Tamil woman abducted in Poththuvil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 13:41 GMT]
A 36-year-old mother of three children residing in 3rd division , Poththuvil Eaththam in Ampaa'rai district was allegedly abducted by armed men Monday, according to complaints lodged with the police by her relatives. Relatives said no action has been taken by the police regarding their complaint.
Full story >>

CPI seeks clarification on Tamil ceasefire stand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2008, 13:44 GMT]
Stating that the people of Tamil Nadu state and India were being led to a state of confusion by the calls that demanded both the warring parties in Sri Lanka to announce a ceasefire, the State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Tamil Nadu, D. Pandian, urged in a statement issued from Chennai on Saturday that the Eezham Tamils' political leadership should clarify the Tamil stand on the issue. Consensus of the people of Tamil Nadu is that the Sri Lankan government should immediately stop the war. However, when questions were raised by certain sections, there is a need for clarification, Mr. Pandiyan said.
Full story >>

Women wing of VCK stages one-day fast in Chennai

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2008, 09:10 GMT]
Thousands of women belonging to the Makalir Viduthalai Iyakkamm, the Women's Wing of the Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK), went on a one-day fast in Chennai Thursday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. This token fast is the first in a series of agitations that the party has decided to hold indefinitely until a ceasefire is established on the war-ravaged island. Senior Communist leader R Nallakannu and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi addressed the fasting protesters.
Full story >>

2 TMVP men shot dead in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 November 2008, 11:05 GMT]
Unidentified armed men lying in ambush shot and killed two Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) Karuna faction men riding on a motorcycle along Chiththaa'ndi Murukan Koayil Veethi, Wednesday around 5:00 a.m, in Ea'raavoor police division in Batticaloa district. The killers escaped from the site located 500 m from Murakkoddaancheanai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp.
Full story >>

STF behind massacre of 5 Tamils in Ampaa'rai - Parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 November 2008, 18:41 GMT]
Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos at Kalmunai in Ampaa'rai opened fire on five Tamil youths who were at a liquor shop and attempted to create a story through police that the victims were Karuna cadres, TNA MP K. Pathmanathan said, citing the relatives of the victims. Later, the STF attempted to place the blame on Muslims, but some Tamil Muslim youths who had witnessed the killings had helped to avert confrontation between the Tamil, Muslim communities, the MP said.
Full story >>

TMVP Karuna faction attacked in Ampaa'rai, 2 killed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 November 2008, 12:34 GMT]
Unknown armed persons attacked a camp of TMVP Karuna faction in Ampaa'rai, killing two paramilitary personnel Monday around 11:20 p.m. at Akkaraippattu in Ampaa'rai, Police said. Two Karuna's men were wounded in the attack, which has come after Pillayan faction's Pradeep Master was targeted by suspected Karuna personnel.
Full story >>

Ramadoss attacks Karunanidhi's vacillation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 November 2008, 10:35 GMT]
Pattali Makkal Katchi founder-leader Dr. S. Ramadoss condemned Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi for changing his stand on the Eelam Tamils issue in a press release Monday. "All Tamil people will easily understand that there is an immense divide between the Karunanidhi of October 14's All Party Meeting who demanded a ceasefire, and the Karunanidhi of today who justifies the Union Government's inaction by saying that India has limitations on how far it can interfere in another country's affairs," he said.
Full story >>

Nedumaran slams Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's stand on Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 November 2008, 21:22 GMT]
Tamil Nationalist Movement (TNM) leader Pazha Nedumaran on Monday said that he was shocked and dismayed at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's attempts to "justify the Centre's inaction." Mr. Nedumaran, who is also the convener of the Tamil Eelam Supporters Co-ordinating Committee, said that the widespread protests extending to all areas of Tamil Nadu reflected that people were rejecting Mr. Karunanidhi's position and urged the party leaders, who have expressed disappointment to the ineffective response of the India's Center to the resolutions adopted in the Tamil Nadu All Party Conference, to decide upon follow up action.
Full story >>

'Political solution, not politics of food': Mano Ganesan to India

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 November 2008, 16:47 GMT]
The leader of the Western Province People's Front (WPPF) Mano Ganesan on Sunday said the need of hour for India was to push the Government of Sri Lanka to fair and reasonable political solution alluding that India was not needed for the job of supplying 800 MT humanitarian supplies. Three basics of the upheavals in Tamil Nadu were: stop the war, stop the military aid to Sri Lanka and send humanitarian aids to the needy in Vanni. "The Indian Government virtually dismissed first two and got hold of the last, comparatively easy one," Mr. Mano Ganesan said in a press statement issued from Colombo.
Full story >>

Discuss Tamil national question and self-determination: CPI (ML)

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008, 23:07 GMT]
"Stop the war. The Tamil national question in Sri Lanka demands a political solution”, is the headlines of a statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), released in its November issue of Liberation. "The current phase of the war in Sri Lanka does call for an urgent and appropriate Indian response to bring about an immediate cessation of the war and facilitate a negotiated political settlement of the question of Tamil self-determination in Sri Lanka", urged the ultra Marxist party actively leading proletarian movements throughout India.
Full story >>

