'Koayil' controversy

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 2009, 23:28 GMT]
The officiating Tamil priesthood of tradition has to be helped to transcend contemporary sociopolitical norms of caste identity or hierarchy. It needs to see the real roots of its culture vested with the Tamil people and should stand on the side of the masses, upholding the cause of the oppressed. In fact, it has to take a step ahead of the government in progressiveness, writes opinion columnist Ampalam on the recent events concerning Chithamparam temple, triggered off by the controversy of reciting Tamil hymns in the Golden Hall of the temple.
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Holmes u-turns minutes after TNA meeting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2009, 11:41 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan has told the visiting UN Under Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes, that there is an urgent need for the international community to act decisively to stop the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Vanni. However, in the press conference he gave minutes afterwards, Sir Holmes lauded the Sri Lankan government’s conduct vis-à-vis the humanitarian situation and said there was “good cooperation” between UN agencies and the Mahinda Rajapakse regime.
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Sri Lankan government rejects ceasefire call by TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 15:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Wednesday that his government was not prepared to stop the war as requested by the parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan, in a press meet in Colombo on Tuesday. "There is no need to stop the war against the LTTE when they are loosing the war," Rambukwella said. The statement of Sampanthan in the Tuesday press meet in the parliamentary complex that people in Vanni are being killed by the Sri Lankan armed forces is not true, he further said.
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Sampanthan accuses Sri Lanka of genocide of Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 February 2009, 19:21 GMT]
"A news black-out of Sri Lanka Government's slaughter of Tamils through indiscriminate artillery barrage and bombings prevails, while the International media is publishing false information spread by Colombo," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader, R. Sampanthan, in a press meet attended by a large number of local and international journalists Tuesday afternoon in Sri Lanka parliamentary complex, sources in Colombo said.
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CID withdraws application to impound passports of 3 TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 09:41 GMT]
Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday withdrew the application filed at Colombo Magistrate Court to impound the passports of three Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians S. Jeyanandamoorthy, P. Ariyanethran and S. Gajendran, who have been grilled by the CID on allegations that they violated the Sri Lankan Constitution and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in speeches that they made at a Pongku Thamizh event held in Germany.
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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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Sampanthan blames SL state for committing genocide, protests Budget speech

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 November 2008, 13:37 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa presented his fourth budget to Parliament on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. while 12 members of the Tamil National Alliance who were present at the Sri Lankan parliament walked out after the parliamentary group leader of the TNA, R.Sampanthan made a statement in the well of the house, condemning the budget by the Rajapaksa government, which allocates a colossal sum of money for committing a genocide on Tamil civilians in the North and East.
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Fuel shortage threatens provision of drinking water in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2008, 10:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has instructed the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) not to allow Humanitarian Convoys to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Ki'linochchi district with food items provided under the United Nations World Food Programme, as a "punishment" for the people of Ki'linochhci district for not "obeying" its instruction to leave Ki'linochhi to Vavuniyaa, according to an official attached to Vavuniyaa District Secretariat. Meanwhile, North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) in a press statement issued on Saturday said fuel shortage has severely affected the provision of drinking water to the internally displaced civilians.
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Sampanthan on excluding UN missions: Sri Lankan State destroys its sovereignty

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 07:41 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan Government, though it talks big about its concern for the displaced people in Vanni, does nothing more than make available to these people the meagre food items provided under the United Nations World Food Programme," said R. Sampanthan, the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), while addressing the Sri Lankan Parliament on Tuesday. Also noting the Sri Lankan state's refusal to establish UN presence for monitoring the Human Rights violations, the senior Tamil politician blamed the Sri Lankan state for contributing to the "erosion and eventual destruction of its own sovereignty," in a lengthy speech during the debate on extending Emergency.
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Member of European Parliament envisages converting Tamils to Buddhism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 20:45 GMT]
"Frequently now I wonder whether Sri Lanka would have been a much more peaceful and much more homogeneous place if say 40% or so of the Tamil speaking population had been Buddhists and not exclusively Hindu or Christian. Is taking the Buddhist religion to Tamil people such a difficult task?" wonders Niranjan de Silva Deva-Aditya, Member of European Parliament (MEP) from U.K. and Honorary Ambassador-at-Large for Sri Lanka, in a statement after his recent visit to Sri Lanka as Vice-Chairman of the EU delegation. The Sinhala speaking MEP is tagged with a title, 'Vishwa Keerthi Sri Lanka Abhimani' (universally famous pride of Sri Lanka), bestowed onto him by the Buddhist clergy of Sri Lanka.
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Sampanthan regrets neglected relationship

