Addressing ambiguity of Right to Self-Determination

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 00:26 GMT]
The international system is erratic in justifying right to self-determination (RSD) of nations set against right to security of states. All areas of discretion were interpreted against, in the case of Eezham Tamils. As the militant-created de facto state that has been making a case for RSD all this time doesn’t exist in its territory today, democratic political move should create a new de facto situation. RSD can be invoked when peoples of more than one state are involved, but Mr Karunanidhi nullified the opportunity. The option now is not asking for RSD, but exercising it and mandating democratic de facto situation or situations. This is why spelling out the goal of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam is paramount for transnational governance. Elected country councils enhance meeting the task by structurally involving ‘peoples of many states.’
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Politically active Tamil diaspora youths under British spotlight

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 19:11 GMT]
Taking a look into the new political activism of the current generation of diaspora Tamil youths, Financial Times, a premier British Daily, said the "ending [of the war] in Sri Lanka was also a beginning," and many youths experienced a political awakening after devoting a lot of time to the protests and some missing a year of their college. "As one generation of the Tamil diaspora sees its struggle for Eelam, an independent homeland, end in failure, their sons and daughters, who have spent their formative years in the west, are taking up the struggle. But they will fight it on their terms, using their strengths, fomenting a BlackBerry revolution," the paper said.
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Tamil internment, a manifestation of Sinhala state racism - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 16:04 GMT]
"Despite the manifest outrage of international human rights groups like HRW and Amnesty International, relief agencies and several Western states, Sri Lanka defiantly continues to brutalize the [Tamil] detainees [locking them up in barbed wire militarized camps]. Whilst various international actors attempt to goad, cajole and compel Sri Lanka to let the civilians go, few have examined the reasons for their incarceration. As far as the Tamils are concerned, it is obvious: this is the latest manifestation of the Sinhala state racism," the British paper Tamil Guardian said in the latest weekend edition.
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Armed robber kills one, injures one in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 15:24 GMT]
An armed man clad in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) uniform opened fire at a group of Tamil villagers who confronted the man when he attempted to rob a house in the Ellappar Maruthankulam in Vavuniyaa district Friday night around 9:00 p.m. One villager was killed and another one was seriously injured in the incident. The armed man fled from the scene with the loot of one hundred thousand rupees in cash and twenty six sovereigns of jewellery, sources said.
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Sri Lanka refuses visas to two Canadian MPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 04:48 GMT]
Patrick Brown, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrie, and Paul Calandra Conservative MP for Oakridges Markham have been denied visas by the Sri Lankan Consulate in Toronto to visit the internment camps in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka, where more than 300,000 Tamil refugees are being held against their wishes in military supervised camps, sources in Canada said. Mr Brown in an interview with a Canadian Tamil TV said that although the Consulate has "clearly said no" to his visit he is prepared to try again. The MP added that he is "incredibly suspicious" of the Government and that he believes "what every one is saying, that there are breaches of human rights, breaches of international obligations, and deplorable conditions...and I think it is true."
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Tamil political prisoners appeal to minister demanding release

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 03:02 GMT]
Tamil political prisoners held in several prisons in the south for years without inquiry and without any recourse in courts under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER) have started handing over individual appeals to the Justice Minister, Milinda Morogoda, demanding their release or to take legal action if there is evidence against them.
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US should help launch international investigations into Sri Lanka killings - HRW

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 23:10 GMT]
Pointing out that "Sri Lanka's nervousness about its international standing has not yet triggered any significant improvement on human rights matters, and there is no indication that the government is genuinely rethinking its policies," Dr Anna Neistat, Human Rights Watch (HRW), in an article written for a Washington-based think tank, said that Washington while "pushing publicly and privately for the release of the displaced," should insist on accountability for the crimes by using its "influence at the UN to help launch an international independent investigation into violations of humanitarian law."
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Colombo set to lose GSP plus

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 18:20 GMT]
The European Union has found Sri Lanka in breach of International Human Rights laws, implying that Colombo does not fulfil the basic human rights conditions of GSP plus, according to an exclusive update by Reuters Friday night. It is likely that Sri Lanka would lose concessions worth over $100 million for its top exports to Europe, the report said citing EU sources. The findings of the investigations by the EU are expected to be published Monday.
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SL Police arrests Tamil man in Uppuve'li

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 08:18 GMT]
A Tamil man was arrested in Uppuve'li in Trincomalee district and detained by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) Thursday. The Sri Lankan Police stationed in Uppuve'li said the suspect was taken into custody on receipt of information that he had maintained close links with the LTTE.
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SL Police arrests 2 Tamils in Negombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 05:46 GMT]
Negombo Police Wednesday said they arrested two Tamils following information obtained from a Tamil person in the custody of the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan Police.
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Colombo squandaring chance for reconciliation - Economist

