Rajapaksa claims occupation of Poonakari

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 November 2008, 09:07 GMT]
Sri Lankan President and Commander-in-Chief of the SL Armed Forces Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday claimed that his forces have occupied the "full stretch of the A-32 road" (Mannaar- Poonakari) and the Poonakari area Saturday morning. "Now, we can open a land route to the Jaffna Peninsula after many years; I think we can say, it was after the Second Eelam war," Mr. Rajapaksa said in a message to the Sri Lankan media.
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'Solution from outside is Sri Lankan reality'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2008, 20:46 GMT]
The traditional civil-military division of labour has now been altered by the war in Sri Lanka. Military is a leading stakeholder. Sri Lanka no longer is an exceptional ‘third world democracy’. It is now a full-blown ‘national security state’. The defence establishment has stepped into the domain of governance at par with the office of the president. The Sri Lankan state has always been an ethnic majoritarian and communal one. The only state reform initiative implemented in 1987 had to come from outside, because the state refused to reform itself voluntarily. That continues to be Sri Lanka’s problem even today, wrote well known political scientist of Sri Lanka, Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, in an article appeared in the October 25th issue of Economic and Political Weekly.
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APRC: how long you tolerate a farce, Suresh asks India and IC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 01:20 GMT]
The All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) is a farce of the Sri Lanka government. It was always used to impress upon India and the International Community. The basic premise of the APRC not to go beyond unitary constitution of Sri Lanka, will not bring in any meaningful result. India and the IC know it well. Yet, if they continue to tolerate the farce, they will only be abetting the genocidal programme of Colombo, says Suresh Premachandran of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
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'13th Amendment powerless, youth may go for war again' - Eastern minister Hisbullah

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2008, 15:55 GMT]
Powers devolved under the 13th amendment to provincial council are being taken away by the central government by issuing gazette notifications and circulars. The provincial council has no power to transfer even a police constable, lamented Mr.M.L.A.M.Hisbullah, a Minister in the Eastern Provincial Council in an exclusive interview to the weekly edition of the leading Tamil daily Virakesari published from Colombo.
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'Give way to Tamil Eelam and avoid Sinhala blackmailing for ever'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2008, 17:28 GMT]
Don't abandon the Tiger. A Sinhala-dominated Sri Lanka is not in India’s interests, writes T S Gopi Rethinaraj, a Singapore National University scholar, in the November 2008 issue of Pragati, the Indian National Interest Review. A unified Sri Lanka under Sinhalese domination will be deeply inimical to India's interests. Colombo will permanently exploit India in the absence of a buffer that an Independent Tamil Eelam could provide, he wrote.
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13th Amendment: arousing a zombie

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 November 2008, 01:39 GMT]
The Indian government may be bereft of all guts to do anything in Sri Lanka. But at least it can render a great service by not talking about the 13th amendment as a basis to resolve the crisis. What is more dangerous than India abetting a war against Eezham Tamils by providing arms, armed personnel and intelligence to Colombo is the political sabotage of thrusting the rotten 13th amendment upon the struggling people to muffle their voice. India should rather acknowledge the decades-old Tamil voice for self-determination as a nation, to base exploration of fresh models, writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi.
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Strategic Partners

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008, 13:14 GMT]
"The American ban on the LTTE, which was followed by several other countries, also cut the flow of money and weapons to the Tigers, the result of which could be seen in their recent military defeats", said the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka in an interactive session at Chennai last month, as reported by The Hindu. The other side of the result story is that the same American policy tilted the balance in favour of a genocidal government, precipitated aggressive war on a grand scale and thus deepened immensely the divide between the concerned ethnicities, making reconciliation unfeasible more than ever.
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Army behind abduction of Sinhalese cattle herders, residents allege

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 November 2008, 18:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers attached to Palatupana army camp Thursday night allegedly 'abducted' three Sinhalese cattle herders while they were consuming liquor with two soldiers at Doserwewa in Kataragama (Kathikaamam) according to the villagers. The incident took place around 10:30 p.m.
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Tehelka on what the grass roots feel in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2008, 12:19 GMT]
"In these villages, it hardly matters that Pirabhakaran is an accused in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, or that the LTTE is banned un India. Many have named their children after Pirabhakaran. Housing colonies have been given the names of LTTE martyrs", reports Tehelka Magazine in a feature article on Kolathur (Ku'laththoor), a Panchayat of 10 villages and 75,000 people, bordering Karnataka, in the Selam (Chealam) district of northwestern Tamil Nadu.
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Eastern University students boycott lectures

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2008, 04:53 GMT]
Students of Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) in Vanthaa'rumoolai are boycotting lectures since Monday, wearing black bands to express their condolence to the killing of their fellow Sinhalese student, S. P. Samarasinghe, on 21 August 2008, and the detaining of Sasikaran, a third year Agricultural Faculty Tamil student, arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing of the Sinhalese student.The boycott of lectures and protest demonstrations will continue until Sasikaran is released, the vice president of EUSL student union said.
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Wind of Change in Maldives

