Reconstructed Thanthai Chelva statue re-opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 November 2011, 13:58 GMT]
The decapitated Thanthai Chelvanayakam statue was re-erected in the memorial located in Trincomalee city and opened for public from Tuesday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. The decapitated head of Chelva was reconstructed before being re-erected, according to the Chairman of the Trincomalee Urban Council K.Selvarajah. Mr.Selvarajah, and UC Vice Chairman S.Sriskandarajah garlanded the statue first and others were allowed to pay their respects.
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Mano Ganeshan condemns decapitation of Chelva’s statue

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2011, 19:38 GMT]
Mano Ganeshan, leader of the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) has condemned the decapitation of the late Tamil leader Thanthai SJV Chelvanayakam as an act of barbarism by chauvinist elements. Mr. Mano Ganeshan has reminded the services of Thanthai Chelva by launching a non-violent struggle against the subjugation of Tamils not only in North and East but also in the Upcountry at a time when the Sri Lankan government disenfranchised the Upcountry Tamils.
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Chelvanayakam statue decapitated in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2011, 00:14 GMT]
The statue of Thanthai Chelva (SJV Chelvanayakam) located near the Sivan Temple at Thirugnaanasampanthar Street in Trincomalee was decapitated on Sunday night. People who were enraged to notice the desecration on Monday morning placed a cloth on the headless statue. Local people suspect genocidal elements occupying Trincomalee for timing the act, when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) team led by Mr. R. Sampanthan, MP for Trincomalee, is on an international visit seeking solutions for the national question of Eezham Tamils. The statue is located in a recently Sinhalicised part of the Trincomalee city.
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26 Villages continue as HSZ in Valikaamam alone

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2011, 00:13 GMT]
While visiting SL presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa claimed in Jaffna on Monday that there is noting called ‘High Security Zone’ (HSZ) and that the whole island is a ‘Peace Zone’, 26 villages in the Valikaamam HSZ alone are occupied by Sri Lankan military, uprooting 43,700 people of 17,108 families for more than two decades now. The number is actually more, and could go upto 70,000, if refugees to foreign countries are included, welfare societies in Jaffna said. Considering, their location and the intentions of the occupying military, the people of these villages are afraid that they will never see their homes back. The excuse of Colombo is that it would take 8 more years for de-mining these villages.
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'Thanthai Chelva pioneered political course of Eezham Tamils'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 05:37 GMT]
“The first Republican Constitution of 1972 gave the last rites to the slow death for ethnic relations in this country that started when a unitary constitution was handed to us by the departing British,” said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr. M A Sumanthiran, while delivering Thanthai Chelva Memorial Speech at New Kathiresan Hall in Colombo, Tuesday, remembering 34th death anniversary of SJV Chelvanayakam, who founded Ilankai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi in 1949. To prove Tamil opinion rejecting the 1972 constitution, Chelva resigned his parliamentary seat and won a by-election. After leading the most favoured Tamil political party and struggling for federal solution for more than 25 years that found no success with Sinhala leadership, Chelva ultimately presided over the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution that called for Tamil independence in 1976.
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ITAK chooses Colombo to observe SJV's 34th death anniversary

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2011, 13:49 GMT]
The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), main constituents of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is scheduled to hold the thirty fourth death anniversary of its founder leader Thanthai S.J.V.Chelvanayakam on Tuesday in Colombo-Bambalapity New Kathiresan Hall, projecting the topic of the memorial event as "finding lasting peace through power sharing". The event is being keenly watched by Colombo political circles at a time when the country is in tension with the leaking of the UN Experts Panel report alleging war crimes allegations against the Rajapakse government and the TNA welcoming the UN Experts Panel report.
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ITAK local councilors in North, East to take oath in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 March 2011, 12:36 GMT]
76 councilors elected to fifteen local bodies including two Urban Councils and ten Predesiya Sabas in the last local elections held in Northern and Eastern provinces on the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) ticket, and Chairmen and Vice Chairmen appointed to twelve local bodies captured by the ITAK would be taking oaths on March 31 Thursday morning at Trincomalee Town Hall, political sources in the East said.
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Veteran Tamil scholar, politician Kaa. Po. Ratnam passes away

