Chain of protests in London against repression of students in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2012, 11:07 GMT]
A series of protests have been organized outside the British Prime Minister’s Office in 10 Downing Street, London since Monday to condemn the repression of the Jaffna University students by the occupying Sinhala military. Condemning the arrests and detentions of the students and the Sinhala military’s systematic assaults on the civil rights of the Eezham Tamils as a part of the genocide of the Tamil nation, the protestors urged UK and the International Community to ensure the immediate release of the arrested students and to safeguard the democratic rights of the Eezham Tamil nation in the island.
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SLA summons 4 girl students, house-by-house intimidation to resume university

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 December 2012, 20:31 GMT]
The occupying genocidal military of Sri Lanka now engages in entering each and every house of the Jaffna University students to individually intimidate them to drop the protest and to return to the university or face dire consequences. The Vice Chancellor Prof Vasanthi Arasaratnam installed by colonial Colombo, most of the council members appointed by the regime or planted by collaborating paramilitary and some external intelligence agencies, and the threatened Deans are forced to connive with the new paradigm of occupying military running the university, news sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, in addition to the key student leaders of the university detained for ‘rehabilitation,’ the SL military has freshly demanded the submission of four girl students by their parents.
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New Zealand politicians, Peoples Forum mean action on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 December 2012, 10:13 GMT]
UN internal review report is clear on the failure of the UN. We will not lie low. We will press for full inquiry and suitable action on those who connived at the human disaster–a blot on the civilized world in the 21st century, said New Zealand’s Green Party parliamentarian, Ms Jan Logie, at the Universal Human Rights Day observations organized by Peoples Forum in Auckland. What is happening in Sri Lanka is akin to what is happening in Palestine. On CHOGM, we will do everything possible to see that countries respecting democracy do not attend, the MP further said adding that she would draw the attention of the NZ government through an adjournment motion in the parliament on the new wave of oppression on Tamil university students and youth.
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SLA conscripted Tamil females admitted at Ki'linochchi hospital in mentally affected state

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 December 2012, 11:59 GMT]
21 of around 100 Tamil girls, who were conscripted to Sri Lankan military in Vanni, were admitted in Ki’linochchi hospital in a mentally affected state on Tuesday night around 11:00 p.m. by the SL military from Paarathipuram in Ki'linochchi, parents of the victims told TamilNet. In the meantime, TNA parliamentarian Sritharan was at the hospital struggling to get permission to witness the plight of the victims. But, around 30 SL military personnel guarding the hospital were not allowing him to independently witness the state of the victims, the parliamentarian told TamilNet.
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TNPF condemns Sampanthan’s statement on SL military, LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 December 2012, 00:58 GMT]
The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) on Tuesday strongly condemned the SL parliamentary speech made by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan last Friday. Mr. Sampanthan had said that the TNA was not demanding the complete withdrawal of the SL military from the Tamil territory and that the LTTE had had earned its destruction by being a ‘terrorist’ organization not observing human rights and democracy and by engaging in the killing of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala leaders. The statement coming from the leader of the TNA should be taken as the policy stand of the TNA. Neither the constituent parties of the TNA nor its parliamentary members have so far contradicted the statement, said the TNPF press release, signed by its president Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and secretary, Selvarasa Kajendran.
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Top misled EU to err on Tamils: Srinivasan tells Oslo Club session on Nobel peace award

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 December 2012, 18:31 GMT]
The European Union listening to wrong advice from the top and proscribing the Tamil movement was a serious mistake that disrupted peace, said Srinivasa Rao Thangavelu, a grassroot peace ambassador touring world, speaking at a brief session held at Café Nobel in Hotel Opera, by Oslo International Club together with Brussels Alumni, right before the torchlight march honouring Nobel Peace Prize award on Monday. The session was on “Creating lasting peace: top-down and bottom-up.” This time’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to European Union. According to EU Commission President, the EU brings lasting peace among former enemies who fought, among others, two world wars. Usually Norwegians conduct a torchlight parade to honour the Peace Prize winners. But this time there were two: one on Sunday opposing the award going to the EU and the other on Monday honouring the EU.
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Colombo hatches new strategies in genocidal war, sidelines EPDP

