18.08.24 21:23
Viraj Mendis: A beacon of international solidarity and a pillar in the Eelam-Tamil liberation struggle
Viraj Mendis: A beacon of international solidarity and a pillar in the Eelam-Tamil liberation struggle
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Indian military intelligence visits Jaffna, Vanni[TamilNet, Friday, 31 May 2013, 10:18 GMT]A team of high-ranking Indian military intelligence officials, led by Indian Armed Forces Intelligence Unit Director General R.N. Singh, visited Jaffna and Vanni on Wednesday and Thursday. The team was received by the genocidal Sinhala military occupying the country of Eezham Tamils. The Indian visit, that took place while Rajapaksa delegation was in Beijing and was signing major agreements on money and defence, follows China’s Vice Intelligence Minister’s visit to Jaffna and Trincomalee in April. Any visit of Indian officials is nowadays considered a jinx and is much feared by Tamils in the island, just as they fear sooth-saying persons coming in the middle of the night with curses from the cremation ground, because of the long history of such Indian visits foretelling escalation of miseries during the war and aftermath, commented news sources in Jaffna. Full story >> China’s ‘bear hug’ brings in $ 2200 million to Colombo[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 May 2013, 10:08 GMT]China signed an agreement with genocidal Sri Lanka on Tuesday, offering 2200 million dollars in loans for infrastructure projects. China and Sri Lanka have also agreed on cooperation related to defence, defence-related training, logistics and maritime security, and have agreed in principle to establish a free trade agreement, Reuters reported, citing Colombo’s Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, who was part of the Rajapaksa delegation to China. There were speculations that the agreements could cause unease in India, but Tamils need not show any sympathy or understanding to New Delhi in tolerating its competitive partnership with Colombo any further. The game would continue forever and the paranoid Sinhala State with insatiable crave for the genocide of Tamils is not going to stop with the island, said Tamil political observers in the island. Full story >> TNA MPs, EPC councilors hold protest against erection of Buddha statue in Batticaloa[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 May 2013, 10:11 GMT]Batticaloa district parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance and the councilors of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) and members of the public held a demonstration on Wednesday morning against the construction of the statue of Lord Buddha at the entrance to the city in front of the Batticaloa Pi'l'laiyaar Koayil. Full story >> BBC says SL military seizure of land in East not verified[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 May 2013, 07:03 GMT]Charles Haviland of BBC, reporting from Colombo on last Friday, cited recent TamilNet reports on SL military seizure of lands of Tamils and Muslims in the Eastern Province, and said that the reports have not been verified. International media operating from Colombo long plays this game. They did it to facilitate the genocidal end of the war and now they do it to subtly shield the structural genocide and annihilation of the contiguous country of Eezham Tamils in the North and East. While the genocidal Sinhala military seizing land in an accelerated way in the North and East is almost a daily routine, the international media never say that this is a direct result of the policy followed by the US-led West, as such as the two LLRC-based resolutions at Geneva, commented an activist for alternative politics in the island. Full story >> ‘Sri Lanka’ poetry: Rajapaksa man edits, India publishes, SL-Canada mission launches[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 May 2013, 03:15 GMT]National Book Trust of India (NBT), a publications outfit of the New Delhi Establishment had entrusted the editorship of an anthology of ‘Sri Lanka’ poetry to the well-known defender of the genocidal State, Prof Rajiva Wijesinha. New Delhi’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid ceremoniously received the book presented by the editor recently. The book “Mirrored Images” will be launched in Toronto, Canada, on Friday at a function jointly organised by Colombo’s High Commission in Ottawa and Consulate General in Toronto. Prof Chelva Kanaganayakam of the University of Toronto will deliver the keynote address at the event, the Sri Lanka High Commission invitation to select audience said. Full story >> Colombo plans Sinhala military settlement in Valikaamam North[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 May 2013, 23:51 GMT]While the uprooted Eezham Tamils of Valikaamam North confront the occupying Sri Lankan State against the seizure of their lands in the former ‘High Security Zone’ (HSZ), the Sri Lankan military is moving fast with its secret plans of establishing permanent Sinhala military settlements to bring in families of the Sinhala soldiers into the former HSZ in Jaffna. Informed paramilitary sources in Jaffna told TamilNet Tuesday that a Sri Lankan commander has been assigned the task of converting the former HSZ into a Sinhala Military Zone (SMZ), consisting of Palaali military base. Already, more than 5,000 houses have been constructed in Mu'rika'ndi in Vanni and families of Sinhala soldiers are being provided housing there. There are at least 30,000 Sinhala soldiers stationed in the Jaffna peninsula. Full story >> SL governor orders removal of Tamil church in East[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 May 2013, 22:33 GMT]The Sinhala colonial governor of the Eastern Province, Rear Admiral (retd.) Mohan Wijewickrema, has instructed officials under him to remove a Catholic church that has been constructed by the uprooted people of Naavaladi village in Moothoor division of Trincomalee district, informed civil sources in Trincomalee said. The people of Naavaladi village, uprooted in 2006, have resettled at a nearby locality to their native village as the occupying Sri Lankan military was refusing entry to their own lands has established the church for