Politically French, culturally Tamil: 12 Tamils elected in Paris and suburbs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 06:54 GMT]
An emerging picture in recent times in Europe and North America is the active and successful participation of Tamils in the local politics. The new impetus seems to be coming from the younger generation of Eezham Tamils. Twelve candidates of Tamil origins have been elected to the local bodies of Paris and suburbs in the local government elections concluded last Sunday in France. Seven of them are Eezham Tamils while three are of Pondicheri (Paa'ndichcheari) origins and one each of Mauritius and Guaduloupe background.
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Boston Globe advocates "Self-rule in a confederal structure for Tamil region"

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2008, 10:01 GMT]
Pointing to Sri Lanka's documented pattern of "abductions of civilians by security forces," and Rajapakse Government's complicity in "large scale disappearances," Boston Globe in an editorial Monday said: "[t]he bottom line is Sri Lanka's conflict is political, and it must be resolved by political means. A lasting solution will require that the central government grant meaningful self-rule to the Tamil region, perhaps in a confederal structure that maintains the unity of the country. Continuing attempts to resolve the conflict militarily can only produce more suffering and more war."
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Abductions escalate in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2008, 09:48 GMT]
Armed men in police uniform arriving in a van bearing registration number 250 7363 Sunday around 7:00 a.m at Sangamiththa Mawata in Colombo abducted a Tamil youth who had come from Jaffna with his mother to go abroad, according to the complaint made by the his mother to Kotahena (Koddaagncheanai) police. Meanwhile, a Tamil student of Moratuwa University, abducted on March 4 from Colpetty in Colombo, is still missing. Abduction of Tamils in Western Province by armed men in white van have escalated in recent days despite the global attention on Sri Lanka's Human Rights violations.
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Police arrests 2 Upcountry Tamils at Monergala bus stand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 March 2008, 13:25 GMT]
Moneragala Police arrested a Tamil youth and his younger sister at the main bus stand Friday afternoon, media sources said quoting Police sources. Both siblings are being detained in the police station and interrogated by the Terrorist Investigation Department as they failed to prove their identity and the purpose of their visit to Colombo, the Police said.
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India should not collaborate in genocide of Tamils: Tamil Protection Movement

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2008, 22:19 GMT]
The Tamil Protection Movement (TPM), an umbrella organization consisting of pro-Eelam political parties, NGOs, members of the film fraternity and Tamil associations, condemned the Indian state for extending military support to the genocidal Sri Lankan Government. In a joint statement issued on behalf of the TPM, Paaddaa'li Makka'l Kadchi (PMK, Toilers' Party) founder-leader S Ramadoss and Viduthalai Chi'ruththaika'l Kadchi (VCK, Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol Thirumavalavan, demanded the "Indian Government to radically change its approach and actions in the Sri Lankan Tamils issue" and warned the union government not to be seen as collaborating in Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils.
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Colombo irked by US Rights report

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2008, 14:53 GMT]
The 2007 Country Report of Human Rights Practices in Sri Lanka released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the U.S. State Department has created shockwaves within the Rajapakse Government according to Media reports in Colombo Friday. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama had called on the US Ambassador in Colombo, Robert O Blake, to register “Sri Lanka’s serious concerns” on the report, Colombo media reported.
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Stop Indian military aid to Sri Lanka: Tamil Nadu leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2008, 14:44 GMT]
New Delhi unabashedly rolling the red carpet to Sri Lankan military chief Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka has caused a furore among Tamil Nadu politicians who have urged the Indian Central Government to "stop all military aid to the genocidal government of Sri Lanka." Paddali Makkal Kadchi (PMK, Toilers' Party) founder-leader S Ramadoss and Viduthalai Chiruththaikal Kadchi (VCK, Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol Thirumavalavan accused the Central Government of sabotaging Tamil aspirations on the Sri Lankan issue by lending support to the military-backed genocide of the Eelam Tamils.
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British parliamentarians call for UK to rein in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 04:30 GMT]
A group of Parliamentarians from all of Britain’s main political parties Tuesday condemned the assassination last week of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP K Sivanesan and, lamenting the recent exit of the international panel overseeing rights abuses probes in Sri Lanka, called on the UK government to take all possible steps to ensure that Government of Sri Lanka plays by accepted international rules.
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Shaping India's policy on Sri Lanka: a reader's response

