Abducted university student released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 15:29 GMT]
Jaffna University Siddha Medicine student, Vetharaniyam Latheesh, who was feared abducted by the occupying Sri Lanka’s military on the Heroes Day evening, Sunday, at Thirunelveali in Jaffna, was released on Monday evening after being taken to a notorious military intelligence outfit directly operated by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in Vavuniyaa. The release of Latheesh became possible as some Western embassies in Colombo showed interest in his case, news sources in the island said. Jaffna University students, who were harassed by the SL military after a torch was lit atop the university hostel on the Heroes Day, felt relieved and optimistic at the gesture of the international community, university circles said.
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Malaysian Tamils remember Eezham Tamil heroes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 06:23 GMT]
In an emotionally charged gathering organized by Chem-paruththi (Hibiscus flower) Movement and World Tamil Relief Fund in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday evening, Malaysian Tamils observed the Heroes Day, paying tribute to the Eezham Tamil heroes laid down their lives in the struggle for independence as well as remembering more than a hundreds thousand Tamil civilians deliberately killed in the war.
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Batticaloa observed Heroes Day, defying SL military orders

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 06:19 GMT]
The public expression in Batticaloa has come out stronger than any other areas of Tamil homeland. A special feature this year, unlike the last two years, was that the people of Batticaloa marked the birthday of the LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan with cakes and sweets on Saturday and on the following day staged public events where people gathered to pay homage to Tamil Heroes. Officers of the occupying SL military went in person to instruct the priests and management committee members of the Hindu temples in the district not to conduct poojas on 27 November, Sunday. Yet, torches were lit and bells were tolled in many temples in the rural areas, where families observed the day with lighting traditional lamps in remembrance of their loved ones who had sacrificed their lives in the war against the Sri Lankan state.
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Colombo plans to annex Tamil border villages in Batticaloa with Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 November 2011, 20:21 GMT]
Colombo government has been planning to Sinhalicise about fifteen to twenty thousand acres of lands located along the border Tamil villages in the Batticaloa district from the administration of Batticaloa district to Ampaa'rai district secretariat, according to local district officials in Batticaloa. As a first step in the plan, six villages with vast natural resources in the Kachchai-kodith-theevu GN division in Paddippazhai DS division of Batticaloa district are to be annexed with the Ampaa'rai district. During the last two years, 108 Sinhalese families have encroached lands that belong to 114 Tamil families in Kevu'liyamadu, one of the villages to be transferred to Ampaa'rai, in the latest move of demographic genocide on the country of Eezham Tamils.
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Record turnout as Canada Heroes Day event asserts sovereignty

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 November 2011, 12:07 GMT]
More than 70,000 Canadian Tamils paid homage to heroes at the Toronto Heroes Day event organized by the Canadian Tamil Remembrance Organization (CTRO) Sunday. Conducted in four sessions in a make-shift venue, emotions were high and messages were clear. Despite threats of manufactured divisions towards the event, organizers came under the banner of CTRO for the importance of a strong display of unity. The event was marked with heart-touching cultural programmes reflecting on national unity amongst Eezham Tamils, highlighting successes and rejecting strategies of division in moving forward.
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Questions for Sri Lankan Ambassador of Australia: Dr. Senewiratne

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 November 2011, 11:21 GMT]
If the war is over and the Tamil people have been ‘liberated’ from the ‘terrorists’ and ‘rehabilitated’, then why does the Sri Lankan government still not allow access to international groups in Tamil areas, asks Brian Senewiratne in a hard-hitting series of questions to Sri Lankan High Comissioner to Australia. Dr. Senewiratne, a renowned physician and an Australia based Sinhala expatriate, produced posers to ex-Admiral Thissara Samarasinghe using evidence from the UN report, Channel 4 video and other sources. The ex-Admiral, incidentally, is also alleged of war crimes and there have been calls in Australia to investigate his role in the genocide of the Eelam Tamils.
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University student missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 November 2011, 09:23 GMT]
A student of the University of Jaffna, 27-year-old Vetharaniyam Latheesh, was missing after he left the gents hostel (Balasingham Hostel) of the University of Jaffna in Thirunelveali by 6:45 pm, Sunday evening. The student, studying at the Siddha Medicine department of the university located at Kaithadi, and used to stay in the hostel there, had come to the university hostel in Thirunelveali to meet a friend. University circles fear that the SL Army that was deployed in large numbers around the university campus on Sunday might have abducted him. A relative of Latheesh, who made a mobile call to him and got connected, heard his abductors talking in Sinhala and beating him, asking “kawuda” (who). The University Students Union has confirmed the abduction of Latheesh.
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Anuradhapura Tamil prisoners receive attack as ‘Heroes Day present’

