Blake sets wrong precedence in committing against democratic wishes of Tamil nation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 April 2011, 19:19 GMT]
The US Asst Secretary of State Robert O Blake has set a wrong precedence by choosing to respond to a chauvinistic Sinhala perspective appeared in The Island editorial that “the United States does not support separatism but rather a united, peaceful and democratic Sri Lanka.” In doing so, Blake insults the democratic mandate of the nation of Eezham Tamils and encourages a terrorist state that openly commits genocide on one hand and blatantly denies even an iota of its human rights abuses on the other. The rhetoric of Blake, ‘peace, democracy and united Sri Lanka’, is a historically proven bundle of contradictions that always went against the nation of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Sampanthan presides oath taking event of ITAK local councilors

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 April 2011, 05:36 GMT]
The oath taking event of seventy six councilors of the fifteen local bodies in the North and East is scheduled to be held on Saturday in Trincomalee Town Hall. Mr.R.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the President of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) arrived in Trincomalee Friday evening to preside over the event. The event was earlier fixed for Sunday.
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HRW demands accountability for wartime disappearances

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 April 2011, 05:19 GMT]
Human Rights Watch, a New York based rights organization, said in a press release issued Friday that "[t]hrough interviews with relatives of the missing and witnesses, published testimony, and media reports, Human Rights Watch found that more than 20 people who were taken into army custody between May 16 and 18, 2009, appear to have been forcibly disappeared. Most of them are known to have been detained in the Vadduvaakal area, just south of the strip of land in northeastern Sri Lanka where the final battle between the LTTE and government forces occurred. At the time, the area was controlled by the Sri Lankan army’s 59 Division," and demanded that Colombo "should account for everyone who was taken into custody."
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Emergency extended for another month in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 April 2011, 05:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Thursday evening adopted the motion by the government to extend the state of emergency for another month with a majority of 81 votes. 98 parliamentarians from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituents voted for the motion, parliamentary sources said.
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Eastern Tamil, Muslim nurses barred from voting in Nursing Council elections

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 April 2011, 00:44 GMT]
Majority of Tamil and Muslim nurses in the eastern province have their voting rights violated in the election of office bearers of the Sri Lanka Nurses Council scheduled to take place on Saturday in Colombo, according to provincial nurses’ union sources. 11 members of the 19 member Nurses Council are to be elected at Saturday election.
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Heavy competition in capturing Tamil media in the island

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 April 2011, 00:42 GMT]
Shares of a leading all-island Tamil daily, Thinakkural, published simultaneously in Colombo and Jaffna, were for ‘sale’ recently for hundreds of millions, and the competitors ranged from a former LTTE bigwig in the Rajapaksa camp and a Sinhala media house to circles close India. Ultimately, another leading Tamil daily in the island, The Virakesari, succeeded in purchasing 41 percent of the shares for 240 million rupees, informed media circles in Colombo said. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan state-owned media establishment Lake House has started publishing a Jaffna edition of its Tamil daily Thinakaran. Colombo soon plans to bring out this edition of Thinakaran using the facilities of Eezhanaatham, the only daily that was earlier coming from Vanni and the building of which is now occupied by the SL colonial military.
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Abductions of under-age youth escalate in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 April 2011, 23:05 GMT]
Unidentified men from South last Sunday abducted a 13-year-old Tamil boy, K. Diluxon, from Uruththirapuram in Ki'linochchi. The boy managed to escape from his abductors while they parked their vehicle in Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, a 17-year-old girl, Sangarapillai Maithrayi, from Vallaarai in Thenmaraadchi in Jaffna district was reported missing since Monday, according to complaints registered at Human Rights Commission in Jaffna.
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Thumpa'lai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 April 2011, 19:16 GMT]
The (place of) Thumpa’lai trees (Vatica obscura)
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Blake sees ‘people to people’ ties through militaries

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 April 2011, 13:36 GMT]
The US Asst Secretary of State Robert O Blake, giving testimony before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday said that the value of the skyrocketing US arms sales to India over the last decade “is not just the dollar figure – they both represent and strengthen deeper levels of cooperation between our two militaries and facilitate building people-to-people ties.” On Sri Lanka Blake said: “Positioned directly on the shipping routes that carry petroleum products and other trade from the Gulf to East Asia, Sri Lanka remains of strategic interest to the U.S. An important contributor to global peacekeeping operations, Sri Lanka stands poised to be a capable and willing partner to effectively combat violent extremism, trafficking and piracy, and thereby help to ensure the maritime security of the region.”
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SL parliament debates emergency extension motion

