TamilNet

Visiting UN official in Jaffna ‘questions’ Genocide Resolution

[Mon, 02 Mar 2015, 19:09 GMT]

The UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, a US diplomat, who was on a visit to Jaffna on Monday met NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran and questioned the Chief Minister on the reason for the NPC Resolution on Tamil genocide at this juncture. The resolution was not against peaceful co-existence with Sinhalese. In fact, it is essential that the Sinhalese understand how the Tamils perceive the collective nature of all crimes committed against them both in the past and at the present, Mr Wigneswaran told the UN official. When Mr Wigneswaran questioned Mr Feltman on the possible danger of OISL findings getting watered down at the end of the deferral period, the UN diplomat assured that the findings would be published without any change, Mr Wigneswaran told reporters.

Full story >>

2ND LEAD

UN maintains ‘genocide without witnesses paradigm’ with Eezham Tamils

[Sun, 01 Mar 2015, 16:37 GMT]

When the genocidal war against the nation of Eezham Tamils took place in the island of Sri Lanka, the UN played a major role in keeping it as ‘war without witnesses’, by not bringing it to the international arena of discussion and action. The UN plays the same role in maintaining and continuing the ‘genocide without witnesses’ paradigm in the case of Eezham Tamils, by sabotaging and denying any international investigation on the matter, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island. The deferral of the OISL report is directly connected to the arrangement of the new regime in Colombo conducting a domestic investigation with the ‘label’ of UN supervision, which suits the original agenda of genocide without international scrutiny, designed by the ultimate culprits, the activists further said. Full story >>

Bathiudeen dictates affairs of Palmyra Development Board

[Fri, 27 Feb 2015, 23:57 GMT]

The Sri Lankan Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mr Rishad Bathiudeen (Rishard Badurdeen), who has been notorious for causing dissension between Tamil-speaking Muslims and Tamils belonging to other religions in Mannaar and Vanni under the rule of former SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is continuing the same course also under the new regime, sources in Mannaar said. He has virtually hijacked the affairs of the Palmyrah Development Board (PDB), which comes under D.M. Swaminadan, the SL Minister of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs, reliable sources at the PDB said. Earlier, the PDB came under Douglas Devananda of the EPDP, who was the minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development. Full story >>

Tamil activists protest in front of US embassy in UK

[Wed, 25 Feb 2015, 19:49 GMT]

Hundreds of Tamil activists gathered outside US embassy on Tuesday to protest against the OISL deferral mooted by the USA, the key actor behind the UNHRC discourse on Sri Lanka. Endorsing the petition drafted by the Tamil Coordinating Committee - UK, the protesters demanded immediate referral of Sri Lanka to the UN Security Council and urgent action to stop ongoing structural genocide of the Eelam Tamil nation. The protesters also burnt the photos of TNA's Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan and the nominated parliamentarian of the alliance M.A. Sumanthiran, blaming the duo for deceiving Tamils from achieving international justice. Full story >>

3RD LEAD (Adds video)

Protesters demand international prosecutions, decry supervision of domestic mechanisms

[Tue, 24 Feb 2015, 11:31 GMT]

“While it is true that the Tamil people voted in large numbers for President Sirisena, we wish to emphasise that this was merely an anti-Rajapksa vote. We did not vote with the hope of any substantive change resulting from regime change,” said the appeal by the organisers of the massive protest in Jaffna on Tuesday. More than 5,000 students and people from all walks of life in Jaffna took part in the first largest demonstration after the end of genocidal war in Vanni on Tuesday. “International supervision of any domestic mechanism will only serve to waste time,” the appeal by the Jaffna University society said. The procession, which started at the University of Jaffna ended at the remains of the foundation of Thileepan monument at Nalloor. Full story >>

2ND LEAD (Adds video)

OISL deferral has dashed Tamils' hope on permanent settlement: NPC Councillor

[Sun, 22 Feb 2015, 23:22 GMT]

The international community has opted for the deferral of the OISL findings without understanding the grave impact of the act of postponement, said Northern Province Councillor K. Saraweswaran in a video interview to TamilNet this week. More than its findings on the war crimes, the timely release of the report itself was anticipated to open the door for a sustainable and permanent political solution to the Tamil national question in the island. The deferral has dashed that particular hope that prevailed among the Tamil people in the North-East, he said. Full story >>

Tamils boycott Trinco sittings of domestic commission on missing persons

[Sat, 28 Feb 2015, 17:52 GMT]

The first day sittings of the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons commenced at Kuchchave'li Divisional Secretariat auditorium Saturday morning. Only four or five Tamil complainants gave evidence as the majority of Tamil complainants boycotted the sitting with the demand of international investigations into the complaints. The Tamils who boycotted the sitting on Saturday were seen in front of the Kuchchave'li Divisional Secretariat, holding placards written in Tamil. They were demanding that the victims should be heard by a UN team and not by any commission appointed by the government in Colombo. Full story >>

