Protests across India against UN complicity in Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2013, 00:10 GMT]
Criticizing the United Nations, especially the Ban Ki Moon, Vijay Nambiar and Sir John Holmes trio for their complicity in the genocide of the Eezham Tamils owing to their calculated inaction, protests took place across different parts of India on Tuesday calling for punitive action to be taken against the three UN officials, besides pressing for a referendum among the Eezham Tamils and an independent international investigation to probe the charges of genocide against the Sri Lankan state. Demonstrations took place at Chennai, Koodangku'lam, Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi. Over 600 protestors outside the UNICEF office in Adayar, Chennai were taken into custody by the police and released later in the day.
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Tamil Nadu protests Rajapaksa's ‘pilgrimage’ to India

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 February 2013, 23:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday landed in India, drawing widespread protests in Tamil Nadu against his ‘pilgrimage' trip to India, media reports in India said. While MDMK leader Mr Vaiko courted arrest together with MDMK activists, who marched towards Indian Prime Minister's residence in New Delhi, condemning the Centre and the visiting SL president, in Tamil Nadu, DMK Chief Mr M Karunanidhi was taking part in protests with DMK activists.
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Thousands throng Sydney, London Heroes’ Day events

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, 16:21 GMT]
Thousands of Eezham Tamils from across the UK gathered at London on Tuesday to pay obeisance to the Maaveerar (heroes) who laid down their lives in the struggle for a sovereign Tamil Eelam. Likewise, large crowds showed up at the Heroes Day event at Sydney, which was held in open space, and the people stayed on till the conclusion despite a heavy downpour. At the Heroes day event at Excel centre, London, security sources informed that the overall crowd was roughly around 20,000. Speaking to TamilNet, a community activist from Australia said that the strong presence of Tamil public at the Heroes Day events in different parts of the world showed that the diaspora will not be intimidated by any targeting or attacks on grassroots activists. Separately, Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon also spoke in the parliament on the occasion, referring to challenges faced by the Tamils.
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Understanding BJP’s politics vis a vis Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 September 2012, 10:32 GMT]
Despite MDMK leader Vaiko’s protests against the invitation of Mahinda Rajapaksa to inaugurate a Buddhist university in BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh alleging that the Sri Lankan government was responsible for the destruction and desecration of hundreds of Hindu temples in the course of its genocidal war and the military occupation of the Eezham Tamils’ homeland, no senior leader of India’s biggest Hindu nationalist party condemned Rajapaksa’s presence at the event. On the contrary, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister has appealed for stronger cultural ties with Sri Lanka. In a hard-talk show on Win TV's Urimaik-kural hosted by C.R. Baskaran earlier this month, Tamil Nadu activists Srinivasa Rao and P. Abdul Samad, general secretary of the TMMK, argued that when it came to the Eezham Tamils, there was no difference in the policies of the opposition BJP or the ruling Congress.
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Economic Times insinuates Tamils to follow Colombo in ditching India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 September 2012, 09:38 GMT]
The editorial of Mumbai-based The Economic Times on Friday insinuates that Tamils will never get justice from India unless they too compete with Colombo in playing the card of China and Pakistan, commented a political analyst in Jaffna. The Economic Times editorial, criticising the opposition to Rajapaksa’s visit as chauvinism wrecking New Delhi’s strategy said: “India has many bones to pick with Sri Lanka, including thwarting Colombo's game of playing Pakistan and China off against India. This calls for a combination of unrelenting pressure on some subjects, such as political rights of the Tamil minority, and generous accommodation on some others.” Responding, the Jaffna analyst told TamilNet that ‘unrelenting’ here implies indefinite hoodwink and ‘generous accommodation’ accommodates annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils.
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Protests intensify against Rajapaksa’s presence in India, Congress-BJP condemned

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 September 2012, 09:08 GMT]
Criticizing both the BJP led Madhya Pradesh state government and Congress Party for inviting SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa for a Buddhist event in Sanchi, MDMK leader Vaiko told reporters “Despite knowing that Rajapaksa is solely responsible for the genocide of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh has invited him and the Centre endorsed his visit,” a PTI report on Thursday said. As Mr. Vaiko and the MDMK cadres attempted to march to Sanchi today, all were arrested and have been temporarily detained at a location nearby, sources told TamilNet. Separately, a correspondent for The Hindu reported today that “It was an ironical scenario in Bhopal as a President accused of genocide arrived here on Thursday to inaugurate a ceremony on world peace.”
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Vaiko stopped at Madhya Pradesh border

