Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples' Consortium (TDTPC) made a complaint to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Commission against "high-handed action" of the Sri Lanka armed forces in down-town, Trincomalee on 24 October around 3.00 p.m.

The immense support rendered by the Tamil Diasporas all over the world for the liberation of their homeland is a powerful one. They in deed have a clear and sound understanding of both the importance and urgency of their moral obligation. The scope of this article, however, is not so much to discuss the value or significance of that moral duty, but to highlight the power and potency of the Tamil Diasporas from a different perspective.

The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Sunday announced that it has postponed the strike scheduled to commence on Monday 24 October as Dr. Tara de Mel, Secretary of Education, has agreed to meet a four member CTTU delegation at the Colombo Education Ministry on Wednesday 26th October, CTTU General Secretary Mr.T.Mahasivam said.

For European diplomats assigned to Sri Lankan affairs, the environment in Brussels, Belgium, was becoming increasingly tense in the weeks leading up to the end of September. Throughout the month, as reports would indicate, Sri Lankan diplomatic missions in both European and North American capitals, have been under intense pressure from Colombo to campaign hard against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

It is estimated that 300,000 children are currently participating in fighting in more than 35 countries. 25 million are uprooted from their homes, while millions more have their lives severely affected by the deprivations of war. Dealing with 'impact of war on children' is high on United Nation's agenda, with an annual Security Council debate, several resolutions addressing the problem and an office of the Secretary General devoted to the topic. Sri Lanka does not figure prominently in the deliberations of the UN, but the outcome of UN decisions has been felt in Sri Lanka.

The LTTE is building a citizens’ militia that can provide a measure of protection for their own villages, particularly against Army-backed irregulars, and could be drafted into relief efforts in the wake of natural disasters.

The spate of attacks on the Suderoli newspaper could be linked to Sinhala nationalists' mobilisation in the run up to Presidential elections or their efforts to promote the political ambitions of the renegade LTTE commander, Karuna.

The state of ‘Emergency’ brought into effect now, is a subtle and horrendous strategy authorising the ‘Sinhala’ State forces to suppress the Tamil freedom struggle. During the last two decades and many times before, this piece of legislation has been ruthlessly made use of with meticulous precision by Colombo in enforcing ‘wild governance’ in the occupied areas of the Tamil homeland. Taking away peace from the Tamil people, this ‘piece’ from the Sri Lankan ‘book’, has caused the deaths of several thousands of their brethren and did provide immunity to the occupying forces to illegally arrest, detain, torture and make many of them just numeric in the list of ‘disappeared’.

A few teasing and troublesome questions arise from the assassination of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister. One first wonders how a Tamil Tiger could have penetrated the highly secured area where the Foreign Minister lived, which was further secured because of the presence of a foreign embassy in that vicinity, with the highly visible weapon that was used to commit this offense.

Saying it would conduct a ‘serious review’ of the Norwegian peace process, Sri Lanka Monday called for an international crackdown on the Liberation Tigers, accusing them of assassinating Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgarmar on Friday.

It must be said that the head of SLMM in his interview to Reuters has identified the basic cause of the danger faced by the ceasefire agreement. Norwegian facilitators and the SLMM are continuing their peace efforts with determination and without showing their exhaustion and frustration in midst of the situation turning into a spaghetti mess. It is a fact, however, that they are truly struggling to bring about the normalcy so essential to take forward the peace efforts.

There was talk in Sri Lanka, not long after the tsunami, of an expensive coffin heading north. The story appeared in the press and was passed on in conversation, unencumbered by any trace of verifiable reality: Did you hear . . . a coffin, very fancy . . . what to think? Perhaps such a coffin existed, perhaps not.

What are the US government’s strategic interests in Sri Lanka? If the US has specific strategic interests in the island, then what are the means and modes by which it was and is securing them? Dharmaretnam Sivaram, popular military analyst and senior editor at TamilNet was working on this feature when he was abducted and killed on 28 April 2005.

Seven months has gone since the tragic tsunami hit Sri Lanka, India and other countries in the South East Asia. But the P-TOMS agreement to take up relief and reconstruction work for the people affected by it is almost dead. There is no possibility that it will be taken forward.