Mining firm facing resistance in Thirukkoayil shifts exploitation area with fresh tactics

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 May 2018, 16:18 GMT]
Damsila Exports Pvt Ltd., a big company exporting phlogopite mica and other minerals from the island, has shifted its plan of excavating Ilmenite resources in Thirukkoayil North of Ampaa'rai district after the people mobilised against the move in December 2017. The company is now trying to deceive the people along the southern sector of the same division, Tamil activists in Thirukkoayil said. Damsila Exports is the premier mica mining and export company headquartered in Colombo. It is exporting phlogopite mica from the island under semi-processed and powder form to Japan, China, Germany and India. At present, about 65% of phlogopite mica product is sent to Japan according to the website of the company.
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No jobs, no compensation for lands seized by CEB in Champoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 May 2018, 20:46 GMT]
The Ceylon Electricity Board has failed to compensate for agricultural and residential lands it had seized from Eezham Tamils in Champoor of Moothoor East in the district of Trincomalee. The company owned by the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has also discriminated Tamils in providing jobs during the construction phase despite its earlier promise to give preference to the people of the area in employment during the construction of the plant and after. Nothing seems to materialise, but the construction work of the plant is almost 40% complete, said Rural Development Society representatives in Champoor.
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Indian, U.S. Establishments compete to influence modus operandi of Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 May 2018, 13:45 GMT]
The grassroots sentiment of Eezham Tamils, which originates from the opposition to ITAK politicians such as R. Sampanthan addressing Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance, is being tactically deployed by an ITAK circle closely working with the Western Establishment against NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran. At the same time, a group of personalities operating from the overseas, allegedly trapped into the sphere of the Indian Intelligence, is also trying to influence the discourse countering the ITAK circle, an informed political source in Jaffna told TamilNet on Thursday. Commenting, Tamil political observers in Jaffna said both the Indian and the Western Establishments want Eezham Tamils to mark Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance as a mourning ritual akin to that of 2004 Tsunami victims, bereft of any struggle-centric message.
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Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance in Vanni evolves beyond sphere of electoral parties

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 May 2018, 22:05 GMT]
Eezham Tamil journalists and a large section of the people were outraged about Tamil politician R. Sampanthan making the main venue of Mu'l'livaaykkaal Tamil Genocide Remembrance held last year in Mullaiththeevu as a platform deliver a speech. The Opposition Leader who is also a long-time parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance was delivering a message from the so-called international community. This year, the public outrage has evolved into a political movement against all Tamil parties and politicians, who are locked in the electoral politics and particularly those who were not physically present in Vanni in May 2009, using the memorial event as a platform to deliver their ‘messages’.
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Occupying SL military dreams about assimilating Tamils: civil society activist in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 May 2018, 21:09 GMT]
Major General Darshana Hettiarachchi, the Jaffna commander of the occupying Sinhala military, recently went on record stating that the Tamil people in Jaffna attended the Vesak exhibition organised by his troops in multiple times higher numbers than what the Tamil national parties and movements in Jaffna were able to draw towards their meetings. Tamil activists in Jaffna have rebuked the SL Jaffna commander blaming him for politicising the curiosity of Tamil visitors to a circus-like event with that of their cultural and political belongingness. The SL military commander in Jaffna could only assimilate Tamils from their national struggle in his dreams, commented 39-year old grassroots activist Parthipan Varatharajan on Monday.
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TID harasses disability activists in Batticaloa with increased surveillance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 May 2018, 21:22 GMT]
The much-feared ‘Terrorist Investigation Division’ officers attached to various police stations in the district of Batticaloa have increased their surveillance on the activists of Disabled Peoples’ Organisations (DPOs) in ten of the fourteen administrative divisions in the district in recent days. The majority of 8,600 beneficiaries organised through the DPOs are disabled ex-LTTE members, according to the civil sources at Batticaloa District Secretariat. Already, one-third of disabled LTTE members are reluctant to be associated with the DPO. For example, there are 530 disabled persons in Koa'ra'laip-pattu South (Kiraan) division. But, only 300 of them have registered themselves with the DPO in the division, the sources further said.
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Ploy of ‘development’ by powers abetting Colombo aggravates ethnic discrimination

