Prof. Ramasamy, Penang's new Deputy Chief Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2008, 21:34 GMT]
Professor Ramasamy, a Political Scientist who left Malaysia and taught in Germany and Singapore, beat former Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon at the recently held Malaysian elections and has been appointed Deputy Chief Minister for Penang, widely regarded as the Malaysia's economic heartland. Professor Ramasamy participated as a member of the LTTE's constitutional affairs committee prior to Geneva Talks in June 2006.
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Destroyed East villages, MP chronicles history

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2008, 16:33 GMT]
"Population of Sinhalese in the East was a mere 0.53 percent in 1827 but due to systematic colonisation and subsequent establishment of military camps along the borders of traditional Tamil areas, Sinhala settlers encroached into more than 25 percent of land owned by Tamils," said Maavai Senathirajah, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, addressing, as the chief guest, to a gathering in Colombo Saturday on the occasion of the release of a book "Destroyed Tamil villages," authored by fellow Member of Parliament (MP), S.Jeyananthamoorthy, literary sources in Colombo said. T. Kangasabai, Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian presided the function.
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SLA accelerates colonization of east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2008, 15:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is involved in planned encroachment of lands belonging to Tamils in Koaraalaipattu North in Batticaloa district, and colonization of other Sri Lanka Government controlled areas by resettling Sinhala civilians, local residents of affected areas in Koaraalaipattu said.
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Military Officer in media position will affect war reporting, says CPJ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2008, 11:59 GMT]
Citing incidents of "ongoing intimidation of Sri Lanka media ... and the treatment of Tamil journalists under investigation by the Terrorist Investigation Division," and the appointment of retired Major General Sunil Silva, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York based media watch dog, in a letter sent to Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse Friday said, "[u]nsupported terrorist accusations threaten the security and livelihood of Tamil journalists. A military leader in a state media group threatens the objectivity of journalists," and urged Rajapakse to vigorously investigate attacks and provide the journalists with due protection.
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Devotees flock to Naagathambiraan temple in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2008, 00:31 GMT]
Annual March Pongkal festival at the historic Naagathambiraan Temple in Pu'liyampokka'nai near Kilinochchi was held Friday and continued throughout night to early hours Saturday morning, sources in Vanni said. Thousands from Vanni attended the event, but sources said, with travel ban through A9 from the north through Mukamaalai, and from the south via Oamanthai, the number of devotees attending the festival was significantly lower than the crowds of past years.
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Black Sea Tigers sink SLN Dvora, 14 SLN killed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 23:48 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) elite Black Sea Tigers, engaged in a confrontation with a fleet of Sri Lanka Navy in the seas off Mullaiththeevu, attacked and sunk a SLN Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FAC) between Mullaiththeevu and Naayaa'ru at 2:10 a.m. Saturday, LTTE sources in Vanni told TamilNet. At least 14 Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) sailors were killed in the clashes, the Tigers said. Three Black Sea Tigers were killed in action in the fighting that lasted for 45 minutes from 2:00 a.m. Saturday. Meanwhile, SLN sources said 10 SLN sailors were missing. Sixteen sailors were on board the SLN said.
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VVT Sivan Temple holds Ther festival

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 12:13 GMT]
Chariot festival at the historic Sivan Temple in Valveddiththu'rai, the spring board of Tamil armed struggle and the home town of Leader of Liberation Tigers, Pirapaharan, was held Thursday amidst continued military activities and travel restrictions, sources in Jaffna said. Thousands of devotees from many parts of the peninsula attended the grand festival, and local residents exhibited their determination to preserve the culture and heritage.
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Two Mannaar Tamil youths arrested at Madawaachchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 11:43 GMT]
Two Tamil youths, both residents of Sinnakadai in Mannaar town, were arrested Wednesday night by Anuradhapura police when they were traveling in a vehicle bound for Mannaar. The youths are being detained at Anuradhapura police station and are being subjected to interrogation by the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) on a report that they attempted to smuggle explosives and gelignite sticks via Madawaachchi jungles to Mannaar, media sources said.
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4 Tamil women arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 10:01 GMT]
Three Tamil women who arrived in Colombo from Vavuniyaa accompanying another woman to go to Kuwait were arrested by the Kotahena Police. They were later ordered remand by the Colombo Magistrate. They are being detained in Welikada prison. They have been identified as Kumariah Mallika, 35, of Thonikal, Thushanthini Wijekumar, 23, of Manipuram, Ganeshan Indrani, 32, and Sivasubramaniam Sthreethevi, 25, of Anuradhapura, media sources said.
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South African Indians oppose Indian Arms to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 00:09 GMT]
Carrying the red and yellow flag, an impressive number of South Africans of Indian Origin, demonstrated outside the Indian Consulate in Durban on Thursday, to register their collective opposition to the military oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka by the Sri Lankan Government. They appealed to the Indian government to stop military assistance to the Government of Sri Lanka. While the Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission received the memorandum of the demonstrators and spoke to them, the Indian Consulate refused to accept it. Except a negligibly few Eezham Tamils, the vast majority of the demonstrators were people of Indian origin.
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Hurdling chauvinism: Rohan Rajasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 20:25 GMT]
Expatriate Tamils in London are, this weekend, holding a remembrance ceremony for Rohan Rajasingham, an accomplished sportsman who strove against institutionalized Sinhala majoritarianism to better the conditions for aspiring Tamil sportsmen and women in Sri Lanka. Rajasingham passed away on January 8, 2008 after a brief battle with cancer, aged 50.
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Military officer's appointment to SLRC troubles IFJ