Key Tamil organisations to boycott domestic hearings by SL Presidential Commission

[Thu, 26 Feb 2015, 16:41 GMT]

The Tamil Civil Society Forum and the Welfare Organisation for the Forcibly Disappeared Persons have jointly decided not to appear and give evidence before the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons, a statement issued by the TCSF said on Thursday. “We cannot afford to continue to appear before this commission giving it a stamp of legitimacy. We seek a credible inquiry and we are convinced that this can only be made possible through international means,” the statement issued in Jaffna on the 24th of February 2015 said adding that many questions have been raised about the terms of reference and capacity of this commission to act on the issue of enforced disappearances. Full story >>

3RD LEAD (Adds video)

USA, key actor behind deferral of OISL report: Mavai Senathiraja

[Tue, 24 Feb 2015, 14:00 GMT]

ITAK leader Mavai Senathiraja, who attended the demonstration in Jaffna organised by the University society and the public organisations in Jaffna on Tuesday was questioned by the journalists on ITAK/TNA position on OISL deferral and on the reports of Sumanthiran backing domestic investigation mechanisms with OHCHR/international monitoring. Responding, Mr Mavai Senathiraja said: “The United States of America, who brought the resolution [in the UNHRC] is the key actor involved in the act [of the postponement]. On this matter, our Tamil people have now expressed their feeling. We will reiterate the importance of timely releasing the OISL report, as scheduled, in March. Our leaders have already talked to them [US diplomats]. However, we will convey the feelings of our people to them again.” Full story >>

4,000 poverty-stricken Tamil families deprived of Samurdhi assistance in Moothoor

[Mon, 23 Feb 2015, 18:45 GMT]

3,898 families of genocide-affected Eezham Tamils from 11 Tamil villages in the Moothoor division of Trincomalee district have been completely deprived of Samurdhi poverty alleviation food stamps for 106 months under the previous regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa, civil sources in Trincomalee said. The distribution of food stamps and other poverty alleviation benefits were stopped since March 2006, before the SL military launched military onslaught destroying the Tamil villages. Full story >>

3RD LEAD

Protesters condemning OISL delay burn effigy of Sumanthiran

[Sat, 21 Feb 2015, 15:06 GMT]

Effigy of M.A. Sumanthiran burnt in Jaffna

Condemning the recently announced deferral of the OISL investigative report by the OHCHR in Geneva, voicing against the talk of UN converting the international investigation into a domestic one, and demanding immediate response on the fate of the thousands of missing persons, Women’s Organisation of Missing Persons' Families in Jaffna staged a protest on Saturday in front of the Bus Stand in the city. The protestors, numbering more than 250, blamed New Delhi and Washington for buying time and space for the Sri Lankan State, with the intention of shielding the crime of genocide. At the end of the protest, an effigy of nominated TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran was burnt by a section of youth from the ITAK, who blamed the Colombo-centric elements within the TNA for collaborating with the global actors discarding the fundamental principles of the Tamil cause. Full story >>

If the rash of lawsuits (for libel and invasion of privacy) makes us more careful, more compassionate and more sensitive to people and their needs, they may not be all mad. But if they keep us from being aggressive and fulfilling our responsibilities to our readers, to our communities and our country, they will remove one of the major checks in our Constitution’s marvelous set of checks and balances.

-Thomas Schumaker
Editor and Publisher
Transcript-Telegram
Holyoke, Massachusetts
1984

[14.02.15]
Palaka'ni: NPC resolution gives hopes on Tamil political unity The recent resolution presented and unanimously adopted in the Northern Provincial Council on historic and recent genocide against Tamils in the island, has rung alarm bells at necessary diplomatic quarters, say Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran (EPRLF) and TNA Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam (TELO). In a Palaka'ni interview to TamilNet this week, Mr Shivajilingam said there were attempts afoot to influence certain Tamil diaspora activists to issue sophisticated statements urging the UN Rights Chief to postpone the OISL report.
Related Story >>

[13.02.15]
Opinion: Understanding accountability: international investigation on outlook crime: NPC Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran observed that such an investigation would make Sinhala people to see the truth and would help getting justice. Equally important or more important is an international investigation on the adamant ‘outlook crime’ of certain powers that fundamentally contributed to the genocide, especially in the recent decades.
Related Story >>

[12.02.15]
Wigneswaran exposes US delay tactics at Geneva: “In my recent conversation with Ms Biswal, I understood that the USA wants to be in favour of the present Sri Lanka government, as this government is favourable to the USA,” Wigneswaran said. “When Ms Biswal asked what could be the appropriate time for the release of the Geneva report and when I replied that it should be in March, she didn’t accept it,” the NPC-CM said.
Related Story >>

