Prof Sitrampalam visits China on invitation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 February 2011, 15:10 GMT]
The Vice President of Ilankai Thamizh Arasuk Katchi (ITAK), Professor S K Sitrampalam, representing his party, is on a visit to China on the invitation of the Chinese government, ITAK leaders said in a press meet in Jaffna Sunday. Even though the ITAK leaders said that this is a routine invitation extended to party leaders in the island, they didn’t answer the question when in the past the ITAK had been invited or visited China. ITAK is the main component of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The Deccan College trained Dr. S.K. Sitrampalam, retired senior professor of Archaeology of the University of Jaffna, was widely appreciated by Eezham Tamils when he boldly countered the Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao in Jaffna, last year.
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Occupying SL military intimidates mourning for Parvathi Amma

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 February 2011, 21:47 GMT]
Colonial military of Sri Lanka occupying Jaffna, intimidated people of Valveddiththu’rai on Sunday to remove the black flags displayed to mourn the demise of Parvathy Amma, 80-year-old mother of the LTTE leader Pirapaharan. Hundreds of SL military intelligence personnel in civil dress, deployed at Theeruvil grounds where the remains are kept for public homage, made the local people themselves to remove the flags of mourning. Angered by the SLA harassment, representatives of civil organizations in Valveddiththu'rai warned the military personnel of repercussions if they continued to harass the people, when the occupying soldiers were instructing the people to remove the name of Mr. Pirapaharan from posters paying tribute to Parvathi Amma. Colonial Colombo behaves the same way the British treated the Kandyan Sinhalese, commented a journalist in Jaffna.
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Rajapaksa visits India amid wide-scale protests in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 June 2010, 11:33 GMT]
All the district capitals and major cities of Tamil Nadu state Tuesday noon reported wide-scale protests against Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to India. All the prominent leaders of political parties and movements, Vaiko, Pazha Nedumaran, Thirumavalavan, Seeman, Nallakannu, Mahendran, T. Rajendar, Thiyagu were arrested by Tamil Nadu police with thousands of other activists after they concluded their speeches and protests. The protests, including black flag demonstrations in front of Indian Central Government Institutions in Tamil Nadu, blocking railway and burning effigies of Sri Lankan President, have brought many Tamil parties and movements together in support of Eezham Tamils. All major media outlets operating from India have given coverage to the protests.
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Tamil Nadu must recognize and support establishment of Tamil Eelam: Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 13:38 GMT]
Stating that there was a total violation of human rights in the Sri Lankan Government's camps for Internally Displaced Persons, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi President Thol.Thirumavalavan, told TamilNet Friday in an exclusive interview of the "appalling conditions" prevalent in these "barbed-wire concentration camps" which he witnessed firsthand as one of the ten-member parliamentary delegation from Tamil Nadu. Pointing out that Tamil people could not become a "permanent slave society" and "live as second class citizens in Sri Lanka," Thirumavalavan sought to emphasize that Tamil Eelam was the only solution to a struggle that had claimed the lives of nearly fifteen hundred thousand Tamils civilians and more than thirty thousand Tamil Tiger fighters.
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Bill banning community reference in party name unconstitutional, say Tamil parties

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 17:43 GMT]
If the amendments to the election bill are passed as gazetted, "no political party which has a name signifying any religion or ethnic or other community will be entitled to be treated as a recognized political party," and the "concept of outlawing names of religions or other groups or communities from the name of political parties is inconsistent with the constitutional standards that may be gleaned from several articles of the Constitution," said Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi 9itaK) and All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in a petition filed in Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Wednesday, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Tamil sovereignty crucial to Eelam struggle: Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2009, 09:49 GMT]
Indian Member of Parliament and President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) Thol. Thirumavalavan in a statement released Tuesday called upon the international Tamil community to realize that the Tamil sovereignty, Tamil Eelam national leader V. Pirapaharan and Tamil Eelam national flag, are crucial guiding forces in taking the Eelam liberation struggle forward. He also called upon the Tamil Diaspora to fulfil this "historical and moral obligation by not only shouldering the responsibility of overcoming the present crisis situation, but also by identifying and defeating the anti-struggle forces who were trying to infiltrate the liberation struggle." He also said that the Tamil diaspora must devise appropriate strategies to attaining Eelam bearing in mind the international scenario.
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Thirumavalavan demands white paper on genocide of Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 16:06 GMT]
In his maiden address in the Indian Parliament Monday evening, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi President Thol. Thirumavalavan, urged the Indian Government to bring out a white paper on the genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils. He also called upon the Indian Government to change its anti-Tamil attitude. Thirumavalavan also sought to know the role of the Union Government on Sri Lankan issues and the kind of support that has been extended to the Government Sri Lanka. "Our party and our allied parties are very much concerned about Sri Lankan issues. I am sorry to say the Government of India betrayed the Tamil community in Sri Lanka," he observed.
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Two more suicide-bids in Tamil Nadu against Indian inaction to stop war in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 09:13 GMT]
Coming closely on the heels of Muthukumar and Ravi's self-immolation, two more young men in Tamil Nadu attempted to kill themselves in order to draw the world's attention against India's proxy war in Sri Lanka.
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Muthukumar triggers off mood of defiance in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 02:11 GMT]
Muthukumar was not there but his spirit was there. The lamentable self-immolation of the youth and the last statement he distributed had significant impact especially on the youth of Tamil Nadu and triggered off a series of consequences, unprecedented in such acts earlier in Tamil Nadu. Apart from public unrest, tension and street violence, the deeper manifestation was the open public defiance of the Government of India ban against the LTTE, which the people demonstrated carrying LTTE flags, placards and images of Pirapaharan in the funeral procession of Muthukumar. The intensification of student uprising as an aftermath of his sacrifice has made the state government to close colleges indefinitely, reports a journalist from Tamil Nadu.
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Tamil activists besiege Tanjore Air Force base

