TMVP, Karuna groups organize demonstration in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2008, 14:02 GMT]
Paramilitary-cum-political parties, the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and the Karuna faction, which operate along with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Eastern Province, have announced that a demonstration will be held 26 October, and have issued notices to the public in Eastern Province including NGO staff, school children and other public and private institutions to participate. The groups have warned the public of severe consequences if they fail to join in the demonstration.
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Rain highlights depth of emotions in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2008, 23:19 GMT]
The heavy downpour that started simultaneously with the Human Chain agitation in Tamil Nadu on Friday has in fact helped to understand the level of emotional involvement of the leaders and people of Tamil Nadu in the cause of the Eezham Tamils in Sri Lanka. It was a singular sight to see prominent politicians, celebrities of the cine-world, trade unionists, pontiffs of mutts, members of Churches and civil society activists amidst hundreds of thousands of people, largely students of both gender, completely drenched and standing in ankle deep water, voicing solidarity with their brethren across the Palk Straits, reported media sources in Chennai.
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Vaiko arrested for "pro-LTTE speech"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2008, 17:22 GMT]
Tamil Nadu state police arrested MDMK General Secretary Vaiko, a staunch supporter of Tamil Eelam cause, on Thursday afternoon for allegedly making "highly inflammatory speeches in support of the LTTE".
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17 DMK MPs submit resignation letters to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2008, 10:22 GMT]
Following Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi's ultimatum to the Central Government of India Tuesday on the national issue of Eezam Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, 17 Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam including 2 Central ministers handed their resignation letters Friday to CM Karunanidhi in Chennai, media reports in Chennai said. Meanwhile, Tamil Film Industry will hold a rally Sunday in Rameswaram demanding the Centre to take efforts to stop the war on Eezham Tamils.
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Time for India to re-think, says Singaporean scholar

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2008, 16:21 GMT]
The all-party resolution in Tamil Nadu should provide New Delhi an opportunity to do some introspection about its Sri Lanka policy, says TS Gopi Rethinaraj of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore in an article that appeared in Hindustan Times on Thursday. Unless India is able to lock SL in a broad bilateral security relationship, their leadership will have no qualms about allowing China or Pakistan to get a foothold, he says. "This is the real danger of India's current policy facilitating the military defeat of the LTTE. If India were to take a hard-nosed view of its interests, a subtle shift in its position on the LTTE will go a long way in safeguarding its strategic interests in the region besides securing the interests of ethnic Tamils in the island."
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Karuna faction overruns Pillayan's office

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2008, 11:42 GMT]
The faction of the TMVP paramilitary, led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, who was recently nominated by the Rajapaksa government as a national list MP, has overrun the main office of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, who was installed as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provice by Mr. Rajapaksa. The attack on 'Meenakam office' in Koavinthan Road in Batticaloa city took place Friday around 12:30 p.m., initial reports said. Meanwhile, informed sources in Colombo said Pillayan was hurriedly escorted to Colombo by Rajapaksa's government and a meeting was arranged with Karuna.
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Karunanidhi announces human chain demonstration on Eelam issue

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2008, 11:31 GMT]
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi has announced that a human chain demonstration would be held in Chennai on October 21 to remind the Union Government of India about the state's ultimatum on the national question of Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. The resolution demanded the Central Government to take measures to ensure that there is no war in Sri Lanka and that peace prevails in Tamil homeland.
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Kanimozhi hands over symbolic resignation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2008, 09:45 GMT]
Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, the daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi and a Member of Indian Parliament submitted Wednesday her resignation saying that it was for the party to take an "appropriate decision at appropriate time" on her resignation following the two-weeks ultimatum given to New Delhi by the Tamil Nadu government to exert pressure on Colombo to declare a ceasefire, The Times of India reported.
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Tamil Nadu Government gives ultimatum to New Delhi to safeguard Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 19:39 GMT]
Giving a time frame of a fortnight to New Delhi to respond, an All Party Meeting organized by the Tamil Nadu Government at the State Secretariat in Chennai on Tuesday warned the Union Government of India that all forty members of the Indian parliament representing Tamils would resign en masse if New Delhi failed to take up the right steps to protect Eezham Tamils.
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Karuna operative, associate shot dead in Ka'luvaangchikkudi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2008, 20:08 GMT]
Armed men who arrived in a motorbike shot and killed Karuna group operative, Tharmalingam Arunagiri, 27, and his associate, Thiruchelvam Rajendran, 18, near a liquor shop in Eruvil area in Ka'luvaangnchikkudi police division in Batticaloa district Saturday around 6:15 p.m. The two killed are renegades from Pillayan faction of the TMVP, operating now with Karuna, according to informed sources in Batticaloa.
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SLA shuns Perera's funeral