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 May 2018, 22:28 GMT]
SL Minister for Housing and Construction Sajith Premadasa has allocated new housing schemes with modern infrastructure facilities for two ‘model villages’ for Sinhala settlers in Trincomalee while ignoring the housing needs of the war-affected and resettled Tamils in Moothoor East division of the same district, Rural Development Society activists in Champoor complain. The mainstream political parties from South are competing in winning the hearts and minds of Sinhala settlers and the foreign powers locked in a ‘development’ race in their greed for geopolitical space in the strategically located island in the Indian Ocean. As a result, all the SL ministries, departments of the SL State and the occupying SL military are deployed in a coordinated and accelerated demographic genocide in the East.
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SL President's secretary threatens Jaffna University against May 18 Remembrance statue

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 May 2018, 23:15 GMT]
Kalupage Austin Fernando, the secretary to SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, has threatened the Jaffna University administration and the student community not to embarrass the SL President by proceeding with their plan of launching a memorial statue within the premises of the University of Jaffna in remembrance of Eezham Tamils who perished in the genocidal war in 2009. A highly placed source at the administration of the University of Jaffna told TamilNet that Mr Fernando as threatening the university community in a teleconference meeting at the presence of Vice-Chancellor Professor R. Vigneswaran. Austin Fernando, who maintains a close rapport with the Sinhala Buddhist Establishment and Dayaka of several Buddhist temples, is also well connected to foreign Powers influencing the affairs of the genocidal State in Colombo.
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Army of Sinhala traders desecrate Ko'neasvaram temple in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 April 2018, 21:40 GMT]
More than 65 shops have been put up in the vicinity of Thiruk-koa'neasvaram temple by an army of invading Sinhala traders causing several problems to the physical and spiritual environment of the historic temple of Eezham Tamils, K. Arulsubramaniam, the chairman of temple trustees told TamilNet this week.
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Don't deviate from agreed venue for memorial statue, JUSU warns VC of Jaffna University

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2018, 23:16 GMT]
The Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) has conveyed an ultimatum to Prof Ratnam Vignswaran, the vice chancellor of Jaffna University and the administration under him, to respect what they had previously agreed with the student leaders on launching a statue in remembrance of those who sacrificed themselves confronting the genocidal onslaught on Vanni in 2009. The University administration and the JUSU came to an understanding in a meeting on 19 April that the students could proceed with their plan of launching Mu'l'livaaykkaal memorial monument. The only dispute they had was on the venue, and it was the university administration that proposed the site to be alongside the Maaveerar memorial statue. But, now the University administration has come under pressure from the University Grant Commission and the SL Ministry of Higher Education, the student leaders said.
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Eezham Tamils differ with SL State on shifting 2018 May Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2018, 20:33 GMT]
The May Day is universally observed on May 01. It cannot be changed according to the whims and fancies of non-secular Establishments and States, opined Eezham Tamil trade unionists and political activists in the North-East. They were responding to the move by the Colombo government to mark the day on May 7th instead of on May 01st following the advice coming from the Mahahanayake Theras of the Sinhala Buddhist Theravada Establishment in the South.
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Uprooted Tamils embark on courageous sea landing, SL navy restrained at Ira'nai-theevu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2018, 21:35 GMT]
Four hundred uprooted Eezham Tamils, who have been waging a continuous protest since May 01, 2017 at Muzhangkaavil along the western coast of Vanni, embarked on a historic sea journey to the twin-islet of Ira'nai-theevu on the 359th day of their protest on Wednesday. They were vowing to resettle back in their native place braving any objection coming from the occupying SL Navy, The Sinhala sailors present at the naval detachment restrained as their officers were embarrassed by the courage of the people. The people went there in 46 boats. Seven Catholic priests, including their parish priest Fr Arudchelvan, accompanied them. The people are now staying at the premises of the Church of Our Lady of Holy Rosary and at the Catholic Tamil Mixed School in the twin-islet, which is located 12 nautical miles from the coast of the mainland in Mannaar facing the Palk Bay.
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Illegal logging accompanying SL militarisation threatens agricultural ecosystem in Moothoor East

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2018, 16:52 GMT]
Colombo's military and police are functioning as brokers for intruding woodcutters coming from other areas to collect timber by logging the trees in SL military occupied Tamil villages in Moothoor East of Trincomalee. The farmer's associations representing the resettling uprooted Eezham Tamils in Champoor, who are struggling to resume their lost agricultural livelihood, complain that recent deforestation has become one of the most severe problems on par with the militarisation of Moothoor East.
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NPC Minister walks out as SL Governor ditches CM's recommendations on SLAS transfers

