TNA MP meets Norwegian Special Envoy in Oslo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 12:14 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Batticaloa District, S. Jeyanandamoorthy, who is currently on a visit to Europe, met Norwegian Special Envoy to Sri Lanka, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, in Oslo on Monday and discussed the political and humanitarian situation prevailing in the North and East. "Rajapaksa government is now attempting to seek regional recognition, especially from India, as it attempts to seek foreign funds for implementing a colonisation-agenda in the East," the MP told TamilNet after his meeting with the Norwegian Envoy.
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9 Up-Country Tamils arrested in Marawila, Kochchikade

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 10:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police took into custody nine Up-Country Tamil civilians including a woman into custody Monday in two separate search operations. Marawila Police took eight Tamil youths and the Kochchikade Police took a Tamil woman. All have been residents of Passara in Badulla district and had been employed in Marawila and Kochchikade.
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9 upcountry Tamils arrested in Marawila, Kochchikade

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 03:56 GMT]
Police took into custody nine Tamil civilians including a woman into custody Monday in two separate incidents for alleged involvement with the LTTE. Marawila Police took eight Tamil youths and the Kochchikade Police took a Tamil woman. All are residents of Passara in Badulla district and have been employed in Marawila and Kochchikade, sources said.
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8 Tamils arrested in Polonnaruwa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 03:03 GMT]
Eight Tamil civilians were arrested Tuesday morning in a cordon and search operation conducted jointly by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in Polonnaruwa town in the north western province. They are being detained in police station and are being interrogated for alleged involvement in LTTE activity, sources said.
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Thousands pay their last respects to Thangamma Appakkuddi

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 June 2008, 15:08 GMT]
More than five thousand people gathered together at Thellippazhai Monday to pay their last respects to the mortal remains of Thangamma Appakuddi, the veteran religious and cultural personality of Eezham Tamils, in the homage paying event held around 12:00 p.m. in the Common Hall outside Thellippazhai Thurkkai Amman Koayil, presided by Aa’ruthirumurkan. Most of the schools in the peninsula were closed before lunch interval while all schools, shops, private and public institutions in Valikaamam north were closed before noon enabling all to attend the funeral.
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Italian Tamils express support for Eezham homeland

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 June 2008, 14:40 GMT]
Diaspora Tamils in Northern Italy gathered Sunday for Pongku Thamizh rally held in Piazza Argentina in Milan, one of the largest cities in Italy, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., and voiced their support for Eezham Tamil homeland, Tamils right to self-determination, and protested against the Sri Lankan state's aerial bombardment of Tamil civilians and rights violations of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. Burani Vainer, a renown lawyer in Italy for his legal defence of freedom struggles, addressed the audience as a chief guest, on the principles of the right to self determination.
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40 Tamil civilians arrested in Polonnaruwa, Chilaw

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2008, 18:48 GMT]
Forty civilians, most of them are Tamils were taken into custody in two separate cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in Polonnaruwa and Chilaw police divisions. All are being detained in police stations and being interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID).
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Thangamma Appakkuddi passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2008, 18:32 GMT]
Veteran religious and cultural personality of Eezham Tamils, Thangamma Appakkuddi, passed away on Sunday noon, at the age of 84, after bedridden for a few weeks in a stage of coma at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. Apart from her religious leadership, Ms. Thangamma Appakkuddi, was a philanthropist and a social worker, caring for the much needed requirements of women and children in a war-torn society. She was an institution by herself. The funeral rites are scheduled to take place on Monday 2:00 p.m. at Kadduppeddi crematorium in her native village, Thellippazhai.
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Abductions have blessings of Colombo- Ganeson

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2008, 00:01 GMT]
Responding to the recent press communiqué released by the Presidential secretariat, Mano Ganeshan MP, the leader of Western Province People Front (WPPF) and Convenor of Civil Monitoring Commission on Extra judicial killings and Disappearances state, in a press release issued Friday said: "It is good to note that the President is concerned of this situation but we did not create this situation. In fact this was created due the abductions created with the blessings of this Government."
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Norwegian Politician regrets irrationality of International Community

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 June 2008, 23:56 GMT]
The International Community, stamped out all important Tamil organisations by branding them as terrorists, while remaining passive to the misdeeds of the Sinhala government. By doing so, the IC has acted irrationally, said Trond Jensrud, a ruling Labour Party (AP) politician of the Oslo Municipal Council while addressing the Pongku Thamizh rally held at Valle Hovin stadium in Oslo, the capital of Norway, on Saturday. The Norwegian government should seriously consider the Tamil stance stated clearly in this rally and take it up with the International forum, he further said.
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Diaspora Tamils launch Pongku Thamizh 2008

