Japan's government, the biggest donor to Sri Lanka, urged the island state's government and Tamil Tiger rebels to sign an accord to distribute aid and help rebuild after the Dec. tsunami disaster following the failure of talks.

'No development without peace'

Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga has opened Sri Lanka Development Forum (SLDF) donor conference in Kandy with an indirect appeal to end internal dissent

From Gun to Pen - The story of Sivaram 2
Kadirgamar Umamaheswaran alias Muhunthan the Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) leader had recognized the political animal that was Sivaram in the mid - eighties itself. So he was entrusted a task that involved a lot of clandestine activity in Southern Sri Lanka. SR's Southern assignment was not gathering intelligence or planning destruction but to identify, seek and build rapport with "nesasakthigal" (friendly forces) in the South.

Unresolved issues in Joint Mechanism: LTTE

Just three days ahead of the international donors' conference on post-tsunami reconstruction in Sri Lanka, the LTTE has pointed to some unresolved issues in the debate on the proposed Government-LTTE joint mechanism for reconstruction in the Tamil-speaking North Eastern Province.

Sri Lankan rebel discovered dead

Military police in Sri Lanka say a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel has been found dead in Batticaloa - some 200km east of the capital, Colombo

US supports Sri Lanka deal with Tigers

The US supports the move to establish a joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers even though Washington would not give any aid directly to the rebels.
US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Jeffery J. Lunstead, said they believed the proposed "joint mechanism" between Colombo and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be effective in distributing tsunami aid.
 

Failure of joint mechanism a big blow-Japan

The failure of the government and LTTE to arrive at an agreement how tsunami relief and reconstruction is to be carried out would be a big blow to all concerned warns the Japanese special envoy Yakushi Akashi.

LTTE accused of shooting youth

Three more killings have been reported from the east. Poniyaya Thamilwanan, a youth was shot dead Saturday morning around 9.30 pm in the eastern town of Chenkaladi.The mother of the deceased, Pakiya Leelawathi accused The LTTE of the killing.

No aid sharing agreement possible between Si Lanka, Tamil rebels ahead of donors meet: Officials

An agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels to share post-tsunami foreign aid will not be possible ahead of an international donors meet next week, government officials said Thursday.

Sri Lanka: A few words go a long wayThe din of over a hundred kids packed into a makeshift school building was building to a roar. According to Thulasimani, a second-grade teacher at Komari School, it is usually noisy but this was something different.

U.S. aid not reaching Tamils in Sri Lanka, professor says

A Cornell Medical College professor who toured tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka, told Lioness Club members on Thursday, May 5, that she was “embarrassed” by the lack of U.S. aid that is reaching the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka.

LTTE dictatorship will not be acceptable: India

ndia has expressed continued support to the Norway-facilitated peace process in Sri Lanka but made it clear that it is bitterly opposed to any "dictatorship" of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lanka journalists threatened after condemning murder of Tamil editor

Leading Sri Lankan journalists have received death threats after they condemned the killing of a senior Tamil editor, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebel found shot dead in Sri Lanka

A gagged and bound suspected Tamil Tiger rebel was found shot dead in Sri Lanka's volatile east on Friday, a day after a gun battle in the same region left four policemen injured, the military and police said. A note attached to the body of the slain man _ found in Batticaloa, 220 kilometers (135 miles) east of the capital, Colombo _ bore a warning to the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, said military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake.

Lanka opposition pushes Kumaratunga into joint deal with LTTE

Colombo, May 11 (PTI) Sri Lanka's main opposition UNP today asked President Chandrika Kumaratunga to enter into a controversial deal with Tamil Tiger rebels on handling of millions of dollars in tsunami aid despite protests from her own ruling coalition.
Opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who declined talks with Kumaratunga on the proposed "Joint Mechanism" with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on tsunami aid, said he was, however, supportive of the deal.

Thousands still wait for aid millions to lift their despair
PUSHPA sat peeling carrots outside the tent in which she has lived with her three young children since her home and her husband were swept away by the Boxing Day tsunami. “We know your people helped us with money,” she told The Times. “So what has our Government done with it? The monsoon will be here soon and still we have no home.”

Sri Lanka says no return to war as donors fear for peace process

Sri Lanka vowed the country would not return to war despite a deadlock in peace talks and failure to strike a deal with Tamil rebels on tsunami relief ahead of a key review of foreign aid.

A Norwegian peace envoy on Sri Lanka's peace process met here Wednesday with Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran to discuss the situation in the south Asian island country, Indo-Asian News Service reported

JVP should help LTTE: Governor

Government's coalition partner Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) should lead the process of getting the LTTE back to democratic process, a senior government official said.

‘No JoMec without peace process’

Proposed joint mechanism (JoMec) for tsunami reconstruction between the government and the LTTE should be a part of the peace process, Sri Lanka’s main opposition said.

Sri Lanka: Schools struggle to recover in Batticaloa

It is beautiful to see the children in Sri Lanka go to school in the morning with their white uniforms and black shoes. In some villages families are so committed to outfitting their children in uniforms that they will not let their children attend without them

LTTE poses threat to Indian security: Govt
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas may be taking part in the Norway-backed peace process but they remain "one of the deadliest terrorist organisations in the world", the Indian Government says.