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 April 2018, 22:26 GMT]
The occupying unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka is bent on curbing the powerless Northern Provincial Council from carrying out its work through deploying the colonial Governor, who is controlling the army of SLAS officials serving the NPC in various positions. Be it a military governor or a civilian governor — regardless of the person being Sinhala Catholic or Tamil-speaking — it is the role of the SL Governor coming under the direct control of Colombo, which is causing headache to the elected Chief Minister who want to exercise the powers vested in him. The Tamil criticism target the underlying paradigm, commented Tamil political activists in Jaffna after witnessing the recent administrative disputes taking place between Justice C.V. Wigneswaran and Reginald Cooray, the SL Governor to North.
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JUSU urges Tamils to mark Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance in its true spirit of uprising

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 April 2018, 21:15 GMT]
The Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) has urged Eezham Tamils to mark May 18 Genocide Day as a Day of Uprising without deviating from its true spirit. May 18 is a day of remembrance as well as a day of Tamil national uprising, the JUSU said in a statement signed by its president and secretary on Wednesday. The political movements of Tamils world over should jointly mark the day under the symbolism of Mu'l'livaaykkaal Genocide Remembrance. The Tamil movements and the younger generation should inspire Tamils to be themselves on their own terms, the JUSU said.
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Cooray emerges as broker of civil contracts to occupying Sinhala military in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2018, 23:03 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka's colonial governor to North, Reginald Cooray, is planning to allocate projects to occupying Sinhala military through the recently elected civic bodies in the North. The move comes after hundreds of Sinhala soldiers were engaged on Dengue prevention programme under the so-called National Dengue Prevention Campaign along with medical officers and Public Health Inspectors. Mr Cooray has also influenced the Catholic Establishment in Jaffna to hire SL military for construction work, Tamil officials at the District Secretariat in Jaffna told TamilNet this week.
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SL Resettlement Ministry twists figures on lands seized by Sinhala military in North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 April 2018, 23:31 GMT]
The SL Ministry of Resettlement, which has become a money laundering agent transferring foreign aid intended for resettlement to the consolidation of Sinhala militarisation in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, twisted the figures of military-held lands in the Northern Province. The SL Ministry was manipulating the number as 11,528 acres, a District Secretary told TamilNet on condition of anonymity. The figure is only 18% of the total military occupied lands as registered by the provincial authorities, the source further commented.
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SL military brings back paramilitary violence to control peaceful protests as NGO tricks fail

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 April 2018, 23:18 GMT]
An unidentified operative with alleged paramilitary background violently threatened the mothers of enforced disappeared Tamils in Mullaiththeevu on Thursday when the protesters were marking 400 days of continuous protest. The agent, armed with a knife, entered the hut of the protest around 7:00 p.m., cut the main placard, destroyed a chair and smashed the simmering stock pots. He was pointing the sword-like knife at the protesters and demanding them to “end the protest once and for all”. 47-year-old Eeswary Mariyasuresh, the chairperson of the protesters told TamilNet that the forces who want to stop their protest have resorted to deploy violence and target those who come forward to give leadership to the protesters. She survived a targeted assault on her also in August 2017. There is a pattern of SL military intelligence taking over the containment process from Colombo-centric NGOs.
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Fisheries society cautiously welcomes Court decision on fishing access to Naayaa'ru Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2018, 11:40 GMT]
After dragging the case, filed by the intruding Sinhala fishermen against the rights of native Tamil fishermen accessing Kokku'laay fishing coast, for two years the courts in Mullaiththeevu has finally instructed the Divisional Secretariat to demarcate new points of access separate from those used by the Sinhala fishermen along the coast between Naayaa'ru and Mukaththuvvaaram on Friday.While welcoming the belated decision by the SL Court, St. Antony's Fisheries Society leaders, who have been defending the rights of Tamil fishers to the coast of Naayaa'ru, questioned the ability of the civil authorities to implement the decision. A similar instruction given by the Courts earlier was not respected, and the intruders went to the extent of filing yet another case. Until Tamil leaders manage to put an active end to the ongoing Sinhala occupation, the struggle will continue, they said.
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Muslim politicians block relocation of SL military base in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2018, 21:34 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military in Batticaloa is under pressure to abandon its plan of relocating one of its artillery bases 18 km north of Batticaloa city as the Tamil-speaking Muslim villagers have been protesting against the move and their politicians have taken the issue seriously with the Colombo regime, informed sources in Batticaloa said. Rauff Hakeem, a cabinet minister in the SL government and Ali Zahir Moulana, an SLFP parliamentarian from Ea'raavoor, have been exerting pressure on the Colombo government against the planned military base at Punnaik-kudaa. Mr Hakeem seems to have managed to stop the move after making it as one of his key demands in the dealings with SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe before extending his support against the no-confidence motion in the SL Parliament, the sources further said.
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