Published Date: 18/04/2009 - (NIE)
G Saravanan
Chennai, April 17: EVEN as the world expresses its solidarity and anguish for the suffering of the Sri Lankan Tamils trapped in the conflict zone across the Palk Strait, no one - not even the smalltime politicians in the State - have tried to understand the agony of the Sri Lankan Tamils, who have been detained in State-run special camps under flimsy grounds for years.
According to sources, two such special detention camps for Lankan Tamil refugees -- Poonamalle and Chengalpattu -- have nearly 100 Tamils, allegedly detained for having links with the banned outfit, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Speaking to Express, one of the Tamil detainees said that they were denied of basic human rights. “Though most of us wanted to clear our names legally, we never got an opportunity, since the police officials were not co-operative,” the detainee added. “Most of the members are not connected to the LTTE and its activities.
When a Sri Lankan Tamil was arrested, the first task of the Q Branch was to ‘create circumstantial evidence’ to show that the person was linked to the LTTE, and used by the organisation to procure materials in Tamil Nadu for them,” said S Manoharan, a lawyer who represented a few victims in the Madras High Court.
“If you accept that they were indeed connected to LTTE, they should have been convicted. But no one in the camp was convicted,” Manoharan added. Sources said that Q-Branch took a long time to file charge sheets against them.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
The trauma continues
R Gomathy Sankaravel | Fri, 08 May, 2009 , 02:12 PM
.
Two years have gone since 9 May 2007. But the shock, horror and pain have not for the families of three persons who were killed in the Dinakaran newspaper office attack in Madurai.
A family member of a victim Gopi, on condition of anonymity, said ‘Gopi’s death was not only savage, but was also filled with horrifying details which come over and over again on our minds. We can only express grief.’
Police had arrested many people in connection with the arson and mob violence while one was detained in connection with the deaths, he said. Later under attack from various quarters on the Madurai police inaction, the Tamilnadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi sought a CBI probe into the attack. But everything seems to be ‘customary’, he added.
‘The case is being heard by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court’, he said,adding that he wanted to transfer the case to the Madras High Court. But it has been put in cold storage,’ he said.
Citing the Tha Krittunan murder case, he said that the muscle and money power had taken the course of action favourable to the accused. At the time of attack, sibling rivalry in the ruling DMK had been at its peak and now they come together with an ‘understanding’, he further said.
‘Ultimately, we have lost our lovable and valuable one’, he said. ‘We are neither bold nor rich enough to challenge the accused and hence I can only do is leave it to God’. It is to be noted that Gopi’s father Gokuladoss has been hospitalised quite often after the incident. Certain opposition parties plan to take this issue during election campaign in the days to come.
It may be recalled that the supporters of DMK leader M K Azhagiri, elder son of Chief Minister K Karunanidhi, allegedly attacked the daily’s office and set it afire protesting against the survey on who would be Karunanidhi’s ‘possible political heir’. The survey was published in Dinakaran. The survey showed that 70 per cent preferred Chief Minister’s younger son M K Stalin while two per cent wanted Azhagiri.
In the attack, two computer engineers, Gopi (30) and Vinodh (25) were trapped inside the room when the attackers locked it after hurling the bombs and the two died of asphyxiation. The body of the security personnel Muthuramalingam (40) was found in the UPS room of the office. It is impossible for them to get over the grief, anger and loss while the wheels of justice are slow.
Source: http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=16831%20&%20section=12
.
Two years have gone since 9 May 2007. But the shock, horror and pain have not for the families of three persons who were killed in the Dinakaran newspaper office attack in Madurai.
A family member of a victim Gopi, on condition of anonymity, said ‘Gopi’s death was not only savage, but was also filled with horrifying details which come over and over again on our minds. We can only express grief.’
Police had arrested many people in connection with the arson and mob violence while one was detained in connection with the deaths, he said. Later under attack from various quarters on the Madurai police inaction, the Tamilnadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi sought a CBI probe into the attack. But everything seems to be ‘customary’, he added.
