Tamil circles urge TNA to enunciate policy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 03:45 GMT]
Several organizations in Jaffna including those of the students and intellectuals have called upon Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to make public its proposed solution for the ethnic issue well before the forthcoming parliamentary election, sources in Jaffna said. The call comes in the wake of rumours that TNA stands divided as some of its senior parliamentarians are planning to field new candidates other than the present representatives in order to strengthen their positions, the sources added. Meanwhile, TNA is being urged to state their policy clearly as it was done in 1976 in the first National Convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) where the Vaddukoddai Resolution was proclaimed, the sources added.
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Government does not reveal true number of Vanni IDPs yet to be resettled

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 February 2010, 02:31 GMT]
Though the government of Sri Lanka reports that only less than 60,000 Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) detained in the camps remain to be resettled, more than a hundred thousand of them have not been resettled in their own places but have sought refuge with their relatives and friends while some of them live in temporary sheds put up on government lands, according to Ki’linochchi District Secretariat sources. The government issues false figures so as to create a picture that all is going well according to plans with the resettlement of Vanni IDPs, they further said.
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Magistrate takes tough stand on police

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 February 2010, 11:42 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate, Ms Champa Janaki Rajaratne, Thursday reprimanded the Police for the failure to arrest armed men who are believed to be supporters of the ruling party when they attacked civilian protestors during their peaceful march condemning the arrest and detention of General Fonseka held on Wednesday in Colombo, legal sources said.
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HSBC International opens branch in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 February 2010, 03:19 GMT]
British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Mr. Peter Hayes and HSBC Executive Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives officially opened Thursday a branch of HSBC International Bank on Kaangkeasanthu’rai Road in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The Governor of Sri Lanka Central Bank Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal who was also present on the occasion said that a sum of 270 million rupees have been earmarked for development projects in Northern Province but failed to reveal any such project for the current year, the sources added.
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Canadian Tamil film wins award in Norway festival

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 2010, 03:43 GMT]
Canadian Tamil film '1999,' which made its debut in Vancouver International film Festival in October last year, won the “Midnight Sun” award Wednesday at the Tamil Film Festival-2010 held at the Filmenshus Kino in Oslo, Norway, cinematic enthusiasts attending the event said. 1999 was directed by Lenin M. Sivam, an Eezham Tamil of Canada and a software professional. The festival also showcased some of the short films that were made by Eezham Tamils. A short film called “Vanni Mouse” by director Tamiliam Subas from Norway received the best short film award.
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'Madras Mail' passes away in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 2010, 03:38 GMT]
Madras Mail, the President of the Development Council of Tamil Traditional Arts, and a recognized Saiva scholar and dramatist passed away Tuesday in Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) where he was admitted with heart ailment, sources in Jaffna said. Chelliah Madras Mail, a native of Puthukkudiruppu in Vanni, residing in Nalloor had dedicated himself to the task preserving and maintaining the Tamil traditional arts and drama and been the author of ‘Veazham Paduththa Veerangkanai’ Tamil drama which he directed and staged in many parts of Jaffna peninsula.
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SLA occupation of churches in Vadamaraadchi shocks Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 2010, 02:52 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam is reported to be in great shock on witnessing Vettilaikkea’ni Kappal Eanthiya Maathaa Koayil, a historically famous St. Mary’s Church in Vadmaraadchi East, being converted into a big military base of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), on his recent visit to Vanni and Vadamaraadchi, according to sources close to Jaffna Bishop House. The Bishop had been instructed by SLA authorities not to release any information about the said church to media or other institutions, the sources further said.
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International countries should urge Sri Lanka to reveal proposal to solve ethnic issue

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 03:52 GMT]
Civil Society Organizations in Jaffna Peninsula requested Canadian Ambassador Mr. Pruce Levy to urge international countries to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to disclose immediately if it has any proposal to solve the ethnic issue, when the Ambassador met them at several places in the peninsula. President Mahinda Rajapakse who said that he will present the proposal after the presidential election now says that he will reveal it after the announced general election, the representatives told the visiting Canada Ambassador.
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Dead bodies of Vanni IDP male and female recovered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 02:26 GMT]
Koappaay police recovered the bodies of a male and a female first year students of Management Faculty of Jaffna University, found floating in Eriyaku'lam pond in Irupaalai by residents on Tuesday. The two students, both IDPs from Vanni, boy hailing from Jaffna and the girl from Batticaloa, had rejoined the University after being held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camp in Vavuniyaa, University sources told TamilNet. Fear and tension prevails among the students of Jaffna University.
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SLA tightens fishing restrictions in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 February 2010, 03:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had imposed restrictions on fishing in Jaffna peninsula since its occupation for the last fourteen years is now tightening the restrictions, subjecting the peninsula fishermen to additional harassment, fisheries societies sources in Jaffna said. SLA compels the fishermen to renew their ‘fishing pass’ often while keeping many fishing jetties in several coastal villages closed to them, the sources further complained.
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Sri Lanka, acid test for International Law

