Sinhala colonisation in sacred land of Tamil martyrs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 January 2013, 01:01 GMT]
Puthu-maaththa’lan, a part of the Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal sacred land of the Eezham Tamil martyrs, was subjected to Sinhala colonization this week with the protection of the Sinhala military occupying the land, news sources in Vanni said. The resettled Tamil fishermen at Ira’naip-paalai and Puthu-maththa’lan resisted the arrival and colonisation of their coast by Sinhala fishermen from the South on Tuesday. The Sinhala fishermen, keeping their equipment for safe custody with the SL military, vowed that they would come back and colonize the land during the scheduled visit of Mahinda Rajapaksa to Mullaith-theevu on Sunday. But they didn’t go back. The Sinhalese were hiding in the SL military camp, and on Wednesday when the Tamil fishermen returned from the sea, to their surprise they found their coastal stretch was colonised by the Sinhalese.
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Sinhala military, Malayala martial arts to mark Indian celebrations in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 January 2013, 00:36 GMT]
Marking India’s 64th Republic Day (26-01-2013) celebrations, a performance of Malayala Martial Arts, called Ka’larip-payattu, has been organized at Veerasingam Hall in Jaffna on Thursday, by New Delhi’s Consulate General in Jaffna. The Commander of the Sinhala military occupying Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, will be the Chief Guest at the celebrations, presided over by New Delhi’s Consul General in Jaffna, Mr. V. Mahalingam. Genocidal Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Culture and Arts and New Delhi’s Indian Council of Cultural Relations jointly sponsor the programme. Meanwhile, India is in the top in training genocidal Sri Lanka’s Sinhala military at the rate of 1400 personnel per year, admitted, New Delhi’s envoy in Colombo Ashok K. Kantha.
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NZ routinely rejects Tamil "Mandate-Refugees" for resettlement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 January 2013, 03:01 GMT]
New Zealand has over the years rejected, for admission and resettlement, several Tamil refugees, who have already been declared as Refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in compliance with the UNHCR Charter and associated statutes, labelled as "mandate" refugees, even while the quotas for UNHCR recommended refugee intakes, as determined by the Government of New Zealand, were not exceeded, published Government documents show. While individual states can reach independent determination of the refugee status based on the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees and 1967 protocol, labelled as "convention" refugees, legal sources say, the differences between UNHCR statutes and Refugee Convention are relatively minimal to produce conflicting statuses between UNHCR and local state determination, according to refugee activists.
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U.S. Senators call for international probe into Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 January 2013, 02:28 GMT]
U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called for an independent, international investigation into potential war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE during the civil war in Sri Lanka. In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Senators said such an investigation is needed because the legitimate concerns of the Sri Lankan people have not been answered by the government, Senator Leahy's website reported. “Sri Lankans have legitimate concerns about war crimes committed during the civil war that are not being addressed by the government, and an independent, international investigation is needed to get answers,” the letter said.
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Sri Lanka cricket ban getting closer, says noted sports writer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 January 2013, 23:58 GMT]
Commenting that “[t]he promotion of Sanath Jayasuriya is a dark day in Sri Lanka’s cricket history,” following the appointment of Jayasuriya, a Government MP and close ally of Rajapaksa, to head the 5-member selection panel of the Sri Lanka cricket team, Australia’s most respected cricket author and journalist Gideon Haigh, said in his website that Colombo's "growing authoritarianism and hubris" will likely "buttress the case for a boycott of Sri Lankan cricket," the group Boycott Sri Lanka Campaign, headed by another well-known Australian journalist Trevor Grant, said in a press release.
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Colonial governor diverts more education funds to Sinhala colonisation in North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 January 2013, 22:44 GMT]
Colombo’s colonial governor in North and the former Jaffna commander of the occupying SL military in Jaffna, Maj Gen (retd) GA Chandrasiri, has again diverted a major portion of the funds, allocated for education and health sectors in the five districts in the Northern Province, to the newly carved out Ma'nalaa'rau (Weli-Oaya) Sinhala division in Mullaiththeevu district for the construction of 72 new Sinhala schools and health stations as part of a hurried expansion of the Sinhala colonisation scheme, informed sources in Vanni told TamilNet on Wednesday. To facilitate the accelerated occupation, contractors hired from South are working day and night, putting up the schools and health stations, the sources further said.
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Boycott ‘Sri Lanka Cricket’ campaign to go global

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2013, 23:49 GMT]
The Boycott Sri Lanka Cricket Campaign (BSLCC) spokesperson, Trevor Grant, a veteran sports journalist, in a statement issued on Monday said that the Australian protests against the Sri Lankan Government, via the cricket team, had been so successful that it was planned to link up with protest groups in all cricket-playing nations to ensure that the message about Tamil persecution was heard throughout the world. “We are taking as our model the very successful sports boycotts of apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s,” the statement further said.
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Ampaa'rai Tamil activist killed after protesting demographic changes

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2013, 21:31 GMT]
40 year-old Seenithamby Premanathan, a father of two, was waylaid and cut to death by an unknown killer squad Sunday night around 8:30 p.m., when he was returning home in a three wheeler from his brother’s house located at Malvaththai along a paddy field between Mallikaith-theevu and Malvaththai in Chammaanthu’rai police division. The killing comes a day after he was reported to have voiced concern over the injustice done in the demarcation of boundaries of the local authority concerned, civil sources in Ampaa’rai told TamilNet. In recent days, there were also reports of targeted harassments against Tamil women in Ampaa'rai.
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Eezham Tamil writers in UK criticize India’s role in genocide of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2013, 22:32 GMT]
UK based Eezham Tamil writers and journalists criticized the role of India in abetting the genocide of the Eezham Tamils and shielding the genocide perpetrators at book release function at London on Sunday. Speaking at the release of the book “Thookkuk-kayittil: Rajiv padukolai nijam” written by Tiruchi Velusami and compiled by P. Egalaivan, the Eezham Tamil writers expressed their opinions on how under the cover of eliminating the LTTE, India and other world powers effectively covered up the genocide of the Eezham Tamils.
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Resistance event in London criticises security-obsessed outlook of West