their worship at the new location, which has also been named Naavaladi. Full story >> SL military arrests husbands, sexually harasses wives in Trinco[TamilNet, Monday, 27 May 2013, 23:51 GMT]The military intelligence officers of the occupying Sri Lanka Army frequent the houses of former LTTE members and combatants under the pretext of investigations and are attempting to sexually harass the wives while keeping their husbands in prolonged detention, reliable sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Monday. The Sri Lankan military officers who came from Kaddai-pa’richchaan camp had arrested 16 men in Moothoor, after the so-called Independence Day celebrations staged by Colombo in Trincomalee on 04 February 2013. All of the victims, except one, are married and have at least two children. They have all been former LTTE members and some of them have married ex-LTTE females. The SL military intelligence operatives from the Kaddai-pa’richchaan camp have been harassing the wives of the detained husbands. Full story >> SL military appropriates lands of Tamils in Naayaa'ru, Mullaiththeevu[TamilNet, Monday, 27 May 2013, 22:13 GMT]Lands that had been allocated to Eezham Tamil farmers for cashew cultivation in the village of Naayaa'ru in Mullaiththeevu have been appropriated by the Divisional Secretariat and handed over to the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) without the consent of legal owners, civil sources in the district said. Naayaa'ru village is located on the borders of Mullaiththeevu district and Trincomalee district, a demographically strategic location for the contiguity of Northern and Eastern Provinces. Full story >> Buddha statue to be erected at the entrance of Batticaloa district[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 May 2013, 23:47 GMT]A statue of Lord Buddha is to be installed at the entrance to the Batticaloa city by the occupying Colombo government at the request of the head of the Batticaloa Mangalarama Vihara. The Sri Lankan Road Development Authority has also given permission for the erection of Buddha statue, sources in Batticaloa said. The move is against sustaining religious harmony in the district, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian C. Yogeswaran has stated in an urgent appeal to Sri Lanka's Buddha Sasana Minister and Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne. Full story >> Uprooted Tamils ordered to leave their lands in Mannaar[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 May 2013, 23:02 GMT]Mannaar Divisional Secretary D.Dayananda has ordered all uprooted Tamil residents residing in the public lands at Ezhil Nakar to dismantle their temporary sheds and boundary fences and vacate from the land within one week's time. The eviction order has been issued by the Divisional Secretary to settle down about 600 Sinhalese from the South, civil sources said. Full story >> DMK chief wants New Delhi to provide Indian citizenship to Eezham Tamil refugees[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 May 2013, 05:19 GMT]Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Friday that DMK Chief M Karunanidhi has requested New Delhi to provide citizenship to over 100,000 Eezham Tamils living in South Indian state of Tamil Nadu as refugees. Pointing out to the immigration reforms in the U.S., Mr Karunanidhi was quoted as saying, "[s]imilarly, it is also our wish and request to the Centre to come forward and provide citizenship to over one lakh Eezham Tamils living in the country ensuring their permanent safety," the PTI added. Full story >> Land acquisition by occupying military challenged in Sri Lanka Courts[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2013, 23:34 GMT]Following a writ-application filed at the Sri Lankan Court of Appeal by 1,474 Eezham Tamils owning lands in Valikaamam North on 14 May, which was an initiative taken by Colombo-based lawyers, including those belonging to the Tamil National Alliance, a group of lawyers based in Jaffna have filed legal action in Sri Lankan Supreme Court on 22 May, challenging the publication of the Section 2 notice to acquire lands from the owners in Valikaamam North. In the meantime, the commander of the occupying SL military in Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, who recently faced questions from the visiting United Nations representatives on the acquisition of lands in the former High Security Zone (HSZ), was attempting to play down the scale of the Sinhala militarization by hiding the extent of land acquisition outside the Valikaamam North area. Full story >> Gotabhaya statement reconfirms emptiness in PC model[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2013, 11:31 GMT]While New Delhi and Washington harp on either the 13th Amendment or holding Northern Provincial Elections (NPC) as solutions to the national question in the island of Sri Lanka, a statement coming from SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa reconfirms the unworkable nature of the Provincial Council (PC) model in a unitary constitution of the Sinhala state, Tamil political observers in the island said. Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was warning the government of his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa that giving police and land powers to the provinces meant that the Northern Province comprising the districts of Jaffna, Mullaiththeevu, Vavuniyaa, Mannaar and Ki'linochchi could pose a ‘major security challenge’, reported the Island on Thursday. Full story >> TNA activist in Ampaa'rai abducted, tortured after meeting against land grab[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 May 2013, 23:33 GMT]An armed squad that came in a white van on Tuesday abducted a 68-year-old activist, Thangathurai Veluppillai, a supporter of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Ampaa'rai district. The victim was blindfolded while he was at Kalmunai public market and was taken away by the squad that tortured him to obtain the names of the TNA activists in Ampaa'rai district. The abduction comes a few days after the intelligence of the occupying SL military ‘investigated’ him following a meeting against the land grab by the SL military in his