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 April 2011, 11:27 GMT]
While moving a motion to seek the approval of House to extend the State of Emergency for another month, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne Thursday claimed in parliament that LTTE’s international network remain intact even after LTTE's defeat two years ago in the battlefield. Jayaratne referred to the talks between with US Assistant Secretary of State and the representatives of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and the British Tamil Forum (BTF) recently. The State of Emergency is being extended every month with the approval of the parliament since August 2005.
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Fishermen spot dead bodies of SLN sailors in the seas off Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 April 2011, 17:13 GMT]
Tamil fishermen from Vadamaraadchi East on Wednesday said they spotted dead bodies of uniformed Sri Lanka Navy sailors floating in the seas off Vadamaraadchi East while the fishermen went for fishing. There were also reports that four Tamil Nadu fishermen had gone missing in the seas. In the meantime, two decomposed bodies of males without clothes have been washed ashore in Jaffna during the last 48 hours.
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‘SL forces want Emergency extended for colonizing East’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 April 2011, 12:11 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa, Pakiaselvam Ariyanethiran, Tuesday night told media that Sri Lankan forces were staging search operations in the three districts of Eastern Province to justify Colombo's “need” to extend the Emergency in the island. The Sri Lanka Army with the SL Police on Tuesday launched major cordon and search operation simultaneously in all the three districts of the Eastern province for the first time since the end of Vanni war. Meanwhile, Tamil residents of border villages in the East said the SLA had put up new road blocks and had issued warnings asking for details of those who were protesting against Sinhalese being settled along the border villages.
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Tamil national activist attacked in London

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 April 2011, 19:09 GMT]
Two unidentified men attacked Eezham Tamil nationalist R. Soosaipillai, known as Thanam, in front of his house in London Monday night. Mr. Thanam, a veteran activist, was one of the key persons who supported the successful re-mandate of Vaddukkoaddai Resolution in UK that democratically reaffirmed the Eezham Tamil aspiration for an independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in January 2010. He served as a mobilisation coordinator in the British Tamil Forum (BTF) during the crucial time 2008 – 2010. Thanam, who once served the infrastructure of the Tamil national cause for 21 years, is also one who grasped the transition of the times with perception. The 47-year-old activist has been a force behind major Tamil public events in UK including the Heroes Day remembrances. In his capacity, he has always been in touch with the law and order agencies of UK.
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Tamil boy reported missing in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 April 2011, 10:46 GMT]
14-year-old M.Puvithas a resident of Thambalawatte village in Vellaave’li police division has been reported missing since Monday afternoon.
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Australia soft on prosecuting Kohona's alleged war-crimes - paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 April 2011, 03:01 GMT]
Professor Gideon Boas of Monash University School of Law, in an article appearing in Sydney Morning Herald, criticized the Australian Government for its reluctance to prosecute war criminals, and pointed to the recent filing by two Tamil organizations of war-crime charges in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Dr Palitha Kohona who is an Australian citizen and formerly a senior official with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. While Prof Boas said the factual case has problems and complexities, the Tamil organizations that filed the case said that new key witnesses to the Kohona's alleged crimes have come forward and that a "superceding complaint" will likely be filed with ICC once a legally admissible deposition is obtained from the new witnesses.
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Security for resettling Tamils in Batticaloa's border villages abysmal

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 April 2011, 21:18 GMT]
28 Tamils, most of them family men with many children, have been reported disappeared since 2008 in Batticaloa's border villages with the Sinhala districts, human rights activists in Batticaloa say. Tamil women who have lost their husbands are subjected to sexual harassments under the highly militarised condition prevailing in these villages. I'rakkaka'di villagers in Ea'raavoor-pattu in Chengkaladi division have refused to resettle without proper security to them.
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Sinhala hoodlum attack Up-Country Tamils after SL defeat in Cricket final

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 April 2011, 16:39 GMT]
Sinhala hoodlum including some Muslims were on the rampage in the several parts of the upcountry attacking Up-Country Tamils of Tamil Nadu origin following the defeat of the Sri Lanka to India in the World Cup final that was held in Mumbai in India last Saturday. The unruly mob had entered line rooms of upcountry Tamil families and damaged the household properties and causing cut injuries to three Tamil youths, according to Mr.Arumugan Thondaman, leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), a constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by Mahinda Rajapaksa. About 25 upcountry Tamil youths had been admitted in Dikkoya hospital with cut injuries caused by sharp weapons.
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Book on India’s war crimes against Eezham Tamils released in New Delhi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 April 2011, 20:33 GMT]
A new book on the war crimes committed by the ‘Indian Peace Keeping Force’ (IPKF) against Eezham Tamil civilians during 1987-1989 has been released at the Jawaharlal Nehru University Campus in New Delhi, Friday. The book, “In the Name of Peace: IPKF Massacres of Tamils in Sri Lanka” was documented by the Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) and was published by the Delhi Tamil Students Union. The book release organized by The Coordinating Committee for Oppressed Nationalities was followed by the screening of a documentary film, “Mullaiththeevu Saga” by Someetharan on the genocide of Eezham Tamils. Observers said that opinion prevailed among the panellists and audience favoured the Eezham Tamil right to secede.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 April 2011, 19:11 GMT]
Sivakuru Ganeshalingam, 47, resident of Periyakallaaru has been reported disappeared since March 23, according to complaints made by his relatives with the Batticaloa Police, sources in Batticaloa said. Ganeshalingam left Batticaloa to Colombo on that day and his relatives have lost contact with him, the complaint states.
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Forced registration in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 April 2011, 19:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has instructed residents of Vellaveli in Batticaloa district to register with the village level officers (Grama Niladhari-GN), civil society sources in Batticaloa said. The SLA has directed the GN to submit all names of residents of the village in forms supplied to them. SLA has also directed the villagers to indicate whether the household members include ex-cadres of the LTTE and disabled due to conflict. This has caused tension and fear among the villagers.
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