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 November 2011, 06:19 GMT]
A group of Sinhala prison officials who entered the Anuradhapura prison on Sunday asked Tamil political prisoners in remand, numbering around 65, to come out as they wanted to give ‘presents’ for them on the Heroes Day. Realising the sarcasm, when the prisoners refused to come out, they were forcibly brought out to an open ground where they were made naked and were severely beaten up by the prison guards. Five of them who were seriously injured are admitted in the Anuradhapura hospital. Even though there were many others too who got injured, they were not taken to hospital. The Tamil political prisoners were recently arrested from the Vanni districts and they are kept at Anuradhapura without any cases being filed.
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Heroes Day Torch was lit in University of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 November 2011, 14:44 GMT]
Amidst partnership suppression of Sri Lanka and India against Tamils remembering the heroes who laid down their lives for the cause of Tamil Eelam, the customary Heroes Day Torch was lit in the University of Jaffna this time, exactly at 6:05 PM on Sunday. Unidentified people went to the top terrace of the five-storeyed students hostel of the university and lit the torch, the beams of which were seen in a wide area in the Jaffna city. Most people in Jaffna were seen serenely observing the day in their houses. The scenario very much resembled the ways how the day was observed by the people during the oppressive and terrorising times of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in the late 1980s, remembered the older generation.
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UK Tamil businesses mark Remembrance Day

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 November 2011, 09:21 GMT]
Several Tamil-owned businesses across London have decorated their premises in red and yellow - the national colours of Tamil Eelam - in the run up to Remembrance Day on Sunday. Red and yellow bunting has been hung up across store fronts and on streets on which Tamil businesses are concentrated in several areas including Tooting, Harrow, Croydon and Eastham.
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SL Police ‘fixes’ Moothoor murder crime on Tamil Veddahs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 November 2011, 15:05 GMT]
Two Tamil males with Veddah background were arrested by the Sri Lankan Police in Champoor Friday evening allegedly for the crime of killing the teacher Miss Kurukulasingham Srivathanion on Thursday. The SL police has allegedly ‘fixed’ the crime, which took place within 200 meters from a Sri Lanka Army post and between two SLA camps while the Tamil teacher was on her way to Paaddaa'lipuram government school from Kaddaipa'richchaan.
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Criminal accused Iniyapaarathi conferred with 'Pride of the Nation' award in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 November 2011, 13:53 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka led by President Mahinda Rajapakse has conferred the national award “Desamanya” (country's pride or venerable by the country) to Iniyapaarathi, who is accused by the public for playing a key role in the abductions and disappearances of several people in Poththuvil, Akkaraippattu, Thirukkoayil and Vinaayakapuram in the Ampaa'rai district of Eastern Province and who has been accused of war crimes by the United Nations rights bodies for forced arms training to children. Iniyapaarathi is a lead operative of the paramilitary group led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan alias Karuna who currently holds a Deputy Minister post in the Rajapakse government. Iniyapaarathi is at present the Ampaa'rai District Coordinator for SL President Rajapaksa.
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Ceylon Teachers Union condemns Tamil teacher killing in Moothoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 November 2011, 18:57 GMT]
The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) Friday demanded that culprits behind the brutal murder of a young Tamil teacher Miss Kurukulasingham Srivathani should be arrested without delay and be brought before court of law and to ensure the security of the teaching community.
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Moothoor villagers demand their security ensured after teacher murder

