Police arrest 7 Tamils in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2008, 03:24 GMT]
Ea’raavoor police arrested seven civilians on suspicion Wednesday morning in their division in a cordon and search launched jointly with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Aiyangkea’ni, Tha’lavaay area in Batticaloa district, Ea’raavoor police said.
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Visit of 'strategic partners'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 12:19 GMT]
The Defense Advisers/Attaches of seven countries, USA, UK, Japan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives were taken on a one day tour to Vanni by the Colombo government on Monday. Suffering from heavy military debacles and facing serious economic crisis, the Colombo government is badly in need of parading strategic partners and abettors to attract means and justification for its genocidal war before time runs out, note political observers. The visitors represented three of the Co-Chair countries, USA, UK and Japan and four South Asian countries having maritime boundaries.
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Robert Blake: U.S. 'development' doesn't seek majoritiarian inroads to East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 09:35 GMT]
Responding to an article that appeared in TamilNet on U.S. enthusiasm in 'developing East' to link it with markets in Western province, ignoring the Tamil perspectives on development, the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, in an article that appeared in U.S. Embassy's blog has defended that the U.S. development program has a goal of "fostering economic development, good governance and stability while preserving the existing ethnic balance in the east." Disagreeing with the perspective shed by the Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian Ariyanethran, the U.S. Ambassador says that meaningful development can take place in the East before a political solution is agreed upon.
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Tamils chosen as Left Front party candidates for provincial elections

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 17:13 GMT]
The Left Front, led by Dr.Wickremabahu Karunaratne, has decided to contest the Central Provincial Council election, and nominated Nadarajah Janakan as its chief candidate. Dr.Karunaratne said the election propaganda would be mainly based on advocating immediate ceasefire.
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Fein responds: Professorial Nonsense on Stilts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 12:35 GMT]
Responding to the note on Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) website by the Secretary General Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha on the model genocide indictment against Sri Lanka officials, the former U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General Bruce Fein, says, the "Professor never denies the Rajapaksa-Fonseka genocides," but, "delivers an indictment against the LTTE as a purported defense to the Rajapaksa-Fonseka genocides." Fein adds: "The genocide prosecution sought against Sudanese President Omar Bashir has rejected such a defense theory to a charge of genocide."
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Fein: Genocide charges against Sri Lanka officials ready

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2008, 06:36 GMT]
Bruce Fein, a former U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General and currently Counsel for a U.S. Tamil Group said in an interview this week that a 400+ page model indictment charging Sri Lanka officials for genocide against Tamils will be ready to be submitted to the U.S. Justice Department first week of January. He added that the document describes the motivational context, catalogues crimes, and constructs legal arguments establishing culpability of a U.S. citizen and a U.S. greencard holder for the crime of genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka under the U.S. Genocide Accountability Act (18 U.S.C. 1091).
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Sri Lankan Police cordons off Munneasvaram devotees, detains two

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 20:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police cordoned off Munneasvaram Sivan temple area in Chilaapam (Chilaw) division Friday, subjecting hundreds of devotees who were present in the temple and its environs Friday morning to attend Kaarthikai Theepam festival in the evening. Two devotees were detained after the operation that lasted for four hours from 6:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. .
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18 Tamils detained by Thirukkoayil police

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2008, 06:52 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos arrested Thursday eighteen Tamils including two women in a cordon and search conducted in the Tamil area in Thirukkoayil police division in Ampaa’rai district. All arrestees are being detained in Thirukkoayil police station, according to complaints made by their relatives to Ampaa’rai district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian K. Pathmanathan.
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State of Human Rights in Sri Lanka on 60th anniversary of UDHR

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2008, 08:04 GMT]
Although it is sixty years since 'Ceylon' as the Island was then known gained independence from Britain, and sixty years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations, Tamils of Sri Lanka are yet to enjoy the benefits of UDHR. According to the Annual Report for 2007 of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), more than 5000 cases of disappearances are pending without clarification from the Sri Lankan Government. Data shows that there are more extra-judicial killings in the East now after the Government’s celebrated 'liberation of the East'.
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Eezham Tamils' development: myths and realities

