Wild elephant rampage on resettled villagers continues unabated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 2015, 16:37 GMT]
The systematic ignorance by genocidal Sri Lanka to arrest the menace caused by wild elephants that go on rampage killing and maiming resettled Tamils in former LTTE-administered areas in Paduvaankarai region of Batticaloa, is an intentional tactic to chase Tamils permanently away from their native villages and colonise Paduvaankarai with Sinhalese, Tamil civil officials in Batticaloa District Secretariat told TamilNet on Friday. In the meantime, Yogarasa Ganesh the chairman of Rural Development Society (RDS) in Katchatkodi, a village situated in Paddippazhai division of Paduvaankarai region, confirmed that there has been no action despite repeated appeals through GS, DS officers and the provincial councillors. The SL authorities were giving better protection to Sinhala settlers in the nearby villages, the RDS chairman said when contacted by TamilNet.
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Colombo beefs up borders of Sinhala military colonization in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 2015, 00:09 GMT]
The occupying military of ‘Sri Lanka’ is once again strengthening the borderlines along the former ‘High Security Zone’ areas in Valikaamam North in Jaffna. Most of these lands were permanently seized from Eezham Tamils by the previous regime of Colombo. The SL military and the new regime in Colombo, buying time citing ‘step-by-step’ release, have been reluctant to release the illegally seized lands back to Tamil owners. When the uprooted Tamils stepped up their protests demanding the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena to officially gazette the release of the lands, the new regime openly claimed that the release of lands was a matter to be decided by the SL military. Now, after coming to terms with the USA through UNHRC discourse, Colombo is again restricting access across the borders of the former HSZ that encloses the KKS harbour, Palaali airport and the SL military base at Palaali.
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Tamil Nadu fishermen complain of intentional assault by SL Navy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2015, 07:36 GMT]
The navy of genocidal Sri Lanka has brutally assaulted 11 fishermen from Tamil Nadu State after intruding into Indian waters and chasing them in 6 naval vessels in the early hours of Tuesday, according to 11 fishermen from Rameasvaram (Rameswaram), who were brought to Mannaar Courts on Tuesday. The fishermen talking to media at Mannaar Court complex said they were subjected to torture by the SL Navy. The fishermen were fishing in the Indian waters in 60 small boats, they claimed.
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OHCHR fails to provide OISL report in Tamil

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2015, 17:40 GMT]
More than a month has passed since the report of the OHCHR Investigation on ‘Sri Lanka’ (OISL) was initially released on 16 September after it had been postponed for 6 months. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which claims to be victim-centered in its approaches, is yet to issue the report in Tamil language to be understandable to the victims themselves, journalists in Jaffna told TamilNet on Tuesday. The OHCHR is yet to respond to questions from the journalists on the availability of the OISL report in Tamil.
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Tamil civil groups under pressure to dilute their investigation demand

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 October 2015, 23:37 GMT]
A section of so-called human rights activists from South are exerting pressure on civil groups in North-East, including the Citizens' Committees, women groups, missing persons groups to take part in a deceptive move being organised in Colombo by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera with the aim of projecting their participation as giving consent to Colombo's domestic investigations. The majority of the participants are from South. Ms Nimalka Fernando, a Sinhala Christian and the president of the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), has joined Mr Samaraweera in protecting the interests of the new regime in Colombo, a citizens' committee leader in North told TamilNet on Monday. The Tamil civil groups met on Saturday in Jaffna to discuss how to face the move, which is scheduled on 29 October in Colombo.
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Two more human skeletons exhumed from Kumaratunga's killings fields in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2015, 20:29 GMT]
The organization representing the families of forced disappeared in Jaffna has demanded on Friday credible and independent forensic analysis to be conducted without further delay on recently exhumed skeletons from Mu'l'li at Ariyaalai East, located near the genocidal killing fields of Chemma'ni. Skeletons of two females, one of them believed to be a schoolgirl allegedly raped and killed by the occupying SL military, have been recently exhumed after sand scoopers discovered the remains. The SL military had vacated from Mu'l'li two years ago after keeping the area as a ‘High Security Zone’ since 1996. Around 800 Tamil youth were forcefully disappeared between 1996 and 1999 in Jaffna peninsula under Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's (CBK) rule.
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Tamil political prisoners complain about increased harassment at SL prisons

