Muslims join Tamils opposing Colombo's suppression of Thileepan Remembrance in North

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 September 2020, 23:19 GMT]
Tamil business and student communities in the North-East observed hartal on Monday condemning SL State's widespread hostility towards the annual commemoration of Lt Col Thileepan on Saturday. Occupying Colombo's police and military were trying to block the business owners from conducting the shutdown. However, the business chambers didn't succumb to the pressure. Also, Muslim traders in the cities of North fully observed shutdown. They also marked hartal in their residential suburbs in Jaffna showing solidarity with Eezham Tamils. Except for the hospitals and necessary public transportation, the cities and towns were at a standstill in Jaffna, Mullaiththeevu, Vavuniyaa and Mannaar.
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Tamils unify to mark Thileepan Remembrance, brave Colombo's suppression of memorialisation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 September 2020, 12:05 GMT]
Colombo's widespread attempts through SL judiciary, Police and military covering all the potential memorial sites and the Maaveerar square within the University of Jaffna, didn't manage to curb Eezham Tamils, their grassroots activists and politicians from marking the collective memorialisation events on Saturday on the occasion of 33rd commemoration of Lt Col Thileepan. Jaffna University students took part in three events in Jaffna, Chaavakachcheari and Vavuniyaa North. All mainstream Tamil parties doing politics on Tamil nationalist platform were brought together by the pressure from Tamil media, grassroots activists and the students who were responding to the suppression coming from Colombo. All Tamil dailies published in the Tamil homeland gave prominence to Thileepan Remembrance and highlighted Colombo's harassment against the collective memorialisation events.
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Commemorating sacrifices of Tamil struggle is an inalienable right, not a subject for ‘SL permission’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2020, 09:10 GMT]
Veteran human rights activist and Catholic priest Fr M. Sakthivel has condemned Tamil political parties for having lowered their moral standards to the level of seeking permission from the SL State to commemorate the sacrifices made in the Tamil struggle. His comments come following the members of the political parties writing a letter to the head of the occupying state of genocidal Sri Lanka to lift the ‘ban’ enforced through its judiciary and police on marking Lt Col Thileepan’s 33rd commemoration. Tamils held all their struggle related remembrance events, including all the Mu’l’ livaaykkaal Remembrance events after 2009, as part of their inalienable right as they regard such remembrance as an inalienable exercise of their right of self-determination, Fr Sakthivel observed.
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Diaspora youth group re-aligns Tamil narrative on enforced disappearances

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 September 2020, 22:13 GMT]
The misrepresentation and interpretation of enforced Tamil disappearances and Tamil Prisoners of War (POWs) represent an extension of Colombo’s genocidal agenda which continues to be mirrored through the engagements of the genocidal state’s global counterparts. In that regard, the Swiss-based Tamil Youth group – “Phoenix – the Next Generation” have condemned such internal and external diversions away from the contextualisation of enforced Tamil disappearances as a component of Colombo’s genocidal agenda through a social media initiative coinciding with the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
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Lt Col Thileepan’s 32nd commemoration gains momentum across North-East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 September 2019, 17:49 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in the North and East marked the 32nd annual commemoration of the sacrifice of LTTE’s Jaffna Political Head Lt Col Thileepan (Rasiah Parthipan), who sacrificed his life in a historical dry hunger-strike in 1987, which exposed India’s interests-oriented invasion at that time. Tamil National Peoples’ Front organised a march from Vavuniyaa to Nalloor in the North mobilising the youth with significant participation of women. The Tamil National Alliance marked the event in Ki’linochchi and Batticaloa while the former NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran’s Tamil Makkal Kootani commemorated the remembrance at Point Pedro. The Remembrance event at Nalloor, where Thileepan sacrificed his life, was marked as a joint remembrance event beyond group affinities.
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Pirapaharan’s statements between 1984 and 1993 reproduced in book form in Europe

