India's Champoor power project, a terrible scandal, say activists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 19:44 GMT]
While India's National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) Chairman Ram Charan Sharma told the media that the 500-MW thermal power project in Champoor in Trincomalee district will be one of the largest infrastructure investment in Sri Lanka, residents and rights activists complained that the Indian decision to pick Champoor for the power project had added to the Champoor displaced people's misery. "I have interacted with Indian diplomats (in Colombo) and am certain they are very sensitive to the human rights and humanitarian issues. But if India is involved in this, it will be a grave disappointment, even a terrible scandal," the activist told the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), the agency reported.
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Former Mayor of Jaffna passes away

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2008, 11:27 GMT]
Mr. Sinnathamby Nagarajah, who served as Mayor of Jaffna twice in the late 60’s, passed away in New Jersey, USA, on Thursday May 8h at the age of 77. Mr. Nagarajah was a Tamil nationalist, and an active member of the Tamil diaspora in lobbying in the United States for political support for Tamil struggle of self determination.
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Burning Memories: Documentary on Jaffna Library

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 15:51 GMT]
A 49-minute documentary, titled Burning Memories, featuring the story and the memories of the Jaffna Library, which was burnt down by the Sri Lankan Police in June 01, 1981, has been produced by an audio visual journalist, S. Someetharan. The tri-lingual documentary is scheduled to be released in May by the Nikari, the producers and distributors of the film.
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CAFFE says east situation deteriorating

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 00:11 GMT]
Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CAFFE) said at press briefing held Tuesday that it has received complaints that Pillaiyan armed group has been threatening Tamils to vote only for their candidates, and CAFFE feels that the opportunity for a free and fair election in the east, especially in Batticaloa district is very dim, the Head of CAFFE executive committee, Attorney-at-Law Shiral Lakthilakie, was quoted as saying by media sources.
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Sinhala thugs threaten, rob Piliyandala Tamil traders

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2008, 17:40 GMT]
Tamil traders in Piliyandala are living in constant fear as Sinhala goons daily threaten them and rob their stocks of goods from their establishments. This has been going on since the Piliyandala bus bomb blast, media sources said.
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Rajapaksa prorogues SL Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 17:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has moved on to prorogue the sittings of the Sri Lankan Parliament until June 05 according to an extra-ordinary gazette notification published Tuesday midnight. The move comes amid the increased media attention and the debate on SLA casualties in the Northern Front as four days were left for the Eastern provincial elections where oppositions parties including the SLMC, UNP and the JVP have protested against the armed paramilitary in the East. Meanwhile, in a specially arranged televised broadcast, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised the remote villagers in the east that they would get everything that they have aspired for.
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Vaiko condemns military soft loan, assails India's opposition to UN resolution on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 07:00 GMT]
Expressing "terrible shock" over the press reports that New Delhi was finalising a soft loan package of USD100 million for Sri Lankan military, Vaiko, the general secretary of Marumalarchchi Dravida Munneatta Kazhakam (MDMK) sent an urgent letter Monday to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to reconsider the decision and recalled earlier assurance given to him in April by Dr. Manmohan Singh that India was not giving any arms to Sri Lanka. At the same time, Mr. Vaiko expressed serious concern over India's opposition to the move initiated by European Countries to bring a resolution in the United Nations against the gross violation of human rights by the Sri Lankan government.
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Batticaloa tops in poll related violence

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 17:53 GMT]
Twenty seven complaints of election related violence have been reported from the Batticaloa district till Monday evening as the election campaign is in full swing in towns and villages where Muslims and Sinhalese are living in majority. Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) said Tamils in the three districts are not showing any interest in the election, media sources said.
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We will restore democracy to Eastern province – Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 13:58 GMT]
“United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) alliance will restore democracy to the East by putting an end to the domination by paramilitary groups,” Ranil Wickremasinghe, the Leader of the Opposition and UNP head said Sunday addressing a SLMC party conference held in Kaaththaankudi attended by more than 10,000 Muslims from the north, east provinces, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Ethnic divide reflected in Sri Lanka media coverage

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 17:56 GMT]
The polarization between Sri Lanka’s ethnic communities is also reflected in coverage of the island’s protracted conflict and has rendered ‘the truth’ an inevitable casualty of war, several speakers argued last week at the annual conference in London of the International Association of Tamil Journalists (IATAJ). The day-long event at the University of Westminster was attended by one hundred invited participants and was addressed by journalists, academics and media activists, including Mr. Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, editor of the Uthayan newspaper, Mr Chandana Bandara, senior producer with the BBC’s Sinhala service and Mr. Bhagwan Singh of the Deccan Chronicle.
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41 civilians arrested in Ratmalana, 24 in Minuwangoda

