The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam led by its supremo V Prabhakaran had aspired to carve out a big Tamil elam state extending from near Colombo to the southern part of Sri Lanka, the island nation's top defence official has said.
In the wake of the arrival of MV Sun Sea in Canada on August 12 with 492 Sri Lankan Tamils -- including 63 women, and 49 children, about half-a-dozen of them unaccompanied -- there are reports that two more ships are heading towards Canada.
Virtually rejecting India's appeal to pause hostilities with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, the Sri Lankan government on Sunday said the conflict will "stop immediately" when the Tamil rebels lay down their arms.
President Pratibha Patil has rejected the clemency petitions of three killers of Rajiv Gandhi whose death sentences were confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2000.
The Sri Lankan troops on Monday stepped up their offensive in the northern region, encircling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam's last military stronghold of Puthyukkudiryirippu town, by overrunning its security bund and killing at least 9 rebels in fierce clashes, the army said on Monday.
Selvarasa Pathmanathan, an alleged arms smuggler who is the new Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam chief, was arrested on Thursday night from Thailand, reports said.
Former United Nations spokesperson Gordon Weiss has said that the Indian government was fully aware of the battle zone in Sri Lanka, during the conflict, including civilian casualties. He added that the Indians wanted to see the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam destroyed.
Worried that the LTTE's defeat at the hands of Sri Lankan military would crush his dream of a separate Tamil homeland, slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran had made a last ditch attempt to escape to the jungles in the north by breaching the Sri Lankan defence lines during the final phase of the war.
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy, who is pursuing the 2G spectrum scam, on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to direct Central Bureau of Investigation to expand the ambit of its probe to cover the alleged link between terror outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam and telecom company Aircel.
Not only our hands, but our whole body and deeper down, our conscience -- what remains of it after the mundane battles of our day-to-day life is also dripping with blood. Prabhakaran's blood. No, it is not only Prabhakaran's, but also of 70,000 Sri Lankan Tamils who have perished in the unspeakable violence through the past quarter century
The NIA had filed the case suo motu on July 8 last year and arrested the 13 persons from Tamil Nadu.
Set in the backdrop of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Santosh Sivan's Inam brings to light the plight of the thousands of hapless Lankan Tamils, who were caught in the crossfire between the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) and the Sri Lankan government.
In his concluding remarks at the 'Chintan Shivir' in Udaipur, Gandhi had said that it is only the Congress that can fight the BJP at the national level and regional outfits cannot fight this battle of ideology.
Silva's name was mentioned in the resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2013, alleging rights abuses by the Sri Lankan Army.
The car drove right up to the porch near the garden at her home with three men, three women and a girl coming out of the vehicle, sources said.
Chowdhury said the family faces threat to life and the cover by the elite security organisation should not have been withdrawn.
Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A G Perarivalan on Wednesday celebrated the Supreme Court verdict directing his release by playing the Tamil percussion instrument 'Parai' and now wants to breathe the air of freedom before thinking about his future, as the apex court ruling put an end to his three-decade prison term.
Violence erupted on Monday following which police imposed curfew in the Theldeniya area.
Asked about the security breach at their residence, he said it was a "very big lapse", but he would like to emphasise more on the safety of women in the country.
Though dubbed as the 'war hero', the role of Rajapaksa in ending the conflict with the LTTE with the death of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009 is quite divisive as he stands accused of violating human rights, a charge he vehemently denies.
A high-voltage drama unfolded in Lucknow yesterday as Priyanka alleged she was manhandled by cops who grabbed her by the neck and pushed her when she resisted their attempts to stop her from visiting the residence of an ex-IPS officer arrested for anti-CAA protests.
The Gandhi family will now get 'Z+' security by the Central Reserve Police Force on an all-India basis.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Rajapaksa and said he looks forward to further deepen relations between the two nations.
The Congress, which criticised the amendment, walked out of Rajya Sabha saying it is dissatisfied with the home minister's reply on the amendment to the SPG Act.
The situation is unlike any other legislation/ordinance that governments at the Centre and states had passed on earlier occasions after the higher judiciary had held certain laws, orders or decisions ultra vires of the Constitution, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Authorities also released photographs of six suspects, including three women, wanted for their involvement in the attacks and sought information regarding them from the public.
Madras Cafe is a swift, smart and serious study of an inglorious chapter of history, writes Sukanya Verma.
National flags were lowered and people bowed their heads as the silence began at 8:30 am local time, the time the first of the attacks occurred on Sunday.
'Vietnam has become an adjective as well as a verb -- the Americans, for instance, were driven by the passion to do a 'Vietnam' on the Soviet Union when that country invaded Afghanistan in 1979.'
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