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2013, 17:40 GMT]
Speaking on the topic of “Opposing securitisation, linking our resistances”, Kurdish and Tamil activists from Campaign Against Criminalization of Communities (CAMPACC) criticized the policy of the denial of the freedom of expression and assembly of activists belonging to oppressed sections by governments in West in the name of “security”, at the TINAG annual festival at London on Sunday. The Kurdish and Tamil speakers, belonging to grassroots organizations of their respective communities, also observed the similarities in the criminalization of their respective movements by Western governments and the consecutive denial of a democratic political space for the articulation of their cause.
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Two rebel leaders reported killed in Chechnya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2013, 23:57 GMT]
Russian security forces claim to have killed two key Chechen rebel leaders, along with nine other rebels, BBC reported on Friday. The two commanders, brothers Khusein and Muslim Gakayev, were considered the regions “most wanted men”, were reportedly killed during a clash with the security forces. The killings follow a “counter-terrorist operation” that has been on in the South of Chechnya since Wednesday, UPI cited Moscow backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who is largely considered by Chechen nationalists as a quisling.
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US team meets TNA first: Sampanthan tells TamilNet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2013, 22:42 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by its parliamentary group leader R.Sampanthan on Saturday noon met the US delegation comprising three US officials, James Moore, Jane Zimmerman and Vikram Singh, at the US Embassy in Colombo, Mr.Sampanthan told TamilNet adding that the USA team met the TNA delegation before meeting others during their stay in Colombo. Talking to TamilNet, Mr. Sampanthan said that the TNA had briefed the US delegation about the Tamil problem “since the country gained independence sixty five years ago.”
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Human smuggling charges dismissed in MV Ocean Lady case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2013, 22:04 GMT]
Human smuggling charges in a British Columbia Court were dismissed against four Eezham Tamil men who were accused of bringing Tamil refugees aboard the MV Ocean Lady in October 2009, the Toronto Star reported on Friday. Justice Silverman of the British Columbia Supreme Court also temporarily suspended his January 11 ruling that rendered Canada’s human smuggling law “to be of no force or effect.” As a result the Crown has 30 days to appeal Justice Silverman’s ruling to the B.C. Court of Appeal. The outcome of this appeal will also affect ongoing human smuggling prosecutions against six Eezham Tamils from the MV Sun Sea.
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78,000 affected by floods in Batticaloa, Ampaa'rai, 46 DS divisions under water

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2013, 21:37 GMT]
The normalcy in the districts of Ampaa'rai and Batticaloa in the Eastern province has been severely disrupted due to heavy rain with strong winds. 300mm rain was recordered in the Ampaa'rai district on Friday and 230 mm rain in Batticaloa district, according to Meteorological sources. One fatality was registered at Poaratheevup-pattu in Batticaloa district. Totally, 78,467 persons have been affected in both the districts, officials said adding that 21 DS divisions in Ampaa'rai district and 14 DS divisions in Batticaloa district have been under water for several hours. 35 families were rescued from an entire village, Veaththuch-cheanai, that has been submerged in floods in Vellaave'li division of Batticaloa district. All transport from Batticaloa city to Paduvaankarai and Vaakarai regions has come to a standstill.
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SL military presence beefed up in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2013, 20:15 GMT]
The Sinhala unitary State of Sri Lanka, preparing to ‘celebrate’ its 65th Independence Day in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils on February 04, has put Trincomalee city and its suburbs on red alert under the direction of SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, news sources in Trincomalee said. Meanwhile nineteen schools in the Trincomalee education zone are to be closed down from January 28 till February 4 in order to give accommodation to additional military personnel brought down to Trincomalee from other parts of the island.
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Badurdeen supporters grab Tamil lands in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2013, 19:58 GMT]
Rifghan Badurdeen, a brother of SL minister Rishad Badurdeen and his supporters have been grabbing lands of Tamils situated in Thalaimannaar Pier, complain landowners in the area. Several landowners have lodged complaints with the SL police and the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission in Mannaar. But, there has been no action against the illegal land grab by the SL minister who has been causing disharmony among the peoples belonging to different religions. Civil officials in Mannaar have forwarded one of the complaints made in December 2012 to media, exposing the culprits behind the illegal encroachment.
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Turkish ambassador to Colombo welcomes ‘Sri Lanka model’ to deal with ‘terrorism’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2013, 07:47 GMT]
Despite the currently ongoing peace process between the PKK and the Turkey government, the Turkish ambassador to Sri Lanka, Iskender Okyay has welcomed the Sri Lanka model of counterinsurgency (COIN) to deal with ‘terrorism’, stating that “Sri Lanka's experience in fighting against terrorism could be a good example for Turkey” and adding that “the relationship between the countries could be deepened over the terrorism issue,” the Turkish nationalist news agency Today’s Zaman reported on Wednesday. Commenting on this, Kurdish activists in Europe told TamilNet that the Turkish diplomat’s endorsement of Sri Lanka’s genocidal model of COIN at a time when the Kurdish political movement was having faith in a peaceful settlement shows the insincerity of Turkey towards the peace process, besides being an tacit approval of the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation.
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Sinhala, Muslim divisions carved in Ampaa’rai depriving territoriality to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2013, 06:43 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka plans to create a new Sinhala division in the Ampaa’rai district of Eastern Province that will be including the localities of the Oluvil port and a Buddhist temple constructed at Deegavaapi, news sources in the East said. Meanwhile, backed by SL minister Mr. ALM Athaullah, new Pradeasa Sapais (PS: civic bodies) and municipalities are carved out for the Muslims at Akkaraippattu and I’rakkaamam. But, the ancient Tamil villages in the district at Kalmunai, Paa’ndiruppu, Natpiddi-munai, Periya-neelaava’nai etc. don’t have their own PS or divisions. When the Sinhalese grab the lands of Muslims and Tamils and create enclaves, the Muslims in turn grab the lands of Tamils and totally marginalize them in the district, where Tamils have come only as the third ethnicity now.
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Eighth Indo-Lanka Commission ends with no innovation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2013, 06:36 GMT]
The Eighth meeting of the Indo-Sri Lanka Joint Commission held in New Delhi on Tuesday and was co-chaired by the External Affairs Ministers of the two Establishments, ended with nothing new either to the pressing issues of the genocide-facing island or to its bilateral issues with India, political analysts in the island commented. A Foreign Secretary level meeting on Monday preceded the ministerial meeting. Perhaps the only new programme found mentioned in the joint commission press statement was that both sides agreed to jointly celebrate the 150th birth anniversaries of Swami Vivekananda in 2013-14, and of Anagarika Dharmapala in 2014-15.
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TID squad searches Sritharan MPs office for second time

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 15:31 GMT]
A 6-member team of Sri Lankan ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Department on Tuesday searched the Ki'linochchi office of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivagnanam Sritharan for three hours. The TID squad, led by a Inspector ranked officer, Sarach Chandra, was searching the office inch-by-inch and were looking for computers that belonged to the parliamentarian, news sources in Ki'linochchi told TamilNet. When Mr Jeevanayagam Singarasa, who was in charge of the office on Tuesday, questioned the procedure of the TID, he was subjected to ‘interrogation’ for two hours inside the office. The TID inspector, when contacted by Mr Sritharan over telephone told the MP that the search operation was being conducted under the Sri Lankan Prevention of Terrorism Act.
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Sri Lanka ex-Military Commander barred from visiting U.S for training

