Campaign for Channel-4 programme gains momentum in UK

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 June 2011, 17:33 GMT]
Human rights and media activists in UK have published advertisements on TV channels, full page ads on Sunday and Tuesday papers and have distributed over two million leaflets urging the public in UK to view ‘Sri Lanka's Killings Fields’, a documentary produced by Channel 4 that has won awards for exposing Sri Lanka's war crimes. The show follows a group of Sinhala journalists, the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) exiled from the island initially, chose the channel to release a gruesome execution video they had acquired from their sources on the ground in 2009. "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields" would be globally viewable from the website of Channel-4 as the station has removed 'geo blocking' software from this programme for 7 days, to facilitate those outside the UK and Ireland to view the documentary after its broadcast Tuesday night.
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister wants Delhi to change course

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 June 2011, 13:20 GMT]
“The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly has recently passed a resolution urging the Government of India to initiate action by working with other nations for the imposition of an economic embargo on the Government of Sri Lanka, until the Tamils who are now living in camps are resettled in their own places and are allowed to live with dignity and with equal constitutional rights on par with the Sinhalese,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said in her memorandum to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Tamil Nadu CM, who met the Indian PM on Tuesday told him that Sri Lankan Navy was harassing and torturing the Tamil Nadu fishermen and demanded cancellation of ferry service which was started Monday between Tutucorin in Tamil Nadu and Colombo. The memorandum submitted to Indian PM said on the resumption of ferry service that it “will not be advisable and it will be against the sentiments of the people.”
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SLA extorts money from Batticaloa milk producers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 June 2011, 11:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army intelligence unit personnel camped in Tharavai in Batticaloa district are demanding money from Tamil civilians under threat, sources in Batticaloa said. Intelligent unit personnel are alleged to be using an individual known as ‘Maniam’ for ‘collecting’ money from owners of dairy farms, persons employed for milk collection and farmers through intimidation. SLA intelligence personnel also visit houses where Tamils returned from abroad reside in Kiraan, Chiththaa'ndi and Vanthaa'rumoolai, demanding money from them under threat. Victims fear to lodge complaints with the police due to retaliation by the army soldiers.
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UK routeing ex-LTTE ‘reintegration’ through SL Army raises controversy in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 June 2011, 22:06 GMT]
Announcing a donation of 5,00,000 pound sterling (90 million SL rupees), and entirely accompanied by the occupying Sri Lanka Army, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Colombo, Mark Gooding, visited a detention camp run for ‘reintegration’ of ex-LTTE combatants by the SL military at the High Security Zone part of Thellippazhai in Valikaamam North, Jaffna, on Monday. The British government policy of accepting a genocidal military accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as competent authority for the ‘reintegration’ of the ex-LTTE combatants, and involving the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) of questionable local credibility in the process, raises controversy in Jaffna.
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Colombo continues bilateral ploy to elude international solution

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 June 2011, 01:35 GMT]
The genocidal establishment of Mahinda Rajapaksa continues with its pre-war trick of bilateral dealings to escape comprehensive international action cum solutions to the national question in the island, and some competing powers and their proxies continue to provide space for Rajapaksa juggle, by not collectively calling for the logical solution of liberation of Eezham Tamils but bilaterally harping on unworkable models, accused political circles in Jaffna watching the coming and going of the Indian Troika and new bilateral deals Colombo is hatching with others. While there is immense irritation in Eezham Tamil political circles over New Delhi and Colombo ‘talking’ land and police powers for nearly 25 years, informed sources said anger is mounting in Tamil Nadu over New Delhi ignoring the stand of TN State Assembly and scheduling the visit of Manmohan Singh to Colombo.
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Sinhala policeman found slain in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 June 2011, 15:21 GMT]
A 41-year-old Sinhala policeman from Ki'linochchi police station was found beaten to death at Umaiyaa'lpuram in Paranthan in Vanni Sunday morning. The dead body in civil, with beaten injuries on face and chest, was first believed to be a civilian and was taken to the mortuary at Ki'linochchil hospital. Later, the body was identified as that of Sinhala policeman, Ananada Samarakoon, sources in Ki'linochchi said.
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Sri Lanka committed genocide of Tamils: Arundhati Roy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 June 2011, 03:24 GMT]
Taking part in a meeting organized by a London based Tamil media association in Southall in London on Saturday, celebrated writer Arundhati Roy termed the war on Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka as genocide that was allowed to happen by the world. "The most horrific things I have seen and testimonies I have read are from Sri Lanka," she said. Ms. Roy, known for championing the cause of the Aathivaasis (indigenous tribes), emphasized how similar sorts of patterns of annihilation were taking place in India too. "There is a whole universe of fractured morality between what people say and what people do. As the Indian military, and platoons and platoons of policemen are displacing the Aathivaasis in the back of everyone's mind are the graves of Tamils in Sri Lanka," she said.
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Koppe: Tamil demand for retributive justice justifiable

