'Madaraasi Madam' on Eezham Tamils: comments of a Tamil journalist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 19:29 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu opposition leader Ms. Jeyalalithaa, in an interview reported by BBC on Saturday, has said that it is wrong to call the Tamils of the island of Sri Lanka as Eezhath Thamizhar, because there is no country at present called Eezham. In her opinion the right term is Ilangkaith Thamizhar. What is explicit in the statement of this leader who was made a Chief Minister twice by the people of Tamil Nadu as leader of a political party having a Dravidian label that doesn’t stand for any people at present, is her heartbeat of desire not exactly to see the elimination of the LTTE, but to see the nullification of the nationalism of Eezham Tamils inclusive of all its symbols, writes a Tamil journalist based in Chennai.
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Gotabhaya: TV station attack was self-inflicted

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 12:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, claimed this week that the independent television station stormed on January 6 by over a dozen masked gunmen who threw grenades and shot up equipment with assault rifles, had in fact staged the attack to win public sympathy, because the Tamil Tigers, which he said the Sirasa station was supporting, were losing the war. He said government investigations had conclusively established this. Mr. Gotabhaya, who is also the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, made his comments to a state media station, The BBC Sinhala service reported Friday.
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LTTE ambush on checkpost in Trincomalee kills 3 home guards

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 10:39 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Sunday claimed that 3 Sri Lankan home guards were killed and one wounded in an ambush carried out on a check post of the home guards in Mallaikaiththeevu in Moothoor division of Trincomalee district.
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Tamil Nadu CPI, BJP leaders slam Delhi’s inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 22:13 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), D Pandian charged Saturday that it was not enough to merely condemn the genocide in Sri Lanka, but instead one should be prepared to embrace a martyr's death. He was speaking about VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan’s fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s war. The senior CPI leader added that if India was capable of sending the Chandrayaan to the moon, it could at least do some lip-service to save the lives of Tamils by telling to the Government of Sri Lanka that it will not hesitate to interfere."
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Menon restated India’s support for war – Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 16:46 GMT]
Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, who met with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday “reaffirmed India’s cooperation with Sri Lanka in the attempts to eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka and the region, and observed that at present the relations between India and Sri Lanka have never been so close, so warm and so deep,” the Colombo government said in a statement. President Rajapakse met Mr. Menon in Kandy, the ancient seat of Sinhala power, rather than in Colombo.
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UK turns away from ‘War on Terror’ doctrine

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 19:30 GMT]
Britain’s Foreign Secretary this week slammed the US-led ‘War on Terror’ as a “misleading and mistaken” doctrine that had effacing the nuances of various conflicts while uniting extremists opposed to the West. Speaking in Mumbai, David Miliband said Thursday the concept had invited “invidious comparisons” between organisations as diverse as the Tamil Tigers, fighting for independence of the Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based faction that Indian and British officials believe was behind the Mumbai atrocities. “Terrorism is a deadly tactic, not an institution or an ideology,” he was quoted by The Times as saying.
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Heavy fighting erupts in Tharmapuram, Tigers say 51 SLA killed

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 17:12 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) media reported Friday that the advance by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Tharmapuram on three fronts were repulsed at 14:00 p.m. 51 SLA soldiers were killed and 150 troops sustained injuries in the confrontation that lasted for 14 hours from the early hours of Friday. The Tigers have claimed that they seized weapons in the clearing mission that followed. The Tigers deployed at least one BMP-1 armoured fighting vehicle, according to pictures released to media. It is not clear if the vehicle was captured from the SLA, and when.
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Jaffna District Secretariat urges help from NGOs to assist uprooted civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 14:36 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) and Thenmaraadchi Divisional Secretary have requested the help of International and local Non Government Organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian organizations in Jaffna to supply urgent requisites other than food to the civilians who have been brought to Thenmaraadchi by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from areas earlier held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Pa’lai, Pachchilaippa’li, Iyakkachchi and Vadamaraadchi East. 1796 persons belonging to 627 families have been brought by Sri Lanka Army to Kodikaamam till Thursday evening, according to the figures from the District Secretariat. More families have been brought Thursday night and on Friday.
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"Which norms of liberal democracy preclude IC attending to exodus, genocide?" asks IDP activist

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 03:52 GMT]
The LTTE doesn't obstruct or instruct the civilians of Vanni of what direction they have to take in fleeing the current phase of war. But, a large section of the civilians have considered that their security, even now, lies in the LTTE held areas in the eye of war, and are spontaneously moving towards that direction. "Allowing the war to continue, leaving Tamil civilians in the hands of the preying Sinhala army, which we dread, demonstrates only the cruelty of the few minds that determine the course of the war from outside of the island and how international norms evolved through civilisation have become a joke," said P. Kanakalingam, the president of Vanni People's Welfare Organisation (VPWO), on Thursday.
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SLA forcibly uproots civilians from occupied Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2009, 03:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has been engaged in vacating civilians from the coastal villages earlier held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Vadamaraadchi East, to Kodikaamam in Thenmaraadchi and brought around 300 civilians in vehicles along the A9 road Wednesday making a total of 985 civilians along with those brought in during the last four days, according to Divisional Secretariat sources in Chaavakachcheari. Meanwhile, there have also been alleged reports of disappearances in the custody of the SLA. The latest move, to keep the civilians within military High Security Zone in Mirusuvil, has set off fears of military 'detention centres' like the ones reported in Mannaar and Vavuniyaa in recent times.
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Fate of 200 fleeing civilians arrested by SLN not known

