Having spent months in refugee camps, the homecoming to northern Sri Lanka is turning bitter for nearly 1,500 war-displaced Tamil families, as their houses have been unlawfully occupied allegedly by Sinhalese people.
Sri Lanka must address the issue of reconciliation with the Tamil minority in the country with "a sense of urgency", Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said in Colombo on Saturday. Swaraj, who is leading a 12-member Indian parliamentary delegation, said she had told Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the current stalemate and the deadlock on the talks with the Tamil National Alliance over the parliamentary select committee process must be broken.
Clearly, it is pressure from various parties in Tamil Nadu which appears to have forced the hand of New Delhi. The guess in political circles of Sri Lanka is that India chose the NSA as he represented the prime minister directly and wanted to give an impression to various constituencies in Tamil Nadu that it was getting tough with Colombo.
Unless the north and east of the island was given complete autonomy, 'the Tamil people will fight to establish the Tamil sovereignty in their homeland,'said a LTTE communique.
Rehabilitation of displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka on Friday came up for discussion during a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa amid India's insistence that it was time for its neighbour to act decisively to 'win over' the ethnic minority.
Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris, who visited Washington, DC last month, feels the tensions that existed in the United States and Sri Lanka during the height of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, when Colombo refused to acquiesce to a ceasefire, have been repaired.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has assured he would not precipitate a crisis for the United Progressive Alliance government over Sri Lankan Tamils issue as the Centre apprised him of steps being taken by the island nation's governments to ensure safety of Tamil civilians in that country.
India's tactical and operational response demonstrated its ability to prosecute tri-service operations, even without a formal tri-service doctrine or the higher command structure needed to coordinate it, points out Ajai Shukla.
LTTE and the Tamil cause was a stepping stone that Vaiko used just as other Tamil leaders did. For his exertions, he was thrown out of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam where, he claims, he fell a victim to family politics: he came in the way of Karunanidhi's son Stalin's elevation.
The counter-terrorism investigation team in London and Wales has arrested three men for allegedly funding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. The arrests were made in connection with allegations that money, equipment and weapon manuals had been stock-piled for use by the Tamil Tigers separatists. All three men were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism and have been transferred to a high security jail.
India strongly believes that its economic growth must bring benefits to its neighbours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today as a stadium in Jaffna renovated by India was jointly inaugurated by him along with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday demanded an "independent and credible" inquiry into the violation of human rights in Sri Lanka even as she refused to comment on key United Progressive Alliance partner the Dravida Munnetra Kahzagam withdrawing support to the bgovernment at the Centre
In one of the most powerful speeches Mrs Sushma Swaraj, deputy leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha from Bhartiya Janata Party, demanded that government of India should send two separate delegations to Sri Lanka and Australia to express their solidarity with Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian students who are being targetted in Australia.
The defence ministry said the students carried the grenade, which exploded accidentally and caused their deaths.\n
New Delhi has fallen into the trap it assiduously dug since the current phase of escalation of hostilities in Sri Lanka in June/July 2006. The security establishment managers of the United Progressive Alliance simultaneously indulged the nationalist elements in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, the former in line with domestic political compulsions, the latter in the name of New Delhi's geo-strategic interests.
Leaders of Sri Lanka's main Tamil party TNA on Friday told officials from the United Nations human rights body that the Tamils displaced in the LTTE war were facing problems with resettlement and discrimination at the hands of authorities
Jaffna police Superintendent Charles Wijewardene was killed by a mob after a soldier's gun went off by accident at a barber shop, killing an employee.
According to the book, 'Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away With War Crimes', authored by UK-based investigative journalist Phil Miller India's secret use of British mercenaries lasted for four months after the Indo-Lanka accord was signed between former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Sri Lankan president Junius Jayewardene in 1987.
S M Krishna on Wednesday used his visit to Kilinochchi, a former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam bastion, the first by any Indian leader in recent years, to assure the war-weary Tamils of northern Sri Lanka of India's unflinching support and help as they pick up their lives following decades of bloodshed.
Twenty Sri Lankan Tamil pilgrims visiting the shrine of Lord Ayyapa at Sabarimala, have been arrested as they did not possess proper travel documents. The pilgrims, who were said to have come from Jaffna in Sri Lanka, were arrested late last night and they would be produced in the court later today, police sources said.
Though dubbed as the "war hero", the role of Rajapaksa in ending the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 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.
The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday ordered indefinite closure of all colleges and hostels in the state in the wake of students' unrest on the Sri Lankan-Tamils issue. Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K S Sripathy said that all the colleges, both private and government, had been ordered to close due to the unrest. He had also ordered the closure of student's hostels in the state. The government's action comes two days before an indefinite strike called by students.
As Sri Lanka staged an impressive military parade to mark its victory over the LTTE, President Rajapaksa today told his troops that it was now time to win over the hearts of the minority Tamils who should be able to live without "fear and mistrust".
China has invested millions in Sri Lankan infrastructure.
India will continue to train Sri Lankan defence personnel at its establishments, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said on Monday, notwithstanding opposition by parties from Tamil Nadu.
Dr Singh said the centre would reiterate to the Lankan government that there is no military solution to the problem in that country.
The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) has initiated a charity project to provide rehabilitation measures for the Tamil population of Sri Lanka that suffered due to a decades-old war between the country's defence forces and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Narayanan, who will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, is expected to take up issues like devolution of powers to Tamils in the island and their immediate rehabilitation in view of their sufferings undergone during the current war.
The swearing in ceremony was held inside the premises of the Presidential Secretariat at 9:30 am. President Sirisena administered the oath of office to 66-year-old Wickremesinghe, who has already served three times as the prime minister.
Dubbing the recent acts of violence targeting its citizens in Tamil Nadu as an attempt to tarnish its friendly ties with India, Sri Lanka has lodged a strong protest with New Delhi over the incidents of assaults on Buddhist monks.
Besides heavy traffic congestion, the intermittent heavy rains led to inundation in several parts of the city and neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengelpet.
With some countries like Britain and Canada seeking to bring alleged human rights violations in the Sri Lankan civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam under the scanner during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting summit, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday asked member nations not to turn the Commonwealth into a "punitive and judgmental" body and desist from introducing bilateral agendas.
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.
The government on Thursday came under attack in the Lok Sabha from its friends and foes over the plight of the ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, with demands that India should take a lead in ensuring passage of a resolution against the island nation at an upcoming United Nations meet.
The dialogue must be open and the world at large told of the issues involved. But the first step for the process to begin is for both sides to accept that they are in a no win situation. If the world and India fails to convince the Sri Lankans, then we are looking at a fire next door with China gleefully fishing in troubled waters!
Against the backdrop of Tamil Nadu parties, including ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, raising the issue of alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, a group of 75 Lankan tourists have been asked by the police to return to their country.
Annamalai has faced criticism for the breakup between the AIADMK and the BJP, but BJP leaders say 'he attracts youth, who needs change'.
The apex court, while noting that the petitioner intends to go back to Sri Lanka as and when he is released, directed that he shall be shifted to an appropriate transit camp as may be decided by the state.
Twenty fishermen from Tamil Nadu were allegedly assaulted by Sri Lankan naval men while they were fishing near Katchathivu islet early on Monday morning, officials said.
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