division. After 3 days of interrogations in Batticaloa, Mr Thangathurai was taken back to Kalmunai and released there, the sources further said. Full story >> Genocidal military gets into white garb to observe Vesak in Jaffna[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 May 2013, 22:11 GMT]The commander of the occupying SL military in Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, together with all of his senior officers and a section of soldiers, observed a ‘Sil’ campaign on Thursday, according to a news release by the SL military in Jaffna. At the event, the SL commander Hathurusinghe and his personnel were all clad in white. In contrast, the occupying SL commander and his officers have been wearing military uniform while entering Hindu temples, an act considered as showing disrespect to the deities and as desecrating the shrines, observers in Jaffna commented. One of the topics discussed by the Buddhist clergy and the academics at the Buddhist religious event on Thursday was ‘music therapy as a remedy to youth unrest’, the news release by the SL military further revealed. Full story >> Penguin India brings out diary of LTTE captain[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 May 2013, 23:01 GMT]The English edition of ‘War Journey: Diary of a Tamil Tiger’ authored by the late Capt. Malaravan has been published and released by Penguin Books, India this month. The work originally written in Tamil by Malaravan as a first-person account of the battlefield was first published by the LTTE as ‘Poar Ulaa’ posthumously in 1993. The English translation of the work by Dr N. Malathy, a key member of NESoHR and author of ‘A Fleeting Moment in my Country’, published by Penguin includes translator’s note, a description of Malaravan by the late LTTE Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan, and a note from Malaravan’s mother. In a comment on ‘War Journey’ sent to TamilNet, Dr. Malathy said that ‘War Journey’ was an exceptional work, noting there was no space given by the establishments for writers to portray the positive aspects of the LTTE-led struggle for Tamil Eelam. Full story >> Occupying STF seizes 600 acres of farmland in Poththuvil[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 May 2013, 19:06 GMT]Sinhala Buddhist extremists, with the backing of the occupying Sri Lankan government in Colombo, have planned to appropriate about six hundred acres of paddy fields belonging to Muslims and Tamils in Pasarich-cheanai in Poththuvil electorate in Ampaa'rai district, claiming that the said lands belong to Sinhala Buddhists. The paddy fields are located east of Naavilaa'ru at Poovarasadith-thoaddam in Poththuvil DS division. The Tamil-speaking farmers have been doing cultivation in these lands for more than five decades, civil sources said. Full story >> Indian housing aid to be used for demographic genocide in East[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 May 2013, 23:53 GMT]A part of the 50,000 housing aid promised by New Delhi for the war-affected people in the North and East is planned to be used for demographic genocide in the East at the village of Kachchat-kodi in the Paddip-pazhai division of Batticaloa district, according to Eastern Provincial council member R. Thurairatnam. The village, which was predominantly Tamil a few years ago and was affected by displacement during the war, now has 2 new Sinhala Buddhist Viharas constructed and a number of Sinhala families brought from outside settled with the assistance of Buddhist priests. Full story >> Colombo brings 1500 Sinhalese from South to Mannaar[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 May 2013, 22:11 GMT]Stepping up the process of colonisation of the country of Eezham Tamils, the occupying Sri Lanka has brought in 1,500 Sinhalese in buses to Musali DS division in Mannaar District, which is bordering the North Western and North Central provinces. The occupying Colombo government had already planned to settle down five thousand Sinhalese families from the South in Mannaar district in an attempt to change the demography of the district before holding the Northern Provincial Council election, according to a confidential document received by the Mannaar district secretariat. Full story >> ‘Reconciliation with Sri Lanka is fake, Tamil Eelam only solution’: Los Angeles event[TamilNet, Monday, 20 May 2013, 23:03 GMT]The Mu’l’livaaykkaal Genocide Remembrance event in Los Angeles, USA on Sunday stated emphatically that asking the Eezham Tamil nation to reconcile with genocidal Sri Lanka was fraudulent and that a sovereign state of Tamil Eelam was the only solution, further criticizing the ICE for failing to address the chronic national question of the Eezham Tamils. The speakers at the event further affirmed the necessity for sustained pressure from the masses in Tamil Nadu to effect a change in the regional and global order. Commenting on the recent series of Tamil Genocide Remembrance events, a diaspora activist from Canada said the fourth year after Mu’l’livaay-kkaal has seen an increase in protests challenging the injustice of the world powers towards the Tamil nation, lamenting, however the eagerness of some in the Tamil diaspora to forsake national symbols under the slightest pressure. Full story >> Chennai event challenges ICE complicity in Tamil Genocide[TamilNet, Monday, 20 May 2013, 08:29 GMT]Articulating right demands and slogans in Genocide Remembrance events is crucial at a time when the Eezham Tamils in their homeland are barred from even silently mourning their heroes and civilians who sacrificed their lives in the culmination of the genocidal war at Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal, said a Tamil political activist from Jaffna commenting on the slogans used by protestors at the May 19 event at Marina beach in Chennai. Civil society activists, artists, political leaders and ordinary people had participated a mass gathering near the Kannagi statue in the honour of those Eezham Tamils who perished in Sri Lanka’s genocidal war despite dissuasion by the police. Speaking to TamilNet from the gathering, Umar, an activist from the May 17 criticized the failure of UN in preventing the genocide, stating that Sri Lanka