Letter from the grave - NYT

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 21:06 GMT]
Noting that the last editorial late Lasantha Wickrematunge wrote was a "powerful indictment of the increasingly brutal Sri Lankan government, which runs one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist," New York Times, in an editorial that appeared Sunday, said that his farewell piece is also "a painful explanation of why another brave journalist would die while trying to publish truths that most people are afraid to whisper."
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'Lives lost yielding nothing to Colombo'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 17:59 GMT]
"It is not a question of whether Tamil Eelam will become independent. Rather, it is a question of how many lives, on both sides of the Tamil Eelam border, the Sinhala regime(s) are prepared to waste in the process," writes a reader, Mr. Poulson, in response to TamilNet's call for opinion last week. "The Sinhala polity is not interested in a ceasefire and nor are the strategic partners. Hence it must be forced upon them," he writes further in his situation analysis.
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4 STF commandos killed in landmine attack in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 15:05 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants triggered a landmine Monday around 4:40 p.m targeting a vehicle carrying Special Task Force (STF) commandos, killing four of them, in Kanchchikudichchaa’ru jungle in Ampaa’rai district, LTTE sources in Ampaa’rai district.
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Norwegian Tamils demonstrate in front of US Embassy in Oslo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 11:27 GMT]
Around 400 Norwegian Tamils gathered in front of United States Embassy in Oslo, Tuesday between 9:30 a.m and 10:30 a.m urging the U.S. Government to help stop the genocidal war on the Tamils in Vanni in Sri Lanka and to exert pressure on Sri Lanka Government to bring about an immediate cease fire. This is the fourth demonstration organized by Norwegian Tamils Federation within the last two weeks, sources in Oslo said. A representative of the American Embassy received the memorandum submitted by the demonstrators.
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Mannaar police detains 6 fishermen, 1 civilian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 10:50 GMT]
Six fishermen from Mannar were arrested by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on Naachchikkudaa seas and are being detained by Detention Order (DO). A seventh youth was arrested by Mannaar police in a search conducted in his house Wednesday when a sticker of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Forest Department was found in the house, the police claimed.The fishermen are from Mannaar Thoadave’li, Joseph Vaz Nakar.
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Tamil prisoners stripped naked, beaten by Sinhala Guards

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 01:04 GMT]
Seven Tamil and Muslim suspects detained in Anuradhapura prison filed complaints at the Mannaar Court Monday that five Sinhala thugs brought from outside and about ten other prison guards stripped the seven men naked and beat them with batons inside Anuradhapura prison Saturday and Sunday, legal sources in Mannar said.
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Sri Lanka denies FX crisis, banks on 'patriotic Diaspora'

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2009, 20:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to little more than enough for six weeks of imports. And Japan, traditionally the island’s biggest donor, is cutting aid globally. But while local economists say the situation is critical government will inevitably have devalue the rupee by 20% this year or accept a conditions-laced bailout package from the IMF, the Central Bank is adamant neither is necessary, the Sunday Times reported. Instead, the government is to launch a campaign on February 4, Independence Day, to attract Sinhalese expatriates to invest in Sri Lankan treasury bills and bonds.
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Sea Tigers sink SLN Super Dvora attack craft in Mullaiththeevu seas

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2009, 19:30 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Sea Tigers attacked a convoy of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) off the coast of Mullaiththeevu, sinking a Super Dvora Fast Attack Craft Monday around 11:30 p.m., LTTE officials told media.
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35 SLA killed, 60 wounded in Northwestern frontier - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2009, 14:47 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials Monday said their defensive formations clashed with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for 24 hours in the Northwestern frontier of LTTE held territory till the SLA was pushed back from Neththaliyaattup paalam Monday. The Tigers claimed 35 SLA soldiers were killed and at least 60 wounded. Heavy fighting is reported also in southeastern frontier of the LTTE held territory.
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Only 1,000 Tigers left, war almost over – Fonseka

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2009, 13:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said Sunday that as there were only a thousand Tamil Tigers left and they were “boxed” into a small jungle area in Mullaitivu, the war would soon be won. The Tigers could not resist the 50,000 SLA soldiers surrounding them, he said. Lt. Gen. Fonseka, who spoke at an annual dinner he hosts for defence correspondents at his residence, joked that he expected most of them "to be out of work by this time next year." He wore a black shirt, adorned with a dragon strangling a tiger, Reuters reported.
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'International media abetted death of journalism in Sri Lanka'

