India is our friend, we are not against any country, remove the hindrance of ban: Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2008, 12:31 GMT]
While conveying his love and gratitude to the people and leaders of Tamil Nadu and leaders of India who have grasped the heartbeat of Eezham Tamils and have come forward with timely support, the LTTE leader V.Pirapaharan in his Hero’s Day speech on Thursday requested them to voice firmly for Tamil Eelam and to undertake conducive measures to remove the ban, a great hindrance to amicable relationship between India and the LTTE. “At no stage did we ever consider India as an enemy force. Our people always consider India as our friend. They have great expectations that the Indian super power will take a positive stand on our national question”, he said. The LTTE leader also requested the world powers to remove the ban on it, citing that the LTTE never schemed any act against any country and the Tamil struggle is not against the geopolitical, national or economic interests of any country.
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Vaiko urges British Parliament to restore Eezham Tamil sovereignty

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2008, 19:06 GMT]
Vaiko, the general secretary of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetta Kazhakam (MDMK) from Tamil Nadu, while addressing British parliamentarians of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Tamils on Wednesday in the British Parliament, said that the British Parliament has a moral responsibility to rectify the historic injustice caused on to the Eezham Tamils during the colonial rule. It was the British who statutorily put the Tamil and the Sinhala territories together in 1833, made Ceylon a unitary entity and refused to consider federalism in their constitutional reforms. When they left in 1948, they passed on the power to the Sinhala majoritarian rulers, he said.
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Relief supplies from Tamil Nadu still not reached Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2008, 05:25 GMT]
Emergency relief supplies, sent by the efforts of Tamil Nadu people and their government, received in 100 containers in Colombo 11 days ago, have not reached Vanni due to the sabotage by the Sri Lankan military, a top government official, who did not wished to be named, told TamilNet. Severe flooding has cut off Vanni on Wednesday. However, contradicting to the ground reports, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi was made to believe that the supplies were reaching the affected civilians unhindered.
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Seeking solutions in horror-scope

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 20:19 GMT]
Ever since the Sri Lankan polity has become violent and belligerent, the top Sinhala politicians have abandoned the rational Heenayaana Buddhism to become Tantrics or perhaps Vajrayaana Buddhists. It has now become a routine for them to consult astrologers, seek propitiation or instigation from Malayala Tantrics and to undertake pilgrimages to temples and establishments of god-men in India just like visiting Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and M.K. Narayanan. They leave no stone unturned in winning the war with Tamils, writes Opinion Columnist Ampalam.
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Statewide protest in Tamil Nadu demands ceasefire in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 12:35 GMT]
Normalcy was disturbed in the 30 district capitals of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday from 7:00 a.m. till noon as thousands of demonstrators led by Communist Party of India (CPI), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Tamil National Movement, Puthiya Thamizhakam, Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam and several other organisations took to the streets, blocking the railway, bus and postal services. Around 50,000 courted brief arrests. The organisers said the success of the protest in Tamil Nadu, especially amid heavy rain along the coastal districts, symbolised deep rooted support for Eezham Tamils cause. The protest called on the Central Government of India to prevail upon the Rajapaksa government to announce an immediate ceasefire.
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Civilians in Vanni protest against Colombo's use of humanitarian supplies as tool of war

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2008, 16:07 GMT]
People in Vanni marched in thousands towards two Government Agents' offices and two Divisional Secretariat offices in four locations on Friday protesting against Sri Lanka Government's restrictions on food and essential supplies, blaming Colombo for using humanitarian supplies as a tool of war to force civilians to flee against their will into the hands of Sri Lanka Army (SLA). K. Mahethevan, a representative of Vanni Peoples Welfare Organisation (VPWO), addressing more than 5,000 protesters in front of Ki'linochchi Government Agent's office at Tharmapuram described how the supplies were reduced from 600 lorries per month in 2007 to 250 lorries per month in 2008, but only 54 have allowed to cross into Vanni in the recent days.
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British Tamils demonstrate at Parliament Square

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 16:48 GMT]
Thousands of British Tamils demonstrated at the Parliament Square in London on Wednesday between 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., urging the British Parliament to demand the Government of Sri Lanka to stop the genocide unleashed on Eezham Tamils. The Diaspora Tamils also carried banners seeking the British Parliament to recognise Tamils' right to self-determination in their homeland. The gathering also expressed gratitude to the people of Tamil Nadu for their solidarity with Eezham Tamils.
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Rajapaksa's three-pronged strategy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 01:47 GMT]
While celebrating its military achievements, Colombo is secretly prodded on an alternative game. Mahinda Rajapaksa is upto a three-pronged strategy now: limiting LTTE's jurisdiction with a low-profiled war, coercing Tamil political circles for his plans and conducting snap polls. A superficial solution is on the cards through Mahinda-Manmohan protocol. Unity and vigilance of Tamil Nadu are the need of the hour for countering any sabotage of the national cause of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet's Special Correspondent in a Situation Report.
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Distinguished Tamil film artist M.N. Nambiar passes away