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 June 2008, 13:41 GMT]
Diaspora Eezham Tamils on Saturday began rallying in support of the Eezham Tamils Right to Self-Determination in 'Pongku Thamizh,' which means 'Tamil Upsurge', an annual move aimed at Tamil awakening through cultural programmes. First country to mark the move was New Zealand, where Tamils gathered at Potters Park in Auckland for two hours on Saturday between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
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East CM wants foreign funds for rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2008, 16:16 GMT]
"We need assistance from foreign countries to provide dwellings to resettle displaced," said Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the Chief Minister of Eastern Province and the head of TMVP paramilitary. "My administration will not show any discrimination while maintaining law and order with our own police force," he said.
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3 Tamils abducted, youth reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2008, 13:40 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in civil clothes abducted Wednesday around 10:30 p.m. the manager of a lodge in Kotahena while a family man was abducted the same night by a gang of armed men arriving at his house in Kotahena. In the third abduction, three men in police uniform and one in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) uniform abducted Monday an elderly man from his house in Wattala, sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, a Tamil youth from Kotahena is reported missing from his home since Tuesday, according to the complaint made by his relatives to Kottahena police.
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Veteran Tamil civil servant Sangaravel passes away

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 23:53 GMT]
Veteran civil servant and renowned social worker Poopalapillai Sangaravel, former Additional Government Agent of Batticaloa passed away Monday night in London, succumbing to heart failure four days before his 79th birthday. He is remembered with gratitude for his committed, relentless and yeoman service to the people of the Eastern Province for a long time. He was a well-wisher of TamilNet and readily helped it on many occasions with consultancies related to the Eastern Province. TamilNet joins the multitudes of mourners in paying tributes to him and conveying condolences to his bereaved family members.
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22 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo suburb

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 12:51 GMT]
22 Tamil youths were arrested Wednesday in Dehiwala, a suburb of Colombo, during a pre-dawn cordon and search operation by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police. The arrested Tamils were being detained at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at Kalkissa (Mount Lavinia) police station for questioning, Police said.
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Rival London demonstrations as Rajapaksa meets Commonwealth leaders

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2008, 13:49 GMT]
Over thousand expatriate Tamils demonstrated Tuesday outside the Commonwealth Secretariat where Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa was attending a conference of Commonwealth leaders. Meanwhile several hundred other Tamils who arrived at the demonstration in Pall Mall were turned away by Police, citing space restrictions, to another space in Trafalgar Square. Next to the Tamil demonstration fifty Sinhalese staged a protest in support of the SL President Rajapaksa.
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Shady force speaks of revenge, claims responsibility for bus bombs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2008, 10:19 GMT]
'Ellalan Force', a shady identity in which name terror threats come from time to time in Colombo as well as in Jaffna, on Monday, claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on "transport vehicles" and said the attacks were "stern replies" to four Sri Lankan attacks, an aerial bombardment and three LRRP (also known as DPU) Claymore attacks, in which 26 Tamil civilians were killed.
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50 civilians arrested in Ratnapura

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 June 2008, 17:18 GMT]
About fifty persons, majority of them Tamils of upcountry origin, were taken into custody in Ratnapura town in Sabragamuwa province in a cordon and search operation conducted jointly by the Sri Lanka Army and Police Sunday morning from 8 till afternoon. Police ordered owners to open their shops and searched, sources said.
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Normalcy returns to Aaraiyampathi,, Kaaththaankudi

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 June 2008, 15:02 GMT]
After more than a week of violence, normalcy returned Sunday in Kaaththaankudi, Aarayampathi areas in Batticaloa district sources said. All the business establishments have reopened and normal transport is being continued without any interruption. Muslims and Tamils are able to travel through each others’ villages, the local residents said.
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Diaspora Tamil students mark Sivakumaran Day

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 June 2008, 12:03 GMT]
The Tamil Students' Uprising in Sri Lanka, originating in the late 1920s and early 30s against the Donoughmore Constitution, remained a peaceful struggle even in 1970 when the Tamil Students League entered into the scene. But, the 1972 Constitution inevitably compelled the Tamil youth to get into armed struggle and Sivakumaran was the pioneer marking this transition and setting its basic attributes such as sacrificing one's life by consuming cyanide, said Ki. Pi. Aravinthan, a close associate of Sivakumaran, while addressing an event held for the memory of Sivakumaran at Rohr in the district of Aarau in Switzerland on Saturday.
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