S.Lanka Tamil Tiger rebels say truce in jeopardy

A three-year truce between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels is in jeopardy as Colombo has failed to fulfill its promises to restore normalcy and has eliminated prominent Tamils, a top rebel leader said on Saturday.

No quorum on Sivaram debate

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called for the government to appoint an international commission of inquiry to probe the murder of senior Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram.

Did Karuna Personally kill "Taraki" Sivaram?
The brazen abduction and brutal assassination of the well - known journalist Dharmeratnam
Puvirajakeerthi Sivaram who wrote in English and Tamil under the nom de plume " Taraki "
and as DP Sivaram is the latest tragedy in an endless cycle of violence affecting the Tamils of
Sri Lanka. The right to life is the most important of all human rights. Without life no other
rights can be had. This fundamental basis of all other rights has been cruelly denied to many
Tamils in the past years. There seems to be no end in sight to this evil spectre that goes on
devouring the children of the great "Thamil Thai" (Tamil Mother)

Death of a Journalist 
 

    A journalist is someone who collects news and writes about it for newspapers, magazines, television , radio or any other media including the Internet. A columnist is a journalist who regularly writes a particular kind of articles in a newspaper or magazine. While the first one generally reports of events and incidents that take place in a certain place, part of the country or world, the latter writes articles on matters of importance to society or the country or anything of interest on the world stage. News provided by the first one is mostly based on the facts witnessed (or collected from other media) by the journalist himself or others whom the journalist contacts with, related to the facts. Here, the purpose of the journalist is just to inform the readers or public about the happenings, barring some misinformation. In contrast, a columnist writes articles not as a form of news but as a form of views and opinions based on an (or series of) event(s) or incident(s) that the readers or the public already aware of. Here again, although the purpose of the columnist is said to inform the readers of truth behind an event or incident, it may not necessarily reflects the true facts, as the information could be diluted with elements of personal needs and biases.

From Gun to Pen - I
The mortal remains of Dharmeratnam Puvirajakeerthi Sivaram were laid to rest at the family
burial grounds of Aalaiadycholai in Batticaloa on May 2nd.Though a Hindu by birth Sivaram
was not cremated. Most Batticaloa Tamils unlike their Jaffna counterparts bury and not cremate their dead. The ancient Tamils of India and Sri Lanka did so till Brahminic rituals of Aryanisation replaced  Dravidian customs . It is noteworthy that Batticaloa Tamils follow this pracitce still. It denotes that they are children of that soil with vintage history and roots.

Sri Lanka Tigers getting more aircraft: Indian foreign minister

India is concerned about information that a Tamil rebel group in neighbouring Sri Lanka has built an airstrip and acquired aircraft, Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said in remarks published on Saturday. Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were believed to be getting more aircraft, the minister said in an interview with The Hindu newspaper.

Lanka opposition rejects Kumaratunga's overtures on Tiger deal

PTI) Sri Lanka's main opposition has rejected an offer to discuss a proposed tsunami aid distribution deal with Tamil Tiger rebels, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's office said today.
Kumaratunga in a letter to opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said she regretted the main opposition keeping away from a meeting she called for Monday to discuss the proposed deal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Three Day Conference In Hill Capital
Not knowing that a Sri Lankan intellectual belonging to the Thamil community
had been brutally gunned downed for his candid views on many matters in late
evening last Thursday, I boarded a Mahanuwara Intercity express on Friday
morning at 5.30 and reached the beautiful lake cosmopolitan town by 8.30 a.m.
The purpose of the visit was to attend as a delegate at the Fourth Biennial
Conference which took place on April 29, 30 and May 01.
 

From killing to killing

"ONE DAY some gun will silence me and it will not be held by an outsider but by the son born in the womb of this very society, from a woman with whom my history is shared," wrote Rajani Thiranagama in 1989, a few months before she was killed in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka.

As those who knew journalist Dharmaretnam Sivaram, or knew of him, mourn his brutal death last week, the words of the 35-year-old doctor, teacher in the medical faculty of Jaffna University and committed human rights campaigner seem prescient not only of her own end, but of all the other victims of the cycle of intolerance, killing, and revenge that is the distinguishing hallmark of Sri Lankan Tamil politics.

Chandrika for deal with LTTE on tsunami-aid distribution

(PTI): Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said she will enter into a deal with Tamil Tiger rebels for distribution of relief to the tsunami victims ignoring growing protests from her Marxist coalition partner. "In the process, the government may fall, several ministries might be lost and even I might lose the presidency, but those things are not of national interest unlike bringing lasting peace to the country," she told religious leaders here last night.

LTTE using TN as a base for smuggling: Report

New Delhi, May 4: The banned LTTE continues to use Tamil Nadu as a base for carrying out smuggling of essential items like petrol, diesel and drugs to Sri Lanka, says the annual report of the Union Home Ministry.
The report for 2004-05, which was released recently, said notwithstanding the current peace process, the LTTE was yet to give up violence as a means to achieve its goal of establishing a separate homeland for Tamils.

Joint Mechanism 'to be dissolved in a year'

The president has assured religious leaders that the proposed Joint Mechanism (JoMec) with the LTTE to reconstruct the tsunami affected northeast will not lead to the separation of the country.

Parliament debate Sivaram on Friday

Parliament agreed to a day long debate on the murder of journalist Dharmaratnem Sivaram after the house was adjourned following a tensed parliamentary scuffle.