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 February 2010, 23:15 GMT]
The widespread systematic pattern of crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state against Tamil civilians, particularly during the first five months of 2009 in the Northeast province, constitute violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, legal scholars have said. During this period, indifference exhibited by the international community, including the United Nations, led to the deaths of more than 30,000 Tamils. The strong transnational expatriate Tamil community now has the burden (a) to prevent Sri Lanka from erasing the massacres from historical record, (b) to resist attempts by international powers to persuade Tamils for reconciliation without establishing justice and accountability for the crimes, and (c) to seek justice for tens of thousands of Tamil victims by charging Sri Lanka of war crimes and genocide against Tamils in world courts.
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A language dies in India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 February 2010, 23:39 GMT]
With the death of 85 years old Boa Sr in Andaman Islands of India last week, the Bo language of prehistoric antiquity became extinct once and for all, reports, Survival International, a movement for tribal peoples. The Andaman and Nicobar islands, home of several prehistoric tribes of Austroloid, Negroid and Mongoloid origins, is currently a Union Territory directly administered by the Central Government of India. “The Great Andamanese were first massacred, then all but wiped out by paternalistic policies which left them ravaged by epidemics of disease, and robbed of their land and independence,” says Survival on the modern history of the tribes since British times. Meanwhile, India launched a show off of ‘naval exercise’ in the Andaman Sea Friday, mobilising 13 countries in the region including Sri Lanka, the new 'colonial power' in South Asia.
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SL parliament extends emergency another month

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 2010, 16:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Friday adopted a motion by a majority of eighty seven votes to extend the State of Emergency for another month. One hundred and two MPs of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) voted for the motion and fifteen from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) voted against. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarians did not participate in the voting.
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Ki'linochchi to Mu'rika'ndi: no human beings, ghost buildings, stray cattle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 February 2010, 00:39 GMT]
A video footage taken a few days back, while travelling between Ki'linochchi and Mu'rika'ndi, shows the real situation in the heartland of Vanni in Tamil Eelam. The tract bustling with contended people two years back is virtually a no-man zone with ghost buildings and stray cattle today. The landscape is physical evidence to the genocide committed on a nation. The parties responsible for one of the worst crimes against humanity in the 21st century such as this, refuse to accept it, but hide it, coerce the victims not to talk about it and in various nuanced ways want to finish the genocide to its end, is the feeling of Eezham Tamils, both in the island and in the diaspora.
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India plays upon Buddhist emissary while monks colonize Tamil land

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 February 2010, 23:04 GMT]
New Buddhist temples built by armed forces and militant monks mushroom in Tamil land occupied by Colombo, news reports from Eezham said, citing new constructions along A9 highway. Meanwhile, an extremist Buddhist monk with armed support has arrived at Thalai Mannaar Pier area, the nearest point opposite to the Indian coast, to buy 100 acres of land and to start a Sinhala-Buddhist colony there, news sources from Mannaar said. While nearby Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee of the Tamil north and east are never linked for ages, A3 highway in the western coast is going to be extended according to Colombo reports, linking Puththa’lam and Mannaar through Vilpattu forest to facilitate inroads of Sinhala colonies. In the meantime, India is learnt to have gifted to Sri Lanka a replica of Asoka’s rock edict speaking of his Buddhist emissary to the island.
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Sri Lankan Police instructed to quell protests by opposition

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 February 2010, 02:21 GMT]
Any demonstration against the government and the SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa organized by the opposition without permission would be dealt severely if peace is disrupted, the Sri Lankan Police has warned on Monday.
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Colombo not answerable to UN for 80,000 IDPs remaining in Vavuniyaa camps - Minister

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 2010, 13:01 GMT]
About eighty thousand Internally displaced persons from Vanni region still remain in camps located in Vavuniyaa despite Sri Lanka government's assurances to the United Nations that all IDPs will be resettled by January 31. Richard Badiudeen, Minister of Resettlement and disaster relief services, told Colombo media Monday that no such assurance has been given to any organization including UN.
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Resettled Vanni IDPs in Jaffna left to suffer

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 2010, 04:03 GMT]
The Internally Displaced People (IDPs) from Vanni brought to Jaffna and resettled have not been given economic or other assistance as promised and are facing severe hardships, civil society organizations in Jaffna expressed concern. Some of the IDP families are still to be paid the initial payment of 5,000 rupees while the families who were told that their second payment of 25,000 rupees will be paid before 15 January have not been paid the amount. Jaffna Secretariat officials refused to comment on the issue, sources in Jaffna said.
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"Referendum on Eelam is our right and responsibility"

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 January 2010, 04:42 GMT]
"Diaspora Tamils live in established liberal democratic states with freedom of the press and where the rule of law is invariably observed. This weekend’s referendum in Britain provides us with a chance to prove that the demand for Tamil Eelam is, as it always was, the well reasoned conclusion of rational, free-thinking, independent individuals. By endorsing an independent statehood, we demonstrate our commitment to our people in the island and make clear and that there can be no peace or reconciliation without a just solution, without freedom and equality for the Tamil nation; and that it is stability, not chaos we seek in our homeland," comments Sivakami Rajamanoharan, member of the TYO-UK (Tamil Youth Organisation – United Kingdom), on the forthcoming referendum in UK.
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Tamils pay tribute to Holocaust victims

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 January 2010, 03:56 GMT]
American Tamils join the world humanitarian community in remembering and paying tribute to the victims of the Holocaust at the hands of Nazi Germany, honoring survivors and supporting the recognition of this day internationally, said United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) in a press release issued Monday. Noting that the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is of special significance to Tamils, the release added, "[t]he 2009 onslaught by the mono-ethnic Sinhala Sri Lankan armed forces claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians under the guise of a “humanitarian operation”...The plight of Tamils continues, with internment, separation of children from their parents and the holding of people in detention under secret conditions."
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