TNA welcomes Sri Lanka’s stand on Palestine issue, hopes same to be followed in Tamil traditional homeland

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 09:44 GMT]
“The permanent UN representative of Sri Lanka Bandula Jayasekara’s statement that an atmosphere to bring peace in Palestine could only be created by the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory it occupies is welcomed by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which expects Sri Lanka to follow the same principle in withdrawing its armed forces from the historical and traditional homeland of the Tamils of North and East to create peace in Sri Lanka,” Suresh Premachandran said in a press report on behalf of TNA. “We hope that the Sri Lanka government will not preach one thing in the UN and practice another at home,” the report further said.
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"Sri Lanka sets precedent for internationally acceptable genocide model"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 14:56 GMT]
Kolathur T. S. Mani, president of Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, during a conference at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi titled "Unspoken Genocide: Convention on War Crimes and Genocide in Sri Lanka," held at the Speaker Hall, Constitution Club on Thursday , said that Sri Lanka has presented to the world a viable model of genocide by successfully killing "hundreds of thousands of civilians without any witness" and not eliciting international or national censure or condemnation. Rajinder Sachar, former chief justice of High Court of New Delhi, a member of the Dublin war crimes Tribunal, Justice V R Krishna Iyer, former judge of the Supreme Court of India, and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC), Kashmir, participated in the event among others.
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India refuses landing to Pirapaharan's mother

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 22:35 GMT]
Mrs. Vallipuram Parvathi, the ailing mother of LTTE leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, was refused landing by Indian immigration officials at Chennai airport Friday night around 11:30 p.m., media sources in Tamil Nadu said. Mrs. Parvathi, travelling from Malaysia, was seeking medical treatment in India. She was sent back to Malaysia in the same flight. Tamil Nadu leaders Nedumaran and Vaiko were at the airport and they were later joined by the members of the VCK party of Thirumavalavan. According to media sources citing immigration officials, Mrs. Parvathi is considered by India as a threat to law and order situation in the country. Members of I'lanthamizhar Iyakkam (Young Tamils Movement) led by Mr. Arunbarathy and Director Ram continued staying at the airport at the time of this report, demanding explanation from responsible officials.
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USA wishes joint celebrations, engages in joint operations

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 15:20 GMT]
The US embassy in Colombo carried a statement Monday from Secretary Clinton, greeting ‘Sinhala and Tamil New Year,’ and saying that this year, for the first time in decades, Sri Lankans from all parts of the island can celebrate together in a peaceful and united country. This is an opportunity for ‘Sri Lankans’ living inside and outside of the country to renew bonds and the US is eager to support them in this journey, the statement said. On Friday the US embassy announced joint operations of the US and Sri Lankan militaries in ‘humanitarian exercises’ in Trincomalee. “The joint exercise helped members from our two militaries to exchange best practices on how to address complex humanitarian challenges,” said Defence Attache of the US embassy.
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Remandating VR, a unique opportunity to address Australian refugee crisis

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 12:15 GMT]
Australia’s announcement that it will not accept claims of asylum by Tamils in defiance of U.N convention merely strengthens the argument that independence as outlined by the Vaddukoddai Referendum remains the “silver bullet” in addressing underlining issues causing instability in Sri Lanka and must be adopted by the IC and imposed upon the Rajapakse administration, say Tamil advocates in Australia on the eve of the Tamil referendum.
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Media owner's election participation invokes reactions in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 09:06 GMT]
Criticism has emerged from various quarters in Jaffna, including the senior activists of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), against the way the TNA conducted its campaign promoting industrialist Eswarapatham Saravanapavan, a senior UNP member and the general manger of two leading newspapers, Jaffna based Uthayan and Colombo based Chudaro'li. Meanwhile, the chief editor of the newspaper has complained to his management that he is considering to renounce his editorship as criticisms are levelled against him for his stand in the last parliamentary election.
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Britain’s Conservative party wishes Tamils on New Year

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2010, 18:54 GMT]
Wishing British Tamils on the occasion of the traditional Tamil New Year, the main opposition Conservative party, in a statement by its leader, David Cameron, welcomed the contribution the Diaspora has made to the United Kingdom and hailed its values of family, community, enterprise and responsibility.
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Global consortium of Tamil corporates needed to address Eezham question

