China to build airport in Poonakari to balance India’s Palaali[Sun, 05 Feb 2012, 01:27 GMT] Occupying Sri Lanka plans to invite China to build an airport of international standard at Poonakari in the north of the country of Eezham Tamils to balance India’s projects centring around KKS harbour and Palaali airport in the northern coast of Jaffna Peninsula, news sources from the island said. Colombo has started confiscating large tracts of lands for this purpose and China has presented models of the airport for approval, revealed TNA parliamentarian Mr. Sritharan. Poonakari is situated in a controlling location linking Vanni with Jaffna Peninsula, with Palk Bay and Jaffna Lagoon on either side. It is also located close to Raameasvaram and Tho’ndi of the Tamil Nadu coast. Full story >>
Latest 15 Reports:
Feb 05 08:54 Feb 05 01:27 Feb 05 00:52 Feb 04 21:52 Feb 04 12:05 Feb 04 08:50 Feb 03 19:18 Feb 03 02:05 Feb 02 23:59 Feb 02 23:34 Feb 02 02:51 Feb 01 17:56 Feb 01 01:48 Jan 31 23:57 Jan 31 19:20 Westminster exhibition on Tamil genocide brings MPs to voice for international investigations[Sun, 05 Feb 2012, 08:54 GMT] MPs, peers from the House of Lords and a cross-party group of politicians endorsed the call for an independent, international investigation into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka, at an exhibition organized by the BTF and APPGT held Tuesday at Portcullis House, a parliamentary building in Westminster. The exhibition highlighted the protracted nature of the genocide of the Eezham Tamils through a creative use of artwork, paintings, newspaper clippings, slides and documentaries. The event was widely welcomed by those who attended, including the shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, Labour MP for Wolverhampton South-East, Pat McFadden, Lord Quirk, Father Emmanuel of Global Tamil Forum (GTF), and Lord Kennedy. "We must stop the genocide of the Tamils. The world must stop the barbarism of the Sri Lankan regimen," Robert Halfon, Conservative MP from Harlow said at the venue. Full story >>Pirapaharan postal stamp released in Norway[Sat, 04 Feb 2012, 21:52 GMT] Eezham Tamil activists in Norway on Saturday released stamps featuring LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan, the map of Tamil Eelam and some of the LTTE declared national symbols of the de-facto state of Tamil Eelam, including the Tamil Eelam national flag. The stamps were released in front of the Norwegian Parliament by Jeyasri Balasubramaniam, a candidate elected to represent the Eezham Tamils in two elections held in that country. The event coincided with the so-called independence day of Sri Lanka. On 4th February 1948, the British conferred dominion status to the island then called Ceylon and transferred power to a Colombo-centric, ethnic majoritarian and unitary system of government. Full story >>‘Development means 14-storey tourist hotel in Jaffna’[Sat, 04 Feb 2012, 08:50 GMT] Keeping genocide-afflicted Eezham Tamils in sheds and shelters, occupying Sri Lanka plans to build massive ‘tourist’ hotels in Jaffna with Sinhala investment and management, eventually to create Sinhala business enclaves and colonies, news sources in Jaffna said. SL presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa laid foundation for a 14-storey tourist hotel in the heart of Jaffna city on Friday. Mr. Milinda Moragoda, opposition leader, Colombo municipal council, is said to be closely associated with the investment carried out by a tourism corporate named Jetwing-Yarl. Mr. Moragoda was bracketed with Norwegian development minister Mr. Erik Solheim in luring the LTTE to the peace process in 2001. Meanwhile, Norway conducts a seminar to select participants this weekend, on Norway Tamils contributing to peace, reconciliation and development of Sri Lanka that will be addressed by Mr. Erik Solheim. Full story >>2ND LEAD Indian university confers honorary doctorate on Erik Solheim[Fri, 03 Feb 2012, 02:05 GMT] TERI University of India (The Energy and Resources Institute), which is a deemed university located in New Delhi, has conferred honorary doctorate on Norwegian Minister of Development Mr. Erik Solheim in its fourth convocation this year held on Wednesday. The deemed university, specialized in sustainable development, got accreditation in India in 1999. The university has affiliated centers in Japan, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, USA and UK, besides in some prominent Indian cities. Mr. Solheim is involved in international