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 12:29 GMT]
United States Department of State rejected the application for militiary training in the U.S. for Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe alleging that Ranasinghe was likely complicit in commanding one of the military divisions, speculated to be the notorious 53rd, which is alleged to have been responsible for killing Tamil civilians numbering more than 80,000 according to the Petrie report, during the last phases of war in Sri Lanka. The paper did not say if other Sri Lanka military personnel have been admitted to undergo training in the U.S. Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary said that "nothing could be as foolish as rejecting an officer on the basis of him being in command of the 53 Division or any other fighting formation during the conflict," according to a report in the Island.
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Two students of Jaffna University released in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 10:42 GMT]
Amidst continued boycott of classes by the students of Jaffna University, two of the four detained student activists of the Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) have been released on Tuesday in Vavuniyaa. The release comes following the exposure of reports that the SL Defence establishment and the Secretary of Education did not keep their ‘secret’ promise to the Colombo-appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna Ms Vasanthi Arasaratnam. The President of JUSU, Mr V Pavananthan and student activist S. Solomon of the Science Faculty were released in front of the Vice Chancellor and Deans who were on their way to Welikande to visit the students, who were subjected to SL ‘military rehabilitation’. In the meantime, the SL military in Jaffna is on a ‘search operation’ threatening the families of two students who are in hiding.
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SL defence takes Jaffna University administration for a ride

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 01:26 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka’s defence establishment and education secretary have secretly promised the Colombo-appointed Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University that two of the detained students would be released before 14 January and the other two would be released after that, in order to persuade the VC and other members of the university administration to pressurize the students to drop the boycott and resume classes by the first week of January. This made the VC to go to the extent of her resignation threat and other threats to prevail upon the student representatives to agree to the reopening on 08 January. But so far there are no signs for the release of the detained students. The case is a good example for the futility of collaborationism entering into secret agreements with SL State and regime, political observers in Jaffna said.
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Accountability delayed by Politics, ill-prepared institutions, says Prof. Ratner

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 01:10 GMT]
Professor Steven Ratner, a member of the Panel of Experts appointed to advice United Nations Secretary General (UNSG), Ban Ki Moon, on the issue of accountability with regard to alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka, in a recent U.S. Law journal, writes that, in the case of Sri Lanka, "despite an impressive set of legal norms in place to deal with atrocities such as those committed in this conflict, the infusion of politics and the limitations of unprepared institutions can seriously delay prospects for accountability."
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Australian civil society should be outraged by Sri Lankan cricket: Trevor Grant

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2013, 23:58 GMT]
Civil society in Australia should be outraged once they are exposed to the on going persecution faced by Eezham Tamils was the opinion of Trevor Grant speaking to TamilNet following the latest protest on Sunday organized by BSLCC and TYO. The protest was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground and has been the latest in a string of demonstrations focused on exposing Sri Lanka for its protracted genocide against Eezham Tamils and demanding the Australian Government and Cricket Australia to boycott all matches with the Sri Lankan team. Mr. Grant, former chief sports writer at The Age with over 40 years of experience in journalism, further commented that the Australian civil society should be “spearheading the unrelenting demands to their government and sporting bodies to enforce such boycott.”
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Colombo’s UPFA allies further accelerate divide in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2013, 23:37 GMT]
While Muslim politicians of Batticaloa, aligned with Rajapaksa regime in Colombo seek to annex Tamil villages with Muslim-dominated divisions of Batticaloa, Tamil paramilitary elements operated by Colombo attempt to woo Tamil voters by staging shutdown protests against Muslims, capitalizing from the lack of a broader political mobilization from the part of the TNA. The line of collaboration politics with Colombo, adopted by the SLMC, has made it easier for Colombo to deploy the divide and rule tactic, setting Tamils and Muslims against each other, providing necessary time and space to the occupying Sinhala military to scheme Sinhalicisation of resourceful interior villages of Batticaloa.
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French military advances into Mali, steps up airstrikes

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2013, 22:19 GMT]
French warplanes maintain bombardment on large portions of Northern Mali, as a ground offensive continues within southern parts of the Azawad region, in order to push back and reclaim towns controlled by Tuareg rebel forces. France’s intervention in Mali comes with support from Western powers, which have pledged financial and logistical assistance for the French involvement in the Northern part of Mali, against what they claim, an Islamist movement with al-Qaeda backing. However, other reports claim that the Tuareg rebels under the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) welcomed French involvement against the Islamists, while opposing the entry of Malian forces into Azawad.
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DMK chief lists out multifaceted structural genocide beginning from toponyms

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2013, 16:14 GMT]
The DMK chief Mr. M. Karunanidhi, in a letter dated 19 January sent to the Indian Prime Minister, has drawn his attention to Sri Lanka “carrying out an intensive and systematic programme of erasing the Tamil language, culture, religion and diluting the concentration of Tamils in areas where they had historically been predominant.” Beginning from the renaming of Tamil villages, the letter listed out the various facets of the structural genocide committed on Eezham Tamils by the Sinhala State. Citing India’s moral obligation to stop this atrocity immediately, Mr. Karunanidhi requested suitable action.
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French ambassador concerned about fishermen encroachment, Tamil - Muslim relations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2013, 12:28 GMT]
The French ambassador in Colombo, Christine Robichon, visiting Jaffna and Mannaar between 07 and 12 of this month, was able to “assess the damages of the trespassing of Indian trawlers on the livelihoods of local fishermen, and the consequences of the use of banned methods of fishing on the environment and natural resources,” said a press release of the French embassy in Colombo on Sunday. In her meetings with resettled people, she paid particular attention to the relations between Tamil and Muslim communities. “It is encouraging to see that Tamil and Muslim work together to provide support to all the war affected people in some organizations but it is worrying to perceive signs of communal tensions particularly in Mannar,” the press release said citing the ambassador.
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US State Department, Defence officials to visit Sri Lanka, Maldives

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2013, 10:15 GMT]
Three Deputy Assistant Secretaries of the US State Department and Defence Department, one of them a person of Indian origin, Mr. Vikram Singh of the Pentagon, and the other two, Mr. James Moore and Ms Jane Zimmerman of the State Department will be visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives between 26 January and 01 February. They are scheduled to meet officials, politicians and members of the civil society to discuss issues including LLRC implementation in Colombo, and officials and politicians in Male to discuss about Maldivian democratic institutions, news reports said on Saturday.
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Sri Lanka’s ‘Basha Mandiraya’ calls for mother tongue promotion

