Jaffna Catholic priests protest against Vanni killings, displacements

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 13:05 GMT]
Members and bishops from Jaffna Catholic diocese led by Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, will launch a protest fast from Wednesday in St. Mary’s Church also known as ‘Periya Koayil’ in Jaffna, urging Sri Lanka government to stop artillery and aerial bombardment on Vanni civilians, and to bring an end to their continuing displacements, according to an announcement issued from Bishop’s House. The protest fast will begin at 9:00 a.m Wednesday and end at 3:00 p.m, and will continue on a rotational basis.
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Thirumavalavan drops fast, signals 'change of strategy'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 18:02 GMT]
VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, in his fourth day of the fast-unto-death said that he was forced to reconsider his decision to continue the fast because of the emotional pleading by his frenzied cadres, particularly women cadres who threatened self-immolation, and the shoot at sight orders that had been given by the state police department. "At this stage, I have to ensure that those who lay their love and trust in me should not lose their lives," Mr. Thirumavalavan said. He added that henceforth the VCK had snapped all ties with the Congress party.
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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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Ramdoss exhorts Karunanidhi to urgent action in stopping Sri Lanka war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 21:08 GMT]
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Dr S Ramadoss, who visited VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, now in his fourth day of a fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s punitive bombardments, exhorted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi to act urgently to invoke Indian intervention to stop the war. Emphatically refuting Mr. Karunanidhi's statement that the VCK leader had “unilaterally decided” to stage a protest fast without consulting the rest of the Tamil Nadu polity, Dr. Ramadoss said Thol Thirumavalavan, whose health is detoriarating, had consulted other leaders several times in the recent weeks.
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India should stop war, instruct Colombo to talk to Tigers - BJP Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 12:37 GMT]
A senior leader of BJP, a major national political party of India, visited Friday Thol. Thirumavalavan, the VCK President who is on a fast-unto-death demanding the Central government of India to stop the war being waged by Colombo against Eezham Tamils. The BJP politician, Vaithiyalingam, a member of the party's national general council, declared that India, which is a powerful country in the region, cannot sit back and watch without doing anything to stop the genocidal war in Sri Lanka and added India should be specific in demanding ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam.
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Catholic priests appeal to UN to intervene in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 06:55 GMT]
Catholic priests and other religious leaders in Vanni, in an urgent letter appealed to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, to "take immediate steps to stop the senseless war and put an end to the untold sufferings of the innocent civilians," and said that the "root of the on going war is the Structural Injustice, a vehement denial of equality and dignity of the Sri Lanka Tamils..."
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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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Thirumavalavan launches fast-unto-death, demands India to stop war

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2009, 06:54 GMT]
"Mahatma Gandhi, who fought against British colonialists didn't think of taking the side of genocidal Hitler during World War II. He was not seeking personal vengeance against the British. Likewise, the present leaders in New Delhi should also take a bold decision that they will not support the genocidal war being waged by the Sri Lankan state on Eezham Tamils," said Kasi Anandan, a well-known Eezham poet living in Tamil Nadu, inaugurating the fast-unto-death campaign launched Thursday by VCK (Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol. Thirumavalavan.
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Thirumavalavan to fast to death, demands New Delhi to stop war in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2009, 20:16 GMT]
Thol. Thirumavalavan, President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), announced Monday that he would undertake a fast-unto-death to pressurize the Indian Government to put an immediate end to the genocide of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka, according to media sources in Chennai.
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Tamil Nadu signals protests against New Delhi's inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2009, 15:58 GMT]
Condemning the inaction by the Indian Central Government, even after the unanimous declaration by the State Assembly of Tamil Nadu to demand immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka, the Communist Party of India Tamil Nadu branch on Saturday announced it would launch a protest on January 06 in Tamil Nadu's capital city Chennai. Meanwhile, Pazha. Nedumaran, the leader of the Tamil National Movement has called for black flag protest against the Indian Prime Minister who is scheduled to visit the annual congregation of Non Resident Indians (NRI) on January 08. Meanwhile, the leader of VCK, Tholmavazhavan has said New Delhi's ignorance stands exposed as it failed to satisfy even the simplest demand to send its foreign minister to Colombo to stop the war.
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Uyirththa Raasan Ku'lam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 00:01 GMT]
The tank of Our Lord of the Resurrection
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SLAF bombers attack Christian orphanage for girls

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2008, 13:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers targetted 'Karuna Nilayam', a Christian center and center for orphaned and disabled girls located close to the A9 highway in Ki'linochchi town, at 4:30 p.m. on Christmas day, sources in Ki'linochchi said. The resident girls have been relocated to a different building and no one was injured in the attack, the adminstrators said.
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Tamil Nationalist Poet Thevathasan passes away in U.S.