‘The case is being heard by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court’, he said,adding that he wanted to transfer the case to the Madras High Court. But it has been put in cold storage,’ he said.
Citing the Tha Krittunan murder case, he said that the muscle and money power had taken the course of action favourable to the accused. At the time of attack, sibling rivalry in the ruling DMK had been at its peak and now they come together with an ‘understanding’, he further said.
‘Ultimately, we have lost our lovable and valuable one’, he said. ‘We are neither bold nor rich enough to challenge the accused and hence I can only do is leave it to God’. It is to be noted that Gopi’s father Gokuladoss has been hospitalised quite often after the incident. Certain opposition parties plan to take this issue during election campaign in the days to come.
It may be recalled that the supporters of DMK leader M K Azhagiri, elder son of Chief Minister K Karunanidhi, allegedly attacked the daily’s office and set it afire protesting against the survey on who would be Karunanidhi’s ‘possible political heir’. The survey was published in Dinakaran. The survey showed that 70 per cent preferred Chief Minister’s younger son M K Stalin while two per cent wanted Azhagiri.
In the attack, two computer engineers, Gopi (30) and Vinodh (25) were trapped inside the room when the attackers locked it after hurling the bombs and the two died of asphyxiation. The body of the security personnel Muthuramalingam (40) was found in the UPS room of the office. It is impossible for them to get over the grief, anger and loss while the wheels of justice are slow.
Source: http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=16831%20&%20section=12
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Namma bloggers involved in intense political debate
G Saravanan
17 Apr 2009
CHENNAI:
Unlike the previous Lok Sabha Election in 2004, when there were nil presence of language-based blogs (except English) to either register or to debate certain poll-related issues online, this time, Tamil blogs hog the limelight among ‘namma bloggers’ as it become the most sought-after avenue to ‘express’ their views on political developments.
Though the Tamil blogs started making inroads among the Tamilians living across the globe only three years ago, its importance being now felt among the bloggers who preferred to find solutions to some burning issues to their logical end via this mode.
While there are thousands of Tamil blogs in the cyberspace, blogs related to Lankan Tamils, Lok Sabha elections and about Tamil political leaders record maximum hits and the trend itself shows that cyberspaceenabled people in the state believes in ‘disseminating’ their thoughts about the elections.
Besides putting lots of information on the Lankan Tamils on the cyberspace, bloggers also intensely debate the political opportunitism employed by different parties on the Lankan Tamils online.
Visit to several blogs revealed that the stand of VCK leader Thirumavalavan and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue has become the hottest debated topic among the bloggers who give both views and counter views on the issue.
With the Tamil blogs record good number of visits by net-savvy and info-hungry people across the state and even globe, compiler sites like www.tamilveli.com, www.tamilmanam.net and www.thiratti.com have compiled such blogs to present the users with choices.
While many visitors like the content of the blogs, a few express that the new-found avenue for dissemination is being misused by anonymous bloggers who only use the forum to tarnish political leaders’ image.
“I used to visit Tamil blogs regularly to follow developments in Sri Lanka. But there are a few sites which were only used to blast political leaders,” said Mahendran, a city-based software professional.
17 Apr 2009
CHENNAI:
Unlike the previous Lok Sabha Election in 2004, when there were nil presence of language-based blogs (except English) to either register or to debate certain poll-related issues online, this time, Tamil blogs hog the limelight among ‘namma bloggers’ as it become the most sought-after avenue to ‘express’ their views on political developments.
Though the Tamil blogs started making inroads among the Tamilians living across the globe only three years ago, its importance being now felt among the bloggers who preferred to find solutions to some burning issues to their logical end via this mode.
While there are thousands of Tamil blogs in the cyberspace, blogs related to Lankan Tamils, Lok Sabha elections and about Tamil political leaders record maximum hits and the trend itself shows that cyberspaceenabled people in the state believes in ‘disseminating’ their thoughts about the elections.