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2013, 09:48 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka’s ‘Basha Mandiraya’ (Languages Ministry), marking International Mother Language Day, has called for an essay competition at school level “to sensitise public opinion towards the mother tongue.” The organisers, saying that another aim of this competition is “promoting mutual respect based on the love for one’s mother tongue,” want the participating school children to address their essays to ‘Basha Mandiraya’, said an advertisement in the SL government-run Sunday Observer. The SL ministry should first learn to respect the right of the school children to address the name of the ministry in their mother tongue, commented Tamil education circles in Colombo. Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara is Sri Lanka’s Minister of ‘National Languages and Social Integration’.
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Indian students federation stands with Jaffna students, urges withdrawal of SL military

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2013, 18:13 GMT]
The All India Students Federation (AISF), a wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), in its national conference held in Mumbai on Saturday, unanimously resolved in condemning the Sri Lankan military detention of the Jaffna university student activists and in demanding their immediate release. The AISF urged the Indian government to intervene and facilitate the immediate release of the Jaffna students. The AISF also called upon the SL government to withdraw its armed forces from educational institutions and urged the Government of India to prevail upon the Sri Lankan government against stationing its armed forces in schools and educational institutions.
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US Court to hear oral argument on war-crime case against Rajapakase

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2013, 02:35 GMT]
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit has scheduled March 8th, 9:30 am for the oral argument in the appeal case against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse for civil damages on war-crimes charges filed by three Tamil plaintiffs whose relatives were extra-judicially executed or unlawfully killed under the "command responsibility" of Rajapakse. "The key legal issue in this case is whether the U.S.'s Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA) deputed the Executive Branch with authority to extinguish TVPA claims against sitting heads of state based on professed foreign policy concerns," plaintiff-appellants' attorney, Bruce Fein, said. Judges Merrick Garland, Janice Brown, and Brett Kavanaugh have been assigned to hear the case, according to Court papers.
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Press freedom deteriorates in Syria

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2013, 23:51 GMT]
As the conflict between the government and the rebel forces escalates in Syria, press freedom has rapidly deteriorated, making it one of the worst periods for journalism in the country. A report on Friday by Expatica.com records the killing of French journalist Yves Debay on that day, providing a list of 17 other reporters, including the famed Marie Colvin, who have been killed in the past 22 months of strife. Independent observers, however, blame both the government and the rebel forces for the assault on media workers.
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SL military deployed ex-LTTE member, EPDP-journalist to frame Sritharan MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2013, 23:41 GMT]

A former LTTE member, known as Premraj Vasanthan, allegedly recruited by the SL military intelligence for covert operations in the post-Mu’l’livaaykkal times, had visited the office of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mr Sivagnanam Sritharan after a long time last Friday and was wandering around inside the office. On the following day, the SL “Terrorist” Investigation Department (TID) operatives raided the office of the TNA parliamentarian in Ki’linochchi, with Mr Vasanthan in their ‘custody’. The intelligence operative “located” explosives, while the SL military “discovered” pornography material and the EPDP journalist planted condoms in an apparent move to discredit and frame Mr Sritharan, who has been gaining public support from the people of Vanni.
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UK should exert pressure on Sri Lanka: BTF

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2013, 21:28 GMT]
Referring to the systematic repression and attacks on Eezham Tamil political activists, civil society and students by the Sri Lankan state, the BTF called on the British government to “to exert serious diplomatic pressure on Sri Lanka.” Speaking to TamilNet, BTF Coordinator Ravi Kumar said that since the so-called ‘independence’, concentration of powers in the Sinhalese rulers has systematically increased and that after a successful genocidal war on the Tamil nation in 2009, now all powers in the Sri Lankan state, executive, legislative and judicial powers are concentrated under the President. “Under such circumstances, UK and the International community should not focus on internal mechanism to provide justice to the Tamil Nation. This is the time for the UK government to call for an external mechanism towards an international independent investigation,” he added.
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TMVP faction wants Batticaloa Tamils to observe shutdown against Muslim politicians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2013, 21:31 GMT]
A faction of TMVP paramilitary in Batticaloa has instructed Tamil business owners and public servants to observe shutdown on Friday against the recent proposal from ‘Muslim politicians’ to annex Tamil villages from the Tamil dominated Koa'ra'laippattu North (Vaakarai) and Koa'ra'laippattu South (Kiraan) divisions with Muslim dominated divisions of Koa'ra'laippattu Centre and Koa'ra'laippattu West.
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Violence against Tamil women on increase in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2013, 18:31 GMT]
Soldiers of the occupying Sri Lanka Army in Ampaa'rai on Wednesday said they recovered a dead body of a 45-year-old Tamil woman who had been living alone at Koamaari village in Ampaa'rai district. The body had washed ashore along the coast of the Tamil village where an SLA camp is located. Medical sources at Pothtuvil hospital, after inspecting the dead body of the victim with injuries on her face and neck, said the woman had been sexually abused.
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Indian diplomat hints at Colombo sitting on development crucial to Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2013, 01:43 GMT]
Certain key development programmes that would really benefit Tamils are manoeuvred by Colombo for its own agenda, implied India’s Consul General in Jaffna V. Mahalingam, speaking to media in Jaffna on Wednesday. He was citing the example of Colombo sitting on the runway project making Palaali as an international airport. Mahalingam’s citation is an indirect acknowledgement of the structural genocide that is being carried out by occupying Colombo over the Tamils, political observers in Jaffna said, adding that Sri Lanka’s occupying Sinhala military only wants to permanently militarize and Sinhalicise the Palaali airport and its surroundings including the KKS harbour, sealing off direct communication of Tamils with India and the outside world.
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Sinhala colonization in Puduvaankarai aims to carve out Sinhala electorate in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2013, 23:48 GMT]
Illegal appropriation of pasturelands by Sinhala settlers in Paduvaankarai area in Batticaloa district has been taking place with the ‘blessings’ of Colombo’s ruling party politicians. If this trend is allowed 20 to 25 thousand acres of lands would soon be appropriated illegally, paving way to elect a Sinhala parliamentarian from the district, owners of cattle farms have told Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who have been ignoring their plight.
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Colombo militarizes civil administration in Tamil DS divisions of Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2013, 23:07 GMT]
The establishment of three new camps of the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in three Tamil Divisional Secretariat divisions, Aalaiyadivempu, Naavithanve'li and Thirukkoayil of the Ampaa'rai district has caused tension and fear among the population as a part of militarization of civil administration, civil sources in Ampaa'rai told TamilNet.
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US-based former GTF President becomes advisor to SL colonial governor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2013, 00:16 GMT]
US-based Dr Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, the first president of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), accepts an advisor position to G.A. Chandrasiri, Sri Lanka’s colonial governor and retired Major General of the war crimes accused SL military. The website of SL run Northern Provincial Council on Saturday indicated that Dr Ethirveerasingam is already functioning as Advisor on Education and Sports to the SL Governor. A doctorate in Agriculture education from the Cornell University in the USA, Ethirveerasingam, now 78, is also a recognised sportsman who represented Ceylon in the Olympics of 1950s.
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Section of Canadian ‘human smuggling’ law struck down by British Columbian Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2013, 22:24 GMT]
In a January 11 ruling, a Canadian judge in the provincial British Columbia Supreme Court struck down a section of the Canadian government’s ‘human smuggling’ law for being “unnecessarily broad”. The immediate effect is the adjournment of the trials of four Eezham Tamil refugees who arrived aboard the Ocean Lady in 2009. All four had been charged with ‘human smuggling’ under Section 117 of the Canadian ‘Immigration and Refugee Protection Act’ (IRPA). Section 117 of the IRPA defines ‘human smuggling’ and imposes mandatory minimum sentences for convicted ‘human smugglers.’ However Justice Silverman’s ruling in the R. v. Appulonappa case found Section 117 of the IRPA “overbroad” and a violation of the principles of fundamental justice guaranteed by Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Sinhala political faction opposing military rule over Tamils attacked in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2013, 20:52 GMT]
Members of Front Line Socialist Party (FLSP), a breakaway faction of the JVP of the Sinhala South, who were seeking end of SL military rule over Tamils, land grab and abductions, as well as release of all political prisoners and Jaffna University student leaders were attacked publicly in the heart of Jaffna city, allegedly by SL military intelligence squads on Tuesday. The political faction from the South, under the banner, Sama Urimai Iyakkam in Tamil (Movement for Equal Rights) was engaged in a signature campaign among the Tamil public when motorbike squads attacked them and threw crude oil on to them in the typical way the SL military intelligence used to carry out attacks on Tamil activists in Jaffna.
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Grabbing pastureland in Ampaa’rai district goes unabated