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2008, 07:41 GMT]
Mr. Thevathasan Antony, a Tamil nationalist, poet, and humanist affectionately known as “Maampazham Swamy” passed away in New Jersey, USA on December 14. An advocate for peace who highlighted Sri Lanka's rights violations of Tamils in the NorthEast succumbed to a sudden stroke at the age of 63.
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Kompan Chaayntha Ku'lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2008, 06:42 GMT]
The tank where a tusker fell dead
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'They went, saw and returned'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 07:58 GMT]
The meeting of the representation from Tamil Nadu led by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi with the Prime Minister of India on Thursday failed to achieve its basic objective of convincing the Indian government to take a stand against Colombo’s war on Tamils, revealed journalistic circles in Chennai. The silent listening of the Indian Establishment may have several meanings. Perhaps Dr. Manmohan Singh is not the authority to respond on this particular matter. But the message to Eezham Tamils is clear: either they ought to fight back the war thrust upon them, or face genocide, and probably they knew it long back, commented the circles.
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Eezham Tamil writer wins national award of Singapore

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 15:56 GMT]
Kanagalatha Krishnasamy Iyer, a Singapore national of Eezham Tamil origins, won the national literature prize, 2008, of Singapore on Wednesday for her collection of short stories, Naan Kolai Seyum Penkal (The Women I Murder). Hailing from Negombo in the Western Province of Sri Lanka, Kanagalatha first migrated to Jaffna after the 1983 pogrom against Tamils and later settled in Singapore. An old student of Vijayaratnam Maha Vidyalayam, Negombo and Jaffna Hindu Ladies College, Kanagalatha is currently News Editor of Tamil Murasu, the national Tamil daily of Singapore.
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Unique agitation by All India Students Federation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 21:49 GMT]
A special train, carrying over 2000 students of Tamil Nadu, members of the All India Students Federation (AISF), left Chennai on Wednesday to march towards the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, demanding end of attacks on Eezham Tamils, stoppage of military aid to Sri Lanka and initiation of peaceful political solution to the crisis. Students from many other states of India will join them in the agitation scheduled for Friday. Such an event is first in the history of AISF, said S. Mahendran, senior leader of the Communist Party of India, guiding the students.
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Ceasefire should be primary concern: Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 19:59 GMT]
Quick on the heels of the news-report that hundreds of Tamil schoolchildren had a hair-breadth escape from death due to airstrike by the Sri Lanka Air Force Tuesday, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) President Thol.Thirumavalavan said in a press meet in Chennai that "an immediate ceasefire in the island nation should be the primary concern of the Tamilnadu and Indian Governments." Thirumavalavan lauded Chief Minister Karunanidhi for his efforts to ensure peace in the island nation and requested him not to drop the resignation ultimatum, but to instead postpone it until a later date.
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Cash pours in as Tamil Nadu Government sets up relief fund for Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 19:54 GMT]
A day after the Tamil Nadu Government's relief fund for Eelam Tamils was set up by Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi, contributions to the tune of 26 lakh rupees have been received, according to news-reports in the Indian media. In a spirited show of solidarity and to reaffirm his commitment to the cause of mitigating the sorrows of Eelam Tamils, Karunanidhi made the initial contribution of ten lakh rupees from his personal accounts to the relief fund.
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Woman shot, injured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2008, 22:35 GMT]
Two unidentified armed men arriving on a motorbike Thursday day night at a house in Tholpuram in Valikaamam opened fire at the husband and wife. The wife was seriously injured. Her husband managed to run from the site without any injuries.
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