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2010, 08:55 GMT]
Pandithar Kaarthigesar Ponnambalam Ratnam, a veteran Tamil scholar and a former parliamentarian who represented the electorates of Ki’linochchi and Kayts (Oorkaavaththu’rai) in Jaffna district on the tickets of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) and later on Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) since 1965 to 1983 passed away peacefully in his Colombo residence at the age of 96 Monday evening. His funeral is to take place Wednesday evening in Kanatte cemetery in Colombo.
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Hathurusinghe, Imelda, deny existence of ‘High Security Zone’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 December 2010, 10:48 GMT]
Addressing media in Jaffna Friday, the Jaffna Government Agent (GA) Mrs Imelda Sugumar said that according to the briefing she had from Sri Lanka’s military commander in Jaffna Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, the nomenclature High Security Zone (HSZ) is inappropriate in the present context. According to the General, in the past as there was war between the LTTE and the SL government, people were evacuated from that area in order to save the public from getting trapped in the war, and as the SL government was providing security to that area it was called High Security Zone. Now it is only a zone ‘restricted to the public,’ the GA said. Meanwhile, the GA also said in the same press meet that it would take another 10 years to clear mines in the HSZ and resettle people there. But a map obtained from mine clearing agencies show a different picture.
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Tourists not allowed to visit Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2010, 17:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers posted at the entrance of Jaffna Public Library did not allow any of the tourists who wished to visit the library Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. SLA officials had informed the Chief Librarian of Jaffna Public Library that tourists will not be permitted to visit the library according to instruction issued by government authorities. This instruction had come in the wake of a gang of Sinhala tourists storming into the library and vandalizing the premises of the Thanthai Chelva memorial monument located next to the library last on 22 October. SLA authorities had posted four soldiers at the entrance of the library Friday to guard the library along with the guards of Jaffna Municipal Council Administration.
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Jaffna Public Library out of bounds to tourists

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 17:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Friday informed the Chief Librarian of Jaffna Public Library that tourists will not be permitted to visit the library and that SLA soldiers will be posted outside it to maintain order, sources in Jaffna said. The officials who said that they had been instructed by high level government authorities did not, however, disclose who the authorities were. This instruction comes in the wake of a gang of Sinhala tourists storming into the library and vandalizing the premises of the Thanthai Chelva memorial monument located next to the library last Saturday. SLA authorities have posted four soldiers at the entrance of the library Friday.
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Thanthai Chelva memorial monument site in Jaffna vandalized

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 12:29 GMT]
The unruly Sinhala tourists who stormed into Jaffna Public Library Saturday are suspected to have vandalized the premises of Thanthai Chelva (Late Mr. S. J. V. Chelvanayagam) memorial monument located next to Jaffna Public Library, according to Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) circles in Jaffna. The plantain and coconut trees in the premises were found cut down and the flower plants in the premises trampled and damaged in acts of vandalism, they said. They alleged that on earlier instances the decorative palms in the premises had been plundered by Sri Lanka Armed Forces men and that some of them are now found planted in front of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) base in the islets of Jaffna.
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ITAK stalwarts in Jaffna oppose TNA abandoning alliance concept