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2013, 11:03 GMT]
Over four thousand acres of pastureland allocated for grazing in Chaakaamam area in Ampaa’rai district is being grabbed day by day for illegal settlement by Sinhalese, civil sources in the district said. Next to agriculture and fishing, one of the major livelihood activities in Ampaa’rai and Batticaloa districts for resettling Tamils is livestock farming. Colombo’s Sinhala establishment, backed by its occupation military, is occupying these pasturelands with the intention of accomplishing structural genocide on Eezham Tamils and Sinhalicisation of traditional Tamil villages in the East.
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Administrative divisions manipulated to wedge Tamils, Muslims in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2013, 23:49 GMT]
A former minister of ruling UPFA government and a councillor of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) Amir Ali Shihabdeen and SL Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan of SLFP and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan of TMVP in the UPFA who is also a councilor at the EPC have given their consent to changes in the administrative divisions of Vaakarai DS division, Koa’ralaip-pattu Centre DS division and Koa’ralaippattu West DS division, news sources in Batticaloa said. The latest move of annexing villages from Tamil dominated Vaakarai division with Muslim dominated Koa’ra’laip-pattu Centre and Ko’a’ralaippattu West, aims at reducing Tamil representation and contributes to uneven development by seeking to upgrade Muslim dominated divisions in civic governance, say Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians from Batticaloa.
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Sinhala military opens ‘holiday resorts’ in occupied Jaffna with ‘Kiribath Pongkal’

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2013, 21:12 GMT]
Amidst the beat of Sinhala drums and blessings of Sinhala-Buddhist monks, the SL military occupying Jaffna opened two new ‘holiday resorts’ on Sunday at Mayiliddi, and at Kaankeasan-thu’rai (KKS), which are under High Security Zone, along the northern coast of Jaffna. To mark the opening, an SL Military ‘Kiribath Pongkal’ was also conducted at the new buildings. While the housing and even shelters of the hundreds of thousands of Eezham Tamils affected by the genocidal onslaught of the Sinhala military is still a pressing question, the military opening and running ‘holiday resorts’ for its use shows that Sri Lanka is not making any pretensions of its colonial conquest and rule over Eezham Tamils in the model of European colonialists, civil society sources in Jaffna commented.
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Mass protests in London condemning assassination of Kurdish activists in Paris

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2013, 02:01 GMT]
Thousands of Kurds from across the UK took to the streets in London on Sunday condemning the recent assassination of three Kurdish women activists in Paris. Demanding a proper inquiry and immediate justice for the brutal murders of Sakine Cansiz, co-founder of the PKK, and activists Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez, the protestors raised slogans of ‘”Turkey is a terrorist state” and “We want freedom”. Kurdish sources told TamilNet that the assassination was an attempt to sabotage the Kurds desire for peaceful negotiations and France should act soon, lest it portrays itself complicit by inaction. Large protests were also held in France and Germany on Saturday. These protests saw the participation of solidarity groups and Eezham Tamil activists, who had joined to convey their solidarity with the Kurds.
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Jaffna Catholic organization urges Bishops to see illusion of development, reconciliation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2013, 23:50 GMT]
The Commission for Justice and Peace of The Catholic Diocese of Jaffna urged the President and Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the island, who recently visited the North, to do justice to the existing realities by working for addressing them in the right direction. Cautioning against ideas of cosmetic development and “enforced rehabilitation” as solutions to the conflict, and listing out some of the fundamental and practical issues faced by the Tamil people, which might not have been “visible” to the Bishops during their short visit, the Catholic organization in its statement on Thursday said that “If the present situation continues we fear that it will be paving way for another cycle of violence. The country cannot afford to pay such a heavy price as in the past.”
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SLFP threatens Tamils filing cases against Sinhala land grab in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2013, 23:12 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) men in Ki'linochchi have been threatening the Tamil land owners who have been filing cases against the Sinhalese from South who have occupied their lands. The SLFP men are behind ‘providing’ lands to the family members of the Sri Lanka Army soldiers and other Sinhalese from South. At least 15 cases are pending the Ki'linochchi courts against illegal land grab of priviate lands by the Sinhala settlers from South, legal sources in Ki'lnochchi told TamilNet.
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SLA ex-officer testifies on orders to plant bomb at TNA MP's house in 2008