peace facilitation on behalf of Norway in several countries in the world. As Development minister, his office is part of the foreign ministry establishment of the Norwegian government, since Norway sees ‘development’ and ‘foreign relations’ intertwined in facilitating its interests. Full story >>2ND LEAD CPI moots Tamil Nadu State Assembly participation in Geneva HRC[Wed, 01 Feb 2012, 17:56 GMT] Tamil Nadu State Assembly should press New Delhi to make arrangements for its participation in the UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva in March to present the case of war crimes against Eezham Tamils, said, Communist Party of India’s MLA for Sivagangai, Mr. S. Gunasekaran, during debate on Governor’s Address in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. He reminded the Assembly on its earlier resolution on this issue and said that a case should be filed in the International Court of Justice against SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the genocide committed on Eezham Tamils. Deprivation of political, homeland and language rights of Eezham Tamils continues in the island and they are treated like slaves without security. SL has not even spent the Indian monetary assistance meant for Eezham Tamils sufficiently, the MLA said. Full story >>Destructive trend of Sinhalicisation harmful for future harmony in East: Thurairatnam[Tue, 31 Jan 2012, 23:57 GMT] Archaeological traces of heritage, preserved in 25 acres of land in Chuvaami-malai and Kevu'liya-madu villages in Paddippazhai DS division of Batticaloa district, are being destroyed by Sinhala encroachers, who are attempting to construct a Buddhist vihara at the occupied lands, civil sources Paddippazhai said. Condemning the move, Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) member R. Thurairatnam, said the destructive trend is opposed to any future ethnic harmony in the East. The historical evidences in the area were well preserved even during the times of war, Mr. Thurairatnam observed. Full story >>USA pressurises civil society to accept genocide and to live with it[Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 11:37 GMT] Two officials from the US State Department who met civil society of Jaffna last week categorically told them that the US would not take up war crimes/ human rights issues against Sri Lanka in the March HRC session, as there is no sufficient pressure or request from the affected people. Ruling out any outside intervention for political solution, the officials said that the US would only support the implementation of the LLRC report, which means annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils and completion of structural genocide by 2020, as fixed by the report. The officials didn't listen to the civil group, but insisted only on passing the message. As genocidal Sri Lanka is going to be emboldened further by the stand of the USA and similar stand of India, what responses are going to come from Tamil Nadu and from those who pawned politics to the USA and India, ask the civil groups. Full story >>Boyle: US should publicly accuse Colombo of committing war crimes[Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 00:40 GMT] Pointing to the recent investigative reports in media outlets noting US may possess crucial supporting material to incriminating evidence from senior military commanders of Colombo committing war-crimes, to exposures on Wikileaks of Colombo-based US Ambassadors' reported knowledge of high level Sri Lanka officials' complicity to war crimes, and to incriminating reports from the UN and NGOs on alleged war-crimes, Professor Boyle of University of Illinois, College of Law, said, in similar circumstances Secretary of State Eagleburger accused Radovan Karadzic of committing war-crimes during the Bosnian genocide, and the Obama administration can, and should, do the same thing to political and military leaders in Colombo. Full story >>US's dissonant positions boon to Sri Lanka's war-criminals[Sun, 29 Jan 2012, 00:39 GMT] While several members of the legislative branch of the US Government are pressing for independent international investigations into Sri Lanka's war-crimes, the US executive branch, despite the presence of ardent advocates of human rights as President Obama's group of advisers, guided by Ambassador Robert Blake architected policy that has wrought havoc to Tamil justice, appears to support white-washing of war-crimes, Tamil circles in the US said. Civil society groups in Sri Lanka, which