India played an instrumental role in ensuring the holding of polls in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern Province and it must now assist in rebuilding the war-ravaged region, newly elected Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran said on Tuesday
India's vote on the Sri Lanka resolution in Geneva may well have speeded up the general elections in the country and reduced our effectiveness as a regional power, says TP Sreenivasan
The office of a Tamil newspaper was attacked and staff beaten by masked men in northern Sri Lanka.
Subash Chandraboas, 32, editor of the Tamil monthly Nilam, was gunned down late Monday at his residence in Vavuniya, 260 kilometres north of Colombo, the rights group said.
A prominent Tamil reporter, whose detention in Sri Lanka was described by US President Barack Obama as an "emblematic example" of threats to media freedom, was today sentenced to 20 years in prison for having links with the LTTE and for writing against the government.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The results of the recent presidential elections in Sri Lanka are likely to have stunned groups in Tamil Nadu that have been giving moral and material support to Tamils in the north and east of the island for decades. Tamil Nadu-based groups had asked Sri Lanka Tamils to protest against the election and boycott voting.
Dissatisfied with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's response over alleged war-time human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam will continue to press for India supporting the US backed resolution against Colombo at United Nations Human Rights Council.
Classified as 'Secret' and titled 'LTTE Threat to Canada', the intelligence report said the Canadian Tamil community was among the LTTE's largest sources of funds, having contributed up to 10 to 12 million dollars annually in past years.
Seven persons accused of being involved in smuggling activities for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels and the Maoist movement have been detained under the National Security Act (NSA). While three of them were involved in smuggling activities for the LTTE, the others were part of the Maoist movement, a release said.
Welcoming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statements favouring a negotiated settlement to end the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has said the remarks raised hopes of the Centre taking steps to halt Lankan troops' offensive against Tamils in LTTE-held areas.
The move follows the EU's decision to ban the LTTE as a terrorist organisation last month.
The LTTE said their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran bestowed the title of 'Mamanithar,' or great man, on Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Raviraj, 44, who was shot dead in Colombo on Friday.
Forty one-year-old Arumugam Rajeevan has been charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation, providing support or resources to a terrorist outfit and making an asset available to a proscribed entity.
The men, who are Australian citizens, were arrested and released without charge in November 2005.
Tamil Tigers agree to peace talks with Sri Lankan government
The rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi was decorated with red and yellow rebel flags and senior rebels joined parents of the suicide bombers -- known as the Black Tigers -- for a public ceremony.
Rejecting reports of fresh talks, the LTTE said it would resume talks only on the basis of their "Interim Self-Governing Authority" plan unveiled in October last year.
'There is no clarity in the government's offer,' the LTTE said. 'It does not specifically address the concerns raised by the Tigers.'
It was not immediately clear how he would celebrate his birthday, but he is expected to deliver his annual "heroes' day" address Saturday setting out the policy direction of his movement.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said it was not bound by a declaration issued by international donors who pledged some $4.5 billion to help rebuild Sri Lanka at a June 2003 meeting in Tokyo.
Heavy falls at isolated places are very likely over Kerala on April 29 and 30. The system will not make landfall in Tamil Nadu, but may bring light rain in some northern parts, it said.
Scotland Yard's War Crimes Team, which is part of its Counter-Terrorism Command, has launched an investigation into the role of British mercenaries in fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in Sri Lanka during the 1980s.
The NIA had alerted the island nation that ISIS terrorists were planning to carry out strikes there.
Modi flew to Jaffna by an Indian Air Force chopper after brief visits to the holy town of Anuradhapura where he offered prayers at the sacred Mahabodhi tree and Talaimannar where he flagged off a train service.
His debut novel The Story of a Brief Marriage, set in the backdrop of the civil war.
If Indian PM boycotts the CHOGM, it is likely to add to Sri Lanka's bitterness. This would not help India's desire to add more depth and content to its relations with Sri Lanka but its ability to influence Sri Lanka's decision making process on the both strategic issues and on Tamil minority issues, says Colonel (retd) R Hariharan.
'This Ram Navami -- the birth anniversary of Lord Ram -- presents the majority community an opportunity to shed its minority complex and offer an olive branch and discrimination- free society to the minority,' suggests Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The input was sent through diplomatic channels to the island nation after a through investigation pertaining to the IS case in Coimbatore was carried out by the NIA.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit former LTTE-stronghold Jaffna in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated north and address the Parliament in Colombo during his 3-day visit to the country next week.
'We are telling them we have isolated them and their religion as not only unwanted,' says Aakar Patel.
In the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, allegations have been made that the Muslim militants in Sri Lanka draw sustenance from India. An overarching impression is being created that the ISIS is gaining ground in India, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Expressing anguish over India's decision to participate in the upcoming CHOGM in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Assembly today passed a resolution at its emergent session demanding "complete boycott" of the summit, as Congress and two other parties kept away from voting.
Superstar Rajinikanth needs a box-office hit after two successive flops in Kochchadaiyaan and Lingaa, both 2014. Yet, Kabali is being projected as if the fans need the film, and the Tamil film industry needs it even more, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a conversation with R Ramasubramanian, Xavier said, "My documentary attempts to find answers to those frequently asked questions from Tamil refugees who are still in India."
Voters in Sri Lanka's Tamil majority Northern Province on Saturday began voting in the first local elections in 25 years to elect a council to govern the former war zone, four years after the military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after decades of bloody civil war.
50 years after a cyclone wiped it out, Dhanushkodi is slowly finding its feet. A tourist attraction precisely for its desolateness, road connectivity could soon transform it. Saisuresh Sivaswamy, who spent a few hours there, comes back enchanted.
As political rivals clamour to retain their pan-Tamil credentials, the BJP may use the 'nationalist' card to even the odds in its favour, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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