Six Tamils arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 10:19 GMT]
Mannaar Police Monday around 7:00 a.m. took six Tamils including two women into custody in the bazaar area of the Mannaar town. Police alleged that the women, being detained in Mannaar police station, were members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE).
Full story >>

Sri Lankan forces arrest 1,500 Tamils in South, detention camps overcrowded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2007, 12:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan armed forces have arrested around 1,500 Tamil men and women in wide scale cordon and search operations within the last 48 hours in Colombo and other districts in South, Tamil parliamentarians told media in Colombo on Sunday. 351 of the arrested persons in Colombo, currently detained at Boosa detention camp, complained that many of them were arrested despite documenting their identity and that they have not been provided proper food and drink for the last 48 hours. 51 of the detainees, at Boosa, were females.
Full story >>

Inquiry into FR petition against forceful eviction fixed for March 10

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2007, 10:13 GMT]
Three-member bench of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court this week fixed the inquiry into the fundamental rights petition filed in the forceful eviction of Tamils from lodges in Colombo for March 10 as the counsel for the petitioner agreed to consider the suggestion by the court to come to a compromise as the Sri Lankan Prime Minister had tendered an apology, legal sources said.
Full story >>

TRO diligently complied with U.S. laws- President

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 November 2007, 19:09 GMT]
Dr. N. A. Ranjithan, President of TRO-USA, in an opinion column appeared in Cumberland Times-News, says, "As a charity registered in the U.S.A., TRO has diligently and faithfully been complying with the laws and all regulations related to registered charities. TRO-USA reiterates that it is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising for the Libertarian Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)...I am deeply concerned about the future of Tamils in Sri Lanka, persecuted by their own government and left without many friends in the world. Now that TRO accounts are frozen, I hope and pray that some other organization will step in to fill the void."
Full story >>

South African Tamils commemorate Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2007, 18:49 GMT]
South African Tamils on Tuesday commemorated Tamileelam Heroes Day, paying homage to 19,887 war heroes and listening to Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Pirapaharan's speech at the Arudpaa Kazhakam in Durban. Pazha Nedumaran, the veteran Tamil National Movement leader from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, addressing the community leaders, religious dignitaries and supporters of Tamil struggle, called on the Global Tamil Community, to rally behind the Tamil cause for the "dawn of Tamileelam as a free state" and Dasarath Chetty, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kwazulu Natal, a South African Tamil of Indian origin, discussed the viability of Tamileelam.
Full story >>

Record crowd at London Tamil Remembrance Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2007, 17:27 GMT]
Over twenty five thousand expatriate Tamils in Britain gathered Tuesday to mark ‘Tamil Remembrance Day’ to pay their respects to those who had died in the Tamil liberation struggle. The event, organized by Tamil National Remembrance Foundation, an association of families of Tamils who had fallen in the Tamil struggle, was held at London’s ExCel arena. Amid resumed conflict in Sri Lanka, it was the largest attendance at the annual event, despite Tuesday being a working day, organizers said.
Full story >>

Propping up genocidal Sinhala State counterproductive, International Community should change approach - Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 November 2007, 12:33 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), V Pirapaharan, in his annual Heroes' Day statement placed a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of the international community for the breakdown of the peace process. He said that the involvement of the international community to resolve the Tamil national question has been unhelpful and added that their failure to condemn unambiguously the military path of the current regime has created the present situation in the island. He asserted that the propping up of the genocidal Sinhala State by the international community through economic aid, military aid and subtle diplomatic efforts will be counterproductive.
Full story >>

Tamils mark 25-years of Tiger sacrifice

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 November 2007, 10:11 GMT]
November 27 Heroes Day remembrance events were being held in Vanni since Sunday amid air attacks and Deep Penetration Unit attacks that have been stepped up by the Sri Lankan forces. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has deployed soldiers close to the Heroes cemeteries in SLA controlled areas of NorthEast, including the cemeteries that have been desecrated by the Sri Lankan forces in Batticaloa, Ampaa'rai and Trincomalee. From 27 November 1982, when the first LTTE fighter Lt. Sankar died, until 20 November 2007, a total of 19,877 fighters are declared war heroes by the Tamileelam Heroes Secretariat.
Full story >>

Abduction fear pervasive, say TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 November 2007, 10:52 GMT]
In a press conference held Friday in the premises of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, R. Sampanthan, leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) expressed fear that a number of members of parliament (MPs) might be abducted prior to the voting on the Third Reading of the Budget to be held 14 December, parliamentary sources said.
Full story >>

UNP welcomes ban on TRO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 03:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National party (UNP) has welcomed the government’s decision to ban the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), the Daily Mirror reported Friday. The UNP echoed the stance of the ultra-Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) with senior UNP official, Lakshman Kiriella, also telling a news conference that the government had failed to pursue the matter with commitment. Earlier this week, there was applause in Sri Lanka’s parliament as the government promised to consider banning the TRO and also the LTTE
Full story >>

Sri Lanka’s ban on TRO ‘final nail’ in coffin of peace process

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 01:10 GMT]
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisations (TRO) has condemned the Sri Lankan government’s banning of the charity, saying the Rajapakse regime had done so with the “ulterior motive of unleashing untold hardships on the Tamil people as part of [the government’s] continuing discrimination and oppression of the Tamil people.” The TRO, which has been the largest - and for long periods the sole - NGO assisting the hundreds of thousands of Tamils displaced by the conflict, said in a statement this week “With the banning of the TRO the final nail in the coffin of the peace process has been hammered home.”
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's War Secretariat?

