Even as the polity find ways and means to address the genuine concerns and fears of the society, the Sri Lankan State apparatus would have to unravel these mystery-questions with convincing answers, and a road-map to the future, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Raja Ayyappan, a member of the 'Tamizhar Pasarai' outfit, was arrested by Q-Branch police on Monday at Thanjavur, about 165 km from Madurai, following a tip off, they said.
Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, under immense pressure from the public and the Opposition to quit over the island nation's worst economic crisis, said on Thursday that the abolition of the executive presidency, a move that will curb his powers, will be considered by Parliament.
Party insiders concede statements of the Raja kind have the potential to hurt the DMK's electoral chances in closely-fought seats in 2024, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A G Perarivalan alias Arivu is now a free man following a legal battle, and that long fight provides scope for throwback moments of Tamil sentiment that propelled the struggle which was backed by most political parties and successive governments in Tamil Nadu.
'As I went around Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Jaffna and Mannar, my mind went back to my visit in January 1990 at the fag end of the IPKFs mission in Sri Lanka,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Kumaratunga told visiting European Union Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner Monday that she expected talks to begin soon for lasting negotiated settlement in the country.
Pathmanathan, better known as 'KP' or Kumaran Pathmanathan, was flown to Colombo on Thursday night following his arrest in Bangkok, the Thai capital, the Island newspaper reported on Friday.
Japan's special envoy Yasushi Akashi is likely to meet LTTE leaders to kickstart the stalled peace process.
Sri Lanka expert M R Narayan Swamy speaks of the impact and repercussions of LTTE choef Prabhakaran's death.
'Not a single bullet was fired, but we were warning the enemy not to continue with their antics!' IAF Veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe finds out how the Light Combat Helicopter, which will be inducted into the IAF on October 3, was designed, developed and flown.
Waging a desperate battle for survival, the Tamil Tigers launched a wave of suicide attacks on land and sea, but failed to stall the advance of Sri Lankan forces, who broke through their defences as fierce fighting left 44 rebels dead and many soldiers wounded.Two divisions of Lankan forces advancing on the trapped Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters captured a vital causeway which could help them in organising another break out attempt for an estimated 50,000 people.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who is on an indefinite fast in support of his demand for immediate ceasefire in the Sri Lankan army's offensive against the LTTE.
It is not advisable for India to be seen by large sections of the Sri Lankan Tamils as not only anti-LTTE -- rightly so -- but also as anti-Tamil.
Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka is no ordinary general. He is the army commander in the Sri Lankan army and the man leading the military offensive in north Sri Lanka, which has virtually decimated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the world's most-dreaded guerrilla force today.
Police chief Musa Hassan said he had ordered a nationwide alert following reports that Prabhakaran may have fled here or to Thailand, a media report said on Thursday.
While refusing to hazard a guess on the time frame for liberating the entire northern Sri Lanka from the rebels, Army Chief Sarath Fonseka said he had been given another one year extension beginning January 2009 and the period is enough to completely clear the LTTE held areas.
There is no way that India can stop Sri Lanka from crushing the LTTE now that Prabhakaran's head is in the noose.
At least 65 Tamil Tiger rebels and three soldiers were killed as Sri Lankan troops continued their offensive on the heartland of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, claiming that they have captured major portions of the key Mallavi town in Kilinochchi.Security forces marched into the town after heavy overnight fighting, which spilled over to today morning as government troops cleared major portions of the small town.
"We urge the government that the issue of security of our leaders has to be beyond partisan political considerations," said Anand Sharma in Rajya Sabha.
According to observers, with pro-China Rajapaksa winning the election, the result will have a bearing on India's presence in the Indian Ocean region where Beijing is increasingly making inroads.
Three supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, including two Sri Lankan nationals, have been arrested by the 'Q' Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police and an amount of Rs 4.59 lakh and 44 walkie talkies seized from them, the police said on Monday.The 'Q' branch is the intelligence wing of the state police which deals with the threats posed by militant and extremist organisations.
Announcing this in the assembly, Public Works and Law Minister Duraimurugan said after a detailed discussion at a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, it was decided to invoke the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967) against those who express support to the banned outfits.
Malaysia's Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan said recent investigations have revealed that the campaign group, Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), "has been actively canvassing for support and assistance from terrorist groups".
Sandhya Ravishankar describes the thorny relationship between the two political titans of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, both now part of the ages.
Two eyewitnesses have supported allegations that the Sri Lankan army executed two Tamil Tiger rebel leaders after they surrendered the island's civil war in 2009.
"Sri Lanka in its battle against terrorism has set examples and its successes has given other democracies hope that terrorism can be fought and overcome," Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said.
The fighting started after Naval personnel intercepted a group of Sea Tiger boats moving toward the Pulmodai area on the northeast coast.
There was no immediate confirmation of the incident from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
'The Rajapaksas have been in active politics for decades and survived many challenges, but they seem to have misread this one.'
The 42-year-old is suspected to have facilitated members of LTTE in procuring at least six tonnes of ball bearings from Null Bazaar in South Central Mumbai.
Under international flak for his handling of the Tamil issue, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Friday that nations who sympathise with separatism are bound to become the victims of terrorism, as Sri Lanka celebrated with pomp a year of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's military defeat.
LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, in an annual speech on Monday, said the 2002 ceasefire agreement "defunct" and vowed to resume fighting.
The air attack in the north came as the Tigers commemorated their war dead.
Clamping down on terrorist funding, a Canadian Court has sentenced a Tamil Tiger fundraiser to six months in jail after the man pleaded guilty to raising funds in the country to help support the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in Sri Lanka. The court in Vancouver sentenced Tamil-Canadian Prapaharan Thambithurai, 46, for raising funds for a banned terrorist organisation. He was the first person to be charged under a new Canadian legislation.
At least three huge explosions were reported from the Dakshina naval facility, located 117 kilometres south of the capital Colombo.
Three Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam supporters who admitted providing over one million dollars in cash to the terror group were allowed to walk free on Wednesday by the Australian Supreme Court on bonds to be of good behaviour. The supreme court was told an Australian-based charity was used as a cover to collect and send money to the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the Herald Sun reported.
The fighting since last Wednesday at Muttur, which the military said was a diversion from the main battles near the Maavilaru min-dam, or anicut, has left some 30,000 refugees.
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