5 youths shot dead in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008, 17:11 GMT]
Five youths have succumbed to gunshot wounds after unknown attackers opened fire on them at Kurunthaiyadi in Kalmunai of Ampaa'rai district Sunday night around 9:15 p.m. The gunmen opened fire from a roadside hideout while the young men were at a liquor shop on Resthouse Road. Two youths were killed on the spot and three succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.
Full story >>

Only ceasefire is real relief to Eelam Tamils: Ramadoss

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008, 15:05 GMT]
Coming out publicly to voice his displeasure over the manner in which the Eelam Tamil issue was handled by the Tamil Nadu State and Union Governments, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder-leader Dr. S. Ramadoss alleged at a press meet in Chennai Saturday that not a single resolution of the All Party Meeting had met with success. He called upon Chief Minister Karunanidhi to explain as to why the ceasefire demand was not addressed. "There should be an immediate ceasfire in Sri Lanka, only that shall be the real relief to Eelam Tamils," he said.
Full story >>

Tehelka on what the grass roots feel in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2008, 12:19 GMT]
"In these villages, it hardly matters that Pirabhakaran is an accused in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, or that the LTTE is banned un India. Many have named their children after Pirabhakaran. Housing colonies have been given the names of LTTE martyrs", reports Tehelka Magazine in a feature article on Kolathur (Ku'laththoor), a Panchayat of 10 villages and 75,000 people, bordering Karnataka, in the Selam (Chealam) district of northwestern Tamil Nadu.
Full story >>

Tamil Nadu doctors seek to help Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 15:41 GMT]
Doctors' Association For Social Equality in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, has requested the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Union Minister for Health, Mr. Anpumani Ramados on Wednesday, to arrange permission for them to visit the war zone and offer their services to war-torn Eezham Tamils.
Full story >>

Sending food is a farce: D. Pandian

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 10:28 GMT]
"Sending food to an area that is being bombed continuously is a major farce," said D. Pandian, State Secretary of the Communist Party of India. He also expressed discontent over the fact that no information has been released until now on whether India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had addressed the issue of ceasefire during his discussions with Basil Rajapaksa, Special Adviser to the Sri Lankan President.
Full story >>

Ceasefire should be primary concern: Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 19:59 GMT]
Quick on the heels of the news-report that hundreds of Tamil schoolchildren had a hair-breadth escape from death due to airstrike by the Sri Lanka Air Force Tuesday, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) President Thol.Thirumavalavan said in a press meet in Chennai that "an immediate ceasefire in the island nation should be the primary concern of the Tamilnadu and Indian Governments." Thirumavalavan lauded Chief Minister Karunanidhi for his efforts to ensure peace in the island nation and requested him not to drop the resignation ultimatum, but to instead postpone it until a later date.
Full story >>

Cash pours in as Tamil Nadu Government sets up relief fund for Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 19:54 GMT]
A day after the Tamil Nadu Government's relief fund for Eelam Tamils was set up by Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi, contributions to the tune of 26 lakh rupees have been received, according to news-reports in the Indian media. In a spirited show of solidarity and to reaffirm his commitment to the cause of mitigating the sorrows of Eelam Tamils, Karunanidhi made the initial contribution of ten lakh rupees from his personal accounts to the relief fund.
Full story >>

4 killed, 6 captured, Tigers raid TMVP camp

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2008, 20:38 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa district attacked a key paramilitary camp of the paramilitary group TMVP in the early hours of Tuesday, killing four operatives and capturing six gunmen from the camp, located at Chengka'ladi, 13 km northwest of Batticaloa city, according to the Batticaloa Command of the LTTE. Despite the LTTE claim of their attack on the TMVP within a few hours of the raid, the Pillayan faction of the TMVP blamed Karuna operatives for the attack. The Sri Lankan Police said that the Tigers were behind the raid that killed four operatives, Pushpan, Rajan, Mani Master and Ravi.
Full story >>

Food to hoodwink, war to continue

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2008, 01:00 GMT]
The voice of Tamil Nadu people has certainly shaken the power centres of India, but what they really heard or orchestrated was the US ambassador's voice. The establishments are not prepared to change course immediately either on stopping war and military assistance to Colombo or on coming out with meaningful political solutions to Eezham Tamils, but rather the 'machinations' are to bring in a wedge between the suffering people and their fighters, said a Colombo based political analyst. Only a resolute Tamil people and ground realities in Sri Lanka may able to convince the 'strategic partners' of the futility of going against the aspirations of the oppressed, observed the analyst.
Full story >>

TNA condemns forced participation of civilians in Batticaloa paramilitary meeting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2008, 23:47 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a communiqué issued Sunday, condemned the actions of paramilitary factions led by Karuna and Pillaiyan for forcibly transporting Batticaloa residents, who did not extend their support to the meeting conducted by paramilitary groups expressing solidarity with the Government of Sri Lanka, to the venue of the meeting.
Full story >>