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), in a 2000-word press release issued Thursday, took exceptions to the labelling of SCOPP as "the government’s War Secretariat," by Prof. Uyangoda, and as "Secretariat for Coordinating the War Process" by Sunday Times which highlighted SCOPP's "angrily incessant verbosity," in its story. Head of SCOPP adds, "our counterpart in Kilinochchi had shown itself indeed a War Secretariat, in celebrating the Black Tigers who had attacked the airbase at Anuradhapura," drawing moral equivalence between the 'behavior' of the two Secretatriats as part of SCOPP's rationale for defending Sri Lanka's rights abuses, among other accusations.
Full story >>

Sri Lankan minister announces cabinet decision to proscribe TRO

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 04:49 GMT]
Leader of the House, and Health Minister in the ruling United People Alliance (UPFA) government of Sri Lanka, Nimal Siripala de Silva, said Thursday morning that a cabinet decision has been taken Wednesday to proscribe the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Sri Lanka, parliamentary sources in Colombo said. Mr. Nimal Sripala de Silva was responding to a question raised in the parliament by Wimal Weerawansa, the propaganda secretary of the JVP, on the efforts taken by the Sri Lankan government on restricting the activities of International NGOs inside Liberation Tigers controlled areas.
Full story >>

Eelaventhan meets Harper, U.S. officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 13:32 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr Eelaventhan, currently visiting Canada and United States met with Canada's ruling Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and politicians from other parties during the early part of November, and also met with United States State Department officials on the 14th of November, briefing them on the worsening humanitarian conditions in Tamil areas of North East of Sri Lanka, and the deteriorating ground situation that is leading towards large scale confrontation between Sri Lanka Security forces and Liberation Tigers.
Full story >>

Thileepan statue destroyed in Nalloor, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 05:23 GMT]
A gang of unidentified men went on rampage Sunday night, during the curfew hours, demolishing the statue of Lt. Col. Thileepan (Rasiah Parthipan) located behind the historic Nalloor Kanthaswamy Koayil on Point Pedro Nalloor road, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

TRO denies U.S. accusations, says proscription will harm Tamil people

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 20:23 GMT]
Expressing dismay over U.S. Department of Treasury's action against the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), and reiterating that TRO is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," the TRO, in a press release issued Sunday, stated categorically that "all funds received are utilized according to the wishes of the donor, in line with the stated mission of TRO, to assist the tsunami and war affected populations of the NorthEast. None of these funds are, or have ever been found to have been, misappropriated for use by any other organization or used inappropriately by TRO itself."
Full story >>

TNA MPs condemn US action on TRO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 18:19 GMT]
"While the Government of Sri Lanka has imposed an effective economic embargo in Vanni, and the sustained bombardments of Sri Lanka Military have made situation difficult for International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) to work amidst the affected local residents in border villages of Tamil areas, United States has made the situation worse for the Tamil people, internally displaced and reeling under economic hardship, by stopping the humanitarian aid from the branches world-wide of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)," said Kajendran, parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance.
Full story >>

Eelam and Indian Security: Need for policy alternatives

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 23:33 GMT]
"The history of the past sixty years has brought us to a point that makes separation a necessary condition to renegotiate a union on an equal basis," writes Ampalam in the concluding part of his opinion column. "We live in a time witnessing the European nation states that gave birth to modern nationalism and fought two world wars, involving the entire world for the sake of their nationalistic competition, coming together as European Union. The Asean countries have set a similar agenda. Such wonders became possible when there were no conquests or outside interferences. Perhaps it is much easier to come together and achieve unity if the concerned parties are free to choose," he writes.
Full story >>

Eelam and Indian Security: Averting a Catastrophe

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 03:30 GMT]
The isolation of the LTTE and active assistance for a military option against it by the International Community, may lead the LTTE and the people backing it with no option other than facing the situation. The repercussions are sure to threaten Indian security for a long time to come. The major responsibility lies with the governments concerned in avoiding a catastrophe to the already suffering masses of Sri Lanka. The gap between the Government of India and the LTTE is a serious impediment in bringing out a balance in the crisis management. A situation of having outraged people on either side of the Palk Strait is unaffordable to Indian security, writes Opinion Columnist Ampalam.
Full story >>

U.S. freezes TRO funds

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 November 2007, 15:10 GMT]
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday announced that it would freeze the U.S.-held assets of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). A press release, issued by the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka charged that the TRO has acted as a front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Full story >>