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 November 2011, 16:27 GMT]
Students, teachers, education officials and members of public in large numbers went in a procession Friday morning from Cheanaiyoor Central College to Champoor Police Station in the Moothoor East in Trincomalee district demanding that the culprits behind the brutal killing of a young unmarried Tamil teacher Miss Kurukulasingham Srivathani that took place on Thursday should be arrested. Srivathani left home Wednesday as usual in her scooter to Paaddaa'li-puram Government Tamil Mixed School in the Moothoor education zone, about seven km away from her place Cheanaiyoor-Kaddaipa'richchaan, which is located between two Sri Lanka Army camps, one at Paaddaa'li-puram and the other at Chanthosa-puram. Moothoor East, previously a part of the de facto Tamil Eelam administration by the LTTE is now fully occupied by the SL military.
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Sri Lanka’s war against Tamil heroes continues for the third year

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 November 2011, 08:58 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka occupying the country of Eezham Tamils continued for the third year in militarily preventing people observing the Heroes Day week ending on Sunday. SL military’s paranoia or arrogance of oppression has gone to the extent of ordering temples not to toll bells or light lamps during the week. Military is also placed near some temples to watch for any breaches. With the cemeteries of the heroes erased down, temples became the solace for parents and relatives paying annual homage to the fallen heroes. Sanctions on temples too started in 2009, coinciding with Indian foreign minister choosing the day to visit Jaffna. In a latest development on Friday, hundreds of SL police personnel have entered into the University of Jaffna to prevent any observation of the week by students. On Thursday some masked men entered the university and destroyed students union noticeboards.
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Students, academics bid farewell to A C Nadarajah

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 November 2011, 08:39 GMT]
Around one thousands people, most of them students and teachers, gathered Thursday to pay their last respects to social activist, educationalist and journalist A C Nadarajah (A S Nadarajah), who passed away at the age of 70 at Urumpiraay in Jaffna. Mr. Nadarajah was the president of Displaced Peoples Association of Valikaamam North and former manager of Jaffna Thinakkural. Through his writings he pioneered an independent initiative which instituted social institutions to help the uprooted people of Vanni.
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Senators urge US to take lead role in Sri Lanka investigations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 November 2011, 15:09 GMT]
In a letter to United States Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, three senior Senators have called for "United States to openly take the lead in pressing for an independent international commission, either by the UN Human Rights Council or under the [UN's] Secretary General's own authority," if Sri Lanka fails to take "credible steps to investigate and hold perpetrators accountable for the array of allegations documented in the UN Panel of Experts report." Senators also expressed concern that "since the end of the war the [Sri Lanka] military has supplanted or interferes in civil administration in the North, and that more than thousand detainees with suspected LTTE links, names withheld, reportedly remain without charge, without access to Red Cross or family."
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Young female Tamil teacher killed in Moothoor East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 November 2011, 12:51 GMT]
The body of a Tamil teacher aged 25 with cut injuries on her head was discovered from a shrub in Moothoor east Thursday morning by the Moothoor Police on a tip off from members of public. She had been a teacher at Paaddaa'li-puram Government Tamil Mixed School. Moothoor East area is now under the full control of the Sri Lanka Army and Moothoor Police since the end of the war.
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Male body found near STF camp in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 November 2011, 06:12 GMT]
A highly decomposed body of a male from the sea coast of Puthukkudiyiruppu, about 10 km away from Batticaloa city, has been located Wednesday close to the camp of SL elite commando forces, the Special Task Force, in Kaaththaankudi police division.
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Judge Kotelly to decide Rajapakse's legal fate in US

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 November 2011, 04:16 GMT]
Lead counsel for the three Tamil plaintiffs, who have charged Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse of war-crimes in the District Court of District of Columbia, filed a memorandum Tuesday requesting Judge Kollar-Kotelly to validate the service of process based on the publication of the summons and complaint in TamilNet as ordered by the Judge in her October 13th ruling. The plaintiffs also have submitted to the Court affidavits and supporting documentation which establish that attempts at publication in Colombo media were not successful due to Rajapakse's "brutally effective" efforts to silence critical media through "politically motivated deaths, attacks, and disappearances," and have requested for a waiver from local publication as "compliance has been frustrated by Defendant’s alarming attack on freedom of the press."
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Treaties provide absolute immunity against civil suits, Silva asserts

