Poignant acts of self-immolation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 2009, 10:45 GMT]
It may sound good to say that there is no place for feudal expressions in a 'postmodern' world. It may be true that there can be no second word about resolving issues on a democratic plane. But the first warnings have come pointing to the flaws in the handling of the situation by democratic powers and calling for effective rectifications. They have come from non-combatants and have come spontaneously. The extreme expression of self-denial, openly denouncing injustices perpetrated on a people by ganged-up authority, has come from educated people of ordinary walks of life committing self-immolation.
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Tigers seize SLA arms storage in PTK

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 February 2009, 16:02 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) this week seized an arms storage from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), sources close to LTTE told TamilNet Friday. Hundreds of SLA crack commandos were drawn into Mannaka'ndal and Keappaapulavu 'boxes' and were cut off from their rear supplies during a pre-emptive strike by the Tiger forces, resulting in the loss of more than one thousand SLA soldiers since February 01. An arms storage, which was full of weapons as the SLA was in full preparation to launch its 'final assault' on PTK was seized by the Tiger commandos engaged in the preemptive strike.
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Unprecedented civilian carnage in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 18:44 GMT]
Fifteen civilians including 5 children were killed and 29 seriously injured in the relentless artillery barrage that Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) kept pounding the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Visuvamadu, Udaiyaarkaddu, Chuthanthirapuram and Maa'nikkapuram areas in Mullaiththeevu district Tuesday, sources in Vanni said. SLA continued its artillery barrage on the IDP settlements Monday from 11:00 a.m till 12:30 p.m in Chuthanthirapuram and Theavipuram areas in Vanni killing two IDPs and seriously injuring nine including children.
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Sri Lanka denies FX crisis, banks on 'patriotic Diaspora'

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2009, 20:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to little more than enough for six weeks of imports. And Japan, traditionally the island’s biggest donor, is cutting aid globally. But while local economists say the situation is critical government will inevitably have devalue the rupee by 20% this year or accept a conditions-laced bailout package from the IMF, the Central Bank is adamant neither is necessary, the Sunday Times reported. Instead, the government is to launch a campaign on February 4, Independence Day, to attract Sinhalese expatriates to invest in Sri Lankan treasury bills and bonds.
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"And they came for me" - Lasantha Editorial

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 14:07 GMT]
"What is more, a military occupation of the country's north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering "development" and "reconstruction" on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever, and you will also have an even more bitter and hateful Diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity. If I seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen - and all of the government - cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall," says late Wickrematunge, in an editorial penned before his death; he adds "It has long been written that my life would be taken, and by whom. All that remains to be written is when."
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RSF: Mahinda Rajapakse "directly to blame" for Wickrematunge murder

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 12:27 GMT]
Expressing outrage over the murder of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, Reporters sans frontières (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued today, said: "President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his associates and the government media are directly to blame because they incited hatred against him and allowed an outrageous level of impunity to develop as regards violence against the press. Sri Lanka's image is badly sullied by this murder, which is an absolute scandal and must not go unpunished."
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TNA accuses Colombo of war crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 21:06 GMT]
Describing several recent escalation in incidents where Sri Lanka Armed Forces have targetted Tamil civilian during festive days between Christmas and Thaipongal, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a press release issued today, said that the "stringent economic, food and medical embargos on the war affected areas," ..."are not only War Crimes in contravention of the Geneva Conventions but are also a part of a policy of Genocide that the Sri Lankan State has been carrying out against the Tamil people." The release also noted with disappointment of the silence of the international community "whilst the Genocide of the Tamil people is taking place," and continuing military assistance of the international states to the Sri Lankan State "using various pretexts."
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SLA shelling blocks ambulances, 2 injured in convoy

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 09:56 GMT]
Two persons who accompanied with the convoy of ambulances from Puthukkudiruppu to Vavuniyaa were wounded when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells at Mannaaka'ndal Friday morning, shortly after two ambulances left Puthukkudiyiruppu, medical authorities said. Two ambulances with 13 civilians with serious injuries, being transferred from Tharmapuram and Puthukkudiyiruppu hospitals to Vavuniyaa hospital, after getting clearance through the ICRC, were forced to turn back as the SLA stepped up artillery fire on the road.
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SLAF bombs Ka'ndaava'lai, Ki'linochchi suburb

