Gotabaya's ‘Task Force’ monk threatens Tamils to stay away from their paddy fields in Thiriyaay

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 September 2020, 22:03 GMT]
The extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk based in Arisimalai in Pulmoaddai, Panamure Thilakawansha Thero, has threatened Eezham Tamil farmers of Thiriyaay in Kuchchave'li division of Trincomalee district to stay away from their agricultural lands on Wednesday. Panamure Thilakawansha is the monk whom the SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has referred as “chief prelate for the Northern and Eastern Provinces” in his Presidential Task Force for ‘archaeological heritage management’ in the East. He has claimed that ancient Buddhist artefacts were lying spread across more than one thousand acres spanning six farming tracts. The Tamil farmers have demanded the Tamil National Alliance and other Tamil national political parties to act against the move.
Full story >>

COVID curfews hurt livelihood of resettled people of Ira'nai-theevu twin-islet

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2020, 14:06 GMT]
The SL fisheries authorities have neglected marketing arrangements for the fish caught by the recently resettled Tamil fishers of Ira'nai-theevu twin-islets that lie 12 nautical miles from the western coast of Ki'linochchi district. The prices have dropped from 1,000 rupees to 300 rupees for one-kilo crabs and from 800 rupees to 200 rupees for cuttlefish catch. More than sixty families are residing in Ira'nai-theevu without permanent housing. The people of the islets facing the Palk Bay are also deprived of community assistance during the curfew. In the meantime, there were reports of COVID-19 infections at the SL military-operated Quarantine Center at Muzhangkaavil, a coastal hamlet located near their temporary settlement, Ira'nai-maathaa-nakar in the mainland. Those infected were medical personnel brought for quarantine from the South.
Full story >>

Uncertainty grips war-uprooted coastal village of mainland Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 2020, 23:45 GMT]
The occupying SL Navy, which is stationed at Mu'l'lik-ku'lam, a coastal village located 45 km south of Mannaar city, continues to keep more than one thousand acres of lands out of bound to the uprooted Tamils. SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa transformed the ancient Tamil village as the command headquarters of North West Naval Area of SL Navy when he was the SL Defence Secretary in 2013. The SLN is using only 35 acres of lands. Private title-lands, LDO permit lands and lands that belong to Catholic Diocese of Mannaar remain out of bounds for the uprooted Tamils. After 2015 regime change, Colombo handed back barely 77 acres of church lands deceiving the protesting people with a promise of freeing their properties in a “step-by-step” manner. The changes taking place within the SL Navy and the pandemic lockdown have further eroded the outlook for resettlement, the uprooted people complain.
Full story >>

Politics of statements failing to call a spade a spade

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2020, 21:51 GMT]
The latest presidential pardoning of a massacre-convicted SL Army soldier is an outcome of the Mahawansa mindset, which is the ideology triggering the specific intent (Dolus Specialis) for Tamil genocide. In the chosen island of “Sri Lanka,” it is the genocidal Mahawansa doctrine that ultimately determines the delivery of justice as well as sustaining the unitary character of the state. Any roadmap, which seeks to improve the Colombo-centric system through gradual reforms without reconfiguring the underlying state structure in the first place, only paves the way for reversing even the cosmetic outcomes of the concerned deceptive progress. Those who contribute to such an experiment, directly or indirectly — even if they intend to disprove the approach through partaking in it — are complicit in sophisticated genocide denial as long as they are not prepared to call a spade a spade.
Full story >>

SL Police detains Tamil trustees of Saiva temple in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 November 2019, 21:03 GMT]
The Archaeological Department of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has moved the SL Police to act against the chairman and the secretary of the board of trustees of Kaaddu-vinayakar temple at Maa'likai in Oamanthai, Vavuniyaa after they started to clear the bushes of their village deity. Recently, the resettled Tamils of the village got together in a Shramadana campaign at the war-destroyed ancient temple in the former no-man zone.
Full story >>

SL Police resorts to violence in grabbing lands of Tamil fishers in Batticaloa North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 October 2019, 19:14 GMT]
The livelihood of thirty resettled Tamil fisher families have been severely affected as the occupying Sinhala police have dismantled their centre for marketing and exchanging the fish produce says T. Uthayakumar, the chairperson of Challith-theevu Fisher Association. Challith-theevu is located 66 km north of Batticaloa city and comes under the administrative division of Koa'ra'laip-pattu North (Vaakarai). The occupying SL military is also staging amusement activities for their visitors from the South, and the SL Police is accompanying them, causing cultural disharmony between the communities of the occupiers and the occupied.
Full story >>

Heinous act by HRCSL: former orphans of Chegnchoalai on the brink of losing lands

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 October 2019, 23:12 GMT]
The so-called Human Rights Commission of genocidal Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has proposed to the Divisional Secretariat office in Karaichchi in Ki'linochchi to evict the resettled former orphans of Chengchoalai who are living at the lands which were bought by the orphanage from the original landowners during the times of war. Cheng-choalai was one of the civilian orphanages operated by the LTTE run de-facto state of Tamil Eelam. It was well known for bringing up children in an exemplary way producing artists and experts within various fields. The lands were allocated to the former orphans through proper purchases during the de-facto civil administration of the LTTE. However, the grounds are now being claimed by greedy elements with vested interests and the SL Human Rights Commission in Jaffna has proposed to do away the arrangement.
Full story >>