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 November 2011, 04:10 GMT]
Shavendra Silva, currently Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations charged with torture and execution of Sri Lanka's Tamils by two plaintiffs, filed a motion in the District Court of Southern District of New York Friday seeking to dismiss the case against him. Defendant Silva's motion asserts that arguments by plaintiffs reveal "a misconception of nature of immunity," disregard terms of treaties that Silva claims provide "absolute immunity," and ignore federal case law. Judge Paul Oetken is expected to rule on the case based on the legal arguments presented and his judicial discretion, either to allow the case to go forward or to dismiss the case, with or without a hearing on the motion, legal sources in Washington said.
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SL Police launches re-registration of Tamil residents in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 November 2011, 00:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police has launched re-registration of persons in Colombo district under Section 76 of the Police ordinance. Civil sources said SL police personnel are distributing forms to houses where Tamil families reside. However, the SL Police media spokesman Ajith Rohana told media persons when queried that all three communities have been asked to fill such forms for re-registration.
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Rajapakse's media fears spread from TamilNet to Sinhala opponents

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 November 2011, 19:21 GMT]
"The ban on TamilNet is the first instance of what the Free Media Movement believes may soon be a slippery slope of web and internet censorship in Sri Lanka," BBC reported on 20th June 2007 when local reports indicated that access to TamilNet was blocked by unannounced directives to service providers from officials in Colombo. Four years later, Colombo, increasingly alarmed by proliferation of opposing views to the authoritarian trend of the governing Rajapakse family, has banned access to five websites, and initiated new registration procedures for local and foreign websites that intend to carry news on Sri Lanka, local reports said. The ban on TamilNet has continued for the last 4+ years without any protest from the local rights watchdogs, and Sri Lanka has been noted by media watchdogs as one of the worst offenders of media freedom.
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Canadian students show solidarity with Tamil cause

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 November 2011, 03:01 GMT]
The York Federation of Students, the students’ union at York University representing over 50,000 students, unanimously adopted a resolution last week recognizing the ongoing structural genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation and the need to stand in solidarity with the Tamil people in their global struggle for self-determination. The success of enacting such resolutions has been credited to campaigns by Tamil students in educating and explaining the narrative of the Tamil struggle to their peers and allies, student activists said. The move is considered to be a reflection of the broader strategy to resist the discourse that aims to create a climate of fear, criminalization and alienation of Tamil community activism. Such efforts increasingly create a culture of acceptance to the Tamil nationhood and to its national symbols, student activists further said.
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Administration of 7 Tamil villages to be brought under Muslim dominated Ea'raavoor UC

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 November 2011, 22:54 GMT]
Colombo government has recently given instructions to Ea'raavoor Urban Council chairman Ali Zahir Mowlana to bring 7 Tamil villages under his administration using the Urban Council, informed sources told reporters in Batticaloa. The villages Aa'rumukaththaan-kudiyiruppu, Tha'lavaay, Chavukkadi, Mayilampaave'li and wards No 1, 4 and 5 in the Ea'raavoor under the Ea'raavoor Chengkaladi Piratheasa Chapai (PS) division are to be brought under the civil administration of Era’voor UC, which is predominantly inhabited by Muslims. Mr. Ali Zahir Mowlana is taking steps to settle Muslim families in the lands belong to Tamil people in these villages, creating division among the Tamil speaking people of the district, civil sources in Ea'raavoor said.
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Fonseka verdict signals trend to come out of LLRC

