An 18-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil refugee woman was killed in Chennai after a clash between two groups that started in a nightclub and ended in a fatal car crash. Police have arrested several suspects and are investigating the incident.
Some of them have been here for so long that they can't remember how their homes in Sri Lanka looked. Some have been born here and know only of the homes that their parents describe.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha has written to the prime minister asking for restoration of rice subsidies for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India.
The Sri Lanka deputy high commissioner's office in Chennai is coordinating the efforts, it added.
Spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Saturday said the Centre and the state government must take steps to make thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils, who are living as refugees in camps across Tamil Nadu, Indian citizens. "Sri Lankan Tamils living in India as refugees for more than 25-30 years is not something Tamil Nadu can be proud about," he told reporters, referring to those from Bangladesh and Nepal who have got Indian citizenship.
Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday launched a Rs 225.86 crore welfare assistance scheme here for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in camps in Tamil Nadu and alleged that the previous AIADMK regime was not concerned about them.
Some of the Sri Lankan Tamils, who arrived on Saturday, said they were 'second-time refugees.'
Tamil-actor-turned political leader Vijaykanth told rediff.com that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's announcement of demanding Indian citizenship for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees is helping the dream of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.
A bi-partisan group of some of the most influential US Senators has called on the Sri Lankan government to expeditiously alleviate the suffering of thousands of Tamil refugees and return them to their homes by the end of the year.
Human Rights Watch urges Sri Lanka to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the civil war, citing a UN report on sexual violence against Tamil civilians.
'Chief Minister Palaniswami is meeting Modi on December, 19, he may mention Tamil refugees when he talks to him.'
'Children and their families need to return to their homes and put the pieces of their old lives back together again after the trauma of conflict,' says UNICEF official Sarah Crowe.
10,000 Sri Lankan Tamils are waiting to come to Tamil Nadu.
A UN report highlights the lack of justice for Tamil civilians who experienced sexual violence during Sri Lanka's civil war, primarily by security forces.
Officials have sought more personnel for Rameswaram police station for checking their credentials
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday that the Centre would consider a proposal by the Tamil Nadu government to grant Indian citizenship to all Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in the state.
The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday allowed nearly 1.30 lakh Tamil civilians housed in refugees camps in northern part of the island country to visit their relatives, as authorities lifted restrictions on their movement.
Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits a refugee camp for Lankan Tamils in Ramanathapuram and finds out why many are reluctant to return home after the war ended in the island country.
A central team wants to know if Sri Lankan Tamils want to return to their country.
The independent UN human rights expert,Walter Klin, who is dealing with IDPs said that the restoration of freedom of movement for Sri Lankans confined to the camps is becoming 'a matter of urgency.'Klin, who just wrapped up a visit to the country, said he remained 'very concerned about the very slow pace of releases' from the camps.
The Kerala High Court granted bail to a Sri Lankan refugee suspected of being an LTTE member in a UAPA case, citing prolonged judicial custody without trial commencement.
India on Monday said Sri Lanka has not done enough to rehabilitate displaced Tamils and asked Colombo to allow the Red Cross to take up relief and give media access to refugee camps in the strife-torn areas.
A delegation of MPs from Tamil Nadu will be leaving for Sri Lanka tomorrow to get first hand account of the conditions prevailing in the camps housing Lankan Tamil refugees displaced by the war between the island army and the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam.
Hindu American Foundation: 'As an organisation that works on issues affecting Hindu minorities... in the civil war although all groups were affected, Hindu temples and Hindu institutions were disproportionately affected, and Hindus continue to be affected.' Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States Prasad Kariyawasam: 'Assume that Sri Lanka is referred to the ICC through the UN Security Council -- which will never happen because Sri Lanka has enough clout to block it. But assume it is. Still, the ICC cannot handle it because retrospectively they don't have jurisdiction.'
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Tuesday asked the Centre to grant permanent residential status to over 1.6 lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing in the state.
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."
'If the army says sit we have to sit and if they say stand we have to stand. We were better off under the LTTE.'
The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has submitted before the Supreme Court that it is discriminatory to exclude Tamil refugees from the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and prayed that the legislation be declared null and void as it is unconstitutional and "destroys the basic fabric of secularism."
'They told them to use it against the Indian Peace Keeping Force. It was they who gave them arms, so it has to be them who give the Tamils amnesty. It is their ethical duty to do so,' says S C Chandrahasan, founder of the Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation.
At an all party meet in Chennai on Tuesday chaired by Chief Minister K Karunanidhi a resolution was adopted that if the central government does not ensure a ceasefire in Sri Lanka within two weeks, all Members of Parliament from the state would resign. Leaders of the Congress, Communist Party of India and CPI-Marxist were also present at the meet. Opposition parties including the J Jayalalitha-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Vaiko-led MDMK.
The Sri Lankan cartoon faux pas has revived the slackening pan-Tamil mood in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday announced a monthly old age dole of Rs 1000 to 5,544 Lankan Tamils living in refugee camps in the state. An order to this effect has been issued by the chief minister.
65,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees still live in Tamil Nadu. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar discovers the challenges for the refugees to return home.
The announcement of the death of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader V Prabhakaran by the Sri Lankan army has not created any flutter in the Lankan refugee camps in Rameswaram and Madurai, but most inmates dismissed the reports as false. "Prabhakaran is not dead. He will emerge stronger... nobody can touch even his shadow," Andrews, a refugee at Mandapam camp, said. "Prabhakaran has been fighting for us for more than 30 years, we know his strength," said another refugee.
"The state government is taking all out efforts to organise intensive patrols and effective screening of the refugees entering the country to avert infiltration of anti-national elements," Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said in his speech at the Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security in New Delhi.
Dealing with the Sirisena government in Sri Lanka, says G Ganapathy Subramaniam, is a lot easier for India than engaging with the Rajapaksa regime.