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2013, 20:27 GMT]
A former commissioned officer of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), testifying to the Canadian Immigration officials after fleeing to Toronto from Sri Lanka, said that a Colonel of the SLA had ordered him to plant bomb materials in the home of Mr M K Sivajilingam, a Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian in 2008, reports a Canadian newspaper, the National Post, on Sunday. The revelation gains significance in the context of alleged ‘recovery’ of explosives at the office of a current TNA parliamentarian Mr S Sritharan last week.
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Colombo’s military establishment steps up psyop war on Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2013, 23:32 GMT]
The Sri Lankan “Terrorist” Investigation Department (SL-TID), which had summoned Mr Sivagnanam Sritharan, the Tamil parliamentarian from Ki’linochchi, to Colombo Police Headquarters in June 2012 to grill him on his interviews published in diaspora and Tamil Nadu media, was first looking to frame the parliamentarian as someone who had violated the 6th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution. Three months later, the police bodyguards provided to him from the Ministerial Security Division were withdrawn by Colombo without any explanation. On Saturday, the SL-TID entered the office of Mr Sritharan alleging that they had information on explosives. Later, they “discovered” 300 grams explosives inside the kitchen allegedly after “planting” the evidence. Two of the TNA activists, working at Sritharan MPs office, were subjected to interrogations.
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SL “Terrorist” investigators allegedly plant bomb at TNA MP's office in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2013, 12:32 GMT]
The Sri Lankan “Terrorist” Investigation Department (TID) personnel, who receive instructions from SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa “recovered” C4 explosives from the office of the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Sritharan in a move to trap the Tamil parliamentarian, on Saturday, sources close to the TNA MP told TamilNet. The SL-TID operatives who came to the office with a TNA supporter who had campaigned for Sritharan during the election, planted the explosives inside the office and “discovered” them, the sources close to the Tamil parliamentarian alleged. The latest move by the TID, deployed in systematic campaign against the democratic voices of Eezham Tamils, only indicates the level of paranoia prevailing in the Colombo Establishment at the moment, the sources further said.
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SL military orders civil officials to supply residential information of Jaffna University students

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 January 2013, 23:06 GMT]
As an overwhelming majority of Jaffna University students, demanding release of the detained student leaders, are still boycotting classes despite SL military intimidation on University administration and the teachers to resume the classes, the officers of the occupying military stationed across Jaffna have instructed the Divisional Secretaries to gather residential details of Jaffna University students through Village (GS) Officers, civil sources in Jaffna said. There are also reports that the SL military was summoning students to nearby military camps and instructing them to attend the classes. Several students in Vadamaraadchi East have been taken to SL military camps and threatened against staying in their homes.
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SL military registers details of employees in businesses in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 January 2013, 21:20 GMT]
The military of occupying Sri Lanka has been deployed in registering details of employees in businesses in the Jaffna peninsula. Three to four SL military intelligence personnel accompanied by one SL policeman visit the shops and other businesses to register details of the employees. The SL soldiers are particular in collecting details of former LTTE members employed in the businesses, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the occupying Sri Lankan military has taken an upper hand over the Sinhala police in dealing with the civil affairs in recent weeks, NGO officials in Jaffna say.
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‘Pro-SL UK parliamentarians stoop to mockery in shielding genocide’

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 January 2013, 19:16 GMT]
Commenting on some pro-Sri Lanka UK parliamentarians citing a naïve conversation of Sampanthan in their speech at the UK parliamentary debate on Sri Lanka on Tuesday in urging toleration towards the genocidal State, TCC-UK activist Mr Sasithar Maheswaran said that “The use of such twisted arguments to cover-up the worst genocide of the 21st century is a mockery not just of democratic traditions in the UK, but of humanity at large.” Describing the citation of the UK parliamentarians as a “below the belt tactic to divert attention from genocide,” when there is no other credible point, Sasithar, who is an elected representative of UK Tamils with the TGTE-Democrats further said, “Citizens of the UK, Tamil or otherwise, must be aware of such tendencies among certain politicians and the grave threat it holds for peace and justice in the world.”
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Colombo ignores flood affected Tamils in Trincomalee in providing relief

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 January 2013, 23:24 GMT]
Colombo government has been ignoring to provide relief to people affected by the flood in Tamil District Secretariat divisions in Trincomalee district.Thirteen DS divisions have been affected by flood by rain and spill water from tanks. But flood relief and other assistance are being provided to people in Sinhala DS divisions Gomarankadawela, Padavi Siripura and Seruwila. No such relief has been provided to Tamils affected by flood in Moothoor East and those uprooted people from Champoor now being sheltered in temporary tents.
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Kurdish women activists, including PKK co-founder, assassinated in Paris

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 January 2013, 15:26 GMT]
Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was found shot dead along with two other Kurdish women activists in an execution style murder inside the Information Centre of Kurdistan, Paris in the early hours of Thursday. Sakine Cansiz, a senior female member and a former commander of the PKK, was a close ally of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan who is in jail in Turkey. The killers have targeted Ms Cansiz at a time when negotiations were taking place between Turkey and PKK. Sources close to PKK leadership have ruled out allegations of internal dispute and said the execution style killings and the use of silenced weapons indicated that the killers were professional assassins. A similar assassination had been carried out on a key Eezham Tamil activist in Paris in November last year and the matter is yet to be resolved.
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Media worker attacked in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 January 2013, 14:25 GMT]
Four unknown persons who came in two moborbikes Thursday morning around 5:30 brutally attacked an employee of Uthayan Daily, carrying news papers for distribution. The distributor, Pradeepan, was attacked at Maalu Junction at Karaveddi on Jaffna Point Pedro Road, news sources in Jaffna said. The attackers set fire to the motorbike and the papers at the site. Mr Pradeepan has been admitted to the hospital with a broken hand as he had covered the attack on his head by his hand.
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Pro-Sri Lanka UK parliamentarians cite Sampanthan in debate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2013, 23:54 GMT]
The UK Parliament on Tuesday debated the question of participating the CHOGM meet in Hambantota in the island of Sri Lanka in November this year. Even as many voices among the parliamentarians urged the UK government to consider boycotting the CHOGM meet, there was however a section that argued for a conciliatory approach towards Colombo, despite the worst ever genocide of this century it committed and continues to commit against Eezham Tamils. This section cited the TNA leader Mr R Sampanthan in support of their argument. Obviously the intention of the pro-Sri Lanka section in citing Sampanthan was malicious, but Tamil politicians should take a note of it in guarding against providing undue space for adversaries through infirmity in political fundamentals, commented new generation political activists in the island.
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Peace activist grilled by terrorism department in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2013, 10:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) grilled Rev. Fr. Praveen OMI, Director of the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR) in Jaffna, for 7 hours on Tuesday, news sources in Jaffna said. TID personnel who went to the office of the centre at No 8, Grousseault Road in Jaffna by 8.30 am, subjected the priest to intense investigation until 3.30 pm. The entire office was searched and files and documents were scrutinized. In addition, Fr. Praveen has been ordered to go to the ‘Fourth Floor’ (CID headquarters) for further investigations on Friday. The CPR, an organization affiliated to the Catholic Church in Jaffna was actively involved in dealing with cases of abductions and disappearances of people in Jaffna.
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Less than 50 out of 5000 attended Jaffna University on Tuesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 January 2013, 23:52 GMT]
In a meeting held on Monday at the Jaffna University by the Vice Chancellor Prof Vasanthi Arasaratnam, it was decided to resume classes on Tuesday, after much persuasion by the Rajapaksa-appointed Tamil VC that she would resign if the students were not agreeing for an immediate reopening. The SL Education Secretary has come out with an open threat that the government would close down the university for one year if it were not resuming. The student representatives under pressure agreed for the resumption, but students didn’t come on Tuesday. Only less than 50 students out of a 5000-strong student population were seen at the university. Most of them were emotionally unprepared while their activists are in detention and they were also scared about security in and around the campus, news sources in Jaffna said.
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Eastern province under flood again due to torrential rain