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 August 2019, 23:55 GMT]
A Switzerland-based Eezham Tamil youth group, ‘Phoenix - the Next Generation’, has photostatically reproduced the rare 314-page compilation officially published by the Headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in September 1993 in Jaffna. The book contains selected letters, interviews and statements of LTTE Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan starting from his first media interview in March 1984. The compilation consists, amongst others, of a letter that declines LTTE representation at a meeting held in New York in May 1985, appeals to the leaders of India and Tamil Nadu during the LTTE-IPKF war in 1987, and a letter of solidarity addressed to South African (ANC) leader, the late Oliver Tambo, in July 1988. The reproduction has been made from a book obtained at the public library of Jaffna in the past. The book, with ID 9907, is no longer accessible at the library.
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SL Police detains Tamil student leaders of Jaffna University after SLA cordon

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 May 2019, 12:13 GMT]
The occupying SL Army has detained the main Tamil student leaders of Jaffna University after deploying a large-scale cordon and search operation along with the SL Police under the pretext of securing the premises from Islamist attackers on Friday. The SLA, using the Emergency Regulations, wants to stop the student mobilisation towards the 10th year remembrance of Tamil genocide on 18 May, fellow student leaders told TamilNet. Jaffna University Student Union President 25-year-old T. Thivakar, who hails from Mullaiththeevu and JUSU Secretary 24-year-old S. Babilraj are the two leaders detained. It is the first time that the SLA has been deployed in a big cordon and search operation inside the University of Jaffna, JUSU members said.
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Sinhala ethnocracy's entrenched insecurity, ultimate spoiler of stability: Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 November 2018, 21:07 GMT]
Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the leader of Tamil National Peoples' Front, was the first Tamil politician to warn – well in advance – that the powers collaborating with the SL State were risking instability in the island. The former Tamil parliamentarian came with the observation, which he has been implying for a long time, also in an interview to TamilNet in September 2018, two weeks ahead of Lt. Col. Thileepan's remembrance in Jaffna. The current political instability, predicted by Gajendrakumar in September, happened within 45 days, sending shockwaves across the international community. In a follow-up interview, just ahead of Maaveerar Remembrance in Jaffna, he indicates that any strategic collaboration between the external powers and the SL State, which is Sinhala-Buddhist ethnocracy in nature, would be doomed to falter, because of its entrenched attitude of insecurity.
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India's RAW behind ‘Tiger identity erasure’ campaign

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 November 2018, 21:15 GMT]
The foreign intelligence agency of India, known as the Research and Analysis Wing’ (RAW), has advised its counterpart in the island to transform Tamil Eelam Maaveerar Naa'l (Heroes Day) as well as all other remembrance days of the LTTE members and cadres into remembrance days bereft of identity, politics and valour. The only way to do this is getting rid of terminology associated with the LTTE, Tamil nationhood, the concept of Tamil valour. Usage of the terms ‘maaveerar’ and ‘Eelam’ should also be avoided, the RAW has advised, according to informed paramilitary sources in the island.
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Thileepan Remembrance in Jaffna underscores need for new emancipation strategies