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 03:34 GMT]
Noting that, while the improving economy and successful recent elections may increase Colombo's reluctance to deal with the Tamil internment issue in expeditious manner, the Economist in its latest edition said, "[t]he damage being done to Sri Lanka’s international image, however, may last longer. The Tamil diaspora will keep alive the calls for investigation of alleged war-crimes by both sides in the climactic campaign. And the EU has to decide whether to withdraw Sri Lanka’s special trade privileges on human-rights grounds. If, as seems likely, it does, the country’s garment exporters will suffer great damage, and employment will consequently be hit," and added that "the government, its reputation already tarnished by the manner of its final victory, risks squandering the richest prize that victory offers: the chance for national reconciliation."
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States financing Tamil internment, UN, complicit in Crimes against Humanity - Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 02:36 GMT]
United Nations Organization and other Western States financing the nazi-style concentration camps, where nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians are held against their wishes under Sri Lanka military supervision, are complicit in Sri Lanka's genocide against Tamils, and also complicit in these crimes against humanity, said Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet Thursday.
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Tamil refugees in Indonesian port begin hunger strike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 23:37 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers caught by Indonesian authorities while trying to reach Christmas Island, Australia, and brought to the port city of Merak in western Java, have gone on a hunger strike, reports from Australian media said. “The group's spokesman, Alex, said all 222 men and women on board the cargo boat would refuse food until a Western country, such as Australia, promised to resettle them,” WAtoday an Australian online newspaper reported, and the site quoted the spokesperson as saying, "[w]e want a resolution from any foreign country that says they are willing to take us." The 31 Tamil children on board would not join the hunger strike, reports added.
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UNICEF urged to explore direct assistance to IDP education

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 22:01 GMT]
UNICEF has recently announced an emergency programme to assist Colombo’s Ministry of Education implementing Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) to an estimated number of 85,000 IDP children. According to a UNICEF advertisement, seeking experts to work with Colombo’s ministry, the programme will begin from January 2010 and 2000 teachers are to be trained for this purpose. Over the years the so-called national education in the island has been thoroughly Sinhalicised with scheming perfection, so that education of Tamils is now completely ‘directed’ by Sinhalese from concept and management to curriculum and textbooks. The ‘core curriculum’ in the mind of Colombo is structural and cultural genocide, commented academic circles in the island, adding that the UN agency should explore ways of handing over the education of Tamils to Tamils.
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Miliband cosmetically presents catalogue of failures

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 01:18 GMT]
British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband on Tuesday presented a written statement to the House of Commons on the 'developments' in the island of Sri Lanka since his last visit in April in response to his concerns on minimising humanitarian impact, strengthening of the rule of law to address human rights and on setting out a political process to address the grievances of 'minorities'. Tamil circles find nothing worthy has been achieved in the last six months but the cosmetic presentation of the catalogue of failures by Mr. Miliband raises concern in them whether the British government is up for appeasement with the aggressive elements in the island.
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'Time for South India to take care of its own geopolitics'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 00:26 GMT]
The historic duty of Tamil Nadu today is to cast with far sight its diplomatic weight internationally, convincing New Delhi and the international community to come out with fundamental solutions recognizing the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo. "Saying foreign affairs is an exclusive domain of the Centre is only an excuse in contemporary world, especially when a federal government fails in it seriously affecting the strategic interests of a state. A Tamil Nadu delegation visiting Sri Lanka is perhaps for the first time an external affairs exercise of a state in India, but it has cut a negative image with the people to whom it was meant for, raising questions on the bona fides of the whole exercise," the commentator further says.
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Tamil family man’s corpse found in Kandy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 10:40 GMT]
Kandy police recovered the body of a Tamil family man with knife wounds Monday morning in Aluwathgoda in Kandy on information from the residents of the area. Evidence found with the body indicates that the victim is a Tamil family man, Kandy police sources said.
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3 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 17:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and police took into custody Monday morning three Tamil youths in a joint search conducted in Eddiyawathe in Mattakuliya, a suburb of Colombo city. One of the youths was arrested as he was travelling in No. 155 public transport bus which was bound to Galkisse. The other two youths were taken into custody in the search conducted in Eddiyawathe junction.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Chilaapam

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 16:47 GMT]
A team of the State Intelligence Service Sunday arrested a Tamil civilian, a resident of Chilaapam in the northwestern province. Chilaapam police said he was taken into custody on information that he had been assigned by Liberation Tigers to gather information around the Colombo port area.
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Public demonstration in Chennai in support of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 08:12 GMT]
More than a thousand people from various parts of Tamil Nadu gathered in front of Munro Statue in Anna Salai in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Sunday around 11:00 a.m and marched in a procession to the Government Guest House in Cheppaakam, demanding the UN to hold a referendum among the Eezham Tamils to know whether they want a separate state and to free at once all the Eezham Tamils detained behind barbed wire in the internment camps in Sri Lanka, sources Chennai said. Protection Committee for Tamils (PCT) organized the demonstration and later in the evening held a conference in T-Nakar in Chennai where resolutions related to the demands were passed, the sources added.
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