Seizure of Indian trawlers, a token action: fishermen representatives

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 February 2011, 00:15 GMT]
Around 500 Eezham Tamil fishing society representatives who gathered at Point Pedro in Vadamarradchi refused Thursday to hand over the poaching Indian trawlers, which they had seized from the intruding Indian fishermen on Tuesday. Declaring that their action against Indian poaching was a token one, the representatives urged immediate action from the Indian authorities. The fishermen representatives also refused to hand over the vessels to Sri Lankan military, urging the concerned authorities to resolve the dispute by civil means.
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India failed to provide alternatives to trawler fishing in the Palk Bay

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 07:51 GMT]
Commenting on the fishermen issue in the Palk Bay, an Eezham Tamil social worker in Jaffna, long covering the crisis, told TamiNet that the Governments in New Delhi and Chennai have failed to take initiatives in providing alternatives to Tamil Nadu’s trawler fishing that had saturated the sustainability of fishing in the Palk Bay. It is not an issue between the fishermen of Tamil Nadu and Eezham alone, but a long existing crisis between the trawler fishermen and country-boat fishermen of Tamil Nadu itself, the activist said. The TN trawlers captured Tuesday in Jaffna, were staying on the sea for two days without getting any catch, before moving towards Jaffna.
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LTTE ban to be challenged in European Court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 00:07 GMT]
The proscription of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the European Union will be challenged in the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg, said Amsterdam based lawyer Victor Koppe while giving an exclusive interview to TamilNet, Tuesday. Unlike the previous legal instances, now there is direct community involvement. Eezham Tamils in the legal field are actively involved in making this case, and the move is backed by a democratically elected body of Eezham Tamils in Switzerland, the Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils (SCET), said Arulnithila Deivendran, the spokesperson for the SCET. The attitude of governments to negate the sovereignty of Eezham Tamils by deliberately confusing it with the LTTE, has prompted the legal action, she further said.
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Eezham fishermen seize trawlers with 100 Indian fishermen in the seas off Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 11:56 GMT]
18 fishing trawlers operated by more than 112 fishermen from Naakappaddinam of Tamil Nadu state of India, destroying the livelihood of Eezham fishermen by bottom-trawling, have been seized by the local fishermen in the seas off Point Pedro Tuesday afternoon. The trawlers are being towed to Munai in Point Pedro by the fishermen, a fishing society representative told TamilNet. The latest development comes following repeated complaints by the local fishermen over a long period of time about the fishing trawlers destroying the fishing tools and the resources in the sea. The fishermen representatives further said around 100 Tamil Nadu fishermen were in their custody and they were being looked after well.
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I'rakka'ndi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 07:04 GMT]
The descending sector
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Don’t fuse truth seeking with criminal justice, reconciliation: Craig Scott

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 February 2011, 08:51 GMT]
In a paper published recently by Osgoode Hall Law School, York University of Canada on The Transnationalization of truth: A Meditation on Sri Lanka and Honduras, Craig Scott, Professor of Law, said “not to fuse truth-seeking processes with either criminal justice or reconciliation processes with special reference to the Sri Lanka context.” Meanwhile, commenting on the concerted efforts of some sitting and former US diplomats to save the Rajapaksa regime and the unitary character of the genocidal state of Sri Lanka, through vague solutions about which they themselves are not clear, and through continued ‘counterinsurgency approaches of ‘terrorising and tiring’ Eezham Tamils, the TamilNet political commentator in Colombo said that ‘pragmatic’ changes should first come from the US in recognizing the nation of Eezham Tamils in the island.
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Jaffna fishermen urge Tamil Nadu fishermen to investigate SL conspiracy