must be hauled in the UNSC. Full story >> Diaspora Tamils observe Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal Genocide remembrance events[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 May 2013, 17:16 GMT]Events remembering the internationally-abetted genocide in May 2009 were held in several countries in the West by the Tamil diaspora on Saturday. While over 10,000 Tamils participated in a mass rally in London, the remembrance event in Sydney had an innovative performance of ‘forum theatre’ to encourage the audience to frame their political discourse with conceptual clarity. Speakers at the event in Canada, referring to the Tamil Nadu student uprising, urged the second-generation diaspora youth to organize mass protests challenging the establishments that continue to abet the protracted genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation. Likewise, the events in London and Dusseldorf saw the participation of grassroots Kurdish activists who gave solidarity messages to the Eezham Tamil nation. Full story >> Jaffna University remembers Vanni genocide amidst SL military oppression[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 May 2013, 13:39 GMT]Sri Lankan military harassments continue at Jaffna University where a memorial event was silently observed by hundreds of students on Friday, news sources in Jaffna told TamilNet. The occupying SL military is on a continuous war with the university community of students and teachers in the last four years on the issue of remembering the slain. It took a serious turn on the Heroes Day last November. The arrests and the military ‘rehabilitation’ of the student leaders didn't deter the students from paying tribute to those who sacrificed their lives in the genocidal war at Vanni. Despite refusal by the University administration to provide a hall to the event this year, hundreds of university students and teachers gathered at the Paramesvara temple premises in the university on Friday for a silent memorial without any speeches. Full story >> TNPF politicians, journalist released on bail[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 May 2013, 10:59 GMT]The SL police in Mannaar has released TNPF politicians Selvarasa Kajendren, Visvalingam Manivannan and a journalist, Joseph Fernando, together with 6 other males on personal bail Saturday night around 9:30 p.m. after producing them before the Judicial Medical Officer for examination. Full story >> ‘Idea of the Tamil struggle cannot be killed’: Kashmiri Leader[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 May 2013, 07:51 GMT]“Using military operation, they can silence the voice for a time being, they cannot kill the ideology and idea. They cannot defeat ideology and ideas with military means,” Yasin Malik, Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) said in an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Saturday. Speaking from Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu where he had gone to address the public in solidarity with the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance Day event organized by the Naam Tamizhar party, he further said that if the international community thinks that it can suppress people’s movement through military means, peace and security cannot be achieved in the world. “If they want peace and stability in the world, then they will have to resolve the people’s issues. Otherwise, the people across the globe, who are the voiceless people, they will get together and they will form their own strategy,” the Kashmiri leader said. Full story >> Cameron should review his decision to visit Sri Lanka: Lee Scott[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2013, 20:20 GMT]Speaking to TamilNet from the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Genocide Remembrance Day event in London on Saturday, Conservative MP Mr. Lee Scott said that British PM Cameron should review his decision to visit Sri Lanka for the CHOGM meeting. When the criticism coming from some Tamil quarters that a person of the stature of Mr. Cameron visiting Sri Lanka will only give that state legitimacy was raised to Scott, he replied “I think what is important that up until now, with all the efforts that is made around the world, there has been nothing towards reconciliation. There has been nothing towards, before any reconciliation, getting justice for the Tamil people, and whatever it takes to achieve that must be done.” However, a Tamil activist from the UK questioned the wisdom of taking Mr. Scott to Geneva for lobbying when he seems incapable of convincing his own party’s leadership to boycott Sri Lanka. Full story >> SL Police arrests TNPF politicians on Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day in Mannaar[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2013, 11:30 GMT]Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) politician and former parliamentarian Selvaraja Kajendran and Visvalingam Manivannan of the TNPF and thirteen others were arrested by the Sri Lankan Police at Mannaar Saturday afternoon while they were attending a Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day function. The SL police is trying to curb the activities of the TNPF politicians by attempting to detain them under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), initial reports from Mannaar said. Full story >> German Kurdish federation demands justice for Tamil genocide, condemns powers[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2013, 09:50 GMT]YEK-KOM, a Germany based federation of numerous Kurdish organizations, demanding justice for the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation, condemned the world powers who rejected “the just demands of the Tamil people, turned their backs and have instead supported a military solution” in a solidarity statement sent on the occasion of Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance Day. Emphasising the need for the state terror against the Tamils in the homeland to be halted, the federation further called on the German government and the European Union to “take diplomatic measures and exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government till the self-determination of the