Tamil Nadu Film society to shun IIFA Festival in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 May 2010, 11:06 GMT]
Tamil Nadu Film society in its joint statement to media Wednesday said that it has decided to shun the India International Film Awards (IIFA) Weekend Festival to be held in Colombo in June first week for three days. “The death wails of the Tamils killed in the massacre of Tamils in Sri Lanka last year still echoes in the hearts of the Tamils in the world and Sri Lanka should not conduct the film festival while the Tamils mourn,” the statement said.
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New political party in Tamil Nadu vows to fight for Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 18:18 GMT]
Around 75,000 Tamils, most of them of younger generation, attended the May Remembrance of Vanni massacre and the inauguration rally of Naam Thamilar political party at Virakanoor in the city of Madurai in the Tamil Nadu state of India, vowing to fight for the creation Tamil Eelam by politically capturing the power of the Tamil Nadu state as Tamils world over observed Genocidal War Crimes Day on Tuesday, remembering thousands who perished one year ago. “The Tamil Eelam struggle has been transcended into the hands of Tamil Nadu Tamils and the younger generation in particular,” S. Seeman, a Tamil activist and a popular film director told media. “War is politics with bloodshed, our way would be Politics without bloodshed,’ he told the gathering vowing to take forward the struggle for the freedom of Eezham Tamils and to voice for global Tamil freedom.
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Colombo steps up Sinhalicisation in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 15:00 GMT]
Colombo's district land authority has taken a move to allocate four hundred acres of state land with beach frontage, along the beach of north of Trincomalee district to Sinhalese businessmen of the south in the name of 'tourist development' despite the Tamil speaking villagers of Kuhchchave'li, I'rakka'ndi and Kumpu'ruppiddi in the Kuchchave'li DS division had already made representation to the civil authority to allocate these lands for their residential and occupational purposes.
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Accounting for 2009 will define Sri Lanka’s future - editorial

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 May 2010, 11:10 GMT]
“2009’s single, protracted program of state-conducted slaughter in Sri Lanka has a sixty year-long antecedent, beginning well before the armed conflict erupted in 1983 … Since independence from Britain the Tamils have been a clear target for state-sanctioned and, later, state-conducted violence on a massive scale. … In that sense, the Tamils today embody the raison d’etre of the ‘responsibility to protect,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its latest editorial.
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Tamil lawyers decline to appear for EPDP key operatives in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 May 2010, 10:18 GMT]
A Sinhalese lawyer from South had to appear Monday in Jaffna magistrate court on behalf of the two Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) key operatives charged with issuing death threats to Chaavakachcheari magistrate as all lawyers in Jaffna peninsula refused to appear for the suspects.
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TGTE inaugurated in transnational way, Ramsey Clark stresses importance of history

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 May 2010, 01:49 GMT]
87 of 115 representatives of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) already declared elected from 11 countries are meeting in three spots of the world, in the US city of Philadelphia, in London and in Geneva, in a 3 day inaugural session from 17 to 19 May. The Tamil Eelam flag was hoisted and a representative from each country addressed the public stating that the goal of the TGTE should be the formation of independent and sovereign state of Tamil Eelam in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka. William Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney General, was one of the keynote speakers of the inaugural event. He characterized the move to form the transnational government a "brave initiative to find the wisdom and the courage to achieve - as it was for many centuries - a free and independent Tamil Eelam."
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SLA tears down Tamil Heroes memorial monuments in VVT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 May 2010, 15:28 GMT]
More than a hundred Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers deployed Sunday evening in Theeruvil in Valveddiththu’rai, the birth place of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V. Pirapaharan in Vadamaraadchi, are tearing down the memorial monuments erected in memory of twelve combatants including senior Commanders Kumarappa, Pulenthiran and another memorial monument of Col. Kiddu, sources in Valveddiththur’ai (VVT) said. Meanwhile, former TNA parliamentarian Sivajilingam told that he too had received complaints about the demolishing of LTTE memorial monuments.
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“I don’t know why Kalaignar Aiya sent me back”: Parvathi Amma