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 November 2011, 16:51 GMT]
Colombo High Court Bench on Friday convicted Sri Lanka’s former military commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka to three years rigorous imprisonment for him alleging that the SL President’s brother and defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had ordered the execution of surrendering LTTE officials in the white flag incident. Fonseka was found guilty of “spreading rumours and causing public disorder.” His rigorous imprisonment may mean that he should perform manual labour in prison. Fonseka’s conviction signals what directions the LLRC findings and following actions might take, commented political observers in Colombo. “This conviction happens under a dictatorship,” Fonseka told the court rejecting the verdict. "People will rise against this judgement and only then will the independence of the judiciary be restored," he added.
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957 uprooted Tamil families in Ampaa'rai district still remain in shelters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 November 2011, 15:47 GMT]
Contrary to the claims by Colombo government and its paramilitary run subservient Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) that all uprooted Tamils have been resettled in Ampaa'rai district, 957 uprooted families from four Tamil villages in Thirukkoayil DS division of Ampaa'rai district in the East still remain in shelters amid claims, according to Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian Mr.C.Yogeswaran. The MP visited the four villages, , Thangkavealaayutha-puram, Kagnchikudichchaa'ru, Kaagnchirangkudaa and Chaakaamam, last weekend to collect information about the Tamil families that have been struggling without resettlement.
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London Consular Corps elect Sri Lankan to its committee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 02:01 GMT]
Consular Corps of London, an association networking consular officers of the diplomatic missions based in London has for the first time elected a Sri Lankan consular official to its committee, at a time when the genocidal state of Sri Lanka wages a bitter war with the Eezham Tamil diaspora. The official elected was Mr. Chaminda Kularatne, Minister Counsellor for consular affairs and immigration in the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, according to Colombo media. Kularatne was earlier Senior Asst. Secretary to SL President. Consular affairs (passport-visa matters) are an effective weapon used against Eezham Tamils by Colombo.
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Teacher transfers in Eastern Province politicized

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 November 2011, 22:56 GMT]
Teacher transfers in the eastern province are being carried out as dictated by ruling party politicians despite assurance by the Provincial Ministry of Education Secretary that transfers would be made through national transfer boards in which teacher trade union representatives are also included, according to the General Secretary of the All Ceylon Teachers Union (ACTU) Mr. Joseph Stalin. In Batticaloa district alone more than 150 teachers have received transfer orders.
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US presses Sri Lanka on accountability, human rights and reconciliation with Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 November 2011, 18:42 GMT]
Speaking at the Sri Lankan defence ministry’s much vaunted conference on maritime security, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asian Affairs Robert M. Scher reiterated his government’s demands on that the Sri Lankan state improve its human rights record, ensure accountability for mass atrocities in the final months of the war and “take concrete steps” towards reconciliation with the Tamils.
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LLRC accused of disclosing list of Tamil witnesses to CID

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 November 2011, 15:26 GMT]
Tamil witnessess who gave evidence at the sittings of the Sri Lanka’s Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and whose evidence was taken under the oath of secrecy have now been singled out for interrogation by the Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, sources in Colombo said. The LLRC, in contravention to the agreement with the witnesses, has allegedly disclosed the witness details to law enforcement authorities, placing lives of witnesses in danger, as revealed by the summons issued by the CID to 45-year old Ratnam Poongoothai, to appear before the CID in Colombo, legal sources said.
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University students in Jaffna still face death threat from SLA intelligence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 November 2011, 18:57 GMT]
Representatives of the Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) are continuously being threatened with death and intimidation by the Sri Lanka Army intelligence operatives. Some members of the JUSU on Tuesday narrowly escaped from the hands of the SLA intelligence division personnel when they were returning from Puththoor in Ki'linochchi district after making arrangements for holding free special classes for G.C.E.O/L students of Vanni who are to sit for the forthcoming examinations scheduled to commence in the first week of December.
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Colombo fails bid to host 2018 Commonwealth games

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 November 2011, 00:59 GMT]
Gold Coast, located in the eastern shores of Southern Queensland, Australia, a popular tourist destination, leveraging its experience in hosting large-scale sporting events and the well-developed infrastructure facilities, beat Sri Lanka to host the 2018 Commonwealth games Friday. Colombo furiously pursuing its goal of erasing memory of the massacre of 40,000 Tamil civilians in 2009, went after the bid to transform Sri Lankan President's home electorate, Hambantota, as a "sports city," but was voted down 27 to 43 by the voting members of the Commonwealth, according to reports.
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Sri Lanka massacre, 5 times Srebrenica, 80 times My Lai, says German paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 November 2011, 11:55 GMT]
Referring to the Channel-4 documentary Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, journalists, Dirk Maxeiner and Michael Miersch, in an opinion column that appeared in German newspaper Die Welt said that the massacre of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka by the State military is five times the killings from Srebrenica genocide, and 80 times the numbers killed in the Mai Lai massacre. "Colombo successfully covered up the killings by sending away the UN observers on the grounds that the State will not be able to ensure their safety, and then began the mass murder," Die Welt said on 03 November.
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Tamil man from Batticaloa reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 November 2011, 09:40 GMT]
32-year-old Tamil man Rasalingam Sangarapillai, resident of Periyapoa'ratheevu village in Batticaloa district has been reported missing since he left on October 5 this year with fifteen sovereign of gold from a jewellery shop in Panadura to Fort in Colombo, according to complaints by his relatives with the police in Colombo and Ka'luvaagnchik-kudi.
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SL Appeal Court suspends land re-registration till Jan 19

