Kosovo’s victory has lessons for other liberation struggles - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 February 2008, 16:16 GMT]
Describing Kosovo’s declaration of independence on Sunday and the ensuing international recognition as “a powerful shot in the arm to peoples resisting and seeking independence from tyrannical regimes,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper this said that “whilst every situation and every circumstance is unique, there are important lessons from the Kosovan march to independence for liberation struggles everywhere. The paper pointed out that just a few years ago, the idea of Kosovan independence had been dismissed by the international community and the Kosovan Liberation Army had been condemned as terrorists by the United States and other countries.
Full story >>

India's Peace and War

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 01:24 GMT]
The now defunct Ceasefire Agreement in Sri Lanka was mooted and shadow-managed by the BJP government, according to Indian journalist, M.R. Narayan Swamy. Wickramasinghe and Pirapaharan were aware of this top secret mission of India, supervised by Vajpayee's Advisor Brajesh Mishra, but not J.N. Dixit who succeeded him with the change of government in May 2004. Dixit had to learn it from Wickramasinghe. The CFA signed in February 2002 was unilaterally withdrawn by the Sri Lanka government in January 2008. Swamy's revealing and the chronology of events implicate the Congress establishment and the ego war of the Chanakyas (Machiavellis) of New Delhi in belligerency returning to Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

29 Tamils arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2008, 13:45 GMT]
Thirty four civilians were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted by the government security forces at Gampaha town from Saturday night till Sunday morning. Twenty nine of those arrested are Tamils, majority of them plantation workers. Three are Muslims and 2 are Sinhalese, media sources said quoting police.
Full story >>

Two abducted Tamils in police custody

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2008, 02:26 GMT]
Two of the three Tamil civilians abducted by unknown persons in Dehiwala and Grandpass last week are reported to be in the custody of the police for interrogation. The whereabouts of the third person, Asirwatham Sooriyakumar, 22, who was abducted from Grandpass is still not known, according to civil sources.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka rejects Kosovo independence

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 February 2008, 18:22 GMT]
While the United States and a number of European Union countries are expected to recognize Kosovo on Monday, Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry, reasoning that declaration of Independence can set "an unmanageable precedent in the conduct of international relations," said that Sri Lanka does not endorse the secession of Kosovo from Republic of Serbia. Questions raised by the birth of a new state towards demand for self-determination by similarly affected Tamils in Sri Lanka, may explain Sri Lanka's discomfiture towards Kosovo's independence, more than the outwardly expressed "concern" for the threat to international peace and security, political observers in Colombo said.
Full story >>

3 Tamils abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 February 2008, 10:06 GMT]
Three Tamils have been abducted by unidentified men who came in white van in Colombo and its suburbs, Saturday night, according to complaints made with the police by their relatives.
Full story >>

Expanding role of diaspora youth in political activism

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 21:17 GMT]
Signs of increasing number of diaspora Tamil youth in Australia and Canada seeking new outlets to express their support for the Tamil struggle, and reinforcing their roots in Tamil culture, were visible recently when Australian youths made their presence known during a cricket game on the 12th of February at the Manuka oval in Canberra, and the Canadian Tamil students from York University used Tamileelam flag as the rallying symbol as they exhibited prize winning entries in the cultural shows during the "multicultural week" event in York.
Full story >>

Justification for Tamil statehood compelling under international law- Fein

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 15:10 GMT]
Accusing a Sri Lanka website of "surrender[ing] the honorable role of scrutinizing and criticizing [Sri Lanka] government to become an obsequious courtier daily genuflecting to the GOSL and the Tamil quislings Karuna and Pillaiyan group," Bruce Fein, an attorney based in Washington D.C, in responding to questions posed by the website, challenged the site to publish a list of Americans killed or threatened by the LTTE, saying "[O]ne statutory requirement is proof that an organization threatens Americans or impairs the national security of the United States."
Full story >>

2 Tamils arrested at Matale estate

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2008, 12:28 GMT]
Two Tamils arrested on Thursday at Ethuwatte estate in Matale in the north central province are being detained in the Matale police station and are being interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Division. One is a resident of Batticaloa Krishnamoorthy, 25, and had been employed at a shop located in Ethuwatte estate and the other is a plantation laborer Rajendran, 45.
Full story >>

Producers of documentary on Women Tigers showcase new film

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2008, 05:00 GMT]
Sabiha Sumar's "Dinner with the President: A Nation's Journey," which she made with her husband, political columnist Sachithanandam Sathananthan, is the story not only of an unusual and intimate dinner with Pervez Musharraf but chronicles a series of gatherings with the constituencies of modern Pakistan, reports Salt Lake Tribune, citing the showing of the documentary at Sundance festival, Utah held 17-27 January. Sri Lanka born Dr Sathananthan, currently in self-exile in India, and his Pakistani wife Sabiha Sumar, produced a 1996 documentary "Suicide Warriors" based on the lives of women cadre amongst the LTTE's women's brigade, some of whom belong to the elite Black Tigers.
Full story >>