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2015, 22:18 GMT]
The intelligence operatives of the Sri Lankan military and the prison officers are threatening the Tamil political prisoners against their attempts to file Fundamental Rights (FR) petitions challenging their continued imprisonment, the families visiting the prisoners from Batticaloa told TamilNet this week. When the families are visiting the prisoners, two intelligence operatives were accompanying the imprisoned Tamils. In the meantime, rights activists from Batticaloa, providing free legal assistance to the prisoners in Colombo Magazine prison and at Anurdhapura prison, complain that the prisoners were unable to communicate with them about filing FR petitions.
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OISL report downplays mass killings, silent on genocide: Law academic

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 October 2015, 23:09 GMT]
An article which appeared on Monday in the Blog of the European Journal of International Law (EJIL: Talk!), comparing the 2011 UN's Panel of Expert's report on Sri Lanka with the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) 2015 report, points out that the OISL shies away from estimating the scale of deaths and avoids attributing to the [Sri Lanka] government's intent in directing attacks against the civilian [Tamil] population. The article adds that "given this shift of focus away from mass killings of civilians...it is not surprising the OISL is silent on the crime of genocide..." The article is authored by Umesh Perinpanayagam, an Eezham Tamil academic, who works as a researcher at the Faculty of Law of the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
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Ex-LTTE Women's Political Head Thamilini dies of cancer at 43

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2015, 18:37 GMT]
Sivakamy Sivasubramaniyam alias Thamilni, who was formerly the head of LTTE's Women Political Wing, has passed away on Sunday at Maharagama cancer hospital after battling cancer for some months, news sources in Colombo said. Coming from an Up-Country Tamil family settled in Paranthan in Vanni, Ms Thamilini served in the LTTE for almost 18 years and had earned the trust of the LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan for her political work. Thamilini was one of the foremost political leaders of the LTTE, who had proved that women were not second to men in contributing to the liberation of the nation of Eezham Tamils.
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Tamil prisoners in North demand Colombo to respond through NPC Chief Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2015, 10:11 GMT]
The deviating section of ITAK parliamentarians within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), led by R. Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran, have deployed divide and conquer tactics to deceive a section of Tamil political prisoners in the Magazine prison in Colombo to drop their hunger-strike until November 07, Tamil political prisoners in Anuradhapura prison told TamilNet Saturday morning. The political prisoners have severely criticized the move by Mr Sumanthiran and demanded all the parliamentarians of the TNA to collectively address the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister on securing their release without being treated as criminal offenders. The deceptive move by ITAK politicians comes after a meeting they had with Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, the justice minister of genocidal Sri Lanka, who has been insulting the prisoners by saying there were no Tamil political prisoners in the SL prisons.
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Health of hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners worsens

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2015, 23:42 GMT]
At least 20 of around 300 Eezham Tamil political prisoners on hunger strike at 11 prisons in the island have been admitted to hospital by Friday night, according to news sources in Colombo and Jaffna. The prison authorities of genocidal Sri Lanka have refused access to the relatives and rights activists to witness the deteriorating situation of the hunger strikers in the prisons. While ITAK Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran failed to secure tangible results in his meeting with SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, the students and teachers of Jaffna University, together with the relatives of the imprisoned Tamils, have stepped up their mobilisation demanding immediate release of the political prisoners. The Commission For Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna, in a statement issued on Friday, has demanded immediate release of the Tamil political prisoners.
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SL ‘Justice’ Minister draws flak, Tamil prisoners demand Sirisena's response