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 February 2011, 07:41 GMT]
There is a pattern in the attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen by SL Navy and in the destruction of fishing nets belonging to Eezham Tamils by some trawlers that seem to be coming from the Indian coast. Whenever the trawlers come very close to the coast of the country of Eezham Tamils to destroy the nets, nothing happens to them. But, on the other hand, the Tamil Nadu trawlers and even country boats are attacked by SL Navy either in mid sea or sometimes well within the Indian waters. Whether any fleet operates in the Palk Bay in the service of the SL Navy has to be thoroughly investigated by the Tamil Nadu fishermen, urged the fishermen of Jaffna, pointing out that the unfolding developments are accompanied by large scale colonisation of the coasts of Jaffna and Vanni by Sinhala fishermen.
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Colombo exploits Buddhism to consecrate genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 February 2011, 22:49 GMT]
The political and military connotations with which a sapling of the Bo tree at Anuradhapura was paraded in Jaffna on Wednesday, before presenting it to Bodh Gaya in India to mark the 2600th year of the attainment of Buddhahood, alienated Eezham Tamils of the land, smacked of consecration of the genocide against them and involved India as a party, commented a Jaffna university academic. A modern ‘inscription’ erected at Maathakal, Jaffna, to mark the occasion read in corrupt Tamil, that the sapling was brought to Dambapanni (a wrong identification) for peace and to create goodwill among the ‘Buddhists’ of the island, before presenting it to Bodh Gaya in Damba-diva [India], under the guidance of president Mahinda Rajapaksa, of ‘Universal Acclaim,’ Lord of the Three ‘Sinhala’ Countries [the island], who routed out 30 years of ‘terrorism’ and united the island.
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Maalu-vaadi,
Paravan-vaadi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2011, 20:43 GMT]
The fishing camp
The camp of the Paravar (maritime) community
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Mahaaweli Sinhala farmers to be settled in Vavuniyaa, Polonnaruwa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2011, 09:20 GMT]
100,000 families under the Mahaaweli scheme don’t have enough land. Steps will be taken to provide them with land in the Vavuniyaa and Polonnaruwa districts, said D. M. C. Dissanayake of Sri Lanka’s Director General of the Mahaweli Authority, according to The Island, Tuesday. The north has become a dumping ground of Sinhalese unwanted in the south so that the double purpose of getting rid of them as well as terrorising and subjugating or chasing away the Tamils from their country could be achieved, says resettlement officials in the north.
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Another former US envoy goes to Chennai to save Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 17:42 GMT]
Former US envoy to Sri Lanka Teresita Schaffer, speaking at a forum on ‘US perspective on security in South Asian region with special emphasis on Nepal and Sri Lanka’ in Chennai on Monday, ruled out American backing for Tamil Eelam, reported Express News Service, Tuesday. The ex envoy was harping on genuine reconciliation, focus on war crimes investigation and shared her apprehension that “If the reconciliation process is allowed to slide, then some new internal conflict may spring up,” but conceded that she had no idea of how to approach. “I don’t have any clear sense on how one can persuade the Sri Lankan leader on reconciliation,” the ex envoy said. Obviously the helplessness comes by refusing to recognize long-existing realities, commented a political observer in Chennai, long familiar with the competitive Indo-US deceit on Eezham Tamils.
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Resist to the end: US envoy tells Egyptian dictator

