TamilNet

Bathiudeen dictates affairs of Palmyra Development Board

[Fri, 27 Feb 2015, 23:57 GMT]

The Sri Lankan Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mr Rishad Bathiudeen (Rishard Badurdeen), who has been notorious for causing dissension between Tamil-speaking Muslims and Tamils belonging to other religions in Mannaar and Vanni under the rule of former SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is continuing the same course also under the new regime, sources in Mannaar said. He has virtually hijacked the affairs of the Palmyrah Development Board (PDB), which comes under D.M. Swaminadan, the SL Minister of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs, reliable sources at the PDB said. Earlier, the PDB came under Douglas Devananda of the EPDP, who was the minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development.

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Key Tamil organisations to boycott domestic hearings by SL Presidential Commission

[Thu, 26 Feb 2015, 16:41 GMT]

The Tamil Civil Society Forum and the Welfare Organisation for the Forcibly Disappeared Persons have jointly decided not to appear and give evidence before the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons, a statement issued by the TCSF said on Thursday. “We cannot afford to continue to appear before this commission giving it a stamp of legitimacy. We seek a credible inquiry and we are convinced that this can only be made possible through international means,” the statement issued in Jaffna on the 24th of February 2015 said adding that many questions have been raised about the terms of reference and capacity of this commission to act on the issue of enforced disappearances. Full story >>

3RD LEAD (Adds video)

USA, key actor behind deferral of OISL report: Mavai Senathiraja

[Tue, 24 Feb 2015, 14:00 GMT]

ITAK leader Mavai Senathiraja, who attended the demonstration in Jaffna organised by the University society and the public organisations in Jaffna on Tuesday was questioned by the journalists on ITAK/TNA position on OISL deferral and on the reports of Sumanthiran backing domestic investigation mechanisms with OHCHR/international monitoring. Responding, Mr Mavai Senathiraja said: “The United States of America, who brought the resolution [in the UNHRC] is the key actor involved in the act [of the postponement]. On this matter, our Tamil people have now expressed their feeling. We will reiterate the importance of timely releasing the OISL report, as scheduled, in March. Our leaders have already talked to them [US diplomats]. However, we will convey the feelings of our people to them again.” Full story >>

4,000 poverty-stricken Tamil families deprived of Samurdhi assistance in Moothoor

[Mon, 23 Feb 2015, 18:45 GMT]

3,898 families of genocide-affected Eezham Tamils from 11 Tamil villages in the Moothoor division of Trincomalee district have been completely deprived of Samurdhi poverty alleviation food stamps for 106 months under the previous regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa, civil sources in Trincomalee said. The distribution of food stamps and other poverty alleviation benefits were stopped since March 2006, before the SL military launched military onslaught destroying the Tamil villages. Full story >>

3RD LEAD

Protesters condemning OISL delay burn effigy of Sumanthiran

[Sat, 21 Feb 2015, 15:06 GMT]

Effigy of M.A. Sumanthiran burnt in Jaffna

Condemning the recently announced deferral of the OISL investigative report by the OHCHR in Geneva, voicing against the talk of UN converting the international investigation into a domestic one, and demanding immediate response on the fate of the thousands of missing persons, Women’s Organisation of Missing Persons' Families in Jaffna staged a protest on Saturday in front of the Bus Stand in the city. The protestors, numbering more than 250, blamed New Delhi and Washington for buying time and space for the Sri Lankan State, with the intention of shielding the crime of genocide. At the end of the protest, an effigy of nominated TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran was burnt by a section of youth from the ITAK, who blamed the Colombo-centric elements within the TNA for collaborating with the global actors discarding the fundamental principles of the Tamil cause. Full story >>

Tamil civil society seeks clarification from Zeid on reasons cited for OISL deferral

[Fri, 20 Feb 2015, 13:07 GMT]

The High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein needs to clarify as to how he envisages OISL receiving new information, given the fact that the Sri Lankan Government does not promise cooperation with the OISL inquiry. The possibility of the OISL inquiry receiving important new information will only be credible if the OISL team is given access to Sri Lanka and given full freedom and access to engage in evidence gathering. But, SL Foreign Minister’s letter to the High Commissioner dated 13 February 2015 does not promise engagement with OISL specifically, Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) said in a statement issued on Friday. “Why should the SL Government's willingness to act on present day human rights issues be a bar to releasing a report on accountability for the past,” the TSCF has further asked in the statement. Full story >>

Victims demand immediate action against Colombo's squad in Ampaa'rai

[Thu, 19 Feb 2015, 11:02 GMT]

