Bombay News.Net - Wednesday 22nd October, 2008 (IANS)

The Congress, the main ally of Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK, and the state's main opposition AIADMK Wednesday slammed 'secessionist moves' by regional parties and the Tamil film industry under the guise of supporting the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.

Congress Legislature Party leader D. Sudarsanam and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha decried attempts of organisations and individuals openly supporting the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and demanded their arrest and prosecution.

Special Correspondent CHENNAI:

It is the responsibility of the State government to take strong action against supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and advocates of ‘Thani Tamizhnadu’ (exclusive Tamil nation), Congress Legislature Party leader D. Sudarssanam said on Wednesday.Demanding that the advocates of ‘Thani Tamizhnadu’ be booked under the National Security Act, Mr. Sudarssanam told reporters that he was confident that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi would act accordingly.

By Paul Tighe

(Bloomberg) - Sri Lanka denounced a Tamil rebel suicide attack on two merchant ships carrying aid supplies as part of a “pernicious” strategy to use civilians in the fight for a separate homeland in the South Asian island nation. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam showed that the “well-being of Tamil people it claims to represent is furthest from its concerns,” the government said in a statement early today. “The LTTE has continuously done everything possible to subvert all relief measures to these people.” The vessels were carrying food and cement to the northern Jaffna peninsula when they were attacked and damaged yesterday, the government said. The LTTE said a suicide unit carried out the raid and sank a ship carrying military supplies, TamilNet reported, citing the group.

by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha

Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe died 25 years ago, on October 23rd 1983, exactly three months after the July racist riots began. In death he exemplified the Christian faith he subscribed to, for he sacrificed his life for his fellow men, the Tamils he realized had been indelibly scarred by the riots.He was in England when the riots happened, on sabbatical after being advised to rest following a heart attack.

Commenting on the violence in Sri Lanka, a senior official travelling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Japan told reporters that New Delhi is not going to help the LTTE, as it is a terrorist organisation behind the assassination of an Indian Prime Minister and has not even apologised for it.

"There is a clear distinction between the LTTE and the Tamils," he said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday said that it had been made clear to India and the international community that Sri Lanka would not suspend the military operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He said that the LTTE “did not understand the language of negotiation” and “therefore the operations will have to continue on behalf of the people.''

by:B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan military on Tuesday claimed that troops had “thrashed LTTE battle formations and pushed ahead”, amid heavy resistance, from areas at Vannerikkulama and from the edges at Akkarayankulama Tank in Kilinochchi. “These military advances were made while LTTE ground chieftains were reported wavering over disposition of fighting elements in Wanni and North. According to military, intercepted LTTE communication has revealed constant arguments between the Wanni and Northern cadres who were accusing each other for the recent battlefield losses,” said the Defence Ministry.

It would be a mistake on India’s part to get involved in Sri Lanka’s internal strife, though the government’s domestic political compulsions for demonstrating some action are strong. Ethnic sympathies in Tamil Nadu run in favour of those fighting for a Tamil ‘homeland’ across the Palk Straits, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has seized the opportunity to try and win some brownie points by mounting pressure on the Centre to intervene.

Since the DMK and its partners in the state are the most important allies of the Congress in the United Progressive Alliance, the government can ill afford to ignore the threat of en masse resignations by the DMK’s MPs—though that should in fact be interpreted as a typical case of brinkmanship, with the threat being a substitute for real action.

COLOMBO: The Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry said yesterday (20^th) it was unfortunate that British MPs who are ready to do their best to help their constituents do not seem to have access to people who are familiar with the real situation in Sri Lanka. “We can only invite them to study the facts more carefully,” the release said. The Ministry was responding to a debate on Sri Lanka held at Westminster Hall on Tuesday. “Concern for our people is to be welcomed from any quarter, and the Government appreciates the special interest of British MPs whose constituencies include Sri Lankan expatriates. However, such discussions are unhelpful when they do not reference the ground situation,” the release said.

International filmmakers choose Srilanka’s virgin locales for films When Middle East television’s most loved couple Mohannad and Noor recently indulged in a romantic holiday in Sri Lanka, little did they realise that they would fall in love with the country and be bewitched by its enigmatic charm.  So would you, when you visit this country, delicately suspended like a tear drop at the southernmost tip of India and poetically called the “Garden of Eden” since time immemorial. Television viewers who caught the “Sri Lanka” episodes (Nos 130 to 132) of Noor and Mohannad, would certainly have caught the scenes where the couple visit a clothes boutique – Noor dressing up and looking exquisitely oriental in a traditional sari (six yards of fabric draped around the body with pleats in front and ending in a fall over the shoulder) and Mohannad looking absolutely smashing in his kurtha (tunic collared shirt) and sarong.