[12.02.15]
Break vicious circle of political obfuscation: Sivaram in 2003: Educating the masses on the designs of Powers and politically mobilising the people for the struggle was the central theme of the piece late Senior Editor of TamilNet Sivaram Dharmeratnam wrote to Northeastern Herald on May 02, 2003, two years before he was assassinated by the Sri Lankan military intelligence.
Related Story >>

[11.02.15]
Key to struggle is to change outlook of powers: Gajendrakumar: The outlook of Powers with regards Tamil national question in the island doesn’t come from lack of knowledge, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said in a Palaka'ni interview last week, naming US-dominated West, India and China as actors primarily involved. The change in their outlook to accommodate Tamil interests is certainly not going to be through education, it is something that has to come through a struggle, he said.
Related Story >>

[10.02.15]
Wigneswaran calls for international investigation on genocide: In a key development, the Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC), Justice CV Wigneswaran, on Tuesday called for real international investigations on genocide against Tamils committed by the successive governments since Ceylon's independence from the British in 1948.
Related Story >>

[09.02.15]
Task of real Tamil political leadership: Sivaram in 2003: Sivaram Dharmeratnam alias Taraki, the late senior editor of TamilNet, wrote an article in January 2003, explaining the deadlock of the Sri Lankan unitary constitution which cannot provide for a solution within its framework. The international backers were also aware that a federal solution to the ethnic conflict was practically, legally and politically impossible with the Sri Lankan Constitution, he wrote.
Related Story >>

[08.02.15]
Nationhood, Self-Determination non-negotiable: V.T. Thamilmaran in 2003: “The nationhood of Tamils and their right to self-determination are non-negotiable. Any political solution that might emerge out of the on-going peace process can't go below these,” opined V.T. Thamilmaran, 12 years ago in January 2003, just a few days after the so-called Oslo Declaration (Dec 2002).
Related Story >>

[07.02.15]
Genocidal Sri Lanka insists full continuation of military occupation of Tamil Eelam: “We, as a government, will never remove any of the military camps established in the North and East to ensure security of the Tamil people as well as other people,” claimed Ruwan Wijewardene, the new Sri Lankan State Minister of Defence, who visited the Palaali headquarters of the occupying military in Jaffna.
Related Story >>

[06.02.15]
Sampanthan, Sumanthiran exploit ITAK to deviate from Tamil cause: Prof. Sitrampalam: The lacuna of inner democracy in the present day Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) is being exploited by TNA Parliamentary Group Leader Mr R. Sampanthan and TNA's nominated parliamentarian Mr M.A. Sumanthiran to deviate Tamils from their cause and struggle, accused Vice President and Senior leader of the ITAK, Professor S.K. Sitrampalam in an interview to TamilNet this week.
Related Story >>

[05.02.15]
UN investigation key to resolve Tamil question: Suresh Premachandran: “Be it Ranil Wickramasinghe, Chandrika Kumaratunga, the new president Maithiripala Sirisena, or whoever it may be [in the South], they don't have a basic idea of how to resolve the Tamil national question, because they are always talking about a unitary constitution,” said Tamil National Alliance Spokesman Suresh Premachandran in an exclusive interview to TamilNet this week.
Related Story >>

[04.02.15]
Tamils protest on SL ‘independence day’, remind UK of its moral, legal responsibility: The grassroots activists of Eezham Tamils in UK commenced a torch relay towards Geneva from London on the so-called independence day of Sri Lankan State on Wednesday. The Tamil activists have also launched a signature campaign recalling the role of the United Kingdom in the genocide of the Eelam Tamil nation.
Related Story >>

[30.01.15]
Learning lessons from political discourses of past: The last advice of the late Professor A.J. Wilson, a highly respected academic who had the closest connections with the hierarchy of the government echelons from time to time, and who was an optimist genuinely believing the possibility of Tamils and Sinhalese co-existing, was that the Tamil academics and professionals should not let themselves to be lured by promises, sweet talk, and false vanity liberally dispensed by their Sinhala counterparts and Sinhala leaders.
Related Story >>

[22.01.15]
Singapore Principles of 2013: Tamil polity taken for ride from Oslo to Singapore: Right from the Indo-Lanka agreement of 1987 to Oslo Declaration of 2002 and to hitherto unrevealed Singapore Principles of 2013 that brought the Sampanthan polity into a conceptual framework for the recent regime change in Colombo, the external forces seeking to influence the affairs of the island have taken the Eezham Tamils for a ride to confine the Tamil polity into the unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka without securing any concrete and descriptive guarantee from the Sinhala polity.
Related Story >>

