http://www.tamilnet.com Latest 20 TamilNet reports from Sri Lanka en Copyright (c) 1997-2012 TamilNet Thu, 17 May 2012 02:27:34 GMT Thu, 17 May 2012 02:27:34 GMT tamilnet@tamilnet.com http://www.tamilnet.com/img/feedlogo2.gif http://www.tamilnet.com 88 31 TamilNet logo http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35185 The Sri Lankan Government Agent of Trincomalee Major General (retd) Ranjith de Silva has appropriated 15 acres of land that belongs to the Trincomalee District Young Men’s Hindu Associations Federation (TDYMHAF) in the traditional Tamil village Kanniyaa, situated 7 km north of the east port city, for the construction of a Buddhist Vihare. The appropriated land is located in the vicinity of the Kanniyaa hot wells, a revered place for Saivites. The administration of the historic Kanniyaa hot wells has also been handed over to a Buddhist monk who is the head of the Velgam Buddhist Vihare, which is located two km away from the site, according to a memorandum submitted to the All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC). Wed, 16 May 2012, 15:10 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35184 Tamil villages in the DS divisions of Poththuvil, Chammaa-thu'rai and Akkaraippattu in Ampaa'rai district are still in the state of complete destruction. Out of 427 families uprooted from Thangkavealautha-puram, only 70 have been resettled. 80 families have been resettled in Kagnchi-kudichchaa'ru village out of 424 uprooted families. 60 families of 126 uprooted have been resettled in Kaagnchirankudaa village and only 35 out of 127 uprooted families have been resettled in Chaakamam village, civil officials said. Tue, 15 May 2012, 23:48 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35183 Ramanan Mylvaganam, 35, accused by the U.S. prosecutors of trying to buy night vision goggles and assisting in the purchase of computer equipment, electronic components and communications equipment for the Liberation Tigers, was allowed to go free after Eastern District of New York Judge Drearie sentenced Ramanan to time served, rejecting the request by the Prosecutors who sought a 15-year sentence. Only on Friday the same judge let another Tamil man who the FBI and the prosecutors labelled the "leader" for the Tigers in the U.S. go free after time served. Tue, 15 May 2012, 00:22 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=35182 Saving genocidal state of Sri Lanka as a continuity of the long European colonial order in South Asia has now become an obsession with India and the USA, more than the Sinhala nation. From Congress-BJP-CPM to VCK in India, and from hijacked sections of the diaspora in North America to London, the orchestration is to make the genocide-affected Eezham Tamils to denounce their right to protection, right to self-determination, and most importantly their right to call themselves a nation. Sumanthiran’s TNA, instead of working for an alternative secular state in the North–East, only mumbles the gagged situation in between the lines in the presence of Indo-US diplomats in Jaffna. The diaspora still don’t know where to address the issue. Law lecturer Guruparan Kumaravadivel in Jaffna on Sunday aptly brought out the unworkability of India-conceived 13 Amendment. Mon, 14 May 2012, 23:20 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35181 Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the commander-in-chief of the war-crimes and genocide accused SL military, has been invited to participate at the Diamond jubilee celebrations of British Monarch Queen Elizabeth. Expressing regret at the news, Arujuna Sivananthan of the British Tamils for Conservatives told TamilNet “Her Majesty has led an exemplary life binding together various communities not just in the United Kingdom but the the world. As Conservatives committed to the principle of individual liberty, we do not wish the celebration of her six decade reign tarnished by the presence of individuals alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Mon, 14 May 2012, 00:30 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35180 In a political seminar organised in Jaffna by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Sritharan on Sunday, which was addressed by both the US and Indian diplomats, TNA’s nominated parliamentarian, Mathiaparanam Abraham Sumanthiran, twice received applause from the audience, when he said that the TNA was participating in the talks with the Sri Lankan government with an understanding that there could be no solution within the unitary constitution. But he was suggesting that there is ‘something’ in the 13th Amendment, even though he seemed agreeing that there is ‘nothing’ in the 13th Amendment. As the IC, especially India and the USA want a united Sri Lanka, if the TNA is not showing agreement, it would lose international backing, he said. Neither the Tamil people nor the TNA did ask for Tamil Eelam, he replied to a question. Sun, 13 May 2012, 18:56 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=35179 Tamil historian Professor AR Venkatachalapathy, delivering keynote address at Tamil Studies Conference in Toronto on Saturday, brought out hitherto untapped objective evidences of around two scores of letters written by CW Thamotharampillai (1832–1901) to UV Swaminathaiyar (1855–1942), for a better understanding of the relationship between the two pioneer editors coming from Jaffna and Tamil Nadu in transferring Tamil classics from palm leaf manuscripts to print media. The letters dating between 1883 and 1899 show that despite being rivals in publication the two were in close contact and cooperative if not collaborative. The letters also show the generosity