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2010, 09:35 GMT]
In the present world of corporate colonialism, the national question and the liberation of Eezham Tamils have to be negotiated with the international community in the language of the corporates. But the Tamil corporates, existing in Tamil Nadu and in the diaspora across the world, are yet to be awakened to the prospects of forming a consortium among them to deal with the situation in a concerted way for the mutual benefit of them and the Eezham Tamils. The potentiality of the Tamil corporate world and what it could achieve by coming together globally are still not realised due to lack of initiatives and lack of insight in Tamil political thinking.
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Diaspora and Tamil Nadu have to play their cards

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 10:51 GMT]
Diaspora's self-organised structures of experimental democracy polarising political will, is inspiration as well as fallback to the polity of the silenced people at home, writes TamilNet political commentator adding that diaspora Tamils have an immense responsibility in seeing right people come forward and right people elected to these bodies. On current geopolitical perspectives he writes: “The West and intelligence circles in India invariably acknowledge that much significance is attached to the role Tamil Nadu could play in the given scenario. But how effectively the people of Tamil Nadu are going to play their strength to achieve a decisive solution overpowering deceptions of detractors is the concern of Eezham Tamils.”
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Sri Lanka Boycott campaign buoyed by British MP's endorsement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 00:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka boycott campaigners staged co-ordinated rallies in US and UK cities Saturday and were enthused by the endorsement to their campaign by the British Member of Parliament, Siobhain McDonagh, who in her publicized video and urged consumers to step up pressure on the Sri Lanka Government by sustained economic boycott, US organizer of the boycott, Dr Ellyn Shander said. Boycott rallies were held in several cities in the U.S. and in U.K. "The campaigns in the future are likely to take the form of globally co-ordinated events to increase the effectiveness and to elicit wider publicity," Shander said.
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New party to be launched in Tamil Nadu with Leaping Tiger as its flag

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 April 2010, 05:26 GMT]
Popular Film Director and Tamil activist S. Seeman has introduced Tiger flag for a new political party "Naam Tamilar" (We are Tamils) Saturday, claiming that the establishment of Tamil Eelam should be the moral goal of Tamils in Tamil Nadu as the leaders of the Indian Union and Tamil Nadu State had betrayed Eezham Tamils. Mr. Seeman has called for a major rally towards Mathurai on 18 May 2010, one year after the military subjugation of Eezham Tamils, marking the day as Black Day of Tamils and has announced that the new party would be inaugurated on that day. The event of introducing the flag took place at Thilagar Thidal of Thanjavur, the historic capital of the Cholas, whose emblem was Tiger.
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Army and Archaeology Department at work in Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 06:56 GMT]
If the fort of Jaffna which was the symbol of colonial and post-colonial oppression of Eezham Tamils, and which continues to be the seat of occupying forces of the Sinhala State, has to be preserved with the funds of the Netherlands government, why should the monuments built by Tamils in their own land, remembering their own struggle, have to be destroyed, asks an academic in Jaffna, responding to the destruction of the memorial for Thileepan who fasted unto death in the struggle against Indian imperialism at Nalloor.
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TNA MP: Low turnout reflects Tamils losing faith in political system

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 01:34 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson Suresh Premachandran has been quoted by The Island as saying that the very low turnout of Tamils in North and East in the 7th parliamentary elections of Sri Lanka signalled that the Tamil voters were losing faith in the political system. The TNA MP from Jaffna further said that the majority of Tamils who participated in the elections had endorsed the TNA manifesto for the resolution of the conflict and speedy re-settlement of the uprooted civilians.
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HR activist in Australia condemns freezing asylumn to Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2010, 23:24 GMT]
The Australian Government has introduced a suspension of the processing of new asylum applications from Sri Lanka. The suspension has been made as a result of the "evolving circumstances" said a joint media release from the Australian Ministers for Immigration and Citizenship, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs on Friday. Meanwhile, Julian Burnside, an Australian barrister and a human rights advocate, has condemned the move in an article published in The Age, stating that Tamils from Sri Lanka are fleeing because they face genocide in Sri Lanka.
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Overwhelming Tamil majority rejects elections under Sri Lankan State

