Tamils respect Pirapaharan's single-minded commitment- civil activist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2008, 18:12 GMT]
Prominent Tamil civil society activist, Shanthi Satchithanandam, discussing her views on Pirapakaran's role in the Tamil National struggle, says: "Pirapaharan is the single most dedicated leader who gave voice and form to the demands put forward by Tamil political leaders of the 50s, 60s and 70s," in an interview to Vikalpa, a citizen journalism initiative in Sri Lanka built on the effort pioneered by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based think-tank.
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LTTE's Head of Military Intelligence killed in Claymore ambush

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2008, 01:20 GMT]
Col. Charles, Head of Liberation Tigers Military Intelligence, was killed Saturday evening in a random Claymore attack by Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit in Pa'l'lamadu in Mannaar, LTTE sources in Vanni said. Col. Charles who has been in charge of internal intelligence within the ranks of LTTE ground forces and led an external operations corps as well as a regular combat force that has been deployed in Mannaar district, was killed together with three LTTE lieutenants in the ambush while they were riding in a van between Iluppaikkadavai and Pa'l'lamadu at 3:10 p.m.
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Kumar Ponnambalam remembered on eighth anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 13:33 GMT]
Eighth year anniversary of Kumar Ponnambalam, president of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Wellawatte, a Tamil suburb of the capital Colombo around 11.15 a.m. 5 January 2000, was commemorated in U.K. and in Vanni in simple ceremonies.
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Sri Lanka withdraws from CFA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 11:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Thursday evening officially conveyed in writing to the Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem in Colombo that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was withdrawing from the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA). The message was conveyed to the Ambassador at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in Colombo. The CFA formally ends on 16 January, the day after the Tamil festival Thaippongkal. GoSL has also suspended the Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA) with 14-days advance notification.
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2007: The year in review

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 07:34 GMT]
For the people of the NorthEast, 2007 was a grim year. Sri Lanka’s security forces and allied paramilitaries intensified their campaign of abductions (‘white van’ abductions), torture, and murder of Tamil civilians. Tamil civil society leaders bore the brunt of the counter-insurgency campaign. Jaffna remained an open prison with shortage of essential items, east falling under the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) control with thousands displaced as Colombo concocts colonization schemes to make east a Sinhala majority province.
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2008 will bring clarity to Sri Lanka conflict- Balakumaran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 16:54 GMT]
"The International Community has been vacillating in taking decisive actions on Sri Lanka because they are unable to relate their own interests to the chaotically unfolding political and military situation in Sri Lanka. Only the demonstration of military strength by the Tigers can bring clarity to the situation, for the international community to correctly relate their interests, and assertively engage," said Balakumaran, a Senior Member of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, during a Political Analysis program, Nilavaram, in National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), this week.
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2nd Lt.Malathy Brigade completes 12th anniversary

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 01:30 GMT]
One of the elite battalions of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 2nd Lt.Malathy Brigade, completed 12th Anniversary of its inauguration Tuesday. Constituted as a fully fledged military battalian within the overall organization of the LTTE, the women fighters of this brigade have carried out several outstanding military feats in the struggle, according to military observers in NorthEast.
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Elangko appointed new Head of Tamileelam Police

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 December 2007, 16:38 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Pirapaharan has appointed K. Elangko (I'langkoa), a senior LTTE official as the Head of Tamileelam Police, succeeding B. Nadesan. Mr. Elangko who joined the LTTE in 1983 and received military training in LTTE's 4th training camp in India has earlier served as the deputy of the Police between 1993 and 1996. Later, he was in charge of Policy Dissemination Unit of the LTTE.
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Anton Balasingham memorial in London

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 December 2007, 01:05 GMT]
Expatriate Tamils in London held a one year memorial event Sunday for Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE’s former theoretician and Chief Negotiator, who passed away in December 2006 after a brief battle with cancer.
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U.N. mission imperative to curb rights violations in Sri Lanka- HRW

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 December 2007, 21:17 GMT]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) officials currently touring the U.S. lobbying for a U.N. mission to monitor human rights violations in Sri Lanka, told the Chicago Public Radio that their current focus is on the "shocking" disappearances and killing in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lanka Government has done "shamefully little" to investigate the cases. They added that Democratic Institutions that would otherwise be capable of highlighting human right abuses, infringements to freedom of speech, and erosion in independence of judiciary in Sri Lanka, have collapsed under an ineffective Parliament.
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Tamil youth of Malaysia: question of culture and empowerment

