Lanka protests continue in Tamil Nadu,heat on IPL now

But protests continued across Tamil Nadu in various forms,including fasts,marches,road and rail blocks,with a future plan including IPL and an important Commonwealth meeting to be held in Colombo in November.

The vote at UNHRC is over and the DMK is out,but Sri Lanka wont be off the table for long. Most demands raised by the student protesters were related to the resolution against Sri Lanka before the UNHRC,which was over after voting on Thursday. But protests continued across Tamil Nadu in various forms,including fasts,marches,road and rail blocks,with a future plan including IPL and an important Commonwealth meeting to be held in Colombo in November.

Their immediate target is the Indian Premier League that begins April 3. We will stage protests at every venue that hosts Lankan cricketers, said C Dinesh,one of the student conveners of the protest.

The home team,Chennai Super Kings,has two Lankan players Akila Dananjaya,an unorthodox spinner,and fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara. The team owned by India Cements and BCCI chief N Srinivasan will have to withstand great pressure if the two players are to find place in the playing 11,at least while playing in Chennai.

Interestingly,the Sunrisers Hyderabad,formerly Deccan Chargers before DMK president M Karunanidhis grandnephew Kalanithi Maran of the Sun Group bought it,also has two key players from Lanka Kumar Sangakkara and Thisera Perera. With their connection to the party and Karunanidhi family,it will be difficult for the team owners to explain if the players are included.

A more important protest will be over the Commonwealth heads of government meeting to be held in Colombo from November 15 to November 17. Sri Lanka had offered to host the biennial summit in 2007,which was taken note of two years later and approved in 2011.

Activists and Lankan Tamils in western countries have already started demanding a change of venue. The Canadian Prime Minister has announced that he will not take part unless there was an improvement in issues including human rights and more autonomy for Tamils.

Student protesters and many other anti-Lanka outfits in Tamil Nadu are demanding that India should stay away from the summit if it is held in Colombo. The DMK-led Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation is also expected to raise this demand.

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The student community is now discussing how to take the issue to wider public even while keeping the political parties out.

Students and youth,on the 20th day of the stir, marched to the residences of Congress MPs including Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday. Fasts and sit-in agitations were staged at a few places.

Day after,protester succumbs to burns

A 30-YEAR-OLD who had set himself on fire during a protest over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue died of burn injuries at a hospital Friday morning. Vikram,an electrician,had doused himself in petrol and then lit a match at a protest demonstration Thursday evening.