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 00:02 GMT]
M.N. Nambiar, the celebrated ‘villain’ of the silver screen passed away on Wednesday in Chennai at the age of 90. Started acting in films since 1935, his distinguished career in Tamil cinema and lately in TV serials spanned for nearly 7 decades. He was shot to limelight in the role of the villainous royal preceptor ‘Gurusamy’ in Mandrikumari of 1950, which was the first for MGR in the role of hero and first for Kalaignar Karunanidhi, the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu as the screenwriter.
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SLN arrests 17 Tamil Nadu fishermen in Analaitheevu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 15:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested 17 Tamil Nadu fishermen in 5 boats Monday night for allegedly trespassing into Sri Lankan waters in the islet of Analaitheevu. Meanwhile, 17 civilians from Paranthan area fleeing from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery attacks and Sri Lanka Air force (SLAF) reached the shore in Thenmaraadchi crossing Jafffna lagoon Monday were arrested by the Sri Lankan troops in the coastal sentry points.
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Colombo confiscates Tamil rehabilitation funds

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 23:51 GMT]
Around 71 million Rupees in the accounts of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in the Sri Lankan banks have been confiscated by the Sri Lankan Government, according to a press release by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on Tuesday. The move is widely seen as an act of 'structural genocide' against Eezham Tamils, preventing Tamils looking after their own rehabilitation, discouraging individual, organisational and international contribution to Tamil rehabilitation and also as a response of Colombo to the rehabilitation funds being raised by the Government of Tamil Nadu, said a TRO activist in Norway.
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‘It is not the big brothers but the younger ones who watch’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 04:50 GMT]
How the leadership in India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular going to respond to the question of Eezham Tamil liberation has become a test case. Watching the youth and grass-root public uprising in Tamil Nadu, defence analysts in London, Delhi and Colombo, off the record agree that the line of attempting a military defeat of Tamil nationalism can turn out to be disastrous to those who commit it, contribute to it or allow it. They also see a warning to the policy makers of the so-called International Community against meddling with Tamil affairs, writes a media student from Chennai presenting a cross section of reflections from India, Sri Lanka and Europe.
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CPI-led All Party Meeting calls for state-wide protest in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 04:36 GMT]
The Central Government of India has failed to respond to the four demands, concerning the plight of Eezham Tamils, formulated in the previous All Party Meeting (APM) and forwarded to New Delhi by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Therefore, a second APM was convened on Monday by the initiative of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Tamil Nadu, chaired by its State Secretary D. Pandian, who announced a state-wide peaceful protest on November 25 to demonstrate to New Delhi on the resolve of the Tamil Nadu people for a single resolution: Immediate Ceasefire in Sri Lanka.
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Students of JNU voice for Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 02:14 GMT]
The Democratic Students' Union (DSU), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, in a statement on Sunday demanded unconditional declaration of ceasefire from the Sri Lanka government and a stop to the genocide of Tamils. Based on Marxist-Leninist principles of self-determination, it called for support to the Eezham Tamil independence.
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Wickremasinghe leaves to New Delhi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2008, 17:03 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Leader of the Opposition in the current Sri Lanka parliament, is scheduled to leave Colombo Sunday night to New Delhi. He is to meet the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherji first and discuss the Sri Lanka's conflict with Indian foreign ministry officials of the South Block, media sources said in Colombo.
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Youth of India voice for Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2008, 14:37 GMT]
More than 10,000 students, coming from all the states of India marched to the Indian parliament on Friday in New Delhi, pressing educational demands including a 10 percent allotment of state expenditure on education. Political observers find great significance in the highlight of Eezham Tamil issue as a demand in this all India student rally. This is their only demand outside of the purview of education. The agitation took place against a backdrop of Sri Lankan president ruling out the possibility of stopping the war in the island, while on a visit to New Delhi on Wednesday. Even the Indian Prime Minister who received him hasn’t said anything on stopping the war, according to news reports.
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'Solution from outside is Sri Lankan reality'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2008, 20:46 GMT]
The traditional civil-military division of labour has now been altered by the war in Sri Lanka. Military is a leading stakeholder. Sri Lanka no longer is an exceptional ‘third world democracy’. It is now a full-blown ‘national security state’. The defence establishment has stepped into the domain of governance at par with the office of the president. The Sri Lankan state has always been an ethnic majoritarian and communal one. The only state reform initiative implemented in 1987 had to come from outside, because the state refused to reform itself voluntarily. That continues to be Sri Lanka’s problem even today, wrote well known political scientist of Sri Lanka, Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, in an article appeared in the October 25th issue of Economic and Political Weekly.
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TN should send relief as commodities, not money: Australian academic

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2008, 02:44 GMT]
The aid and relief money generously given to Sri Lanka by various governments and international organizations tacitly helps filling the coffers of the Sri Lankan government and its foreign exchange capacity in waging the war against Tamils. The Tamil Nadu government should therefore consider sending the relief money in the form of much needed commodities for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs in Vanni and should make sure that they reach the Eezham Tamils in the non-government controlled areas directly says, Professor E.A. Selvanathan of the School of International Business, Griffith University, Australia.
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Unique agitation by All India Students Federation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 21:49 GMT]
A special train, carrying over 2000 students of Tamil Nadu, members of the All India Students Federation (AISF), left Chennai on Wednesday to march towards the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, demanding end of attacks on Eezham Tamils, stoppage of military aid to Sri Lanka and initiation of peaceful political solution to the crisis. Students from many other states of India will join them in the agitation scheduled for Friday. Such an event is first in the history of AISF, said S. Mahendran, senior leader of the Communist Party of India, guiding the students.
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Announce ceasefire, call back military and commence peace talks - TN Assembly

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 16:56 GMT]
Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday demanding "an immediate halt of military operations, reverting the Sri Lankan military to old positions and a commencement of political negotiations to find a solution to the Tamil problem." The house of representatives also urged New Delhi to press for talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The resolution comes while the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in New Delhi on an official visit.
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