Tamil mourners say no going back on ‘Eelam’ (With Images)

October 2nd, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 13 people, 12 of them schoolchildren, were injured when a bomb went off inside a van in north-western Sri Lanka, police said Friday. Police in Kurunegala, 80 km north-west of Colombo, believe the explosion was the result of a dispute between two private parties and not related to terrorist activities.

September 29th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan government will recruit Tamils in the police force, an official said Tuesday. There had been an overwhelming response from Tamils to join as constables in northern Jaffna, police spokesman Nimal Mediwaka told reporters.

August 29th, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Saturday asked the Central Government to ensure more help for Sri Lankan Tamils. "The relief and rehabilitation steps being provided to Sri Lankan Tamils are not enough, many of the Tamilians in Sri Lanka are facing hardships and struggling with rain and therefore we demand more attention of the government towards this issue," Karunanidhi told reporters in Chennai.

August 6th, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday sent the fourth installment of relief material worth Rs 15 crores for Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, who are confined to displacement camps. More than 2,80,000 civilians are held in sprawling camps in the north since May, when government troops crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to end a 25-year-old war.

August 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - There has been no infiltration into India of Tamil Tiger guerrillas since the Sri Lankan military crushed them in May, parliament was told Tuesday. Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken said in the Lok Sabha that a small number of Sri Lankan Tamils continued to arrive in the Tamil Nadu coastal district of Rameswaram as refugees.

July 31st, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan government has closed down a peace secretariat that was set up to facilitate reconciliation talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels, an official said Friday. The government had taken the decision to close down the secretariat by July end, Rajiva Wijesinghe, head of the office, told reporters.

July 2nd, 2009 LONDON - The managing director of a Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper has alleged that a "shadowy group" has ordered his employees to quit their jobs or get killed, BBC reported Thursday. E. Saravanapavan of Uthayan newspaper said he had to rush to Jaffna in the country's north from Colombo following the threats.

June 28th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan Army's spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, has said that the government and the defence brass is determined not to allow the rebel Tamil Tigers to regroup. Brigadier Nanayakkara was quoted by the Sri FM radio station that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would not be left any room by the authorities to regroup in order to revert to their campaign for a separate state.

May 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI/COLOMBO - The Tamil Tigers admitted Sunday "with heavy hearts" the death of their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, almost a week after Sri Lanka announced he had been killed. "We announce today, with inexpressible sadness and heavy hearts, that our incomparable leader and supreme commander ...

May 23rd, 2009 COLOMBO - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Sri Lanka late Friday night on a one day to assess the humanitarian needs of around 300,000 people displaced in the recent conflict with Tamil rebels in the north of the island, government officials said. Ban arrived just after midnight local time and was due to spend Saturday visiting emergency camps for the displaced.

May 23rd, 2009 TORONTO - More than 20,000 Canadian Tamils descended on the Ontario assembly here in black to mourn for "innocent civilians killed in the genocide" in Sri Lanka. In their speeches Friday, Tamil leaders vowed not to rest till "Tamil Eelam (homeland) is achieved".

May 16th, 2009 SYDNEY - Over 100 Tamil protesters have called on Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to condemn the Sri Lankan Government over its offensive against the Tamil Tigers. Protesters gathered at Sydney's Martin Place and said their demonstrations would continue until peace was brought to the Tamil people.

March 19th, 2009 TORONTO - Toronto police late Wednesday gave its clean chit to the use of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) flags by Tamil protesters at a rally here Monday. Earlier, police had said they were investigating whether their action violated Canada's new anti-terror laws.

February 16th, 2009 TORONTO - Refuting a United Nations report from Colombo accusing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of stopping civilians from leaving the conflict zone and killing those who tried to flee, the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) said Monday such statements only helped Sri Lanka in its genocide against Tamils. ``In the past, the UN has denied such statements.

February 16th, 2009 TORONTO - A Canadian Tamil group has hit out at the United Nations for accusing Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers of preventing civilians from leaving the war zone and killing those who tried. The Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) said the UN allegation only helped Sri Lanka to commit what it said was 'genocide' against the Tamil community.