Assembling freedom of visiting UN expert put under acid-test in North-East

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Hunger-striking 62-year-old TPP’s health worsens

Thevathasan Kanagasabai, the former Director of the Tamil unit of the ‘National Film Corporation’ whom the judiciary of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka had sentenced to life under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), has been on a dry hunger strike since Monday. The health condition of 62-year-old activist has worsened as he has been fasting without food and water, fellow prisoners said. Unable to afford the expenses to a proper lawyer, Mr Thevathasan was defending himself during the cases. The Tamil political prisoner did not have a chance to prepare evidence on his behalf as he was under detention for several years under the PTA. Now, he has appealed against the verdicts demanding bail, enabling him to prepare for his appeal or released through a political decision. Full story >>

Suppression of Kanniyaa protest, yet another lesson for Tamils: Trinco councillor

The discrimination meted out to the peaceful protesters at Kanniyaa in Trincomalee on Tuesday was yet another lesson for Tamils, says elected Piratheasa Chapai (PS) Councillor Vipooshan Chandirarajah, who was reflecting upon the level of SL injustice he witnessed during the occasion. The way the SL State's security and justice system chose to deal with the rally has exposed the inherent militarised nature of the state apparatus. The system advances the chauvinistic Sinhala-Buddhist agenda as its foremost interest. The deployment of more than five hundred Army and Police personnel with riot control and STF commandos was uncalled for at a peaceful protest, he said. Five busloads of Sinahal goons had been brought into the venue in advance, and how could they be allowed to enter Kanniyaa heritage site while a restriction was in force limiting tourism to the ‘archaeological’ place, he asked. Full story >>

Eezham Tamils set to mobilise against heritage genocide in Kanniyaa, Trincomalee

Following the call from the Saiva priest of Thenkayilai Aadheenam at Kanniyaa, Trincomalee, the grassroots of the Eezham Tamils are mobilising for a unified protest against the heritage genocide at Kanniyaa Hot Wells. Former Chief Minister of Northern Province Justice CV Wigneswaran expressing his solidarity named the joint activity against Tamils at Kanniyaa as an “open act of genocide”. The pattern of the cultural and heritage destruction as well as the landgrab by the various SL Departments has become a widespread phenomenon especially after the Easter Sunday attacks, he said in a statement issued in Tamil on Monday. In the meantime, the District Organiser of the Tamil National People's Front in Trincomalee Dr Ra Shrignaneswaran urged the UN agencies such as the UNICEF and UNESCO as well as the foreign governments that fund the SL State not to back the heritage genocide. Full story >>

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ITAK's failure brings Sinhala extremists to Jaffna's entrance with challenging ceremony

The occupying Sinhala military in Jaffna has hurriedly organised a ceremony, Puṇya Mahōtsavaya, at the controversially erected Buddhist ‘Sammidhi Sumana’ Vihara at the entrance to Jaffna city at Naavat-kuzhi in Jaffna on Saturday evening. The construction of the stupa is yet to complete. However, the SL military has announced the move to coincide with the first-year Kumbhabhishekham of the nearby Tamil Saiva temple of Siva-thedcha'naa-moorththi, which has been constructed by a Tamil Saivist organisation in Jaffna. The latest ‘confrontation’ has come as the elected civic council (Piratheasa-chapai) with a majority of ITAK (TNA) members was tricked into withdrawing its legal objection to the construction of the Vihara by the SL Minister of Megapolis & Western Development, ‘Patali’ Champika Ranawaka, a well exposed extremist of the militant section of the Sinhala Buddhist establishment. Full story >>

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SL Archaeology Department resumes disputed ‘chaitya’ project in Kanniyaa

Openly violating the promise extended to Mano Ganesan, the SL Minister of Hindu Religious Affairs and National Integration on 10th June 2019, the occupying Colombo's Archaeology Department has resumed the controversial dismantling of the base construction of the old Saiva temple of Pi'l'laiyaar at the heritage site of Eezham Tamils in Kanniyaa, Trincomalee three days ago. The SL Archaelogy officers engaged in the dismantling claimed that SL Minister Mano Ganesan had agreed to such reconstruction when the Saiva Priest of Then-Kayilai Aatheenam, Thavath-Thiru Akaththiyar Adika'laar, visited the disputed site on Thursday. The officials were violating the promise extended by themselves and the monks that they would not proceed with the disputed dismantling/construction work at the site. Full story >>


2ND LEAD (Update)

Occupying Colombo's justice system ridicules Tamil mother fighting to get her lands released

TNA parliamentarians-cum-lawyers such as President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran have failed politically and legally to challenge the SL Defence Ministry deploying the argument of ‘national security’ as a pretext to seize the lands of Tamil landowners. The SL Court of Appeal (CoA) in Colombo, delivering a recent determination has gone to the extent of claiming that “these are matters in relation to National Security, which need not and should not be discussed and probed openly”. The Sinhala judge, Mahinda Samayawardhena, was also ridiculing the petitioner, 71-year-old Tamil mother of seven Mrs Maheswary Thambirajah by stating that “[p]lanting coconuts cannot be more important than national security.” The 54 acres of lands in question at Aasaip-pi'l'lai-eattam in Ezhuthu-madduvaa'l in Thenmaraadchi Jaffna is the locality where the occupying SL Army's 52 Division Headquarters is situated. Full story >>

Photos from Tamil feast of uprising in Vanni

Hundreds of Eezham Tamils from all walks of life got together on Saturday to mark a Pongkal feast at the small temple for Neeraaviyadi Pi'l'laiyar at Naayaa'ru in Mullaith-theevu. The locality is exposed to Sinhala Buddhicisation, erection of controversial Buddha statue and other associated structures while the SL State-run ‘Archaeology’ department backing the militant sections of Sinhala Theravada Buddhists. The occupying Sinhala Army stationed at the locality has been grooming the monk who wants to transform the entire area into a Sinhala Buddhist enclave. The marking of the temple feast on Saturday evolved as a manifestation of Pongku-Thamizh resistance.

