Sri Lanka must be investigated for crime of genocide: London conference

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 November 2012, 18:09 GMT]
The global conference organized by British Tamils’ Forum (BTF) and All Party Parliamentary Groups for Tamils (APPGT), involving participation of civil society activists and politicians from the island and Tamil Nadu, diaspora groups, and British parliamentarians, on Wednesday called for an independent international investigation on the complete conduct of the Sri Lankan state against the Tamil nation, specifically calling for an investigation on the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the GoSL on the Tamil people. The proposed resolution also urged the global civil society and leaders of the IC to stop decimation of the Tamil nation by the Sri Lankan state.
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Eezham Tamils in Canada launch petition campaign demanding referendum

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 October 2012, 09:32 GMT]
On October 12 the National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) organized the launch of a petition campaign directed towards the United Nations to conduct a referendum amongst Eezham Tamils originating from the North-East of the island to determine their political aspirations. Launched at the Scarborough Civic Centre in Toronto, the event saw participation from community members, elected officials and human rights activists. Most notable was the endorsement for the campaign by the Member for Provincial Parliament, Glen Murray endorsing the campaign through a letter addressed to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
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Self-immolation protestor dies, anti-Rajapaksa agitations intensify in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 September 2012, 01:38 GMT]
26-year old auto driver Vijayaraj from Salem in Tamil Nadu, who immolated himself on Monday early morning protesting Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to India, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday noon. A follower of Periyaar, member of CITU, and a supporter of the Tamil Eelam cause, Vijayaraj, despite being in his death bed, insisted on talking to media at the hospital that Rajapaksa should not be allowed into India. I did it, because Tamils in unison should rise up against the Indian government that welcomes Rajapaksa even after seeing the heroic sacrifices, he was cited by Tamil media Nakkeeran. Agitations intensify in Tamil Nadu, while the BJP Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivaraj Singh Chauhan, claims that Rajapaksa’s visit to Sanchi to inaugurate a Buddhist University is ‘apolitical’.
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Tamil Nadu activist attempts self-immolation to protest Rajapaksa visit to India

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 September 2012, 07:51 GMT]
Protesting the scheduled visit of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India, Vijayaraj, a 26-year-old CITU activist attempted to self-immolate in Salem on Monday, a PTI report said. This attempt comes in the wake of protests of numerous political parties in Tamil Nadu against the genocide-accused Rajapaksa visiting Sanchi in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to lay the foundation stone for a Buddhist University on 19 September.
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India awakens to sexist component of genocidal culture in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 September 2012, 05:23 GMT]
A cartoon that appeared in Lakbima newspaper of Sri Lanka, on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, has awakened the masses in India on the sexist side of the genocidal culture encountered by Eezham Tamils over several decades, said South Asia watchers in New Delhi noting responses from different parts of India. The impact of the cartoon in India in realising the nature of the genocidal culture that is not checked, not boycotted like the apartheid, but is always pampered, is many times more than the impact evoked by seeing images of the sexual abuse of even corpses of Eezham Tamils, the South Asia watchers said. The cartoon found condemnation in Colombo too, by Women and Media Collective (WMC).
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Genocide partners talk about people to people relationship

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 September 2012, 00:02 GMT]
The action taken by Tamil Nadu chief minister to send back Colombo footballers and an incident of mob harassment against Sri Lankan tourists in Tamil Nadu have made New Delhi and Colombo, the partners in the genocide of Eezham Tamils, to remember the importance of people to people relationship all of a sudden. Following close on their heels were The Hindu and the Marxist Communist Party of India (CPI-M). The BJP parliamentary leader Sushma Swaraj chose the time to invite Mahinda Rajapaksa to open a Buddhist institution in her constituency. Even though sections of media in India try to reduce the stand of Jayalalithaa as mere impulsive response to the open insistence of the Centre on training Sri Lankan military personnel in India, and project it as a dangerous game, powerful but short-sighted etc., the matter is much deeper than that, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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New Delhi’s insistence on training Sri Lanka military highly deplorable: CPI

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 August 2012, 14:31 GMT]
The National Secretary of the Communist Party of India, Mr. D. Raja on Monday condemned Indian Minister of State for Defence, Mr MM Pallam Raju’s insistence on training Sri Lanka’s military in India as “highly deplorable.” The junior minister for defence, responding to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s opposition to the training, had said that India would continue to train Sri Lankan defence personnel at its establishments. "The statement is highly deplorable and this position has to be reviewed. The Chief Minister of the state [Tamil Nadu] has raised the issue, but the Government continues with the training in the name of bilateral ties," the CPI Secretary was cited by Outlook India.
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Women’s conference in Tamil Nadu terms oppression of Eezham Tamils as genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 August 2012, 06:49 GMT]
Asserting that “Systematic sexual violence against Tamil women by the Sri Lankan military forces, police, paramilitaries during the war on the Tamil people constitute an act of genocide” and that “The question of systematic oppression of Tamil women is directly connected to the national question of the Tamils in the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka”, the 19th conference of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) held at Chennai on Thursday passed resolutions calling for an independent international investigation into the war crimes of the Sri Lankan state and a just political solution for the Eezham Tamils through a referendum. The conference, presided over by Magsaysay award winner, NFIW president and prominent civil rights activist Aruna Roy, further urged India and the IC to take measures to end militarization and colonization of the Tamil homeland.
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Indian civil groups condemn killing of adivasis in Chattisgarh

