hindu.com,  Fri Jan  6 23:34:26 EST 2006

    AT A critical juncture when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been violating the ceasefire at will and trying to provoke the Sri Lankan Army into a retaliatory strike in Tamil areas, there appears to be an orchestrated campaign in Tamil Nadu in its support. Some pro-Eelam political parties and groups organised a public meeting in Chennai just a day before Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse was scheduled to visit the city. Anti-Sri Lanka rhetoric was much in evidence. For various reasons, Mr. Rajapakse's visit was called off.

The question in the wake of this renewed pro-Eelam campaign in Tamil Nadu is: why now? Aside from the presidential visit, was there any other compelling reason for raising the issue all over again?

There is information both with the Sri Lankan Government and the intelligence agencies in Chennai that a war may soon break out in the island. Increased violations of the ceasefire by the Tigers, and the targeting of the armed forces are clear pointers.

Why take on the visiting President or Colombo when it is the LTTE, or one of its front organisations, that is violating the ceasefire and perpetrating the killings? Speakers at the Chennai meeting demanded that India should not provide any military assistance to Sri Lanka; that it should not develop or reconstruct the Palaly air base. They also made it clear that they did not expect a sympathetic consideration of the Tamils cause by Mr. Rajapakse, who was dependent on hardline Sinhala forces such as the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP), the Buddhist clergy, and the Hela Urimaya.
Full Story


_________________
- The Academic

A very relevant editorial from a well respected newspaper.  The PMK, MDMK and even DMK are sitting ducks for the LTTE to manipulate and maneuver.

It is good that MR called off his scheduled appearance in Chennai, which gives much propaganda edge to LTTE.  Didn't any one brief the Presidential secretariat not to plan a trip there taking all the historical and present info?

Again, our pundits to have bear in mind that in this crucial Election year, India's interests comes first.

Dont worry friends!  

Jayalalitha's clever act of refusing to entertain the SL President in Tamilnadu will do a great deal of good for Sri Lanka in the near future. By one stroke, she has explained to her electorate that she is not siding with the SL state, alleged by the rabble-rousers. Certainly, her move will augur well for Sri Lanka!!!!!

Jayalalitha doesn't really hate the ltte due to their freedom struggle.  She dislikes them because they have a lot of covert support from the DMK.  Jayalalitha is only interested in staying in power, and is anti-dmk.  The general mood in Tamil Nadu will never allow an indian military intervention on behalf of the sri lankan government, jayalalitha is no exception.  She will never accept india helping lanka either.  A ship sold here, and a few million dollars there, and she won't say anything, but if the LTTE was to really take over eelam, then jayalalitha will not fight it, and she'll keep India out of it.  India's #1 priority is development, and we won't get involved in a foreign ethnic struggle (we have bigger problems, like Pakistan), and certainly not for a racist government, as exists in sri lanka.  That's the truth, and the bottom line.

gopalkrish wrote:

The general mood in Tamil Nadu will never allow an indian military intervention on behalf of the sri lankan government, jayalalitha is no exception.

That’s fine, but if the army march into Vanni, make sure to stay the hell out without interfering like last time with plane loads of fish buns over Vadamarachi.

India would not have interfered 'last time' if it was not for boat loads of Sri lankan tamils landing on its shores as refugees! Hardly anybody in India knew about the Sri Lankan situation till this happened

I quite like Jayalitha, she survived attempts by pro-LTTE DMK to overthrow her and she's still there!

Meanwhile in Sri Lanka prime ministers come and go but VP sits on his throne observing the comings and goings of the sinhalese in dissaray

I would vote for Jayalitha as leader of Lanka, She would be a good leader, How about an Indian for Prime minister to bring law and order in the counrty

It worked in Kandy  

Or how about Sri Lanka joining the Indian Union to once and for all settling the Tamil Problem?! It should b good for the economy too!!

Hindu and their publication group are anti LTTE. This is well known.

This editorial, though not written by RAM the real hater of LTTE, indicates that they are uncomfortable with a resurgence of support from the ordinary people of Tamil Nadu for LTTE.

In fact great majority of Tamils in Tamil Nadu support LTTE. However this support is not publicly shown after Rajiv's death.

But it seems to be gradually getting out into the open. Hindu's editorial is confirmation of that.

Rajapkse got a 'slap on his face' from Tamil Nadu.

He should get the message.

In essence LTTE, without having to do any campaigning are slowly getting back Tamil Nadu's support.

This should worry SL Govt.

the thamilnadu  " Land of the tamils" has got many influnce on sri lanka. the plantaion tamils who live in upcontry finds thier origins in thamil nadu, the tamis in NE also finds their origins in thamilnadu.but if u asks any tamils in colombo," in which country they like to live?(thamilnadu or SL) their most probably answer is SRI LANKA. i have got lot of my tamils friends in the campus, they have got a to dream of immigrating to western countries. but they never told me they will never immigrate to thamilnadu.but prefer sri lanka.can any tamil friend tell me the reason for that? as a sinhalese i dont understand it.

rawana wrote:

the thamilnadu  " Land of the tamils" has got many influnce on sri lanka. the plantaion tamils who live in upcontry finds thier origins in Tamil nadu, the tamis in NE also finds their origins in thamilnadu.but if u asks any tamils in colombo," in which country they like to live?(thamilnadu or SL) their most probably answer is SRI LANKA. i have got lot of my tamils friends in the campus, they have got a to dream of immigrating to western countries. but they never told me they will never immigrate to thamilnadu.but prefer sri lanka.can any tamil friend tell me the reason for that? as a sinhalese i dont understand it.

Perhaps, you may be thinking, we (Sri Lankan Tamil) should immigrate to TN as we are originally come from there thousand years back. If you ask same question from your selves, as Sinhalese you also believe you came from India, in such case why you people also like to migrate to USA/ UK/ Australia / NZ.
I realized one thing when I read your question that you Sinhalese are so selfish to think that Sri Lanka just belong to you. But, Sri Lanka is our motherland too. Our race has been living there for thousand years just like Sinhalese. As long as you people change your attitude I don’t think there will be an answer to this problem.

Reading these posts, one would think that the Sinhalese are actually the minority and the Tamils are the majority.  As Tamilnadu and Indian politics have such a significant effect on SL, would this be a fair statement?

Veritas wrote:

Reading these posts, one would think that the Sinhalese are actually the minority and the Tamils are the majority.  As Tamilnadu and Indian politics have such a significant effect on SL, would this be a fair statement?

Sinhalese are acting like minority as they are not united. If Sinhalese are united, they can rule the country without any problem giving minority a proper place.

dear irkish
u have misunderstood me completely.i am the least person to belive that SL tamils should immigrate to the india. the meaning of the thamilnadu is the land of the tamils.thatsy i mentioned it.becas some people in this forum believe all the tamils supports the eelam.and if eelam is created SL tamils should b deported to the eelam & sinhalese in tiger controll area shold be deported to the SL.i dont believe it. i know every SL tamil feel as SL as their mother country as sinhalese & they love SL,tamils who lives in Sinhala areas dont support eelam which could severly destroy their relationship wt sinhalese. sinhala tamils account for 60% tamils in SL.so tamils dont need eelam.do u? ur answer show me howmuch u love to the SL like other tamils.most tamils dont want to damage mother lanka or dream eelam