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 December 2012, 11:10 GMT]
One of the new strategies of Colombo in waging its on-going genocidal war against Eezham Tamils is tagging spontaneous uprisings resulting from its genocide in the island as linked to ‘diaspora terrorism’. Colombo’s strategy is nothing but a manifestation of the attitude of the guilt-filled International Community of Establishments (ICE) and its groups, outfits etc., that see the diaspora as their enemy and attempt to silence the diaspora opinion by projecting it as ‘linked’ to ‘terrorism,’ political observers in the island said. Meanwhile, Colombo now sidelines the EPDP and cultivates its own collaborators in the North, the observers further said, citing many recent developments. ‘Use and dump’ will not stop with Karuna, Pillaiyaan and Douglas, but would proceed even to those who were long recruited for the agenda of the ICE, the observers further commented.
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UN representatives see fabricated ‘civil society’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 December 2012, 00:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s permanent representative at the UN, Palitha Kohona, brought resident representatives of the UN in 13 countries, including Japan, Italy and South Africa to Jaffna on Satuday. The team during its visit was shown with a fabricated civil society that praised the ‘development’ of Colombo in Jaffna, news sources in Jaffna said. The team held talks with the occupying SL governor in the North, Maj. Gen G.A. Chandrasri and the supporters of the EPDP collaborating with Colombo, who were presented to the visiting team as the ‘civil society’ of Jaffna. However, the visiting UN representatives, while speaking to the Bishop of Jaffna said that had an impression of the true situation as they had already met the TNA and various others in Colombo.
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Britain locally failing in nation building advises others: The Guardian

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 December 2012, 01:37 GMT]
“Communal rioting in two cities. Bricks and bottles thrown and civic buildings wrecked. Flags torn down and 15 police injured. Local politicians forced to go into hiding. It happens all over the world, but this week it happened in the United Kingdom, evidence of continuing lack of community concord in Northern Ireland,” says an article appeared in The Guardian on Thursday. “The Troubles in Northern Ireland are not on a par with those afflicting states in the Middle East. But they remain unresolved and reflect a real British failure at local "nation-building". Belfast is still the only city outside Israel that must erect walls to keep warring communities apart. The lack of communal accord should evoke modesty from London towards the similar troubles of others. How dare we lecture them on reconciliation,” the article questioned.
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TID interrogators fabricate accusation against 14 students in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 December 2012, 01:28 GMT]
The ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Department operated by the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry is engaged in fabricating a false accusation against 13 students of the University of Jaffna and a few other students in the peninsula, informed sources close to paramilitary circles in Vavuniyaa said. The TID interrogators were working on a false accusation that ‘instructions’ and ‘money’ were provided by the Tamil diaspora in the West to observe Heroes Day in the homeland. Already, nine students of the University of Jaffna are illegally detained by TID interrogators at Vavuniyaa. According to news sources in Jaffna, two student leaders chose to seek humanitarian protection with the SL Human Rights Commission office in Jaffna on Friday. Two more students from the ‘wanted list’ of the TID are yet to seek protection, news sources in Jaffna said.
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South Africa rejects Silva for deputy ambassadorship?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2012, 17:59 GMT]
Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), a non-profit group that promotes human rights and rule of law in South Africa, noting that South Africa's President is constitutionally mandated, in terms of section 84(2)(h) of the Constitution, to either receive and recognize foreign diplomats or to decline the sending state’s request, and asserting that "[a]uthoritative and extensive information, including a high-level UN Secretary-General’s report, exists linking General Silva to the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sri Lankan civil war," concludes "General Silva [as] ineligible for the nominated diplomatic post," and that South Africa is compelled to refuse to receive and recognize him as such." SALC said it has learnt that "South Africa has declined to receive General Silva, although there is no official confirmation of this."
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Release arrested Tamil students immediately: Paul Murphy, MEP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2012, 09:26 GMT]
Conveying his solidarity with students’ protests in Jaffna, Paul Murphy, MEP, in a statement demanded the immediate release of the arrested Tamil students and political prisoners. In a solidarity message sent to an emergency demonstration organized outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London on Friday, Mr. Murphy said "I express my solidarity with the protest taking place against the arrest of Tamil students in Sri Lanka. I demand that the Sri Lankan government release all those arrested immediately. The arrest of these students under the Prevention of Terrorism Act just for participating in a peaceful protest shows the extent of how much the democratic rights are under attack in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government must end this immediately and release all political prisoners.”
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Shame on Norway for being silent on Sri Lanka: Red party leader backing Jaffna students

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2012, 07:31 GMT]
Addressing the youth demonstrators in front of the Norwegian parliament on Tuesday, protesting the SL military atrocities committed on the Jaffna University students, the leader of the Norwegian Red Party and an elected representative of the Norwegian Council of Eezham Tamils (NCET), Bjørnar Moxnes, said: “Norway has had a special role as facilitator of the peace process till 2008. This gives us a special responsibility. Unfortunately, the Red-Green government of Norway has chosen to be very silent against Sri Lanka. This is a shame for Norway.” During this week, demonstrations showing solidarity with the Jaffna University students took place in 7 countries, Canada, Norway, UK, Australia, Switzerland, France and Germany.
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Sri Lanka's alleged war-criminal inspects UN Lebanon mission

