Sri Lanka tops list of nations driving journalists to exile

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 June 2009, 06:40 GMT]
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York based media watchdog, in a special reported published Wednesday, said Sri Lanka topped the list of countries that drove the largest number of journalists into exile. "At least 11 Sri Lankan journalists were driven into exile in the past 12 months amid an intensive government crackdown on critical reporters and editors," the report said, adding the number worldwide totalled 39. Of these journalists, 29 were driven out of threat of violence, 7 threat of imprisonment, and 2 out of harrassment, the report added.
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TNA parliamentarians meet Indian Foreign Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 June 2009, 00:45 GMT]
A team of five Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians met the new Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna on Thursday and discussed matters related to the release of the three doctors and a TNA parliamentarian who rendered invaluable service to the beleaguered people to the very end of war, demilitarization of Tamil areas, resettlement and rehabilitation of civilians in the internment camps and grant amnesty to LTTE carders in captivity, TNA circles told TamilNet. The parliamentarians met National Security Advisor M K Narayanan on Wednesday and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on Tuesday before the meeting with Mr. S M Krishna. They also met the leader of the opposition L. K. Advani on Friday.
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New TNA MP for Ampaa'rai district sworn in

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 June 2009, 13:15 GMT]
Dr.Thomas Thangathurai William Friday was sworn in as new Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Ampaa'rai district parliamentarian in parliament before the Speaker Mr.W.M.J.Lokkubandara. He fills the vacancy created with the demise of Mr.Kanagasabai Pathmanathan who passed away in Mathurai in South India after a brief illness. The new parliamentarian hails from Paa'ndiruppu in Ampaa'rai district and came second in the list of TNA in the 2004 general election held under proportionate preferential system.
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SL parliament extends Emergency for another month

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 17:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Tuesday adopted a motion to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of ninety five votes. 102 parliamentarians voted for the motion and seven against. This was the first extension of the State of Emergency after the defeat of LTTE last month, sources said.
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Emergency extension motion to be moved in parliament Tuesday

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2009, 17:48 GMT]
A motion to extend the State of Emergency is to be moved in the Sri Lanka’s Parliament Tuesday for the first time after the defeat of LTTE in the war front. The State of Emergency was introduced on August 12, 2005. Thereafter it is being extended with the permission of parliament every month, parliamentary sources said.
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TNA to nominate Dr.Thomas Thangathurai William for Ampaa'rai district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 June 2009, 18:30 GMT]
Dr.Thomas Thangathurai William is to be nominated as Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for the Ampaarai district to fill the vacancy created with the death of Kanagasabai Pathmanathan who passed away in Mathurai in South India after a brief illness, TNA sources said.
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TNA MP Kanagaretnam allowed to meet fellow TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 16:53 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, Mr N Srikantha and Mr Sivanathan Kishor met separately their fellow parliamentarian Sathasivam Kanagaretnam who is being detained in the Fourth Floor of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police in Colombo. Mr.Kanagaretnam is detained since a special CID team took him into custody from an internment camp in Omanthai, in Vavuniyaa district where Vanni IDPs are being kept, media reports said.
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Government buries 47 IDP bodies in 14 days in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 22:12 GMT]
Forty-seven bodies of members of internally displaced families from Vanni region due to the recent military operation by Sri Lanka Army and sheltered in the internment camps in Mannaar were buried in Mannaar general cemetery from May 13 to May 27 by Mannaar District Secretariat at State costs as their relatives failed to claim the bodies.
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Sinhala thugs harass Tamil women in Ratnapura

