’s fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s war. The senior CPI leader added that if India was capable of sending the Chandrayaan to the moon, it could at least do some lip-service to save the lives of Tamils by telling to the Government of Sri Lanka that it will not hesitate to interfere."
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Ramdoss exhorts Karunanidhi to urgent action in stopping Sri Lanka war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 21:08 GMT]
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Dr S Ramadoss, who visited VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, now in his fourth day of a fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s punitive bombardments, exhorted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi to act urgently to invoke Indian intervention to stop the war. Emphatically refuting Mr. Karunanidhi's statement that the VCK leader had “unilaterally decided” to stage a protest fast without consulting the rest of the Tamil Nadu polity, Dr. Ramadoss said Thol Thirumavalavan, whose health is detoriarating, had consulted other leaders several times in the recent weeks.
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Karuna group men abduct washerman in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 14:21 GMT]
Karuna group armed men arriving on a motor cycle and a three-wheeler abducted Thursday around 3:30 p.m a washerman from his house at Cheaniakkudiyiruppu Kiddangki area in Kalmunai in Ampaa’rai district, according to a complaint lodged with Kalmunai police.
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CPI pledges support to Thirumavalavan's fast

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 05:13 GMT]
Veteran leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Tamil Nadu, R. Nallakannu Thursday pledged his party's support to Thirumavalavan's fast-unto-death campaign demanding immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Mr. Thirumavalavan blamed the Indian establishment for not asking Sri Lanka to stop war or sending Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian External Affairs Minister to Colombo, as promised. The VCK leader decried the Indian Government's inaction and said that by insulting the demands of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi, New Delhi had in effect insulted the whole Tamil population.
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Norwegian Tamils urge Indian PM to stop war in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2009, 11:22 GMT]
Around three hundred Norwegian Tamils gathered in front of the Indian Embassy in Oslo Wednesday between 2:00 p.m and 3:00 p.m in an attempt to draw the attention of the Indian state to stop the genocidal war waged on the Tamils in Vanni by the Government of Sri Lanka. Norwegian Tamil Federation (NTF) which had arranged the demonstration presented a memorandum of its requests to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by handing it over to the representative of the Indian Embassy in Oslo.
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Thirumavalavan launches fast-unto-death, demands India to stop war

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2009, 06:54 GMT]
"Mahatma Gandhi, who fought against British colonialists didn't think of taking the side of genocidal Hitler during World War II. He was not seeking personal vengeance against the British. Likewise, the present leaders in New Delhi should also take a bold decision that they will not support the genocidal war being waged by the Sri Lankan state on Eezham Tamils," said Kasi Anandan, a well-known Eezham poet living in Tamil Nadu, inaugurating the fast-unto-death campaign launched Thursday by VCK (Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol. Thirumavalavan.
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End of peace in India’s south

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2009, 00:40 GMT]
The people of Tamil Nadu in no uncertain terms have said what they wish and have shown their indignation and resentment to what is happening in the island of Sri Lanka. The Tamil diaspora all over the world has demonstrated its solidarity with the national question of Eezham Tamils. The people of USA have firmly voted for the revision of the politics of terrorism. But the few, clinging at the helm of the outgoing administrations of New Delhi and Washington have decided to run amok, defying local and global public opinion. While Bush leaves behind a precarious world legacy to Obama, the Sonia Congress bears personal responsibility for the plight of Eezham Tamils.
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Indian Naval Personnel to Mullaiththeevu: Thirumavalavan lambasts New Delhi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 January 2009, 18:08 GMT]
Thirumavalavan, a Tamil nationalist leader and the president of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) in Tamil Nadu, on Monday condemned the Indian Government for "betraying the entire Tamil people" by sending civil clothed Indian naval personnel to Mullaiththeevu through the Chennai international airport. Addressing the media in Chennai, he said that New Delhi was "totally responsible" for the "ruthless genocide" of Tamils in Sri Lanka. "Even the future generations of Tamils will never forgive the Indian Government for disrespecting the sentiments of 100 million Tamil people," he warned.
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Lift ban on the LTTE: Tamil Nadu BJP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 19:11 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition party in India, has given clear indications of the necessity for lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam according to news reports in the Indian media. Vaithiyalingam, a senior BJP leader and member of the party's national general council, proposed this idea. In an exclusive interview to a Tamil biweekly, he said that although his party did not believe in violent measures, it was unfair to impose the ideas of a Gandhian struggle on the people of Tamil Eelam.
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4 civilians killed, SLAF bombs petrol station, bus depot in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 14:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked a petrol station and a bus depot killing four civilians and causing injuries to 8 close to Mullaiththevu hospital, 1 km away from the town. 8 buses were destroyed, the depot building damaged and the petrol station completely destroyed, initial reports from Mullaiththeevu said. The indiscriminate bombardment by the SLAF has taken place at 5:00 a.m. Friday.
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SLAF bombers attack Christian orphanage for girls

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2008, 13:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers targetted 'Karuna Nilayam', a Christian center and center for orphaned and disabled girls located close to the A9 highway in Ki'linochchi town, at 4:30 p.m. on Christmas day, sources in Ki'linochchi said. The resident girls have been relocated to a different building and no one was injured in the attack, the adminstrators said.
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UNP urges government to summon parliament immediately

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2008, 16:29 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), in a letter sent to the SL Prime Minister Ratnasri Wickremanayake has urged him to take immediate steps to summon the Sri Lankan parliament under Section 16 of the Standing Order immediately before the end of the year to discuss the critical situation that prevails in the country following the government's failure to obey the order of the Supreme Court in fuel sale.
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Muslim engineer’s house attacked in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2008, 14:44 GMT]
Unidentified armed men, who arrived at the house of Kalmunai Town Council Engineer in Chainthamaruthu in Klamunai lobbed grenade at his house and set fire to the vehicles parked inside the premises, Kalmunai police said. Meanwhile residents said that there had been difference of opinion between the engineer and paramilitary Karuna group regarding a new housing project launched a few days ago in Kalmumunai Tamil area in Ampaa'rai district.
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Tamil motor mechanic shot, injured in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2008, 07:24 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen on a motor cycle following a Tamil motor mechanic shot and seriously injured him Friday around 8:30 p.m at Thampiluvil in Thirukkoayil police division in Ampaa’rai district. The injured mechanic was rushed to Thirukkoayil District Hospital first and then transferred to Ampaa’rai Teaching Hospital for further treatment, Thirukkoayil police said.
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Tamils chosen as Left Front party candidates for provincial elections

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 17:13 GMT]
The Left Front, led by Dr.Wickremabahu Karunaratne, has decided to contest the Central Provincial Council election, and nominated Nadarajah Janakan as its chief candidate. Dr.Karunaratne said the election propaganda would be mainly based on advocating immediate ceasefire.
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Tamil Nadu leaders condemn derogatory talk of Fonseka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2008, 00:40 GMT]
Political leaders of Tamil Nadu, including Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi, condemned Monday Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka for his derogatory comments on Tamil Nadu leaders in an interview to a Sri Lankan state-owned newspaper on Sunday. Vaiko, the General Secretary of the MDMK has announced a protest in front of the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai on December 10 demanding unconditional apology from the Sri Lankan Commander-in-Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Army Chief Sarath Fonseka to the latter's astonishing remarks in the Sunday Observer newspaper.
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