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2007, 17:00 GMT]
If it could be realized that development, social empowerment and even winning a struggle are rather cultural than economic or political, then it won’t be difficult to see that the problems of the Tamil Diaspora all over the world are more internal than external. The Tamil culture is one of the classical cultures of humanity. But if there is anything wrong in its contemporary manifestations, one shouldn’t shy away from reform. The global Tamil Diaspora should come together in this regard and help each other by commonly addressing the cultural problems. The privileged and developed sections of the Tamil Diaspora bear more responsibility in this regard, writes Opinion Columnist Ampalam.
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Elders' Home inaugurated in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 19:36 GMT]
In a simple yet emotionally-charged ceremony of significance, Mathivathani Pirapaharan, wife of LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan, inaugurated the new hostel block of the Anpuchchoalai Elders' Home in Ki'linochchi A'riviyal Nakar this Sunday. In one of her rare public appearances, she cut the ribbon and declared open the new wing of the Elders' Home. The event was well-attended by key Tamil Tiger functionaries.
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Moral support to Tigers not a crime –Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 16:49 GMT]
Extending moral support to the Liberation Tigers, on seeing the Tamils' sufferings in Sri Lanka was not a crime in any way, said Thol. Thirumavalavan, General Secretary of the Tamilnadu-based Viduthalai Chiruthhaika'l Kadchi (VCK, the Liberation Panthers party) according to news reports published in The New Indian Express, Monday. He added that providing moral support to the Tamil Tigers was not an offence even in countries like the UK, the US and Canada, where the organization is banned. "Tamils in these countries are conducting rallies, unveiling Pirapaharan's portrait and also running a radio service in their favour," he said.
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VoT will rebounce from attack -Thamizhanpan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 December 2007, 22:43 GMT]
“Belligerent statements by close associates of Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa, threats against media personnel, and press censorship in the South, forewarned us of a possible attack on our media facilities. Fortunately, we took precautions against this, and our successful completion of the Heroes day program, inspite of Colombo violating international laws bombing our facility, is a testimony to the resilience of our staff,” said Thamizhanpan, director of Voice of Tigers, LTTE’s official broadcasting corporation, in an interview with a Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation, Tuesday.
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India armed rival groups as Tigers disarmed – IPKF General

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 18:39 GMT]
Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, ordered an Indian General to kill LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan in cold blood when the latter attended a meeting under a white flag in September 1987. In a new book, the then chief of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), Major General (retd.) Harkirat Singh, says he refused to carry out the order as “good soldiers do not shoot an adversary in the back.” He also says that as the Tigers began disarming in 1987, but India’s intelligence service, RAW, on Rajiv Gandhi’s orders, began arming anti-LTTE militant groups, triggering inter-Tamil violence.
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Pirapaharan pays homage to Anton Balasingham

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 December 2007, 14:13 GMT]
Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, Friday payed homage to late Anton Balasingham, the theoretician and political advisor of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commemorating the first death anniversary of the former chief negotiator and political advisor.
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SL Supreme Court fixes inquiry into petitions challenging the CFA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2007, 13:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Friday fixed the inquiry for March 10 next year into the petitions filed by the Sinhala extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Sinhala Jathika Sangamaya (SJS) challenging the legality of the ceasefire agreement signed by the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremasinghe and Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 22 February 2002.
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South African Tamils commemorate Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2007, 18:49 GMT]
South African Tamils on Tuesday commemorated Tamileelam Heroes Day, paying homage to 19,887 war heroes and listening to Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Pirapaharan's speech at the Arudpaa Kazhakam in Durban. Pazha Nedumaran, the veteran Tamil National Movement leader from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, addressing the community leaders, religious dignitaries and supporters of Tamil struggle, called on the Global Tamil Community, to rally behind the Tamil cause for the "dawn of Tamileelam as a free state" and Dasarath Chetty, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kwazulu Natal, a South African Tamil of Indian origin, discussed the viability of Tamileelam.
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Record crowd at London Tamil Remembrance Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2007, 17:27 GMT]
Over twenty five thousand expatriate Tamils in Britain gathered Tuesday to mark ‘Tamil Remembrance Day’ to pay their respects to those who had died in the Tamil liberation struggle. The event, organized by Tamil National Remembrance Foundation, an association of families of Tamils who had fallen in the Tamil struggle, was held at London’s ExCel arena. Amid resumed conflict in Sri Lanka, it was the largest attendance at the annual event, despite Tuesday being a working day, organizers said.
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Propping up genocidal Sinhala State counterproductive, International Community should change approach - Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 November 2007, 12:33 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), V Pirapaharan, in his annual Heroes' Day statement placed a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of the international community for the breakdown of the peace process. He said that the involvement of the international community to resolve the Tamil national question has been unhelpful and added that their failure to condemn unambiguously the military path of the current regime has created the present situation in the island. He asserted that the propping up of the genocidal Sinhala State by the international community through economic aid, military aid and subtle diplomatic efforts will be counterproductive.
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