The BJP is hopeful that the issue will come in handy in its efforts to gain political traction in the Dravidian territory during the Lok Sabha polls, more so as it involves neighbouring Sri Lanka whose treatment of its own Tamilian citizens and Tamil Nadu fishermen has long been a charged political issue in the state.
At least 24 people were arrested by the security forces for defying the ban on celebrations, officials said.
The South Indian Film Artistes' association -- also known as the Thenindiya Nadigar Sangam -- on Tuesday organised a one-day hunger strike to protest against the alleged atrocities committed against the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.
A heavy gunbattle between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels left 28 militants and two security personnel dead in the island nation's embattled north, the defence ministry said on Monday.
Swamy, a close friend of the Rajapaksa family, also met with Gotabaya's brother Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday evening and attended the Navratri pooja at his residence.
"The LTTE is, perhaps, fighting its last battle and the security forces are continuing their fight to emancipate the country and the people of the north and east from terrorism," Rajapakse said after giving away gallantry awards to the armed forces personnel in Colombo on Thursday.
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.
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.
Apparently emboldened by its recent military successes against the LTTE, the Sri Lankan government on Wednesday night decided to terminate the truce agreement with LTTE.
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.
The government has urged the LTTE to break the prolonged deadlock and return to the negotiating table.
A Sri Lankan military court of inquiry has given a clean chit to the army and ruled that civilian casualties in the last stage of the military operations "might have occurred due to unlawful acts of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ".
Menon, who arrived in Colombo by a special flight just after midnight on Thursday night, is scheduled to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his younger brothers Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic development; and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary, officials said.
The presence of a large number of Tamils from the troubled regions in Colombo was a threat to national security and the safety of others, Police Inspector General Victor Perera told reporters
It's an action-packed week on OTT. Fasten your seat belts and check out these options from Sukanya Verma.
The Indian contingent won as many as six gold medals, including double podium finishes in the women's 800m final and long jump competition, on the second and final day of Taiwan Open International athletics championship.
On the lingering Tamil issue, Modi said he was confident that the Sri Lankan government will carry forward the reconciliation process and fulfil the aspirations of the Tamil community.
Presenting the Union Budget for the year 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee said that the United Progressive Alliance government is committed to ensuring that the Sri Lankan Tamils enjoy their rights and legitimate aspirations within the territorial sovereignty and framework of the country's constitution.
'Karur could still impact Jana Nayagan's box-office success if Vijay and the TVK do not get their act together,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Sri Lankan authorities will hand over the fishermen to the Indian consulate after which they will be repatriated to India after completing all the necessary COVID-19 protocols.
Mahinda Rajapaksa completed 50 years of parliamentary politics in July this year. He was elected as a Member of Parliament at the young age of 24 in 1970. He has since been elected president twice and has been appointed prime minister thrice.
Unofficial results indicate that the SLPP would comfortably win at least 17 out of the 22 districts on offer.
'Gotabaya will expect India to observe the red line.' 'He even dispensed with any gesture welcoming India as an interlocutor on the Tamil issue.' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
For India to view the new Sri Lankan leadership only through the prism of the past or through their narrow view on China, is fraught with possibilities that should be avoided, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Expressing reservations about Norway's engagement with the Sri Lankan government, Modi said it was aimed at gaining control of a deep sea ports in Sri Lanka.
Some 404 houses were handed over to the Indian-origin people, mostly Tamils.
India will encourage greater investments in Sri Lanka's economy, especially in areas of energy, tourism and infrastructure, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday, as he expressed India's solidarity with the debt-ridden Island nation during its "difficult moments".
The US Congress has urged the Sri Lankan government to expedite rehabilitation of internally displaced Tamil civilians from military-guarded camps and begin the process of political reconciliation.
Pooja plays a Sinhalese princess in her comeback Sri Lankan film.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached Indian assets of a Sri Lankan man and his son as part of a drugs-linked money laundering investigation against them.
The attackers fired at the MP at close range while he was at the St Michael's church at Batticaloa
The actor said he took the decision after founders of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Vaiko and Thol Thirumavalavan respectively, and Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi leader T Velmurugan asked him to consider withdrawing from the programme.
While acknowledging Shivaji's naval contributions, questions are being raised about the inadequate acknowledgement of Chola sea-power in southern Tamil Nadu, which dates back by a few centuries, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
A woman suicide bomber blew herself up inside the Colombo Fort railway station in the heart of Colombo, hours after a grenade explosion inside the Dehiwala Zoo near Colombo left seven people including two children injured.
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.
In a Sri Lankan House of 225 members, the cut-off figure comes to 113. With Wickremesinghe side touching 102 and Rajapaksa's team at 101, the three-party Tamil National Alliance with 16 members and the left-leaning Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna with 6 members hold the key. But with the latter declaring that they will not support either formation in a vote count,that leaves the TNA as the deciding factor, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The finances of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam have come down by a whopping 70 per cent due to decline in overseas fund raising activities and curbs on its global financial network, terrorism experts have said.
Amid threat to pull out Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers and quit the United Progressive Alliance coalition on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, party chief M Karunanidhi made a fresh demand insisting that Parliament adopt a resolution incorporating the two amendments he had suggested to the government to be moved on the US-backed resolution at the UNHRC.
Voicing concern over increased attacks on Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu government has asked the Centre to initiate diplomatic steps to check it and urged for withdrawal of the 1974 agreement ceding Katchatheevu islet to the island nation.
