TN police arrests protesters picketing SL consulate in Chennai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 21:30 GMT]
Tamil Nadu police arrested several demonstrators at the entrance of the Sri Lanka consulate when hundreds of Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam (TPDK) members led by its leader Kulaththoor Mani, marched Tuesday around 11:00 a.m in protest condemning the assassination of S. P. Tamilchelvan, Political Head of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), to the Sri Lanka Consulate in Chennai. Demonstrators were shouting slogans demanding Indian Government to lift the ban on LTTE and not to provide military assistance to Sri Lanka government.
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Kanimozhi Karunanidhi: Slaying of Thamilchelvan against the norms of war

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 November 2007, 17:05 GMT]
Thamilchelvan's killing was against the norms of conventional warfare, said Kanimohzi Karunanidhi, the daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and a Member of Indian Parliament when speaking at a meeting in Thiruvaroor in Tamil Nadu, condemning the killing of the political leader and negotiator of Eelam Tamils, media sources in Chennai said, on Monday.
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Vaiko condemns India for providing military assistance to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 November 2007, 10:18 GMT]
Vaiko, the leader of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in a communique issued Saturday, called upon the international community to strongly condemn the killing of Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan who was slain in a targeted air attack in Ki'linochchi and condemned the Government of India for providing military assistance to Sri Lanka. An array of political leaders from Tamil Nadu, including K. Veeramani, Pandiyan, Ramdoss and Nedumaran have condemned the killing while Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi condoled the demise of Thamilchelvan, passing a subtle message that the Tamils of Sri Lanka haven't gone brotherless.
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Peoples of 'historical waters' and Indian security

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 November 2007, 12:14 GMT]
Due to improved understanding and collaboration between the navies of India and Sri Lanka, and enhanced sea monitoring power, India need not to worry about repercussions of the ongoing war in Sri Lanka, said L. V. Sarath Babu, the Chief Staff Officer, Eastern Command of the Indian Navy to media men at Rameasvaram on Friday. The night of the same day, 97 Tamil Nadu fishermen, were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy off the waters of Jaffna. This is an illustrative example of the wide gap between the security concerns of the two governments and the aspirations of the peoples they claim to represent.
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Sri Lanka Navy arrests 97 Tamil Nadu fishermen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 20:03 GMT]
Sri Lankan Navy on Friday night arrested 97 Tamil Nadu fishermen along with 17 fishing trawlers allegedly off Kankesanthurai seas, according to police sources in Jaffna. Meanwhile, thousands of fishermen in Rameasvaram and Naakappaddinam in Tamil Nadu state in India abstained from fishing Saturday demanding the state government to trace the whereabouts of the fishermen who had gone missing in the sea. This is the first time that Sri Lankan Navy has arrested a large number of Indian fishermen, sources in Jaffna said.
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Karunanidhi laments the death of Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 11:43 GMT]
Seen as a significant gesture, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and veteran leader of Tamils, M. Karunanidhi, condoled the demise of Thamilchelvan on Saturday. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, quite typical of his style, used the medium of poetry and pun to pass a subtle message that the Tamils of Sri Lanka haven't gone brotherless. The Chief Minister's emotion-filled condolence gains significance in the background of a prevailing impression that the government of India is fully backing the war efforts of the government of Sri Lanka aiming for a military solution to the ethnic crisis in the island.
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Rights group launches campaign against attacks on Journalists in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 October 2007, 08:03 GMT]
Expressing concern on the level of prevailing impunity of the killings of media personnel in Sri Lanka, the Asian Human Rights Commission, citing 11 cases where 12 Tamil media personnel were killed since 31 May 2004 till 29 April 2007, on Tuesday urged the public to write letters to the concerned Sri Lankan authorities demanding impartial investigation in order to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice. "Not a single person has been brought before the court," in the 11 cases, the AHRC noted and urged the public to forward a copy of their appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
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India urged to pay compensation to family of slain trade unionist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 October 2007, 18:42 GMT]
The World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), a forum of 34 organizations representing traditional fisher communities in Asia, has urged Indian and Tamil Nadu leaders to conduct an impartial inquiry and look after the family of a Sri Lankan fisherman trade unionist, 44-years-old Warnakulasooriya Canicius Fernando, who was shot and killed Friday at the gates of a restricted entrance of Mathurai Central Prision in Tamil Nadu, while he was visiting four Sri Lankan fishermen imprisoned in the Indian jail. The funeral of the victim, a father of two, has taken place in Munnakkarai in Negombo at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday.
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Sign of the times in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 September 2007, 00:40 GMT]
Veteran Tamil Nadu activist Pazha Nedumaran’s attempted crossing of the Palk Straits in a bid to deliver emergency relief to Sri Lanka’s Tamils was thwarted last week when he and hundreds of volunteers were arrested. Whilst the attempted crossing and its ‘failure’ has been dismissed, especially in Sri Lanka’s south, as a stunt by mavericks on the fringe of Tamil Nadu’s politics, the event has both highlighted and boosted resurgent support in the south Indian state for the Sri Lankan Tamils’ cause.
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SLN says Tamil Nadu fishermen violated Sri Lanka's maritime sovereignty

