Students of JNU voice for Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 02:14 GMT]
The Democratic Students' Union (DSU), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, in a statement on Sunday demanded unconditional declaration of ceasefire from the Sri Lanka government and a stop to the genocide of Tamils. Based on Marxist-Leninist principles of self-determination, it called for support to the Eezham Tamil independence.
Full story >>

Youth of India voice for Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2008, 14:37 GMT]
More than 10,000 students, coming from all the states of India marched to the Indian parliament on Friday in New Delhi, pressing educational demands including a 10 percent allotment of state expenditure on education. Political observers find great significance in the highlight of Eezham Tamil issue as a demand in this all India student rally. This is their only demand outside of the purview of education. The agitation took place against a backdrop of Sri Lankan president ruling out the possibility of stopping the war in the island, while on a visit to New Delhi on Wednesday. Even the Indian Prime Minister who received him hasn’t said anything on stopping the war, according to news reports.
Full story >>

TN should send relief as commodities, not money: Australian academic

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2008, 02:44 GMT]
The aid and relief money generously given to Sri Lanka by various governments and international organizations tacitly helps filling the coffers of the Sri Lankan government and its foreign exchange capacity in waging the war against Tamils. The Tamil Nadu government should therefore consider sending the relief money in the form of much needed commodities for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs in Vanni and should make sure that they reach the Eezham Tamils in the non-government controlled areas directly says, Professor E.A. Selvanathan of the School of International Business, Griffith University, Australia.
Full story >>

Unique agitation by All India Students Federation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 21:49 GMT]
A special train, carrying over 2000 students of Tamil Nadu, members of the All India Students Federation (AISF), left Chennai on Wednesday to march towards the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, demanding end of attacks on Eezham Tamils, stoppage of military aid to Sri Lanka and initiation of peaceful political solution to the crisis. Students from many other states of India will join them in the agitation scheduled for Friday. Such an event is first in the history of AISF, said S. Mahendran, senior leader of the Communist Party of India, guiding the students.
Full story >>

Impress upon Colombo to announce ceasefire, CPI urges Indian government

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 November 2008, 12:24 GMT]
The Communist Party of India (CPI) Tamil Nadu State Secretary D. Pandian, in a statement issued on Sunday, referring to the clarification by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B. Nadesan on the LTTE stand on ceasefire, urged the Centre to take immediate steps to impress upon the Sri Lankan state to announce a ceasefire without hesitation. Referring to Mr. Nadesan's statement that the Tigers were engaged in a defensive war and that it was the Sri Lankan state that unilaterally pulled out from the Ceasefire Agreement, Mr. Pandian said.
Full story >>

Tigers reiterate consent to ceasefire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2008, 16:42 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head B. Nadesan, when contacted by TamilNet on Saturday, following reports of Tamil Nadu leaders seeking clarification on LTTE's stand on ceasefire, said "there is no hesitation on our side to reiterate our position that we have always wanted a ceasefire." It is the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that unilaterally abrogated the ceasefire, Mr. Nadesan said and added that the Tigers were only fighting a defensive war since Colombo has thrust upon Tamils an aggressive war.
Full story >>

CPI seeks clarification on Tamil ceasefire stand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2008, 13:44 GMT]
Stating that the people of Tamil Nadu state and India were being led to a state of confusion by the calls that demanded both the warring parties in Sri Lanka to announce a ceasefire, the State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Tamil Nadu, D. Pandian, urged in a statement issued from Chennai on Saturday that the Eezham Tamils' political leadership should clarify the Tamil stand on the issue. Consensus of the people of Tamil Nadu is that the Sri Lankan government should immediately stop the war. However, when questions were raised by certain sections, there is a need for clarification, Mr. Pandiyan said.
Full story >>

13th Amendment: arousing a zombie

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 November 2008, 01:39 GMT]
The Indian government may be bereft of all guts to do anything in Sri Lanka. But at least it can render a great service by not talking about the 13th amendment as a basis to resolve the crisis. What is more dangerous than India abetting a war against Eezham Tamils by providing arms, armed personnel and intelligence to Colombo is the political sabotage of thrusting the rotten 13th amendment upon the struggling people to muffle their voice. India should rather acknowledge the decades-old Tamil voice for self-determination as a nation, to base exploration of fresh models, writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi.
Full story >>

Tamils commemorate first death anniversary of Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008, 23:29 GMT]
Eezham Tamil diaspora as well as the war-affected people in Vanni marked Sunday the first death anniversary of Brigadier S.P. Thamilchelvan, the former political head of the Liberation Tigers who was assassinated with six members of the political division, in a Sri Lanka Air Force targeted air-strike on his residential office in Ki'linochchi on November 02, 2007.
Full story >>

Strategic Partners

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008, 13:14 GMT]
"The American ban on the LTTE, which was followed by several other countries, also cut the flow of money and weapons to the Tigers, the result of which could be seen in their recent military defeats", said the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka in an interactive session at Chennai last month, as reported by The Hindu. The other side of the result story is that the same American policy tilted the balance in favour of a genocidal government, precipitated aggressive war on a grand scale and thus deepened immensely the divide between the concerned ethnicities, making reconciliation unfeasible more than ever.
Full story >>

