SLA artillery barrage kills civilian in Paranthan, 6 wounded

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2008, 14:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an intensive artillery barrage targeting all the roads from Paranthan junction from 2:35 p.m. on Monday, killing a 24-year-old youth in front of Paranthan St. Antony's Church and causing injuries to six, including two elderly men, in the town. Two sisters were severely wounded and were admitted at the Intensive Care Unit of the Tharmapuram hospital. The narrow streets of the town were full of people while the SLA barrage hit the town. More than 750 civilians including school children, government employees, cooperative workers, traders and customers sought refuge on the ground during the attack. A mother who fled the artillery attack with her family narrated the scene to TamilNet correspondent.
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Colombo creates human crisis at entry point - Nadesan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2008, 10:54 GMT]
The closure of entry point at Oamanthai in Vavuniyaa by the Colombo government for the last three days has created a human crisis affecting emergency patients and supply of medicines to civilian hospitals, said B. Nadesan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Thursday. Intense shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on the entry point has made the ICRC officials posted there to leave. "By imposing a sanction on food, medicine and by maintaining an inhumane economic blockade, the Sri Lankan government is pinpointing the war at the civilians, disregarding International norms to be observed. The indications are that Colombo is adamant in pursuing an aggressive war," he told TamilNet.
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APRC: how long you tolerate a farce, Suresh asks India and IC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 01:20 GMT]
The All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) is a farce of the Sri Lanka government. It was always used to impress upon India and the International Community. The basic premise of the APRC not to go beyond unitary constitution of Sri Lanka, will not bring in any meaningful result. India and the IC know it well. Yet, if they continue to tolerate the farce, they will only be abetting the genocidal programme of Colombo, says Suresh Premachandran of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
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Sri Lanka rejects ceasefire with LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2008, 11:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's government rejected a ceasefire with the LTTE on Monday, again demanding the Tigers surrender or be destroyed. "The government will not go for a ceasefire with the LTTE. We will not have any form of discussion with the LTTE. We have already told them to lay down arms and there is no change in our stand," Agriculture Minister Maithripala Sirisena told Parliament, Reuters reported.
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Five wounded, SLAF bombers attack again civilian targets in Paranthan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 November 2008, 12:48 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked Kumarapuram, a suburb of Paranthan, Sunday around 12:50 p.m., causing injuries to five civilians, including a 2-year-old boy. The day was turned into another disasterous day for the child, Manoharan Vithuran, as the family was preparing to observe the 31st day rituals for their mother, Mrs. Manhoharan, who was killed in the SLAF bombardment on the same locality, 30 days ago. He was rushed to the Ki'inochchi hospital functioning in Tharmapuram and admitted at the Intensive Care Unit, according to TamilNet correspondent who visited the bombed site and the hospital.
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Tigers reiterate consent to ceasefire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2008, 16:42 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head B. Nadesan, when contacted by TamilNet on Saturday, following reports of Tamil Nadu leaders seeking clarification on LTTE's stand on ceasefire, said "there is no hesitation on our side to reiterate our position that we have always wanted a ceasefire." It is the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that unilaterally abrogated the ceasefire, Mr. Nadesan said and added that the Tigers were only fighting a defensive war since Colombo has thrust upon Tamils an aggressive war.
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LTTE planes drew Indian embassy gunfire as Rajapaksa moved to bunker- report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008, 23:02 GMT]
Indian gunners in the Indian embassy compound in Colombo “fired relentlessly” at the LTTE aircraft that were returning to Vanni after bombing on the Kelanitissa power station Tuesday, a Sri Lankan press report said Sunday. Quoting reliable sources, the Lakbima newspaper also reported that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse was ushered into a special bunker during the air raid ‘purely as a precaution’’. Meanwhile, the Sunday Times said the LTTE had used a new kind of bomb on the Army Headquarters in Tha'l'laadi, Mannaar and that Sri Lankan jet’s missile was unable to ‘lock on’ to the LTTE plane.
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SLN Dvora, hovercraft sunk in major naval clash - Sea Tigers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 November 2008, 02:53 GMT]
Naval flotillas of the Sea Tigers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) engaged in a major clash with the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) gunships in the seas off Naakarkoayil in Vadamaraadchi East Saturday morning from 5:15 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., sinking an SLN Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FAC) and a hovercraft. Sea Tiger officials told TamilNet that SLN engaged 20 vessels in the clash, but it was forced to withdraw after suffering casualties. Seven Black Sea Tigers laid down their lives in the operation, the Tigers said.
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21 cases of Malaria reported in Vanni, artillery fire wounds health worker

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2008, 06:52 GMT]
A health worker spraying houses with insecticide in the fight against malaria epidemic in Aazhiyava'lai in Vadamaraadchi East was wounded in artillery firing by the Sri Lanka Army, according to the medical sources in Ki'linochchi on Friday. Meanwhile, TamilNet correspondent who visited the hospitals on Thursday reported seventeen patients with Malaria were being treated by Ki'linochchi hospital and four patients by the hospital in Mullaiththeevu.
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3 IDPs wounded in SLAF attack