[14.01.15]
Pope Francis at Madu: ‘Our Lady remained always with you’ Pope Francis on Wednesday paid a pilgrimage to Madu shrine, which is the famous pilgrim centre of Tamil Catholics, where even the Sinhalese Catholics of the western coast, who were Tamils a century ago, flock in for festivals. Tamils who came in large numbers from all parts of the island appreciated his call for wartime ‘truth’ in future peace making.
Related Story >>

[07.01.15]
Tamil will expressed only by distancing from racist election: Jude Lal Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithiripala Sirisena cannot be seen as the greater evil and the lesser evil respectively, says Professor Jude Lal of Trinity College, Dublin, in an interview to TamilNet on Wednesday.
Related Story >>

Press conference by Ma'ravanpulavu Sachithananthan

[03.01.15]
Tamils of struggle polity need not worry who becomes SL president: While SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa is almost open in telling that electing the next president is choosing between China and the USA, senior Tamil grassroot leaders and activists in the island are of the opinion that Eezham Tamils put in a situation of struggle polity need not worry who succeeds as president.
Related Story >>

[23.12.14]
Tamils can't endorse Sinhala-centric presidential election: TCSF: As long as Sri Lanka’s democratic practice and culture is driven by chauvinist Sinhala Buddhist politics no change of form of Government is going to benefit the Tamil people,” the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Related Story >>

