Tamils appeal to UNESCO to safeguard Tamil heritage

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 July 2005, 17:23 GMT]
Expatriate Tamil activists in France held an awareness vigil in front of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Headquarters in Place de Fontenoy, Paris, at 10 AM Friday urging UNESCO to safeguard the cultural heritage of Tamils in their homeland against unlawful and politically motivated erection of Buddha statues in Hindu temple sites, sources in Geneva said.
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Amparai tsunami affected get self-employment help

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 June 2005, 11:14 GMT]
Women from tsunami affected families in Amparai district are to receive self-employment help in the form of free sewing machines and associated training from Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), sources in Amparai said. Women have been organized into several groups and training in dress making classes are being conducted in Amparai district, officials added.
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Sambaltivu Boys Home gets new building

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 June 2005, 10:14 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mr.R.Sampanthan, Mr.Mavai Senathirajah and Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Monday, laid the foundation stones for a new building for the Boys Home in Sambaltivu in Trincomalee district administered by the Trincomalee Welfare Association (TWA), sources said. The new building and facilities costing nearly Rs 3m is being funded by a group of expatriate Canadian Tamils and will replace the existing temporary building, sources said.


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District Committees, key to deal's success- US Don

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 June 2005, 10:48 GMT]
For the Joint Mechanism to be successful, "It is important that the District Committee works for the betterment of the district, not a particular ethnic, religious group. Additionally, the Regional Committee has to ensure that the aid reaches those in the most need or those facilities that have the biggest impact on the people in the district, region," said Professor Brian Blodgett of American Military University when TamilNet asked for his views on the recently signed aid deal between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers.
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Dying to Kill: US Academic examines causes of suicide terror

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 June 2005, 22:44 GMT]
Author Mia Bloom, assistant professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati examines the external factors that provide motivation for sub-national groups to adopt suicide killings in a recently published book "Dying to Kill." Analysing the phenomenon in Palestinian groups, Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), Liberation Tigers (LTTE) and in insurgent groups in Iraq, she contends that "it is often social and political motivations rather than inherently religious ones that inspire suicide bombers."
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LTTE condemns grenade attack on Tamil official's house

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 June 2005, 12:06 GMT]
Trincomalee district political secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Trincomalee District National Resurgence Forum (TDNRF) Saturday condemned the grenade attack on the house of Mr.V.Vigneswaran, President of the Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples' Forum (TDTPF), Friday night by an unidentified person, sources in Trincomalee said.
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"Rise to rout Buddhist Sinhala chauvinism"- Jaffna Undergrads

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 June 2005, 10:51 GMT]
"We, the Tamil people declare that we will defeat Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism and regain our traditional homeland from the occupation of armed forces. We will exercise our right to self determination in our land with our own strength," said a declaration of students of Jaffna campus read at the conclusion of a renaissance event "Voice of Tamil Nation" held Sunday at the Kailasapathy Auditorium.
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Civil group plans agitation in NorthEast over Buddha statue

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 June 2005, 11:49 GMT]
Mr.V.Vigneswaran, President of the Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples Forum (TDTPF) Saturday said in a press conference that his organization will begin non-violent direct action after July 10 through out NorthEast if the Sri Lanka government fails to remove the controversial Buddhist statue which was erected close to the Trincomalee central bus stand on 15 May, sources in Trincomalee said.
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SLMM vehicle damaged in Trinco violence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 June 2005, 11:15 GMT]
A vehicle belonging to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee was damaged by a group of persons around 8.30 a.m., Saturday, at Hali Oluwa, a predominantly Sinhala suburb, located south of Trincomalee. Meanwhile, police in the eastern port town said several violent incidents against Tamils had taken place in Serunuwara and Hali Oluwa areas in the wake of the the killing of Police intelligence officer, Friday. Several lorries transporting cadjan and fishing boats were attacked by Sinhala youth. Tamil civilians who were using the Hali Oluwa junction for travelling to their areas were also assaulted, civilian sources said.