and magnanimity of Thamotharampillai, personally and in matters of publication, and as a senior scholar he encouraged Swaminathaiyar and saw in him the future of classical editorial scholarship, Chalapathy said. Sun, 13 May 2012, 10:15 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35178 The statue of the chief deity of Pi'l'laiyaar temple in Punaanai, situated 52 km northwest of Batticaloa, has been reported missing after the occupation of a plot of land close to the temple by a Buddhist monk sent by Colombo-based Buddhist organizations, says C.Yogeswaran, the Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian. Punanai is a border village located along Batticaloa - Polonnaruwa road that runs through Sri Lanka Army garrisons situated between Punaanai and Welikande. Recent reports have also exposed Sinhalicisation taking place in Vadamunai, situated southswest of Punanai. Sun, 13 May 2012, 01:31 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35177 The occupying Sri Lankan military in Ki'linochchi is making every effort to cover up the culprits of the brutal killing of Canadian Tamil citizen who was struggling to get his business properties back from the SL military in Ki'linochhci, informed civil sources in the town told TamilNet Saturday. The intelligence officers of the occupying SL military are now attempting to pass the blame of the slaying of the property owner on petty criminals. The latest move has come to light this week when the military ‘investigators’ were attempting to book some petty criminals for the killing, forging documents that they were former combatants of the LTTE. In the meantime, SL District Judge for Ki'linochchi S. Sivakumar has been made aware that the slain victim had a quarrel with the occupying military a day before his killing, the sources further said. Sat, 12 May 2012, 13:34 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35176 Students from a popular private high school in Los Angeles California, motivated by lessons on genocide learnt from their history class, have organized fund-raisers and social awareness campaign to help victims of the alleged genocide in Sri Lanka, said a communique from the students. "We searched videos and read articles of the Sri Lankan people and we felt that it was our duty to help them in any way we could," said the students who also created a video on the details of genocide as part of their information campaign. Sat, 12 May 2012, 12:12 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35175 The District Court of Eastern District of New York (EDNY) Friday freed Kandasamy Karunakaran who was arrested five years ago and charged with providing material support to Liberation Tigers designated as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)" in the U.S. Judge Raymond Dearie noting that "this is not a garden variety terrorism case," and adding that "[w]e have to pull back that emblazoned banner of terrorism and look at the case specifically," signaled a likely softening of zealous prosecution of material support to organizations that has a history of resisting oppressive States accused of committing genocide. Sat, 12 May 2012, 03:11 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=35174 Delivering the keynote address at the Tamil studies Conference in Toronto on Friday, Veteran Tamil Studies Professor, Noburu Karashima, who has been working on Tamil inscriptions for many decades, emphasized the importance of statistical analysis of data to come out with valuable revelations of Tamil History. Presenting a statistical analysis of Chola inscriptions, he demonstrated how hitherto unknown information and perspective could be obtained on village community and challenges to caste system among medieval Tamils. Interestingly, a recent book published by Oxford this year, “South India Under the Cholas,” authored by Professor Y. Subbarayalu, throwing new light on history based on inscriptions was also focussing on statistics and concordance. Karashima, now 79, and Subbarayalu were working together closely for nearly four decades. Fri, 11 May 2012, 23:37 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=35173 New Delhi Establishment’s Leader of the Opposition and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, addressing her party convention in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, and citing TNA leader R. Sampanthan, implied that Tamils in the island don’t ask for independence but only some political parties in Tamil Nadu want it. The same line of thinking came out from the representatives of the ruling Congress led by Sonia Gandhi and the CPI-M as well, who participated in a parliamentary delegation visit to the island that was boycotted by mainstream political parties in Tamil Nadu. Undertaking a six-day tour guided by Colombo and New Delhi’s plenipotentiary in the island, Sushma has no right to give a false impression to the Indian public on the mandated and re-mandated aspiration of Eezham Tamils in the last 35 years inside and outside of the island, responded a veteran Tamil politician in the island. Fri, 11 May 2012, 17:13 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35172 Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, the Catholic Bishop of Mannaar, who boldly voiced for the number of people went unaccounted in the Vanni war, is being harassed by Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) this week under instructions from the genocidal regime, informed sources in Mannaar told TamilNet. The Bishop's House has declined to comment on the situation. However, informed sources say that two Sri Lankan CIDs have been ‘visiting’ the Bishop on Tuesday after