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Wigneswaran and questioned the Chief Minister on the reason for the NPC Resolution on Tamil genocide at this juncture. The resolution was not against peaceful co-existence with Sinhalese. In fact, it is essential that the Sinhalese understand how the Tamils perceive the collective nature of all crimes committed against them both in the past and at the present, Mr Wigneswaran told the UN official. When Mr Wigneswaran questioned Mr Feltman on the possible danger of OISL findings getting watered down at the end of the deferral period, the UN diplomat assured that the findings would be published without any change, Mr Wigneswaran told reporters. Full story >> Latest Reports: Mar 02 19:09 Visiting UN official in Jaffna ‘questions’ Genocid.. Mar 01 16:37 UN maintains ‘genocide without witnesses paradigm’.. Feb 28 17:52 Tamils boycott Trinco sittings of domestic commiss.. Feb 27 23:57 Bathiudeen dictates affairs of Palmyra Development.. Feb 26 16:41 Key Tamil organisations to boycott domestic hearin.. Feb 25 19:49 Tamil activists protest in front of US embassy in .. Feb 24 14:00 USA, key actor behind deferral of OISL report: Mav.. Feb 24 11:31 Protesters demand international prosecutions, decr.. Feb 23 18:45 4,000 poverty-stricken Tamil families deprived of .. Feb 22 23:22 OISL deferral has dashed Tamils' hope on permanent.. Feb 21 15:06 Protesters condemning OISL delay burn effigy of Su.. << Flashback More Reports >> 2ND LEAD UN maintains ‘genocide without witnesses paradigm’ with Eezham Tamils [Sun, 01 Mar 2015, 16:37 GMT] When the genocidal war against the nation of Eezham Tamils took place in the island of Sri Lanka, the UN played a major role in keeping it as ‘war without witnesses’, by not bringing it to the international arena of discussion and action. The UN plays the same role in maintaining and continuing the ‘genocide without witnesses’ paradigm in the case of Eezham Tamils, by sabotaging and denying any international investigation on the matter, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island. The deferral of the OISL report is directly connected to the arrangement of the new regime in Colombo conducting a domestic investigation with the ‘label’ of UN supervision, which suits the original agenda of genocide without international scrutiny, designed by the ultimate culprits, the activists further said. Full story >> Bathiudeen dictates affairs of Palmyra Development Board [Fri, 27 Feb 2015, 23:57 GMT] The Sri Lankan Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mr Rishad Bathiudeen (Rishard Badurdeen), who has been notorious for causing dissension between Tamil-speaking Muslims and Tamils belonging to other religions in Mannaar and Vanni under the rule of former SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is continuing the same course also under the new regime, sources in Mannaar said. He has virtually hijacked the affairs of the Palmyrah Development Board (PDB), which comes under D.M. Swaminadan, the SL Minister of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs, reliable sources at the PDB said. Earlier, the PDB came under Douglas Devananda of the EPDP, who was the minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development. Full story >> Tamil activists protest in front of US embassy in UK [Wed, 25 Feb 2015, 19:49 GMT] Hundreds of Tamil activists gathered outside US embassy on Tuesday to protest against the OISL deferral mooted by the USA, the key actor behind the UNHRC discourse on Sri Lanka. Endorsing the petition drafted by the Tamil Coordinating Committee - UK, the protesters demanded immediate referral of Sri Lanka to the UN Security Council and urgent action to stop ongoing structural genocide of the Eelam Tamil nation. The protesters also burnt the photos of TNA's Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan and the nominated parliamentarian of the alliance M.A. Sumanthiran, blaming the duo for deceiving Tamils from achieving international justice. Full story >> 3RD LEAD (Adds video) Protesters demand international prosecutions, decry supervision of domestic mechanisms [Tue, 24 Feb 2015, 11:31 GMT] “While it is true that the Tamil people voted in large numbers for President Sirisena, we wish to emphasise that this was merely an anti-Rajapksa vote. We did not vote with the hope of any substantive change resulting from regime change,” said the appeal by the organisers of the massive protest in Jaffna on Tuesday. More than 5,000 students and people from all walks of life in Jaffna took part in the first largest demonstration after the end of genocidal war in Vanni on Tuesday. “International supervision of any domestic mechanism will only serve to waste time,” the appeal by the Jaffna University society said. The procession, which started at the University of Jaffna ended at the remains of the foundation of Thileepan monument at Nalloor. Full story >> 2ND LEAD (Adds video) OISL deferral has dashed Tamils' hope on permanent settlement: NPC Councillor [Sun, 22 Feb 2015, 23:22 GMT] The international community has opted for the deferral of the OISL findings without understanding the grave impact of the act of postponement, said Northern Province Councillor K. Saraweswaran in a video interview to TamilNet this week. More than its findings on the war crimes, the timely release of the report itself was anticipated to open the door for a sustainable and permanent political solution to the Tamil national question in the island. The deferral has dashed that particular hope that prevailed among the Tamil people in the North-East, he said. Full story >> Tamils boycott Trinco sittings of domestic commission on missing persons [Sat, 28 Feb 2015, 17:52 GMT] The first day sittings of the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons commenced at Kuchchave'li Divisional Secretariat auditorium Saturday morning. Only four or five Tamil complainants gave evidence as the majority of Tamil complainants boycotted the sitting