TamilNet releases Sivaram video footage on Tamil journalism

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 2010, 10:55 GMT]
TamilNet has released video clippings from a lecture conducted by late D. Sivaram (Taraki), the well-known political and military analyst and senior editor of TamilNet, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of his assassination, at a remembrance event held in Oslo by the Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils on Thursday.
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Jaffna Mayor accused of abuse of authority

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 17:15 GMT]
Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) opposition and public organizations including Jaffna Traders Union (JTU) have raised strong protests against ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Jaffna Mayor Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam for abuse of authority, particularly in erecting a Buddha statue on Jaffna Main Street and in attempts to hand over the Jaffna Public Library canteen to Sinhalese caretakers from South, sources in Jaffna said. The Thursday meeting of JMC had to be called off as arguments against the erection of Buddha statue ended in chaos, the sources added.
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JU Student Union calls for concerted action against social crimes in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 16:21 GMT]
“We call upon all Tamil political parties, school communities and public organizations including Non-governmental organizations in Jaffna peninsula to jointly raise their voices against the continuing violent crimes of abduction and killing for ransom, sexual abuse of women, robbery, extortion and violence targeting particularly university undergrads and school students,” Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) said in a message to local media Friday. “We have already lost many fellow students and we request all parents to safeguard their children,” JUSU further appealed in the message. JUSU also called for greater caution and awareness of the gravity of the situation.
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International war corporatism continues silencing Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 12:30 GMT]
Diaspora Tamils wonder at the arrests, crackdowns and deportations of Eezham Tamil activists taking place in an orchestrated way in the West as well as in the East by governments conniving with the war-crimes-accused defence establishment of Colombo. The targets are those who are firm in their views on the national cause and those who work with the grass root. The timing is diaspora organising its polity. Whether the orchestration is pre-emption, expecting resurgence of the struggle as the IC knows no solutions to the crisis in the island, or whether it foretells something unpleasant that is going to be imposed on Tamils through a deal of Colombo with New Delhi and the West, are questions asked in the diaspora. How the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam is going to be structured and how Tamil Nadu is going to play its role gains new significance in the unfolding situation.
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Chinese corporate worker arrested for rape in Nuraichchoalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 06:09 GMT]
A 36 years old Chinese electrician of China’s Coal Power Plant at Nuraichchoalai in Puththa’lam district was arrested for allegedly raping a 14 years old school girl, according to media reports Thursday. Munthal (Mundalama) police arrested the suspect. The incident, according to police spokesperson, took place in a lorry parked near Munthal water tank.
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Jaffna Mayor allows star hotel in historical sacred site in Nalloor

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 06:07 GMT]
Amidst strong protests raised by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, Saiva and cultural organizations in Jaffna peninsula against the proposed construction of a star hotel in the land where the palace of last Tamil King of Jaffna Kingdom Sangkilian had stood and in the sacred vicinity of historically famous Nalloor Kanthasuvami temple, ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Jaffna Mayor, Ms. Yogewary Patkunam has decided to permit construction of the said star hotel, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, UPFA Minister Douglas Devananda, in a recent press meet in Colombo had said that he had advised the Mayor on this issue and that he has taken action to stop the hotel being built on the sacred site, the sources added.
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Jaffna MP accuses EPDP of illegal sand excavation in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 05:38 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian, E. Saravanbhavan publicly raised accusation against Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), a constituent party of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), for having appropriated exclusive rights to excavate sand for building construction in Ma’nattkaadu in Vadamaraadchi East using illegal means making millions of rupees, in a press report, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, EPDP Minister Dougals Devananda, in response to Saravanabhavan’s accusation, said that the EPDP firm engaged in sand excavation is registered in Sri Lanka parliament and the increase in the demand for sand is due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) permitting only a limited number of lorries to transport sand from Ma’nattkaadu SLA High Security Zone (HSZ), in a media report, the sources added.
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CPJ makes ominous prediction to media freedom in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 02:48 GMT]
Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator for media-watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in the organization's website that while there is "a lull of sorts in outright attacks on the media as the Rajapaksa government takes stock of where it stands," the recent appointment of former Labor Minister Mervyn Silva as Sri Lanka's deputy minister of media and information is "an indicator of what might come next for the media." CPJ noted that in December 2007 after Mr Silva showed up with a group of men at a TVstation to complain that the station has not covered one of his speeches, "[f]ive staff members reported being stabbed, beaten, or slashed with razor blades by unidentified men."
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Indian corporate to build high-rise buildings, apartments, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 10:12 GMT]
An Indian engineering corporate L&T Infrastructure Development Projects is keen in road projects, high-rise buildings, apartments and hotels and power generation in Jaffna, and is looking for trade partners according to Vishal Mathur, its Chief Operating Officer. The high-rise buildings and apartments are for whom, wonder the people of Jaffna. According to Mathur, tourism would boom in Jaffna and there would be a demand for them.
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Diaspora paramount in voicing aspirations of Tamils: The Age