Families inheriting lands from parents refused of land registration in Moothoor East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 October 2019, 22:06 GMT]
The authorities coming under the unitary system of occupying Colombo refuse to register title deeds for lands that are being inherited by newly married couples from their families in Moothoor East of Trincomalee district. The denial causes several other problems as the new families are unable to obtain bank loans or housing schemes without the proof of land ownership. Several appeals were made to resolve this issue since 2008 without any outcome, says I Raveendran, the deputy chairman of Vinaayakar Community Centre in Champoor. Now, the families fear that they would be permanently losing the lands if Gotabhaya Rajapaksa becomes the next SL President.
Full story >>

Colombo's departments abet large-scale deforestation and hunting in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 September 2019, 15:19 GMT]
Widespread logging of forest trees, large-scale alienation of forest lands and hunting of spotted and sambur deers, as well as local buffaloes, continue unabated amidst persistent ignorance and possible collusion with the SL Forest and Wildlife Conservation Departments as well as the SL Police. Local Councillor Kandiah Soundararajan, who is elected from Vaddk-ka'ndal in Maanthai West Divisional Council (Piratheasa-chapai/PS), has exposed the extent of the destruction when contacted by TamilNet this week. In the meantime, the law enforcement authorities of the unitary state mechanism in Colombo are systematically depriving the resettled poverty-stricken and landless Tamils. It is the local population, which constitutes a nature-loving-society with excellent human-environment relationships, as history has witnessed in the past, Tamil activists in Mannaar observed.
Full story >>

Sinhala encroachers storm into 100 acres of lands at Kanneeraavi in Pulmoaddai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 August 2019, 22:49 GMT]
A group of Sinhala encroachers, led by Sinhala Buddhist monks, are clearing one hundred acres of lands for the third consecutive day on Saturday at Kanneeraavi in Pulmoaddai. The area is located northwest of Pulmoaddai town and southeast of Kokku'laay lagoon near the cremation of grounds of Tamils. It consists of both the crown and private lands, grassroots activists in Pulmoaddai said. Kuchcha-ve'li Divisional Secretary P. Thaneswaran is reluctant to act against the latest encroachment, Tamil-speaking Muslim activists said. Panamure Thilakawanse Thero, the well known extremist monk is leading the intruders. The monk seems to have the backing of Sajith Premadasa, who is the SL Minister of Housing, Construction and ‘Cultural’ Affairs, the sources further said. When TamilNet contacted the civil officials in Pulmoaddai, they urged immediate media attention to the problem.
Full story >>

SL Wildlife Department converts farmlands of Tamils in Kokkuth-thoduvaay into sanctuary

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 July 2019, 16:25 GMT]
The Tamil farmers who had been uprooted for 35-years from Kokkuth-thoduvaay in Mullaith-theevu district and managed to return to their village in 2012, lost their low-lying irrigable lands along with reservoirs to Sinhala colonists. Now, the SL Wildlife Conservation Department has seized their upper-lying “Maanaavaari” agricultural lands and converted these into a bird sanctuary. The aim is to wedge the contiguity of the occupied Tamil country’s northern and eastern territories up to the very coastline. Kokkuth-thoduvaay is an agricultural and fisheries village, sandwiched between the lagoon of Kokku'laay and the sea in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division of the Mullaiththeevu district.
Full story >>

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

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2019, 23:33 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka is silently and hurriedly erecting a Buddhist vihara at Thaiyiddi in Kaangkeasan-thu'rai (KKS) in Jaffna. The construction is taking place inside the military-held former High-Security Zone area which has not been released back to the people. Tamil civic member Shageevan Shanmugalingam from Valikaamam North (Thellip-pazhai) Divisional Council told TamilNet on Monday that he was turned back by the SL military when he went there to see the construction. In the meantime, journalists have managed to photograph the structure from a distance, exposing the project. New Delhi talking about the ‘development’ of the KKS port and upgrading the Palaali airport without ensuring de-militarisation, is paving the way for socio-economic and cultural Sinhalicisation of the coastal stretch of Eezham Tamils in Valikaamam North, Tamil activists in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

SL military deploys paramilitary against Tamils in rural areas of Batticaloa North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2019, 20:36 GMT]
SL Military Intelligence has re-introduced Tamil paramilitary personnel who interfere in the day-to-day civil affairs of the poverty-stricken Eezham Tamils in the rural areas, situated 45 km northwest of Batticaloa in Koa'ra'laip-pattu North (Vaakarai) division. The occupying SL Army wants to know everything in detail from private gatherings involving relatives of the families to public events and land usage of the resettled people through the paramilitary personnel who were previously on the pay-list of Karuna and Pillayan groups, informed sources said.
Full story >>

Tamil land-owners suppressed from mobilising against ethnic land-grab in Thiriyaay

