Ex-Somali defense minister in war-crimes trial in US

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 March 2010, 12:09 GMT]
U.S. Supreme Court will hear "war-crimes charges" against former Somali Defense minister and Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Samantar in a civil case this Wednesday, legal sources in Washington said. Samantar, 74, currently lives in Fairfax, Virginia, after fleeing his native country in 1991 to Rome, and then moving to the U.S. to join his wife and children in 1997. Samantar's five accusers say that Samantar bears command responsibility for a "regime of repeated rape, abduction, summary execution, and years long imprisonment in solitiary confinement" of many of their relatives. Samantar's attorneys argue that their client has immunity under Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act.
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ITAK begins election campaign in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 March 2010, 13:17 GMT]
The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) Sunday evening inaugurated its election campaign in Trincomalee district in support of its candidates led by its President and former Member of Parliament R.Sampanthan. Mr. Sampanthan with other candidates S.Mathialagan, K.Selvarajah, (Trincomalee Urban Council Vice Chairman), K.Nageswaran, K.Thiruchelvam and M.Neminathan participated in the election rally. Former Member of Parliamentarian K.Thurairetnasingham presided over the rally held at Sivan Koayil Veethi.
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4,000 devotees attend Kachchaitheevu St. Antony’s church annual festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 March 2010, 11:39 GMT]
More than 4,000 devotees attended the annual festival of historically famous St. Antony’s church in Kachchaitheevu, an islet on the sea boundary between Sri Lanka and India, sources in Jaffna said. After period of nearly 23 years devotees from Sri Lanka and India had gathered at Kachchaitheevu to worship and participate in the festival, the sources added. Rear Admiral of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) for north, Weerasekara, was present at the festival which took place Saturday and Sunday.
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Tamil National Peoples Front launched in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 March 2010, 06:26 GMT]
It was announced that a new Tamil national political alliance called ‘Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF)' has been formed, in a press meet held Sunday at the Jaffna office of All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) party. Former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Gejendrakumar Ponnambalam, S. Kajendren, Ms. Pathmini Sithamparanathan and TNA activists including ACTC chief candidate Sinnathurai Varatharajan for Jaffna electoral district were present at the press briefing. The new Alliance stated that it was based firmly on the concept of Tamil nationalism: Homeland, Tamil nationhood, Tamil sovereignty and Tamils Right to self-determination.
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Denmark silences detractors of Tamil referendum

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 February 2010, 23:52 GMT]
4,147 out of an estimated 6,000 to 6,500 eligible Eezham Tamil voters in Denmark participated in the referendum conducted by a third party professional institute on Sunday and 98.2 percent of them voted yes for the formation of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the contiguous north and east of the island of Sri Lanka. Denmark is the eighth country in the West where Eezham Tamils have overwhelmingly demonstrated their aspiration for independence through a series of referenda conducted among the diaspora. Even though the population of Eezham Tamils in Denmark is relatively small, since their number is known with fair accuracy, the turn out and poll results are very significant in silencing detracting campaign against the very democratic process of Tamil referendum, diaspora circles said.
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Langkaa / Ilangkai / Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 February 2010, 00:30 GMT]
The island
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SLPP persons harass senior Tamil journalist Parameswaran in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 February 2010, 08:33 GMT]
Persons of Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP), a constituent of ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), caught and held N. Parameswaran, a senior Tamil journalist in Jaffna peninsula, the correspondent of BBC Tamil service and Daily Mirror, Saturday from 9:00 a.m til 9:30 in front of the SLFP office located at Veampadi Veethi in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. This office is actively engaged in getting SLFP membership forms signed by the resettled Vanni displaced persons in Jaffna on the pretext that the forms are to be used to get information about their children gone missing during the war and to give them relief food, and Parameswaran was caught and held for nearly half an hour as he tried to expose the motive of the forms to the Vanni IDPs waiting in queue to get them, the sources further said. Police, on being informed of the incident freed Parameswaran.
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Sri Lanka soldiers remanded over rape of 9-year old Tamil girl

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 February 2010, 01:55 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were taken into custody for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old Tamil girl at Ki'raan Vaazhaichcheani in the eastern Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. The victim identified one of the perpetrators during an identification parade held in Batticaloa Magistrate Court. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that the soldiers of the Digiliwatiya camp had threatened the protesting villagers, and the body of one protester was recovered in a pond near the SLA camp after the protests.
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Denmark goes for Tamil referendum Sunday

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 20:06 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in Denmark will cast their ballot in 32 centres across the country in a referendum on the question of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka. The referendum will be conducted by a professional institute TNS Gallup, specialised in sociological and public opinion research services, deploying electronic system for confidential voting, says Dr. Remmon Washington, the spokesperson of the Denmark Tamils Forum formation committee, which has initiated the poll. The total number of eligible Eezham Tamil voters in Denmark is estimated to be ranging around 6,500.
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Suresh Premachandran’s office in Jaffna attacked again