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2009, 21:15 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police in Jaffna, which had alerted the judicial system and the civil authorities on Monday that around 200 civilians arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) while fleeing in boats from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupied Vadamaraadchi East to Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) held areas in Mullaiththeevu district, were to be handed over to the authorities, on Wednesday said that they had no further updates from the SLN or the SLA on the whereabouts of the refugees.
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End of peace in India’s south

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2009, 00:40 GMT]
The people of Tamil Nadu in no uncertain terms have said what they wish and have shown their indignation and resentment to what is happening in the island of Sri Lanka. The Tamil diaspora all over the world has demonstrated its solidarity with the national question of Eezham Tamils. The people of USA have firmly voted for the revision of the politics of terrorism. But the few, clinging at the helm of the outgoing administrations of New Delhi and Washington have decided to run amok, defying local and global public opinion. While Bush leaves behind a precarious world legacy to Obama, the Sonia Congress bears personal responsibility for the plight of Eezham Tamils.
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SLA engaged in vacating civilians from Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 21:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers advancing from Ezhuthumadduvaa’l in Thenmaraadchi into areas earlier held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Vadamaraadchi are forcibly vacating permanent residents from their villages, sources in Chaavakachcheari said. 208 persons belonging to nearly 50 families brought to Kodikaamam by the SLA soldiers were handed over to Kodikaamam police who produced them before Chaavakachcheari magistrate Tuesday. Directed by the magistrate the vacated civilians have been placed in Jaffna Government Agent’s (GA) special hostel in Koappaay.
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Norwegian Tamils urge Norway to stop war on Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 18:24 GMT]
More than five hundred members of Norwegian Tamils' Federation (NTF) protested in front of Norway Foreign Ministry, Tuesday from 2:00 p.m til 3:00 p.m, demanding Norway to immediate intervene to stop the war waged on the people of Vanni by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). "Norway has the moral responsibility to stop the war on the Tamil people in Vanni," the protestors shouted during the demonstration.
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Heavy fighting in Mullaiththeevu frontier, Tigers recover 6 SLA bodies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an offensive push in Chilaavaththai in Mullaiththeevu district Tuesday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) have seized ammunitions and recovered at least 6 dead bodies of the SLA, according to the reports from Mullaiththeevu.
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Pressure Colombo to stop attacking civilian targets, TRO appeals to India, UN, US

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 13:55 GMT]
In an urgent press released issued Monday, Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), appealed to the Government of India, President-Elect Obama, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and the international community, to pressure "the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to cease attacks on civilian targets; allow unfettered humanitarian access to the Vanni by the UN and international NGOs; and to allow all necessary essential humanitarian assistance into the area."
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Security of Diyatalawa town tightened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 12:19 GMT]
The security of Diyatalawa, a town in Nuwara Eliya district where the Sri Lanka Army Academy, main training camp of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Sri Lanka Surveying Institute are located, has been tightened, media sources in Colombo reported. More security points and road blocks have been established to monitor the movement of vehicles and civilians.
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U.S. Pacific Command embarked upon development in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 10:14 GMT]
The U.S. Embassy in Colombo, in a media advisory issued on Tuesday, invited media to cover 'groundbreaking' ceremonies of renovating five schools in 'former LTTE-controlled areas of Trincomalee district' by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAIA) and U.S. Pacific Command, this week. Major General Thomas L. Conant of the U.S. Pacific Command and USAID Mission Director Rebecca Cohn will participate in the the inauguration ceremonies, scheduled to be held on Thursday and Friday.
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LTTE booby trap kills STF commando, injures 2, in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2009, 20:17 GMT]
A Special Task Force (STF) commando was killed Monday around 9:30 a.m and two more injured in a booby trap explosion set by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Vavu’natheevu police division in Batticaloa district, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said.
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SLN arrests 200 civilians fleeing from Jaffna to Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2009, 16:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers arrested Monday around 200 civilians fleeing war from Vadamaraadchi East areas earlier held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to LTTE held Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, in their fishing boats by sea route, sources in Jaffna said. The arrested civilians have been brought to areas in Jaffna peninsula under control of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the government officials are facing a critical situation as no prior arrangement has been made to shelter these refugees, sources close to Jaffna Secretariat said. Meanwhile, the Deputy Ambassador for Britain in Colombo made a sudden visit to Jaffna Monday where he met Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh and key SLA officials, the sources added.
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