While celebrating its military achievements, Colombo is secretly prodded on an alternative game. Mahinda Rajapaksa is upto a three-pronged strategy now: limiting LTTE's jurisdiction with a low-profiled war, coercing Tamil political circles for his plans and conducting snap polls. A superficial solution is on the cards through Mahinda-Manmohan protocol. Unity and vigilance of Tamil Nadu are the need of the hour for countering any sabotage of the national cause of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet's Special Correspondent in a Situation Report.

Colombo is celebrating its military occupation of three Tamil locations, Maangku’lam, Poonakari and Kumizhamunai.

They are not towns as claimed in news, giving distorted imagination to outsiders. There was no urbanization for decades in the Tamil areas. The first two are mere junctions with a few shops and boutiques and the last one is a humble village.

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Within the last few days, three Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, S. Jeyanandamoorthy, P. Ariyanethran and S. Kajendran, were summoned by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police for investigation after getting stipulated permission from the Speaker of the Parliament. The focus of the questioning was their speeches viewed as a breach of the 6th Amendment of the Sri Lankan constitution, which prohibits any opinion expressed inside or outside of the island, in favour of secession in Sri Lanka

Mr. Jeyanandamoorthy, MP for Batticaloa, was called on 14 November and was questioned for 2.5 hours. Mr. Ariyanethiran, MP for Batticaloa, called on 18 November was interrogated for 4.5 hours and Jaffna MP Mr. Kajendran, summoned on 19 November had to face the grilling for nearly 8 hours.

Allegedly recorded speeches of the parliamentarians made in Germany were the focal point for the questioning.

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M.N. Nambiar, the celebrated ‘villain’ of the silver screen passed away on Wednesday in Chennai at the age of 90. Started acting in films since 1935, his distinguished career in Tamil cinema and lately in TV serials spanned for nearly 7 decades. He was shot to limelight in the role of the villainous royal preceptor ‘Gurusamy’ in Mandrikumari of 1950, which was the first for MGR in the role of hero and first for Kalaignar Karunanidhi, the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu as the screenwriter.

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Prison authorities of Colombo Remand Prison (CRP) Tuesday evening suddenly transferred 74 Tamil political prisoners, including senior journalist J.S.Tissanayagam to Colombo Magazine Prison, placing them with hardcore criminal prisoners from South, according to initial messages passed by the prisoners to their relatives. The political prisoners, who have been urging the authorities to transfer them to remand prisons in Northern and Eastern provinces, in their message said they have been intimidated by the move as they are reminded of the massacre of more than 50 Tamil political prisoners inside the nearby Welikada prison in July 1983 by prison guards and fellow Sinhala prisoners.

The political prisoners have managed to convey their plight to their relatives outside the prison and urged them to alert parliamentarians, media and human rights watchdogs with the message that they have been moved to a block, where remand prisoners accused of mass-murders, rapes, drug offenses and other underworld crimes were being held.

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Around 71 million Rupees in the accounts of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in the Sri Lankan banks have been confiscated by the Sri Lankan Government, according to a press release by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on Tuesday. The move is widely seen as an act of 'structural genocide' against Eezham Tamils, preventing Tamils looking after their own rehabilitation, discouraging individual, organisational and international contribution to Tamil rehabilitation and also as a response of Colombo to the rehabilitation funds being raised by the Government of Tamil Nadu, said a TRO activist in Norway.

The TRO has been a registered NGO in Sri Lanka. It operates internationally in raising funds. Its speed, quality of humanitarian relief and emergency response on the construction of temporary shelters in the aftermath of Tsunami even received an award from the former president of Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratunga.

The Colombo government suspended the TRO funds wth effect from 04 September 2006 coinciding with the beginning of the current phase of the aggressive war. The U.S. government followed suit by freezing the funds in the U.S. banks since 15 November 2007.

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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.

The SLA attempt to advance, from Vannivi'laangku'lam towards Maangku'lam and in south of A'lampil towards Kumizhamunai, aims to cut off the access routes between Mullaiththeevu and Vavuniyaa, officials engaged in humanitarian mission said expressing concerns on food and medical supplies to the uprooted civilians of Vanni, now densely populated in LTTE controlled Northeastern territory of Vanni.

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The traditional civil-military division of labour has now been altered by the war in Sri Lanka. Military is a leading stakeholder. Sri Lanka no longer is an exceptional ‘third world democracy’. It is now a full-blown ‘national security state’. The defence establishment has stepped into the domain of governance at par with the office of the president. The Sri Lankan state has always been an ethnic majoritarian and communal one. The only state reform initiative implemented in 1987 had to come from outside, because the state refused to reform itself voluntarily. That continues to be Sri Lanka’s problem even today, wrote well known political scientist of Sri Lanka, Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, in an article appeared in the October 25th issue of Economic and Political Weekly.

