Chennai: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said in its report for the year 2011 that it had been in search of 15,780 persons reported missing from the war-affected Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Out of the 15,780, 751 were women. The actual number of missing persons from the war zone, according to the Red Cross, could well be much more because the figure of 15,780 related...
01:45 PM, Jul 05, 2012
Chennai: DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Thursday expressed concern over reports about Sri Lanka's attitude towards India and demanded that New Delhi give greater attention to Sri Lankan Tamils issue. He cited reports that said the Island nation's relations with China was growing, while it didn't keep India informed about implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), as it did to the United States. "As I...
02:42 AM, Jun 22, 2012
Tiruvarur: Making a fresh demand for a separate Tamil homeland, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said the August 5 TESO conference will discuss ways and means to achieve it in a peaceful and democratic manner even as he asserted he was ready to die after witnessing its birth. "A long-pending dream of mine, (Sri Lankan Tamil veteran) Chelvanayagam, and slain Tamils is to witness formation of a Tamil Eelam,"...
10:38 PM, Jun 13, 2012
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday allocated Rs 25.62 crore for improving basic amenities in the Lankan Tamil refugee camps, giving scholarships to children of the refugees who are pursuing higher studies and for giving one-time grants of Rs 10,000 to the women's self help groups run by the refugees. The CM has already extended all welfare schemes being implemented for the people of the state to...
12:53 PM, Mar 25, 2012
Colombo: Despite India's backing for a US resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, the country must continue to be friends with its neighbour, a senior minister said on Saturday. "We must continue to be friends with India. We must remember that when south Indian film stars joined Tamil Nadu politicians to bring pressure on Sri Lanka through India, the Indian central government stood by us," Dullas...
11:20 PM, Mar 24, 2012
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday ordered extension of the government's comprehensive health insurance scheme to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and allocated Rs 25 crore for improving basic facilities in the camps in the state where they are lodged. According to an official release, she ordered extension of the scheme, presently available to poor people of the state, as part of measures taken by her government for...
01:48 PM, Mar 24, 2012
Geneva: The 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted the resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged war crimes on Thursday with 24 countries voting in favour, 15 against and eight abstaining. India also voted in favour of the US-backed resolution. The resolution urged Colombo to investigate alleged war crimes during the last stage of its military action against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The United States,...
04:32 PM, Mar 22, 2012
Geneva: The 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva began debating a resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged war crimes on Thursday with a vote also expected later. The US-backed resolution urges Colombo to investigate alleged war crimes during the last stage of its military action against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Sri Lanka is strongly lobbying against the resolution moved by the US, France and Norway,...
04:04 PM, Mar 22, 2012
Chennai: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa that the state government would be informed in advance about the visits of dignitaries from Sri Lanka. In a letter to Jayalalithaa dated March 11, 2012, the text of which was released to the media here Saturday by the state government, Singh referred to Jayalalithaa's letter dated March 3, 2012 and said: "I am asking authorities to...
05:55 PM, Mar 17, 2012
Chennai: Upping the ante against the Congress-led UPA Government over alleged war crime issue concerning Sri Lanka, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said his party would deem it as a betrayal of Tamils if the Centre does not support the US resolution on Sri Lanka. Asked if his party would withdraw support to the UPA Government if New Delhi supported Sri Lanka in the United Nations Human Rights Council...
11:12 PM, Mar 14, 2012
New Delhi: There was ruckus in the Rajya Sabha yet again over alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. AIADMK members staged a walkout after tearing a copy of the statement made by External Affairs SM Krishna after he stressed on India's positive role in reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. "It is through our constructive engagement with the Sri Lankan government and our assistance that there...
03:32 PM, Mar 14, 2012
Washington: The United States on Tuesday said that unless Sri Lankan government reconciles with minority Tamils and addresses allegations of war crimes it risks renewed conflict. Thousands of Tamil civilians died in the final months of its civil war that ended in 2009. The US has introduced a draft resolution at the UN Human Rights Council, increasing international pressure on Sri Lanka to conduct an independent investigation. The council in...
07:38 AM, Mar 14, 2012
CHENNAI: In a significant move, AIADMK leaders led by former minister C Ponnian took part in a CPI demonstration here on Tuesday, urging the Centre to back the resolutions passed against Sri Lanka. Ponnian said they were participating in the state-wide demo organised by CPI and like-minded mo-vements as per the orders from Amma (AIADMK Chief J Jayalalithaa).Ponnian went on to say that his party would support CPI general secretary...
10:31 AM, Mar 07, 2012
Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu unit of the CPI on Wednesday accused the UPA Government of acting against the interests of the state and Tamils by remaining as a mute spectator without attempting to resolve various issues concerning it such as the Mullaperiyar dam row with Kerala. Be it Mullaperiyar dam row or Cauvery water-sharing dispute with Karnataka or the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, the UPA Government was functioning against the interests...
08:23 AM, Feb 02, 2012
Colombo: External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Wednesday flew from by chopper to Kilinochchi on way to Jaffna in the northern province of Sri Lanka to meet ethnic Tamils. He will gift medical equipment to the district general hospital at Kilinochchi on the third day of his four-day visit after fruitful official talks on Tuesday with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister DM Jayarathna and his counterpart GL Peiris...
01:04 PM, Jan 18, 2012
Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is committed to devolving powers to ethnic Tamils by pursuing the 13th amendment to the constitution, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said on Tuesday. "The president assured me that he stands by his commitment to pursuing the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution and building on it to achieve meaningful devolution of powers," Krishna said here. The 13th Amendment of the 1987...
02:43 PM, Jan 17, 2012
Colombo: Jailed former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka was on Friday sentenced to spend three more years in prison after a court convicted him for alleging that the powerful brother of the country's President had ordered the execution of surrendering Tamil rebels. Fonseka, a member of Parliament, was found guilty by a split 2-1 decision by the High Court in the 'white flag' case, for violating emergency regulations by...
03:09 PM, Nov 18, 2011
Oslo: Even as it publicly advocated peace when the Sri Lankan conflict was raging, India quietly informed Norway that the LTTE must be "put in its place", reveals a Norwegian government sponsored study on why the peace process failed in the island nation. The exhaustive document, released here on Friday, shows that New Delhi's sympathy lay with Colombo vis-a-vis the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as the peace process began...
06:01 PM, Nov 11, 2011
New Delhi: Anguished by what they say is New Delhi's apathy, Indians jailed in Sri Lanka want Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa to intervene and seek their extradition to India. A spokesman for 34 Indian prisoners -- 27 from Tamil Nadu and seven from Kerala -- said they were being ignored though India and Sri Lanka signed a pact in June on exchange of sentenced convicts. An almost sobbing...
03:51 PM, Nov 03, 2011
Colombo: An Indian army team has undertaken a visit to Tamil dominated Wanni region in northern Sri Lanka, which was once a battlefront between the government forces and the rebel LTTE during the three decades ethnic conflict, the military said on Wednesday. The representative delegation of the Indian Army Higher Command Course-2011 is currently touring Sri Lanka, country's Army said. The 16-member delegation is led by Air Commodore P R...
05:03 PM, Nov 02, 2011