met visiting US officials recently have also reported hearing a Rajapakse-centric position from the officials, and revealed that the officials have tried to persuade the civil society to engage with the Sri Lanka Government on development and reconciliation, and thereby, to remain opposed to Tamil diaspora activities, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Full story >>Book documents pre-colonial Tamil connections of New Zealand[Sat, 28 Jan 2012, 00:27 GMT] “Tamil Imprints in New Zealand” by 87-year-old Eezham Tamil author A.T. Arumugam, now living in New Zealand, re-documents and discusses in detail a bronze bell inscribed in Tamil in c. 14-15 century writing that was in the possession of the native Maori people of New Zealand. Originally written in 2007 in Tamil, the book has been translated into English and will be released shortly in Wellington. The publication is sure to give a sense of pride and belongingness, and would contribute to integration with identity for the Tamils of New Zealand today, commented a social worker. Meanwhile, reviewing the book, V. Sivasupramaniam, who also contributed to the translation says, “This book of fifty-two pages could provide a good incentive for historians and researchers to go further deep into the migratory pattern of this multi-cultural country.” Full story >>Pro Rajapaksa gang abducts, threatens Kaaththaankudi civil activist[Thu, 02 Feb 2012, 23:34 GMT] A.C.M. Asam, a member of the Kaaththaankudi Good Governance People Movement was abducted last Friday by an armed men who came in motorbikes when he was returning home after seeing his ailing mother in the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. Mr. Asam was later released after four hours, according to M.M.Abdur Rahuman, Soora council member of the movement at a media briefing held this week. Mr. Asam had exposed the fraud to the tune of 150,000 rupees that took place in the Kaaththaankudy UC. Asam had been threatened by the abductors not to work against Kaaththaankudi Urban Council chairman M.L.A.M.Hisbullah, who is a Deputy Minister in SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's regime. Full story >>Sinhala gang attacks Tamil residents in Trinco suburb[Sun, 29 Jan 2012, 16:56 GMT] Four Tamil residents of Vinaayagapuram, a suburb in Trincomalee town, were injured, including one with severe injuries, when a gang of Sinhalese attacked them on Saturday evening around 6 p.m, sources in Trincomalee said. Thurainayagam Sanjeevan, 32, an employee of the Trincomalee office of a leading Tamil daily Virakesari, is in critical condition and has been admitted to the Trincomalee General Hospital. Other injured Tamils were discharged from the hospital after treatment, hospital sources said. The attackers had threatened the Tamil residents to vacate the village, according to the injured residents. Full story >>Fein: TVPA's plain language interpretation negates Rajapakse immunity[Sun, 05 Feb 2012, 00:52 GMT] In a forceful rebuttal to the U.S. State Department's suggestion of immunity to Sri Lanka President Rajpakse in the war-crimes charges against him in the case filed in District Court in Washington by three Tamil plaintiffs, Bruce Fein, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said, 'the sitting head of state immunity issue pivots solely on an interpretation of the words “an individual” in the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA)," "the plain language of the statute makes no exceptions irrespective of the office an individual might occupy or the circumstances of the crimes universally
abhorred," but "[t]he Executive Branch insolently maintains that this Court must obey its directive to dismiss this TVPA case that rests upon universally repugnant crimes in
violation of the law of nations," and " [t]o bow to that command would be to permit usurpation of the judicial power by the Executive." Full story >>Tamils must remind Britain of its obligations on February 04: Brian Senewiratne[Sat, 04 Feb 2012, 12:05 GMT] February 4th, the day Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) got so-called “Independence” from Britain in 1948, is a day for action, not regret or mourning. “The betrayal of the Tamils by the British cannot be ignored. If it is, then Britain must be reminded of its moral, legal and ethical obligations, to ‘do the right thing’, by the Tamils even belatedly,” says Dr. Brian Senewiratne in an article he has authored on the so-called independence of Ceylon on 04 February 1948. “It