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 10:04 GMT]
Amid Sri Lankas' legal constitution that classifies Tamils as “Second class citizens” and “continuing problems of ethnic marginalisation and persecution”, the Tamil Diaspora feel they “need to press for and represent Tamil claims, because Tamils in Sri Lanka have lost their voice, and have no representation following the defeat of the LTTE” said an article in the Age on Friday, a day after results of Australia’s historic Tamil referendum were announced showing “unanimous support for the proposal for an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka”.
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Jaffna Civil organizations accuse Colombo financial institutions of exploitation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 04:45 GMT]
Private and government banks rushing to Jaffna peninsula to open their branches and the opening of the fifth branch of Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in Jaffna town Tuesday, in the name of development are but schemes aimed at exploiting the funds of peninsula residents, civil organizations in Jaffna said. They further accused the above financial institutions of employing only Sinhalese persons from South at all levels while denying job opportunities to the Tamil young men and women in the peninsula.
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Australia's young lawyers to document Sri Lanka's war-crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 01:39 GMT]
While calls for independent investigations into Sri Lanka's war crimes continue to mount, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's appointment of advisory panel on Sri Lanka's war-crimes shows no progress, ABC Radio Australia reported that Australian Young Lawyers Group in New South Wales is joining forces with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to take witness statements and prepare evidence on the conduct of Sri Lanka's Security Forces, and the Polical and Military Command for future war crimes tribunals on Sri Lanka.
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Sinhalese language prioritized in the North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 19:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka government are accused of prioritizing Sinhalese language in the name and information boards in the predominantly Tamil areas in the North, by public organizations in Jaffna peninsula. Tamil language which had occupied the first place in the name boards and government information boards in the North has been brought down to second place by SLA and government, the organizations said. This introduction of Sinhalese as the first language in the North though appears as intended to cater for the Sinhalese people pouring into Jaffna peninsula as tourists the real motive is to impose Sinhala as the main language in the Tamil areas, they added.
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All in the game in the name of archaeology

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 03:19 GMT]
The Sinhala academics cannot compare their plight of opposing totalitarian social fascist system of governance with that of the Tamils who bear the entire brunt of fascism amounting to genocide set against them by an ethnic-powered state mechanism, says a Tamil academic in Jaffna responding to professor Sudharshan Seneviratne defending the archaeology agenda of Colombo. Genuine dialogue on culture, co-existence etc and partnership in opposing fascism come only when sovereignty snatched away from Tamils is restored as a priority and when there is parity. However patronising in overtures, individuals and organisations serving Colombo cannot escape from being ultimately colonial. Academics who are always on the side of enjoying the comforts of state power in the island are yet to explore ways of contributing to their ideals better by coming out of the system they identify as oppressive.
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British candidate calls Tamils victims of genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 02:45 GMT]
Dr Rachel Joyce, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Harrow West, UK, in a statement circulated to her constituents, said she believes that since Sri Lanka's independence "the acts perpetrated the Government of Sri Lanka on Tamils including the burning down of Jaffna library...disappearance of Tamil individuals...and the use of concentration-style camps for internally displaced Tamils should be classed as Genocide." Dr Joyce further made a campaign promise to "work with the Tamils to get the acts perpetrated on the Tamils classed legally as a genocide so that the UN Convention can be used to address the problems."
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Journalist Roopan’s remains cremated in Araali

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 17:51 GMT]
Hundreds of people and media persons paid their last respects to the remains of Selvaratnam Roopan also known as ‘Sakthi Thasan’ and the sub-editor of Yarl Thinakural who passed away Sunday evening at Jaffna Teaching hospital at the age of thirty-two. The remains were taken in procession by the mourners to Poonaavoadai Hindu crematorium grounds in Vaddukkoadai. Vice-chancellor emeritus of Jaffna University, Prof. Pon. Balsuntharampillai, was among the many hundreds who paid their last respects to Roopan’s remains.
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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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Journalist Roopan passes away in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 17:42 GMT]
Selvaratnam Roopan, sub-editor of Tamil daily ‘Yarl Thinakural’ and a journalist who dedicated his entire life to his vocation and in creating political awareness and responsibility among the residents of Jaffna peninsula, passed away Sunday evening at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, due to undiagnosed illness. 32-year-old Roopan had been in the forefront in rescuing thousands of people caught in the clashes in Ma’ndaitheevu in the islets of Jaffna in 2006 and in admitting the injured among them in the hospitals in Jaffna. Roopan rendered great service by writing articles in Yarl Thinakural creating political awareness among the people of Jaffna peninsula under his pseudonym ‘Sakthi Thaasan’. Media organizations including North Ceylon Journalists Association have issued messages of condolence on the premature death of Roopan.
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British Tamils must pick candidate, not party

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 15:19 GMT]
With Britain’s general election less than two weeks away, campaigning is in full swing. In an election that is too close to call and with many constituencies where British Tamils' vote can be decisive, the vital question facing expatriate Tamils is where best to place their votes? "As British Tamils, we have in this country, every opportunity to make our voices heard. By participating with enthusiasm in the forthcoming general elections British Tamils can work towards a just and stable future for Tamils in Sri Lanka," argues TamilNet political commentator in UK.
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Lawyers, media persons attacked in Chennai High Court premises

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 07:07 GMT]
Condemning the inaction by Tamil Nadu government for not executing Chennai High Court orders to dismiss Tamil Nadu police officers who had attacked lawyers in the high court in an earlier instance, Tamil Nadu lawyers launched a black flag protest when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi arrived in Chennai High Court Sunday to unveil the statue of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, sources in Chennai said. Chief Minister’s Dravida Munetra Kazhakam (DMK) men who arrived at the scene brutally attacked the protesting lawyers and media persons besides smashing their video cameras and equipments, the protesting lawyers alleged.
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