SLA hands over 25 LTTE bodies to Vavuniyaa hospital

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 June 2008, 15:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniyaa handed over 25 dead bodies of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) fighters, claiming that they were killed in action at Chriraddikku'lam, which is a GS area in Maanthai East division of Mullaiththeevu district. Meanwhile, Murungkan police handed over a dead body of a combatant to Mannaar hospital Friday evening.
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FMM: State media level dangerous allegation against Press Institute

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 June 2008, 12:41 GMT]
Colombo based media watchdog, the Free Media Movement (FMM), on Friday expressed serious concern against a false story planted in the Sri Lankan state controlled newspaper, 'Dinamina', a paper considered as one of the mouthpieces of the government, leveling dangerous allegations against Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and a group of journalists who participated in a journalism course in Denmark. The story alleged that the SLPI had sent members connected to LTTE under Journalist label. The FMM has demanded the Sri Lankan media minister to extend a formal apology to the Sri Lankan Press Institute (SLPI) and the journalists who participated a journalism training course in Denmark.
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Criminalization of Tamil diaspora counterproductive - IFT

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 June 2008, 10:27 GMT]
Geneva based Tamil diaspora federation, the International Federation of Tamils (IFT), in a press release issued Thursday, expressed disappointment on the misuse of anti-terrorist legislation by Canada to "suppress the voice of Canadian Tamil diaspora by listing the World Tamil Organization (WTM) as a terrorist organization," denounced the measures taken by other western governments on criminalization of Tamil diaspora as "plainly unhelpful and clearly counter productive."
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SLA shells A9 gateway to Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 June 2008, 15:13 GMT]
A 52-year-old civilian was wounded when four artillery shells fired by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) hit the Pu'liyangku'lam entry, exit point to the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled area in Vavuniyaa Thursday around 12:30 p.m., Tamileelam Police officials told reporters in Ki'linochchi.
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No change in curfew in Jaffna - SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 June 2008, 14:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) announced Wednesday night over its radio in Palaali that the curfew hours will be extended, the new hours being 7:00 p.m to 5:00 a.m daily with effect from Thursday night. But, later on Thursday the SLA announced that the curfew will be between 9:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., as usual. Artillery fire exchanges that took place between the SLA at Palaali and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from their territories Wednesday evening may have caused the initial announcement, residents said.
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Heavy fighting in Vavuniyaa front

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 June 2008, 14:33 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in Vanni told reporters Thursday that their fighters confronted the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from 8:30 a.m. till 3:20 p.m. at Paalamoaddai in Vavuniyaa claiming that 8 SLA troopers were killed and 24 wounded in repeated clashes. Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Army officials in Colombo claimed that their troops have brought Periya Madu in Maanthai West of Mannaar district, under their control.
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Police shoot dead Tamil fish vendor in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 June 2008, 02:43 GMT]
Vavuniya police shot dead a fish vendor Tuesday early morning close to the refugee camp located in Poonthoddam in Vavuniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The victim's wife identified the body at the inquest held at the site by Vavuniyaa Magistrate M.Y.M.Isardeen same day morning around 9:00 a.m. The body was handed over to the Vavuniyaa general hospital for postmortem examination.
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Time for Tamil Nadu to Act

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 20:04 GMT]
The negative approaches of the International Community towards the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka and towards the Tamil diaspora are allegedly more due to the Indian attitude than due to pressure from the Colombo government. How to expect the IC to back the masses facing genocide, when their brethren in India are not voicing for them? Voicing is not merely holding rallies and making speeches. They will not be counted in an international forum. What about the Tamil Nadu Assembly passing a resolution, upholding the right to self determination of the Eezham Tamils, and announcing a policy of supporting it, confining to the purview of the Indian constitution and laws, opines columnist Chivanadi.
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3 policemen killed in Claymore attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 June 2008, 18:31 GMT]
A Claymore attack targeting policemen of Aayithiyamalai police station in Batticaloa district, Monday around 6:15 p.m. killed 3 policemen and seriously injured another, Aayiththiyamalai police said. A Claymore device hidden in the thickets close to the place where policemen from Aayithiyamalai police station go for bath was activated by unknown men, the police added.
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India helping Colombo to perpetrate genocide on Tamils, accuses Vaiko

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 June 2008, 14:39 GMT]
In a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Vaiko, General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), accused India of “equipping the Sri Lanka Government to help its war machine to perpetrate genocidal attacks against the Tamils...throwing to winds the farsighted foreign policy adopted by Pandit Nehru and Mrs. Indira Gandhi,” and urged the Prime Minister to not participate in the SAARC Conference.
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18 SLA killed in Vavuniyaa, SLA bodies recovered - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 June 2008, 14:23 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Sunday said they put up stiff resistance to a three-pronged attempt by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to break into their territory in Paalamoaddai, Vavuniyaa. 18 SLA soldiers were killed and three dead bodies of the SLA, two of them severely damaged, were located by the Tigers. More than 31 SLA soldiers were wounded in the confrontations, according to the LTTE. Three T-56 assault rifles with kit-bags, holsters and ammunition have been seized by the LTTE.
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South African Tamils rally for Eezham Tamils' rights