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Third token fast held in Kodikamam

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 June 2005, 10:32 GMT]
About five hundred Tamil civilians including students and traders participated in a one-day token fast in support of the joint mechanism proposal Friday under a special structure constructed in Kodikamam junction in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district. Similar events were earlier held in Chavakachcheri on Wednesday and in Kaithady on Thursday, sources said.
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Aid deal not final, says Kumaratunga

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 June 2005, 10:28 GMT]
Responding to a letter from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which listed JVP's reasons for quitting the alliance, Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunga said Thursday that a final document for the Joint Mechanism has not been formulated. She added that the proposed mechanism does not go beyond the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed by Ranil Wickremesinghe and that the mechanism will not in any way jeopardize the sovereignty or integrity of Sri Lanka. Political observers in Colombo noted that as no time frame has been fixed for signing the proposal, more political maneuvering and delay in finalizing the aid deal can be expected.
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Donor pressure ‘breached Buddhist hegemony’- paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 June 2005, 00:05 GMT]
Hailing the international donor community’s insistence on a joint mechanism for tsunami aid, the Tamil Guardian newspaper this week said this had forced Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga to face down powerful Buddhist clergy and Sinhala ultranationalists. “This breach in Buddhist hegemony must be widened … if peace and, in particular, ethnic reconciliation is to be possible in Sri Lanka,” the paper argued in its latest editorial.
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Government stays, but will its power? - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 June 2005, 17:38 GMT]
Despite the exit of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a key Parliamentary ally, the stability of Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government is assured, not because of its inherent strength, but because none of the other parties want an election at this juncture, Jaffna's Uthayan newspaper argued in its editorial Thursday.
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JM failure will boost prospects for direct aid to Tigers- SLFP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 June 2005, 10:31 GMT]
"If we fail to agree on the Joint Mechanism (JM) with the LTTE, it is likely that aid will go directly to the Tigers and LTTE controlled NGOs. The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) will be left out of the decision-making for reconstruction," said a propaganda leaflet circulated by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, Wednesday evening when it launched an awareness campaign in eighteen districts in the south of Sri Lanka to win support for the Joint Mechanism proposal, political sources in Colombo said.
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South's opposition adds legitimacy to Tamil struggle- Elilan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 June 2005, 14:57 GMT]
"The hostile opposition shown by Sinhala nationalist movements, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) to derail the proposed joint mechanism aimed at helping people devastated by tsunami, has clearly demonstrated to the international community the moral foundation of the Tamil liberation struggle and has brought to focus the urgent need to satisfy aspirations of the Tamil speaking people in their traditional homeland in northeast," said Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE Saturday.


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Civil group fights against Upper Kotmale Hydro Project

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 June 2005, 05:10 GMT]
Mr E Thambiah, an opponent of the Upper Kotmale hydropower scheme and organizer of People's Campaign Against Upper Kotmale Project (PCAUKP), a countrywide grassroots organization with members from all communities, recently spoke to TamilNet on the reasons for their campaign to stop the project. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), however, believes that the project is necessary to fuel economic growth of Sri Lanka.
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Japanese students hold Sivaram memorial

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2005, 00:06 GMT]
Students at a Tokyo university where Tamil political columnist and military analyst Dharmeratnam Sivaram was scheduled to speak shortly before he was abducted and murdered by unidentified gunmen in Colombo on April 28 held a memorial Tuesday this week.
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Demonstration against Upper Kotmale Hydro-project held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 June 2005, 04:58 GMT]
More than two hundred activists belonging to civil groups opposed to Upper Kotmale Hydro-power scheme demonstrated in front of Colombo Fort Railway station Friday afternoon, sources in Colombo said. Members of leftist political parties and other related civil groups including Sinhalese and Tamils participated in the demonstration. Upcountry Tamil political parties did not attend the demonstration.
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Sri Lanka's President urged to make Bindunuwewa massacre report public

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 11:02 GMT]
"The fact that that not a single person could be held guilty for the mass murder of 28 Tamils in the protective custody of the State at Bindunuwewa will further increase the distrust of even the moderate Tamil minorities with the democratic institutions of Sri Lanka" stated Mr. Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) in a 24 page report issued on Thursday titled "Sri Lanka:Miscarriage of Justice". On 27 May 2005, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka acquitted four accused who were earlier sentenced to death by the High Court.
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Rights Group condemns Bindunuwewa acquittals

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 10:55 GMT]
"These acquittals show a shocking failure of the police and judicial system in Sri Lanka to find justice for the dead and injured from this horrific incident," said Brad Adams, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, a New York based international rights group. “As the victims were all Tamil, the government needs to move quickly to start fresh investigations and to prosecute the perpetrators, some of whom were police officers, or it will only further distance aggrieved Tamils,” Mr Adams added.
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