is no exaggeration to say that on 4 February, 1948, ‘Independence’ was granted to the Sinhalese to do what they wanted to the Tamils. Britain could not care less, as long as the military bases were secure and the (British) tea estates remained under Sinhalese capitalist control, to supply tea at absurdly low prices to fill the British cup.” Full story >>Tamil woman's death in Norway bares plight of a Nation deprived of international justice[Fri, 03 Feb 2012, 19:18 GMT] 24-year-old Garolin Vinotha Nesarajah, who killed herself along with her 20-month-old baby boy on 16 January in a refugee centre in Førde in Western Norway, was not prepared for her deportation, as she feared she would be interrogated and tortured by the Sri Lanka Army back home, reporters in Jaffna said. Garolin immolated herself along with the baby, the Norwegian police think. Garolin’s death raises several questions at the international system that continues to keep the people of the nation of Eezham Tamils deprived of State, deprived of international justice and deprived of psychological security or hope in life, maddening them further and further by pushing them into the hands of genocidal Sri Lanka, social workers in Jaffna said. Full story >>SL government will not deliver justice: HRW[Thu, 02 Feb 2012, 23:59 GMT] The acting Geneva Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch, Philippe Dam, has said in a statement issued by the HRW Thursday that justice and accountability will not come from the Sri Lankan government. “Only international action will address the suffering of victims,” Mr. Dam said urging the United Nations Human Rights Council to address the lack of accountability for wartime abuses during its March 2012 session. Sri Lanka has a long history of failed promises to prosecute serious human rights abuses, the statement by the HRC further said. Full story >>2ND LEAD Last king of Kandy remembered in Tamil Nadu[Wed, 01 Feb 2012, 01:48 GMT] Sri Wikrama Rajasinghe alias Ka’n’nuch-chaami, the last king of Kandy, from whom the British captured the sovereignty of the last remaining kingdom in the island then called Ceylon, was remembered by his heirs and relatives in Tamil Nadu at his memorial in Vealoor (Vellore) in Tamil Nadu on his 181st death anniversary on Monday. Those who claim and uphold ‘unitary’ sovereignty over the entire island today never care for the king, who fought against colonialism for native sovereignty last remaining in the island, just because he was belonging to the Mathurai Naayakka dynasty of Tamil-Telugu origin. This is a small, but revealing example on the attitude of the sovereignty claim of the Sinhala state of Sri Lanka, showing why the sovereignty of genocide-affected Eezham Tamils in the island should never be vested into the hands of this state, commented an academic in Jaffna. Full story >>Colombo steps up Sinhalicisation of Batticaloa, Ampaa'rai border village[Tue, 31 Jan 2012, 19:20 GMT] Depriving the livelihood of resettled Tamils at 35th Colony, the Sri Lankan government authorities in Colombo have taken charge of the Tamil area, which comes under the Batticaloa district and the Eastern Provincial Council, aiming Sinhalicisation of the border village between the Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai district. The Tamil fishermen, who have been fishing in Navakkiri tank have now been denied access to the tank and only Sinhalese are allowed by the SL authorities to engage in fishing in the tank situated in the 35th Colony. The provincial minister responsible for fisheries affairs, Mr. Navaratnam, has also confirmed that the civil affairs at 35th Colony are being directly controlled from Colombo. Full story >>Protests, non-cooperation, need to be addressed directly against USA, India, UN[Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 07:03 GMT] Nearly three years after the genocidal war and amidst speedily on-going structural genocide against the nation of Eezham Tamils, the Establishments of the US, India and the UN increasingly prove that they are the real culprits buttressing the genocidal state of Sri Lanka and the crimes-accused Rajapaksa regime. A few individuals sitting in these Establishments take the entire human civilisation for a ride in setting a criminal paradigm for international polity. But, despite the presence of a large number of Tamils in North America, millions in the rest of the diaspora all over the world and 70 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu, Tamils still don’t