Mullaiththeevu fishing woes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 August 2007, 05:13 GMT]
Thanapalasingham Suman, 22 and his brother Manoharan, 27, were wounded in A'lampil seas in Mullaiththeevu on 28 July this year when SLN Dvora gunboats fired at their fishing boat. The brothers are currently recovering at the Mullaiththeevu District hospital. In an interview with TamilNet this week, Suman said many fishermen in his area have to risk their lives against frequent attacks by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) to feed their family, and often to support ageing parents.
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Family man seeks protection with HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 August 2007, 19:21 GMT]
A family man from Brown Road in Jaffna sought protection with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Friday, after receiving death threats from paramilitary members operating with Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the 15-year-old boy who sought protection with HRC August 2 along with his widowed mother and elder brother was sent back from the protective custody of Jaffna prison.
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2 abducted, youth reported missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 August 2007, 06:50 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in a white van and on motorcycles forcibly abducted Sunday night two persons in two separate incidents in Koapay and Kantharmadam, in Jaffna respectively, according to complaints made by family members to Jaffna Human Rights commission (HRC) office. Meanwhile, family members of a youth from Chu'n'naakam in Jaffna complained to the HRC that the youth had not returned home after going to collect his National Identity Card (NIC) confiscated by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers Saturday.


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Kaakkaachchi Vaddai

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 August 2007, 11:45 GMT]

1. The surroundings of Kaakkaachchi oyster
2. The surroundings of Kaakkaachchi oyster shells

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South African Tamils observe Black July

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 July 2007, 17:25 GMT]
Several hundred South African Tamils filled the Bayview Arutpa Kazhagam Hall in Chatsworth in Durban Friday evening to express solidarity with the NorthEast Tamils, and to pay respect for the victims of the pogroms against Tamils in Sri Lanka in July 1983.
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Ezhuvaitheevu

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2007, 10:57 GMT]

1. The island of landmark
2. The emerging island at the mouth of the channel
3. The island of the group of seven
4. The first island sighted
5. The island of Eezham
6. The island of goats

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Black July emblematic of Sinhala rule - paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 July 2007, 05:38 GMT]
In nearly a quarter century of conflict since the state-sponsored anti-Tamil riots of July 1983, despite the tens of thousands of lives that have been lost in the conflict, “there has not been an iota of change in the Sinhala leadership’s thinking – nor, for that matter, in the sentiments of the international community [on the ethnic question],” the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its editorial this week. Comparing the regimes of Presidents Junius Jayawardene, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapakse, the paper contends: “Black July is not just a historical event. Rather, it is an emblematic act of Sinhala rule."
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Australia's Terror Prosecutions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 July 2007, 20:14 GMT]
While Australian media highlighted that recent prosecutions by Australia's law enforcement gave the "appearance of a political imperative to obtain convictions and an excessive zeal for using harsh anti-terror laws," federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, suprised by the Melbourne court's decision to bail two Tamil men charged with supplying funds to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, appeared to shift the blame towards the Courts saying, "bail laws for people charged with terrorism offences could be reviewed if there is evidence courts are misinterpreting them,"


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Thoompil / Thoompilpiddi

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 July 2007, 01:41 GMT]
The sandbar at the channel-entrance
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Australia Court grants bail to 3 arrested on terrorism charges

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 11:37 GMT]
Victoria state Supreme Court Judge Bernard Bongiorno, telling the court that if the "principle [normal presumption of innocence] is abandoned or even modified for political expediency, that risks the whole foundation of our criminal justice system," Tuesday released Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 33, and Sivarajah Yathavan, 36, on bail, Associated Press reported. Bongiorno pointed out that the Australian government has not declared the Tamil Tigers a terrorist group. The two were arrested in May charged with "raising money for Liberation Tigers."
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Japan's aid not conducive to peace in Sri Lanka - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 July 2007, 19:38 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has said that the decision by Sri Lanka's major donor country Japan, to continue economic aid to Sri Lanka, will soften the International pressure on the SL government to seek a political solution and strengthen Colombo to pursue the military option. Pointing out Sri Lanka President's categorical statement that there would be no change in his policy on a "unitary structure of a government" with the "district as the unit of devolution," Mr. Sampanthan dismissed the efforts of All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) as "no more than a mere pretense" to show some action is being taken towards political solution.
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Sri Lanka and International Community