the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Mannaar Police had met the Bishop in person, informing him the decision from his superiors in Colombo. The Bishop didn't oppose the move, but civil society representatives said the move was a calculated psychological operation to silence independent civil voices in the North and East, now fully occupied by the SL military run by presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Fri, 11 May 2012, 10:20 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35171 Commemorating the life, thoughts and contributions of ‘Taraki’ Sivaram Dharmeratnam, and inviting diverse views on the same, the Sivaram Memorial Seminar conducted in London on Sunday brought together Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim, British and Tamil Nadu journalists, academics and activists to discuss the intellectual legacy of the late senior editor of TamilNet. Referring to personal interactions with Sivaram, his ideological influences, his life as journalist and activist, his political and strategic analysis, the speakers interacted with the audience that included members of different shades of diaspora organizations, mainstream media and solidarity groups. The tightly packed programme included a closed door screening of award winning film-maker Beate Arnestad’s documentary ‘Silenced Voices’ to the seminar attendees. Fri, 11 May 2012, 02:41 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35170 At least 90 families in Oottuch-cheanai, a village situated 75 km north-west of Batticaloa city, have been displaced and sought asylum in a school following a mini-cyclone that hit Paduvaankarai area in the Koa'ra'laip-pattu South division of Batticaloa district on Monday. The villagers, who have displaced several times since 1990, each time following large-scale military operation by the Sri Lankan military, have been completely neglected throughout the years without proper humanitarian assistance, civil sources in Batticaloa said. International NGOs also face restrictions to visit the area while Colombo government has grabbed around 25 thousand acres of land in Vadamunai and Oottuch-cheanai, handing over the lands to Sinhala home guards. Thu, 10 May 2012, 18:14 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35169 New Delhi parliamentarian and leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a member of ruling UPA alliance, Mr Thirumavalavan, meeting UPA leader Mrs Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday expressed his ‘appreciation’ about New Delhi’s stand on ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ at the UNHRC resolution, and requested her to implement it and pressurise the Sri Lankan government to find a permanent political solution. The moment Thirumavalavan uses the phrase ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ and thrust an identity despised by Eezham Tamils on to them, he perverts righteous political solution, commented Tamil political circles in the island. Rather than urging recognition of rights of the nation, the VCK leader pleading Sonia Gandhi, whose party presided over the genocide of Eezham Tamils, to implement UNHRC resolutions paving way for structural genocide, makes him no different from the Congress and CPI-M, they further said. Thu, 10 May 2012, 17:43 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35168 Saiva temples located along the border of the Batticaloa district are being desecrated and demolished under the guise of archaeological excavation, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian P. Ariyanethran said Wednesday at Thaan-thoan'ri-eesvarar temple situated in Kokkaddich-choalai of Batticaloa district. The parliamentarian blamed Buddhist monks for constructing Buddhist viharas on such sites with the backing of Colombo government and the occupying Sri Lanka Army. Thu, 10 May 2012, 16:48 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35163 Twenty organizations from Canada, which included prominent Muslim scholarly and activists groups, Tamil organizations, and influential Canadian civil society groups, came together to condemn the religious intolerance of the Sinhala-Buddhist government in Sri Lanka, in the wake of the Dambulla mosque attack, drafting a letter to Mahinda Rajapaksa on the issue. "The Canadian Peace Alliance stands against any type of discrimination, whether against the Tamil nation or the Muslim people of Sri Lanka. Any just society must uphold the rights of all people regardless of ethnicity or religion and must pay special attention to protecting the rights of the most vulnerable groups. That is why campaign against the Tamil genocide as well as Islamaphobia in Canada and abroad," Sid Lacombe, coordinatior of the CPA, told TamilNet. Thu, 10 May 2012, 00:40 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35162 Sri Lanka Government Agent in Jaffna, Mrs. Imelda Sugumar has been ordered to hand over her responsibilities in Jaffna and take up an unspecified post at the SL President’s Office in Colombo, news sources in Jaffna said. From the beginning, Imelda’s tenure in Jaffna was blighting the interests of SL minister and EPDP leader Douglas Devananda. She was a pawn in the power struggle between Basil faction and Gotabhaya faction in the Rajapaksa regime, and in a larger sense was manipulated by the contending powers, India and the USA, political observers said. Even though news circles in Jaffna speculate that Devananda and the Colonial governor Chandrasri who seeks sole recognition for him from the visiting foreign dignitaries achieved her transfer, informed circles say that she has been promised with a diplomatic assignment in India. Wed, 09 May 2012, 23:05