The families of forcefully disappeared Tamil victims in Ampaa'rai district have demanded immediate arrest and action against Karuna Group paramilitary operative, K. Pushpakumar alias Iniyabarathy, who was the Ampaa'rai district coordinator of Mahinda Rajapaksa's UPFA and a member of the Eastern Provincial Council. After the entire Ampaa'rai district was brought under the control of the occupying Sri Lankan military in 2007, more than 200 Tamil youth have been reported missing in the district after arrest or abduction by Sri Lanka military operated squads. Iniyabarathy has been the key paramilitary operative operating a squad for the genocidal SL military in the district. Iniyabarathy is blamed for the assassination of veteran Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan in May 2004. Incumbent SL president Maithiripala Sirisena was also having a hand in the paramilitary operations in the East. Full story >>

Tamil activists protest in front of US embassy in UK

[Wed, 25 Feb 2015, 19:49 GMT]

Hundreds of Tamil activists gathered outside US embassy on Tuesday to protest against the OISL deferral mooted by the USA, the key actor behind the UNHRC discourse on Sri Lanka. Endorsing the petition drafted by the Tamil Coordinating Committee - UK, the protesters demanded immediate referral of Sri Lanka to the UN Security Council and urgent action to stop ongoing structural genocide of the Eelam Tamil nation. The protesters also burnt the photos of TNA's Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan and the nominated parliamentarian of the alliance M.A. Sumanthiran, blaming the duo for deceiving Tamils from achieving international justice. Full story >>

3RD LEAD (Adds video)

Protesters demand international prosecutions, decry supervision of domestic mechanisms

[Tue, 24 Feb 2015, 11:31 GMT]

“While it is true that the Tamil people voted in large numbers for President Sirisena, we wish to emphasise that this was merely an anti-Rajapksa vote. We did not vote with the hope of any substantive change resulting from regime change,” said the appeal by the organisers of the massive protest in Jaffna on Tuesday. More than 5,000 students and people from all walks of life in Jaffna took part in the first largest demonstration after the end of genocidal war in Vanni on Tuesday. “International supervision of any domestic mechanism will only serve to waste time,” the appeal by the Jaffna University society said. The procession, which started at the University of Jaffna ended at the remains of the foundation of Thileepan monument at Nalloor. Full story >>

2ND LEAD (Adds video)

OISL deferral has dashed Tamils' hope on permanent settlement: NPC Councillor

[Sun, 22 Feb 2015, 23:22 GMT]

The international community has opted for the deferral of the OISL findings without understanding the grave impact of the act of postponement, said Northern Province Councillor K. Saraweswaran in a video interview to TamilNet this week. More than its findings on the war crimes, the timely release of the report itself was anticipated to open the door for a sustainable and permanent political solution to the Tamil national question in the island. The deferral has dashed that particular hope that prevailed among the Tamil people in the North-East, he said. Full story >>

Whereabouts of 700 Tamil prisoners detained in Trincomalee questioned in SL Parliament

[Fri, 20 Feb 2015, 14:05 GMT]

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran on Thursday questioned the SL Minister for Public Security at the Sri Lankan Parliament on the fate of 700 Tamils, who were alleged to have been kept in a detention camp inside the Trincomalee Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) complex under the past regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Around 35 families were also detained in that camp known as ‘Gota camp’ the TNA parliamentarian said. Full story >>

2ND LEAD (Adds video)

Victims not convinced by reasons cited for postponement of OISL findings: JUTA

[Fri, 20 Feb 2015, 05:35 GMT]

We were expecting at least some justice through the release of OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) report, originally scheduled to be released this March. The people on the ground, especially the victims, are dismayed to learn the news of the postponement of the OISL report. The reasons cited for the postponement of the report do not seem to be victim-centric and the people on the ground feel betrayed, said Lecturer A. Rajakumaran, the head of Jaffna University Teachers Association (JUTA) in an interview to TamilNet on Thursday. The JUTA has called for protests on 24th February against the postponement of the OISL report. Full story >>

