With regret

October 31, 2007 marks two years since Subcontinent South was launched as a weekly news digest.

We regret to announce that we are suspending publication of updates as of this date, for an indefinite period. We hope that someday, soon, we will have the resources and ability to resume this service in this or some other format. In that hope, we are not deleting this blog.

Thank you for visiting our site.

Subcontinent South Team

October 31, 2007.

Maldives Update; October 9, 2007.

Troops surrounded and then cleared an illegal mosque that had been accused of fomenting extremism.
Militants' arrested in Maldives, BBC News, October 8, 2007.

The move came a week after a British honeymoon couple were badly burned in the Maldives's first ever terrorist bomb attack

The Maldivian Government had four hundred radicals in detention in 2006.
Ajay Makan, Fundamentalism Biggest Threat To Maldives Security: Government Advisor, Minivan News, October 7, 2007.

Foreign Ministry has refused to comment officially on travel restrictions for Maldivians in Pakistan.
Ajay Makan, No Maldivians In Our Madrassas: Pakistan, Minivan News, October 7, 2007.

Sri Lanka Update: October 7, 2007.

It has become a favourite pastime for government politicians to label as “Tigers” all those who oppose their views.
Iqbal Athas, If you tell the truth, you will be damned, Sunday Times, October 7, 2007.

“The LTTE is maintaining patience and still restricting itself to a defensive war.”
Senpathi, Military ups the ante in the Wanni, The Nation on Sunday, October 7, 2007.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) commenced covert investigations two years ago into LTTE fund raising activities, as part of its anti-terrorism initiative.
Ayesha R. Rafiq,Tiger lawyers in move to prove LTTE a liberation force, Sunday Times, October 7, 2007.

During the 2001-2004 regime of the UNP, it was able to take the peace process started by President Chandrika Kumaratunga to new heights.
Ravana, Federalism and the UNP’s political expediences, The Nation on Sunday, October 7, 2007.

The Tigers still control a mini-state in parts of the north, where they are engaged in near-constant fighting with government forces.

The war had its ups and downs, and even an Indian intervention, with peacekeepers, in the late 1980s. Nothing worked.
Slow Victory in Sri Lanka, Strategy Page, October 5, 2007.

Southern states Update; October 7, 2007.

A Sri Lankan fisheries trade union leader was shot dead at Madurai Central Prison.
Sri Lankan fisherman killed at Madurai prison , Colombo Page, October 6, 2007.

A magisterial enquiry has been ordered into the incident.
S. Vijay Kumar, Magisterial probe ordered into firing, The Hindu, October 07, 2007.

It is worth remembering that the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu subscribes to an anti-brahminical and even atheistic philosophy.
Amulya Ganguli, Ram Sethu issue unlikely to boost BJP prospects, India Interacts, October 07, 2007.

Most Indian prime ministers have either died in office, or faded away once they stepped down.
Debashish Mukerji, The southern satrap: H D Deve Gowda, Hindustan Times, October 5, 2007.

Also See:
Sitaram Yechury, Keep them separated, Hindustan Times, October 3, 2007.

Sri Lanka Update: October 5, 2007.

Even a northern victory, momentous as it would be, would not bring an end to Sri Lanka's conflict.
The northern front, The Economist, October 4, 2007.

There is no doubt that troops manning the Defences in the Wanni, contrary to the position they had taken earlier, have now turned their role into a more active one.
Ranil Wijayapala, LTTE in dire straits as Forces mull Northern advance, Daily News, October 5, 2007.

"In fact, Rajapakse is responsible for effectively tearing up the 2002 ceasefire."
Wije Dias, Sri Lankan president’s speech at the UN: lies in defence of war and human rights abuses, WSW, October 5, 2007.

Southern states Update; October 2, 2007.

Despite frantic effort by the state administration in the wake of Supreme Court observations could not restore normal public transport service till night.
K N Arun, DMK, allies bring state to virtual standstill, New Indian Express, October 2, 2007.

Legal experts and the Congress’s spokesperson shrugged off the remarks made as mere “oral observations”
Bandh brings dismissal blast, Telegraph, October 02, 2007.

The biggest casualty. Roads in Chennai and other cities and major towns were for most part of the day virtually deserted.
M.R. Venkatesh, For CM, normal life was not hit, Telegraph, October 02, 2007.

Southern states Update; October 2, 2007.

Karnataka State Police became the first state police department in India to formally unveil a comprehensive and detailed Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS.
Deepanjali Bhas, Police workforce policy on HIV/AIDS, One World South Asia, October 1, 2007.

JD(S) refuses to relinquish the CM’s office in keeping with a deal it signed 20 months ago with BJP in Karnataka.

As per the coalition agreement reached between Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in February 2006, the JD(S) was to keep the Chief Minister's post for the first 20 months in power and the BJP for the remaining 20 months.
Maya Sharma, Flashpoint for Karnataka coalition, NDTV, October 2, 2007.

Maldives Update; October 1, 2007.

The Maldives, was shaken by a bomb that exploded in the capital city of Male, injuring 12 people on 30th of September.

Relations between the FBI and the Maldives police have been close since the government allowed the FBI into the country
Ajay Makan, Updated: Five More Arrests In Explosion Investigation, Minivan News, September 31, 2007.

More Reaction To Male' Explosion, Minivan News, September 30, 2007.

The country's political class is proud of its "moderate" Islamic tradition.
Ajay Makan, Extremist Maldives? Minivan News, September 30, 2007.

The Government of the Maldives had received explicit warnings of the dangers of rising Islamic fundamentalism.

Sri Lanka Update: October 1, 2007.

Relatives of the murdered and disappeared blame it on state security forces or paramilitaries seen allied to the government, while others on the Tigers.
Simon Gardner, Sri Lanka lacks credibility on rights abuse - critics, Reuters, September 21, 2007.

The United Nations Security Council that focused its attention on the LTTE, for using child soldiers in combat, has now pointed fingers at the ‘Karuna’ group as well.
Childhood Lost, Nation on Sunday, September 31, 2007.

Yohan Perera, Several political parties have expressed outrage over terming of civilians as 'Tigers', Daily Mirror, October 1, 2007.

As many as 600,000 Tamils have fled Sri Lanka to escape the violence, more than half of them going to the U.K. and Canada.
Jay Shankar, Sri Lanka Asks Nations to Prevent Fundraising by Tamil Rebels, Bloomberg, October 1, 2007.

Soosai’s dramatic appearance on September 26 will at least help disprove some of the rumours surrounding his accident.
D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Sea Tiger Chief Soosai ‘surfaces’ after accident at sea, Nation on Sunday, September 31, 2007.

Also See:
Oscar E V Fernando, JVP: An open letter, Asian Tribune, October 1, 2007.