Kadaiya-moaddai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 March 2011, 00:52 GMT]
The pond of Kadaiyar community
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Local officials accused of swindling relief provided to war-widows

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 March 2011, 12:39 GMT]
Relief materials allocated for widows who lost their husbands in military operation of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are being forced by a Grama Niladhari (Village Level Officer) to pay for such assistance. The affected widows are unable to make complaints to higher authority against this illegal activity fearing reprisal, civil society sources said.
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TYO extends ‘Boycott Sri Lanka’ campaign to sports

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 March 2011, 11:26 GMT]
Using as context the quarter final of the Cricket World Cup between co-hosts Sri Lanka and England, the TYO-UK (Tamil Youth Organisation) on Saturday conducted an awareness campaign on Sri Lanka in London, on a day marked by huge protest by the TUC (Trade Union Congress) against public spending cuts. As up to a reported 500,000 demonstrators marched through central London, TYO members on the periphery handed out leaflets and gathered signatures for a postcard campaign calling on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to boycott Sri Lanka as a sporting partner. The effort is part of a wider campaign to encourage international boycott of Sri Lanka as a tourist destination and as a producer of goods, TYO said. The Sri Lankan cricket team is due to tour England this summer.
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TB affected on the increase among uprooted people of Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 March 2011, 06:10 GMT]
Several uprooted Tamil civilians from Vanni following Colombo's genocidal onslaught in Vanni and still kept in detention centres in Vavuniyaa have been diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis (TB), according to Dr.C.Jamunananda who is in charge of the TB control unit in Jaffna district.
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Rejecting nationhood of Eezham Tamils is tactical blunder of India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 March 2011, 04:22 GMT]
Students of international politics know well that India materialised an independent Bangladesh in 1971, but within a few years the USA turned it against India. Even to this day India is struggling hard to make the odds even. The same story is being re-enacted in Sri Lanka, but in a different way. India in strategic complicity decided Colombo winning a war through genocide of Tamils, but the US responsible of equal complicity and now articulating a deceptive ‘reconciliation’ paradigm, aims to emerge as the ‘ultimate saviour’ by hoodwinking Eezham Tamils through sections in the diaspora on one hand and by negotiating survival of state and regime of genocidal Colombo on the other. Failure to recognize the Eezham Tamil nation at this stage will be India’s Achilles Heel internally and externally, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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SLA-tortured teacher dies in Jaffna hospital

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 March 2011, 11:25 GMT]
28-year-old Sampanthan Sakthitharan a male teacher at Chaavakachcheari Hindu College, who was severely tortured by the occupying Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna at Thirunelveali on 15 March and dumped on the side of the road three hours later fought for his life at Jafna Teaching Hospital for 10 days with serious injuries in his head and finally succumbed to his injuries Saturday at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
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300 Tamils, Muslims appeal to LLRC to locate missing relatives

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 March 2011, 15:16 GMT]
The Lessons and Learnt Reconciliation Commissioner (LLRC) Sunday morning commenced its sittings at the auditorium of the Kalmunai (Tamil) Divisional Secretariat and recorded statements from over three hundred persons including Tamils and Muslims who have lost their children and spouses due to the arrest, abduction and killing by the Intelligence Unit of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and cadres of para military groups led by Karuna and Pilliayan, sources in Ampaa'rai said.
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Ampaa'rai mother appeals to LLRC to locate son abducted by Karuna men

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 March 2011, 11:08 GMT]
A widowed Tamil mother, Kasipillai Marakathamani, of Vinaayagapuram in Thirukoail Friday appealed to the Lessons and Learnt Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to locate her only son who was forcibly taken over from her house three years ago by cadres of Karuna Para military Group. Since then the son has been missing and his whereabouts are not known. Marakathamani was giving evidence before the LLRC sittings Friday morning in the Ampaa'rai District Secretariat.
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Democratic uprising in Tamil Nadu crucial to changes in the region

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 March 2011, 12:38 GMT]
If the so-called post 9/11 paradigm provided an opportunity for repressive forces to mobilise against various peoples in the world and if that worked against the liberation of Eezham Tamils, the recent uprising of peoples against establishments in North Africa and West Asia is a favourable trend the Eezham Tamils and the Tamils of Tamil Nadu have to carefully comprehend and make use of in bringing out changes in South Asia too. Progressive Sinhalese who see the need to recognise the nation of Eezham Tamils for a true reconciliation in the island should also join in. A democratic uprising in Tamil Nadu is crucial to changes in the entire region and that is a big hope for Eezham Tamils too. Tamil Nadu has the potentiality and the reasons for the uprising, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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"Tamil propagandists" part cause of anti-trade US legislation, says SL Ambassador

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 March 2011, 00:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Ambassador to US, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, said that Leahy Amendment, a U.S. law barring support to foreign military units believed to have committed gross rights violations, and recently passed US Senate resolution, S. Res. 84, which calls for "independent international accountability mechanism to look into reports of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other human rights violations," in Sri Lanka are obstacles to US investment and US businesses engaging with local partners in Sri Lanka, Associated Press reported Thursday. Wickramasuriya played down the impact of the Senate resolution, which he saw driven by ethnic Tamil propagandists based overseas and rights groups, AP added.
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London women urge immediate IC move to rehabilitate Eezham widows