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 13:44 GMT]
More than a 1000 Tamil activists belonging to various political organizations and social movements laid siege to the Tanjore Air Force base Saturday morning violating prohibitive orders. The activists led by Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam President Kolathur T.S.Mani and Thamil Desiya Pothuvudamai Katchi (Tamil National Communist Party) General Secretary P. Maniarasan were protesting against the air-force base at Thanjavur being used by the Indian Army to supply lethal and non-lethal weaponry to Sri Lanka in its genocidal war on the Tamils.
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Muththukumar hailed as hero, tension escalates across Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 05:13 GMT]
Protests and strikes spread across Tamil Nadu, snarling traffic at major important roads particularly in Chennai, demonstrators held vigils in Coimbatore, Thiruvannaamalai and Salem paying homage to Muththukumar who self-immolated to show solidarity with Eezham Tamils, and Madras High Court Advocates Association boycotted courts on Friday, while mainstream media said the prevailing tension in Tamil Nadu can snowball into a potentially explosive situation.
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Tamil Nadu parties launch Eezham Tamils Protection Movement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2009, 06:13 GMT]
Concerned by New Delhi's inaction and driven by the need to bring about change in the prevailing tragic scenario in Vanni, five leaders of prominent Tamil Nadu parties, Vaiko, Dr. S. Ramadoss, Nedumaran, Thirumavalavan and D. Pandian, jointly launched the Eezham Tamils Protection Movement (ETPM) following a consultative meeting in Chennai Wednesday. Top leaders of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Communist Party of India, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the Tamil Nationalist Movement held closeted discussions on how to save the Eelam Tamils.
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Tamil Nadu gears up for more protests

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 05:27 GMT]
A state-wide common front of college and university students' organisations in Tamil Nadu launched protests against New Delhi and the state government demanding immediate action in stopping the war, which seeks to subjugate Tamil people who have refused to surrender into the hands of the Sri Lanka Army despite the physical and psychological war on them. 200,000 students took part in the 32 districts of the state on Wednesday, according to Dr. Vengadachalam, the organisor of the College Students' Coordinating Committee, a newly formed alliance of the students' organisations.
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Ramdoss exhorts Karunanidhi to urgent action in stopping Sri Lanka war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 21:08 GMT]
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Dr S Ramadoss, who visited VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, now in his fourth day of a fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s punitive bombardments, exhorted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi to act urgently to invoke Indian intervention to stop the war. Emphatically refuting Mr. Karunanidhi's statement that the VCK leader had “unilaterally decided” to stage a protest fast without consulting the rest of the Tamil Nadu polity, Dr. Ramadoss said Thol Thirumavalavan, whose health is detoriarating, had consulted other leaders several times in the recent weeks.
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Thirumavalavan launches fast-unto-death, demands India to stop war

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2009, 06:54 GMT]
"Mahatma Gandhi, who fought against British colonialists didn't think of taking the side of genocidal Hitler during World War II. He was not seeking personal vengeance against the British. Likewise, the present leaders in New Delhi should also take a bold decision that they will not support the genocidal war being waged by the Sri Lankan state on Eezham Tamils," said Kasi Anandan, a well-known Eezham poet living in Tamil Nadu, inaugurating the fast-unto-death campaign launched Thursday by VCK (Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol. Thirumavalavan.
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Thirumavalavan to fast to death, demands New Delhi to stop war in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2009, 20:16 GMT]
Thol. Thirumavalavan, President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), announced Monday that he would undertake a fast-unto-death to pressurize the Indian Government to put an immediate end to the genocide of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka, according to media sources in Chennai.
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Indian Naval Personnel to Mullaiththeevu: Thirumavalavan lambasts New Delhi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 January 2009, 18:08 GMT]
Thirumavalavan, a Tamil nationalist leader and the president of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) in Tamil Nadu, on Monday condemned the Indian Government for "betraying the entire Tamil people" by sending civil clothed Indian naval personnel to Mullaiththeevu through the Chennai international airport. Addressing the media in Chennai, he said that New Delhi was "totally responsible" for the "ruthless genocide" of Tamils in Sri Lanka. "Even the future generations of Tamils will never forgive the Indian Government for disrespecting the sentiments of 100 million Tamil people," he warned.
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CPI-led All Party Meeting calls for state-wide protest in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 04:36 GMT]
The Central Government of India has failed to respond to the four demands, concerning the plight of Eezham Tamils, formulated in the previous All Party Meeting (APM) and forwarded to New Delhi by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Therefore, a second APM was convened on Monday by the initiative of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Tamil Nadu, chaired by its State Secretary D. Pandian, who announced a state-wide peaceful protest on November 25 to demonstrate to New Delhi on the resolve of the Tamil Nadu people for a single resolution: Immediate Ceasefire in Sri Lanka.
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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.
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Women wing of VCK stages one-day fast in Chennai

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2008, 09:10 GMT]
Thousands of women belonging to the Makalir Viduthalai Iyakkamm, the Women's Wing of the Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK), went on a one-day fast in Chennai Thursday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. This token fast is the first in a series of agitations that the party has decided to hold indefinitely until a ceasefire is established on the war-ravaged island. Senior Communist leader R Nallakannu and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi addressed the fasting protesters.
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