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 2010, 18:39 GMT]
The concept of TNA as a broad alliance has become a legacy with Suresh Premachandran's move in convincing Mr. Sampanthan to make the alliance into a political party, blame opponents of the latest move by the TNA hierarchy, which has applied to register the alliance as a political party. The TNA has applied to register itself as a political party with R. Sampanthan as the leader and Mavai Senathirajah representing ITAK, Suresh Premachandran of EPRLF Suresh faction and Selvam Adaikalanathan on behalf of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), as joint secretaries.
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New political party in Tamil Nadu vows to fight for Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 18:18 GMT]
Around 75,000 Tamils, most of them of younger generation, attended the May Remembrance of Vanni massacre and the inauguration rally of Naam Thamilar political party at Virakanoor in the city of Madurai in the Tamil Nadu state of India, vowing to fight for the creation Tamil Eelam by politically capturing the power of the Tamil Nadu state as Tamils world over observed Genocidal War Crimes Day on Tuesday, remembering thousands who perished one year ago. “The Tamil Eelam struggle has been transcended into the hands of Tamil Nadu Tamils and the younger generation in particular,” S. Seeman, a Tamil activist and a popular film director told media. “War is politics with bloodshed, our way would be Politics without bloodshed,’ he told the gathering vowing to take forward the struggle for the freedom of Eezham Tamils and to voice for global Tamil freedom.
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Thanthai Chelva remembered on his 33rd anniversary

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 17:44 GMT]
The 33rd death anniversary of the late Tamil leader and the founder of Federal Party (Ilangkai Thamil Arasu Kadchi - ITAK), Samuel James Velupillai Chelvanayagam (SJV) was observed in the North and East with hundreds of ITAK supporters along with ITAK parliamentarians attending the memorial events in Jaffna, Vavuniyaa and Trincomalee. ITAK parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah in Jaffna and ITAK leader and parliamentarian R. Sampanthan in Trincomalee took part in the events.
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Thanthai Chelva remembered on his 112th Birthday in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2010, 15:09 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop of South Indian Diocese, Rt. Rev. Jebanesan, the president of Thanthai Chelva Trustee Board, garlanded the statue of late leader Mr. S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, located in the Chelva mausoleum in Jaffna town Wednesday around 9:30 a.m, in the first event of the day in remembering Thanthai Chelva on his 112th birthday. Mr. S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, founder of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), fondly called by Tamils as "Thanthai" (father), was remembered by several others who turned up later to garland the statue and offer flowers at its feet, sources in Jaffna said.
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Sivajilingam contesting presidential election causes confusion among Tamil political parties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 2009, 06:29 GMT]
Confusion and rift among the constituent parties of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) came to light Friday when Thamizh Arasukk Kadchi (TAK) prominent persons walked away from the event of paying respects to Thanthai Selva’s memorial monument in Jaffna when Sivajilingam, TNA parliamentarian and presidential candidate, tried to participate in the event, sources in Jaffna said. Sivajilingam garlanded the monument alone and the TAK persons came and paid their respects 15 minutes after Sivajilingam had left the place.
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SLA denies permission to Thirumavalavan to meet public in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 07:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna turned down the request of Thol. Thirumavalavan, Tamil Nadu Parliamentarian and leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Kadchi (VCK) Party, to meet the public in Jaffna when the delegation of Tamil Nadu MPs was taken to Jaffna Public Library for a meeting Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna University Students expressed their strong protest against India for having let down the Eezham Tamils and for deceiving them continually, when the MPs met students in Jaffna University Sunday, the sources added.
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Thanthai Chelva’s 111th Birthday commemorated in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 16:28 GMT]
Hundreds of persons including several dignitaries took part in an event Tuesday morning to commemorate the 111th birthday of Thanthai Chelva, late S. J. V. Chelvanayagam, respectfully known as the Father of Tamil Nation, at the Thanthai Chelva Square in Jaffna town. Rev. Dr. S. Jebanesan, the president of Thanthai Chelva Trustee Board, presided at the event and delivered the memorial address. Later in the evening a memorial service was held in St. John’s Church in Chu’ndikkuzhi where Rev. Dr. S. Jebanesan paid tribute to Thanthai Chelva.
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SLA obstructs public entry into Valikaamam HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2008, 14:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna refused to allow students, teachers and workers, to enter the High Security Zone (HSZ) at the Thellippazhai entry point Friday, preventing them from attending schools and work places located within the said HSZ, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, SLA conducted searches in several areas in the HSZ, following the Monday night attack on SLA soldiers at Maasiyappiddi in Jaffna, on suspicion of Liberation Tiger combatant's penetration into the HSZ, sources added.
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