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers that attacked Murasumoaddai on Paranthan Mullaiththeevu Road thrice, returned to bomb the next junction, Ka'ndaava'lai, while hundreds of civilians were fleeing the carnage at Murasumoaddai in the evening around 4:30 p.m., on Thursday. Two civilians, a 60-year-old mother and a 20-year-old male were injured in the attack on the densely populated junction. Three shops were fully destroyed and six shops damaged.
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Kompan Chaayntha Ku'lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2008, 06:42 GMT]
The tank where a tusker fell dead
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6 SLA killed in Mu'rikandi, dead body recoverd - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 November 2008, 14:10 GMT]
At least 6 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in a fighting that lasted from 5:30 to 10:45 a.m. on Friday near A'riviyal Nakar close to Mu'rika'ndi in Ki'linochchi district, according to latest details from the Ki'linochchi front. The Tigers said they recovered a dead body of an SLA soldier and seized a T-56 assault rifle with several rounds for Light Machine Guns in the fighting. The LTTE officials also said that a heavy fighting broke out at Karippaddamu'rippu on Friday.
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Tigers repulse SLA in North, SLA targets Maangku'lam

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2008, 12:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched another offensive push for the third consecutive day from Jaffna Monday morning. 8 SLA soldiers were killed and 29 wounded when the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) put up stiff resistance from 5:00 a.m. till 11:00 a.m., thwarting a three frontal attack by the SLA on LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) in Mukamaalai, Ka'ndal and Ki'laai, the Tigers said. Meanwhile, the SLA which claimed its forces entered Kumizhamunai near Naayaa'ru lagoon south of A'lampil in Mullaiththeevu district, on Monday said its forces from Vannivi'laangkulam were attempting to occupy Maangku'lam on A9.
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Heavy fighting in Northern Front, 20 SLA killed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2008, 17:15 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Sunday said they thwarted another attempt to break LTTE FDL by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Ka'ndal in Mukamaalai in the Northern Front. 20 SLA soldiers were killed and at least 80 wounded in the fighting that broke out at 5:10 a.m. and lasted til 12:40 p.m., when the SLA was pushed back, according to the Northern Command of the LTTE.
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18 SLA killed, 29 wounded in Northern Front - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2008, 11:56 GMT]
A four-pronged attempt by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to break the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Forward Defence Line in Mukamaalai, Ki'laali and Ka'ndal in the Northern Front on was thwarted Saturday after 6 hours of stiff resistance, according to LTTE Northern Command. 18 SLA soldiers were killed and 29 wounded in the fighting, the Tigers said.
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SLA bars Vaakarai fishemen from taking food

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 November 2008, 12:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vaakarai in Batticaloa district imposed new restrictions on fishing in areas in Koa'ralaipattu North Regional Secretariat division which forbid fishermen taking food, and that if they go fishing in the evening they should return only next morning. SLA has also introduced a pass system in which all fishermen have to register their names at the SLA camp in Panichchangkea'ni camp when going out to, and on return from fishing, sources in Vaakarai said.
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2 Tamil youths arrested in Bandarawela

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2008, 19:12 GMT]
Two Tamil youths were arrested in an estate in Passara by a special team of the Bandarawela Police Tuesday night on receipt of information from Colombo police headquarters. M.Thineshkumar, 23, and S.Kumar, 25, of Hendala in Colombo district had gone to the estate to attend an age-attainment ceremony for a relative of theirs in Passara, when the youths were arrested
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Eezham Thamizh and Tamil Eelam: Understanding the terminologies of identity

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2008, 00:43 GMT]
Many readers, Tamils as well as non-Tamils, wonder at the way words and phrases such as Eezham, Thamizh, Eezham Tamil or Eezham Thamizh, Tamil Eelam or Thamizh Eezham, Sinhala, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan etc., are presented today in the media and the connotations implied by them. Culture Columnist Akazhaan discusses the etymology, historical linguistics and sociolinguistics of these terms in the context of the Tamil and Sinhala national questions in the island known as Sri Lanka today.
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3 killed, DPU Claymore targets bus on A9

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2008, 06:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) infiltrators Thursday morning triggered a Claymore mine targeting a passenger bus, which was on its way from Pu'liyangku'lam to Ki'linochchi on A9 Road, killing at least three civilians, including the driver of the bus on the spot, accordingo to initial reports from the Tamileelam Police. Meanwhile, medical sources reported that five civilians were rushed to hospitals after the blast.
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3 youths drown in Kandalama tank, Dambulla

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 13:49 GMT]
Three youths, who were on a family outing, drowned in Kandalama tank in Dambulla Saturday afternoon, Police said.
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Jaffna/ Yaazhppaa'nam/ Yaazhppaa'nap Paddinam/ Yaazhppaa'naayan Paddinam

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 August 2008, 13:36 GMT]
The city of the bard / minstrel
The city of the lord of bards / minstrels
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