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 07:14 GMT]
As the counting is over for the elections that took place in Maldives on Tuesday, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, popularly known 'Anni' has secured 54.21 percent of votes and is expected to assume power as president of the republic on November 11th. Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the present incumbent ruling the country for 30 years since 1978 trailed behind with 45.79 percent. The voter turnout in the first ever elections in that country based on multi party system was a very high 86.58 percent.
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Ceasefire should be primary concern: Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 19:59 GMT]
Quick on the heels of the news-report that hundreds of Tamil schoolchildren had a hair-breadth escape from death due to airstrike by the Sri Lanka Air Force Tuesday, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) President Thol.Thirumavalavan said in a press meet in Chennai that "an immediate ceasefire in the island nation should be the primary concern of the Tamilnadu and Indian Governments." Thirumavalavan lauded Chief Minister Karunanidhi for his efforts to ensure peace in the island nation and requested him not to drop the resignation ultimatum, but to instead postpone it until a later date.
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Violence against upcountry Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 12:03 GMT]
A gang of about fifteen Sinhalese armed persons entered the house of a Tamil family in Perk rubber estate in Horana electorate Sunday evening and attacked the inmates mercilessly with clubs and knives. Other Tamil families in the area along with the affected family fled into the nearby jungle to escape further attack from the Sinhalese hoodlums. The violence comes as reports in Colombo said an upcountry Tamil minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, Mr. P. Chandrasekaran was currently under presidential investigation for alleged expression of support to the recent protest campaign lauched by the Tamil Nadu government that sought to protect Tamils in Sri Lanka.
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Colombo's concessions on fishing rights

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2008, 05:30 GMT]
Indian fishermen may get into Sri Lankan waters other than sensitive areas of coastline designated by Sri Lanka government, implied a joint press statement released by the Indian foreign ministry on Sunday. There will be no firing on Indian fishing vessels. Earlier Colombo's position was against Indian fishermen crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line.
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TMVP, Karuna groups organize demonstration in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2008, 14:02 GMT]
Paramilitary-cum-political parties, the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and the Karuna faction, which operate along with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Eastern Province, have announced that a demonstration will be held 26 October, and have issued notices to the public in Eastern Province including NGO staff, school children and other public and private institutions to participate. The groups have warned the public of severe consequences if they fail to join in the demonstration.
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Time for Colombo to defeat LTTE with political solution: U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2008, 10:16 GMT]
"The U.S. view is that the [Sri Lankan] government could further isolate and weaken the LTTE if it articulates now its vision for a political solution," said U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake while addressing an interactive session at the University of Madras on Friday, The Hindu reported. While ruling out the military option, Mr. Blake has alluded that the U.S. position was to militarily weaken the LTTE to defeat it politically. The United States has been a key player of the Co-Chairs for the Sri Lankan process, which has been managed by the facilitation of Norway till Sri Lanka unilaterally withdrew from the ceasefire.
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Governor General of Canada voices for UN human rights office in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2008, 21:08 GMT]
"We strongly support the presence of the Office of the UN Commissioner for Human rights in Sri Lanka with a full mandate to report on the human rights situation", said The Governor General of Canada, Michaëlle Jean on the occasion of the presentation of credentials by Daya Perera, the new High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Canada, on Wednesday. "It is important to ensure that civilians in conflict zones are protected, that they have access to humanitarian organizations, and that their human rights are respected", she said while conveying deep concern of her government "over the future of the Sri Lankan people".
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FMM condemns death threats to Human Rights Lawyers

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2008, 18:46 GMT]
Free Media Movement (FMM), a Colombo-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Thursday, condemned a recent letter written in Sinhala by a group calling itself "Mahason Balakaya," which warned that the human rights lawyers representing "terrorists" will be "summarily killed or receive life-threatening injuries." FMM urged the Government of Sri Lanka to "immediately denounce these terror tactics and take meaningful steps to restore public confidence in the rule of law, human rights and democratic governance."
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Thirumavalavan courts arrest with thousands of cadres, asks India to stop proxy war

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2008, 12:05 GMT]
In a powerful state-wide railway blockade of a scale that has not been witnessed in recent years in Tamil Nadu, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) President Thol. Thirumavalavan courted arrest Thursday morning with thousands of his cadres urging the Indian Government to stop the genocidal war against the Tamils within the next twenty-four hours. He said that the ongoing war in the island was "clearly a proxy war being waged by the Indian Government through the Sinhalese forces" and he urged upon New Delhi to put an end to it at the earliest.
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Eastern University Sinhalese students transferred to other campuses

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2008, 19:52 GMT]
207 Sinhalese undergraduate students registered at the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL), Vanthaa'rumoolai, Batticaloa have been transferred to other campuses except the universities in North and East, based on the recommendation of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the administrative office of the Eastern University announced Tuesday.
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