British Foreign Minister to meet Pillayan - reports

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 July 2008, 19:40 GMT]
Britain’s Foreign Minister, Lord Malloch-Brown, is to meet Pillayan (Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan), Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and leader of the Army-backed paramilitary group, the TMVP, Sri Lankan press reports said. Lord Malloch-Brown is on a four day visit to Sri Lanka this week, The Island newspaper said.
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Grenade attack on Batticaloa district UNP organiser's residence

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 July 2008, 17:42 GMT]
Unidentified attackers Friday night lobbed a grenade at the residence of opposition United National Party's Batticaioa district organiser and the opposition member of the Eastern Provincial Council, Arasaratnam Sasitharan, wounding two policemen. Mr. Sasitharan, after the attack blamed the TMVP operative, Kalingan, who is also a member of the Batticaloa urban council, for monitoring his activities and for threatening his supporters. This is the second grenade attack on the residences of UNP members in Batticaloa district within the last two months.
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Weerawansa, Pillayan discuss alliance

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 June 2008, 10:04 GMT]
Wimal Weerawansa, a pro-government politician who heads a breakaway faction of the Sinhala extreme nationalist JVP, Saturday morning held discussions with Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the leader of the paramilitary-cum-political party TMVP, who was recently installed by Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling UPFA as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, to reach a 'common understanding' and to form a 'common political front', informed sources in Colombo told TamilNet. Meanwhile, JVP sources, when contacted with the news, described the move as 'alliance of puppets.'
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Batticaloa graduates end protest fast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 June 2008, 11:32 GMT]
Hundreds of unemployed graduates in the Eastern Province ended the fasting campaign Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. outside the Zonal Education Office in Batticaloa, sources in Batticaloa said. The protest against the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) Chief Minister (CM), Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillaiyan), for not fulfilling the pledge made to the Association of Graduates of Eastern Province (AGEP), started at 7:00 a.m.
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Unemployed graduates resume protest fast in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 08:14 GMT]
Hundreds of unemployed graduates in the Eastern Province launched a fasting campaign Tuesday from 7:00 a.m outside the Zonal Education Office in Batticaloa in protest against the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) Chief Minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillaiyan), for not fulfilling the pledge he made to the Association of Graduates of Eastern Province that he would find employment for all the unemployed graduates in Eastern Province, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Sri Lankan Appeal Court decides to inquire Batticaloa election petition

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 10:34 GMT]
The Court of Appeal Tuesday decided to hold inquiry into the petition filed against the results of the Batticaloa district in the East Provincial Council election held on May 10. Two petitioners who contested the election from the Batticaloa district on the opposition party ticket have sought the court to annul the results as no fair and free election was not held in the district due to the presence of a paramilitary grou. Justice Ranjit Silva fixed the inquiry on July 11, legal sources said.
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East CM wants foreign funds for rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2008, 16:16 GMT]
"We need assistance from foreign countries to provide dwellings to resettle displaced," said Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the Chief Minister of Eastern Province and the head of TMVP paramilitary. "My administration will not show any discrimination while maintaining law and order with our own police force," he said.
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Pillaiyan elected Chairman of CM Forum, decides not to seek police powers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2008, 21:03 GMT]
Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillaiyan, has been elected Chairman of the Chief Ministers' Forum, which decided not to press for police powers to the provincial council but sought powers pertaining to land and transport. The Forum also decided to take legal action to achieve this.
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UNP, SLMC councilors boycott EPC first sitting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2008, 00:32 GMT]
Fifteen councilors elected to the 35 member Eastern Provincial Council on the main opposition United National Party (UNP) ticket Wednesday boycotted the first sitting of the council convened on the instruction by the East Provincial Governor Mohan Wijewickrema, sources in Trincomalee said. Eighteen councilors elected on the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and sole member of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and of the Democratic National Tamil Alliance (DNTA) participated.
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Shifts in world order alters dynamics of Sri Lanka’s conflict - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 12:14 GMT]
Whether Sri Lanka is or isn’t on the UN Human Rights Council is an irrelevancy as far as international dimensions of the island’s conflict are concerned, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued this week. “Rather than a ‘universal’ principle, the concept of ‘human rights’ has, in actuality, served mainly as a tool for the West-led international community to (re)order the world,” the paper said. Meanwhile, the rise of new poles in the international system is proving a challenge for the West’s post-Cold War efforts to construct a liberal order, the newspaper said in another recent editorial.
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Pillayan sworn in as CM for Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 14:16 GMT]
Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the de-facto leader of the paramilitary-cum-political party, the TMVP, was sworn in as the Chief Minister for Eastern Province as M.L.A.M Hisbullah, who was competing with Chandrakanthan for the CM post, announced that he and two of his elected associates had decided to function separately. Mr. Hizbullah, who claimed that the swearing-in was unconstitutional boycotted the swearing-in ceremony which took place at the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat around 6:30 p.m. in front of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Bomb explosion targets Police bus in Colombo, 10 killed, 95 wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 07:00 GMT]
A motorbike fitted with a bomb rammed into a bus carrying riot control police personnel, few hundred meters away from the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat, Friday noon, killing 10 persons, 7 policemen and 3 civilians, and injuring 6 Sri Lanka Army soldiers, 30 policemen and 59 civilians. The explosion has taken place on Lotus Road inside the High Security area near the Hilton Hotel. 12 wounded policemen were in critical condition, according to medical sources in Colombo hospital.
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Eastern CM swearing-in put off