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

-George Orwell
English Novelist and Essayist, 1903-1950

[14.02.15]
Palaka'ni: NPC resolution gives hopes on Tamil political unity The recent resolution presented and unanimously adopted in the Northern Provincial Council on historic and recent genocide against Tamils in the island, has rung alarm bells at necessary diplomatic quarters, say Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran (EPRLF) and TNA Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam (TELO). In a Palaka'ni interview to TamilNet this week, Mr Shivajilingam said there were attempts afoot to influence certain Tamil diaspora activists to issue sophisticated statements urging the UN Rights Chief to postpone the OISL report.
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[13.02.15]
Opinion: Understanding accountability: international investigation on outlook crime: NPC Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran observed that such an investigation would make Sinhala people to see the truth and would help getting justice. Equally important or more important is an international investigation on the adamant ‘outlook crime’ of certain powers that fundamentally contributed to the genocide, especially in the recent decades.
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[12.02.15]
Wigneswaran exposes US delay tactics at Geneva: “In my recent conversation with Ms Biswal, I understood that the USA wants to be in favour of the present Sri Lanka government, as this government is favourable to the USA,” Wigneswaran said. “When Ms Biswal asked what could be the appropriate time for the release of the Geneva report and when I replied that it should be in March, she didn’t accept it,” the NPC-CM said.
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[12.02.15]
Break vicious circle of political obfuscation: Sivaram in 2003: Educating the masses on the designs of Powers and politically mobilising the people for the struggle was the central theme of the piece late Senior Editor of TamilNet Sivaram Dharmeratnam wrote to Northeastern Herald on May 02, 2003, two years before he was assassinated by the Sri Lankan military intelligence.
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[11.02.15]
Key to struggle is to change outlook of powers: Gajendrakumar: The outlook of Powers with regards Tamil national question in the island doesn’t come from lack of knowledge, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said in a Palaka'ni interview last week, naming US-dominated West, India and China as actors primarily involved. The change in their outlook to accommodate Tamil interests is certainly not going to be through education, it is something that has to come through a struggle, he said.
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[10.02.15]
Wigneswaran calls for international investigation on genocide: In a key development, the Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC), Justice CV Wigneswaran, on Tuesday called for real international investigations on genocide against Tamils committed by the successive governments since Ceylon's independence from the British in 1948.
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[09.02.15]
Task of real Tamil political leadership: Sivaram in 2003: Sivaram Dharmeratnam alias Taraki, the late senior editor of TamilNet, wrote an article in January 2003, explaining the deadlock of the Sri Lankan unitary constitution which cannot provide for a solution within its framework. The international backers were also aware that a federal solution to the ethnic conflict was practically, legally and politically impossible with the Sri Lankan Constitution, he wrote.
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[08.02.15]
Nationhood, Self-Determination non-negotiable: V.T. Thamilmaran in 2003: “The nationhood of Tamils and their right to self-determination are non-negotiable. Any political solution that might emerge out of the on-going peace process can't go below these,” opined V.T. Thamilmaran, 12 years ago in January 2003, just a few days after the so-called Oslo Declaration (Dec 2002).
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[07.02.15]
Genocidal Sri Lanka insists full continuation of military occupation of Tamil Eelam: “We, as a government, will never remove any of the military camps established in the North and East to ensure security of the Tamil people as well as other people,” claimed Ruwan Wijewardene, the new Sri Lankan State Minister of Defence, who visited the Palaali headquarters of the occupying military in Jaffna.
Related Story >>

[06.02.15]
Sampanthan, Sumanthiran exploit ITAK to deviate from Tamil cause: Prof. Sitrampalam: The lacuna of inner democracy in the present day Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) is being exploited by TNA Parliamentary Group Leader Mr R. Sampanthan and TNA's nominated parliamentarian Mr M.A. Sumanthiran to deviate Tamils from their cause and struggle, accused Vice President and Senior leader of the ITAK, Professor S.K. Sitrampalam in an interview to TamilNet this week.
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[05.02.15]
UN investigation key to resolve Tamil question: Suresh Premachandran: “Be it Ranil Wickramasinghe, Chandrika Kumaratunga, the new president Maithiripala Sirisena, or whoever it may be [in the South], they don't have a basic idea of how to resolve the Tamil national question, because they are always talking about a unitary constitution,” said Tamil National Alliance Spokesman Suresh Premachandran in an exclusive interview to TamilNet this week.
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[04.02.15]
Tamils protest on SL ‘independence day’, remind UK of its moral, legal responsibility: The grassroots activists of Eezham Tamils in UK commenced a torch relay towards Geneva from London on the so-called independence day of Sri Lankan State on Wednesday. The Tamil activists have also launched a signature campaign recalling the role of the United Kingdom in the genocide of the Eelam Tamil nation.
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[30.01.15]
Learning lessons from political discourses of past: The last advice of the late Professor A.J. Wilson, a highly respected academic who had the closest connections with the hierarchy of the government echelons from time to time, and who was an optimist genuinely believing the possibility of Tamils and Sinhalese co-existing, was that the Tamil academics and professionals should not let themselves to be lured by promises, sweet talk, and false vanity liberally dispensed by their Sinhala counterparts and Sinhala leaders.
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[22.01.15]
Singapore Principles of 2013: Tamil polity taken for ride from Oslo to Singapore: Right from the Indo-Lanka agreement of 1987 to Oslo Declaration of 2002 and to hitherto unrevealed Singapore Principles of 2013 that brought the Sampanthan polity into a conceptual framework for the recent regime change in Colombo, the external forces seeking to influence the affairs of the island have taken the Eezham Tamils for a ride to confine the Tamil polity into the unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka without securing any concrete and descriptive guarantee from the Sinhala polity.
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[14.01.15]
Pope Francis at Madu: ‘Our Lady remained always with you’ Pope Francis on Wednesday paid a pilgrimage to Madu shrine, which is the famous pilgrim centre of Tamil Catholics, where even the Sinhalese Catholics of the western coast, who were Tamils a century ago, flock in for festivals. Tamils who came in large numbers from all parts of the island appreciated his call for wartime ‘truth’ in future peace making.
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[07.01.15]
Tamil will expressed only by distancing from racist election: Jude Lal Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithiripala Sirisena cannot be seen as the greater evil and the lesser evil respectively, says Professor Jude Lal of Trinity College, Dublin, in an interview to TamilNet on Wednesday.
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Press conference by Ma'ravanpulavu Sachithananthan