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2009, 03:04 GMT]
Following the latest assassination of prominent editor Lasantha Wickramatunge of The Sunday Leader, four notable journalists, have reportedly fled Sri Lanka last week. "Had the international media, which was refused access to the war front and LTTE held territories, boycotted the government news, from the beginning itself as a measure of asserting media rights, the casualty of journalism in the island could have been avoided. But, the international media, especially the popular news agencies, are part of the game and they pay only lip service at every media casualty in the country," says a journalist formerly based in Colombo and now operating in the West.
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'Madaraasi Madam' on Eezham Tamils: comments of a Tamil journalist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 19:29 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu opposition leader Ms. Jeyalalithaa, in an interview reported by BBC on Saturday, has said that it is wrong to call the Tamils of the island of Sri Lanka as Eezhath Thamizhar, because there is no country at present called Eezham. In her opinion the right term is Ilangkaith Thamizhar. What is explicit in the statement of this leader who was made a Chief Minister twice by the people of Tamil Nadu as leader of a political party having a Dravidian label that doesn’t stand for any people at present, is her heartbeat of desire not exactly to see the elimination of the LTTE, but to see the nullification of the nationalism of Eezham Tamils inclusive of all its symbols, writes a Tamil journalist based in Chennai.
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Thirumavalavan drops fast, signals 'change of strategy'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 18:02 GMT]
VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, in his fourth day of the fast-unto-death said that he was forced to reconsider his decision to continue the fast because of the emotional pleading by his frenzied cadres, particularly women cadres who threatened self-immolation, and the shoot at sight orders that had been given by the state police department. "At this stage, I have to ensure that those who lay their love and trust in me should not lose their lives," Mr. Thirumavalavan said. He added that henceforth the VCK had snapped all ties with the Congress party.
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Vanni civilians under deadly siege

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 17:50 GMT]
"There are no words to describe the plight of the civilians who say that they prefer to face death on the spot rather than succumbing to serious injuries or ending up in the hands of the invading Sri Lankan forces, which many of them regard as genocidal military and fear that their young men and women would be 'filtered' away, tortured or killed by it," reports TamilNet correspondent from an outskirt of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) Sunday evening amid artillery fire.
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Third Tamil youth shot dead in Moneragala

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 16:51 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons shot dead a Tamil youth in Moneragala district on Friday night bringing the total of Tamil youths killed in the district to three within a four day period. The victim was identified as Rasiah Selvarajah, 23, of Moopanawela Estate in Moneragala district. The killing has created tension and fear amid Tamil people in Moneragala, civil sources said.
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9000 British Tamils gather in protest against war on Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 14:45 GMT]
More than 9000 British Tamils gathered Saturday in front of No. 10 Downing Street in London participating in a mass vigil from 3:00 p.m till 7:00 p.m, urging British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to exert pressure on the governments of Sri Lanka and India to call for an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. This event marks the third of the ‘Awareness Campaign’ organized by the Tamil Youth Organization (TYO) in United Kingdom.
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SLAF deploys cluster-bombs in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 12:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers have deployed several cluster bombs in the air attacks last week. After being exposed by TamilNet reports in November and December, 2008, the Russian alphabets on the containers of the cluster munitions, have been masked by paint before deployment by the SLAF.
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Gotabhaya: TV station attack was self-inflicted

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 12:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, claimed this week that the independent television station stormed on January 6 by over a dozen masked gunmen who threw grenades and shot up equipment with assault rifles, had in fact staged the attack to win public sympathy, because the Tamil Tigers, which he said the Sirasa station was supporting, were losing the war. He said government investigations had conclusively established this. Mr. Gotabhaya, who is also the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, made his comments to a state media station, The BBC Sinhala service reported Friday.
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LTTE ambush on checkpost in Trincomalee kills 3 home guards

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 10:39 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Sunday claimed that 3 Sri Lankan home guards were killed and one wounded in an ambush carried out on a check post of the home guards in Mallaikaiththeevu in Moothoor division of Trincomalee district.
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Tamil Nadu CPI, BJP leaders slam Delhi’s inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 22:13 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), D Pandian charged Saturday that it was not enough to merely condemn the genocide in Sri Lanka, but instead one should be prepared to embrace a martyr's death. He was speaking about VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan’s fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s war. The senior CPI leader added that if India was capable of sending the Chandrayaan to the moon, it could at least do some lip-service to save the lives of Tamils by telling to the Government of Sri Lanka that it will not hesitate to interfere."
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