Furore in Tamil Nadu over 'anti-Tamil' film

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2008, 19:29 GMT]
Politicians and film personalities from Tamil Nadu have taken strong exception to a Sinhalese film that seeks to "vulgarize the Tamil liberation struggle in Sri Lanka." Tamil Nadu Film Producers' Association President Rama. Narayanan condemned the film for disgracing the Tamil people at the end of a special screening. Tamil Protection Movement President Thol. Thirumavalavan vowed to take legal action to prevent the film's release in Tamil Nadu since he felt that it not only degraded the Eelam liberation struggle and hurt Tamil sentiments but it was also capable of disrupting communal harmony in Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

U.S. Rights report fortifies moral, legal entitlement of Tamil state- Fein

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 17:11 GMT]
Contrasting U.S. State Department’s institutional bias in favor of governments, and Bush administration’s willingness to overlook abuses by foreign governments in the name of fighting terrorism, with the recent U.S report on Human Rights in Sri Lanka, Bruce Fine, an attorney for a Tamil activist group in the U.S., in a statement released to the media Wednesday, asserts that, “[t]he fact that the United States would savage the human rights record of the GOSL [Government of Sri Lanka] means that its [Sri Lanka’s] actual terrorism record is far more gruesome than represented. The report thus fortifies the moral and legal entitlement of Tamils to a separate statehood.”
Full story >>

Sri Lanka’s parliament Monk shuns Nonviolence- paper

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 14:25 GMT]
Athurliye Rathana, a celebrated monk and a Sri Lanka parliamentarian, “sounded more like an army general than a legislator or monk” when he said, "[w]e can sort this out on our own. We tried to discuss things, but the LTTE always wanted to fight. We must do our duty on the battle field," Washington Post said in an article that appeared in the Wednesday edition.
Full story >>

Claymore attack in Batticaloa kills 2 policemen

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 06:08 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Police officials, providing escort to Japanese funded ProPoor project, were killed when they were caught in a Claymore blast that targeted a road patrol of elite Special Task Force (STF) foot patrol at Vaazhakkaaddu (Ma'nalpiddi) junction on Kokkaddichchoalai - Vavu'natheevu Road, 7 km west of Batticaloa city, around 9:00 a.m., Wednesday. 2 STF personnel were seriously wounded, Police said. 3 civilian cyclists were also wounded.
Full story >>

Jaffna HRC official receives death threats

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 06:08 GMT]
Unidentified men phoned an inquiry officer of Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) twice Monday night and issued death threats, and the official has registered a complaint at the HRC Head Office in Colombo, sources in Jaffna said. Death threats and intimidations issued to HRC officials who document rights violations in Jaffna peninsula have caused many to leave the peninsula in the past, the sources added.
Full story >>

Abducted Tamil man released at Kalubowila

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 March 2008, 17:57 GMT]
A Tamil civilian from Dehiwala, Edward Premanandan, 37, who was abducted Saturday night at Wellawatte in Colombo, was dropped by unidentified persons near the Kalubowila government hospital Monday night. He immediately admitted himself at the hospital for medical examination, according to media sources.
Full story >>

5 Tamil civilians arrested at Modera

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 March 2008, 17:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and police launched a cordon and search operation Tuesday morning at Modera police division in Colombo and arrested five Tamil civilians. Police said they were being interrogated following the recovery of a consignment of explosives.
Full story >>

No solution possible without LTTE – South Africa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 March 2008, 03:52 GMT]
Expressing deep concern over the escalating violence in Sri Lanka, South Africa this weekend called for renewed negotiations to end the protracted conflict and emphasized “no solution to this conflict can be found without the involvement of the two principal parties to the conflict – the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.” Speaking in London, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Communications Roy Padayachie assured that his country would render every assistance towards making peace but, in an implicit criticism of approaches by some other countries, said: “we will never ever impose our involvement in any part of the globe.”
Full story >>

Key Tamil official in Sri Lanka cricket to be sidelined

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 March 2008, 13:31 GMT]
A top Tamil official in Sri Lanka cricket, Velummylum Mathivanan, Secretary of the interim committee of Sri Lanka Cricket, has been "sidelined from his functions, and it s feared that he could be ousted from the job by the interim committee head Arjuna Ranatunga," Daily Mirror, a Colombo-based daily reported Monday.
Full story >>

Civil protection committee deployed in searches

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 March 2008, 11:13 GMT]
Members of civil protection committees (CPC) assisted by Sri Lanka Police launched random searches in public and private sector buses plying in various routes in Colombo and suburbs from morning till afternoon on Sunday causing tremendous inconveniences mainly to passengers amid protests by commuters, both Sinhalese and Tamil. The bus routes selected for search operation were mainly used by Tamils, media sources said.
Full story >>

