Attempts to split TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 December 2009, 06:35 GMT]
A faction led by Mavai Senathirajah and some by Srikantha, both Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians for Jaffna, are said to be engaged in activities aimed at splitting TNA, sources in Jaffna said. Srikantha and Selvam Adaikalanathan, another TNA parliamentarian, met Monday Basil Rajapakse, the brother and senior advisor of President Mahinda Rajapakse, in Colombo after which Srikantha told press that Basil Rajapakse had consented to allow resettlement of 4,500 IDPs from Valikaamam North in the first stage. Meanwhile, Mavai Senathirajah said in a press release to the media that Thamizh Arasukk Kadchi (TAK) had sent a letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse requesting the resettlement of IDPs in Valikaamam North.
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'Future bleak, but do not give up,' veteran Marxist reviewed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 November 2009, 21:19 GMT]
“Fifty years of ethnic cleansing have wiped out whole generations who knew any sort of peace, and made cohabitation with the Sinhalese people virtually impossible,” says veteran Marxist A.Sivanandan on the political future of the island of Sri Lanka in an interview to the New Left Review 60, November-December 2009. The 87 years old ideologue, who in his younger days “had no sense at all of being a Tamil” while living in the south, and who now feels “not only for the Tamils but also for the Sinhalese people,” further said: “The Sinhala elite has transformed the country into a counter-insurgency state like Colombia, in which repression, torture, imprisonment without trial and disappeared people are institutionally embedded. I don’t think anything now can be done from above, let alone from the debased self-interests of the ‘international community’.”
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Government has to get the support of the South first to solve Tamil ethnic issue – Vasudeva Nanayakkara

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 November 2009, 06:28 GMT]
Senior Advisor to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse and a veteran Sinhalese politician, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, said that the government has to get the support of the people in the South of the country to solve the problems of the Tamils, in response to questions raised by the members of Jaffna Traders’ Association (JTA) in a meeting held Saturday evening in the JTA building in Jaffna. The members had asked as to why it was not possible to carry out the Supreme Court directive to resettle the IDPs from Valikaamam North in their own places now occupied by Sri Lanka Army while the Supreme Court order to demerge Northern and Eastern provinces had been executed overnight.
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Former Tamil Director on hunger strike in Magazine prison

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 05:11 GMT]
Former Director of Sri Lanka National Film Corporation (SLNFC), S. Thevasan, presently detained in Colombo Magazine Prison, is on a hunger strike from Thursday morning demanding speedy inquiry into his case and release, his fellow prisoners informed Tamil Media Friday morning.
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IMF takes charge in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 July 2009, 00:02 GMT]
Whilst Sri Lanka’s government hailed its securing of an IMF loan for $2.6bn last week as a ‘victory’ and as indication of international support for its political and economic policies, the reality is the reverse. Sri Lanka has been compelled to accept not only painful economic and quasi-political obligations, but also the kind of external supervision the ultra-Sinhala nationalist regime routinely rails against. Moreover, whilst the IMF loan is ostensibly to revive Sri Lanka’s economy, its first purpose is to ensure the government keeps up with repayments to prior foreign lenders. In short, Sri Lanka can borrow from the IMF to pay back its creditors but has to undertake harsh economic reforms - under IMF supervision - for the breathing space.
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Foreign aid fuels Sri Lanka’s ‘extortion economy’ - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 July 2009, 22:50 GMT]
As many international observers have recently outlined, Sri Lanka is simply not a responsible member of the international community and must not be treated by donors as such, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued this week. Moreover, “unless donors are prepared to exploit Sri Lanka's vulnerability and deploy sanctions and conditionalities - rather than the ineffective incentives for reform as in the past - neither peace nor stability will emerge in the coming years, but the reverse,” the paper said.
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Castes, religions and Eezham Tamil nationalism

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 July 2009, 23:34 GMT]
“Tamil nationalism needs to realise its potentialities and weaknesses in making it progressive, benevolent and an internationally recognised culture in the future world,” writes Opinion Columnist Ampalam. “The secular linguistic identity of Tamil nationalism, based on a classical language in which more than two millennia of human experience and discourses both spiritual and temporal are recorded, and its inclusiveness cum plurality are strong points in making criteria for nationalism and in contributing to the paradigm ‘culture and development’. But jingoism of religions, which soon will be used as cards by imperialisms regional as well as international, and castes cum hierarchies old as well as new, are the liabilities,” he further writes.
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Devotees to Nainaatheevu temple inconvenienced, delayed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 July 2009, 09:55 GMT]
Around a thousand devotees on their way Monday to attend the annual Thear (charriot) festival of Nainaatheevu Nakapoosha’ni Amman temple, a historically famous Saiva temple in the islets of Jaffna, had to undergo severe checking and undue delay at the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) check post at Allaippiddi, sources in Jaffna said. Only around 50 ordinary boats were used by SLN to sail the devotees from Allaippiddi to the Nainaatheevu, the devotees said.
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Tamil youth abducted in white van in Sammaanthu'rai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 12:18 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons who arrived in a white van Monday night around 9:00 p.m. abducted a 33year-old Tamil youth Sinnavan from his residence in Sorrikalmunai in Sammanthurai police division. He was a mason by profession, according to complains lodged by his wife with the Sammaanthu'rai Police, media reports said.
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TNA MP Kanagaretnam allowed to meet fellow TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 16:53 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, Mr N Srikantha and Mr Sivanathan Kishor met separately their fellow parliamentarian Sathasivam Kanagaretnam who is being detained in the Fourth Floor of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police in Colombo. Mr.Kanagaretnam is detained since a special CID team took him into custody from an internment camp in Omanthai, in Vavuniyaa district where Vanni IDPs are being kept, media reports said.
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TNA MP missing in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 12:22 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has sought the intervention of the Speaker of the Sri Lanka’s parliament to locate its parliamentarian Mr.S.Kanagaretnam who was trapped in Vanni during the recent military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Mr. Kanagaretnam was in contact until seven days ago with his fellow parliamentarians, and his whereabouts are unknown, TNA sources said.
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TNA warns of more bloodshed in the coming days