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 May 2010, 14:02 GMT]
“I do not know why Kalaignar Aiya [Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi] sent me back,” Parvathi Amma, mother of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Pirapaharan, admitted to Valveddiththu’rai (VVT) hospital told TamilNet Sunday. Being very frail after going through the ordeal of being sent back to Malaysia from Chennai and coming to Sri Lanka from Malaysia in her old age and paralyzed condition, she ended the conversation saying, “I went there only to get medical treatment.” Meanwhile, many Sinhalese journalists come to Jaffna to see her at the hospital and some of them touching her feet with reverence on leaving, moves the hearts of those around, hospital sources said.
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Colombo accelerates Sinhalicisation of Madu

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 May 2010, 12:57 GMT]
Colombo has launched a large scale Sinhala colonisation at Madu Road Junction, located on Mannaar-Madawachchi Road, which branches off the main route to Madu shrine, situated in the middle of traditional Tamil area, by officially claiming to "resettle" 80 Sinhalese families after renovating a Buddhist temple into a large Vihara at the junction. Categorising the Sinhalese settlers as "Internally Displaced Persons," the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry officials said the Sinhalese "IDPs" had met Resettlement Minister Milroy Fernando and G.A. Chandrasri, the former SLA commander of Jaffna, who is serving as the Northern Province Governor, with the Chief Incumbent Buddhist Monk of the Vihara. Caritas, a Catholic agency for justice, peace and development has been pressurised to construct the houses for the Sinhalese settlers.
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TGTE member from New Zealand speaks on Vaddukkoaddai Resolution

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 May 2010, 00:13 GMT]
Mr. S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, in his last ever speech in the Sri Lankan parliament on 19 November 1976 said: “Our Party is moving with the idea of establishing a separate state. It is not an easy matter to get a separate State; it is a difficult matter. We know it is difficult. But either we get out of the power of the Sinhala masses or we perish. That is certain. Therefore, we will try and get this separation.” Citing the speech Mr. A. Theva Rajan, member of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, from New Zealand, said that the relevance of Vaddukkoaddai Resolution today is unique in historical terms as "the reign of Percival Rajapakse" fully demonstrated to the world that the Tamils are facing a genocidal onslaught. "Rajapakse brothers made the Tamil genocide open, indelible and internationally recorded,” he said.
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Naaka-naadu
Naaka-theevu
Naaga-deepa

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 May 2010, 22:01 GMT]
The country of the Naakar
The island / peninsula of the Naakar (The Jaffna Peninsula)
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Sri Lanka joins international issues in British parties’ focus

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 May 2010, 13:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis is among international issues that have drawn comment by all three main political parties in Britain ahead of the general election on Thursday. The main opposition Conservative party insisted Sri Lanka “take immediate steps to address the concerns of the Tamil people” and emphasised the importance of “meaningful political reform” for lasting peace. The Liberal Democrats, the second largest opposition party, demanded an end to Sri Lanka’s “land-grabbing” and called for the formation of “an independent body to end all fraudulent claims to land.” The ruling Labour party, which raised warcrimes probes in its manifesto, said its 13-year government “had consistently sought to help Sri Lanka achieve a lasting solution and is committed to an inclusive political process.”
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“To tell the truth is crime in Sri Lanka” - wife of disappeared Sinhalese journalist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 2010, 15:21 GMT]
Sandhya Ekneliyagoda, the wife of Sri Lankan Sinhalese journalist Prageeth Ekneliyagoda, who disappeared 24 January and still missing, distributed an appeal among parliamentarians on the very first day of the new Sri Lankan parliament demanding their intervention to find the fate of her husband which remains unknown even after a hundred days, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDSL) said in their report Tuesday. Sandhya who blames the Sri Lankan police for purposely dragging their feet says she is deeply sceptical about the way the investigations are being handled. Having failed to evoke any positive response for her appeals to Sri Lanka government and its parliamentary opposition Sandhya tells the International Community that, “Sri Lanka is a country where grave human rights violations are taking place”, in her exclusive interview Tuesday to JDSL.
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No threat SL state sovereignty, no need for emergency, says Fonseka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 2010, 09:54 GMT]
“There is no threat to the sovereignty of the country any longer. As such the government should completely lift the State of Emergency Regulation,” former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and a parliamentarian from Colombo district representing Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Tuesday, said participating in a debate on the extension motion moved by the government.
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Final nail on APRC's coffin