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 July 2012, 17:35 GMT]
The killing of 19 adivasis in an ‘anti-Maoist operation’ by CRPF commandos on June 28 in the Bijapur district of the Indian state of Chattisgarh has evoked condemnation from civil society groups, student unions and political activists in India. While many of the locals of that district and politicians of Chaatisgarh, including from the Congress party, have alleged that many or all of those killed are not Maoists, the CRPF which was leading this operation has ‘defended’ itself claiming that Maoists have been using villagers as human shields. India, which had abetted Colombo's genocidal war on the Eezham Tamils, is now lifting the ‘human shields’ argument that Sri Lanka and the powers that supported it used against the LTTE and applying it to quell armed struggles in its heartland, observers in Chennai told TamilNet.
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US commander, Indian defence minister assure military aid to Gotabhaya in Singapore

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 June 2012, 10:03 GMT]
The Chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, the top most US military commander and Indian Defence Minister A.K. Anthony met genocidal Sri Lanka’s war-crimes-accused Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa behind the screen in Singapore on Tuesday to assure him of their military assistance, especially in the naval field. The high profile meeting took place while Mahinda Rajapaksa was being hosted in London and the US ambassador-designate to Colombo was talking about ‘de-militarisation’ of the north in the island. Singapore Foreign Minister Shanmugam was in Colombo a few days earlier to talk ‘business’. Following the classic British colonial strategy, Sri Lanka, Burma and Singapore are mobilised to meet threats from the East, analysts said.
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Chennai British mission insults protestors, say grassroot Tamil organisations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 June 2012, 21:31 GMT]
The Periyar Dravidar Kazhakam (PDK), the striking and pioneer section of the Dravidian movement of Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday condemned the British mission in Chennai for not receiving in person the memo of the 19 mainstream political parties and grassroot organisations of Tamil Nadu protesting the hosting of Rajapaksa by the British Queen celebrating 60 years of coronation. The diplomatic mission, despite prior intimation of a memorandum to be submitted, made the demonstrators to put their memo into the mailbox at the gate of the mission. Tamils had a relationship with British imperialism since its initial years of founding the Madras Presidency, a major constituent of today’s India. Kolathoor Mani of PDK asked whether the British government and the international community want Tamils to be anti-imperialistic in the current context.
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Rajapaksa for jubilee protested by 19 parties, civil groups in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 June 2012, 12:58 GMT]
Political parties, including mainstream parties, Communist Party of India (CPI), MDMK and VCK, and civil groups of Muslims, youth, students and women including the May 17 movement – altogether 19 organisations and two prominent individuals led a demonstration and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy British High Commission in Chennai on Wednesday, protesting the British government inviting Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the diamond jubilee celebrating 60 years of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Reminding the UK government of its international obligation to deal with a war criminal, the memorandum also urged the UK to work for the removal of Sri Lanka from the commonwealth.
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India’s Marxist Communist Party calls for withdrawal of Sri Lanka military