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 September 2012, 06:18 GMT]
Even as the genocide-accused SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa landed in New Delhi on Wednesday to a warm welcome, MDMK leader Vaiko and over a thousand of his cadres, who had planned a peaceful black flag demonstration against Rajapaska’s inauguration of a Buddhist university at Sanchi, were stopped at the Madhya Pradesh border by that state’s police. Mr. Vaiko along with the other protestors staged a sit-in at the spot where they were stopped, near Pandhurna on the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border, raising banners, placards and slogans against Rajapaksa’s visit to India.
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Self-immolation protestor dies, anti-Rajapaksa agitations intensify in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 September 2012, 01:38 GMT]
26-year old auto driver Vijayaraj from Salem in Tamil Nadu, who immolated himself on Monday early morning protesting Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to India, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday noon. A follower of Periyaar, member of CITU, and a supporter of the Tamil Eelam cause, Vijayaraj, despite being in his death bed, insisted on talking to media at the hospital that Rajapaksa should not be allowed into India. I did it, because Tamils in unison should rise up against the Indian government that welcomes Rajapaksa even after seeing the heroic sacrifices, he was cited by Tamil media Nakkeeran. Agitations intensify in Tamil Nadu, while the BJP Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivaraj Singh Chauhan, claims that Rajapaksa’s visit to Sanchi to inaugurate a Buddhist University is ‘apolitical’.
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BJP denies inviting Rajapaksa as Tamil leaders announce protest in India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 September 2012, 19:14 GMT]
Tamils across Tamil Nadu on Wednesday launched protests against Rajapaksa’s scheduled visit to India on 21 September to inaugurate a centre for Buddhist study at Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. VCK activists in Coimbatore burnt photographs of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the BJP who had reportedly invited the genocide-accused SL president. Meanwhile, MDMK leader Vaiko urged the BJP to cancel the invitation to Rajapaksa, stating that otherwise he would lead a black flag demonstration to Madhya Pradesh when the SL president arrives. In the meantime, Sushma Swaraj and other BJP leaders have denied inviting Rajapaksa, alleging that the Indian Prime Minister and the Ministry of External Affairs were responsible for inviting the SL president.
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Youth Activist Sivanthan concludes 22 day hunger strike

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2012, 07:27 GMT]
Gobi Sivanthan, UK based Eezham Tamil youth activist, concluded his 22 day hunger strike coinciding with the final day of the London 2012 Olympics, on Sunday. Eezham Tamils from across the UK gathered at the spot where Sivanthan was fasting at Stratford, to convey solidarity with his protest as he broke his fast at 4 PM. Sivanthan had undertaken the hunger strike with five demands, including calling for an immediate halt to the “ongoing genocidal land grabs”. After the end of the fast, Tamils took a procession to Aspen way, along the route of the closing ceremony of the Olympics, and staged a three hour demonstration calling for a free Tamil Eelam and an end to the genocide of the Eezham Tamils.
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LJP President Paswan backs call for UN referendum

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 May 2012, 06:36 GMT]
Ram Vilas Paswan, the president of Lok Janshakthi Party from the state of Bihar and a former Indian minister, took part in a candlelight vigil organized near the Kannagi statue at the Marina Beach, Chennai by May 17 Movement on Sunday and signed on the list of the signature campaign calling for UN referendum among Eezham Tamils to assert their political destiny. Mr. Paswan, a Rajya Sabha MP, talking to media also said that Tamils had mandated the creation of Tamil Eelam in 1977 elections, which was based upon Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of all Tamil parties that represented Tamils in the island. The Sri Lankan state has not only ignored Eezham Tamils' democratic mandate, but has also systematically unleashed violence on them.
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Independent international investigation on Sri Lanka called for at London event

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 May 2012, 05:35 GMT]
Eezham Tamils from across the UK gathered at Trafalgar Square, London to remember the Mu’l’livaaykkaal massacre at a remembrance event organized by the British Tamils’ Forum, on Saturday. With participation from the main political parties of the UK, diaspora groups and activists from the homeland and Tamil Nadu, speakers at the occasion emphasised the need for an independent international investigation in the island, a probe into charges of genocide committed by the Sri Lankan state, ending the militarization and colonization of the Tamil homeland, and self-determination of the Tamil people. Many of the non-Tamil speakers also strongly stated that the UK should stop deporting the Eezham Tamil asylum seekers back to the island. The event drew a crowd of over five thousand the organizers said, citing police sources.
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Tamil Nadu begins campaign for UN referendum on Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 May 2012, 00:03 GMT]
Demanding the UN to conduct a referendum among Eezham Tamils to allow them to determine the political future of their homeland, Tamil Nadu based civil society group Youth Against War Crimes and Genocide (YAWCAG) started a campaign to collect one crore signatures to convey solidarity for the same, on Wednesday. The signature campaign which was inaugurated near the Gandhi statue at Marina beach involved participation of veteran political activists and civil society groups from Tamil Nadu. The organizers plan to take the campaign to other districts of Tamil Nadu soon. “It is necessary for the people of Tamil Nadu to pressurize the state and central government to recognize that the Eezham Tamils cannot live with dignity and peace under a unitary Sri Lankan state,” E. Ra. Thirumalai, one of the co-ordinators of YAWCAG, told TamilNet.
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Nedumaran releases book on LTTE leader