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 01:08 GMT]
"Those who watch the current developments sense a race against time on the part of India in achieving something militarily in Sri Lanka. At times it looks as though it is India’s war," writes a reader from Tamil Nadu in response to the LTTE's statement on Monday. "The Refuse-to-Retire advisors cum analysts of India, whose writings often reek of revenge, sometimes back came out with enticing hints that the target is only the leadership of the LTTE, and thereafter India will protect the Tamils. Have these advisors ever seen in their lifetime India proving its credibility in safeguarding Tamil rights in Sri Lanka or for that matter, at least India winning a diplomatic war with Sri Lanka?"
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CPI responds to LTTE statement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 23:53 GMT]
The government of India should not provide any military help to Sri Lanka, said T. Pandian, the secretary of Tamil Nadu branch of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in an interview to the BBC Thamizhoasai on Tuesday. "The Sri Lankan government is engaging its armed forces against the Tamils in an uncivilised way. In such a situation, receiving the Sri Lankan military chief in India or Indian military officials visiting Sri Lanka to advice them should be avoided. The Sri Lankan government is unjust in every respect. Instead of condemning, it is despicable for Indian government to have any relations with it. Even if there was any before, that should be terminated now."
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12 Tamils arrested at Gokarella, Kandy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 11:43 GMT]
Nine civilians, all said to be Tamils, were taken into custody on Sunday morning at Gokarella by the police when the bus they were traveling in was stopped and searched at the sentry point. Gokarella is located along Dambulla-Kurunagala road.
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5 civilians arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 03:10 GMT]
Five civilians, all said to be Tamils, were arrested Monday in Wellawatte area in Colombo city in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police immediately after the time bomb explosion that took place near Roxy Theatre Monday morning around 7 a.m., media sources said quoting Wellawatte police sources.
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India risks indictment in war crimes, cautions LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2008, 20:05 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) from its Head Quarters in Vanni on Monday released a statement condemning the Indian 'State welcome' extended to Sri Lanka Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka and the statements made by Indian military chiefs in this context. "The Indian State must take the responsibility for the ethnic genocide of the Tamils that will be carried out by the Sinhala military, re-invigorated by such moves of the Indian State," the statement said. "LTTE wishes to point out to the Indian State that by this historic blunder, it will continue to subject the Eelam Tamils to misery and put them in the dangerous situation of having to face ethnic genocide on a massive scale."
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50% turnout, paramilitary manipulates voting in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2008, 11:10 GMT]
Voter turnout within Batticaloa municipal council was low till Monday noon, according to the sources in Batticaloa city. However, turnout at rural areas was above 50%. Despite the presence of a reasonable number of monitors, there were reports of fraudulent activities as paramilitary personnel were actively engaged in transporting voters to the booths. The TMVP paramilitary has heaped up anti-Muslim campaign warning Tamils that non-participation in local elections would benefit the Muslims. Paramilitary personnel were also seen visiting households checking civilians' participation in the elections. Violent incidents were low.
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International leftists urge support for Tamil cause

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2008, 02:50 GMT]
More than thirty international leftwing political parties and organisations who met last week as part of a conference organized by Fourth International in Amsterdam made an appeal to “left wing and progressive forces to come forward in defence of the just cause of the Tamil people.” In a public statement they demanded that the Sri Lankan government “stop imposing its will militarily on the Tamil people.”
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Danish MEP condemns Sivanesan killing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2008, 22:42 GMT]
Danish Member of European Parliament, Søren Søndergaard, condemned the murder of K. Sivanesan, Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian calling on the Danish government and the entire International Community to condemn the killing of Tamil parliamentarians, and to take efforts to help Sri Lanka reach a just peace that could benefit people of all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, media sources in Denmark said. He also expressed concern that Norway has carried a significant burden in shouldering peace mediation task with little assistance from others.
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Genocidal policies exposed, Colombo stands weakened - Nadesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 22:49 GMT]
"Signs of desperation are evident in Sri Lanka’s defense hierarchy as the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) divisions stay bogged down within a few square kilometers in Mannaar, unable to advance for nearly a year. While SLA commanders are on foreign jaunts to build hurried military alliances, Colombo has also suffered politically with its racist policies in governance exposed internationally, and has earned opprobrium from international community for the escalating human rights violations," said B. Nadesan, head of political section of the Liberation Tigers addressing the event held in Ki'linochchi to pay last respects to the slain parliamentarian, K. Sivanesan, Saturday.
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Mt. Lavinia bomb blast suspects released on bail

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 14:19 GMT]
Four civilians-two Tamils and two Sinhalese- arrested in connection with the bomb blast in a bus in Mount Lavinia recently were released on bail when they were produced in court Friday. Magistrate Mr.Harsha Sethunge ordered personal bail for each suspect by signing a bond for Rs. 100,000. Further inquiry in the case was put off for May 7, legal sources said.
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Sinhala daily: Sri Lanka tops Asian countries in number of NGOs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 11:18 GMT]
Around 600 Non Government Organisations (NGOs) are officially present in Sri Lanka, while 400 more NGOs are also engaged in Sri Lanka without official presence, Divayina, a Sinhala language daily reported on Saturday. Highlighting that Sri Lanka had become a lucrative country for peace agencies, the paper pointed out that more than one hundred organisations were engaged in peace-related business, benefiting from the CFA. The newspaper criticized 8 organizations for managing to get foreign funding to the tune of 20 million rupees per year and further alleged that these organizations, which claimed to be researching about peace, were in fact supplying "false information" to foreign actors.
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Diaspora groups demand international action over MP’s slaying

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 02:52 GMT]
Tamil Diaspora organisations Friday condemned the killing of Tamil parliamentarian K. Sivanesan Thursday in a fragmentation mine attack blamed on Sri Lankan commandos and called for international action against the Colombo government. Pointing out that Mr. Sivanesan is the latest Tamil MP to be murdered by suspected Army-backed paramilitaries or members of the security forces in recent years, expatriate organisations from Australia, Canada and Britain called for the Sri Lankan government to be held accountable and for international sanctions to be imposed.
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