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 June 2008, 00:46 GMT]
Tamils in South Africa on Saturday gathered for Pongku Thamizh rally at the Arena Park Regional Hall, in Chatsworth, where they pledged to support the Eezham Tamils' right to statehood, and urged the international community to voice for the Tamils’ rights.
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SLA, police arrest two youths in Naavalady

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 June 2008, 00:45 GMT]
Two youths were taken into custody during a cordon and search operation jointly conducted Saturday from 9:00 a.m. till noon by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and police personnel in Naavalady area in the administrative area of Maanmunai North District Secretariat within Batticaloa police division, sources said.
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The Symbols Affair

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2008, 13:41 GMT]
Tamil diaspora quarters lament the inability or unwillingness of the International Community to read the diaspora public opinion. They feel that Tamil Nationalism has to be differentiated from the issues between the International Community and the LTTE and no power should dictate or exert insinuating pressure on what the Tamils should aspire for and what not. According to them, in the guise of protecting the diaspora from intimidation of terrorism, the IC is intimidating the Tamil national sentiments and such approaches in the name of the international system are not going to bring in any credibility to the powers involved.
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WTM to fight Ottawa's decision

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2008, 03:24 GMT]
Following Ottawa's decision to designate the World Tamil Movement (WTM), a non-profit organization run by Canadian Tamils, as a terrorist organization, the Counsel for WTM, in a press briefing Friday said they will "apply for a stay of regulation," and if Minister of Public Safety, Mr Stockwell Day, is not inclined to reconsider his recommendation, WTM will make an application to the Federal Court for "judicial review" of the decision.
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Mysterious death of 15 young SLN recruits in Delft

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2008, 22:40 GMT]
More than 15 young Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) recruits between 16 to 20 years of age were found dead following a mysterious shooting incident in their camp, last Monday, in Delft (Neduntheevu), the farthest island off Jaffna. Unconfirmed reports allege collective suicide due to frustration caused by isolation and harsh training. Before the incident, the trainees had conveyed their frustrations to reliable sources. The trainees were reportedly deceived by their recruiters that they were to be trained somewhere in the South of Sri Lanka, but had been brought to Nedunththeevu in the North.
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Fein seeks action against Sri Lanka officials

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2008, 05:41 GMT]
Bruce Fein, a Washington Times columnist, and a functionary in the Ronald Reagan administration, who is currently in Toronto, told a Toronto newspaper, that he is seeking support to "gathering evidence against two brothers of current Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse (one a U.S. citizen) and that nation's army chief, Sarath Fonseka," who he claims are responsible for "daily atrocities" in Sri Lanka.
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Moscow film festival features Arnestad's Black Tiger documentary

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2008, 04:45 GMT]
Norwegian Director Beate Arnestad's documentary on Black Tigers, "My daughter the terrorist," is to be featured in the Moscow International Film Festival to be held between 19th and 26th of June. The documentary, produced after Tamil Tigers for the first time allowed a foreign film team to "hand-pick, follow, interview and dig deep" into the lives and faiths of two female Black Tigers, was premiered in Oslo in March, was featured in the North Carolina, US film festival, and also in Paris.
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'Tamils seek liberation, not just an end to human rights abuses' - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2008, 02:21 GMT]
By reducing the Sri Lankan state’s multi-faceted repression of the Tamils to simply a problem of ‘human rights abuses’, the international community is avoiding the central question of Tamil self-determination and, through the logic of ‘reform’, seeking to legitimize its efforts to strengthen the Sri Lankan state, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued this week. “For the Tamils, the atrocities inflicted on them by the Sri Lankan security forces are a symptom, an indicator of the racist logic of the Sinhala-dominated state; for the international community, they are the problem itself i.e. end the abuses and thus solve the crisis,” the paper’s editorial said.
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Pongku Thamizh rally in France draws 7000

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 23:21 GMT]
Around 7,000 French Tamils thronged the venue of Pongku Thamizh rally at Place du Président Edouard Herriot close to the French Parliament in Paris Wednesday. A parliamentarian of the French Communist Party (PCF), Maxime Gremetz, who came out of the Parliament, appreciated the Tamils for voicing for their rights. In a spontaneous address to the audience, he said that the proscription imposed on Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) was unfair and the movement was essentially a freedom movement.
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