The liberation struggle for Tamil Eelam has entered an historical and critical turning point now. It is no wonder there was much anxiety and speculation as to what message the National Heroes' day speech of the Tamil Eelam National Leader would hold. We would like to express our view on the address of His Excellency Pirabhakaran in the capacity as a Leader of a Nation.

Now it has become a ‘must item’ in Colombo, Chennai and elsewhere for the ‘analysis peddlers’ and the literate coolies of media moguls to study and check the script of LTTE leader Pirabhakaran’s annual Heroes Day message. Here is a select list of half-baked opinions which have appeared since November 27th.

Leader of the LTTE, in his Maveerar day talk, has given some clear, definitive messages to Sri Lanka's new political leadership. At the same time, those who have analyzed his talk in some depth will also see that beyond the messages given to the Sri Lankan leadership, LTTE leader has also attempted to clarify some matters for the benefit of the international community. In this respect his Maveerar day speech is also a lesson to the international community that has given them some solid facts.

The definition "supreme authority within a territory," captures the essential notion of sovereignty used to describe political authority of modern nation states. The origins of Sri Lanka’s long festering conflict lie in its unitary constitution which vests the exercise of sovereignty solely in the hands of Sinhala Buddhists. But Colombo wields no sovereign authority over nearly seventy percent of the island’s NorthEast. Radical Sinhala groups view the denial of their state’s sovereignty in areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers with extreme chagrin. Over the years, other events too have challenged Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.

Recent revelations have confirmed that there may be several political parties in the Sinhala South, but only one ideology – being anti-Tamil. There is the right wing United National Party (UNP), the supposedly socialist Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the so-called “Marxist” Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Marxists of yester-year, the Lanka Sama Samaga Party (LSSP), the political party of not-so-clean-shaven men in yellow robes, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), and many more of their ilk. In reality they are all different names for one party policy – anti-Tamil.

In the 10th June 1992 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior editor at TamilNet, sheds light into the then Sri Lanka's President Premadasa and Leader of the House, Ranil Wickremesinghe's strategy of dealing with Tamil national question, a strategy of wooing Tamil votes with political rhetoric and to inflict military defeat on LTTE by planning to allow Sri Lanka forces to "smash their way into Jaffna."

German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) of the German Federal Government with the funding of World Vision-German inaugurated the first phase of handing over fishing boats, engines and fishing nets and related materials to tsunami affected fishermen of four villages in the Muttur east in Trincomalee at an event held at Kadatkaraichchenai Thursday. Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) is the implementing partner. The TRO Trincomalee District Secretariat organized the event.

The October 24 rally in the City of Brussels by the Eelam Tamils from all over Europe, demonstrated the many facets of their struggle for freedom and peace. Despite a heavy downpour, twenty thousand Tamils took part in this emotive ‘Tamil Uprise’, demanding among other things, the withdrawal of the recent travel restrictions placed on the LTTE by the European Union. It is critical to analyse the impact of this significant demonstration defending Tamil people’s rights in the heart of Europe.

It is well know that Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse, abandoned his party policy for short term political gain and joined up with Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinistic forces. At this time, leader of opposition, Ranil Wickremasinghe, is portraying himself as the friend of the minorities, Tamils, Upcountry Tamils, and Muslims, to attract their votes.

The killing must stop. That is the silent cry of Tamils and Sinhalese everywhere. Fear must not rule people’s lives. It is the emotion flooding people’s minds after the recent killing of two principals of eminent institutions of learning in Jaffna. These killings have sent shivers down the backs of the people in the NorthEast. From a young age as children we learn that killing is against our religion, beliefs, values, and indeed the law, yet in Sri Lanka we wake up to news of violence and death everyday.

SL Military has gone to town with its rejection of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission’s (SLMM) recommendation to disband and disown its armed group appendages in conformity with the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) clause 1.8. Not contented with mere rejection, the SL Military has ventured to cynically condemn the recommendations and the entity, the SLMM.

Ms. Ranee Mohamed, a feature editor and Mr. Berty Mendis, a photographer at the English weekly Sunday Leader in Colombo, were assaulted by a group of men armed with batons and swords Tuesday morning at the residence of the slain Sri Lankan senior Intelligence officer, Lt. Col. Tuwan Rizwi Meedin, in Kiribathgoda in Colombo when they went to obtain interviews from Meedin's family members, media sources in Colombo said. The attackers had alleged that the Sunday Leader was supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

“If the Sri Lankan government is to take forward the peace talks with LTTE in a meaningful manner there should be political maturity among the political actors in the South. Without this maturity no meaningful resolution will be found in the future peace talks.”

Amid efforts to promote peace in Sri Lanka, an oft repeated assertion is that the Northeast needs to be ‘democratised.’ This claim, put forward amid the Liberation Tigers’ dominance over the Tamil areas is leveled by those committed in principle to democracy, but also, more often than not, by self-interested opponents of the LTTE.

Mothers took to the streets last week in Jaffna, demanding justice for sons, daughters and other relatives who disappeared after being arrested by the Sri Lankan security forces in the northern peninsula in 1996-97. Parents and guardians of those who went missing in military custody demanded that Sri Lanka’s government either reveal the fate of their loved ones or compensate the bereaved families for their deaths.