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 December 2008, 23:03 GMT]
A development-oriented analysis originated from the West and often exploited by the Sri Lankan state to justify its ethnic chauvinism is that the Tamils were far advanced in ‘development’ under the British and the crisis was a result of independent Sri Lanka equalizing development to all people. One can understand Sri Lankan state and its intellectuals harping on the theme. But it is utter ignorance of history, lack of serious research and wrong application of analytical tools in judging development on the part of the intelligentsia outside, in creating a misleading picture of the crisis in Sri Lanka through their 'model-based' approaches, writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi in the second part of the article, 'Development, Multiculturalism and Ethnonationalism in Sri Lanka.'
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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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CID-grilled TNA parliamentarians asked to appear in courts

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 06:31 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate, Nishantha Happuarachchi on Friday ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to seek the legal opinion regarding a complaint made by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) alleging the three Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians that they have made speeches in a Pongku Thamizh ceremony held in Germany in 2006, violating the Sri Lankan Constitution and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
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Colombo’s 'gala war' countered in Germany

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 04:03 GMT]
"A huge amount of Colombo’s war money is lavishly spent in foreign countries in fixing collaborators, capturing or coercing diaspora Tamils and in organizing gala programmes to shield its sins of inhuman war at home," said an activist of a vigilant group of German Tamils called 'Committee for People’s Uprising (CPU),' Friday. "The latest is a festive season’s grand dinner inviting German dignitaries and an exhibition of its 'contemporary civilization' to hoodwink the German public. The Eezham Tamils in Germany effectively neutralized Colombo’s devises on Friday through creative undertakings, right in front of Sri Lanka’s propaganda stall," the activist told TamilNet.
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The ploy of ‘development’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 00:07 GMT]
What is perhaps needed as a prerequisite for development in the context of the island of Sri Lanka is only a bold solution providing outlets to the national questions of the Tamils and the Sinhalese. But in their arrogance and greed, the international development enthusiasts are in such a hurry that they think of thrusting upon ‘development’ from the above, bulldozing the national question militarily. In the process they invite unwanted deep antagonism of a people who in fact are prepared in all other respects to welcome the development ventures of them, writes opinion columnist Chivanadi, in the first part of an article, Development, Multiculturalism and Ethnonationalism in Sri Lanka.
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'Thanks for food, but help to win our rights,' Vanni IDPs urge Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2008, 02:12 GMT]
Internally Displaced persons in Vanni who were receiving the humanitarian supplies sent by the people of Tamil Nadu, while expressing their gratitude for the timely help, urged the leaders of Tamil Nadu to help them to win their freedom by voicing for the political aspirations of Eezham Tamils. TamilNet correspondent recorded expressions from the IDPs who were gathered at Karaichchi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, one of 23 supply centres in Vanni, on Thursday.
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‘No ceasefire’ - UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 20:05 GMT]
Military offensives aimed at curbing the LTTE should be continued and a ceasefire won't be necessary until the offensives come to an end, Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) said Thursday. The UNP’s Badulla District MP Laksman Seneviratne told Parliament during a debate on the defence budget that this was the stance of his party, the website lankadissent.com reported. The vote was passed by 114 to 14, reports said.
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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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TRO issues details of cluster-bombed IDP camp

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 09:15 GMT]
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), in a press release disseminated on Wednesday said the IDP camp subjected to cluster bombardment by the Sri Lanka Air Force at Uzhavanoor in Vanni was located within the area declared by the Government of Sri Lanka as "safe zone" and that the IDP camp was constructed and maintained by the TRO and local NGO REERDO for families that had been displaced due to the Government of Sri Lanka's ongoing military offensive into Vanni.
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International treaty bans cluster munitions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 01:42 GMT]
Diaspora Tamils in Norway demonstrated in Oslo on Wednesday against the use of cluster bombs by the Sri Lankan government as 120 countries gathered in Oslo to sign a landmark treaty banning the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions internationally. Signatory states are required to promote universalisation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), to notify non-signatory parties of their treaty obligations, and to discourage non-signatory state parties from using cluster munitions.
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'Knowing friends and enemies'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2008, 15:14 GMT]
“Exploiting the Mumbai carnage and the mood of indignation in India, the Colombo government is calling for the collaboration of India in labeling and isolating all Tamils as terrorists, just because they demand for their rights. Mr. P. Chidambaram, the new Home Minister of India, carrying Indian as well as Tamil identities needs to be additionally alert in what has to be done”, read Tuesday’s editorial of Janasakti, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of India. Meanwhile, an Eezham Tamil foreign national and a political analyst, now living with the IDPs in Vanni, responded to TamilNet with his remarks on current development, especially after 26 November, 2008.
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