Indian intelligence think-tank studying China to meet in Chennai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 08:31 GMT]
“China’s relations with neighbouring countries having territorial disputes including India have somewhat come under strain. It has become important for the latter to factor the reasons behind China’s apparent assertiveness in their formulations of policies towards Beijing,” says the concept paper of a national seminar “Rise of China: Implications for Asian Neighbours,” convened on 17 December at Hotel Savera by three academic-intelligence outfits of India based in Chennai. One of them was founded a year ago to ‘sensitise the people of South India to the complex political, economic and security problems facing India and its South Asian neighbours’. Many of the participants of the seminar, addressed as renowned Sinologists, were actively involved in blunting the national question of Eezham Tamils.
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War crimes and the responsibility of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2010, 04:04 GMT]
Eezham Tamils have made a strategic blunder two decades back in not internationally indicting the Indian Establishment for the war crimes committed by the IPKF. On one hand they allowed the indictment to sink under the din of Rajiv Gandhi assassination and on the other hand sections of them thought that the Indian Establishment should be spared for future benefits. Yet some others thought that it was not as important as Tamils acquiring military strength. The failure, in two decades of time, resulted in those who were a party to the crimes – from politics to military and from diplomacy to media – to boldly commit further crimes on a massive scale in proxy ways. Tamils should not fail again. Now it should be comprehensive indictment that needs own initiation and institutions coming from Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet political comentator in Colombo.
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Treating Tamil Script from Tamil point of view

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2010, 03:59 GMT]
Encoding an ‘Extended Tamil Script’ and encoding the Grantha script added with some Tamil characters in the Unicode Standard have become matters of controversy currently raging in Tamil Nadu. The very concept of having an ‘Extended Tamil Script’ only to present Sanskrit in Tamil is fundamentally flawed. Having the rare distinction as a classical as well as a globally living language, the Tamil need for an extended script to present other languages through its script is larger: Sister Dravidian languages such as the Brahui of Pakistan, related languages like ancient Sumer or Japanese and the languages the diaspora interacts from Latin America to Africa and Europe to Southeast Asia are some examples the ETS is expected to handle. India and Tamil Nadu alone shouldn’t decide a matter of universal Tamil interest, writes opinion columnist Akazhaan.
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Eelam war damaged India’s reputation: Pinang Deputy Chief Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2010, 17:42 GMT]
India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Malaysian visit to inaugurate ‘Little India’ didn’t go well with Tamils, the predominant Indian community in Malaysia, said Prof. Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister of the Pinang State of Malaysia. The Indian High Commission and other agents of India tried to control the damage. India does not understand that the pernicious actions of India in Eelam have damaged the reputation of the government of India and the entire Indian establishment in the eyes of global Tamils. Before the mass murder in Eelam, Malaysian Tamils looked upon India as their saviour. Today, there is little or no respect for India in general and for the politicians in Tamil Nadu or in the Congress Party, Prof Ramasamy said.
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Malaysian Tamils protest Indian PM inaugurating their township

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 18:25 GMT]
Around 200 Malaysians gathered Wednesday to protest Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating ‘Little India’ in Brickfields, Malaysia, were dispersed when police arrested key leaders, Free Malaysia Today reported Thursday. The protestors questioned the rationale of naming the area ‘Little India’ when most traders doing business there for the past three centuries were Tamils. The protestors were also unhappy about Malaysian government choosing Manmohan Singh to preside over the launch. Manmohan Singh was least concerned about Tamil welfare, “Look at what happened in Sri Lanka. The Tamils were massacred by the Sri Lankan army but he was very quiet about it. The Sri Lankan army also attacked Tamil fishermen in Rameswaram (India) but Manmohan was mum about it as well,” M S Arjunan, a Malaysian Tamil leader said.
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Jaffna police unaware of whereabouts of abducted Tamil Nadu traders

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 05:26 GMT]
The officer-in-charge of Jaffna police said that he does not have any information of the textile traders from Tamil Nadu abducted Saturday morning in Jaffna town from the lodges they were staying in, in response to questions raised by local media. He declined to answer when asked whether the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers from Colombo had arrested them. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) spokesman in Colombo said that the traders may have been arrested for overstaying their tourist visa period. No official information about the abducted traders is available.
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White van armed gang abducts Tamil Nadu traders in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 16:41 GMT]
An armed gang alleged to be operating with the Intelligence Unit of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) abducted Wednesday early morning the textile traders from Tamil Nadu staying in the lodges in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The abducted traders had not been produced in any of the court or police station in Jaffna peninsula until Wednesday night. The whereabouts of the abducted traders and their fate remains unknown.
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Undergrad Buddhist monks allegedly attack university officials

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 13:51 GMT]
A group of monk undergraduates of the Sri Jayawardenepura University in Colombo allegedly attacked some university officials, accompanying Vice Chancellor Dr. N. L. A. Karunaratne, when they visited the monk hostel on Sunday night, The Island reported Monday. According to the Vice Chancellor, the attack took place when he and the officials visited the hostel to inquire on a complaint they had received from the people of the area that their children could not study at night due to the din from the hostel.
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Tamil Nadu daily questions lack of solidarity from Indian opposition on ban controversy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 October 2010, 08:21 GMT]
Dinamani, a leading newspaper in Tamil Nadu in its editorial last Friday crticised major opposition political parties in India for not voicing for the Tamil people as the judge presiding over the last three debating sessions of the Special Tribunal to examine the legality of extension of ban on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had rejected any others except the LTTE to present their case while the ban on the LTTE is continously used as a pretext to arrest Tamil activists. The paper also questioned whether the Indian government would guarantee [former] LTTE members [from other countries] to appear before the Tribunal without facing arrest in India and present their case.
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Sri Lankan state paper highlights 'return' of Tamil refugees from India