Tamils is recognized.” They also called for revoking the ban on the LTTE in the EU to ensure equality of parties and for a just peace. Full story >> ‘Do not consider powers culpable in Tamil genocide as saviours’: Sinhala academic[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2013, 06:13 GMT]“The international conspiracy was not against the Sri Lankan state, but against the Eelam Tamils as a nation,” said Sinhala academic Dr. Jude Lal Fernando, urging the Tamils to not consider the powers who were culpable in their genocide as saviours. In statement for Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance Day, Dr. Fernando, lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin said “It is not only the Sri Lankan state, but all those who aided the state are guilty of genocide,” referring to US, UK and Indian support to the Sri Lankan state, asserting that the reluctance of the powers to recognize the genocide was in fact to cover it up. “As the genocide continues today with the blessings of the same powers that supported the Sri Lankan state we are been told to accept it in the name of post-conflict reconciliation and development,” he said, encouraging the Tamils to continue their struggle with the moral high ground. Full story >> TN Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance meeting condemns Indian-West complicity in genocide[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2013, 23:48 GMT]Speakers at the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance meeting in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on Friday came down strongly on the Indian and Western establishments for their complicity in the genocidal war on the Eezham Tamil nation. While veteran Tamil nationalist activist Pazha. Nedumaran condemned the holding of CHOGM in Sri Lanka, MDMK leader Vaiko criticized India’s contribution to the genocide of the Eezham Tamils from the IPKF days to the present. Periyarite leader Kolathur Mani spoke extensively about the structural genocide under unitary Sri Lanka. Criticising the complicity of the International Community of Establishments, Thirumurugan Gandhi from the May 17 Movement stated that the role of the US and India in the war on the Tamils must also be probed. Full story >> Canadian politicians convey messages on Mu’l’livaaykkaal remembrance day[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2013, 23:37 GMT]Canadian politicians from both the ruling Conservative party and the main opposition NDP conveyed messages to the Tamil diaspora on the occasion of Mu’l’livaaykkaal remembrance day. NDP MPP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton Jagmeet Singh, Ontaria NDP leader Andrea Howarth and Ontaria PC Party leader Tim Hudak sent messages emphasising the need for justice and accountability for human rights abuses in the island. MPP Jagmeet Singh, affirming his solidarity with the Tamil community “in their call for justice and recognition of their loss” further encouraged his fellow Canadians “to support the Canadian Tamil community and attend Tamil Genocide Day.” Full story >> BTF's call for genocide remembrance focuses on CHOGM boycott[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2013, 02:44 GMT]The British Tamil Forum’s (BTF) call for a mass rally in London on Saturday, remembering the 2009 Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal genocidal massacre, focuses on urging Britain and the Commonwealth to boycott the Sri Lanka CHOGM meet in November. Earlier this month, the British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his decision to attend the meet. “It is ridiculous as well as painful to find that Cameron has decided to attend CHOGM in Sri Lanka,” said a BTF statement on Thursday, adding that the meet, leading to Sri Lanka chairing the Commonwealth for the next two years, “will not only be disgraceful to the Commonwealth and Britain, but will also create a permanent blot in their history.” Full story >> 'Sri Lanka’s human rights record as bad as South Africa under Apartheid': Haigh[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2013, 11:41 GMT]Criticizing Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s support to holding the CHOGM in Sri Lanka, former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh opined that Sri Lanka at the head of the Commonwealth would bring the institution’s demise, arguing that “Sri Lanka has a human rights record as bad as South Africa under Apartheid.” In an article for ABC News on Thursday, Mr. Haigh further said that despite evidence to the contrary, Bob Carr “believes that the Sinhalese majority are free of triumphalism and ethnic abuse of Tamils, amounting to state sponsored genocide, following a bloody civil war that occurred because of the very attitudes and practices being deployed against Tamils today.” Asserting that the Rajapaksa regime undermines the values of the Commonwealth, the author further called on Australia to boycott the CHOGM. Full story >> UK Sikh group calls for solidarity in anti-genocide rallies[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2013, 08:04 GMT]1984 Genocide Coalition, a UK based Sikh group, has called for solidarity among diasporic Sikhs and Tamils for anti-genocide rallies on 18 May and 9 June in a release on Thursday. Stating that such protests “are an opportunity for these heroic struggling nations to unite their power of protest and unite their campaign resources”, the release further said that “the enduring, courageous struggles of Tamil and Sikh peoples against brutal states like Sri Lanka and India; epitomise the struggle of small nations around the world.” The activists from the Coalition and Nations Without States further urged small nations across the world to unite in a common movement for global justice and freedom. Full story >> Short film featuring Isaippiriya reproduced[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2013, 06:18 GMT]Remembering the heroes of the Tamil cause, civilians and journalists, who sacrificed their lives this week in 2009, TamilNet reproduces a short film that featured the slain journalist Ms Isaippiriya. Full story >> 18 per cent increase in British tourists to genocidal Sri