SL Police blocks uprooted Tamils attempting to enter Keappaa-pulavu after 670 days of protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2019, 14:46 GMT]
One hundred and thirty-eight families in Keappaa-pulavu in Mullaiththeevu, who have been staging a continuous protest for 670 days since 01 March 2017 attempted to enter their lands inside the SL military occupied zone on Monday. The protesters had sent a letter to SL President Maithiripala Sirisena and TNA Leader R. Sampanthan two days ago warning the Sinhala and the Tamil political leaders would be responsible if they were to be assaulted by the SL military while trying to enter their lands.
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TPPs conclude hunger-strike as University students vow to watch politicians

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 October 2018, 18:04 GMT]
The student activists of Jaffna University who walked for four days passing 200 km from Jaffna to Anuradhapura along with the representatives of the grassroots organisations, the Tamil National Peoples’ Front politicians and the students from Eastern University met the Tamil political prisoners in Anuradhapura and urged the TPPs to end their hunger strike. The activists vowed to watch the Tamil politicians who are dealing with the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena and the SL Government authorities in Colombo to act without fail in future. The request comes after the public organisations met NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran in Jaffna on Friday and resolved to take responsibility for the advancement of the TPPs cause. Rev. Fr. S. Sakthivel, who is coordinating the mobilisation met the TPPs as part of a 10-member group, which was allowed to meet the TPPs on Saturday.
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TPPs vow to continue hunger-strike confronting Colombo's deceit

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 October 2018, 14:09 GMT]
The twelve Tamil political prisoners (TPPs) on a hunger-strike in Anuradhapura prison on Wednesday said Colombo was trying to suppress the fasting protesters in Bogombara prison in Kandy and Magazine prison in Colombo by deploying Tamil politicians of the TNA to dilute their hunger-strike. Confusing messages were being conveyed from Colombo to Fr S. Sakthivel, a veteran human rights defender who is working hard to coordinate outside support to their campaign, the protesters on hunger-strike said. In the meantime, Jaffna University students, who started a protest walk on Tuesday reached Ki'linochchi on Wednesday. The hunger-strikers said they were encouraged by the outside mobilisation.
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Jaffna University students resolve to strengthen TPPs protest

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 October 2018, 17:09 GMT]
The student community at Jaffna University has jumped into strengthening the struggle of the hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners. The leaders of the Jaffna University Student Union have called for an awareness protest meeting on Monday. The following day, 20 students are going to launch a protest walk from the University of Jaffna to Anuradhapura prison, they said. In the meantime, SL Minister of Justice, Thalatha Atukorale (UNP) has gone on record reiterating the position of the SL State there are no “political prisoners” in the prisons. SL President Maithiripala Sirisena (SLFP) has also dodged to discuss the matter with Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan at a meeting and told Mr Sampanthan that he would discuss the subject over the phone.
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Two more TPPs join hunger-strike, refuse medical admittance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 September 2018, 22:16 GMT]
The Tamil political prisoners waging hunger-strike for the 16th day on Sunday at Anuradhapura prison have sent a letter to the management of the prison not to admit them to medical treatment anymore. In the meantime, two TPPs joined the hunger strike today. Purusothaman Aravinthan who hails from Jaffna and Nallan Sivalingam from Vavuniyaa joined the campaign. The TPPs who were admitted for treatment were also back in the Anuradhapura prison continuing the protest.
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SL President not prepared to consider demands of TPPs until 27 September

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 September 2018, 16:27 GMT]
The health condition of the Tamil political prisoners who have been on a hunger strike since 14 September has deteriorated and two of the hunger strikers have been admitted to the prison hospital at Anuradhapura, the families of the prisoners said. In the meantime, a group of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who visited the fasting prisoners have told them that TNA Leader and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan had taken their matter with SL President Maithiripala Sirisena before the latter travelled to New York to address the UN General Assembly. Mr Maithiripala had told Mr Sampanthan that he would only be able to think about the matter of Tamil prisoners after 27 September, after the UN meetings were over.
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SL State refuses to renew land permits to resettled Champoor Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 September 2018, 16:54 GMT]
The resettled Eezham Tamils from Champoor and the connecting section of Kadatkaraich-cheanai were refused of renewal of their land permits at a mobile land kachcheri held on Sunday at Moothoor. The Eastern Provincial Land Commissioner organised the land meeting at Moothoor to look into the land issues of the resettled people in the Moothoor East. However, the residents of Champoor were told the renewals of their land permits were on hold as the SL State has not revoked the earlier state acquisition of their lands from the times of Rajapaksa rule. The people who are in possession of old documents are refused of housing assistance as well as loans that could be obtained through Samurdhi scheme as they are unable to document current ownership to their lands where they reside.
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NPC CM prepares to face contempt of court case engineered by Sumanthiran et al

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 September 2018, 22:15 GMT]
The justice system of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has been deployed against the Northern Provincial Council as the TNA Parliamentarian and President's Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran was making another die-hard move to weaken the position of the NPC Chief Minister and former Supreme Court Justice C.V. Wigneswaran through furnishing new cases. The latest in the series is a contempt of court case, filed against him and two of his ministers, Ananthy Sasitharan and K. Sivanesan. The case comes amidst an appeal filed by NPC Chief Minister against the interim order issued by the SL Court of Appeal, pending a scheduled hearing on Wednesday. However, the NPC CM is fully prepared to address the challenge, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet on Monday. It is not the reputation of the NPC CM, but that of the SL Justice System, getting exposed, political observers in Jaffna said.
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U.S. naval partnership with genocidal Sri Lanka escalates with New Delhi's blessings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 August 2018, 22:50 GMT]
U.S. Navy's amphibious transport vessel USS Anchorage (LPD 23) docked at the harbour of Trincomalee, the capital city of occupied Tamil Eelam, on Friday. The “ships visits help demonstrate the value of the growing U.S.-Sri Lanka partnership,” said Capt. Dennis Jacko, commanding officer of Anchorage, according to a news release from the Public Affairs of the naval ship. Around 300 SL naval academy midshipmen and 40 ‘distinguished visitors’, were scheduled to tour Anchorage to learn about the ship’s amphibious capabilities, the news release further said. The latest US naval deployment off Trincomalee is the first one after the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) renamed itself into US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), incorporating India as a “major defence partner” of the USA in the Indian Ocean Region.
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TELO councillor of NPC questions ‘achievements’ of TNA hierarchy