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 15:51 GMT]
A 50-year-old mother of three, a 38-year-old father of one and a 41-year-old father of two, were wounded Tuesday morning around 11:00 when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked two civilian settlements in Ki'linochchi and Paranthan, medical sources at the Ki'linochchi hospital said. The victims were Internally Displaced Persons from Mannaar and Ki'linochchi districts. 750 school children and 17 teachers were attending classes at Paranthan Hindu College at the time of the SLAF air-strike. The college is located 750 meters from the attack site in Kumarapuram where three houses and three huts were fully destroyed, according to TamilNet correspondent who visited the attack site at Kumarapuram and the hospital.
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Time for Colombo to defeat LTTE with political solution: U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2008, 10:16 GMT]
"The U.S. view is that the [Sri Lankan] government could further isolate and weaken the LTTE if it articulates now its vision for a political solution," said U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake while addressing an interactive session at the University of Madras on Friday, The Hindu reported. While ruling out the military option, Mr. Blake has alluded that the U.S. position was to militarily weaken the LTTE to defeat it politically. The United States has been a key player of the Co-Chairs for the Sri Lankan process, which has been managed by the facilitation of Norway till Sri Lanka unilaterally withdrew from the ceasefire.
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Rain highlights depth of emotions in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2008, 23:19 GMT]
The heavy downpour that started simultaneously with the Human Chain agitation in Tamil Nadu on Friday has in fact helped to understand the level of emotional involvement of the leaders and people of Tamil Nadu in the cause of the Eezham Tamils in Sri Lanka. It was a singular sight to see prominent politicians, celebrities of the cine-world, trade unionists, pontiffs of mutts, members of Churches and civil society activists amidst hundreds of thousands of people, largely students of both gender, completely drenched and standing in ankle deep water, voicing solidarity with their brethren across the Palk Straits, reported media sources in Chennai.
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Sea Tigers sink Sri Lankan supply ship

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 08:10 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Sea Tigers on Wednesday claimed that they carried out a Black Tiger attack on Sri Lankan ship MV Nimalawa, which carried military and other supplies, in Sri Lankan naval harbour in Kankeasnthu'rai in Jaffna Wednesday morning around 5:00. The supply ship was sunk and another vessel, MV Ruhunuwa, sustained heavy damage, the Tigers said.
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Indian federal model insufficient to Sri Lanka, says senior leader of CPI

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2008, 08:31 GMT]
Unlike India, which has a multitude of ethnicities, the Sri Lankan question is confined only to two identities, Sinhalese and Tamils. Legacies of struggle and military situation have made a contextual difference in Sri Lanka. Therefore the Indian federal model is insufficient to Sri Lanka. It should be higher than that, perhaps a confederation having constitutional guarantees, preventing one unit militarily interfering with the other, said C. Mahendran, senior leader of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Communist Party of India, in a recent interview to TamilNet.
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Attack on media: freedom, arrogance and playing with the will of people

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2008, 23:57 GMT]
The Tamil nationalist sentiments bursting into anti-media violence, spontaneously or otherwise, is not the appropriate way, said a senior Eezham Tamil editor in Colombo, commenting on the reported recent attacks on The Hindu in Tamil Nadu. "Camouflaged in the name of Indian national interest, the intellectual venom, sectarian interests, dynastic interests and personal biases sadly making The Hindu into a pro-Sinhala and anti-Tamil media have to be countered socially, culturally and politically on a superior intellectual plane by bringing out public awakening locally and globally," he said.
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Ki'linochchi hospital urges civilians to donate fuel to continue critical services

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2008, 22:13 GMT]
Unable to relocate three critical services, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Surgery Unit and the Maternity Ward, the Ki'linochchi hospital is forced to continue these services from the town, even after most of the civilians have fled the urban centre of Vanni, hospital spokesperson said. As fuel required to run the three critical units has reached dangerously low levels, Medical authorities at the hospital have urged civilians in Vanni to donate fuel to operate the basic services to save lives. Fuel supplies for September and October months are yet to reach the hospital.
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British, Norway ambassadors visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2008, 10:46 GMT]
British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Dr. Peter Hayes, and Norway's Ambassador Tore Hattrem accompanied by UNHCR residential representative in Colombo, were on a visit to Jaffna Wednesday. The emissaries met Jaffna Appeal Court Magistrate R. T.Vignarajah around 4:30 p.m. and discussed the humanitarian as well as the general security concerns of the civilians. Meanwhile, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet that the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry had initially declined permission for the delegation to visit Jaffna Prison and Kurunakar Special Rehabilitation Centre where civilians seeking protection from the threat of the SLA and paramilitaries are placed in protective custody.
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Sri Lankan artillery barrage hits Ki'linochchi town

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2008, 14:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army has started firing artillery shells towards Ki'linochchi town Thursday evening around 7:00 p.m., causing panic among the remaining civilians in the town and its suburbs. At least four artillery shells crossed over the town as TamilNet correspondent was reporting that the building of the Ki'linochchi hospital was shaken due to the blasts, causing fear among the remaining patients and the staff. A 33-year-old civilian was rushed to Ki'linochchi hospital in the evening. One shell hit the ground near UNDP office and the other near Ki'linochchi Government Agent's hostel, according to latest reports.
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Sri Lankan airstrike targets civil administration in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2008, 18:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets Wednesday evening attacked the Secretariat of Tamileelam Civil Administration, located in Paarathipuram south of Ki'linochchi. The officials atttached to the Tamileelam civil administration, which coordinates the administration in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam controlled areas in almost all civil activities, ranging from ensuring the availability of drinking water to the maintanance civilian infrastructure, told TamilNet that noone was wounded in the attack as they had taken necessary precautions. The attack, which destroyed the building complex took place at 2:40 p.m.
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Eezham Thamizh and Tamil Eelam: Understanding the terminologies of identity

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2008, 00:43 GMT]
Many readers, Tamils as well as non-Tamils, wonder at the way words and phrases such as Eezham, Thamizh, Eezham Tamil or Eezham Thamizh, Tamil Eelam or Thamizh Eezham, Sinhala, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan etc., are presented today in the media and the connotations implied by them. Culture Columnist Akazhaan discusses the etymology, historical linguistics and sociolinguistics of these terms in the context of the Tamil and Sinhala national questions in the island known as Sri Lanka today.
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