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 November 2011, 08:00 GMT]
The operation of the controversial notice issued by the Sri Lanka’s Commissioner General of Lands instructing the owners of lands in the North and East provinces to r-register their lands under the Land Title Registration Scheme was suspended from Wednesday till January 19, 2012 due to the stay order by the Court of Appeal. According to the notice issued by the Commissioner General of Lands land owners in the two provinces should hand their application for re-registration of lands between September 20 and November 20 this year.
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Shavendra not entitled to immunity, argue attorneys for Tamil plaintiffs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2011, 11:56 GMT]
Attorneys for two Tamil plaintiffs Tuesday filed a formal response to Sri Lankan ex-Major General Shavendra Silva’s motion to dismiss the war crimes lawsuit against him in the Southern District of New York, and international human rights groups united to urge the United Nations to suspend the credentials of Silva, who is Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Silva is facing allegations in federal court for war crimes including torture, extrajudicial killing and the intentional shelling of civilians during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict.
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TNA loses the best opportunity to be forthright: Tamil Nadu reader

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2011, 05:50 GMT]
“You are leaving us confused back here in Tamil Nadu,” especially when we “do not see India doing the right thing in Sri Lanka,” says a TamilNet reader in Chennai in sending a feedback responding to TNA leader Sampanthan’s current political stand. “The best opportunity to be forthright was lost by him,” the reader said in the feedback Tuesday. “An unclear goal and actions will not lead anyone anywhere. The kind of statements that Mr Sampanthan makes is making it difficult even for supporters of Eelam in Tamil Nadu to take a stand. No matter what you do, i.e., even if you act to please the power, New Delhi does not care. It is better to catch it by its collar and put it to shame. The result will only be the same. It would be in our best interest to look after our interests ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to look after us, the reader further said.
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Declassified papers speak of Indo-US rivalry in South Asia

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 November 2011, 07:09 GMT]
The US Marines were prepared to attack Indian military during Bangladesh war in 1971. The US continued to supply weapons to Pakistan contrary to policies said outside. The US delayed passing Pakistan’s surrender announcement to India by 19 hours and diplomats suspected the delay was because Washington was possibly contemplating military action against India, said a feature based on freshly declassified top secret papers appeared in The Times of India, Sunday. There are worse ‘top secrets’ about India-US equation conducting a genocidal war without witness for the first time in South Asia, making around 140,000 Eezham Tamils to go unaccounted. It may take another 40 years for the ‘ultimate responsibility’ acknowledged. But the worst of the crime, in contrast to Bangladesh, is the equation’s continued denial of independence to Eezham Tamils, commented a political observer in Jaffna.
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Thamizhar Changkamam draws sold-out crowd, celebrates Tamil culture