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2018, 18:34 GMT]
35 years have elapsed since pogrom of Black July, which was waged against the Eezham Tamils with the sponsorship of the UNP regime at that time. The incumbent SL Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe of the UNP, was a cabinet minister at that time when his fellow cabinet ministers were actively backing the pogrom. The late J.R. Jayawardene, who was the president at that time, came with the infamous declaration ‘war for war, peace for peace’ and escalated the pogrom. This month, Ranil Wickramasinghe has been visiting Jaffna to deceive the Tamil people with so-called development, says NPC Councillor Vinthan Kanagaratnam of the TELO. He called it a shame that the TNA parliamentarians were collaborating with the UNP-SLFP government even after failing to win anything tangible from them.
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Collaborationist sections of TNA lose significance, Wigneswaran holds key to unified Tamil polity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 July 2018, 18:20 GMT]
The policy outlook adopted by the US-led bandwagonism of the West and that of India is tightly in sync with each other. Their modus operandi is nothing else than pure appeasement of the accelerating Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism in the South. They would be prepared to sacrifice the democratic aspirations of Eezham Tamils as their manoeuvrings are aimed at gaining strategic access to this island. However, they find themselves in a delicate situation today as they could no longer dictate the terms of Tamil political debate through the collaborationist sections of the TNA, says Political Analyst S.A. Jothilingam in an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Friday. Thanks to the role played by Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, the mainstream discourse is getting shaped to the point that it is now practically possible to forge a unified Tamil polity for Tamils once again, he says.
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Sirisena yet to revoke Gazette notification of Colombo's seizure of Champoor lands

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 June 2018, 14:38 GMT]
The occupying State of genocidal Sri Lanka, particularly SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, has so far avoided revoking the initial Gazette notification through which the previous regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa seized the lands of the uprooted people of Champoor. Three years would have elapsed by August 2018 since the people of Champoor started to resettle in their areas in 2015.
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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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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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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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SL Departments worse than ever in seizing Tamil lands: TNA MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2018, 21:24 GMT]
K. Thurairetnasingam, a veteran ITAK politician from Trincomalee and a national list parliamentarian of the TNA, says Colombo government's Forest Department, Department of Archaeology, Department of Wildlife Conservation, Department of Coastal Conservation and Mahaweli Authority behave in a manner worse than ever before when it comes to seizing the lands of Tamils. The close associate of Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan was making a particular reference to the latest move by the Mahaweli Authority planning to grab 7,000 acres of lands in Mullaiththeevu and said a strong message has already been conveyed through Mr Sampanthan to the concerned Establishment in Colombo. The matter would also be taken up with SL President Maithiripala Sirisena on his return from foreign vist, he further said when contacted by TamilNet on Friday.
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TNA Parliamentarian calls for UN plebiscite on independent Tamil State

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 March 2018, 22:25 GMT]
Taking part in a side-event on Tamils Right to Self-Determination, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Sivagnanam Shritharan on Monday called for a UN referendum among Eezham Tamils to exercise their external Self-Determination. The TNA MP was referring to 1977 democratic mandate for Tamil Eelam and the 2009-2010 referenda held in the Tamil diaspora. Mr Sritharan was braving the prohibition imposed upon him to articulate the aspiration by the 6th Amendment of genocidal Sri Lanka as he was explicitly calling for the exercise of the right to external self-determination. Mr Sritharan has smashed the taboo placed upon him by the TNA hierarchy controlled by R. Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran through his explicit call for external right to self-determination at Geneva, Tamil political activists in Jaffna said welcoming the courageous move.
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Champoor Tamils prepare to launch protest after civic elections

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 February 2018, 14:08 GMT]
Grassroots organisations of the resettled people of Champoor have decided to launch a protest campaign after the civic elections are over, the representatives of the community organisations said. The occupying SL Navy has seized thousands of acres of agricultural lands. Similarly, the SL Board of Investment and the Ceylon Electricity Board are still engaged in fencing off lands that were seized earlier for the controversial coal power plant, which has been abandoned. But, the land-owners have not been provided alternative lands as promised by the SL authorities. In the meantime, Sinhala Buddhist extremist monks have been triggered by the SL military intelligence to occupy the worship sites of Eezham Tamils using the clauses of the SL constitution, which accords foremost place to Buddhism.
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Sinhala Buddhicisation stepped up in Kumpu'rup-piddi of Trincomalee North

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 January 2018, 22:48 GMT]
The Divisional Secretary of Kuchcahve'li administrative division in the North of Trincomalee district has come under pressure—direct harassment as an informed civil source described it—from the SL Presidential Secretariat in Colombo this week. The harassment is meted out on Mr P Thaneswaran after he had questioned the legality of intruding Sinhala Buddhist monks, who fenced off a public bareland at Kumpu'rup-piddi East on 02 January. Kumpu'rup-piddi, a traditional coastal Tamil village with findings of pre-Christian pottery sites, probably from protohistoric period, has been subjected to systematic Sinhala Buddhicisation as well as corporate exploitation by the occupying Sinhala State, especially after the genocidal war on Vanni in 2009.
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