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2015, 21:27 GMT]
Mr Mano Ganesan, who has recently become SL minister for ‘National Dialogue’ visited Colombo Magazine Prison on Wednesday and discussed with the Tamil political prisoners who are on hunger strike demanding immediate action from the Sri Lankan Government on their release. The prisoners on hunger strike categorically told Mr Ganesan that they were not prepared to drop their hunger strike without a favourable response from SL President Maithiripala Sirisena. The families of the prisoners on hunger strike have strongly condemned Colombo's minister of Justice, Mr Wijeyadasa Rajapakse who went record claiming there were no ‘political prisoners’ in the prisons.
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Tamil political prisoners on hunger strike need immediate attention: Ananthy Sasitharan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 2015, 23:46 GMT]
Three of more than 200 Tamil political prisoners on fast have fainted on the second day of the hunger strike demanding their release. Vijayakumar Kanthasamy, a father of two, was rushed to medical treatment after he fainted at Anuradhapura prison on Tuesday. Similarly, two prisoners fainted at Magazine prison, informed sources said. “We were expecting a positive response during the Papal visit. Nothing happened. Then came the elections and the talk of good governance. Nothing improved. Now, even after co-sponsoring the resolution in Geneva, we are yet to see any sign of evolution taking place in the mind-set of the Sri Lankan State,” a prisoner on hunger-strike said. Northern Provincial Councillor Ananthy Sasistharan has condemned TNA leader R. Sampanthan for not demanding immediate release of the Tamil political prisoners.
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Veteran Eezham Tamil freedom fighter Gandhiyam David passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2015, 14:06 GMT]
Solomon Arulanandan David, popularly known as Gandhiyam David, who presided the Gandhiyam Movement in Vanni in mid 70s, passed away on Sunday at the age of 91 at Ki'linochchi. He had returned to Ki'linochchi a few months ago from Tamil Nadu, where he was exiled after surviving the genocidal massacre at Welikade prison in 1983 and escaped from Batticaloa prison in the same year. David's contribution in the history of the struggle of Eezham Tamils is that at the inception of the armed struggle he had conceived the importance of a grassroot civil movement to accompany it. He remained steadfast in envisaging an independent Tamil Eelam.
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EPC CM cites administrative difficulties to buy time from protesting graduates

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2015, 22:19 GMT]
Eastern Provincial Council Chief Minister Ahamed Nazeer, who visited the unemployed graduates protesting at Gandhi Park in Batticaloa on Friday urged the protesters to give him time until 31 March 2016 to resolve the unemployment issue. The unemployed graduates, who agreed to drop their hunger-strike, have demanded a meeting with the EPC CM on 24 March to assess the progress, news sources in Batticaloa said. Mr Ahamed Nazeer was telling the representatives of the protesting graduates that there were administrative hurdles in the Colombo government as well as the provincial government in the East and that he needed 5 more months to resolve the unemployment issue.
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Eezham Tamils in Batticaloa protest against continued suppression by Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 2015, 22:52 GMT]
Resettled Tamil villagers from around 30 villages in Poaratheevup-pattu division of Batticaloa district, have complained this week that the Colombo regime and its provincial agents in East continue to ignore their requests to contain the wild elephants that have been brought from South into the jungles adjacent to their villages in Paduvaankarai. The wild elephants have claimed the lives of 5 Eezham Tamils within the last 30 days. Despite their repeated complaints, Sirisena's regime remains deaf to calls to control the attacking elephants, the villagers told TamilNet on Wednesday, two days after staging a protest in front of the divisional secretariat at Vellaave'li. In the meantime, Eezham Tamil graduates who have been neglected by Colombo in employment have launched a hunger strike demanding permanent jobs.
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Sirisena's ministry, SL military seize more pasturelands from Tamils in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2015, 20:37 GMT]
Genocidal Colombo's Mahaweli Development and Environment Ministry, which comes under the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, has instructed the SL Divisional Forest Officer in Batticaloa to put up noticeboards annexing more lands to extend the Omunugala ‘Forest Reserve’ in Batticaloa district. Sirisena’s ministry is trying to attach more than 25,000 acres of pasturelands seized by the previous regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa through SL Minister of Environment and Renewable Energey, to the so-called forest reserve. The occupying Sinhala military is blocking Eezham Tamils and their livestock from entering the pastureland. New boards have been put up with warnings and borders have been marked. However, Sinhala colonizers are being encouraged by the occupying SL military to do seasonal cultivation in the pasturelands that are being seized from Tamils under the name of ‘forest preservation’.
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Occupying SL Navy reluctant to pull out from Champoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2015, 18:30 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Navy, which has relocated its naval school, ‘SLNS Vidura’ away from the occupied lands belonging 579 Eezham Tamil families at Champoor in Moothoor East, is reluctant to hand over the lands back to the original owners, the uprooted people of Champoor complain. “We are not going to tolerate the reluctance anymore. If the SL Navy fails to vacate within one week, we will call for protests,” a Tamil activist from Champoor told TamilNet on Friday. “All the owners of the lands have been properly identified. There should be no delay in handing back the lands. But, we are yet to see any move on the part of the SL Navy and the SL authorities in Trincomalee,” a land-owner, who did not wish to be named, told TamilNet.
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