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 September 2007, 17:45 GMT]
Ten Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested Tuesday by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) troopers for allegedly violating Sri Lanka's maritime sovereignty by straying into Sri Lanka's waters were ordered to stay out of the sea until September 20 by Mannar District Judge Mr.T.J.Pirapaharan.
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Tamil Nadu police arrests Nedumaran for trying to sail food to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 September 2007, 16:42 GMT]
Attempt made by Pazha. Nedumaran, the leader of Tamils Nationalist Movement (TNM), and around 500 of his party members to take essential food items to Jaffna peninsula residents by sea from Nakapaddinam was stopped Wednesday when Tamil Nadu police arrested Nedumaran with his followers, sources in Naakapaddinam said. Nedumaran had earlier announced that he will attempt to take food items across the seas as the Government of India had refused give him permission to send the items donated by people of Tamil Nadu through the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in India.
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SLN abducts 10 Tamil Nadu fishermen on Raamesvaram Sea

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 September 2007, 06:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) abducted ten fishermen in two boats Monday on Rameswaram Sea, representatives of the Raamesvaram Fisheries Societies said. Until Tuesday evening there is no information about the ten Tamil Nadu fishermen being produced at any courts in Sri Lanka, according to Raamesvaram sources.
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SL Tamil detainees on hunger strike in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 August 2007, 17:48 GMT]
Two Sri Lankan Tamil detainees, on hunger strike from Tuesday in Chenkalpet Special Detention Centre (CSDC), are loosing consciousness, and were admitted to Chenkalpet government hospital Friday, sources in Chenkalpet said. 17 detainees in CSDC for Sri Lankan Tamils are on a hunger strike demanding release since Tuesday.
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Tamil civilian abducted in Peasaalai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 August 2007, 18:38 GMT]
Armed unidentified persons abducted a Tamil civilian Tuesday afternoon in Peasaalai in Mannar district, according to complaint lodged by his wife with the regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and Foundation for Co-Existence Thursday, civil sources said.
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Former AG Kamalasabeyson passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 August 2007, 11:43 GMT]
Mr.K.C.Kamalasabeyson, former Attorney General of Sri Lanka, passed away in a private nursing home at Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state in India, Sunday early morning around 2.30 a.m., after a brief illness, sources in Colombo said. He was 59. He retired from the post of Attorney General in April this year.


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'Para Demala': a reader's response

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 August 2007, 01:58 GMT]
A Sinhala reader of TamilNet has come out with the following note on our news feature 'Para Demala', dated 06 August 2007. According to him, the word 'para' is the worst kind of derogatory word in Sinhala, but is used in the sense to mean alien or foreign. It is not connected to the Pa'raiyar community. He further adds that even Sinhala-Buddhist reformers of the calibre of Anagarika Dharmapala had used the phrase 'Para Demala' in a negative sense to mean low-grade aliens.
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Kaakkaachchi Vaddai

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 August 2007, 11:45 GMT]

1. The surroundings of Kaakkaachchi oyster
2. The surroundings of Kaakkaachchi oyster shells

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India: Sri Lankan Navy attacking Tamil Nadu fishermen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 May 2007, 12:11 GMT]
The Indian government said Wednesday that it “is aware that a number of fishermen from Tamil Nadu are being attacked and killed by Sri Lankan Navy.” In a written response to a query in Parliament, India’s Defence Minister, Shri AK Antony, noted: there have been incidents of firing on Indian fishing boats in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar area and recently slight increase in such incidents has been noticed.” The Defence Minister did not comment on recent accusations by Tamil Nadu Police that Tamil Tigers had also fired on fishermen.


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RSF condemns murder of Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 May 2007, 01:12 GMT]
Reporters Without Borders (RSF - Reporters Sans Frontiers) the French based Journalist organization condemned the killing of young journalist, Selvarajah Rajivarman, who was killed in Jaffna Sunday by a lone gunman riding a motorbike.
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Missing person in Mannar allegedly murdered by fellow fishermen

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 19:36 GMT]
Talaimannar Police arrested a person in connection with the disappearance of a fisherman few days ago in Talaimannar Sea and produced him before the Mannar Magistrate's court Tuesday. Additional Magistrate T.J.Pirapaharan ordered remand for the suspect till April 19. The police made the arrest following a complaint by parents of the missing person that he had been murdered by fellow fishermen and not due to navy firing.
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