with the demand of international investigations into the complaints. The Tamils who boycotted the sitting on Saturday were seen in front of the Kuchchave'li Divisional Secretariat, holding placards written in Tamil. They were demanding that the victims should be heard by a UN team and not by any commission appointed by the government in Colombo. Full story >> Key Tamil organisations to boycott domestic hearings by SL Presidential Commission [Thu, 26 Feb 2015, 16:41 GMT] The Tamil Civil Society Forum and the Welfare Organisation for the Forcibly Disappeared Persons have jointly decided not to appear and give evidence before the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons, a statement issued by the TCSF said on Thursday. “We cannot afford to continue to appear before this commission giving it a stamp of legitimacy. We seek a credible inquiry and we are convinced that this can only be made possible through international means,” the statement issued in Jaffna on the 24th of February 2015 said adding that many questions have been raised about the terms of reference and capacity of this commission to act on the issue of enforced disappearances. Full story >> 3RD LEAD (Adds video) USA, key actor behind deferral of OISL report: Mavai Senathiraja [Tue, 24 Feb 2015, 14:00 GMT] ITAK leader Mavai Senathiraja, who attended the demonstration in Jaffna organised by the University society and the public organisations in Jaffna on Tuesday was questioned by the journalists on ITAK/TNA position on OISL deferral and on the reports of Sumanthiran backing domestic investigation mechanisms with OHCHR/international monitoring. Responding, Mr Mavai Senathiraja said: “The United States of America, who brought the resolution [in the UNHRC] is the key actor involved in the act [of the postponement]. On this matter, our Tamil people have now expressed their feeling. We will reiterate the importance of timely releasing the OISL report, as scheduled, in March. Our leaders have already talked to them [US diplomats]. However, we will convey the feelings of our people to them again.” Full story >> 4,000 poverty-stricken Tamil families deprived of Samurdhi assistance in Moothoor [Mon, 23 Feb 2015, 18:45 GMT] 3,898 families of genocide-affected Eezham Tamils from 11 Tamil villages in the Moothoor division of Trincomalee district have been completely deprived of Samurdhi poverty alleviation food stamps for 106 months under the previous regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa, civil sources in Trincomalee said. The distribution of food stamps and other poverty alleviation benefits were stopped since March 2006, before the SL military launched military onslaught destroying the Tamil villages. Full story >> 3RD LEAD Protesters condemning OISL delay burn effigy of Sumanthiran [Sat, 21 Feb 2015, 15:06 GMT] Condemning the recently announced deferral of the OISL investigative report by the OHCHR in Geneva, voicing against the talk of UN converting the international investigation into a domestic one, and demanding immediate response on the fate of the thousands of missing persons, Women’s Organisation of Missing Persons' Families in Jaffna staged a protest on Saturday in front of the Bus Stand in the city. The protestors, numbering more than 250, blamed New Delhi and Washington for buying time and space for the Sri Lankan State, with the intention of shielding the crime of genocide. At the end of the protest, an effigy of nominated TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran was burnt by a section of youth from the ITAK, who blamed the Colombo-centric elements within the TNA for collaborating with the global actors discarding the fundamental principles of the Tamil cause. Full story >> Top Flashback: 2013: 2013 Mar 03 21:45 Sri Lanka CHOGM boycott calls multiply 2013 Mar 03 21:12 Moon praises unpublished "whitewash" report on ... 2012: 2012 Mar 03 11:21 Colombo harasses Tamil politicians, civil offic... 2012 Mar 03 07:33 Land grabbed for Buddhist stupa, local people b... 2011: 2011 Mar 03 23:45 SL Attorney General delays response to Tamil po... 2011 Mar 03 03:37 US Senate Resolution calls for accountability f... 2010: 2010 Mar 03 17:17 Sampanthan to lead ITAK electioneering in Jaffna 2010 Mar 03 15:34 Government engaged in setting up Sinhalese colo... 2010 Mar 03 05:22 Dissolved parliament to be reconvened March 9 t... 2009: 2009 Mar 03 14:54 Humanitarian stocks completely depleted - Rev. ... 2009 Mar 03 13:59 RDHS confirms 13 hunger deaths, urges officials... 2009 Mar 03 13:04 SLA shells hospital environs, 13 killed includi... 2009 Mar 03 13:01 Tamil three-wheeler driver shot dead in Batticaloa 2009 Mar 03 12:15 Charred body with gunshot wounds recovered in V... 2009 Mar 03 12:06 SLA arrests 10 civilians in Chilaw 2009 Mar 03 11:11 2 STF commandos killed, SLA soldier, policeman ... 2009 Mar 03 11:04 Woman recovered dead in Batticaloa 2009 Mar 03 08:32 SLA launch search in Jaffna University surround... 2009 Mar 03 05:22 Skin rash breaks among children in Vanni 2009 Mar 03 05:04 Vanni IDPs starving due to acute shortage of food 2009 Mar 03 04:45 Sri Lankan cricket team shot in Pakistan 2009 Mar 03 02:50 Washington youths launch campaign to woo CNN's ... 2009 Mar 03 01:53 U.S. Tamil group urges Pacific Command not to a... 2009 Mar 03 01:09 Sri Lanka Police arrests 13 youths in Gampaha 2008: 2008 Mar 03 16:34 Authorities blind to sexual abuse of minors in ... 2008 Mar 03 15:35 SLA cordons, searches Jaffna coastal areas 2008 Mar 03 14:40 Goons intimidate HRC officers in Kandy 2008 Mar 03 13:16 Monk accused as LTTE supporter begins fast-unto... 2008 Mar 03 12:28 SL parliament to debate emergency extension 2008 Mar 03 12:23 Second Tamil youth abducted in Moneragala 2008 Mar 03 09:57 Home guard rapes Muslim woman in Batticaloa 2008 Mar 03 07:53 Human tragedy in waters off Mullaiththeevu, 20 ... 