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 11:18 GMT]
Sinhala hoodlums in Rakwana town in Ratnapura district are targeting Tamil women who return home after work in garment factories, and rob them of their gold jewelry and other valuable articles. Ten such incidents have taken place in the last three days, and ll victims are from the upcountry Tamils, media reports said.
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TNA MP Jeyananthamoorthy's secretary reported missing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:32 GMT]
Thavarajasingham Subash, 23, secretary to S.Jeyananthamoorthy, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian has been reported missing mysteriously since Tuesday early morning around 2:15 a.m after he arrived in Katunayake from Chennai airport in Tamilnadu. Katunayake Police took into custody on his arrival from Chennai. Later it was reported that he was released. However he failed to return home thereafter, according to complaints lodged with the police by his relatives, according to media reports.
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Detained TNA MP pays last respects to fellow MP Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 04:55 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Mullaiththeevu district parliamentarian Mr. Sathasivam Kanagaretnam, escorted by police officers of the Crime Intelligence Unit Saturday afternoon, paid his last respects to departed fellow parliamentarian Mr. Kanagasabai Pathmanathan who passed away in Mathurai in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Kanagaretnam was dressed in sarong and an old shirt, sources in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka blocks TNA from meeting Ban Ki Moon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 11:36 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a press release issued today, said that after the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry had made arrangements for a TNA delegation to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon prior to his departure at the VVIP Lounge of the Bandaranaike International Airport, the Defense Ministry of Sri Lanka refused the delegation entry into the BIA Airport, denying the Tamil representatives from meeting the UN Secretary General. Meanwhile, Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP), met with the Ban Ki Moon at the Airport.
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Sri Lanka Police questions TNA MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 16:29 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr.S.Kanagaretnam, was taken for questioning by the Sri Lanka police from Chettikulam internment camp Thursday morning, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Kanagaratnam arrived with his family from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal area to Omanthai with IDPs when the military operation of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forced the IDPs from the Safety Zone.
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TNA parliamentarian Kanagasabai passes away

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 07:08 GMT]
Pathmanathan Kanagasabai, Ampaarai district parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) passed away Thursday early morning around 4:00 a.m. after a brief illness in Mathurai in Tamilnadu while he was staying with his friend. He was 64, media sources reported quoting fellow parliamentarian B.Ariyanenthiran.
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TNA MP missing in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 12:22 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has sought the intervention of the Speaker of the Sri Lanka’s parliament to locate its parliamentarian Mr.S.Kanagaretnam who was trapped in Vanni during the recent military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Mr. Kanagaretnam was in contact until seven days ago with his fellow parliamentarians, and his whereabouts are unknown, TNA sources said.
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'Long live human dignity; shame on international community'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 18:37 GMT]
While the so-called international community is "exposed of its shameful conning," thousands of Tamil civilians and combatants are laying down their lives to "uphold Tamil dignity, and human dignity," says a Tamil academic in Colombo. Those who blame the LTTE for bringing in the disaster know well that Colombo always had the option to negotiate or to come out with a political solution convincing Tamils not to continue the conflict. But Colombo’s aim is not power sharing but genocide and subjugation of Tamils by forcing war on them. "The only way now for the IC to come out of the colossus shame is direct intervention and recognition of the justification for Tamil Eelam," the academic said.
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Tamil student from Malaysia reported missing in Katunayake

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 12:38 GMT]
A Tamil youth, Rajaratnam Rajasekaran, 21, resident of Vaiaravapuliyankulam in Vavuniyaa district has been reported missing since May 12. He left Vavuniyaa and arrived in Katunayake international airport on May 12 to fly back to Malaysia to continue his studies in a Malaysian university. Rajasekaran was reported missing after he reached Katunayake, according to complaints with the police by his parents.
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Britain diaspora Tamils continue protest demonstration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 05:18 GMT]
Diaspora Tamils in Britain continue their protest demonstration for the 38th day in Parliament Square in London Thursday against the unrelenting carnage of innocent Tamils in Vanni by Sri Lanka armed forces targeting makeshift medical centres, sources in London said. The protestors with black bands around their mouths held placards showing their demands. Meanwhile, the protestors engaged in hunger strike for more than 24 hours continue undeterred in an effort to draw the attention of the British government and the world, the sources added.
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TNA warns of more bloodshed in the coming days

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 12:20 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has pointed out that 3000 Tamils have been killed and more than 1000 have been wounded in the last 3 days in the Vanni region, in a press conference held in Colombo on Tuesday night. Tamil National Alliance leader MP R.Sampanthan states, “The Government of Sri Lanka is mass killing Tamil civilians after denying them food and medicine. This is the reality. More bloodshed can happen in the next few days. We appeal to the International community to immediately stop this systematic slaughtering of civilians.”
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Colombo / Kozhumpu / Ko'lumpu / Ko'lamba

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 13:46 GMT]
The point where the land bends inside
The point of the bend
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