2-day civil mobile service to be held in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 March 2008, 15:05 GMT]
Batticaloa District Government Agent is organizing a two day mobile service at Batticaloa Hindu College on March 29 and March 30 to provide additional services to people in fourteen DS divisions in the Batticaloa district to expedite issue of national identity cards, birth certificates, driving licenses from government departments, sources said.
Full story >>

Destroyed East villages, MP chronicles history

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2008, 16:33 GMT]
"Population of Sinhalese in the East was a mere 0.53 percent in 1827 but due to systematic colonisation and subsequent establishment of military camps along the borders of traditional Tamil areas, Sinhala settlers encroached into more than 25 percent of land owned by Tamils," said Maavai Senathirajah, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, addressing, as the chief guest, to a gathering in Colombo Saturday on the occasion of the release of a book "Destroyed Tamil villages," authored by fellow Member of Parliament (MP), S.Jeyananthamoorthy, literary sources in Colombo said. T. Kangasabai, Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian presided the function.
Full story >>

Military Officer in media position will affect war reporting, says CPJ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2008, 11:59 GMT]
Citing incidents of "ongoing intimidation of Sri Lanka media ... and the treatment of Tamil journalists under investigation by the Terrorist Investigation Division," and the appointment of retired Major General Sunil Silva, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York based media watch dog, in a letter sent to Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse Friday said, "[u]nsupported terrorist accusations threaten the security and livelihood of Tamil journalists. A military leader in a state media group threatens the objectivity of journalists," and urged Rajapakse to vigorously investigate attacks and provide the journalists with due protection.
Full story >>

FMM expresses outrage at militarization of media

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 23:54 GMT]
Pointing to the appointment of the recently retired Army Major General Sunil Silva as Additional Director General (Administration) of the State controlled TV station Sri Lanka Rupavahini Cooperation (SLRC), the Free Media Movement (FMM), in a press release issued Thursday said: "The militarisation of State apparatus under this regime is not new, but this is the first time it has extended to the media. Not only does this set an extremely disturbing precedent, it irrevocably vitiates the independence of State media from regressive party political patronage, influence and coercion."
Full story >>

4 Tamil women arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 10:01 GMT]
Three Tamil women who arrived in Colombo from Vavuniyaa accompanying another woman to go to Kuwait were arrested by the Kotahena Police. They were later ordered remand by the Colombo Magistrate. They are being detained in Welikada prison. They have been identified as Kumariah Mallika, 35, of Thonikal, Thushanthini Wijekumar, 23, of Manipuram, Ganeshan Indrani, 32, and Sivasubramaniam Sthreethevi, 25, of Anuradhapura, media sources said.
Full story >>

SLA corrals 3 additional Jaffna buses for military use

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 00:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commandeered three new buses from Koandaavil bus depot adding to the scarcity of serviceable buses available for public transport, further burdening the Jaffna SLTB officials reeling from fuel crisis, Jaffna transportation officials said. SLA handed back three buses, irrevocably damaged due to claymore attacks or misuse, officials at the Koandaavil depot said.
Full story >>

Hurdling chauvinism: Rohan Rajasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 20:25 GMT]
Expatriate Tamils in London are, this weekend, holding a remembrance ceremony for Rohan Rajasingham, an accomplished sportsman who strove against institutionalized Sinhala majoritarianism to better the conditions for aspiring Tamil sportsmen and women in Sri Lanka. Rajasingham passed away on January 8, 2008 after a brief battle with cancer, aged 50.
Full story >>

Supreme Court to hear Rights petition filed by jailed journalist

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 12:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Supreme Court Wednesday granted permission to hear the fundamental rights petition filed by J.S.Tissanayagam, a senior journalist at Sunday Times and Editor of the website “Outreach,” against officials of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID), legal sources in Colombo said. The hearing is set for 27 March.
Full story >>

It needs a mandate to prod them to justice

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 11:52 GMT]
"Anyone who wishes to see a peacefully united Sri Lanka has to begin from separation. Separation for unity is the appropriate paradigm today. The Sri Lankan situation has transcended the 1987 formula. It is time the Tamils in India have to take care of a policy shift in the Indian establishment. The suggestion is that the political parties of Tamil Nadu who aspire for power in the forthcoming elections have to boldly adapt a policy upholding a Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka in their election manifesto and get the mandate from the people. Only such a mandate can silence the antagonists and direct the foreign policy of India to serve the interests of Tamils, India as well as a peaceful Sri Lanka."
Full story >>

India abetting Tamil genocide: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 10:49 GMT]
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko Tuesday said that the present attitude of the Indian Government amounted to assistance in Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils. He sought the withdrawal of the radars supplied to Sri Lanka and an end to all forms of military assistance from India to the Sri Lankan government. Accusing the Indian Government of "betraying the Tamils," the veteran leader in his reply to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's letter, pointed out that no sovereign nation would tolerate the dangerous action of a neighbouring country planting mines in the bordering seas.
Full story >>