[03.01.15]
Tamils of struggle polity need not worry who becomes SL president: While SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa is almost open in telling that electing the next president is choosing between China and the USA, senior Tamil grassroot leaders and activists in the island are of the opinion that Eezham Tamils put in a situation of struggle polity need not worry who succeeds as president.
Related Story >>

[23.12.14]
Tamils can't endorse Sinhala-centric presidential election: TCSF: As long as Sri Lanka’s democratic practice and culture is driven by chauvinist Sinhala Buddhist politics no change of form of Government is going to benefit the Tamil people,” the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Related Story >>

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He has virtually hijacked the affairs of the Palmyrah Development Board (PDB), which comes under D.M. Swaminadan, the SL Minister of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs, reliable sources at the PDB said. Earlier, the PDB came under Douglas Devananda of the EPDP, who was the minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development. Full story >> Latest Reports: Feb 27 23:57 Bathiudeen dictates affairs of Palmyra Development.. Feb 26 16:41 Key Tamil organisations to boycott domestic hearin.. Feb 25 19:49 Tamil activists protest in front of US embassy in .. Feb 24 14:00 USA, key actor behind deferral of OISL report: Mav.. Feb 24 11:31 Protesters demand international prosecutions, decr.. Feb 23 18:45 4,000 poverty-stricken Tamil families deprived of .. Feb 22 23:22 OISL deferral has dashed Tamils' hope on permanent.. Feb 21 15:06 Protesters condemning OISL delay burn effigy of Su.. Feb 20 14:05 Whereabouts of 700 Tamil prisoners detained in Tri.. Feb 20 13:07 Tamil civil society seeks clarification from Zeid .. Feb 20 05:35 Victims not convinced by reasons cited for postpon.. Feb 19 11:02 Victims demand immediate action against Colombo's .. << Flashback More Reports >> Key Tamil organisations to boycott domestic hearings by SL Presidential Commission [Thu, 26 Feb 2015, 16:41 GMT] The Tamil Civil Society Forum and the Welfare Organisation for the Forcibly Disappeared Persons have jointly decided not to appear and give evidence before the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons, a statement issued by the TCSF said on Thursday. “We cannot afford to continue to appear before this commission giving it a stamp of legitimacy. We seek a credible inquiry and we are convinced that this can only be made possible through international means,” the statement issued in Jaffna on the 24th of February 2015 said adding that many questions have been raised about the terms of reference and capacity of this commission to act on the issue of enforced disappearances. Full story >> 3RD LEAD (Adds video) USA, key actor behind deferral of OISL report: Mavai Senathiraja [Tue, 24 Feb 2015, 14:00 GMT] ITAK leader Mavai Senathiraja, who attended the demonstration in Jaffna organised by the University society and the public organisations in Jaffna on Tuesday was questioned by the journalists on ITAK/TNA position on OISL deferral and on the reports of Sumanthiran backing domestic investigation mechanisms with OHCHR/international monitoring. Responding, Mr Mavai Senathiraja said: “The United States of America, who brought the resolution [in the UNHRC] is the key actor involved in the act [of the postponement]. On this matter, our Tamil people have now expressed their feeling. We will reiterate the importance of timely releasing the OISL report, as scheduled, in March. Our leaders have already talked to them [US diplomats]. However, we will convey the feelings of our people to them again.” Full story >> 4,000 poverty-stricken Tamil families deprived of Samurdhi assistance in Moothoor [Mon, 23 Feb 2015, 18:45 GMT] 3,898 families of genocide-affected Eezham Tamils from 11 Tamil villages in the Moothoor division of Trincomalee district have been completely deprived of Samurdhi poverty alleviation food stamps for 106 months under the previous regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa, civil sources in Trincomalee said. The distribution of food stamps and other poverty alleviation benefits were stopped since March 2006, before the SL military launched military onslaught destroying the Tamil villages. Full story >> 3RD LEAD Protesters condemning OISL delay burn effigy of Sumanthiran [Sat, 21 Feb 2015, 15:06 GMT] Condemning the recently announced deferral of the OISL investigative report by the OHCHR in Geneva, voicing against the talk of UN converting the international investigation into a domestic one, and demanding immediate response on the fate of the thousands of missing persons, Women’s Organisation of Missing Persons' Families in Jaffna staged a protest on Saturday in front of the Bus Stand in the city. The protestors, numbering more than 250, blamed New Delhi and Washington for buying time and space for the Sri Lankan State, with