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 October 2010, 17:32 GMT]
67 refugees who fled to India during the war, have returned on October 21st, 2010, the state owned Dinamina newspaper said Sunday in a front page article. Meanwhile, Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu say they find themselves in a desperate situation either to face a long term genocide in the island by returning to the island to safeguard their lands from the Sinhala Army of colonisation. Informed media circles in Colombo said New Delhi was negotiating with Colombo on returning Tamil refugees.
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Aayiththiyamalai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 October 2010, 07:42 GMT]
The hill of a kind of mineral-rock
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Paintings depicting horror of war on Vanni draw large crowds in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2010, 21:24 GMT]
A collection of paintings by Artist Kuzhanthaivelu Pugazhenthi titled ‘The Faces of War’, depicting the horror experienced by Eezham Tamils in its Fourth War and the heroic sacrifice and valour of Liberation Tigers, was exhibited in several places in Tamil Nadu from 11 May till September, beginning in Chennai. The exhibition was later held in Thanjaavoor and Thiruchchi drawing large crowds of people who also took part in the political seminars conducted at the venues of the exhibition. The French Cultural Centre in Chennai which usually caters to the upper class society which had first exhibited the paintings for ten days later extended it for another ten days due to the unexpected welcome shown by the people of Chennai, sources in Chennai said.
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Tissamaharama Tamil Brahmi inscription ‘missing’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2010, 19:34 GMT]
The third century BCE potsherd inscription in Tamil language and in Tamil Brahmi script found at Tissamaharama in Hambantota district by German excavators is now missing in Sri Lanka’s Archaeology Department, informed sources said. The inscription found sometimes back was not included in the excavation reports of the Archaeology Department. Photo and decipherment of the inscription was brought out by Iravatam Mahadevan in The Hindu in June this year, followed by TamilNet. Meanwhile, accusing TamilNet for false publications, Dr. Susantha Goonatilleke in an article posted by transcurrents.com and published by Daily Mirror said that TamilNet had recently published inscriptions claimed to be from the South of Sri Lanka, which nobody in the Archaeology Department had seen.
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Confidential report on Devananda to Madras High Court

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2010, 13:20 GMT]
A lower court in Chennai handed over a confidential report to the Madras High Court related to a 1994 order declaring Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda a “proclaimed offender” in connection with a murder case in Chennai in 1986, Press Trust of India reported Wednesday. Douglas Devananda had filed a petition in August seeking to set aside the lower court order declaring him as a proclaimed offender treating him as an absconding accused, it further said. Consequently Justice G. M. Akbar of Madras High Court had called for a report from the trial court on 22nd September 2010.
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Revoke ban on Liberation Tigers: Activists in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2010, 17:26 GMT]
Political activists in Tamil Nadu organized a meeting Tuesday evening in Chennai Press Hall to collect signatures demanding Indian Government to revoke the ban on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, sources in Chennai said. Hundreds of persons including Lawyers, Law students and political party leaders and supporters joined in the campaign and set their signatures on the memorandum which was written on a 50 m long banner. The meeting was initiated and organized by Cinema director Pukalenthi Thangaraj.
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Mahinda Rajapaksa’s effigy burnt in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2010, 10:38 GMT]
Political parties including Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam, Viduthalai Chiruththaikal Kadchchi and supporters of the people of Tamil Eelam burnt the effigy of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa in several places in Tamil Nadu Thursday protesting against Indian government for having invited Mahinda Rajapaksa as an Honoured Guest on the final day of the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi, sources in Chennai said. The protestors carried out their demonstration defying the ban on the demonstration imposed by Tamil Nadu police. Vaiko, the leader of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) vehemently condemned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi for having invited Mahinda Rajapaksa in the demonstration in Koavai.
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Kuruwita, Kurunægala

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 02:57 GMT]
The small hill
The small rocky hill
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Decomposed male corpse washed ashore in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 04:36 GMT]
Peasaalai police recovered the highly decomposed body of a male washed ashore on the coast of Nadukkudaa in Peasaalai in Mannaar district Tuesday. The head and legs of the body are decomposed beyond identification and the police handed it to Mannaar general hospital for identification.
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India's reasons for banning LTTE false, fabricated: Vaiko tells Tribunal

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2010, 14:55 GMT]
MDMK leader Vaiko on Friday appeared before New Delhi’s Tribunal set to hear petitions against the ban of the LTTE in India, to argue that he should be involved in the hearing and to plead that the ban extended by the Central Government on 14 May 2010 should not be confirmed by the Tribunal. The very first reason given by GOI for the ban that the Tamil Eelam objective of the LTTE includes Tamil Nadu, falls to the ground to pieces as the LTTE never wanted to annex an inch of land of Tamil Nadu, Vaiko said, adding that GOI’s reasons are totally fabricated with falsehood. The Tribunal judge Vikramjit Sen was specific in raising the question “Don’t they [the LTTE] want to annex Tamil Nadu or part of India with Tamil Eelam?”
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