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2010, 11:04 GMT]
A record number of candidates, numbering more than 1800 contested for the parliamentary seats in the North and East, but Eezham Tamils responded to it by a record low in participation. The turnout was only 18 percent in the North. Even after including the displaced it is only 23%. The clear verdict of Eezham Tamils, said in the most profound democratic way under circumstances possible, is that they have no confidence in democracy under Sri Lankan State. Another interesting observation is that in the entire Jaffna district, the leading Tamil National Alliance (TNA) totally polled just 65,119, only as much as the 64,256 votes cast in favour of Vaddukkoaddai Resolution by the diaspora in UK alone. The silent but vast majority of Eezham Tamils at home demand new genre of political organisation and leadership is the message of Thursday's polls.
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Self-organised democracy of Tamils receives global attention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 09:59 GMT]
The Tamil community in Australia is trying to test its aspirations of its people through a referendum of its own while Sri Lanka goes for parliamentary elections, reported Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Wednesday about a referendum on independent Tamil state organised by Australian Tamils on April 17th and 18th. "This ballot has nothing to do with the parliamentary elections held this week in Sri Lanka. This is a referendum to test the will of the Tamil diaspora," Liam Cochrane of the ABC reported. "Self-organised democracy, the most meaningful of all democracies, has become the need of the times for Eezham Tamils, who are cornered for subjugation, not only militarily, but also through imposed elections in the island," TamilNet correspondent in Australia cited the mood of the diaspora.
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TNPF manifesto cannot be faulted: Brian Senewiratne

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2010, 02:10 GMT]
There has been no “General Election” in Sri Lanka since 1977. Most of the Tamils in the North and East have been effectively disenfranchised and only marginally better than the Plantation Tamils, says Brian Senewiratne. The options for the Tamils in the North and East are limited. They will not vote for the sympathetic left led by Sinhala leaders. This leaves the choice between the two, TNA and the TNPF. If I were a Tamil, there is no way I would vote for the TNA. The TNPF seems to have got the message that the Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinistic regime has to be confronted, and challenged, not pampered. The election choices facing the Plantation Tamils are serious, mainly because their political party is as ruthless as the government. Facing discontent the CWC is intimidating the Left working in the plantations, Brian writes.
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USA aids, awards Colombo supplier

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2010, 22:56 GMT]
A Colombo-based supplier of horticultural produce to McDonalds, Burger King, Unilever, Heinz and also to Japan has been provided with US aid since 2008 to initiate its activities in the Eastern Province. Mr. Mohan Pandithage, chairman of the supplier group, Hayleys, a Multi National Corporate (MNC) of Sri Lanka, received an award from USAID for the achievement of economically linking conflict-affected East with the Colombo-centric system and through that with the other multinational corporates. While Eezham Tamils were butchered, starving, suffering from acute malnutrition, deprived of their land and were incarcerated, sections of their cultivable lands were producing gherkins, jalapeno, peppers and pineapples to MNCs under the programme of the USA, commented a university academic of the East.
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Rwandan genocidaire leads middle-class life in Alabama

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2010, 12:40 GMT]
Jean Damascene Bizimana, 56, a Rwandan politician, wanted for his alleged role in the Rwandan Genocide, with a pending warrant for arrest against him by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), has been discovered leading a middle-class life as an American citizen in the small town of Opelika, Alabama, David L. Bosco, a professor at the American University, Washington D.C. reported in the weekend Washington Post. Bizimana was Rwanda's UN Ambassador at the time when the assassination of Rwanda's president unleashed a horrific three-month genocide that would ultimately kill 800,000 people.
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Elections for ‘Asian’ model of dictatorship

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2010, 10:27 GMT]
Even though the present elections are imposed ones and are deviation tactics of the oppressors, if it is properly understood where the game is heading for, Eezham Tamils will know to whom should they vote to keep their aspirations alive. Despite all odds, the TNA line of politics has to be challenged by the Tamil national cause, at least in some token constituencies, to send the message loud and clear to India and to the outside world. Such a challenge only can be the inspiration for Tamils to eventually evolve the much needed new genre of polity of their own to meet the local and global scenario and once again, such a challenge only can nullify forces conspiring to divide Eezham Tamils in the diaspora and at home, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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