Tamil film fraternity fasts for Eelam cause

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008, 02:20 GMT]
Packed with performance and punch lines, the entire Tamil film fraternity staged a powerful show of strength at a one-day fast in Chennai Saturday to express solidarity with the Eezham Tamils. The actors demanded the Tamil Nadu state and the Indian Union Government to immediately find a peaceful and permanent solution to the Sri Lankan problem.
Full story >>

Tamil Nadu shuts down for traders' bandh on Eelam Tamils issue

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2008, 16:34 GMT]
Shops and commercial establishments in Tamil Nadu shut down and the state's roads wore a deserted look as a result of the traders' bandh (shut down) Friday on the Eezham Tamils issue. According to reports in the Indian media, the bandh was total all over the state as over 25 lakh traders, owing allegiance to 5,500 trade unions, took part in the peaceful agitation to show their solidarity with the Eezham Tamils. All political parties in Tamil Nadu had extended their support to this bandh which took place from six in the morning to six in the evening in Tamil Nadu and Puduchery (Puthuchcheari). The shutdown of the private sector has drawn more participation than the government organised human-chain, observers said.
Full story >>

Tamil Nadu doctors seek to help Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 15:41 GMT]
Doctors' Association For Social Equality in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, has requested the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Union Minister for Health, Mr. Anpumani Ramados on Wednesday, to arrange permission for them to visit the war zone and offer their services to war-torn Eezham Tamils.
Full story >>

Wind of Change in Maldives

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 07:14 GMT]
As the counting is over for the elections that took place in Maldives on Tuesday, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, popularly known 'Anni' has secured 54.21 percent of votes and is expected to assume power as president of the republic on November 11th. Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the present incumbent ruling the country for 30 years since 1978 trailed behind with 45.79 percent. The voter turnout in the first ever elections in that country based on multi party system was a very high 86.58 percent.
Full story >>

Sideline Narayanan, Menon, on Tamil affairs: CPI leader

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2008, 12:13 GMT]
M K. Narayanan, the National Security Advisor, and Shiv Shankar Menon, the Foreign Secretary, should be seen refrained from advising on Eezham Tamils and Tamil Nadu, the Communist Party of India (CPI), Tamil Nadu General Secretary, Mr. Pandiyan, urged the Indian government in a press meet on Saturday. He also said that Mr. Ram, Chief Editor of The Hindu could help through his rapport with Mahinda Rajapaksa in fixing the relief sent from India to Eezham Tamils to be accompanied by civil society representatives from Tamil Nadu. Sending relief through the Colombo government is not acceptable, he said.
Full story >>

Colombo's concessions on fishing rights

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2008, 05:30 GMT]
Indian fishermen may get into Sri Lankan waters other than sensitive areas of coastline designated by Sri Lanka government, implied a joint press statement released by the Indian foreign ministry on Sunday. There will be no firing on Indian fishing vessels. Earlier Colombo's position was against Indian fishermen crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line.
Full story >>

Food to hoodwink, war to continue

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2008, 01:00 GMT]
The voice of Tamil Nadu people has certainly shaken the power centres of India, but what they really heard or orchestrated was the US ambassador's voice. The establishments are not prepared to change course immediately either on stopping war and military assistance to Colombo or on coming out with meaningful political solutions to Eezham Tamils, but rather the 'machinations' are to bring in a wedge between the suffering people and their fighters, said a Colombo based political analyst. Only a resolute Tamil people and ground realities in Sri Lanka may able to convince the 'strategic partners' of the futility of going against the aspirations of the oppressed, observed the analyst.
Full story >>

Rain highlights depth of emotions in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2008, 23:19 GMT]
The heavy downpour that started simultaneously with the Human Chain agitation in Tamil Nadu on Friday has in fact helped to understand the level of emotional involvement of the leaders and people of Tamil Nadu in the cause of the Eezham Tamils in Sri Lanka. It was a singular sight to see prominent politicians, celebrities of the cine-world, trade unionists, pontiffs of mutts, members of Churches and civil society activists amidst hundreds of thousands of people, largely students of both gender, completely drenched and standing in ankle deep water, voicing solidarity with their brethren across the Palk Straits, reported media sources in Chennai.
Full story >>

Italian Tamils march to raise awareness about Tamils plight in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2008, 20:29 GMT]
More than two thousand diaspora Tamils in Southern Italy marched Thursday from Piazza Politama to the Palermo office of the Internal Affairs Ministry to hand over an appeal urging awareness on the plight of the Eezham Tamils in Vanni and elsewhere in the island of Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

Address the root cause to end suffering: Vidyananda alumni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2008, 20:13 GMT]
"It is our earnest feeling that the fundamental issue of our status as a nation, precisely on the question of which we are put to untold sufferings for ages by the successive Colombo governments, has to be addressed with priority and with urgency by the Indian government," reads a request from the alumni (Norway) of the Mu'l'liyava'lai Vidyananda College of Vanni, made on Thursday to the political parties of Tamil Nadu. Indian recognition of Eezham Tamil self-determination is the fundamental effective measure to discourage war and to lead to peace negotiations, the request said.
Full story >>