2008 Mar 03 03:43 Jaffna University undergrad feared abducted 2008 Mar 03 00:15 TNA condemns SL Ministers' attempt to mislead B... 2007: 2007 Mar 03 16:06 Two youths shot dead in Salaipaiaru 2007 Mar 03 11:33 Jaffna mail still awaits shipment in Trincomalee 2007 Mar 03 08:33 Five bodies found dumped in Colombo 2007 Mar 03 07:48 2 SLA soldiers die in grenade attack in Trincom... 2007 Mar 03 07:32 SLAF, SLA attacks displace 3500 civilians in Ba... 2007 Mar 03 05:18 Jaffna fishermen protest fishing limits 2007 Mar 03 04:14 SLN bars pilgrims from attending Kachchathivu f... 2007 Mar 03 00:20 CID ordered to submit reasons for arrest of Maw... 2006: 2006 Mar 03 20:57 LTTE sentry ambushed in Batticaloa, two dead 2006 Mar 03 18:48 Colombo should demonstrate CFA obligations - Th... 2006 Mar 03 12:13 10 km race marks International Women's Day cele... 2006 Mar 03 11:49 Dental health awareness effort reaches 18,000 s... 2006 Mar 03 02:39 Student participation in LTTE functions irks SL... 2006 Mar 03 01:48 Lectures to recommence in Jaffna Campus 2006 Mar 03 01:29 Kilinochchi Central College holds Inter-house S... 2006 Mar 03 01:13 Aussie assisted pre-school opens in Vakarai 2006 Mar 03 00:48 Missing LTTE cadres arrested by SLA, charges El... 2006 Mar 03 00:01 SL President urged to write off agricultural loans 2005: 2005 Mar 03 18:48 Trinco govt. official remanded for loss of gene... 2005 Mar 03 18:15 Displaced fishermen demand resettlement near HSZ 2005 Mar 03 16:13 Police stop JVP attempt to build illegal settle... 2005 Mar 03 11:48 JVP sets up illegal Sinhala settlements, Trinco... 2005 Mar 03 05:00 Gunman who shot Kuveni worked for SLA intellige... 2005 Mar 03 01:00 GTZ releases booklet on School Nutrition 2004: 2004 Mar 03 21:08 TNA holds election meeting in Trinco Muslim vil... 2004 Mar 03 18:18 No regional split - LTTE 2004 Mar 03 13:39 Code of conduct for parties, public officials i... 2004 Mar 03 08:50 SLFP, JVP confusing everyone says former minister 2004 Mar 03 01:14 Sri Lanka Elections: News in Brief 2003: 2003 Mar 03 19:02 Volunteer teachers picket demanding permanent a... 2003 Mar 03 00:48 Japanese IDI team meets Kilinochchi GA 2003 Mar 03 00:31 Three-day Konesar procession commences in Trinc... 2003 Mar 03 00:17 Pallai youth loses hand in explosion 2002: 2002 Mar 03 21:55 TNA to launch campaign demanding repeal of PTA 2001: 2001 Mar 03 22:05 Eastcoast temple invokes peace 2001 Mar 03 20:34 23 beaten up for wanting to see homes 2001 Mar 03 12:59 Suicide among children, young on the rise in Va... 1999: 1999 Mar 03 23:11 Cement ban restricts development work 1999 Mar 03 23:08 Netherlands Government funds resettlement progr... 1999 Mar 03 22:08 Fishing ban worsens fishermen's woes 1999 Mar 03 14:16 Attorney General seeks to postpone polls 1999 Mar 03 09:46 News in Brief: 1998: 1998 Mar 03 23:59 LTTE fighter killed in Moondumurippu 1998 Mar 03 23:59 Shortage of anti-tetanus vaccine in Jaffna 1998 Mar 03 23:59 State Department declines LTTE request 1998 Mar 03 23:59 Mannar ferry service in limbo 1998 Mar 03 23:59 UNP to boycott parliament 1998 Mar 03 23:59 Computers destined for Jaffna re-routed to Pola... If the rash of lawsuits (for libel and invasion of privacy) makes us more careful, more compassionate and more sensitive to people and their needs, they may not be all mad. But if they keep us from being aggressive and fulfilling our responsibilities to our readers, to our communities and our country, they will remove one of the major checks in our Constitution’s marvelous set of checks and balances. -Thomas Schumaker Editor and Publisher Transcript-Telegram Holyoke, Massachusetts 1984	Know the Etymology: 393 Place Name of the Day: Dadayan-thalaawa The hunting range of open glade Read more >> [14.02.15] Palaka'ni: NPC resolution gives hopes on Tamil political unity The recent resolution presented and unanimously adopted in the Northern Provincial Council on historic and recent genocide against Tamils in the island, has rung alarm bells at necessary diplomatic quarters, say Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran (EPRLF) and TNA Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam (TELO). In a Palaka'ni interview to TamilNet this week, Mr Shivajilingam said there were attempts afoot to influence certain Tamil diaspora activists to issue sophisticated statements urging the UN Rights Chief to postpone the OISL report. Related Story >> [13.02.15] Opinion: Understanding accountability: international investigation on outlook crime: NPC Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran observed that such an investigation would make Sinhala people to see the truth and would help getting justice. Equally important or more important is an international investigation on the adamant ‘outlook crime’ of certain powers that fundamentally contributed to the genocide, especially in the recent decades. Related Story >> [12.02.15] Wigneswaran exposes US delay tactics at Geneva: “In my recent conversation with Ms Biswal, I understood that the USA wants to be in favour of the present Sri Lanka government, as this government is favourable to the USA,” Wigneswaran said. “When Ms Biswal asked what could be the appropriate time for the release of the Geneva report and when I replied that it should be in March, she didn’t accept it,” the NPC-CM said. Related Story >> [12.02.15] Break vicious circle of political obfuscation: Sivaram in 2003: Educating the masses on the designs of Powers and politically mobilising the people for the struggle was the central theme of the piece late Senior Editor of TamilNet Sivaram Dharmeratnam wrote to Northeastern Herald on May 02, 2003, two years before he was assassinated by the Sri Lankan military intelligence. Related Story >> [11.02.15] Key to struggle is to change outlook of powers: Gajendrakumar: The outlook of Powers with regards Tamil national question in the island doesn’t come from lack of knowledge, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said in a Palaka'ni interview last week, naming US-dominated West, India and China as actors primarily involved. The change in their outlook to accommodate Tamil interests is