Jayalalitha to Centre: Take action against Karunanidhi for LTTE support

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 16:57 GMT]
Jayalalitha, leader of All India Anna Dravida Munnetta Kazhakam (AIADMK), the major opposition party in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday urged the Centre to take action against Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for his "support" to the LTTE. A resolution adopted at the party's General Council said that Mr. Karunanidhi, after coming back to power, not only remained silent over LTTE supporters, but also went a step ahead and eulogized the death of S P Thamilchelvan, LTTE's former political head. It labeled Karunanidhi's elegy "an act of treason" and alleged that it would pave way for secessionism.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka breaches Tamil residential, monetary rights in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 16:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police in Maradana, Colombo, is embarked upon issuing time stipulated temporary residential 'visas' to all Tamils living in their police jurisdiction while Mukaththuvaram police insists the Tamil residents in their area to provide their personal bank account details in addition to other information, Attorney-at-Law Sumanthiran told the panel of Judges of the Colombo High Court Wednesday. Appearing on behalf of Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the Attorney pointed out that it was against the Sri Lankan law for the police to collect such particulars or to limit the time of residence. He added that the procedure will be counted as a gross violation of human rights.
Full story >>

Germany wants sanctions if Sri Lanka continues war

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 13:40 GMT]
Unless Sri Lanka’s hardline government abandons its militarist path, the EU should impose sanctions, Germany said this week, adding that an EU-Troika will travel to Sri Lanka in early March to assess the situation. In an interview with the Tages Speigel newspaper published on February 9, German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul also said Germany had frozen new development cooperation projects with Sri Lanka and, because of the deteriorating security situation, was withdrawing half their development personnel from the island as well as closing the German Development Bank in Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

Appalling rights violations no bar to contain rebellion- RSF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 12:24 GMT]
"The government and the military have intensified the war against the Tamil Tigers and President Mahinda Rajapakse has sworn to stamp out the rebellion, at the price of appalling human rights violations if necessary. Both the Sinhala and English-language press came under even greater pressure from the authorities in 2007. On their side, the Tamil Tigers allow no dissident voices in the areas they control," said Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) in the annual report issued Wednesday. "Some ministers behave like gang leaders," the report further described the deteriorating state of governance in Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

Court directs AG to look into grievances of Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 12:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Wednesday directed the Attorney General (AG) to appoint a committee to look into the grievances, harassment and hardships suffered by Tamil people in Colombo and its suburbs due to the arrest and checks carried out by the government security forces, legal sources said. The Court issued the directive when a Fundamental Rights violation petition filed by the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) came up for inquiry.
Full story >>

4 Tamil passengers arrested at Habarana

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 February 2008, 18:19 GMT]
Four Tamil passengers were taken into custody Tuesday afternoon when they were traveling in a van from Trincomalee to Colombo at Habarana, a town located close to Dambulla in the north central province along Trincomalee-Kandy highway, police sources said.
Full story >>

Kudos to wider Tamil identity

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2008, 21:39 GMT]
The decision of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which enabled Razeen Mohamed Imam becoming a national list member of the Sri Lanka parliament last Wednesday, is received with wide appreciation from different sections of the Tamil-speaking people, including the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. The 60-years-old lawyer Mr. Razeen Mohamed hails from Jaffna and is a member of the Ilankai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (the Federal Party started by the late S.J.V Chelvanayakam) for more than 30 years. He was also earlier a member of the Jaffna Municipal Council, elected through a Federal Party ticket.
Full story >>

Sinhala officers posted to resettled Tamil villages in Moothoor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 February 2008, 04:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Home Affairs Ministry has been posting Sinhala and Muslim grama niladhari (GN) officers (village level officers) to traditional Tamil villages in the divisions of Moothoor and Eachchilampathu in the Trincomalee district. The offices are located in Sinhala dominated areas, and the Tamil families unable to obtain the allocated assistance provided by the Sri Lanka Government and the necessary social support from these officials, residents said.
Full story >>

15 Tamils, 5 Muslims arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 February 2008, 02:00 GMT]
Nineteen Tamils and five Muslims were taken into custody by the police in a cordon and search operation conducted in Gampaha town in the Colombo district from Thursday evening till Friday morning. The arrested are being detained in Gampaha police station and are being interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Division, Police sources in Gampaha said.
Full story >>

Security beefed up in Moneragala

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2008, 01:12 GMT]
Local officials have intensified security measures in the plantation sector in Moneragala, Buttala and Wokkapitiya following recent bomb blasts in these areas, residents said. Tension and fear still prevails in Moneragala district, civil society sources said.
Full story >>