Lanka[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2013, 21:32 GMT]The British tourism market to the island of Sri Lanka has seen an 18 per cent increase from last year, according a report by Colombo based financial reporter Feizal Samath, published in TTG Asia, a tour industry publication on Tuesday. The increase in British tourists choosing Sri Lanka “killing fields” as tourist destination comes following the reports and a law-priced air travel campaign by the British Airways, which recently resumed its services with three flights a week from London Gatwick to Colombo via Male. Full story >> Genocide of Tamils one of the worst mass killings in history: MPP Glen Murray[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 May 2013, 23:52 GMT]“The 40 000 plus killed in the Tamil genocide is one of the worst mass killings sanctioned by a state in history, ” stated Glen Murray, Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Toronto Centre while hosting the third annual Tamil Memorial Tree Planting event on Saturday at Evergreen Brick Works, a community environmental centre. The Evergreen Brick Works houses the first memorial dedicated to the victims of the Tamil genocide and was erected in 2011 by Mr.Murray. The memorial remembers the events from Black July to Mu'l'livaikkaal and all trees are planted to create a memorial forest to honour the Tamil lives lost in the pursuit of justice and freedom, the organizers said. On the same day in a symbolic move Frank Scarpitti, the Mayor to Markham city unveiled a new street named after the Vanni, the region of the Tamil homeland which endured the brunt of the genocidal atrocities in 2009. Full story >> SL military collects details of uninhabited lands in Vaakarai, Batticaloa[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 May 2013, 21:05 GMT]The occupying Sri Lanka military in Batticaloa district is intimidating the rural official and the leaders of Rural Development Societies to identify lands in 27 Village Officer (GS) divisions in Vaakarai region, which was under the control of the Tigers before 2007, into privately owned and public owned lands. The SL military is scheming a mass scale appropriation of lands for Sinhalicisation and militarisation. Full story >> TNPF urges mass struggle to course-correct IC imposed devolution deviation[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2013, 21:14 GMT]Sinhala State and IC should be brought to a point to concede Tamil sovereignty through a democratic, non-violent mass struggle with sacrifices, said Tamil National People's Front leader Gajendrakumar Pomnnambalam, addressing media in Jaffna on Monday, and clarifying the position taken by the TNPF at the tripartite deliberations facilitated by the Mannaar Bishop on Saturday. The IC that is not prepared to accept a separate State cannot reject an alternative either. It cannot impose a specific path. It is up to us to formulate the path without compromising fundamentals. Negotiation between two nations of distinct sovereignties is different from walking the path of devolution within a unitary State. But the TNA had been ‘instructed’ by a powerful country to choose the path of the 13th Amendment, the TNPF leader said. Full story >> Tamil polity forced to focus on Indo-US agenda of ‘PC devolution’[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2013, 01:08 GMT]A civil society move, undertaken by the Mannaar Bishop Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph to bring unity among mainstream Tamil political parties in the country of Eezham Tamils, lasted for more than 6 hours on Saturday, news sources in Mannaar said. The deliberations exposed the desire of the powers and their diplomatic elements in Colombo backing the ‘unity and integrity’ of the genocidal Sinhala State in pushing the Tamil National Alliance into the path of a non-descript solution along the lines of the truncated 13th Amendment-based devolution deception that doesn’t recognize the right to self-determination of Eezham Tamils, their nationhood and their own sovereignty, the sources said. However, revealing the subtle competition between New Delhi and Washington, the ‘elements in reserve’ kept by New Delhi are yet to come into the picture of the current deliberations, the news sources further said. Full story >> Southern workers sexually abuse Tamil woman in Batticaloa[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 May 2013, 23:56 GMT]Four Sinhalese men who were riding in a van, lured a Tamil laundry-woman into their vehicle promising to give her a lift home and sexually abused her in a nearby jungle on Tuesday. A woman herding cows found the 45-year-old victim at unconscious state in the jungle near Ma'ndoor Black Bridge and admitted the victim at Ka’luvaagnchik-kudi hospital. Full story >> Occupying SL military brings in Sinhala fishermen to Maaththa’lan sea[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 May 2013, 18:44 GMT]The occupying Sri Lankan military has again brought in more than 200 Sinhala fishermen from the south within the last two weeks to Maaththa’lan in Mullaiththeevu, while the Eezham Tamils, uprooted from their native place Maaththa’lan after the genocidal onslaught, are still denied access to their lands and the sea. One month ago, the encroaching Sinhala fishermen were sent back after protesting Tamil fishermen attempted to set fire to their boats. The Sinhala fishermen had then returned to the South vowing that they would return. Now, the Sinhala fishermen camped in Maaththa’lan are deploying more than 50 boats depriving the livelihood of Tamil fishermen in the coastal sea of Mullaiththeevu, Tamil fishermen complain. Full story >> Boycott campaigns worsen Sri Lanka's economic woes[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2013, 02:34 GMT]Targeting brand label garment stores including Victoria Secret and Gap which sell Sri Lankan made apparel, Tamil activists held protests in New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Toronto in front of both stores Sunday, organizers of the protest said. The protesters held placards and distributed leaflets describing the war-crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lanka government, as shoppers, aware of the recent tragedy of