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 June 2011, 21:16 GMT]
Victor Koppe, the Amsterdam-based Bohler advocaten attorney, acting on the recent decision by European Court of Justice that he can legally represent the Europe-based political wing of the Liberation Tigers, said in an interview to the Sunday Leader, that his demand for annulment of the inclusion of LTTE in the EU's terrorism list is partly to stop the prosecution of Tamils in The Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, and other member countries. Legal sources in Amsterdam said that the Court's decision to allow the LTTE to grant power of attorney to Victor Koppe, may also establish the standing of the EU-based political wing of the Liberation Tigers to file other claims in the EU Court of justice, including possibly complaint against EU-members regarding international law violations arising from imposition of the ban during peace process.
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Oil, canal and security cause call for retrieval of Kachcha-theevu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 June 2011, 16:34 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu State Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution to legally associate the Tamil Nadu government with a case already pending in the Supreme Court of India on Kachchatheevu. The petition in the Supreme Court filed in 2008, by AIADMK General Secretary and present Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalitha, seeks the Supreme Court to declare India’s ceding of Kachchatheevu to Sri Lanka as unconstitutional. According to the CM and some Indian policy planning writers, the ceding of the islet under the 1974 and 1976 bilateral agreements affected fishing rights of the Tamil Nadu fishermen and resulted in the killing of hundreds of them by the Sri Lanka Navy. But oil in the Palk Bay, a canal project and security fears of India count more than the interests of the fishermen, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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War crimes documentary publicity infuriates Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 June 2011, 15:23 GMT]
Media publicity surrounding the forthcoming airing of Channel-4 produced war-crimes video "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields," viewed as probably the most horrific" footage it has ever shown in an investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, evoked complains by Colombo to OFCOM, as Colombo unsuccessfully tried to keep the identity of the complainant from being disclosed. Colombo continues to attempt to discredit the video despite advice from seasoned political experts to persuade Colombo to take a more professional approach to dealing with the mounting crisis related to call for independent international investigation of war-crimes.
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Rathika makes maiden speech in English, Tamil and French

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 June 2011, 12:43 GMT]
Canadian Eezham-Tamil parliamentarian Rathika Sitsabaiesan representing Sacarborough-Rouge River constituency chose to make her debut speech in Canadian parliament Friday in English, Tamil and French. The New Democratic Party MP speaking on Budgetary Policy, and making part of her speech in Tamil, said that as the very first Member of Parliament from Tamil heritage, she was proud and humbled for being able to speak in the Canadian parliament in her mother tongue. Amidst applauding claps and shouts of “bravo” by fellow members she continued to say that Tamils who had come to Canada fleeing prosecution and civil war do their utmost to contribute to the economic development and cultural fabric of the great country that had received them with open arms.
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SL Intelligence intimidates Tamils to sell lands of Batticaloa coastal villages

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 June 2011, 07:06 GMT]
Tamil families in the coastal villages I'raal-oadai, Vadduvaan and Kaayangkea'ni are being forced to sell their lands to Sinhalese who are brought by Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel from elsewhere, according to complaints by the residents to the Divisional Secretary of Koa'ra'laippattu North DS Division in Batticaloa district in the Eastern Province. Some of the villagers have already been forced to sell their lands.
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Sitrampalam receives dead-dog threat