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2008, 15:23 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan, who on Saturday met the visiting Indian top officials at India House in Colombo, told the delegation that "Tamils believed all these years that they were the natural allies of India, but it is not so today." Even the human rights violations against Tamils, abductions and genocide are largely ignored by India.
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SL Parliament begins debate on Witness Protection Bill

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 04:28 GMT]
Ruling and opposition parties in Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday agreed to debate the Assistance and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Bill. The Minister of Justice Amarasiri Dodangoda presented the Bill, parliamentary sources said.
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TNA condemns Father Karunaratnam slaying

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 04:32 GMT]
Father Karunaratnam was actively engaged in Human Rights related work, and as Chairman of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights, played a prominent role in the exposure of the grave human rights violations to which the Tamil Civilian population in the Vanni area were continuously subjected, said R.Sampanthan, the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance and Maavai S.Senathirajah, the general secretary of Ilankai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) in a press statement issued on Tuesday. "We deeply mourn the loss of Rev Father Karunaratnam who indefatigably served the legitimate interests of the Tamil Civilian population in the Vanni."
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Eastern PC election, another step in Sinhalasisation of East - TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 April 2008, 05:32 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has projected himself as an "ultra Sinhala nationalist leader" in all his decisions since taking office in 2005, was going ahead with his agenda of Sinhalasising the Eastern sector of the North-East, the historical habitation of Tamil speaking people, in the guise of development, splitting it into High Security Zones, Industrial Zones and Environmental Zones, after de-merging the North-East, in violation of the Indo-Lanka International Treaty, said R. Sampanthan, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary Group, who issued a statement of principles on Wednesday, clarifying the reasons for boycotting the Eastern PC elections.
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TNA to boycott Batticaloa local polls

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 16:32 GMT]
Parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a parliamentary group meeting held Wednesday, unanimously agreed to boycott elections to nine local authorities in the Batticaloa district. Mr. R.Sampanthan, President of the TNA parliamentary group presided over the meeting.
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SLA, police cordon, search many areas of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2008, 17:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police launched extensive cordon and search operations in many parts of Jaffna peninsula from Monday morning till evening, subjecting people to search and interrogation. Karaveddi in Vadamaraadchchi, and Kurunakar near Jaffna town were two places where the searches were intensive, with hundreds of SLA troops and policemen deployed, sources in Jaffna said.
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Census officials escape claymore attack in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2008, 18:06 GMT]
A team of officials involved in census work in Jaffna peninsula escaped injuries in a claymore attack targetted on them Sunday noon in Sampanthan Kadai area in Karaveddy as the device failed to explode completely, sources said.
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Abduction fear pervasive, say TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 November 2007, 10:52 GMT]
In a press conference held Friday in the premises of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, R. Sampanthan, leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) expressed fear that a number of members of parliament (MPs) might be abducted prior to the voting on the Third Reading of the Budget to be held 14 December, parliamentary sources said.
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TNA seeks GoSL response on abduction before budget voting

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 06:31 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan Monday morning urged the Speaker in Sri Lankan Parliament to prevail upon the Government of Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to secure the release of S. Sajitharan, the abducted son-in-law of Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian T. Kanagasabai, enabling the MP and other Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarians to vote on the Budget. Three of four Batticaloa district parliamentarians of the TNA were not present in the parliament Monday morning following threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operated paramilitary, Pillayaan Group.
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TNA delegation meets UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 October 2007, 16:24 GMT]
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday evening met Louise Arbour, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights at the UN office in Colombo and briefed her about the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka, especially in the northeast.
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