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 January 2013, 23:06 GMT]
Several low lying areas in the districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Ampaa'rai and Polonnaruwa are under flood due to the ongoing torrential rains lashing since Monday. People residing in low-lying areas are displaced and seek shelter in public buildings. In the Batticaloa district alone 210 villages in 14 Divisional Secretariat divisions; Vellaave'li, Paddippazhai, South Eruvilpattu, Vavu'natheevu, Kaaththaankudi, Ma'nmunaipattu, Ma'nmunai North, Ea'raavoorpattu (Chengkaladi), Koa'ralaippattu, Koa'ralaippattu North, South, West and Central are under floodwaters.
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Documentary evidence on orders to teach Sinhala as second language surfaces

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2013, 23:32 GMT]
Following decisions from the genocidal SL government in Colombo, the Zonal Director of Education in Ki'linochchi, Mr K Murukavel, has sent instructions to 103 Tamil schools in the four education circuits under him, asking the principals to commence teaching Sinhala as second language in grades 4 to 7 in the first phase and to proceed with the same to grades 8 and 9 in the second phase. The ‘language instructors’ are actually from the occupying SL military who come in military uniform to teach Sinhala language. The move breaches all norms of school education, teachers in Ki'linochchi said. In the schools of the island, English is the second language after mother tongue. Now the occupying military is teaching Sinhala as the second language to Tamil children.
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Jaffna University reopens at the height of intimidation

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2013, 12:45 GMT]
Proving to the entire world, how a single mind as that of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s, suffering from paranoia related to power and genocide but unchecked by the world, could take a realm of institutions and people such as a university, vice chancellor, education secretary, Bishop, military commander, deans, professors and students for a ride, the Jaffna University reopens for classes on Tuesday, sources in Jaffna said. At a meeting held by the VC of Jaffna University on Monday, student representatives and the university community decided to resume classes from 08 January, after an SL government intimidation was conveyed to them that if classes were not resumed immediately, the university would be declared closed for a year and then even after a year resumption would be doubtful.
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CPI questions communist parties of Russia, China, Cuba, on Tamil issue

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2013, 00:23 GMT]
What is the position of the Communist Party of Russian Federation (CRPF)? What is the position of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and what is the position of Cuba, asked Communist Party of India’s (CPI) National Secretary D. Raja, bringing the issue of international investigation on Sri Lanka at the round table of experts from different communist parties of the world held in Moscow last month. “You comrades have to reconsider your position and voice your concerns in favour of Tamil people in Sri Lanka,” Raja urged, expressing concern over the lack of understanding among the communist parties on the issue. In the contemporary history a massacre of people in such a scale happened nowhere. It was genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, Raja told the world communist parties.
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MIA, Goldcoast bound, speaks for Tamil refugees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2013, 00:05 GMT]
Jaffna born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA), called the "the most provocative pop star of her age," by the British Guardian, and who played a big role in raising the plight of Tamil refugees, again spoke out for the Tamil asylum seekers in Australia as she landed in the Gold Coast, near Brisbane Australia today to join The Chemical Brothers as one of the headline acts at the Summafieldayze music festival, reports from Australia said. "You know, it's really difficult to work out the future of a minority group [Eezham Tamils] that is considered disposable. Can you just let them in? It's a big enough country....I don't think it's about isolating those people. It's about embracing them because that's the future," MIA was quoted as saying in a local paper.
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Jaffna University VC gags academics speaking to media

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2013, 13:59 GMT]
Calling the Teachers’ Associations and talking to them in an intimidating way, the Colombo-appointed Jaffna University Vice Chancellor Prof Vasanthi Arasaratnam warned them sternly against speaking to media on the affairs of the university and on the issue of re-opening it. The VC cited directives from the defence establishment of occupying Sri Lanka in gagging the academics, heads of departments and the teachers’ unions. While the academics are enraged over the role played by the VC, the students of the university observing boycott are individually harassed and intimidated everyday by the occupying Sinhala military that calls them to the camps and visits their residences in coercing them to drop the boycott.
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Nepalese war criminal faces torture charges in UK

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2013, 13:54 GMT]
Colonel Kumar Lama, a 46-year-old Nepalese officer, currently seconded to the UN, was held at his East Sussex home by Metropolitan Police officers on Thursday, charged with intentionally "inflicting severe pain or suffering" as a public official on two separate individuals, BBC reported. "This encouraging development puts on notice persumptive war-criminals from Sri lanka who have participated or commanded extra-judicial killings, torture of civilians, and killings of surrendees, all qualifying as war-crimes during a State sanctioned massacre that comes perilously close to genocide, on visiting UK, or other European Countries where the Courts exercise Universal jurisdiction for such crimes," a spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said.
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Sri Lanka appoints military to teach Sinhala in Vanni schools

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2013, 21:21 GMT]
In a hitherto unheard experiment in conducting genocide, the Sri Lanka government has appointed its occupying military to teach Sinhala as second language to Tamil school children in Vanni. The Sinhala military personnel went in uniform to schools to report as Sinhala teachers and they claimed that they had permission from the SL education authorities to do so, news sources in Vanni said. The genocidal military teaching Sinhala goes parallel to the teaching of Theravada Buddhism to Tamils. The Sinhala military also aims to be in direct touch with the Tamil school children, the news sources further said. Already there were strict instructions to schools in Vanni that no functions could take place without inviting the occupying military and garlanding them publicly.
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Missing woman found slain, dumped inside well near SL military post in Kaarainakar