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 May 2010, 15:46 GMT]
Professor Tissa Vitarane's omission from the ministerial list "reinforces the contention that the APRC [All Party Representative Committee] was set up for the sole purpose of placating the international community and India in particular," said Dr. Paikiyasothi Saravanamuttu, director of Colombo-based think-thank, in the Saturday edition of Daily Mirror, adding that the APRC was "never meant by the regime to be anything else." Saravanamuttu was one of the few who were unique in articulating publicly that APRC was constituted for mere presence than for action.
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Sivaram showed how Sri Lankan state was dependent on oppression of Tamils: Prof. Whitaker

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 2010, 17:10 GMT]
Sivaram’s biographer and close friend Professor Mark P. Whitaker said Thursday that Sivaram’s ability as a professional journalist to show convincingly how the Sri Lankan state was dependent upon its oppression of Tamil people, was one of the key reasons why he was targeted and killed exactly five years ago. Professor of Anthropology of the University of South Carolina , Mark P. Whitaker made these observations when delivering a speech at an event in London to commemorate the fifth death anniversary of Sri Lanka ’s top journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram, well-known by his pseudonym as Taraki.
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Colombo plans Buddhist vihara in Mullaiththeevu town

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 2010, 16:16 GMT]
Sri Lankan government has planned a large Buddhist vihara at the entrance of Mullaiththeevu town at Karaichchikkudiyiruppu, 150 meters near the Kachcheari building, said former Jaffna MP Selvaraja Kajendren Saturday. The government is spending millions in construction of the Buddhist temple and in constructing at least two memorial sites for Sri Lanka Army commanders killed in action, while the Tamil civilians are not provided with meaningful aid for resettlement, Mr. Kajendren told media.
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Jaffna Mayor accused of abuse of authority

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 17:15 GMT]
Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) opposition and public organizations including Jaffna Traders Union (JTU) have raised strong protests against ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Jaffna Mayor Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam for abuse of authority, particularly in erecting a Buddha statue on Jaffna Main Street and in attempts to hand over the Jaffna Public Library canteen to Sinhalese caretakers from South, sources in Jaffna said. The Thursday meeting of JMC had to be called off as arguments against the erection of Buddha statue ended in chaos, the sources added.
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Jaffna Civil organizations accuse Colombo financial institutions of exploitation

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 16:46 GMT]
Civil organizations and Non-governmental organizations in Jaffna peninsula raised accusations against financial institutions in South rushing to open their offices with the motive of exploiting the wealth of peninsula residents as Sri Lanka Central Bank Governor, Ajith Nivard Cabral, a close friend of President Mahinda Rajapakse ceremoniously opened Friday the offices of ‘The Financial Co. Ltd’ and ‘Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers (Pvt) Ltd, in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The organizations further said that Sinhalese persons have been brought to work in the Southern firm, denying job opportunities to young men and women in Jaffna peninsula.
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Jaffna Civil organizations accuse Colombo financial institutions of exploitation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 04:45 GMT]
Private and government banks rushing to Jaffna peninsula to open their branches and the opening of the fifth branch of Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in Jaffna town Tuesday, in the name of development are but schemes aimed at exploiting the funds of peninsula residents, civil organizations in Jaffna said. They further accused the above financial institutions of employing only Sinhalese persons from South at all levels while denying job opportunities to the Tamil young men and women in the peninsula.
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