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2011, 19:07 GMT]
‘Resist to the end,’ advised Obama-Clinton administration’s envoy to the Egyptian dictator Mubarak who is currently facing democracy uprising from the people of Egypt. "President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical: it's his opportunity to write his own legacy,” said Frank Wisner, a retired diplomat of the US State Department, now sent as an envoy by Obama to meet Mubarak, reports Robert Fisk writing in The Independent, Monday. In February 2009, when Eezham Tamils and their fighters were surrounded by the genocidal military of Sri Lanka, another former US State Department official Bennett Ramberg wanted the war to be ‘finished to the end.’ “Ethnic civil wars end more durably when there is a decisive military victory,” he said. Yet another former US diplomat Armitage recently went to Colombo reportedly to bail out Rajapaksa.
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Flood challenges ‘development’ theories applied to Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2011, 08:42 GMT]
The helpless situation caused by floods in the country of Eezham Tamils challenges the ‘development’ theories of the West and India in approaching the post-war national question in the island of Sri Lanka with ‘development sans political solution.’ Neither the ‘corporate philanthropy’ nor the international infrastructure pouring money for ‘stability’ of Colombo could help the repeatedly affected people to face even natural disasters and manage their rehabilitation. When the genocidal State and its occupying military are busy in scheming subjugation and demographic changes, the flood exposes the bankruptcy of the ‘development imperialists’ who neither recognize national political organisation of Eezham Tamils nor arrange independent space for diaspora help, nor intervene directly, but leaves everything in the hands of genocidal Colombo, commented an academic of the Eastern University.
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‘Nazi-style registration of civilians in Jaffna’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 February 2011, 12:08 GMT]
The occupying SL military in Jaffna is directly engaged in registration of individuals and families in the Jaffna peninsula in recent times. Everyday, covering area by area, the SL military is distributing forms to collect information and is insisting of family photographs along with children to be given to them. The activity of the SL military, reminding the Nazi practice before the Holocaust, creates terror in the minds of the people in Jaffna, said a human rights activist in Jaffna. Meanwhile, undeclared curfew is imposed in Jaffna by the SL military and police, who have brought the street movement of people almost to an end after 6:00 p.m. by harassing them through numerous checkpoints after dusk.
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Thalaiyaa'li-veddai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2011, 16:35 GMT]
The open land of the deity Vairavar holding a head on his hand
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'Wish and reality of Sri Lanka's Independence'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2011, 03:08 GMT]
“I wish all Sri Lankans around the world a happy celebration and continued peace and prosperity in the coming year," said a statement harping on "post-war reconciliation" released from the office of the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on the eve of the independence day of Sri Lanka on 4th February. But the imposed celebration was largely ignored inside the island and outside, the day drew protests across the world by Eezham Tamils. “Sri Lankan High Commission has invited the Sri Lankan community for a reception to celebrate their independence. We will assemble outside the embassy to condemn the Sri Lankans celebrating while denying the Tamils their right to independence,” the call for protest in London said. Demonstrations were held in London, Toronto and in Oslo. Addressing protesters in Oslo, Conservative Party (Høyre) leader Erna Solberg called for war-crimes investigations.
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US State Department plays ‘ultimate saviour of genocidal Colombo’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 February 2011, 08:34 GMT]
Those who are guilty of war crimes naturally would try to blame others and would do everything to save their skins. If at all the LTTE was responsible of any war crimes, it is not there now. But the others responsible are roaming free. The US Asst Secretary of State Robert Blake often calls for ‘some’ accountability. Some accountability comes only when some of those internationally responsible for the crimes bow down first taking responsibility, and desist from further contribution to genocide and denial of independence to Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo, responding to Mr. Blake passing “large part of the responsibility” for the civilian casualty in the Vanni war on the LTTE. In a way Blake in his recent interview concedes that he and his government were a party to the war and thus a party to the war crimes, the writer points out.
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Minni-ni'raignchaan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 February 2011, 05:32 GMT]
The place abounding with Minni plant or creeper
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Hasty Sinhala colonisation wedges north and east at Kokku’laay

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 January 2011, 12:40 GMT]
Within the last three weeks, 240 Sinhala families were hastily settled at Kokku’laay, a narrow strip of land, which is the only link of contiguity between the northern and eastern flanks of the country of Eezham Tamils in the island. This pivotal conspiracy of Colombo to demographically de-link the contiguity of the two Tamil provinces is being implemented by SL colonial governor in the north, Maj. Gen. Chandrasri and by SL ‘Rehabilitation’ minister Rishard Baddiudeen. Colombo lies that it is only ‘resettlement’ of Sinhalese, but except one or two families others are outsiders and the 43 original Tamil families resettled among Sinhalese now live in fear. The demographic wedging takes place at a time when New Delhi, advocating ‘home grown’ solution, is allegedly engaged in pressurizing Tamil politicians to commit to the de-link through their own mouth.
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Thean-thookki

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 January 2011, 00:14 GMT]
The place of Thean-thookki trees
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