Mass grave discovered in Naachchikkudaa, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 15:15 GMT]
De-mining workers of Danish De-mining Group (DDG) have discovered a mass grave in Naachchikkudaa area in Mannaar containing 75 to 100 skeletal remains while engaged in de-mining in the area, informed sources in Mannaar told TamilNet Wednesday. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had not permitted resettlement in Naachchikkudaa earlier claiming that the area was infested with landmines and a great quantity of explosives lying buried at the height of the war had taken place in Naachchikkudaa. It is suspected that the skeletal remains discovered may have belonged to young men and women, the sources added.
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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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Valikaamam HSZ resettlement issue remains unresolved

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 May 2010, 09:46 GMT]
The issue of resettling families uprooted from their properties by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the establishment of High Security Zone (HSZ) discussed in a meeting in Thellippazhai Divisional Secretariat Monday was not resolved due to the non-cooperation of the Tamil political leaders, the representatives of the Welfare Organizations for Uprooted Persons (WOUP) who arranged the meeting said. WOUP had requested all the parliamentarians of Jaffna district to raise their voices together to solve the issue, its representatives said.
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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 blocks May remembrance events in Jaffna, journalists threatened

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2010, 22:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has prevented the first commemoration events of Mu’l’livaaikkaal Massacre of May 2009 being observed in Jaffna Sunday in Nalloor and Jaffna town by chasing away the public from participating, threatening to death the reporters trying to cover the event and detaining Yarl Thinakural reporter who was present in the memorial event observed in Ilangkai Thamizh Arasu Kaddchi (ITAK) office on Martin Road, Jaffna.
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NESoHR: Except Dublin, world remains without action on Colombo's War Crimes

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2010, 09:09 GMT]
"For the last one year, there has only been talk of war crime charges. Repeated attacks on hospitals; killing, torture, rape and sexual abuse of people escaping the war zone are some of the charges leveled against the Sri Lankan forces. But, except for the verdict passed by the Dublin Permanent People’s Tribunal there has been no other concrete action," said the exiled team members of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), the Humanitarian body which was earlier based in Vanni, in a statement issued Monday. "The 300,000 people who walked out of the war zone are witnesses to these war crimes. Each one of them would have narrowly escaped death at least once in those safe zones. Fear, extreme fear, prevents the 300,000 eye witnesses from speaking. Even those who escaped from the island to other countries are silenced by fear."
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SLA soldiers deployed again in road checks, patrol in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 May 2010, 19:11 GMT]
Thousands of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are deployed along with the police in carrying out checks and patrol of the main roads in Jaffna peninsula again, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna SLA Commander Mahinda Kathrusinghe informed that SLA forces are being deployed to help the police in Jaffna peninsula to contain the escalating abductions for ransom, killings, robberies and sexual violence on women, deteriorating law and order in the peninsula, in a meeting with the Jaffna district lawyers and magistrates Saturday.
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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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Champoor resettlement not in agenda- Governor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 May 2010, 18:28 GMT]
Nearly one thousand seven hundred uprooted families from traditional Tamil villages, such as Navaratnapuram, Koonitheivu, Champoor, Soodaikuda, and Kadatkaraichchenai in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district since April 2006 in the military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) will not be resettled immediately. The decision to resettle them should come from the Government of Sri Lanka, Eastern Provincial Governor Mohan Wijewickrema told a delegation of the Association of Champoor Uprooted Tamil Families that met him in the Governor's located in Trincomalee Friday, sources said.
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JMC Commissioner released on pleading innocence by Jaffna magistrate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 May 2010, 05:39 GMT]
Jaffna Municipal council (JMC) Commissioner, M. S. Saravnabavan pleaded that he has no involvement in the advertisement made in the name of JMC in the local dailies Tuesday which contained sentences amounting to contempt of court, sources in Jaffna said. On directives from the Chief Justice and Justice Service Commissioner, Jaffna magistrate had ordered Tuesday to arrest the JMC Commissioner and produce him in the court as the Commissioner had failed to appear in the court for inquiry into the said advertisement. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) opposition members of JMC said that Jaffna Mayor Ms. Yogeswari Patkunam’s husband is responsible for JMC administration to be controlled by Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and expressed concern for disrespect brought on JMC administration.
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SL government stages hidden agenda in Jaffna peninsula – Jaffna MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 May 2010, 17:23 GMT]
Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian, accused Sri Lanka Government for purposely encouraging crimes in Jaffna peninsula such as abduction and killing for ransom, robbery, sexual abuse of lonely women so that it could continue to hold the peninsula in its authority, in a press meet held Monday at his Jaffna office. He further blamed the government for having abandoned the resettled civilians in Mullaiththeevu district who had been uprooted and detained during the war on Vanni.
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Australia playing “political football” with refugees: Amnesty International