certainly not going to be through education, it is something that has to come through a struggle, he said. Related Story >> [10.02.15] Wigneswaran calls for international investigation on genocide: In a key development, the Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC), Justice CV Wigneswaran, on Tuesday called for real international investigations on genocide against Tamils committed by the successive governments since Ceylon's independence from the British in 1948. Related Story >> [09.02.15] Task of real Tamil political leadership: Sivaram in 2003: Sivaram Dharmeratnam alias Taraki, the late senior editor of TamilNet, wrote an article in January 2003, explaining the deadlock of the Sri Lankan unitary constitution which cannot provide for a solution within its framework. The international backers were also aware that a federal solution to the ethnic conflict was practically, legally and politically impossible with the Sri Lankan Constitution, he wrote. Related Story >> [08.02.15] Nationhood, Self-Determination non-negotiable: V.T. Thamilmaran in 2003: “The nationhood of Tamils and their right to self-determination are non-negotiable. Any political solution that might emerge out of the on-going peace process can't go below these,” opined V.T. Thamilmaran, 12 years ago in January 2003, just a few days after the so-called Oslo Declaration (Dec 2002). Related Story >> [07.02.15] Genocidal Sri Lanka insists full continuation of military occupation of Tamil Eelam: “We, as a government, will never remove any of the military camps established in the North and East to ensure security of the Tamil people as well as other people,” claimed Ruwan Wijewardene, the new Sri Lankan State Minister of Defence, who visited the Palaali headquarters of the occupying military in Jaffna. Related Story >> [06.02.15] Sampanthan, Sumanthiran exploit ITAK to deviate from Tamil cause: Prof. Sitrampalam: The lacuna of inner democracy in the present day Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) is being exploited by TNA Parliamentary Group Leader Mr R. Sampanthan and TNA's nominated parliamentarian Mr M.A. Sumanthiran to deviate Tamils from their cause and struggle, accused Vice President and Senior leader of the ITAK, Professor S.K. Sitrampalam in an interview to TamilNet this week. Related Story >> [05.02.15] UN investigation key to resolve Tamil question: Suresh Premachandran: “Be it Ranil Wickramasinghe, Chandrika Kumaratunga, the new president Maithiripala Sirisena, or whoever it may be [in the South], they don't have a basic idea of how to resolve the Tamil national question, because they are always talking about a unitary constitution,” said Tamil National Alliance Spokesman Suresh Premachandran in an exclusive interview to TamilNet this week. Related Story >> [04.02.15] Tamils protest on SL ‘independence day’, remind UK of its moral, legal responsibility: The grassroots activists of Eezham Tamils in UK commenced a torch relay towards Geneva from London on the so-called independence day of Sri Lankan State on Wednesday. The Tamil activists have also launched a signature campaign recalling the role of the United Kingdom in the genocide of the Eelam Tamil nation. Related Story >> [30.01.15] Learning lessons from political discourses of past: The last advice of the late Professor A.J. Wilson, a highly respected academic who had the closest connections with the hierarchy of the government echelons from time to time, and who was an optimist genuinely believing the possibility of Tamils and Sinhalese co-existing, was that the Tamil academics and professionals should not let themselves to be lured by promises, sweet talk, and false vanity liberally dispensed by their Sinhala counterparts and Sinhala leaders. Related Story >> [22.01.15] Singapore Principles of 2013: Tamil polity taken for ride from Oslo to Singapore: Right from the Indo-Lanka agreement of 1987 to Oslo Declaration of 2002 and to hitherto unrevealed Singapore Principles of 2013 that brought the Sampanthan polity into a conceptual framework for the recent regime change in Colombo, the external forces seeking to influence the affairs of the island have taken the Eezham Tamils for a ride to confine the Tamil polity into the unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka without securing any concrete and descriptive guarantee from the Sinhala polity. Related Story >> [14.01.15] Pope Francis at Madu: ‘Our Lady remained always with you’ Pope Francis on Wednesday paid a pilgrimage to Madu shrine, which is the famous pilgrim centre of Tamil Catholics, where even the Sinhalese Catholics of the western coast, who were Tamils a century ago, flock in for festivals. Tamils who came in large numbers from all parts of the island appreciated his call for wartime ‘truth’ in future peace making. Related Story >> [07.01.15] Tamil will expressed only by distancing from racist election: Jude Lal Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithiripala Sirisena cannot be seen as the greater evil and the lesser evil respectively, says Professor Jude Lal of Trinity College, Dublin, in an interview to TamilNet on Wednesday. Related Story >> [03.01.15] Tamils of struggle polity need not worry who becomes SL president: While SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa is almost open in telling that electing the next president is choosing between China and the USA, senior Tamil grassroot leaders and activists in the island are of the opinion that Eezham Tamils put in a situation of struggle polity need not worry who succeeds as president. Related Story >> [23.12.14] Tamils can't endorse Sinhala-centric presidential election: TCSF: As long as Sri Lanka’s democratic practice and culture is driven by chauvinist Sinhala Buddhist politics no change of form of Government is going to benefit the Tamil people,” the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) said in a statement issued on Tuesday. Related Story >>
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