Besides putting lots of information on the Lankan Tamils on the cyberspace, bloggers also intensely debate the political opportunitism employed by different parties on the Lankan Tamils online.
Visit to several blogs revealed that the stand of VCK leader Thirumavalavan and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue has become the hottest debated topic among the bloggers who give both views and counter views on the issue.
With the Tamil blogs record good number of visits by net-savvy and info-hungry people across the state and even globe, compiler sites like www.tamilveli.com, www.tamilmanam.net and www.thiratti.com have compiled such blogs to present the users with choices.
While many visitors like the content of the blogs, a few express that the new-found avenue for dissemination is being misused by anonymous bloggers who only use the forum to tarnish political leaders’ image.
“I used to visit Tamil blogs regularly to follow developments in Sri Lanka. But there are a few sites which were only used to blast political leaders,” said Mahendran, a city-based software professional.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
DMK faces problems from within
Published Date: 15/4/2009 - (NIE)
G Saravanan
Chennai, April 14: WITH the campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections now shifting to next gear all across the State, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) seems to be facing difficult times in North Chennai constituency where its organising secretary T K S Elangovan is taking on CPI State secretary D Pandian.
The problems of the DMK are multiple in nature — its own inner-party rivalry between Fisheries Minister K P P Samy and Tiruvallur district secretary EAP Shivaji as well as non-cooperation from a section of the Congress party. Both the DMK heavyweights’ differences came to the fore during election workers meet organised by the party in Thiruvotriyur on April 13, where Samy and Shivaji preferred to keep a ‘healthy distance.’
On the other hand, the Congress party also held its poll workers meet close to the DMK’s venue on the same day. Minister Samy attended the Congress meet, before arriving at the DMK’s meet which was held later in the evening. Sources said the tone of Congress workers shocked Samy and North Chennai candidate T K S Elangovan.
One of the influential Congress leaders from Thiruvallur district reportedly blasted DMK leaders for not giving them the due importance during the past three years and that the party approaches Congress leaders only during elections with an eye on votes.
Sources further said many Congress workers have openly expressed their displeasure over the treatment meted out by DMK men in Thiruvotriyur area and vowed to take a ‘different line’ during the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
Tumbled over the remarks by Congress poll workers in the meet, which was solely organised to ‘motivate’ them to work hard for the DMK candidate, Samy pacified them saying that their grievances would be sorted out and asked them to work for the victory of the DMK candidate
G Saravanan
Chennai, April 14: WITH the campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections now shifting to next gear all across the State, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) seems to be facing difficult times in North Chennai constituency where its organising secretary T K S Elangovan is taking on CPI State secretary D Pandian.
The problems of the DMK are multiple in nature — its own inner-party rivalry between Fisheries Minister K P P Samy and Tiruvallur district secretary EAP Shivaji as well as non-cooperation from a section of the Congress party. Both the DMK heavyweights’ differences came to the fore during election workers meet organised by the party in Thiruvotriyur on April 13, where Samy and Shivaji preferred to keep a ‘healthy distance.’
On the other hand, the Congress party also held its poll workers meet close to the DMK’s venue on the same day. Minister Samy attended the Congress meet, before arriving at the DMK’s meet which was held later in the evening. Sources said the tone of Congress workers shocked Samy and North Chennai candidate T K S Elangovan.
One of the influential Congress leaders from Thiruvallur district reportedly blasted DMK leaders for not giving them the due importance during the past three years and that the party approaches Congress leaders only during elections with an eye on votes.
Sources further said many Congress workers have openly expressed their displeasure over the treatment meted out by DMK men in Thiruvotriyur area and vowed to take a ‘different line’ during the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
Tumbled over the remarks by Congress poll workers in the meet, which was solely organised to ‘motivate’ them to work hard for the DMK candidate, Samy pacified them saying that their grievances would be sorted out and asked them to work for the victory of the DMK candidate
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