know where to address and how to address their struggle in a concerted way showing strength and solidarity, for their polity is continually kept under deception, says a new generation Tamil politician in the island. Full story >>STF killed Trinco students, Basil Rajapakse told Blake[Sun, 29 Jan 2012, 01:26 GMT] In a classified memo written by US's Sri Lanka Ambassador Robert Blake in October 2006 to Washington, ten months after the extra-judicial execution of five students at a Trincomalee beach, Basil Rajapakse, advisor to Sri Lanka's President and brother Rajapakse, had told Ambassador Blake that Special Task Force (STF) was responsible for the killings, according a Wikileaks document. The father of Ragihar, one of the students killed, is one of the three plaintiffs who have filed a civil case against Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse for Command Responsibility in the killings. Full story >>2ND LEAD (Adds links) Silva's proposed UN appointment elicits condemnation from Rights Groups[Sat, 28 Jan 2012, 01:34 GMT] New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), California-based Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), and Washington-based SPEAK, three premier Rights organizations which routinely use litigation in US Courts to resolve constitutional issues and to indict violators of rights, in a press release issued Thursday, condemned the proposed appointment of Shavendra Silva - an ex-General of the Sri Lanka Army who is being charged for war-crimes in US Court - to the Special Advisory Group to advise UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Peacekeeping Operations. Full story >>Sri Lanka genocide story draws 22m visitors, says Argentine paper[Fri, 27 Jan 2012, 03:33 GMT] The Spanish Language Diario La Tarde, an evening journal published by independent journalists in West Argentina said the recent web publication of the story "Genocidio: (Primera entrega) - La masacre de los Tamils en Sri Lanka," [Genocide: (First Delivery) The Slaughter of Tamils in Sri Lanka] drew 22 million visits in two days. The story appearing in Spanish covers history to the conflict, the slaughter at Mu'l'livaaykkaal, and asserts the post-conflict miliary aggression in Tamil areas as a form of structural genocide. Full story >>TID arrests two Tamil fishermen in Mannaar[Thu, 02 Feb 2012, 02:51 GMT] A group of persons, arriving in a white van and identifying themselves as from the Sri Lankan ‘Terrorism Investigation Division’ (TID), arrested two Tamil fishermen in Mannaar on January 19th, sources in Mannaar said. The TID officers had later had informed relatives of the fishermen after inquiry that TID police had detained the fishermen on reports that they had helped he LTTE. Full story >>
Flashback:
2011: 2011 Feb 06 21:34 Pirapaharan's mother's condition serious, not c... 2011 Feb 06 16:41 Litigation threat forces Bush to cancel Swiss trip 2011 Feb 06 12:08 ‘Nazi-style registration of civilians in Jaffna’ 2011 Feb 06 08:25 Flood displaces 100,000 in Vanni, 25,000 in camps 2010: 2010 Feb 06 14:25 Pro-JVP Sinhala weekly recommences publication 2010 Feb 06 12:54 27 Saiva temples, monuments affected by planned... 2010 Feb 06 10:15 Rajapaksa leaves for Russia 2010 Feb 06 02:07 Lecturer, wife seek anticipatory bail from courts 2010 Feb 06 02:03 Presidential pardon clears ex-UNP national orga... 2010 Feb 06 01:58 Sri Lanka given 6 months to reverse EU GSP+ sus... 2009: 2009 Feb 06 22:25 CPI leader's car set on fire in Chennai 2009 Feb 06 19:39 Fonseka, Gotabaya Genocide charges filed with U... 2009 Feb 06 17:30 Trader reported missing with Jaffna HRC 2009 Feb 06 17:15 Tamil youth recovered dead in Batticaloa 2009 Feb 06 16:02 Tigers seize SLA arms storage in PTK 2009 Feb 06 15:07 120 Tamil young men, women detained in Colombo 2009 Feb 06 10:03 Sinhala mob stones ICRC office in Colombo 2009 Feb 06 08:11 Welcome to armed forces, hindrance to academics... 2009 Feb 06 08:04 Minister, members come hard on Colombo in Briti... 2009 Feb 06 06:31 Civilian sufferings unacceptable – Danish FM 2009 Feb 06 02:17 Indian Home Minister, Foreign Minister differ o... 2008: 2008 Feb 06 19:57 Stop military aid to Sri Lanka: PDK submits one... 2008 Feb 06 18:58 Tiger artillery barrage destroys SLA bulldozers 2008 Feb 06 17:48 Courts activities in Jaffna stall 2008 Feb 06 14:25 GoSL, TMVP partnership complicates east electio... 2008 Feb 06 12:12 Sri Lanka parliament debates emergency extensio... 