The appeals of Tamil Nadu fishermen associations to stop all protests against Sri Lankans for fear of reprisal attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy is a tragic reflection of their terrorised plight and the Indian government's impotence on the issue.

What should have been a demand on the Indian government to fulfil its responsibility and guarantee the safety of its civilians against the Sri Lankan navy, has instead been usurped by sheer terror.

Of course this fear is a very real one - attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen have no doubt escalated in response to anti-Sri Lankan activism by Tamils in Tamil Nadu. Indeed the very next day, five Tamil Nadu fishermen were reported to have been attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy. However, what must be made clear is that the attacks were one of the precursors to the recent anti-Sri Lankan protests, not the after effects.

Indian business people fear that the Sri Lankan government's travel advisory warning to its citizens against travelling to Tamil Nadu will impact advsersely on trade.  

Speaking to the Times of India, the President of the India-ASEAN Sri Lankan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, C S Muthu Subramaniyan, said,

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is to visit Sri Lanka and the North-East next week. Arriving on the 14th September, Pillay will off 'advice and techinical assistance', reported the Daily Mirror.

Quoting government officials, PTI reported that Pillay's team would examine resettlement programmes and IDP concerns in the North-East.

See related article:

Writing in the Kindlemag, Meena Kandasamy interviews a Tamil journalist who reported from Vanni during 2009. Lokeesan was the Vanni correspondent for TamilNet during that time, and is currently living in exile.

See here for full interview entitled 'The Dialectics of Genocide'.

Excerpts of Lokeesan's interview reproduced below:

After severe criticism from Tamil Nadu's major parties and protests in the state, the BJP hastily distanced itself from allegations that the party was behind Mahinda Rajapakse's planned visit to a Buddhist event in Madhya Pradesh, pushing the blame onto Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

A convoy of buses carrying 178 fleeing Sri Lankans was pelted by sticks and stones near Kattur in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The Sri Lankans, who were on their way to Tiruchirapalli airport to fly back home to Colombo, experienced similar protest action whilst visiting a Christian shrine in Velankanni earlier that morning, and whilst visiting a Poondi Madha Christian shrine in Thanjavur the day before.

In a written submission to the up-coming, 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International detailed the 'shortcomings in Sri Lanka's National Plan of Action to implement the recommendations of the LLRC'.

The report, entitled 'No Real Will to Account', argued that the lack of accountability had ensured a "climate of impunity where arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, and custodial killings continue unchecked."

"More than three years after the armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended, these violations continue to be reported."

See here for full statement.

Responding to Sri Lanka's travel advisory warning against travelling to Tamil Nadu, the spokesperson of India's External Affairs Ministry assured Sri Lanka of the safety of any visiting Sri Lankans.

The spokesperson, Syed Akbaruddin, said,

Sri Lankan Minister Wimal Weerawansa warned of a 'possible catastrophic situation that would seriously harm the interests of both countries' if the protest acts on Sri Lankans in India continued, reported the Daily Mirror.