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 November 2011, 11:22 GMT]
The Ilankai Tamil Sangam, USA hosted a Thamizhar Changkamam (Confluence of Tamils) during its 34th Annual General Meeting in New Jersey and drew a sold-out crowd of Tamils. Visiting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs, Mr. Mavai Senathirajah and Mr. Suresh Premachandran addressed the event and noted the problems facing the Tamils in resettling in their original homes, resuming normal life and having their voices heard since the end of the war. Naam Tamilar Seeman, who was scheduled to attend the event from Tamil Nadu, was not allowed enter the country by the US border agency. In the meantime, Congressman of New Jersey, Rush Holt, who is well informed of the plight of Eelam Tamils, made an impromptu visit to the event. He was honored with pon-aadai (a Tamil custom) for his service to the Tamil community.
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Media opinion urges Philippines to follow genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 November 2011, 12:15 GMT]
Philippines should follow Sri Lanka’s model in getting Chinese assistance and annihilate the Moro National Liberation Front (MILF) fighting for the nation of Muslims in Philippines, urges an Outlook column appeared in Philippine Daily Inquirer, Thursday. A similar outlook in Burma’s military government against the Karen nationalists has been pointed out in many media reports after the genocidal war against the nation of Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. The US and India, by setting the stage, by finishing a national war to genocidal end and by continue sitting on political and criminal justice, have inspired a host of rogue States to follow the genocidal path, but ironically the ill-gotten gains of the ‘inspiration’ goes to China, commented a political science academic in the Tamil diaspora.
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Sinhalese forcibly take over paddy lands of Tamils in Thennaimaravadi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 November 2011, 03:38 GMT]
Some resettled Tamil farmers in Thennaimaravadi village were taken aback in the weekend to see their paddy lands they prepared for sowing for the forthcoming Maha cultivation had been sown by Sinhalese encroachers at the instance of the Sri Lanka Army stationed in the area. They fear this is a part of a covert plan by Colombo government to forcibly take over paddy lands in the traditional Tamil village Thennaimaravadi, located at the narrow boundary between Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee districts that links the Northern and Eastern territories of the country of Eezham Tamils.
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11 Tibetans commit self-immolation protesting Chinese occupation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 November 2011, 00:20 GMT]
With a 35-year-old Tibetan Buddhist nun immolating herself in Eastern Tibet on Thursday, the number of Tibetans committing self-immolation protesting China’s genocidal occupation of Tibet rises to 11 in the recent months. The escalation in self-immolation is a result of China intensifying martial law rule in occupied Tibet. The Tibetan diaspora in India, Nepal and elsewhere paid homage to the martyrs, but even a peaceful prayer gathering of around 400 Tibetans including 150 monks in Kathmandu was interrupted by Nepalese riot police that pulled down a banner of Dalai Lama, angering the Tibetan diaspora. Nepal says it cannot allow protests against ‘friendly’ nations such as China. Peoples of South Asia, especially Tamils have to show full solidarity to Tibetans oppressed by the Establishments, Buddhist circles in Tamil Nadu said.
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Obama’s GSP benefit to genocidal Sri Lanka effective from Saturday

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 November 2011, 20:42 GMT]
Two weeks back the US President reauthorized GSP trade benefits to Sri Lanka that will come to effect from 5 November 2011. The reauthorisation provides even retroactive benefits from 1 January 2011 so that genocidal Sri Lanka will not suffer any loses by the gap in the absence of GSP benefits this year. Last year, Sri Lanka enjoyed the benefit of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for 147 million dollars worth of goods. The US patronage is assured at a time when the diaspora Eezham Tamils in the US campaign to boycott products from genocidal Sri Lanka and the Tamils of Tamil Nadu have passed a unanimous resolution in their State assembly for war crimes investigations and economic sanctions against Sri Lanka. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha after the Assembly passed the resolution.
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US Congressman’s ‘Sri Lanka interest’ surpasses care for own constituency

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 November 2011, 20:13 GMT]
US Congressman of the Democratic Party, Heath Shuler, ‘sacrificed’ the interests of his own constituency in order to visit Sri Lanka last month and give a clean chit to the genocidal regime of Rajapaksa. He was absent at his own city Asheville in North Carolina, when Obama visited the city on October 17. He stands for re-election in the constituency next year. This was Shuler’s second visit to Sri Lanka since the end of war in 2009 and both his visits were paid by the Colombo regime. According to the US media reports, Shuler believes that the US could learn a lot from the diligence and triumph of Sri Lanka and he was cited saying “Sri Lanka is a long-time ally of ours and is accomplishing some incredible things right now.” Shuler, a businessman by profession, finds progress “tremendous” in the island. “I didn’t see any current evidence of human rights issues,” Shuler has told media.
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Karadiayanaa'ru farmers ignored in agricultural development