2008 Feb 06 09:24 Tamil farmer shot dead in Vavuniyaa 2008 Feb 06 08:33 2 SLA soldiers killed in Northern Front - LTTE 2008 Feb 06 08:23 PLOTE shuts down Vavuniyaa 2008 Feb 06 05:37 Two civilians injured in SLAF air attack 2008 Feb 06 01:03 2 civilians abducted, 4 seek protection with Ja... 2008 Feb 06 00:15 Muslim men detained in Zoo bomb blast 2007: 2007 Feb 06 12:01 13 upcountry Tamil youths arrested in Dankotuwa 2007 Feb 06 10:42 18 wounded as STF hand grenade explodes in Colo... 2007 Feb 06 10:39 SLAF helicopters fire rockets in Trincomalee north 2007 Feb 06 10:33 Jaffna-wide schools boycott enters second week 2007 Feb 06 10:32 Phone service to Jaffna reactivated 2007 Feb 06 09:50 Commotion over seat allocation in SL Parliament 2007 Feb 06 09:39 Ranil: SLFP-UNP pact over, dark times ahead 2007 Feb 06 06:40 3 Sinhala leftist journalists, activists abducted 2007 Feb 06 05:40 Home Guard trooper killed in Vavuniya 2007 Feb 06 02:23 SL parliament to meet Tuesday amid tension 2007 Feb 06 02:10 Five schools in Eravur relocated 2007 Feb 06 02:08 Two killed, civilian injured in Batticaloa fire... 2007 Feb 06 01:11 Youth shot dead in Trincomalee suburb 2007 Feb 06 00:06 SLN soldier injured in Pesalai grenade attack 2006: 2006 Feb 06 16:44 Govt. rejects appeal to hold SLEAS examination ... 2006 Feb 06 16:44 Book on Baratha Natyam released in Mannar 2006 Feb 06 16:43 NCP Chief Minister appointed to lead Trincomale... 2006 Feb 06 15:34 Truce talks in Geneva on February 22 2006 Feb 06 13:25 Colombo's bona fides on creating normalcy ahead... 2006 Feb 06 11:51 Political parties finalize nomination lists for... 2006 Feb 06 11:23 USAID, CPA hold symposium on federalism 2006 Feb 06 11:12 Norwegian NGO condemns abduction of aid workers 2006 Feb 06 09:12 Protest against kidnappings shuts down Batticaloa 2006 Feb 06 06:38 Batticaloa Ramakrishna Mission head passes away 2005: 2005 Feb 06 21:08 Sea waves bring tsunami debris to Trincomalee s... 2005 Feb 06 18:57 Vadamaradchi fishermen fear serious damage to c... 2005 Feb 06 15:30 Jaffna youth reported missing found dead 2005 Feb 06 11:18 NRC to rebuild majority tsunami-destroyed schoo... 2004: 2004 Feb 06 17:38 Railway strike called off in Sri Lanka 2004 Feb 06 16:58 Marxists, Kumaratunga alliance registered as ne... 2004 Feb 06 13:12 Jaffna IDP protest concluded 2004 Feb 06 09:50 Fasting Jaffna farmer's condition said deterior... 2004 Feb 06 00:44 Jaffna schools said lacking basic facilities 2003: 2003 Feb 06 22:51 Negotiators in Berlin for fifth round 2003 Feb 06 22:40 Death anniversary of 22 LTTE cadres commemorated 2003 Feb 06 19:24 Opening of LTTE war memorial delayed 2003 Feb 06 13:41 Kanniya Tamil School reopens after twenty years 2003 Feb 06 12:41 LTTE commanders, Parents meet 2003 Feb 06 01:10 Grenades, ammunition recovered from Paranthan well 2000: 2000 Feb 06 17:41 Court action awaits Pass system 2000 Feb 06 17:02 Three UNP members arrested under PTA 2000 Feb 06 12:00 Dissident UNP MPs appeal to party 2000 Feb 06 11:56 News in Brief: 2000 Feb 06 06:46 Clashes in Mannar 1999: 1999 Feb 06 19:57 United States willing to facilitate peace 1999 Feb 06 19:54 Rocks damage grain ship 1999 Feb 06 11:35 Wounded student dies at hospital 1998:
1998 Feb 06 23:59 Kilinochchi battle continues 1998 Feb 06 23:59 SLA thrust repulsed - Radio 1998 Feb 06 23:59 TELO delays assuming office 1998 Feb 06 23:59 Colombo explosion kills eight 1998 Feb 06 23:59 Suicide bomber caused blast - police
A nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity, constituted by the feeling of the sacrifices that one has made in the past and of those that one is prepared to make in the future. It presupposes a past; it is summarized, however, in the present by a tangible fact, namely, consent, the clearly expressed desire to continue a common life. A nation's existence is, if you will pardon the metaphor, a daily plebiscite, just as an individual's existence is a perpetual affirmation of life. That, I know full well, is less metaphysical than divine right and less brutal than so called historical right. According to the ideas that I am outlining to you, a nation has no more right than a king does to say to a province: "You belong to me, I am seizing you." A province, as far as I am concerned, is its inhabitants; if anyone has the right to be consulted in such an affair, it is the inhabitant. A nation never has any real interest in annexing or holding on to a country against its will. The wish of nations is, all in all, the sole legitimate criterion, the one to which one must always return.