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 12:20 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has pointed out that 3000 Tamils have been killed and more than 1000 have been wounded in the last 3 days in the Vanni region, in a press conference held in Colombo on Tuesday night. Tamil National Alliance leader MP R.Sampanthan states, “The Government of Sri Lanka is mass killing Tamil civilians after denying them food and medicine. This is the reality. More bloodshed can happen in the next few days. We appeal to the International community to immediately stop this systematic slaughtering of civilians.”
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SLA reimposes ban on outboard motor fishing in Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 13:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna has reimposed the ban on outboard motor fishing in Jaffna lagoon for an indefinite period from Thursday, according to Fisheries Society sources in Jaffna. Thousands of families on the coast of Jaffna lagoon are affected by the ban which is said to have been reimposed as a security measure for the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vessels transporting troops from Kurikaaduvaan in Jaffna to Mannaar, the sources added.
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Immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access before political engagement - TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 07:48 GMT]
S. Jeyananthamoorthy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Batticaloa district on Thursday said that the TNA had decided not to engage in talks with the Sri Lankan President or anyone representing the SL state before a conducive environment for such political engagement is created by an immediate ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access to the suffering people of Vanni. The TNA has clarified the reasons in detail in a press meet in Colombo, he said, condemning the abduction of the brother of Jaffna district MP Kajendran, barely 48 hours before the TNA was to decide its position on accepting an invitation for a meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Tigers seize weapons from SLFP Karuna camp in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 14:14 GMT]
An armed paramilitary person was killed and two T-56 assault rifles were seized Thursday night around 11:00 p.m. when an ambush team of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) carried out a surprise attac on a building at Ku'laththumadu in Vaakaneari in Vaazhaichcheani, according to a news release by the LTTE. The building, used as an office of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was a minor camp of Karuna group, the Tigers said. Dayamohan, the Batticaloa district political head of the LTTE told TamilNet last week that Karuna group had stepped up intimidations against the civilians in Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai districts in recent times.
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Maddakka'lappu / Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 12:10 GMT]
The muddy lagoon / backwaters
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SLN imposes ban on fishing in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 14:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) imposed new restrictions in Jaffna peninsula banning fishing in seas of the islets as well as in Jaffna lagoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, fisheries society sources in Jaffna said. SLN has warned that fishermen attempting to go fishing on these two days will be shot at and their boats confiscated, the sources added.
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Muthukumar triggers off mood of defiance in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 02:11 GMT]
Muthukumar was not there but his spirit was there. The lamentable self-immolation of the youth and the last statement he distributed had significant impact especially on the youth of Tamil Nadu and triggered off a series of consequences, unprecedented in such acts earlier in Tamil Nadu. Apart from public unrest, tension and street violence, the deeper manifestation was the open public defiance of the Government of India ban against the LTTE, which the people demonstrated carrying LTTE flags, placards and images of Pirapaharan in the funeral procession of Muthukumar. The intensification of student uprising as an aftermath of his sacrifice has made the state government to close colleges indefinitely, reports a journalist from Tamil Nadu.
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'Vision' of a Sinhala sociologist

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 13:22 GMT]
"This victory should not be lost in the peace. [….] The mono-ethnic nature of the North should be dismantled. [….] 'Defence Colonies' defence settlements should be established all over the North. Retired husband and wife ex-employees of the armed forces should be settled in such strategic settlements. Like in mainland China, and earlier in Korea, Armed Forces owned industries should be established in these areas for both defence and civilian production. Our forces should be further strengthened to deter any future attempts,” writes engineer turned Sinhala sociologist Dr. Susanta Goonatilake in Sunday Times, dated, January 18. His article is a specimen to understand the vision of a section of Sinhala elite on the political process to follow Colombo’s victory.
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Last statement of Muthukumar

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 09:04 GMT]
Journalist Muthukumar distributed a 4-page statement in Tamil before his self-immolation Thursday in Tamil Nadu. TamilNet provides a translation for the English readership to grasp the significance, without taking responsibility for the accuracy of facts. "The sacrifice of young and idealistic Muthukumar is lamentable beyond words and thoughts of re-enactment should never become a necessity to anyone. It is a reminiscence of the Vietnam of 1960's when self-immolation of monks protesting brutal atrocities as a consequence of US military campaign was common. Such acts occur as a last resort of public frustration when governments suppress democratic space and don't respect overwhelming public opinion of emotional importance," said a diaspora Tamil academic.
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