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 September 2018, 08:24 GMT]
All Tamil parties and movements that orientate their politics on the national liberation of the nation of Eezham Tamils actively took part in an emotional event participated by hundreds of Eezham Tamils on Wednesday at Nalloor in Jaffna. Lt Col Thileepan (Rasaiah Parthipan) sacrificed his life through a 12-day fast-unto-death without food and water in 1987. He was the political head of the LTTE in Jaffna when New Delhi intervened with its military force after entering a State-to-State agreement with Colombo. Thileepan's sacrifice was a crucial historical event in the political emancipation of Eezham Tamils as it exposed the real agenda of the intervening power, which was calling the shots in the island during the times of the Cold War.
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Powers appeasing SL State risk future instability in the island: Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 September 2018, 22:12 GMT]
The Tamil people value the sacrifices made by their liberation movement with the highest respect. However, the SL State and its military show relentless intolerance against every attempt by the Tamils in the North-East to honour the sites of their destroyed monuments. The attitude is counter-productive, not only to the SL State but also to the global actors, who continue to appease the SL government, which refuses to reform itself, alluded Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the leader of Tamil National Peoples' Front, in a recent interview to TamilNet. His comments come after witnessing the hostile acts of the SL military and the SL CID during the annual festival of Nalloor temple in Jaffna this month against the move to preserve the sacred nature of the memorial square of Lt. Col. Thileepan, who sacrificed himself in a fast-unto-death campaign in 1987.
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Diaspora youth organisations re-affirm Tamil sovereignty struggle on Thileepan remembrance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2017, 19:32 GMT]
The spirit of Eezham Tamil national struggle was given a gust of life through the remembrances held in the occupied homeland of Eezham Tamils this week as the people from all walks of life gathered in their hundreds commemorating the resolve and sacrifice made by Lt. Col Thileepan, who sacrificed his life exposing the Indian geo-political agenda in 1987. The political message coming from those who were addressing the Nalloor event was based on Thimphu-principle centred federal discourse. They were also seen urging the Tamil diaspora to adopt the unworkable ‘federal’ demand on the ground to counter the ‘unitary’ paradigm of genocidal Sri Lanka. However, new grassroots Tamil organisations in Tamil diaspora have awaken to the realities and expressed their resolve towards Vaddukkoaddai Resolution based Tamil sovereignty struggle, particularly at the federal State of Switzerland.
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Tamils vow to mobilize against unitary design, mark Lt Col Thileepan’s memorial with reverence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2017, 22:38 GMT]
Hundreds of people attended 30th Remembrance Day of Lt Col Thileepan (Rasaiah Parthipan) on Tuesday in front of Nalloor temple in Jaffna, where the LTTE’s Jaffna Political Head sacrificed his life through a 12-day long fast-unto-death in 1987. The hunger-strike by 24-year-old Thileepan, without food and water, exposed New Delhi’s partnership with Colombo following the Indo-Lanka Accord. Three decades have elapsed, but the external Establishments in ‘strategic partnership’ are still bent on gaining inroad into the Indian Ocean Region island through backing the same genocidal unitary system of Sri Lanka. Eezham Tamils will not succumb to these designs and will continue to resist any move aimed at sustaining the unitary system until the national question of the nation of Eezham Tamils is resolved in a principled way, proclaimed the activists and politicians who spoke at the event in Jaffna.
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30th remembrance of Lt Col Thileepan strengthens resolve among Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2017, 23:30 GMT]
Lt Col Thileepan (Rasaiah Parthipan), who was LTTE's political head in Jaffna, sacrificed his life through a 12-day long fast-unto-death without food and water in September 1987. He had put forward five demands to the Indian Establishment following the signing of Indo-Lanka accord in July 1987 and his fast-unto-death exposed New Delhi and its Colombo-centric geopolitical dealings with the SL State among the grassroots of Eezham Tamils. Three decades on, Eezham Tamils are still dealing with almost the same demands as that were put forward by Thileepan in 1987. The Eezham Tamils waging protests demanding whereabouts of their kith and kin subjected to enforced disappearances and the protests demanding de-militarisation, resettlement and release of political prisoners, are again exposing the Colombo-centric geopolitics of the ‘Strategic partners’, political observers in Jaffna said.
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Rigid military ‘pass system’ continues to restrict freedom of movement in Paduvaankarai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 May 2017, 23:30 GMT]
Nine years have elapsed since the end of war in East. Still, the occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka is controlling freedom of movement in the interior north-western hinterland of Batticaloa district, which is known as Paduvaan-karai. The SL Army personnel manning a check post at Kiraan Bridge are refusing entry to civilian vehicles at random. The Community Based Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations visiting the area are being redirected to Welikanda military base (Polonnaruwa district) with the instruction to secure permission to their entry into Paduvaan-karai in Batticaloa with a pass document. Around 5,000 Tamil families live in the area which comes under Koa'ra'laip-pattu South (Kiraan) division.
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Tamil POWs, political prisoners announce fast unto death