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 November 2011, 15:41 GMT]
The destroyed Karadiayanaa'ru Agrarian Services Centre that caters to the needs of farmers in twenty six agricultural tracts in Batticaloa district has not been repaired and has not been used for the last one year. This centre was completely destroyed in a blast that took place on 26.08.2010 in Karadiayanaa'ru Police Station located in Ea'raavoor-pattu in Chengkaladi DS division of Batticaloa district.
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Reconstructed Thanthai Chelva statue re-opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 November 2011, 13:58 GMT]
The decapitated Thanthai Chelvanayakam statue was re-erected in the memorial located in Trincomalee city and opened for public from Tuesday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. The decapitated head of Chelva was reconstructed before being re-erected, according to the Chairman of the Trincomalee Urban Council K.Selvarajah. Mr.Selvarajah, and UC Vice Chairman S.Sriskandarajah garlanded the statue first and others were allowed to pay their respects.
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Indian military tourists visit Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 November 2011, 16:24 GMT]
A 16-member delegation of the Indian military, led by Air Commodore P R Navalkar visited Vanni this week as part of its six-day tour programme in the island. The delegation toured around a number of places of “archaeological, religious, cultural and tourist interest” in the war-torn Vanni, apart from visiting SL military and ‘resettlement’ installations in the region, a PTI report said Wednesday. The Indian military has ‘Army to Army’ relationship, a special bondage, with the genocidal military of Sri Lanka. India’s refusal to acknowledge genocide and war crimes in the island, and the vanguard protection it volunteers to Sri Lanka in the international arena in shielding the latter’s war crimes are widely interpreted as India’s indirect admission of complicity or even a main role in the conduct of genocide and war crimes against Eezham Tamils in the island.
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Tamil families uprooted 20 years ago not resettled in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 November 2011, 10:46 GMT]
Even though the war ended three years ago in the East, houses and lands belonging to Tamils in Ward Four of Era’voor village in the Era’voorpaththu-Chengkaladi DS division are still under the control of the occupying Sri Lankan forces in the name of High Security Zone. The villagers displaced twenty one years ago in the year 1990. The roads that lead to Tamil settlements located 16 km off Batticaloa city along Batticaloa-Vaalaichchenai highway still remain blocked. SL Resettlement Ministry Secretary A.M.U.D. Basanayake has said that he was in dark regarding the resettlement of uprooted Ea'raavoor Tamil families.
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Shavendra raises immunity defense to escape torture charges

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 November 2011, 01:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and ex-Major General in Sri Lankan Army (SLA), Shavendra Silva, has invoked Article-31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Immunity as his defense to war-crimes charges leveled against him by two Tamil plaintiffs in the District Court of Southern District of New York (Case 11 Civ. 6645), court records show. With no declared formal intervention by the U.S. State Department, and despite earlier pronouncements that Silva will defend his actions in the Court of law, the ex-General appears to have thought it prudent to hide behind "absolute" immunity defense his counsel claims the General is legally entitled to.
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Mano Ganeshan condemns decapitation of Chelva’s statue

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2011, 19:38 GMT]
Mano Ganeshan, leader of the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) has condemned the decapitation of the late Tamil leader Thanthai SJV Chelvanayakam as an act of barbarism by chauvinist elements. Mr. Mano Ganeshan has reminded the services of Thanthai Chelva by launching a non-violent struggle against the subjugation of Tamils not only in North and East but also in the Upcountry at a time when the Sri Lankan government disenfranchised the Upcountry Tamils.
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Chelvanayakam statue decapitated in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2011, 00:14 GMT]
The statue of Thanthai Chelva (SJV Chelvanayakam) located near the Sivan Temple at Thirugnaanasampanthar Street in Trincomalee was decapitated on Sunday night. People who were enraged to notice the desecration on Monday morning placed a cloth on the headless statue. Local people suspect genocidal elements occupying Trincomalee for timing the act, when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) team led by Mr. R. Sampanthan, MP for Trincomalee, is on an international visit seeking solutions for the national question of Eezham Tamils. The statue is located in a recently Sinhalicised part of the Trincomalee city.
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