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Know the Etymology: 210 Place Name of the Day: Naalanda The high ground cum low jungle having Naa trees ![]() [24.01.12] Award winning filmmaker presents documentary on exiled Sinhala, Tamil journalists: ‘Silenced Voices – Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile’, a new documentary by Norwegian filmmaker Beate Arnestad, is to be pre-premiered in Oslo, Norway, on 09 February. The film features Mr. Bashana Abeywardene, his wife Sharmila Logeswaram, Sonali Wickrematunge and A. Lokeesan, TamilNet wartime correspondent, who was reporting from 2005 to April 2009 from Vanni. Related Story >> ![]() [24.01.12] Kalam risks his image in salvaging New Delhi in Tamil Nadu: While India’s former president Abdul Kalam has real work to do in addressing his own Establishment in New Delhi what brought him to genocidal Colombo and its India-partnered colony in the North and East of the island, wonders genocide-affected Eezham Tamils. Related Story >> ![]() [22.01.12] TNA should use its Tamil national mandate: Bishop of Mannaar: The aim of the Tamil civil groups’ memorandum dated 13 December 2011 and addressed to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was in fact to strengthen the Tamil national polity and its democratically mandated representatives. It was not meant to weaken the TNA. There is a mandate given by the people to the TNA about continuing talks with the SL government and that the TNA in its course of action should stick to its mandate is the thrust of the memorandum, clarified the Bishop of Mannaar, Most Reverend Rayappu Joseph, in a press release issued on last Monday on behalf of the civil society signatories of the memorandum. Related Story >> ![]() [21.01.12] Krishna visit patterns Indo-Sri Lanka deceit on Eezham Tamils: There was no enthusiasm or expectation in Jaffna on the recent visit by India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, media circles said. Civil groups in Jaffna also reflected the same opinion. Just as the visits of MK Narayanan and Shiv Shankar Menon patterned the course of the genocidal war, the visits of the Indian dignitaries in the subsequent phase show a pattern in consolidating the structural genocide of the nation of Eezham Tamils in order to facilitate overlapping interests of India's imperialism and the militarized Sinhala state in the island. Related Story >> ![]() [19.01.12] Tamil sovereignty alone can check protracted genocide: Jose Maria Sison: “The Eezham people have a very direct obligation of fighting for their own sovereignty against a state that presumes to have a unitary power over them,” stressed veteran Filipino left ideologue, Prof. Jose Maria Sison. In an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Sunday, Prof. Sison spoke on the questions of sovereignty of the Eezham Tamil nation, the protracted nature of genocide that Sri Lanka imposes on Tamils in their homelands, the principled position of leftists on the national question, and on the imperative to look beyond both the human rights and reconciliation paradigm. Related Story >> ![]() [17.01.12] Galle literary festival gives mask of normalcy to genocidal Sri Lanka: The Galle Literary Festival, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday is reported to involve diverse participants with the funding from a variety of corporate houses and Western embassies in Colombo. But the prevailing opinion in Eezham Tamil circles is that such occasions and the participation of high profile writers only serve the purpose of providing cultural and ideological legitimacy to the Sri Lankan state and the structural violence it imposes on the Tamil people. Related Story >> ![]() [03.01.12] 'Champions of Change': Even as the nation of the Scots enjoys limited autonomy in the United Kingdom, its desire for independence coupled with other political and economic developments compels the leader of the Scottish National Party to optimistically assert that Scotland and other similar small independent nation-states will be the champions of change in the near future. Related Story >> ![]() [31.12.11] TamilNet releases LTTE documents of 2006 talks: A set of documents prepared by the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat during Geneva peace talks held in February 2006, in June 2006 in Oslo and in October 2006 in Geneva, some of which have not yet reached public domain, are being released by TamilNet to facilitate a deeper understanding of the peace process and its eventual collapse. While 2011 has been a "year of reports," the UN panel report, Norway’s ‘Pawns of Peace’, the genocide model LLRC report etc., the LTTE documents provide valuable insight into the Tigers' efforts undertaken to fulfill LTTE's commitment to the International Community. Related Story >> ![]() [05.12.11] Maathakal protests Sri Lanka’s Naval base: A major coastal village Maathakal in Jaffna staged a protest on Monday against occupying Sri Lanka building an extensive naval base there by confiscating private lands of Eezham Tamils. Maathakal is the closest point of Jaffna to Point Calimere (Koadikkarai) in the Tamil Nadu coast across the Palk Strait. The base is a security threat not only to Eezham Tamils but also to Tamil Nadu as well as to India, but New Delhi and Colombo seem to think Tamils on either side of the Palk Strait as ‘common enemies’, commented a geopolitical analyst in Jaffna. Related Story >> ![]() [03.12.11] Wider public participation marks Heroes Day in Tamil Nadu: It became clear on the