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2013, 21:06 GMT]
A 27-year-old mentally disabled woman, who was reported missing from the psychiatric unit of Thellippazhai Base Hospital in Valikaamam North, was found dead in an abandoned well near Sri Lanka Navy post at Kaarainakar on Friday. The inner clothes of the victim were found torn apart and her body was recovered in a decomposed state. Medical staff at Kaarainakar hospital and Moo’laay cooperative hospital told TamilNet that two SL policemen had come to their hospital with the mentally disabled female on 07 December seeking medical assistance. However, the SL policemen, when contacted by the relatives of the victim have ‘explained’ that they had dropped the female at Valanthalai junction situated at the entrance to Kaarainakar, around 1:30 a.m. on 08 December.
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Brian says Aussie FM was with Rajapaksa during his Singapore deportation

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2013, 19:35 GMT]
Sharing with TamilNet more details of his deportation from Singapore on 14 December, 81-year-old Australian human rights activist of Sinhala origin, Dr Brian Seneviratne said that the Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr was in Colombo, meeting Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the time of his deportation. Reminding the Australian Prime Minister that what had happened in Sri Lanka was genocide, and the regime is a set of pathological liars, Brian said: “Mr Carr has enhanced the ability of this murderous regime to commit gross violations of human rights by doing what he has just done in Colombo – saying that Australia will help the Sri Lankan Navy to stop people fleeing from the murderous regime in Sri Lanka.”
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EPDP accuses occupying SL military for inaction on child rape, murder

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2013, 21:10 GMT]
In a strange turn of affairs, SL minister Douglas Devnanda’s Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP), a paramilitary collaborating with Sri Lanka government, demonstrated on Thursday against the rape and murder of a 4-year-old child in one of the islets off Jaffna, shouting slogans against the occupying SL military. Why the Sri Lankan forces that were quick in arresting those who were hoisting Tiger Flags is unable to arrest the culprit behind the heinous crime, the EPDP demonstrators questioned. The girl child, Chudarini Gunasegaram reported missing from her house at Ma’ndai-theevu in Jaffna on 27 December, was found slain and dumped into an abandoned well the following day, with traces of rape in brutal ways.
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UN's Syria dead count questioned

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2013, 04:03 GMT]
Pointing to the published figure of number of Syrians dead at 60,000, as released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) the day after the New Year, Innercity Press (ICP), an organization that covers United Nations, questioned the source of the figure. ICP said the figure was from an outside contractor, Benetech, allegedly paid by the OHCHR, and added that funders of Benetech included the U.S. State Department, and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). ICP questioned if Benetech is also involved in a similar study on Sri Lanka where the UN refused to disclose its own numbers-dead fearing that the exposure will backfire on the UN strategy to allow Sri Lanka to continue with the assault on civilians that led to more than 80,000 dead (Petrie Report).
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East mourns demise of Muslim Tamil educationalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2013, 11:50 GMT]
The 40th day mourning for Al-haj M.A. Samsudeen, who passed away on 25 November at the age of 82, is to be observed at Addaa’laich-cheanai in the Ampaa’rai district of Eastern Province on Thursday. Mr. Samshudeen dedicated nearly 40 years of his life to education in the East as well in the North and retired as Batticaloa’s Additional Director of Education. His education and career in the East, North and Tamil Nadu is one such that would inspire anyone of the larger perspective shared by Muslims and Tamils.
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Canada extradites citizens to stand "terrorism" trial in Brooklyn

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2013, 02:29 GMT]
Two naturalized Canadian citizens of Eezham Tamil origin, Suresh Sriskandarajah and Piratheepan Nadarajah, plead not guilty to charges on providing material assistance to the now defunct Liberation Tigers when both were arraigned Thursday last week in the District Court of the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), after a six year battle in Canada fighting extradition, legal sources in New York said. The defendants lost a constitutional challenge in the Canadian Supreme Court when the Court ruled that Canada’s terrorism laws did not infringe on the defendants constitutional rights and that the Canadian Justice Minister's order to surrender the defendants to the United States was legal.
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Extra-judicial killings of Trinco-5 students by SL military - 7th Anniversary

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2013, 00:01 GMT]
Dr Kasippillai Manoharan and four other families will be commemorating the seventh anniversary of the death of their sons extra-judicially executed by the Sri Lanka armed forces on the 2nd January 2006. The high school students, all then nearly 20-years old, were spending an afternoon at a seafront in Trincomalee when the dastardly crime, widely believed to be carried out under directives from high-level officials in Colombo, happened. While the case (DR-11/1-2006) in the Trincomalee court is kept alive for procedural reasons and the Court is unable to deliver justice due to the State's alleged complicity in the killings, legal action against Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse is proceeding in the District Columbia District Court.
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SL military admits ‘terrorism’ detention of Dr Sivashankar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2013, 21:50 GMT]
Sri Lankan military spokesman in Colombo, Brigadier Ruwan Vanigasooriya, on Tuesday admitted to journalists in the South that the SL military was detaining Medical Officer Ratnasingham Sivashankar. According to the spokesman of the occupying SL military, the Tamil doctor has been detained because he had "trespassed" into the military base where Tamil women were being held for military training. The doctor had entered the camp in connection with a recently recruited female trainee relative, Vanigasooriya claimed, and added that the doctor had showed ‘false reasons’ and had tried to make contact with a recently ‘recruited’ Tamil females and tried to discourage them from undergoing training. He tried to question the SL military officials on the recruitment of Tamil females and the SL military has arrested him on suspicion, he said.
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Malaysian Tamil declaration upholds Eezham Tamil sovereignty

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2013, 00:14 GMT]
The World Tamilar Protection Conference (WTPC) in its second session conducted in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on Friday, declared that it recognises the need to understand the question of Eezham Tamils in terms of their claim for Historical Sovereignty, Earned Sovereignty and Remedial Sovereignty in their territory. The declaration said that the nation of Eezham Tamils having sovereignty and the right to self-determination in their traditional homeland in the island of Sri Lanka had been subjected to genocide over 60 years by the Sinhala nation. Convened jointly by the President of Puthiya Thamizhakam Party in Tamil Nadu Dr K. Krishnasamy and the Deputy Chief Minister of Penang State in Malaysia Prof P Ramasamy, the conference was addressed by Malaysia’s Leader of the Opposition Mr Anwar Ibrahim.
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