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2011, 09:00 GMT]
A dog shot by gun and packed in a bag was put into the well of the house of Professor S.K. Sitrampalam in Thirunelvealy, Jaffna, on Thursday night. The emeritus Professor of Archaeology of the University of Jaffna and Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) stalwart recently gave an interview to a Tamil daily in which he has said that the Mu’l’livaaykkaal war was like Kurukshetra (the war of the Mahabharata epic) and Tamils should never forget it. In another incident recently Rev. Fr. C.G. Jeyakumar, the parish priest of Kayts and former director of Human Development Centre of the Catholic Church was humiliated by a group of thugs who bucketed him with dirt at his church. The identity of the assailants was traced to a private army operated by Sri Lanka Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
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Gotabhaya grooms private army in the north

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2011, 06:13 GMT]
In order to absolve the Sri Lanka Army occupying the Tamil country from international accusations, but at the same time to continue terrorisation and subjugation of Tamils, genocidal Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has formed a private army in the north consisting of military intelligence personal and some members of the paramilitaries who had gone astray, news sources in Jaffna said. This new outfit headquartered in Vanni but operates mainly in Jaffna as groups of thugs, is responsible for many recent acts terrorising civil society movements, public protests and university student activities, the news sources further said.
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Eezham liberation is geopolitical priority for Tamil Nadu: Thirumurukan

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2011, 00:40 GMT]
If the people of Tamil Nadu are vigilant enough of the nature and aims of the geopolitical forces operate in the region, then they will realise that call for independence of Eezham Tamils should get priority over war crimes investigation and indictment of Mahinda Rajapaksa, said Mr. Thirumurukan Gandhi of the May 17 Movement of Tamil Nadu, while discussing the UN report in Chennai last month. The whole world, except Tamil Nadu, knows that the power to change the paradigm lies in Tamil Nadu, he further said. Thirumurukan’s analysis coming from grassroot thinking in Tamil Nadu was refreshing, while ‘analysis groups’ in Chennai and some international organizations backed by establishments aiming to capitalize the war crimes to their interests truncate the ultimate justice of liberation to the affected, said political observers in the island and in the diaspora.
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Channel-4: airing horrific images necessary to obtain justice for 40,000 killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 June 2011, 02:23 GMT]
In a radio discussion on ethics of airing the documentary on "Sri Lanka's killing fields" which contains what Channel-4 calls "probably the most horrific images it has ever shown" Channel-4's Head of news and current affairs, Dorothy Byrne, explains that the absolute justification for showing the program is that nothing has yet happened after the UN expert panel's report revealed that there was credible evidence that massive war-crimes were allegedly committed by the Sri Lanka military on Tamil civilians. "People, and ambassadors to UN have to see the documentary and can decide for themselves if they are prepared to do nothing," Byrne adds.
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300 Tamils disappear in Batticaloa during SLA rule, alleges TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 June 2011, 02:02 GMT]
More than three hundred youths of both sexes have been reported disappeared after abduction in the Batticaloa district since the eastern province was brought under the control of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), said Mr.P. Selvarasa, district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian during the debate on the extending the State of Emergency for another month that took place in Sri Lanka's parliament on Wednesday.
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TNA MP blames Ampaa'rai politicians for allowing land grab

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 June 2011, 00:19 GMT]
All ministers and parliamentarians from the Ampaa'rai district seem to collaborate with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and they have no backbones to challenge the injustice done to Tamil and Muslim people based on ethnic, religious and language basis by the Colombo government, said Mr. P. Selvarajah, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian representing the Batticaloa district, addressing a meeting in Kalmunai last week.
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Poththuvil DS exposes SL Police link in Sinhala encroachment of Tamil village

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 June 2011, 22:16 GMT]
The Divisional Secretary, members of the Rural Development Society (RDS) and the residents of the village Ma'natcheanai, situated in Poththuvil DS division of Ampaa'rai district, have forced the SL Police at Poththuvil station to arrest 12 SL policemen including a Senior Superintend of Police (SSP) and a contractor employed by them for encroaching the lands of Tamil residents in the village where more than 150 families reside.
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Abducted Tamil child found deployed in slave labour in Sinhala district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 June 2011, 21:22 GMT]
The grandfather of an abducted 11-year-old Tamil boy from Batticaloa has been threatened by paramilitary for having braved to rescue his grandson from the grips of ‘treasure hunters’ who had deployed the abducted boy for slave labour in Dambulla. Mr. Velmurugu Sivalingam, the grandfather, upon receiving information on the whereabouts of his grandson, had rushed to Dambulla to rescue his grandson, Athisayarajah Soundararajah.
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