eve of Heroes Day, Sunday, that ruling circles in India join hands with genocidal Colombo in denying Tamils the right to remember their fallen freedom fighters. Yet the day was observed with a marked positive difference in Tamil Nadu this time. Public and grassroot initiatives replaced political party organized mass gatherings, and there was wider and spontaneous participation of a social cross-section: from workers and farmers to communities in business, education and professions. Related Story >> ![]() [30.11.11] Whether history is different to Tamils and Sinhalese, asks Jaffna academic: A single event that took place in the University of Jaffna on the Heroes Day, Sunday, has captivated the minds of Tamils all over the world, more than the diaspora functions marked by ever increasing participation of people but in some instances showing hijack aimed at dividing, capturing and ‘softening’ the struggle by the very forces against whom the spirit of the Day was meant for. Related Story >> ![]() [27.11.11] Tamil activists assert sovereignty, declare for plebiscite: Leading Tamil activists of the younger generation in Tamil Nadu, Canada, USA and Switzerland, came out with a declaration on Sunday asserting sovereignty of Eezham Tamils on three counts: historical, earned and remedial. They also declared that international players should stop insisting on united Sri Lanka and drop pretensions of ‘domestic solutions’. Further declarations upheld symbols and expressions of the struggle, urged recognition of all those who laid down their lives for the liberation cause and called upon coordinated global action. Related Story >> ![]() [22.11.11] Solheim hijacks thrust of Norway report: Norwegian minister Erik Solheim, while speaking in Oslo 11 November at the release of the report evaluating Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka, tried to hijack the philosophical thrust of the findings of the report and this brought him into confrontation with the evaluation team leader, Gunnar M. Sørbø. Mr. Erik Solheim tried to defend the main criticism in the report and the stand of Sørbø that Norway should have quit the peace process to signal the world of the impending dangers. Related Story >> ![]() [16.11.11] India emerges as main designer of ‘Asian Model’ in Norway report: The Norway report on the failed peace in Sri Lanka, concluding that Asian powers in pursuance of military solution were a reason for the failure, cautions that this model of ‘conflict resolution’ will challenge future Norwegian-style mediations. India’s role in the genocidal model of conflict resolution is not adequately discussed in the report, yet bits and pieces in the report along with what transpired in the panel discussion in Oslo on Friday, place India as decisively responsible for the ‘Asian model’ that ended the war in genocide. Related Story >> ![]() [14.11.11] International unity on criticism of Sri Lanka’s conduct: Armitage: Expressing dismay at the “chauvinistic attitude” of the Sri Lankan state, former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said on Friday the international community was united in its criticism of Sri Lanka’s conduct in the north and east and that SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa would not be welcomed internationally unless conditions there improved. “I don’t think anyone disagrees that the Tamil people have been mistreated and are continuing to lack – across the board – fundamental freedoms, dignity, etc,” Mr. Armitage told the audience. Related Story >> ![]() [13.11.11] LTTE losing, SL winning was Norway failing: Norway report team leader: While releasing the evaluation report on Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka on Friday, the team leader of the evaluation panel, Gunnar M. Sørbø, outlining the main findings of the report said “The collapse of talks and the subsequent military victory were as much a story of the LTTE ‘losing’, as of the government ‘winning’, or the Norwegians ‘failing’. Related Story >> ![]() [12.11.11] SLMM tilted balance in favour of Sri Lanka, against LTTE: Gajendrakumar Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the peace keeping arm of the Norway facilitated peace process in the island, tilted the balance in favour of the Sri Lankan state and against the LTTE, wrote Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam in 2007, in an unpublished research paper on the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) he submitted to a foundation in the West. The IC could have used the CFA to pursue conflict resolution by maintaining the balance of power between the parties, but to the contrary it had used the CFA as a ‘counterinsurgency’ tool to reinforce the state and weaken the de facto state, so that the state could pursue yet another military solution to the conflict, he further wrote. Related Story >> ![]() [11.11.11] Norway ‘LLRC’ distributes blame, washes hands of victims after ‘victory’: A report on Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka, “Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian Peace Efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2009” was released in Oslo on Friday. Whether pawns of peace or ploys for genocide, Norway’s report distributed blame among all the actors. A deficiency the report finds in Norway was not its grave failure to warn the world about peace turning into genocide, but that Norway should have escaped from the scene at an earlier stage. Related Story >> |
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