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 19:44 GMT]
Unidentified persons threw stones continually, attacking the office of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) former parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran Friday night causing damage to the tiles and windows of the office, sources in Jaffna said. The office is located at the entrance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 512 Division on Point Pedro road in Jaffna where there is 24-hour presence of SLA and the police, the sources further said.
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ACTC contests Trincomalee electoral district

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 17:45 GMT]
All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) submitted its list of candidates contesting Trincomalee electoral district Friday, sources in Trincomalee said. Meanwhile, former parliamentarians Gajendrakumar Kangkesar Ponnambalam, Ms. Pathmini Sithamparanathan and Selvarajah Gajendran along with representatives of public organizations as a new alliance are contesting under bicycle symbol of ACTC in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, according to Selvarajah Gajendran. The name of this alliance will be announced Sunday in a press conference.
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324 candidates contest Jaffna electorate for 9 seats

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 14:43 GMT]
Until Friday noon 15 registered political parties and 12 independent groups had submitted their lists of candidates to contest parliamentary election in Jaffna district electorate competing for nine seats for Jaffna electorate, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the nomination lists of Sri Lanka National Front political party and four independent groups were rejected by Jaffna Assistant Commissioner of Elections, the sources added.
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ACTC submits own list of candidates to contest Jaffna electorate

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 14:05 GMT]
All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) party which had quit Tamil National Alliance (TNA) submitted Friday its nomination list at Jaffna Secretariat with Sinnathurai Varatharajan, a teacher of economics, as its chief candidate, sources in Jaffna said. Many prominent people in the peninsula as well as the Jaffna University community are said to be supporting ACTC in the forthcoming parliamentary election in Jaffna district electorate.
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7 political parties submit nominations in Jaffna electorate until Thursday

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 07:20 GMT]
Five political parties submitted their lists of candidates contesting Jaffna electoral district in the parliamentary election at Jaffna Secretariat Thursday making a total of seven political parties contesting the election including Tamil Arasuk Kadchi (TAK) and Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, 3 independent groups have also submitted nomination lists Thursday, the sources added.
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15 independent groups pay deposit to contest Jaffna electoral district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 20:15 GMT]
Fifteen independent groups have paid deposit money to contest Jaffna electoral district until Thursday evening, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, four independent groups out of the six which had paid deposit money submitted their lists of candidates at Jaffna Secretariat Thursday, the sources added.
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Rift in SLFP circles in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 19:06 GMT]
Mahintha Thilakumara Udugama, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) organizer of Jaffna and Vanni, paid Thursday deposit money to contest as an independent candidate in Jaffna district as he was not included in the SLFP nomination list, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) accused the government for paying money to many independent groups to contest Jaffna district with the view to split the votes in Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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TNA submits candidates’ list to contest Vanni district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 18:25 GMT]
Tamil National Aliance (TNA) submitted Wednesday its list of candidates to contest Vanni district in the forthcoming parliamentary election at Vavuniyaa Secretariat, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Meanwhile, United National Party (UNP) is expected to submit Thursday its list of candidates contesting Jaffna district with Ms. Vijayakala Maheswaran, wife of late Thiyagarajah Maheswaran, former Colombo district parliamentarian, as its chief candidate.
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British Shadow FM calls for political reform, independent war-crime investigations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 17:21 GMT]
Noting that "there is a natural affinity between Tamils in Britain and our [Conservative] Party," William Hague, the British Shadow Foreign Secretary, in his speech to the inaugural launch of Global Tamil Forum, warned that the "continued confinement [of thousands] will simply sow the seeds of discontent, [and] could lead to renewed conflict in years to come," called for "meaningful political reform," and said that "there should be a full independent inquiry into alleged war crimes committed by both sides during the final stages of the military conflict."
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'Eezham Tamils to act for themselves'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 04:15 GMT]
Political, social and economic movements, firmly rooted in national aspiration and democratic in structure, but placed above pseudo electoral politics in the island and power machinations outside, are the need of the hour for Eezham Tamils in the homeland and in the diaspora. Specific tasks ahead of them range from infrastructural nation-formation to damage control of the on going ‘development’ onslaught. At least some core movements of Tamils need to keep collaboration, international crisis engineers and aid funds at arms length and hit the bullseye in alternative ways by independent and ingenious handling of the little resources of Tamils, writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) that is meeting in London is expected to fill the vacuum Eezham Tamils face in the island and in the diaspora, he says.
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GTF launch well attended by British politicians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 03:13 GMT]
British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Liberal Democrats Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey all addressed the Global Tamil Forum’s inaugural meeting in London on Wednesday, 24 February. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) launch saw delegates from 14 countries gather in the UK House of Commons to be addressed by speakers from across the political spectrum, including parliamentarians, councilors and prospective parliamentary candidates. Some delegates were also invited in for a private meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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