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 March 2011, 21:02 GMT]
Representatives of women’s groups in London, who met on Thursday at Kingston to observe International Women’s Day centenary, appealed for immediate international community move to rehabilitate an estimated 89,000 Eezham Tamil war widows. The gathering organized by Tamil Women Development Forum and Elders Empowerment Programme was participated by representatives of various communities in London and was attended by the Mayor and council officials of Kingston. Speaking on the occasion, Ms Annabelle Sartoris, a university researcher, said that Sri Lanka breaches UN resolution 1325 in protecting the rights of Eezham Tamil women.
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Poverty driving children to work in hotels, houses in East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 March 2011, 11:21 GMT]
Due to extreme poverty, over 3,250 children are working in houses and eating houses in the eastern province without attending schools. These children come from families affected by military conflict and natural disaster, according Provincial Education Minister Mr.Wimalaweera Dissanayake.
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‘Trawler diplomacy’ escalates as elections near in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 March 2011, 18:35 GMT]
Three fishermen from Valveddiththu'rai were 'abducted' Tuesday in the seas off Jaffna by Indian Fishermen and were handed over to Indian Police in Koadikkarai (Point Calimere), fishermen society sources in Jaffna said. The incident was reported as talks were taking place in Colombo between the delegations of fishermen from the North and the fishermen from India. Political observers said that the establishments in New Delhi, Chennai and Colombo, in strategic partnership, are effectively deploying a 'trawler diplomacy' to set the Eezham Tamils against Tamils of Tamil Nadu in order to achieve a set of agenda ranging from blunting the national question of Eezham Tamils and setting space for corporate exploitation of the traditional waters of Tamils to tackling electoral questions in the state assembly elections in Tamil Nadu next month.
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Two ex-LTTE cadres die in SL army detention centres

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 March 2011, 01:46 GMT]
Two former cadres of the LTTE have died in two separate incidents while under detention in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) supervised 'rehabilitation' centres. The first death was reported from Vavuniyaa-Ne'lukku'lam rehabilitation centre Monday and the second from Welikanda-Thirukoa'namadu detention camp in the Polonnaruwa district Tuesday morning. The deaths have created tension among parents of ex-LTTE detainees, civil sources said.
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China urged to play constructive role in the island: Prof Sitrampalam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 March 2011, 05:21 GMT]
As a super power having influence on the Sri Lankan state, Eezham Tamils urge China to play a constructive role in the island of Sri Lanka, says Dr. S.K. Sitrampalam, the vice president of Ilankai Thamizh Arasuk Katchi (ITAK), the main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The retired senior professor of Archaeology of the University of Jaffna recently visited China following an official invitation to the ITAK to take part in an organised trip extended to delegations from selected political parties from South Asia to have an exposure of how the Chinese government deals with its internal and external affairs.
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Jaffna university alumni association formed in London

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 March 2011, 07:07 GMT]
Perceiving the need for a non-political, civil society organisation, the old students of the University of Jaffna, on Saturday, formed an alumni association in London. Around 45 graduates attended the inaugural step initiated by the first batch of the students of the University. An ad hoc committee of 15 members was formed with Mr. K. Sivaraja, Mr. S. Jeyaraja and Mr. K. Sivanandan as president, vice-president and secretary respectively. The gathering decided to make the association global and to hold the first general meeting in September. UK based lawyer Mr. Srikanthalingam has been assigned with the task of drafting a constitution. The association is open to all old students of the university from any part of the island, the organizers said.
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JHU Buddhist monk accused of sexually abusing child monks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 March 2011, 14:04 GMT]
Buddhist monk and former parliamentarian representing Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party of Sri Lanka, Aparekke Punnananda Thero, is accused of sexual abusing five underage novice monks, reported BBC Sinhala Service Friday. The Child Protection Authority (CPA) of the island produced two novice monks allegedly abused before the Colombo Magistrates Court and the court ordered the SL police to produce the other three child monks also, after the magistrate hearing the secret statements of the two child monks in her chambers. The CPA earlier informed the court that the suspect has admitted sexually abusing child monks under his custody.
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Amid Sinhala colonization, Dinamina claims SLA vacates Jaffna Town HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 March 2011, 12:50 GMT]
State run daily Dinamina claimed Friday that Sri Lanka military has vacated high security zones in Jaffna town after nearly twenty years of occupation. The announcement came after handing over of Subash Hotel, and the reopening of Jaffna's Victoria Road which links Jaffna-Palaly main road and the Clock Tower road, according to the daily. Large parts of Jaffna Peninsula still remains as prohibited zone for resettlement of evicted Tamil civilians, with Colombo selling large parcels of land to Sinhala businessmen for economic profiteering, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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ITAK wins 12 local body elections in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 March 2011, 12:22 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), contesting under the symbol of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), captured the administration of twelve local authorities including two Urban Councils (UC) and Predesiya Sabas (PS) in the North and East in the elections held Thursday. The TNA failed to capture power of the Moothoor PS in Trincomalee district but was able secure three seats out of 11. Elections to local bodies in Jaffna district and to some in the districts of Trincomalee, Ampaarai and Mullaithivu were not held Thursday.
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5,653 cases of ‘disappeared’ pending in Sri Lanka: Forum-Asia at 16th session of UNHRC

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 March 2011, 10:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka government is yet to provide clarification on 5,653 outstanding cases of disappeared persons and it has not responded positively to requests to visit the country in this regard by UN Rapporteurs, said Pooja Patel, while delivering her oral statement on behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM –ASIA) in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Tuesday. Increased militarization in the Northeast has created an environment of intense insecurity for resettled communities especially for female-headed families who are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse, Ms. Patel pointed out.
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