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 May 2010, 17:20 GMT]
Amnesty International in Australia have slammed the Federal Government’s decision to freeze asylum claims from Tamil and Afghan refugees, accusing both Ruling and opposition parties of “using some of the world’s most vulnerable people as political footballs”, and urging the nation to adhere to its “legal and moral obligation” to provide protection to refugees who have “suffered torture, violence, fear and persecution that we could never imagine”.
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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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SLA builds base on demolished LTTE War Heroes’ Resting Home in Uduppiddi

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 May 2010, 16:53 GMT]
More than 200 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are engaged in constructing a military base since Friday morning on the very place of E’l’aangku’lam Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) War Heroes Resting Home in Vadmaraadchi which had been razed to the ground by SLA 03 May night using heavy equipments, sources in Jaffna said. Defence Secretary Gothabaya who recently visited Jaffna is understood to have issued the orders to demolish the above War Heroes Resting Home and to build a military base on the ground where it had stood, the sources said.
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'Minnal Ranga' tipped to cross over to Rajapaksa alliance

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 May 2010, 15:26 GMT]
Two parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) are likely to cross over to the ruling party shortly, according to political sources in Colombo. One is Mr.M.A.Abdul Cader and other is Mr.Ranga Jayaratnam, a well known personality in the electronic media as he was conducting Minnal programme in Sakthi TV of the MTV organization.
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Emergency extended for another month in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 May 2010, 15:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Wednesday after a two day debate adopted a motion moved by the government to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of 118 votes. 132 parliamentarians from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and a rebel MP of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) voted for the motion. Two parliamentarians of the UNP who were present in the House at the time of voting and 12 MPs of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted against. The State of Emergency is in force since 12th August 2005 and being extended every month with the approval of the parliament.
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Indian High Commissioner opens Visa handling office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 May 2010, 12:16 GMT]
Mr. Asok K. Kantha, the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanaka, officially opened a branch of Indian Visa handling office Wednesday around 3:00 p.m in a private building on Brown Road in Jaffna. This office will receive applications for visa to India and send them to Colombo Indian High Commission for processing and then deliver the visa to the applicants, it was said in the opening event. Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, Suresh Premachandran and Mavai Senathirajah participated in the event. Minister Douglas Devananda, the head of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), who usually participates in events of this nature, was a notable absentee as he was not invited, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna Mayor Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam of ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) though invited turned up only when the event had ended and the guests were leaving.
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31,000 vote in Canadian TGTE elections

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 May 2010, 21:48 GMT]
25 representatives have been elected from Canada in the elections where 31,072 voters took part. Tharani Prapaharan topped Toronto GTA and Vicinities list with 4,967, Vanitha Rajendram topped Eastern Ontario with 8,451, Iyampillai (Shan) Shanmuganathan received 5,049 votes in Western Ontario and Maharajah (Nanthan) Nanthakumar in Quebec & Eastern Canada. Five candidates have been elected without contest in Western Canada.
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SLA destroys Liberation Tiger war heroes tombs in Uduppiddi

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 May 2010, 20:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna using bulldozers completely destroyed E’l’laangku’lam Liberation Tiger War Heroes’ Resting Homes in Uduppiddi in Vadmaraadchi Monday night, former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivajilingam said. He told that local residents in Uduppiddi had conveyed the information by phone.
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Jeyananthamoorthy tops TGTE list in UK

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 May 2010, 20:08 GMT]
Senathirajah Jeyananthamoorthy, former TNA parliamentarian of Batticaloa district is elected for Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) topping the list of North West London. He secured 8,357 votes. The others elected from the constituency to TGTE are: Deluxon Morris (6,334), Balambigai Murugadas (5,879), Lalithasorubiny Pratheeparaj (5,521) and Jeyavani Atchuthan (5,446). Meanwhile, another former TNA parliamentarian, Mr. M.K.Eelaventhan has been declared elected for TGTE from Canada.
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