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 10:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police, assisted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in two separate cordon and search operations, took into custody 65 civilians for questioning. 41 were arrested in Ratmalana in search operation conducted Sunday for about five hours from 5:00 a.m. 24 civilians were arrested in Minuwangoda from Saturday night till Sunday early morning, reports from Colombo said.
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Diaspora children attend Europe-wide exams in Tamil

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 10:14 GMT]
13,300 children and students from the Tamil Diaspora on Saturday attended annual exams in Tamil language across various countries in Europe and in New Zealand. The exams, conducted by the Tamil Education Development Council (TEDC), a European trans-national Tamil initiative, are largely sustained through volunteer effort and from the contribution of Tamil educational institutions in Europe.
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Large-scale search operation in Colombo: 84 taken to station, 15 detained

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2008, 18:00 GMT]
Around 300 Tamils were taken into Jinthuppiddi grounds following a large-scale search operation conducted by the police with the assistance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) covering Kathiresan Street and Jinthupity Street in Colombo Saturday morning. 84 persons were taken in two buses to Pettah police station and fifteen of them were detained there for interrogations Saturday evening, Police said.
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Northern Front impregnable, say NTT panelists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2008, 10:49 GMT]
Colombo was forced into staging Mukamaalai offensive to ensure safety to troops in Jaffna which had fallen within the range of artillery, panelists said during a Political Analysis segment of National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), participated by LTTE military spokesperson, Irasiah Ilanthiraiyan, and Chief-Editor of Viduthalaip Pulika'l, LTTE's official organ, S. Ravi, in the programme moderated by K. Veera, this week. Panelists added that Colombo's assertion that LTTE is moving troops between different Northern fronts is a figment of their imagination, and refuted the claim that the Sri Lanka Air Force has caused detrimental impact to LTTE's war machinery.
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Police arrests 8 Up-Country Tamils in Kandy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2008, 18:37 GMT]
Kandy police arrested 2 youths in Kandy town for not having registered their names in the police record of their working place and 2 for the possession of drugs, Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, Davulagala police in Udunuwara division in Kandy arrested 4 Tamil youths in their police division for not possessing documents of their identification.
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15 civilians arrested in Mt.Lavinia, 3 in Hatton

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 April 2008, 10:57 GMT]
Fifteen civilians, majority of them said to be Tamils, were taken in for questioning in a cordon and search conducted Sunday evening in Mt.Lavinia. Some of the arrested are residents of Jaffna, Colombo, and Kaddaiparichchan in Moothoor east, reports from Colombo said.
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SLA occupation of Madu, triggers fears of renewed Sinhalicisation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 17:42 GMT]
The Madu Road junction located on Mannaar-Madawachchi Road, which branches off the main route to Madu shrine, situated in the middle of traditional Tamil area, became the center of a Sinhala settlement in the 1970s. The Sri Lanka Government had the agenda of transforming the area into a full-fledged Sinhala colony, by using the lands of a cashew farm between the Madu Shrine and the junction. However, the settlement was later abandoned, fearing repercussions following large-scale massacre and arson committed by the Sri Lanka Army in December 1984 after a landmine blast. The spectre of a Sinhalicised Madu area has now become a dangerous new reality with SLA's occupation of Madu shrine.
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Re-negotiate Kachchatheevu: CPI urges Indian Government

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 09:41 GMT]
Communist Party of India (CPI) National Secretary D Raja urged the Indian Government to intervene in Sri Lanka's prolonged ethnic strife in view of the escalation of human rights abuses in the island nation. "Finding a solution to the ethnic crisis alone can bring about a solution to the problems of Tamil Nadu fishermen," he said. Recalling that the state Government of Tamil Nadu had protested when India ceded Kadchaththeevu to Sri Lanka in 1974, he urged upon the Indian Government to renegotiate the Kadchaththeevu Accord and facilitate Tamil Nadu fisherment to catch fish without any hindrance whatsoever.
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Search operation at Katunayake, 10 arrested

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 02:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sunday early morning launched a cordon and search operation in areas surrounding the Katunayake airbase and arrested 10 civilians, majority of them Tamils. Police sources said they are being detained at police station and being interrogated as they failed to prove their identity and justify their stay in the location.
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15 Tamils arrested at Matale

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 00:24 GMT]
Fifteen Tamil civilians were arrested at Matale town Sunday morning in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police. The arrested are being detained at Matale police station and interrogated as they failed to prove their identity and justify the presence in the location, media sources said.
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