Basil Rajapaksa's men threaten Tamil-speaking voters: Sampanthan, Hakeem

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2012, 15:31 GMT]
More than one thousand men sent under the instruction of SL Presidential sibling and Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse have been engaged in intimidating Tamils and Muslims in the three districts of the eastern province namely Ampaarai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee that they would face serious consequences if they fail to vote for the ruling United Peoples Freedom Party in the forthcoming election to the Eastern Provincial Council that is scheduled to be held on Saturday, September 8 , according to complaints lodged with the Commissioner General of Elections by the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R.Sampanthan and Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, who is also the Justice Minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet. Basil Rajapakse is also a minister in same cabinet.
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US Court of Appeals to hear Rajapakse war-crimes case

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 August 2012, 03:59 GMT]
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the briefing schedule Monday for the appeal against the dismissal of the war-crimes case against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse. The appeal was filed by three Tamil plaintiffs/ appellants against Rajapakse for complicity in extrajudicial killings of plaintiffs relatives in violation of the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The case, first filed at the lower court, was dismissed in February 2012 by Judge Kotelly after the U.S. State Department intervened to assert that, as a sitting head of state, Rajapakse was immune from litigation.
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Vanni ‘development’ meeting held without elected representatives

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 August 2012, 19:26 GMT]
Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians were not invited for the Vanni District Development Committee which was chaired by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and held on Friday at Vavuniyaa District Secretariat.
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Commission report makes Norway police chief resign

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 August 2012, 22:13 GMT]
Following an independent commission report that Norway police could have prevented all or part of a bombing and shooting spree by Anders Behring Breivik last year that killed 77, most of whom were teenagers, the Norwegian police chief Øystein Mæland resigned on Thursday, Reuters said. Norwegian government has also appointed an independent commission to investigate the failure of Norway’s peace facilitation in Sri Lanka that ended in genocide of Eezham Tamils. The commission report found fault with the peace facilitators for not withdrawing from the facilitation to tell the truth to the world, despite anticipations of the outcome. Mr. Erik Solheim, a leading facilitator didn’t resign, but was removed by his party ‘to give room to younger talents’. There was neither penitence nor any changes in Norway’s policy towards the question of Eezham Tamils.
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Internecine clashes erupt in East between Muslim parties of UPFA alliance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 August 2012, 20:38 GMT]
Supporters of Muslim constituent parties in the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government of Mahinda Rajapakse clashed in East over election dispute on Monday evening. Hundreds of supporters of SLMC attacked the election office of the former Provincial Minister who is also contesting the EPC election on the UPFA ticket Mr. M.S.Uthumalebbe and set fire to his office. Two vehicles stationed at the site were also set on fire. Thereafter Akkaraipaththu Police with the Sri Lanka Army arrived at the scene and opened tear gas on the unruly crowd to bring the situation under control.
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Uprooted Tamils in Ampaa'rai question SL Minister's statement on resettlement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 20:27 GMT]
Tamil people have been systematically evicted from forty villages in fifteen different DS divisions in Ampaa'rai district, Tamil civil officials in the district say. Since 13 April 1967 to date, at least 3,500 Tamil families have been uprooted from these villages. Recently, Rauf Hakim, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) who holds the portfolio of Minister of Justice in Mahinda Rajapakse regime has told a foreign envoy in Colombo that steps would be taken to return the lands and properties lost by people in the past decades. Tamil civil officials questioned whether the Tamil people who were systematically uprooted from their traditional villages could get their lands appropriated by Sinhalese and Muslims during the conflict.
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Gagged Tamil leadership fumbles on telling truth