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 May 2012, 03:33 GMT]
The Marxist Communist Party of India (CPI-M) in a press release on Wednesday called for immediate withdrawal of the Sri Lanka military stationed in Tamil areas of the island. In one of the five resolutions passed at the state committee meeting of the party held at Ealakiri in Tamil Nadu last Sunday, it was decided to urge the Indian government to diplomatically pressurize Sri Lanka to withdraw the troops. Observing that the SL military is intimidatingly omnipresent in the Tamil areas, the CPI-M said that it strongly condemns the stand of Mahinda Rajapaksa not to withdraw the troops. It only shows that the Sri Lanka government is not interested in resolving the Tamil question, the press release further said.
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Sinhala-Buddhist temple opened to ‘celebrate’ genocide at Mu’l’livaaykkaal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 May 2012, 00:33 GMT]
Coinciding the third anniversary of Mu’l’livaaykkaal genocide, a secretly built Sinhala-Buddhist stupa was inaugurated at Vaddu-vaakal, the entrance to the Mu’l’livaaykkaal genocidal strip of land in Mullaiththeevu. As the Tamil public is yet to be allowed into the stretch of land, the building of the stupa at the genocidal site went unnoticed until its inauguration. Two weeks ago, Colombo opened a coastal road built by Chinese, linking Mu’l’livaaukkaal with Kokku’laay and Pulmoaddai where Sinhala colonisation takes place in high speed. Mu’l’livaaykkaal has already become a ‘tourist’ place for the Sinhalese from the South. While the ‘tourists’ and the Sinhala colonists using the new road are permitted to roam in the stretch of land, Tamils are not permitted to get out of the vehicles. The stupa, with an all-Sinhalese signboard has been built at the side of the new road.
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Demand UN-monitored referendum: Mahendran, Communist Party of India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 May 2012, 13:00 GMT]
We should demand withdrawal of SL military and creation of an atmosphere conducive to conduct an UN-monitored referendum for Eezham Tamils to decide on their political solution, said Mr. C. Mahendran of the Communist Party of India (CPI), interviewed Friday in Oslo by Palaka’ni presenter M.Pirabukannan from Tamil Nadu. If Washington and New Delhi want to refuse our rights, let them try. This is a struggle for justice. The emancipation comes when you realise that rights cannot be won by the mercy of others. Independence is achieved through uprising of people and their resolve. The unity of Tamil Nadu, Eezham Tamils and the diaspora holds the key. The next phase is to evolve joint action based on mass struggle from the three dimensions. I am convinced about big changes taking place in Tamil Nadu. Mu’l’livaaykkaal has brought a historic task on to World Tamils, he further told Palaka'ni.
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Tamil Nadu begins campaign for UN referendum on Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 May 2012, 00:03 GMT]
Demanding the UN to conduct a referendum among Eezham Tamils to allow them to determine the political future of their homeland, Tamil Nadu based civil society group Youth Against War Crimes and Genocide (YAWCAG) started a campaign to collect one crore signatures to convey solidarity for the same, on Wednesday. The signature campaign which was inaugurated near the Gandhi statue at Marina beach involved participation of veteran political activists and civil society groups from Tamil Nadu. The organizers plan to take the campaign to other districts of Tamil Nadu soon. “It is necessary for the people of Tamil Nadu to pressurize the state and central government to recognize that the Eezham Tamils cannot live with dignity and peace under a unitary Sri Lankan state,” E. Ra. Thirumalai, one of the co-ordinators of YAWCAG, told TamilNet.
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Sushma casts false impression on 35 years of mandated Eezham Tamil aspiration

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 May 2012, 17:13 GMT]
New Delhi Establishment’s Leader of the Opposition and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, addressing her party convention in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, and citing TNA leader R. Sampanthan, implied that Tamils in the island don’t ask for independence but only some political parties in Tamil Nadu want it. The same line of thinking came out from the representatives of the ruling Congress led by Sonia Gandhi and the CPI-M as well, who participated in a parliamentary delegation visit to the island that was boycotted by mainstream political parties in Tamil Nadu. Undertaking a six-day tour guided by Colombo and New Delhi’s plenipotentiary in the island, Sushma has no right to give a false impression to the Indian public on the mandated and re-mandated aspiration of Eezham Tamils in the last 35 years inside and outside of the island, responded a veteran Tamil politician in the island.
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Thirumavalavan hurts sentiments of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 May 2012, 17:43 GMT]
New Delhi parliamentarian and leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a member of ruling UPA alliance, Mr Thirumavalavan, meeting UPA leader Mrs Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday expressed his ‘appreciation’ about New Delhi’s stand on ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ at the UNHRC resolution, and requested her to implement it and pressurise the Sri Lankan government to find a permanent political solution. The moment Thirumavalavan uses the phrase ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ and thrust an identity despised by Eezham Tamils on to them, he perverts righteous political solution, commented Tamil political circles in the island. Rather than urging recognition of rights of the nation, the VCK leader pleading Sonia Gandhi, whose party presided over the genocide of Eezham Tamils, to implement UNHRC resolutions paving way for structural genocide, makes him no different from the Congress and CPI-M, they further said.
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India’s CPI-M cites gagged Eezham Tamils in negating their independence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2012, 07:06 GMT]
Tamil Nadu Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday defended its parliamentarian TK Rangarajan saying that Eezham Tamils don’t ask for independence. Citing statements of politicians gagged in the island as authentic expression of the minds of Eezham Tamils and endorsing Rangarajan’s negation of Eezham Tamil independence, the CPI-M state secretary G. Ramakrishnan argued against the current stand of DMK chief M. Karunanidhi and his criticism for Rangarajan. If the CPI-M is truly a party of oppressed people, and a party valuing true democracy, it should first demand removal of the Sri Lankan constitutional ban on talking about secession to help people and their politicians to talk from their heart, and it should support a referendum, rather than imposing conclusions of genocidal Establishments, said an Eezham Tamil politician having no freedom to even reveal his name.
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Militarisation of southern South Asia centres-around Sri Lanka’s genocidal military

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2012, 06:27 GMT]
While the Indian parliamentary delegation, boycotted by Tamil Nadu political parties but made up of imperial minded Congress, BJP and CPI-M, has winded up its tour in the island hoodwinking Tamils, the New Delhi Establishment has embarked upon recognising the genocidal Sinhala military for conducting a joint naval exercise in the waters off Maldives. The Coast Guards of the “three friendly countries,” India, Sri Lanka and Maldives have to ensure the safety and security of the Indian Ocean for all seafarers, the SL Navy was cited bragging by The Times of India, Monday. Knowing that the true face of New Delhi is for militarisation, Mahinda Rajapaksa blatantly rejected the call to withdraw the Sinhala military occupying the country of Eezham Tamils.
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