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 June 2007, 18:05 GMT]
Nation, nation-state and nationalism are manifestations of a psychological phenomenon, experienced collectively by a group of people. It is a feeling of attachment and identity that comes naturally. Nationalism cannot be dictated to unwilling sections of the peoples of a country, whoever may come forward guaranteeing the territorial integrity of that country. Such guarantees may be meaningful when one nation invades others, but not when there is a genuine struggle for freedom within a country.
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Diaspora youth speakout

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 June 2007, 23:21 GMT]
A new brand of politically active Canadian Tamil youths are seeking innovative new outlets to express their political message, and to capture the attention of local media. Social networking sites including YouTube, and Facebook have become key electronic arsenal youths have marshalled to promote political themes and to invite other youths to join action groups. Groups employ well-organized public relations efforts including marathon-walks through cities to attract attention of the local media, law enforcement authorities and politicians.
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IIGEP faults Commission of lacking Independence, Timeliness

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 June 2007, 09:42 GMT]
International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), in a report released to the President of Sri Lanka on 1st June on the President’s Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to Investigate and Inquire into Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights, said: "We have identified and raised a number of concerns with the Commission and the Government of Sri Lanka. We remain concerned that current measures taken by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Commission to address issues such as the independence of the Commission, timeliness and witness protection are not adequate and do not satisfy international norms and standards."
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SLAF bombardment disturbs schools in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 May 2007, 09:19 GMT]
Primary school children in Mullaiththeevu and Vadamaraadchi districts in Vanni increasingly exhibit anxiety related psychological disorders, said a visiting consultant psychiastrist in the coastal town. On Thursday, two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) MIG fighter jets bombed Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu district in Liberation Tigers controlled Va:n:ni Thursday around 8:15 a.m.
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Child Rights group acts to release LTTE under-age recruits

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 May 2007, 23:39 GMT]
Tamileelam Child Protection Board (TCPB), an authority empowered by the Liberation Tigers' Political Wing with the task of implementing Tamileelam Child Protection Act, has urgently requested the parents of children under 17 who had joined the LTTE and yet to be released, to contact the TCPB, in an announcement published Tuesday in Eezhanaatham, the Tamil daily circulated in LTTE controlled areas.
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SLA threatens Jaffna media to censor news of student abductions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 May 2007, 02:03 GMT]
"I strongly condemn the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) personnel intimidating the Jaffna media not to publish any news of the student agitation calling for the immediate release of the four students. This is a gross violation of the freedom of the press," S. Gajenthiran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian said.
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Youth shot dead in Va'ra'ni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 May 2007, 15:15 GMT]
Three unidentified men armed with T56 rifles forced their way e into the house of a youth along Kodikaamam-Point Pedro road at Yaththaalai, Va'ra'ni in The:nma'raadchi, and shot the youth dead at point blank range, Tuesday around 10:00 a.m.


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Civilian wounded in SLAF attack on Puthukkudiyiruppu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 May 2007, 14:48 GMT]
A mother of seven children was wounded when two Sri Lanka Air Force bombers attacked Kar'nankudiyiruppu in Puthukkudiyiruppu around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, medical sources in Puthukudiyiruppu said.
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LTTE, SLA clash in Vavuniya Mannar border

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 May 2007, 14:15 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Tuesday said they repulsed another Sri Lankan offensive in Vavu:niyaa Ma:n:naar border around 2:30 p.m. LTTE's field officials claimed to have recovered a dead body of a Sri Lankan trooper and military hardware including an AK-LMG after putting up stiff resistance against the SLA for 30 minutes. Two LTTE fighters were killed in action.
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