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 November 2015, 23:44 GMT]
Rejecting the offer by the SL State to release them on bail, Tamil prisoners of war and political prisoners on Friday announced that they are going to begin a fast-unto-death protest in the prisons starting from 08 November on Sunday. Giving a last chance to the president, prime minister, attorney general and justice minister of the SL State to conduct negotiations with Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, the Tamil prisoners who are going to commence the hunger-strike said they are determined to wage the struggle. Upon their demise, the SL Prsident Maithiripala Sirisena should come in person to receive their dead bodies and hand them over to the medical faculty of the University of Jaffna and that their organs should be donated or used for medical research, the Tamil prisoners said. “We are determined like Thileepan”, a POW told TamilNet.
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Protesters demand international prosecutions, decry supervision of domestic mechanisms

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 February 2015, 11:31 GMT]
“While it is true that the Tamil people voted in large numbers for President Sirisena, we wish to emphasise that this was merely an anti-Rajapksa vote. We did not vote with the hope of any substantive change resulting from regime change,” said the appeal by the organisers of the massive protest in Jaffna on Tuesday. More than 5,000 students and people from all walks of life in Jaffna took part in the first largest demonstration after the end of genocidal war in Vanni on Tuesday. “International supervision of any domestic mechanism will only serve to waste time,” the appeal by the Jaffna University society said. The procession, which started at the University of Jaffna ended at the remains of the foundation of Thileepan monument at Nalloor.
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Fast-unto-death activist demands New Delhi to respect TN Assembly, boycott CHOGM

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 October 2013, 05:03 GMT]
Putting forward 9 concrete demands, Thoazhar (Comrade) Thiyagu, a veteran Tamil activist from Tamil Nadu, has been on a fast-unto-death campaign since October 01st at Va'l'luvar-koaddam in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. As his campaign entered 6th day on Monday, Thoazhar Thiyagu is determined to take forward the struggle, despite doctors warn him about deteriorating health. The genocidal Sri Lankan State should be suspended from the Commonwealth, the venue for the upcoming CHOGM meet should be shifted away from Sri Lanka and the Indian leaders should not take part if Colombo is to host the meet, are among the top demands of the 9-point list. Prominent activists and leaders of movements and parties have been expressing solidarity with Thoazhar Thiyagu and are accompanying him in observing the fasting campaign.
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Tamil Nadu activists condemn India, USA for imposing 13A on Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 August 2013, 00:01 GMT]
“Northern Provincial Council election is a farce. Conduct UN referendum for Tamil Eelam, NPC elections is only a step further in structural genocide” said an influential section of Tamil activists in Tamil Nadu on Saturday when they came together to stage a protest at Va'l'luvar-koaddam in Chennai organized by the May 17 movement. Condemning the Indian and US establishments for imposing wrong and non-descript solutions on Eezham Tamils, the speakers at the event also blamed the global outfits such as the International Crisis Group (ICG) for advocating solutions within the unitary structure of the genocidal Sri Lankan State.
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Chennai college students on indefinite hunger-strike condemn US resolution

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2013, 18:24 GMT]
Eight students of Loyola College, Chennai, who have begun an indefinite hunger-strike on Friday calling for a UN referendum among the Eezham Tamils, have also condemned the pro-LLRC US resolution to be tabled at Geneva, accusing it of bailing out genocidal Sri Lanka. Speaking to TamilNet, Mr. Britto, one of the protesting students, outlining the demands of the hunger-strike, said that the current US resolution was a farce that would completely cover-up the genocide of the Eezham Tamils and strengthen the hands of the perpetrators. The protestors also told TamilNet if their hunger-strike was not paid heed to by the Central Government, they would undertake a Civil Disobedience campaign throughout Tamil Nadu to boycott paying taxes to the Indian state that is endorsing the genocide of their brethren.
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