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 May 2008, 13:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President had initially decided to appoint Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan, the de-facto leader of the paramilitary-cum-political party, the TMVP, as the Chief Minister for Eastern Province, informed sources in Colombo said. However, due to strong objection from Muslim ministers supporting M.L.A.M.Hizbulla for the post, there were discussions on the issue at Temple Trees till late Thursday evening. The swearing-in ceremony scheduled for Friday has been postponed, sources said.
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STF shoots dead Tamil man in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 April 2008, 09:49 GMT]
Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos Thursday night opened fire and killed a 37-year-old Tamil man at Naavithanve'li in Ampaa'rai district, Police said. Alleging that the slain man was a LTTE member, the STF has claimed to have seized a 9 mm pistol from the victim. Another person had escaped from the site with injuries, Police said adding that it was an ambush by the STF.
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Toronto report recommends sanctions against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 April 2008, 01:44 GMT]
A citizens report compiled by Canadian lawyers and Canadian Tamils released Friday, during a Conservative Party fundraising dinner, recommended that Canadian Government impose economic and diplomatic sanctions against Sri Lanka. Pointing out the "collapse of the Rule of Law," and "[t]he grievous violations of basic human rights and virtual elimination of due process," the report also urged Canada to "[s]upport the international call to appoint a United Nations Special Envoy for Sri Lanka to monitor and guard against human rights abuses and to assist the peace process, as recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights."
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Pillaiyan, UPFA's principal candidate in Eastern PC election

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 March 2008, 15:39 GMT]
Key paramilitary operative and vice president of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal TMVP group, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan, has been selected by ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to be its principal candidate in the list of contestants in the forthcoming Eastern Province Council election, Education Minister, Susil Prem Jeyanth said.
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UPFA-TMVP councilors take oath in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 15:44 GMT]
The Mayor, Deputy Mayor of Batticaloa Municipal council, chairmen and deputy chairmen of other eight local councils and the members of all nine local councils elected from United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPAF) and the paramilitary-cum-political party, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), took their oaths in the presence of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the presidential secretariat Tuesday. Key Paramilitary operative, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, who was present at the presidential secretariat was greeted by Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Claymore mine recovered, Pillayan votes with SLA protection

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2008, 10:48 GMT]
Police recovered a Claymore mine near Chanthive'li voting booth Monday around 7:00 a.m. after a rumor spread that a mine was placed near the Chanthive'li Chitthi Vinaaykar School. At Kiraan, a grenade explosion was reported near a voting booth around 9:00 a.m., Police said. Meanwhile, key paramilitary operative of the TMVP group, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, cast his vote at Vaazhaichcheanai Vipulananthar school with Sri Lankan police protection.
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Canadian MPs pay tribute to Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 03:21 GMT]
Several Members of Parliament (MPs) in Canada expressed their solidarity with the Tamil community in Toronto, taking part in a memorial event Monday night to pay respects to the slain Political Head and Chief Negotiator of the Liberation Tigers, S.P. Thamilselvan. Thousands of Canadian Tamils from Greater Toronto Area (GTA) braving pouring rain gathered in Markham Fair grounds to pay their respects to S. P. Thamilselvan, the public face of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), killed in an air strike by Sri Lankan authorities last Friday.
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Kanchikudichchi Aaru farmers need assistance- TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 September 2007, 11:15 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) urged the Sri Lanka government to pay compensation to affected farmers of Kanchikudichchi Aaru, and to take steps to repair the Kanchikudichchi Aaru Tank, sources in Ampaa'rai said. Mr.S.Chandrakanthan, Ampaa'rai district TNA parliamentarian, has requested that the houses of displaced families located in Thangavelauthapuram and Kanchikudichchi Aaru due to war should be repaired immediately.
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