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 13:31 GMT]
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), in a press release issued Thursday, expressed deep concern at the appointment of a retired army Major General to a senior position at the state broadcaster, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC). "The appointment follows threatened strike action by staff at SLRC to demand protection in the face of a series of threats and attacks on staff allegedly linked to a melee at the station’s office on December 27, when Labour Minister Mervyn Silva assaulted SLRC news director TMG Chandrasekara," the press release said.
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2 upcountry Tamil youths arrested in Kandy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 12:21 GMT]
Two upcountry Tamil youths were arrested by Sri Lanka government security forces Wednesday evening at Kandy, and are being detained at police station. Police said they were taken in for questioning as they failed to prove their identity and the purpose of their visit when they arrived in Kandy bus stand from Badulla.
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Supreme Court to hear Rights petition filed by jailed journalist

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 12:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Supreme Court Wednesday granted permission to hear the fundamental rights petition filed by J.S.Tissanayagam, a senior journalist at Sunday Times and Editor of the website “Outreach,” against officials of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID), legal sources in Colombo said. The hearing is set for 27 March.
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It needs a mandate to prod them to justice

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 11:52 GMT]
"Anyone who wishes to see a peacefully united Sri Lanka has to begin from separation. Separation for unity is the appropriate paradigm today. The Sri Lankan situation has transcended the 1987 formula. It is time the Tamils in India have to take care of a policy shift in the Indian establishment. The suggestion is that the political parties of Tamil Nadu who aspire for power in the forthcoming elections have to boldly adapt a policy upholding a Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka in their election manifesto and get the mandate from the people. Only such a mandate can silence the antagonists and direct the foreign policy of India to serve the interests of Tamils, India as well as a peaceful Sri Lanka."
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India abetting Tamil genocide: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 10:49 GMT]
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko Tuesday said that the present attitude of the Indian Government amounted to assistance in Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils. He sought the withdrawal of the radars supplied to Sri Lanka and an end to all forms of military assistance from India to the Sri Lankan government. Accusing the Indian Government of "betraying the Tamils," the veteran leader in his reply to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's letter, pointed out that no sovereign nation would tolerate the dangerous action of a neighbouring country planting mines in the bordering seas.
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Sri Lanka faulted for public use of ICRC's confidential findings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 March 2008, 16:12 GMT]
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in a press release issued Wednesday, faulted Colombo for making misleading public references to ICRC's confidential findings on "disappearances and unexplained killings," and for disclosing that U.S. embassy also had access to the confidential reports. "Extra-judicial killings and disappearances are part of a terrible pattern of abuse in Sri Lanka, which must be stopped," said Jacques de Maio, the ICRC's head of operations for South Asia.
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Upcountry Tamil voter's registries to be published in Tamil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 March 2008, 09:49 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections Tuesday informed the SL Supreme Court that he has taken steps to publish voters' registers of plantation areas also in Tamil. The State Counsel appearing on behalf of the Commissioner of Elections submitted the latter's response to the three member-bench of the Supreme Court when the Fundamental Rights violation filed by the Ceylon Workers United Front (CWUF) came up for further inquiry on Tuesday, legal sources said.
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Upcountry Tamil abducted in Moneragala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 March 2008, 08:07 GMT]
Unknown armed persons arrived in a white colored van abducted a 26-year-old Upcountry Tamil, M. Tharmarajah, 26, Tuesday afternoon, increasing the number of Tamils abducted in Moneragala police division to five since February this year.
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TNA to boycott Eastern PC elections - MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 23:35 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will not contest in the forthcoming Provincial Council elections for the Eastern Province as the alliance "steadfastly opposed the de-merger of the North Eastern Provincial Council (NEPC) in January 2007 by the Government of Sri Lanka," Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy told TamilNet Tuesday. "We do not want to fall prey to the policy of divide and rule of the Sri Lankan government," the parliamentarian further said.
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