garment workers in Bangladesh, were drawn in increasing numbers towards the protesters. Full story >> Colombo plans settling 5,000 Sinhala families in Mannaar: TNA MP[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 May 2013, 22:11 GMT]The occupying Sri Lanka has planned to appropriate lands in Mannaar district of the occupied country of Eezham Tamils to settle five thousand Sinhala families thus creating two new Sinhala villages, said Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan citing inside instructions coming from Colombo to Mannaar district secretariat. “According to this covert plan one thousand five hundred Sinhalese families in Maanthai West DS division, one thousand Sinhalese families in Madu AGA division and one thousand five hundred Sinhalese families in Musali DS division are to be settled down in the district,” Mr Adaikkalanathan further told media. Full story >> Let Prince do dirty work at CHOGM: Boyle[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 May 2013, 00:29 GMT]While Colombo media advanced the theory that Queen Elizabeth's age was factor in her skipping the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting [CHOGM] in Colombo, and the British media opined that the Queen was slowly scaling down her royal responsibilities and transferring duties to Prince Charles, Professor Francis Boyle who teaches law at College of Law, University of Illinois, surmised that the reason for Her Majesty the Queen skipping Colombo was, as a constitutional monarch, the Queen was not willing to be seen with genocidal Rajapaksas. "Let [Prince] Charles do the dirty work. He is not head of anything. So his being there [in Colombo] will not insult anyone or anything but himself," Prof. Boyle said in a note sent to TamilNet. Full story >> Occupying SL military allowed to appropriate lands in Trincomalee[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 May 2013, 21:28 GMT]The occupying Sri Lanka Army has been given permission to appropriate about four hundred acres of land in Trincomalee district. A decision to this effect was reached at a conference held this week at the District Secretariat. The conference was presided by the Government Agent T.T.R.De Silva, a retired Major General of the Sri Lanka Army. Full story >> CVK Sivagnanam's house attacked[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 May 2013, 08:09 GMT]The residence of Mr CVK Sivagnanam, a veteran civil activist and joint-secretary of the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), has been attacked Tuesday night around 11:45 p.m. by alleged operatives of the SL military in Jaffna. Mr Sivagnanam narrowly escaped from the squad that stoned his residence. The attackers, who smashed the windows of the house, left the scene after the neighbours confronted them. The incident comes following reports that Mr Sivagnanam had shown interest in fielding himself as the chief candidate in the Provincial Council elections on behalf of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), news sources in Jaffna said. Full story >> Denmark calls for independent international investigation on Sri Lanka[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 May 2013, 15:31 GMT]In an official Parliamentary release on Friday, four major Danish political parties, including two parties of the ruling coalition, called “for the establishment of an independent international investigation into violations of international humanitarian law and human rights committed during the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka.” Welcoming the move as a positive step, the alternative political activists in the country of Eezham Tamils said that the call for international investigation would have been more meaningful had it come at the time of the US-tabled Geneva resolution undermining it. Full story >> Indian envoy called on SLA commander to receive ‘best wishes’[TamilNet, Monday, 06 May 2013, 21:26 GMT]The outgoing High Commissioner and designated Secretary-East of New Delhi Establishment’s Ministry of External Affairs, Ashok K. Kantha, called on genocidal Sri Lanka’s military commander occupying Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, at Palaali on Monday. The “ SF-J Commander extended his sincere wishes to the outgoing Indian High Commissioner when he called on Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe on Monday (06) at his official residence in Palaly,” reiterated SL military-run website in Jaffna, in addition to saying “Hathurusinghe wished all the best” to the Indian envoy leaving in a few days. Local media was not permitted to cover events related to the envoy’s visit. Full story >> Activists opposed to Devananda attacked in Jaffna[TamilNet, Monday, 06 May 2013, 14:14 GMT]A 12-member squad that came in 4 motorbikes attacked 48-year-old V. Sahadevan, the president of a newly formed group named War Affected Peoples' Movement (WAPM) and 35-year-old Puvilan Pushparaja, the treasurer of the group near Jaffna District Secretariat around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Mr Sahadevan and Mr Puvilan have been distributing leaflets against EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, who is a minister in SL President Mahinda Rajapksa's cabinet. The attack comes a few minutes after Mr Devandanda spotted the two persons distributing leaflets against him. Sahadevan blames that the attackers were the ones who were escorting Mr Devananda. Full story >> Paper blasts Australia's Sri Lanka asylum policy[TamilNet, Monday, 06 May 2013, 00:02 GMT]"The British court gets it; Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper gets it; Amnesty International and the Australian Greens get it. But it seems the major political parties in Australia won't allow themselves to accept that human rights abuse in Sri Lanka should significantly influence asylum seeker policy here," said an opinion piece in the Age, commenting on the return of Australia's Immigration Minister, Brendon O'Connor from a visit to Sri Lanka as part of 'Gillard government's commitment to deepening Australia's relationship with Sri Lanka.'' Full story >> Sinhala military to host send-off party in Jaffna, marking Indian envoy’s