SL military, Sinhala monk exploit poverty among Tamils in East for religious conversion

A Sinhala Buddhist monk, Ven Katugastota Mahindalankara thero, stationed at Mayilang-karaichchi village in Vaazhaich-cheanai, 31 km north of Batticaloa city, has been operating a Theravada Buddhist Dhamma School targeting conversion of poverty-stricken Tamil children into Buddhism since 2014. The Sunday school, named ‘Mahindalangkara Dhamma School’ is functioning at the Buddhist temple called Sri Bodhirajaramaya (also named Sri Mahindarama Viharaya). The monk has also arranged a Sinhala lady teacher, L Sisiliya, to teach Sinhala language to the Tamil children in Mayilang-karaichchi for some years. For the last one month she is also teaching Sinhala at her residence, Tamil rural society activists told TamilNet adding that the Sinhala Buddhist vihara establishment was systematically attracting the poverty-stricken Tamil children at a village where all other facilities remained neglected. Full story >>

Fishing by intruding colonists hampers livelihood of Tamils in Batticaloa North

Sinhala colonists from the Trincomalee district are intruding into the territorial waters of Eezham Tamils in Vaakarai located to the north of Batticaloa (Koara'laip-pattu North division). The occupying Sinhala navy and the SL fisheries authorities are backing the illegal deployment of purse seines by the Sinhala fishermen. In the meantime, the SL military is harassing the Tamil fishers who engage in fishing using legally allowed methods, the Head of Vaakarai Fishers Society T. Baskaran told TamilNet. The SL military is also backing the former TMVP paramilitary (Pi'l'laiyaan faction) personnel to engage in the exploitative fishing activities, he further said. Full story >>

SL military in Jaffna hurriedly constructs Buddhist vihara in ‘HSZ’ lands in KKS

The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka is silently and hurriedly erecting a Buddhist vihara at Thaiyiddi in Kaangkeasan-thu'rai (KKS) in Jaffna. The construction is taking place inside the military-held former High-Security Zone area which has not been released back to the people. Tamil civic member Shageevan Shanmugalingam from Valikaamam North (Thellip-pazhai) Divisional Council told TamilNet on Monday that he was turned back by the SL military when he went there to see the construction. In the meantime, journalists have managed to photograph the structure from a distance, exposing the project. New Delhi talking about the ‘development’ of the KKS port and upgrading the Palaali airport without ensuring de-militarisation, is paving the way for socio-economic and cultural Sinhalicisation of the coastal stretch of Eezham Tamils in Valikaamam North, Tamil activists in Jaffna said. Full story >>

Colombo wants to legally militarise lands attached to ‘JOSSOP’ base in Vavuniyaa

The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka wants to permanently seize a large tract of land surrounding the notorious ‘JOSSOP’ camp in Vavuniyaa, which the SL military deployed as a torture chamber during the times of war. Although the official claim was about 16 acres of lands, the move aims to convert at least 250 acres of lands including higher-lying lands that belonged to 14 families. The unitary state mechanism is silently working to legally transfer these lands to the SL military at the absence of mobilised opposition by the uprooted and war-affected people, Tamil civil sources at Vavuniyaa District Secretariat said. The travellers to Vavuniyaa could see the extent of the military cantonment for almost one kilometre along the A9 highway, 2 km south of Vavuniyaa. Full story >>

Anti-Muslim harassment escalates in Mannaar

The occupying Sinhala Navy and Army along with the SL Police are harassing the Tamil-speaking Muslims in two hotspots in Mannaar district as never before, and the trend is worsening every day without anyone to voice for the rights of the affected innocent people. The predominantly Sinhala soldiers, particularly the SL Navy personnel at Thaaraa-puram in Mannaar island and those stationed in the mainland in Musali division, are humiliating the residents of more than 20 colonies. These settlements were put up by the controversial politician, Rishard Bathiudeen, who was serving the successive regimes in Colombo while creating a voter base for himself with the funding he facilitated from the Arabic world. The former SL Minister's opportunistic political behaviour has not only backfired against him but also against the Muslim residents of Thaaraa-Puram, which is his native village in Mannaar. Full story >>

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PTA claimed life of upcountry Tamil political prisoner: Fr Shaktivel

It was the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) that ultimately claimed the life of 62-year-old Muththaiah Sagadevan, who was severely affected by various diseases during his 14 years of detention. He passed away at the National Hospital in Colombo under the prolonged PTA-custody on 22 June, said Rev Fr M Shaktivel, the co-chairperson of the Action Committee to Free Tamil Political Prisoners. The TID detained Sagadevan in 2005. It took three years to file a case against him in 2008. But, the baseless PTA case was being dragged on for so long destroying his psychological and physical health. The misery has been caused by the new regime which has failed to recognise the PTA detainees of the LTTE times as political prisoners, Fr Shakthivel said. The international community was also calling for the scrapping of the PTA, he noted. Full story >>