the intention of shielding the crime of genocide. At the end of the protest, an effigy of nominated TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran was burnt by a section of youth from the ITAK, who blamed the Colombo-centric elements within the TNA for collaborating with the global actors discarding the fundamental principles of the Tamil cause. Full story >> Tamil civil society seeks clarification from Zeid on reasons cited for OISL deferral [Fri, 20 Feb 2015, 13:07 GMT] The High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein needs to clarify as to how he envisages OISL receiving new information, given the fact that the Sri Lankan Government does not promise cooperation with the OISL inquiry. The possibility of the OISL inquiry receiving important new information will only be credible if the OISL team is given access to Sri Lanka and given full freedom and access to engage in evidence gathering. But, SL Foreign Minister’s letter to the High Commissioner dated 13 February 2015 does not promise engagement with OISL specifically, Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) said in a statement issued on Friday. “Why should the SL Government's willingness to act on present day human rights issues be a bar to releasing a report on accountability for the past,” the TSCF has further asked in the statement. Full story >> Victims demand immediate action against Colombo's squad in Ampaa'rai [Thu, 19 Feb 2015, 11:02 GMT] The families of forcefully disappeared Tamil victims in Ampaa'rai district have demanded immediate arrest and action against Karuna Group paramilitary operative, K. Pushpakumar alias Iniyabarathy, who was the Ampaa'rai district coordinator of Mahinda Rajapaksa's UPFA and a member of the Eastern Provincial Council. After the entire Ampaa'rai district was brought under the control of the occupying Sri Lankan military in 2007, more than 200 Tamil youth have been reported missing in the district after arrest or abduction by Sri Lanka military operated squads. Iniyabarathy has been the key paramilitary operative operating a squad for the genocidal SL military in the district. Iniyabarathy is blamed for the assassination of veteran Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan in May 2004. Incumbent SL president Maithiripala Sirisena was also having a hand in the paramilitary operations in the East. Full story >> Tamil activists protest in front of US embassy in UK [Wed, 25 Feb 2015, 19:49 GMT] Hundreds of Tamil activists gathered outside US embassy on Tuesday to protest against the OISL deferral mooted by the USA, the key actor behind the UNHRC discourse on Sri Lanka. Endorsing the petition drafted by the Tamil Coordinating Committee - UK, the protesters demanded immediate referral of Sri Lanka to the UN Security Council and urgent action to stop ongoing structural genocide of the Eelam Tamil nation. The protesters also burnt the photos of TNA's Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan and the nominated parliamentarian of the alliance M.A. Sumanthiran, blaming the duo for deceiving Tamils from achieving international justice. Full story >> 3RD LEAD (Adds video) Protesters demand international prosecutions, decry supervision of domestic mechanisms [Tue, 24 Feb 2015, 11:31 GMT] “While it is true that the Tamil people voted in large numbers for President Sirisena, we wish to emphasise that this was merely an anti-Rajapksa vote. We did not vote with the hope of any substantive change resulting from regime change,” said the appeal by the organisers of the massive protest in Jaffna on Tuesday. More than 5,000 students and people from all walks of life in Jaffna took part in the first largest demonstration after the end of genocidal war in Vanni on Tuesday. “International supervision of any domestic mechanism will only serve to waste time,” the appeal by the Jaffna University society said. The procession, which started at the University of Jaffna ended at the remains of the foundation of Thileepan monument at Nalloor. Full story >> 2ND LEAD (Adds video) OISL deferral has dashed Tamils' hope on permanent settlement: NPC Councillor [Sun, 22 Feb 2015, 23:22 GMT] The international community has opted for the deferral of the OISL findings without understanding the grave impact of the act of postponement, said Northern Province Councillor K. Saraweswaran in a video interview to TamilNet this week. More than its findings on the war crimes, the timely release of the report itself was anticipated to open the door for a sustainable and permanent political solution to the Tamil national question in the island. The deferral has dashed that particular hope that prevailed among the Tamil people in the North-East, he said. Full story >> Whereabouts of 700 Tamil prisoners detained in Trincomalee questioned in SL Parliament [Fri, 20 Feb 2015, 14:05 GMT] Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran on Thursday questioned the SL Minister for Public Security at the Sri Lankan Parliament on the fate of 700 Tamils, who