promotion[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 May 2013, 03:16 GMT]New Delhi Establishment’s High Commissioner in Colombo, Ashok K. Kantha and his wife will be getting a ‘warm send-off’ on Monday, arranged by the genocidal Sinhala military occupying Jaffna, felicitating his services and promotion as Secretary–East at New Delhi’s Ministry of External Affairs, news sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lanka military hosting a send-off party, that too in the occupied land of Eezham Tamils, and the Indian envoy accepting it, is unprecedented, but very significant in comprehending the current level of recognition India provides to Sinhala militarisation and the extent of partnership in genocide, news sources in Jaffna further said. Mr Ashok Kantha was posted in Colombo after the war and continued for more than three years in the service of structuring Indo-Lanka partnership over the structural genocide of Eezham Tamils. Full story >> Eezham Tamils among HR defenders shortlisted for Amnesty NZ award[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 May 2013, 00:56 GMT]Two Eezham Tamils were among the six human rights defenders shortlisted for periodical award by the New Zealand chapter of the Amnesty International this year. Mr. A. Theva Rajan was placed next to the main award winner and Dr. Nagalingam Rasalingam was one of the six finalists. This is the first time Eezham Tamils have been recognized for the consideration of the Defender of Human Rights Award by Amnesty NZ, Eezham Tamil news sources in New Zealand said. Full story >> Tamil Nadu assembly passes unanimous resolution on retrieval of Kachcha-theevu[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 May 2013, 23:30 GMT]The Tamil Nadu assembly on Friday passed a resolution demanding the retrieval of Kachcha-theevu citing “continued violent attacks, torture and arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha had emphasised that the retrieval of Kachcha-theevu was the only way to protect Tamil Nadu fishermen. The resolution, moved by the AIADMK, was unanimously passed in the assembly with the approval of the representatives of all political parties present. Full story >> Keith Locke questions New Zealand's silence on Sri Lanka hosting CHOGM[TamilNet, Friday, 03 May 2013, 04:46 GMT]“So far Canada's campaign to move CHOGM away from Sri Lanka has met with little success. Britain's Conservative government has been critical of Rajapaksa but won't support changing the conference venue. Australia has turned a blind eye to the continuing tragedy in Sri Lanka, apparently so it can justify returning Tamil boatpeople to their home country. And what of New Zealand? Our Government seems to be keeping as quiet as possible,” writes Keith Locke, former Green MP, in an opinion article published in The Dominion Post on Friday. Full story >> Commonwealth SG upholds SL venue of CHOGM, meets Colombo’s HR outfit[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 May 2013, 22:19 GMT]While widespread calls from credible quarters across the world were urging either change of the CHOGM venue or boycott, if it is going to take place in Sri Lanka, and while the UK Tamils staged a demonstration against the venue, the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma upheld the venue in a press meet in London last Friday. “I meet leaders continually and continue to take soundings with leaders, and have been doing so recently as well, and no member of government has indicated remotely that it wishes to change the venue, Kamalesh Sharma said, answering a question put by Jonathan Miller of Channel 4 News. Meanwhile, Kamalesh Sharma also received a ‘human rights’ outfit of genocidal Colombo that came to meet him in London this week. Full story >> Colombo appropriates lands of 400 Tamil families in Vavuniyaa[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 May 2013, 20:33 GMT]The Colombo government has begun to appropriate 400 acres of lands belonging to Tamils in Veerapuram in Vavuniyaa Cheddiku'lam division to settle down Sinhalese, according to Vanni district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Sivasakthi Aanandan. In a similar move, at Nochchikku'lam GS division, private lands of Eezham Tamils have been appropriated for the purpose of 56th brigade headquarters for the occupying Sri Lanka Army, news sources in Vavuniyaa said. Full story >> Eezham Tamil activist elected to represent youth wing of German left party[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2013, 23:56 GMT]Balakrishnan Koculan, a 29 year old Eezham Tamil youth activist, was elected to represent the official youth wing of the German Die Linke party on Sunday. In the 6th Federal Congress of the Left Youth -Die Linksjugend [`solid] held at Magdeburg in Germany, Mr. Koculan along with seven other activists were elected by 200 delegates of the youth organization from across several states in Germany, with Koculan getting 52.63% of votes. Speaking to TamilNet, Mr. Koculan urged Tamil youth in the diaspora to challenge the unjust approach of the global establishments towards the Eezham Tamils’ struggle, stressing the necessity of building alliances with progressive forces. Full story >> TNPF prepared to join TNA, if pre-2009 goals upheld: Gajendrakumar[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2013, 23:28 GMT]Amidst news reports on split within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and disunity in the Tamil political camp, the leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) Mr Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam on Wednesday came forward to tell that his party is prepared to join with the TNA, if the TNA could stick to pre-2009 political goals of Tamils. The current split within the TNA is between the ITAK, the major constituent party of electoral political origins and other parties of militant political origins. Both factions have now approached the TNPF. The deceptive prospects of Northern Provincial Council elections, which the LLRC-based Geneva resolution urged to conduct, and Indo-US competitive engineering in the hijack of Tamil polity are behind the split, news sources in Jaffna said. Full story >>
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