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The APRC is a farce of the Sri Lanka government. It was always used to impress upon India and the International Community. The basic premise of the APRC not to go beyond unitary constitution of Sri Lanka, will not bring in any meaningful result. India and the IC know it well. Yet, if they continue to tolerate the farce, they will only be abetting the genocidal programme of Colombo, says Suresh Premachandran of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Mr. Suresh Premachandran, a senior leader of the EPRLF, was a key person behind the functioning of the Northeastern Provincial Council during the IPKF time, 20 years ago. He is now the Secretary General of the EPRLF (Suresh wing) and is an elected Member of Parliament and a member of the parliamentary group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

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Liberation Tigers Political Head B. Nadesan, when contacted by TamilNet on Saturday, following reports of Tamil Nadu leaders seeking clarification on LTTE's stand on ceasefire, said "there is no hesitation on our side to reiterate our position that we have always wanted a ceasefire." It is the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that unilaterally abrogated the ceasefire, Mr. Nadesan said and added that the Tigers were only fighting a defensive war since Colombo has thrust upon Tamils an aggressive war.

The LTTE Political Head also said they have always reiterated that they have been committed to the Ceasefire.

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Don't abandon the Tiger. A Sinhala-dominated Sri Lanka is not in India’s interests, writes T S Gopi Rethinaraj, a Singapore National University scholar, in the November 2008 issue of Pragati, the Indian National Interest Review. A unified Sri Lanka under Sinhalese domination will be deeply inimical to India's interests. Colombo will permanently exploit India in the absence of a buffer that an Independent Tamil Eelam could provide, he wrote.

Pragati is published by The Indian National Interest—an independent community of individuals committed to increasing public awareness and education on strategic affairs, economic policy and governance.

"India has reached an impasse because of its stated policy to safeguard the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and unwillingness to recognise LTTE’s standing in the conflict. Unless India overcomes this fixation, the Sinhalese dispensation will continue to exploit New Delhi and pursue its agenda without inhibitions."

"Frequent reminders by Colombo’s ruling elite that the ethnic minority will have to accept the country as Sinhalese land only confirms that the ongoing war is not really about defeating the LTTE, but part of larger strategy to Sinhalicise the entire island."

"Since the LTTE remains the only roadblock to this Sinhalese agenda, its military defeat will ultimately result in the political, social, and psychological subjugation of Tamils living in the North, East and other parts of the island. "

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A U.S. military chief commending Sri Lankan military 'success' and wishing further capabilities to the Lankan military is viewed seriously as an undue interference in the politics of South Asia, especially at a juncture when the people of Tamil Nadu are up in arms pressing to stop the war for a political solution, says Batticaloa district parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy.

"We are assured and gratified by the progress that the Sri Lankan military is making, and I think, the Sri Lankan military would be the first to admit that there is work to be done," reported Indo-Asian News Service (IASN) on Thursday quoting Commander of U.S. Pacific Joint Command, Admiral Timothy Keating, as telling correspondents in New York on Wednesday.

“We are very pleased the Sri Lankan Navy has been able to wage an increasingly effective campaign against the LTTE,” said the head of the US Pacific Command to reporters at New York.

The Pacific Command, headquartered at Hawaai, is responsible for the U.S. military operation ranging from Australia and New Zealand to China, Taiwan and Japan to India and Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa presented his fourth budget to Parliament on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. while 12 members of the Tamil National Alliance who were present at the Sri Lankan parliament walked out after the parliamentary group leader of the TNA, R.Sampanthan made a statement in the well of the house, condemning the budget by the Rajapaksa government, which allocates a colossal sum of money for committing a genocide on Tamil civilians in the North and East.

Mr. Sampanthan's statement follows:

Statement made by Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (Tamil National Alliance) on the occasion of the presentation in Parliament of the Budget proposals 2009, by the Government of Sri Lanka on 6th November 2008.

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Singapore's veteran Tamil journalist, intellectual and respected community leader Mr. V. Thirunavukkarasu (V.T. Arasu) passed away at the age of 82 in Singapore on Tuesday. He was formerly chief editor of Tamil Murasu, Singapore's Tamil daily.

Mr. Arasu was a multi faceted personality, contributed on many ways to the Tamil society as a journalist, civil servant, author, Tamil educationalist and a leader of organisations.

Born in India on 11 January, 1926, Arasu came to Singapore in 1951 and joined Tamil Murasu as its sub-editor. He was a graduate of the University of Madras.

Arasu left Tami Murasu in 1958 to join the Singapore civil service, but returned as Chief Editor of the daily in 1989. He made Tamil Murasu a part of the Singapore Press Holdings and thus ensured the stability and future of the Tamil daily.

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