were alleged to have been kept in a detention camp inside the Trincomalee Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) complex under the past regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Around 35 families were also detained in that camp known as ‘Gota camp’ the TNA parliamentarian said. Full story >> 2ND LEAD (Adds video) Victims not convinced by reasons cited for postponement of OISL findings: JUTA [Fri, 20 Feb 2015, 05:35 GMT] We were expecting at least some justice through the release of OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) report, originally scheduled to be released this March. The people on the ground, especially the victims, are dismayed to learn the news of the postponement of the OISL report. The reasons cited for the postponement of the report do not seem to be victim-centric and the people on the ground feel betrayed, said Lecturer A. Rajakumaran, the head of Jaffna University Teachers Association (JUTA) in an interview to TamilNet on Thursday. The JUTA has called for protests on 24th February against the postponement of the OISL report. Full story >> Top Flashback: 2014: 2014 Feb 28 23:02 SL military seeks to appropriate market complex... 2013: 2013 Feb 28 05:24 Australia should withdraw from CHOGM in Sri Lan... 2013 Feb 28 00:40 Veteran humanitarian Eezham Tamil activist pass... 2013 Feb 28 00:04 UK High Court blocks Tamil deportations 2012: 2012 Feb 28 23:48 Namal Rajapaksa demands 10 acres of Ilmenite-ri... 2012 Feb 28 21:06 Marie Colvin remembered in Jaffna 2011: 2011 Feb 28 12:24 Young Tamil mother strangled to death in Battic... 2011 Feb 28 12:21 Body of youth recovered in Saththurukko'ndaan 2011 Feb 28 00:50 UNSC weekend resolution on Libya incorporates I... 2010: 2010 Feb 28 02:18 17 persons reported missing since January 2009: 2009 Feb 28 22:13 New Delhi's stratagem seeking 'pause' 2009 Feb 28 21:04 Cordon, search operation in Trincomalee stepped up 2009 Feb 28 19:34 Chennai journalists demand Vithyatharan's immed... 2009 Feb 28 17:52 Chickenpox spreads among civilians in Mirusuvil... 2009 Feb 28 14:39 Eastern University suspends lectures, examinations 2009 Feb 28 12:20 TNA MP's secretary abducted in Vavuniyaa 2009 Feb 28 02:13 Newborn babies bereft of milk, humanitarian sit... 2008: 2008 Feb 28 17:11 Court expresses concern over escalating abductions 2008 Feb 28 16:54 MP objects to SLA video-filming residents durin... 2008 Feb 28 15:53 Changkilian Force threatens officials to stop J... 2008 Feb 28 13:18 International institutions turn sour to Colombo... 2008 Feb 28 12:22 Sea travel from KKS to cost more 2008 Feb 28 02:33 Bruce Fein: Independence promotes stability 2007: 2007 Feb 28 21:17 SLN fortifies Point Pedro harbour area 2007 Feb 28 18:09 Police arrest Tamil teacher in Maskeliya, 4 Tam... 2007 Feb 28 17:58 STF kills 3 youths in Batticaloa 2007 Feb 28 16:04 TNA urges India not to provide warship to Sri L... 2007 Feb 28 12:08 SLA shoots dead civilian in Chavakachcheri 2007 Feb 28 09:33 Christian family wounded in DPU attack in Madu 2007 Feb 28 04:49 SLN destroys suspicious boat in the seas off Ma... 2007 Feb 28 00:15 Prisoners call off protest 2006: 2006 Feb 28 12:53 NPC welcomes Geneva agreement, requests space f... 2006 Feb 28 12:00 Donor Co-chairs welcome Geneva outcome 2006 Feb 28 11:41 Paramilitary cadre reveals planned claymore att... 2006 Feb 28 11:29 Ex-garrison town gets new school buildings 2006 Feb 28 10:53 JVP wants to win local councils before national... 2005: 2005 Feb 28 18:11 Tsunami hit Southern Muslims allege discriminat... 2005 Feb 28 17:19 Man shot dead in Batticaloa town 2005 Feb 28 13:54 Senior LTTE political official shot 2005 Feb 28 05:39 Prince Charles arrives in Sri Lanka, visits Bat... 2005 Feb 28 04:32 Canadian Tamils provide education support to Tr... 2005 Feb 28 01:00 Second model village opened in Amparai 2005 Feb 28 00:10 US Church, TRO pay $7,000 taxes to clear water ... 2004: 2004 Feb 28 16:44 Vavuniya refugees affected by fire receive help 2004 Feb 28 16:08 Colombo appoints Police officer to deal with el... 2004 Feb 28 14:26 Clustered booths near SLA camps for Trinco vote... 2004 Feb 28 13:38 Objection against TNA using HOUSE symbol rejected 2004 Feb 28 13:30 IGP to deploy Home Guards for NorthEast electio... 2004 Feb 28 13:18 SLMC to launch election campaign Sunday 2004 Feb 28 13:11 Glowing tribute paid to retiring principal Sist... 2004 Feb 28 13:02 Missing Vadamaradchchi fisherman's body recovered 2004 Feb 28 11:43 Tigers seek truce monitors' role to facilitate ... 2004 Feb 28 08:31 Vavuniya refugee camp on fire 2004 Feb 28 02:20 Vanni franchise issue awaits resolution 2004 Feb 28 00:55 Trinco Village level officers briefed on human ... 2003: 2003 Feb 28 21:00 Trinco Methodist College holds prize giving 2003 Feb 28 20:39 Eastern HC discharges seven PTA, ER accused 2003 Feb 28 17:41 Fourth SIHRN meeting in Kilinochichi 2003 Feb 28 17:12 Treasury refusal delays NE volunteer teacher ap... 2003 Feb 28 17:08 Sri Lanka human rights officials to visit Jaffn... 