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| Indian Tamils form human chain to protest Lankan war |
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Saturday, October 25, 2008
COLOMBO/CHENNAI: Sri Lankan troops advancing toward the Tamil Tiger rebel headquarters have beaten back a group of insurgents who tried to infiltrate one of its defence lines, the military said on Friday.
Soldiers caused heavy damages to the rebels on Thursday after foiling attempts to attack the Pallavarayankaddu defence line, the military said in a statement. It did not give casualty details.
The Tamil Tigers have in the past months suffered a series of defeats, losing to the military some major bases and chunks of land that were part of their de facto state. The government says it has come close to crushing the rebel group and ending the country’s 25-year separatist war.
Also, the military said on Friday it has captured several rebel bunkers in the village of Gajabapura in northern Mullaitivu district, which fell to government forces on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry said in a statement that it will suspend the release of casualty details from military operations because of the need for “operational security,’’ claiming casualty reports could “impede the successful accomplishment of the mission.’’
With reporters banned from the war zone, Sri Lanka’s media are totally dependent on government and rebel statements for information about the war.
It is also difficult to contact insurgent officials for comment because communication lines to the rebel territory have been severed.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Tamils marched in the streets of a southern Indian city on Friday to protest against the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka, as a regional political group pressured the Indian government to stop the war.
Protesters braved heavy rains and linked arms in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state. “Save the Tamils, stop the battle,” they shouted.
Sri Lanka’s intensifying offensive against the LTTE, which it has fought since 1983 in one of Asia’s longest insurgencies, has roiled India’s political scene and prompted heated diplomatic exchanges between the two neighbours.
Two Tamil politicians were arrested on Thursday by the Indian police for speaking publicly in support of the LTTE rebels.
Last week, a group of Indian lawmakers, whose support is crucial to the government, handed their resignation letters to their party chief, saying they could not continue in a government that was not reacting to the sufferings of the Tamils.
The Indian government urged Sri Lanka to solve the issue through dialogue.
But the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK) which organised Friday’s rally has called regular protests, and thousands of people from the Tamil film industry also thronged to an island in the state this week to protest against Sri Lanka.
The lawmakers’ resignation could force a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government if the letters reach the speaker in India’s parliament.
But experts have described the threats to resign as only political posturing. “By resigning, they are playing to the galleries and putting pressure on the government, which is very unfortunate,” Bhaskara Rao, a political analyst said in New Delhi.
The Tigers in Sri Lanka figure on US, European Union and Indian terrorism lists for widespread bombings and assassinations.
In 1991, they were charged with killing India’s former Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka has vowed to crush the Tamil Tigers militarily. India sent peacekeepers to the island nation in 1987, only to withdraw them after losing more than 1,200 men in battle and facing allegations of human rights violations. India now follows a policy of non-interference in Sri Lanka’s internal problems.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