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2019, 23:37 GMT]
The present SL Government Agent (District Secretary) of Trincomalee district, NAA Pushpakumara, as well as his predecessor Major General (retd) Ranjit de Silva, both Sinhalese, have transferred more than 300 acres of fertile lands of Eezham Tamils to Sinhala politicians and officials. The Divisional Secretary serving under them has been forced to subject the properties for long-term lease, said M. Konesan, the chairman of Thiriyaay Farmers’ Organisation.
Full story >>

Kokku'laay-centric united action needed to counter Colombo wedging North-East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 June 2019, 20:36 GMT]
The resettled Tamil residents of the strategic Thennai-maravadi village bordering the Northern and Eastern Provinces in the Trincomalee district are facing Sinhala colonisation and Sinhala Buddhicisation of Tamil heritage sites on two fronts, at Pa'nikka-vayal to its west and at Kanthasaami-malai, which extends eastwards into Kokku'laay lagoon. The Sinhala colonisation and the Buddhicisation of Tamil heritage site of Kanthasaami-malai are being accelerated under the Emergency Regulations and the situation prevailing after the Easter Sunday attacks that have triggered the extremist monks to escalate their chauvinistic schemes in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The two-pronged attack, which is being stepped up in the recent days, is part of a larger design of permanently wedging the territorial contiguity of the Tamil homeland along the narrow border between the North and the East.
Full story >>

SL Forest Department seizes 1,500 acres of lands opposite Tamil Heroes Cemetery in Champoor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2019, 12:14 GMT]
Sinhala guards belonging to the SL Forest Department have hurriedly marked many of the outgrown trees in the private agricultural lands at Aalang-ku’lam in Champoor, Trincomalee with the letter ‘F’ claiming the trees as the properties the SL department, Vairamuthu Pathmanathan, the chairperson of Aalang-ku’lam Farmers Federation, said. The SL Forest Department has marked the trees at the extent of 1,500 acres of lands, located just opposite the razed Aalang-ku’lam Tamil Heroes Cemetery where more than 800 LTTE fighters lay buried. The latest move indicates that the SL Forest Department was also claiming the private agricultural lands that belong to the people, who possess deeds and permits to prove their ownership to many plots of farms in the area.
Full story >>

SL State-run sea cucumber farming becomes major threat to Tamil fishers of North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 May 2019, 20:58 GMT]
The occupying unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka is scheming to shrink the coastal fishing access to Eezham Tamil fishers in the islets and along the west coast of Vanni, where the resettled Tamils are already struggling with limited access to their coastal belt due to militarization and other activities from the South. Several new locations have been identified by the SL state-run National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA) and the SL National Aquatic Resources Research And Development Agency (NARA), informed sources at Jaffna District Secretariat told TamilNet on Tuesday.
Full story >>

Muslim activists in Jaffna caution Tamils about sinister designs of southern chauvinism

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 May 2019, 21:16 GMT]
Jaffna-based Muslim grassroots activists have urged Tamils to be cautious on what they read on certain Tamil-language media outlets, which show signs of succumbing to the hidden agenda of the forces in South seeking to set the Tamils against the Muslims. Senior trader and grassroots activist Mohammed Uzinar Tahir and Jaffna Municipal Council member Muththu Muhammathu Nibahir were reacting to false and twisted news reports. They were also responding to the propaganda that the SL military was wooing some ex-LTTE members to collaborate with it as informants. The SL military's latest move is seen as Colombo Intelligence establishment's political counter-insurgency seeking to create communal disharmony among the Tamil-speaking people in Jaffna and elsewhere in the island. The activists were talking to media on Friday.
Full story >>

Uprooted Tamils in Karanthaay enter their lands in dispute with SL authority

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 April 2019, 22:20 GMT]
The Coconut Development Authority (CDA), which comes under the unitary occupying system of Colombo was claiming 90 acres of lands that belong to private land-owners at Karanthaay village near Mukamaalai, which was a ‘Forward Defence Line’ during the times of war. The lands were to be released back to the rightful owners in 2012-2013 when mines clearance in the area came to an end. However, the SL CDA was quick to claim the lands despite the owners proving their ownership. On Tuesday, the land-owners entered their lands and put up temporary huts. They said the SL authority was trying to convert their properties into state-owned farm without resolving the dispute of ownership.
Full story >>

ITAK must act to revoke Gazette notifications, transfer Land Commissioner in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 March 2019, 20:21 GMT]
SL President Maithiripala Sirisena has only revoked one of the Gazette notifications that had been issued by his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa who had seized the lands of Tamils in Champoor. After the revocation of Gazette notification of transferring lands to SL Board of Investment under the Urban Development Act (UDA), the people resettled. However, a previous Gazette notification, which was made by Mr Rajapaksa who acquired the lands of the people under an urgency clause of the Land Acquisition Act (LAA), remains in force. Although repeated requests were made by Moothoor Divisional Secretary to re-issue necessary land permits to the people who had owned these lands for decades, Provincial Land Commissioner of the Eastern Province D.D. Anura Dharmadhasa has been blocking the move citing the initial Gazette notification, say Tamil-speaking Muslim officials at Moothoor DS.
Full story >>