2003 Feb 28 16:10 Peace dividend delay eroding Tamils' faith in t... 2003 Feb 28 12:34 SIHRN-World Bank formalize Establishing NE deve... 2003 Feb 28 02:30 Muslim parliamentarians meet Sri Lanka's PM 2002: 2002 Feb 28 16:43 Darkness looms over SL as power crisis deepens 2002 Feb 28 12:14 SLA recruits, restructures for greater efficiency 2002 Feb 28 09:31 UNF cabinet reshuffled after five postponements 2001: 2001 Feb 28 16:23 UK ban imposes restraints on peace process - LTTE 2001 Feb 28 11:56 Students condemn Batticaloa Brigadier's comments 2001 Feb 28 01:24 Bribe demands worsen villagers' woes 2000: 2000 Feb 28 18:21 POWs released on humanitarian grounds 2000 Feb 28 18:07 38 detainees held in Vavuniya 2000 Feb 28 11:21 Peace march in Batticaloa 2000 Feb 28 09:00 Tigers release 4 POWs 2000 Feb 28 07:41 Clay more blast injures 2 naval personnel 2000 Feb 28 07:24 Call to remove rigid limits on Travel Permits 1999: 1999 Feb 28 20:10 Chemmani judge receives army protection 1999 Feb 28 20:04 Police uniforms unacceptable - EPDP 1999 Feb 28 12:54 Perumal visits Batticaloa 1999 Feb 28 12:52 News in Brief: 1998: 1998 Feb 28 23:59 Tigers, SLA exchange artillery fire - VoT 1998 Feb 28 23:59 Time bomb injures PLOTE cadre 1998 Feb 28 23:59 Arrests over Dalada Maligava bombing 1998 Feb 28 23:59 EPRLF calls for united front over PA package If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -George Orwell English Novelist and Essayist, 1903-1950	Know the Etymology: 392 Place Name of the Day: Varippaththaan-cheanai The shifting cultivation field of a person belonging to the temple service community Read more >> [14.02.15] Palaka'ni: NPC resolution gives hopes on Tamil political unity The recent resolution presented and unanimously adopted in the Northern Provincial Council on historic and recent genocide against Tamils in the island, has rung alarm bells at necessary diplomatic quarters, say Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran (EPRLF) and TNA Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam (TELO). In a Palaka'ni interview to TamilNet this week, Mr Shivajilingam said there were attempts afoot to influence certain Tamil diaspora activists to issue sophisticated statements urging the UN Rights Chief to postpone the OISL report. Related Story >> [13.02.15] Opinion: Understanding accountability: international investigation on outlook crime: NPC Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran observed that such an investigation would make Sinhala people to see the truth and would help getting justice. Equally important or more important is an international investigation on the adamant ‘outlook crime’ of certain powers that fundamentally contributed to the genocide, especially in the recent decades. Related Story >> [12.02.15] Wigneswaran exposes US delay tactics at Geneva: “In my recent conversation with Ms Biswal, I understood that the USA wants to be in favour of the present Sri Lanka government, as this government is favourable to the USA,” Wigneswaran said. “When Ms Biswal asked what could be the appropriate time for the release of the Geneva report and when I replied that it should be in March, she didn’t accept it,” the NPC-CM said. Related Story >> [12.02.15] Break vicious circle of political obfuscation: Sivaram in 2003: Educating the masses on the designs of Powers and politically mobilising the people for the struggle was the central theme of the piece late Senior Editor of TamilNet Sivaram Dharmeratnam wrote to Northeastern Herald on May 02, 2003, two years before he was assassinated by the Sri Lankan military intelligence. Related Story >> [11.02.15] Key to struggle is to change outlook of powers: Gajendrakumar: The outlook of Powers with regards Tamil national question in the island doesn’t come from lack of knowledge, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said in a Palaka'ni interview last week, naming US-dominated West, India and China as actors primarily involved. The change in their outlook to accommodate Tamil interests is certainly not going to be through education, it is something that has to come through a struggle, he said. Related Story >> [10.02.15] Wigneswaran calls for international investigation on genocide: In a key development, the Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC), Justice CV Wigneswaran, on Tuesday called for real international investigations on genocide against Tamils committed by the successive governments since Ceylon's independence from the British in 1948. Related Story >> [09.02.15] Task of real Tamil political leadership: Sivaram in 2003: Sivaram Dharmeratnam alias Taraki, the late senior editor of TamilNet, wrote an article in January 2003, explaining the deadlock of the Sri Lankan unitary constitution which cannot provide for a solution within its framework. The international backers were also aware that a federal solution to the ethnic conflict was practically, legally and politically impossible with the Sri Lankan Constitution, he wrote. Related Story >> [08.02.15] Nationhood, Self-Determination non-negotiable: V.T. Thamilmaran in 2003: “The nationhood of Tamils and their right to self-determination are non-negotiable. Any political solution that might emerge out of the on-going peace process can't go below these,” opined V.T. Thamilmaran, 12 years ago in January 2003, just a few days after the so-called Oslo Declaration (Dec 2002). Related Story >> [07.02.15] Genocidal Sri Lanka insists full continuation of military occupation of Tamil Eelam: “We, as a government, will never remove any of the military camps established in the North and East to ensure security of the Tamil people as well as other people,” claimed Ruwan Wijewardene, the new Sri Lankan State Minister of Defence, who visited the Palaali headquarters of the occupying military in Jaffna. Related Story >> [06.02.15] Sampanthan, Sumanthiran exploit ITAK to deviate from Tamil cause: Prof. Sitrampalam: The lacuna of inner democracy in the present day Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) is being exploited by TNA Parliamentary Group Leader Mr R. Sampanthan and TNA's nominated parliamentarian Mr M.A. Sumanthiran to deviate Tamils from their cause and struggle, accused Vice President and Senior leader of the ITAK, Professor S.K. Sitrampalam in an interview to TamilNet this week. Related Story >> [05.02.15] UN investigation key to resolve Tamil question: Suresh Premachandran: “Be it Ranil Wickramasinghe, Chandrika Kumaratunga, the new president Maithiripala Sirisena, or whoever it may be [in the South], they don't have a basic idea of how to resolve the Tamil national question, because they are always talking about a unitary constitution,” said Tamil National Alliance Spokesman Suresh Premachandran in an exclusive interview to TamilNet this week. Related Story >> [04.02.15] Tamils protest on SL ‘independence day’, remind UK of its moral, legal responsibility: The grassroots activists of Eezham Tamils in UK commenced a torch relay towards Geneva from London on the so-called independence day of Sri Lankan State on Wednesday. The Tamil activists have also launched a signature campaign recalling the role of the United Kingdom in the genocide of the Eelam Tamil nation. Related Story >> [30.01.15] Learning lessons from political discourses of past: The last advice of the late Professor A.J. Wilson, a highly respected academic who had the closest connections with the hierarchy of the government echelons from time to time, and who was an optimist genuinely believing the possibility of Tamils and Sinhalese co-existing, was that the Tamil academics and professionals should not let themselves to be lured by promises, sweet talk, and false vanity liberally dispensed by their Sinhala counterparts and Sinhala leaders. Related Story >> [22.01.15] Singapore Principles of 2013: Tamil polity taken for ride from Oslo to Singapore: Right from the Indo-Lanka agreement of 1987 to Oslo Declaration of 2002 and to hitherto unrevealed Singapore Principles of 2013 that brought the Sampanthan polity into a conceptual framework for the recent regime change in Colombo, the external forces seeking to influence the affairs of the island have taken the Eezham Tamils for a ride to confine the Tamil polity into the unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka without securing any concrete and descriptive guarantee from the Sinhala polity. Related Story >> [14.01.15] Pope Francis at Madu: ‘Our Lady remained always with you’ Pope Francis on Wednesday paid a pilgrimage to Madu shrine, which is the famous pilgrim centre of Tamil Catholics, where even the Sinhalese Catholics of the western coast, who were Tamils a century ago, flock in for festivals. Tamils who came in large numbers from all parts of the island appreciated his call for wartime ‘truth’ in future peace making. Related Story >> [07.01.15] Tamil will expressed only by distancing from racist election: Jude Lal Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithiripala Sirisena cannot be seen as the greater evil and the lesser evil respectively, says Professor Jude Lal of Trinity College, Dublin, in an interview to TamilNet on Wednesday. Related Story >> [03.01.15] Tamils of struggle polity need not worry who becomes SL president: While SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa is almost open in telling that electing the next president is choosing between China and the USA, senior Tamil grassroot leaders and activists in the island are of the opinion that Eezham Tamils put in a situation of struggle polity need not worry who succeeds as president. Related Story >> [23.12.14] Tamils can't endorse Sinhala-centric presidential election: TCSF: As long as Sri Lanka’s democratic practice and culture is driven by chauvinist Sinhala Buddhist politics no change of form of Government is going to benefit the Tamil people,” the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) said in a statement issued on Tuesday. Related Story >>
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