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 December 2012, 01:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and ex-Major General in Sri Lankan Army (SLA), Shavendra Silva, under whose command the SLA's 58th division allegedly committed war crimes during the last months of Sri Lanka's civil war, is "visiting and even inspecting the UN Mission in Lebanon UNIFIL from November 28 through December 4, 2012," Inner City Press (ICP) reported. While the recent Petrie report accused the UN of "massive and system wide failure to prevent the slaughter of an estimated 40,000 ethnic Tamils in five short months," the UN continues to allow an alleged criminal to penetrate and to engage in UN's official affairs, ICP said.
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SL police directs Medical Dean to hand over students to SL military intelligence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2012, 20:12 GMT]
People of Jaffna were shocked to see Prof Balakumaran, the Medical Faculty Dean of the University of Jaffna under pressure, handing over five students of his faculty directly to Sri Lanka’s military intelligence on Thursday. Another student of the Science Faculty was handed over by his father. When the students were first taken to the SL police at Koappaay, the police refused to take charge of them saying that they had no ‘instructions’ and directed the university authorities to take the students to Military Intelligence headquarters in Jaffna. The students who were handed over were immediately taken to Vavuniyaa where a notorious unit of Colombo’s White Van defence functions. While escorting the students the Medical Faculty dons scared of even taking the students in their cars asked them to come in motorbikes.
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Sri Lanka intensifies terror campaign against Tamil students

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2012, 14:20 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has officially informed the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna to hand over 10 more students of the university, in addition to the three already in detention. The wanted list includes the leader of the student union, student leaders of the faculties and five students from the Medical Faculty. Meanwhile, following individual threats to the faculty Deans by the occupying SL military, the Dean of the Medical Faculty, along with some lecturers, attempt to take the five Medical Faculty students to the SL police. Colombo’s agents also pressurise the Medical Faculty to abandon the other faculties and to announce cancellation of the student protest through the Sinhala students admitted to the faculty.
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Jaffna demonstration backing students demands IC action, appeals to Tamil youth outside

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2012, 10:19 GMT]
In an impressive show of solidarity on Tuesday, the TNPF-called demonstration in Jaffna condemning the attack on Jaffna university students and the arrest of student leaders by the occupying forces of Sri Lanka, was actively participated by the mainstream TNA, University Teachers Association, University Students Union, Jaffna Chamber of Commerce, Medical Association, Lawyers Association and other civil society organisations, besides progressive leftist party representatives from the South. The demonstrators demanded the IC to immediately recognize the nation, territoriality and right of self-determination of Tamils in order to ensure their safety and democratic rights. Questioning the trustworthiness of the IC, the demonstrators appealed to Tamil youth in the diaspora and in Tamil Nadu to take up continued agitations to the edification of the IC.
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Maldives cancels airport agreement with Indian corporate

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2012, 00:13 GMT]
The Republic of Maldives announced on Monday that it would take back the operations of the international airport at Male from the Indian corporate GMR Group with effect from Saturday, cancelling its agreement for a US $ 511 million project. According to media reports, New Delhi threatens that it would consider freezing aid to Maldives, especially a US $ 25 million loan immediately needed by the Maldives for the payment of salaries to its civil servants. But the general public and businessmen in the Maldives feel that it is a big victory for their efforts in freeing their airport from the clutches of the Indian corporate. The agreement with GMR Group was signed in the times of the earlier president, Mohamed Nasheed.
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SL military threatens senior faculty members of Jaffna University

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2012, 09:42 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka individually approached the Deans and former Deans of all the faculties of the University of Jaffna to threaten them not to take up the issue of the students arrested following the Heroes Day observations, news sources in Jaffna said. Parallely, the military also went in search of a student leader at Thiruvaiyaa'ru in Ki'linochchi last night. The University remains vacated as student leaders are forced into hiding. A protest demonstration by the Medical Faculty of the university scheduled for Monday was cancelled, as the Administration of the university advised against it, citing ‘secret negotiations’ taking place between the university and the occupying military at the Palaali base. However, the University of Jaffna Teachers Association is firm that all the arrested students have to be released without charges, the news sources further said.
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Tamil parties missed directing USA on LLRC: Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2012, 01:22 GMT]
Had the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) been firm on the stand of Eezham Tamils, the USA couldn’t have ended up with the LLRC solution at Geneva, but the TNA blindly backed the US resolution at Geneva. It is after the Geneva resolution the land grab and the structural genocide of Eezham Tamils by the Sri Lankan state got accelerated, said former TNA parliamentarian and TNPF leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam in his second part of interview to TamilNet's Palaka'ni, covering current political situation of Eezham Tamils. The US-backed resolution was passed in Geneva essentially to resolve the Tamil issue in the island, but it is not serving the Tamil issue, he further said.
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