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 April 2012, 18:30 GMT]
The much anticipated ‘Pirapaharan – Tamizhar Ezhuchchiyin Vadivam’ (Pirapaharan - The Embodiment of Tamils’ Struggle) written by veteran Tamil Nadu political activist Pazha Nedumaran was released in Chennai on Friday at PT Thiyagaraja Hall. Published by Tamizhk-kulam Pathippaalayam, this book, of 1223 pages and illustrated with 32 pages of photographs some of which are hitherto unpublished, contains handwritten letters of Mr. Pirapaharan and includes important personal conversations with the author, that throw light on the deep philosophy of the LTTE leader. Along with CPI stalwart Mahendran’s book ‘Veezhveanen’ru ninaiththaayoa’, this book written by a long time supporter of the Eezham Tamils’ struggle will join the series of must-read literature written by Tamil Nadu activists on the struggle for Tamil Eelam, for Tamils everywhere, Tamil literary circles in Chennai said.
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Wider public participation marks Heroes Day in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 December 2011, 11:34 GMT]
It became clear on the eve of Heroes Day, Sunday, that ruling circles in India join hands with genocidal Colombo in denying Tamils the right to remember their fallen freedom fighters. Yet the day was observed with a marked positive difference in Tamil Nadu this time. Public and grassroot initiatives replaced political party organized mass gatherings, and there was wider and spontaneous participation of a social cross-section: from workers and farmers to communities in business, education and professions. “If Tamils have contributed anything memorable to human civilization in their contemporary history that was the paradigm-setting stand taken by the Eezham Tamil heroes, defying injustice of all the world Establishments,” commented an 85-year-old Marxist who spent a life time for the communist movement in the diaspora and in the home country, ever since he was 16.
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India emerges as main designer of ‘Asian Model’ in Norway report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 10:25 GMT]
The Norway report on the failed peace in Sri Lanka, concluding that Asian powers in pursuance of military solution were a reason for the failure, cautions that this model of ‘conflict resolution’ will challenge future Norwegian-style mediations. India’s role in the genocidal model of conflict resolution is not adequately discussed in the report, yet bits and pieces in the report along with what transpired in the panel discussion in Oslo on Friday, place India as decisively responsible for the ‘Asian model’ that ended the war in genocide. Meanwhile, citing the upsurge of Sinhala nationalism as a result of the international peace process, the report advises appeasement by leaving the fate of Eezham Tamils to ‘domestic solutions’. But an upsurge of Tamil nationalism resulting from the genocide, snowballing in either side of the Palk Bay, is yet to make impact with the IC.
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Tamil Nadu Assembly, Madras High Court, make precedent in Indian democracy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 August 2011, 19:34 GMT]
In an extraordinary development in Indian constitutional history, the Tamil Nadu State Assembly on Tuesday unanimously and strongly resolved that the President of India, respecting the sentiments of the people and political parties of Tamil Nadu, should reconsider the clemency appeals of the three Tamils fixed for execution and convert their death sentences into life imprisonment. In the meantime, acting on a legal move by Vaiko and N. Chandrasekaran, The Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed the executions for 8 weeks giving time for the government to file counter affidavit. The President of India earlier rejected the clemency appeals of Perarivalan of Tamil Nadu and two Eezham Tamils, Murugan and Shanthan condemned to death in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and their hangings were fixed to September 09.
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Those who committed Genocide on Tamils should be brought to Justice: BJP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2011, 04:18 GMT]
“We are not going to give up till all those people involved in genocide are brought to justice,” said India's former Foreign Minister and a top leader of the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) Yashwant Sinha Friday, questioning the motives behind New Delhi’s silence on the UN Chief’s expert panel report that found credible evidences for the wide-spread allegations of war-crime committed by the Sri Lankan troops. According to media reports from India, leaders of various mainstream political parties, including the BJP, on Friday have expressed solidarity with Eezham Tamils, saying that they would continue to raise their voice until everyone responsible for the “genocide” there were brought to justice.
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India boosts Sri Lanka: Jaya; India answerable for genocide: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 August 2011, 07:48 GMT]
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s remarks aired by Headlines Today rocked the Tamil Nadu State Assembly on Thursday as political parties moved for special call attention motion to discuss Gotabhaya’s remarks on Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution on Sri Lanka. “Indian government being mute spectator has boosted the morale of Srilanka,” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalitha accused in the Assembly. Meanwhile, speaking to Priyamvatha of Headlines Today on Thursday, hours before a discussion on Sri Lanka in the Indian parliament, Vaiko said the government of India is answerable to Headlines Today report on the genocide of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. However, on Thursday afternoon, the Indian parliament postponed the discussion on Sri Lanka to coming Tuesday.
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Indian PM rejects TN State assembly resolution for economic sanctions on SL

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 August 2011, 06:04 GMT]
Rejecting the resolution of the Tamil Nadu State assembly, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday has said that India “cannot afford to restrict economic links with neighbouring Sri Lanka”, a move widely seen as giving a moral and diplomatic strength to the hawkish Rajapaksa government, which is under international pressure over wide-spread war crime allegations. According to the Delhi-based Hindustan Times report, the Indian Prime Minister has made his government’s policy with regard to Sri Lanka and to Eezham Tamils when he was met by the General Secreatry of Marumalarchi Dravida Munetra Kazhakam (MDMK) Vaiko on Tuesday.
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