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2008, 08:40 GMT]
No senior officer of the Sri Lanka Army attended the funeral of Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera, the decorated former commander who was allegedly killed by a human bomber last Monday, according to the Sunday Times. The paper also reported that, following 'orders from the top', the remains of the general and his wife, another former Army officer, were kept waiting at Ratmalana Air Force base and, with permission not forthcoming for the caskets to be to be airlifted to Anuradhapura, later had to be taken by road with a dwindling escort of police.
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Vaiko courts arrest with thousands of cadres on Eelam Tamil issue

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2008, 22:58 GMT]
Tamil leader Vaiko, General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and a staunch supporter of the cause of Eezham Tamils, was arrested Friday along with thousands of his cadres in Chennai while staging a demonstration to condemn Indian involvement in the Sri Lankan military. He called upon the ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu, headed by Kalaignar Karunanidhi, an important ally of the Central Government in India, to take the blame for every Tamil being killed in Eelam. "In the name of safe-guarding Sri Lanka's sovereignty, don't lose India's sovereignty and national integration," warned Mr. Vaiko in an emotional, vociferous speech, said media sources in Chennai.
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Second Rights petition filed against Karuna's appointment as MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2008, 19:35 GMT]
A second Fundamental Rights violation petition was filed in the Supreme Court Thursday against the appointment of Muralitharan Vinayagamoorthy, alias Karuna, a renegade of the LTTE and currently the President of TMVP, as national list parliamentarian from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), legal sources said.
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Jayalalithaa recognises Eelam Tamils Right to Self-Determination

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2008, 18:33 GMT]
Ms. Jayalalithaa, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of the state's major opposition party, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), said in a press release, clarifying AIDMK stand Thursday that her party fully recognized Eelam Tamils right to Self-Determination. She also said that her party accepted the demand for Tamil homeland with self-governance within a united framework of a Sri Lankan constitution.
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JVP files court action against Karuna's nomination as UPFA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2008, 19:32 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sinhala nationalist party, Tuesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking annulment of the gazette notification issued by the Commissioner of Elections nominating Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, a renegade Tiger commander who turned leader of a paramilitary group operated by the Sri Lanka Army in Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai as a nationalist parliamentarian from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to the seat that fell vacant due to the resignation of a JVP parliamentarian Vasantha Samarasinghe, legal sources said.
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Parliament approves emergency extension

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2008, 19:25 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday by a majority of 84 votes adopted the motion moved by the government to extend the State of Emergency by one month, parliamentary sources said. 98 parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) including the newly appointed Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna voted for the motion. Fourteen parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted against the motion.
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Tamil Nadu exerts pressure on New Delhi against Sri Lanka's war

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2008, 09:36 GMT]
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state in Southern India, Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi, on Monday indirectly declared that his government would no longer tolerate Indian Central government aiding the Sri Lankan government against the Eezham Tamils, even if it aided Colombo "unwittingly". The move comes after the veteran DMK leader urged his party members to telegram New Delhi to convey their displeasure with the attitude of the Central government. He has issued a veiled threat to New Delhi implying that he would not hesitate to withdraw his support to the ruling UPA alliance, if Sri Lanka continued its war against Eezham Tamils, media reports in Tamil Nadu said.
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UPFA to appoint Karuna as national list parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2008, 11:21 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, following the advice by his brother and SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has approved a suggestion to appoint Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, a renegade Tiger commander who turned leader of a paramilitary group operated by the Sri Lanka Army in Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai, as national list parliamentarian of the UPFA, informed sources in Colombo said.
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UNP lends support to GoSL's war effort

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2008, 09:02 GMT]
United National Pary (UNP) Senior Party Member and Colombo district parliamentarian, Ravi Karunanayake, accompanied by several of his supporters, visited injured Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers at the Colombo Jayawardenepura Hospital and wished speedy recovery, political sources in Colombo said. The MP handed over essential goods to the injured, and complemented the officiers for the victories they have accomplished in the NorthEast battlefield, sources added.
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Bomb blast in TMVP operative's office in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2008, 19:38 GMT]
Amid unconfirmed reports of a key paramilitary operative, Pradeep master, a close associate of Pillayan, joined Karuna, a bomb exploded inside the premises of the operative's office at Vanthaa'rumoolai Uppoadai in Batticaloa district, Thursday morning around 6:30 a.m., causing serious injuries to a paramilitary person.
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