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 August 2012, 23:32 GMT]
Eezham Tamil political leaders in the island refused of visa by the New Delhi establishment to participate the TESO conference convened by the DMK chief Mr. Karunanidhi, fumble on telling the truth. Instead of letting the world know that they were unable to do justice to the democratic struggle of Eezham Tamils due to New Delhi and Colombo jointly gagging them, they surrender by simply saying that they had cancelled their participation considering circumstances, commented new generation Tamil political activists in the island. The Sinhala politician, Dr. Wikramabahu Karunaratne is honest in bringing out the circumstances to media. Three years ago, Mr. Karunanidhi in the hands of New Delhi was accused of dishonesty and betrayal. Whether the Eezham Tamil leadership is in his shoes now, the activists asked.
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3,500 Tamil families remain uprooted from 40 villages in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 August 2012, 23:48 GMT]
More than 3,500 Tamil families still remain uprooted from fifteen DS divisions in Ampaa'rai, civil officials in the district said. 6,500 acres of paddy fields, 3,500 acres of coconut lands and about 2,000 acres of lands, used for sugar cane cultivation, have also been appropriated from the Tamils since 13 April 1967. Since 2007, new Buddhist stupas have mushroomed with the backing of the occupying Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos, the sources further said adding that more than 20 Saiva shrines have been destroyed. Tamil people who fled from their traditional villages in Ampaa'rai district now ask whether they would also get their lands according to the assurances given by the SL Minister Rauf Hakeem, the civil sources said.
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‘Tamils should not compromise on independent Tamil Eelam’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 August 2012, 23:33 GMT]
While the Solhiems of the West urge the Eezham Tamils to use only Gandhian methods of protest to secure some convenient solution within a unitary Sri Lanka, youth activist Gobi Sivanthan’s hunger strike following Gandhian means, which is entering its 15th day today, shows to the western world that the just demands of the Eezham Tamil nation cannot be compromised for the sake of convenience. Speaking through a video interview for TamilNet, Sivanthan, along with Sasithar Maheswaran from TCC-UK, said in unequivocal terms that only an independent Tamil Eelam can resolve the problems of the genocide affected Eezham Tamils, referring to the three types of sovereignty that the Tamils are entitled to as highlighted in the TSC declaration.
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SL military steps up harassments on ex-LTTE members in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 July 2012, 23:30 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army in Vanni has started to pressurize ex-LTTE members, who have been released from SLA imprisonment to present themselves almost on a daily basis at nearby SLA camps to their houses in Vanni, according to information reaching from several villages in Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts. The ex LTTE members are also being harassed by the SL military intelligence officers to work for them as underground informants. Earlier, the former Tamil fighters had been instructed to register at nearby SL military camps on a monthly basis. Later, they had to register on a weekly basis, and now they are instructed to show themselves up almost every day. The latest harassments are reported from all the corners of Vanni, especially after a psy-ops military team from Colombo came to Vanni interrogating surveying and harassing the former Tamil fighters recently.
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Tamils in UK condemn Sri Lankan presence at Olympics opening ceremony

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2012, 23:51 GMT]
Protesting against the participation of Sri Lankan sportspersons and the presence of the Sri Lankan delegation for the 2012 London Olympics, Eezham Tamils in the UK gathered in hundreds at Aspen Way, London on Friday, expressing their opposition to the legitimacy given to the Sri Lankan state that is accused of committing genocide. Sources in London, citing the British police, said that the Sri Lankan delegation did not attend the opening ceremony out of choice. However, the delegation invited by the IOC, were not compelled by the UK authorities not to attend. Speaking to TamilNet, Sasithar Maheswaran from the TCC-UK said “The British government ought to take note of the sentiments expressed repeatedly by the Tamils on the streets. An EU wide travel ban against current and previous leaders who have committed the crime of genocide against the Eezham Tamils is long overdue.”
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TESO, AIADMK could create history with tacit action on fundamentals

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 23:54 GMT]
The island transformed from colonial Ceylon into genocidal Sri Lanka has in the process witnessed two wars of brutal conquest in the last two hundred years, both of which were ultimately imperialist. The conquest of Kandy in 1815 by British imperialism bringing in the unitary state and the conquest of Vanni in 2009 by a strategic partnership of the US and Indian imperialism are not two different phenomena, if the aftermaths of the wars are compared and comprehended. The larger question arises for the peoples of the region, elsewhere, and especially for the people of Tamil Nadu in this context is whether they are going to succumb one after the other as in the past, or are going to create history for humanity by learning from history. The TESO meet will only turn into a crafty device if its convenors and participants don’t direct it to answer the fundamentals.
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SLA appropriates more lands for militarisation of Jaffna city

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 July 2012, 12:54 GMT]
While the occupying Sri Lanka Army in the city of Jaffna claims on one hand that it is shifting the military base of 512 Division to Koappaay, more lands are being appropriated for military use in the city. The Sri Lankan colonial military governor in Jaffna, Maj Gen (retd) GA Chandrasiri has instructed the Secretary of Education of Jaffna Province, S. Sathiyaseelan to hand over the lands belonging to Sinhala MV, situated in the environs of St. Mary's School, Our Lady of Refuge (OLR) and within a residential area boxed by 4th Cross Street, Hospital Road, Veampadi Road and Martin Road, to the commander of Sri Lankan forces in Jaffna Maj Gen Mahinda Hathursinghe for the construction of a military base in the city.
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SL Minister operates armed gang causing ethnic tension in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 July 2012, 12:01 GMT]
A Muslim gang, carrying guns, stormed the fishing village of Koanthaip-piddi in Mannaar Town division on Friday and destroyed 23 fishing huts and two fiberglass boats with axes, causing ethnic tension between Tami Catholics and Muslims. Rishard Badurdeen, a politician from Mannaar, who has become SL minister of Industry & Commerce in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cabinet after defecting the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), is alleged of inciting ethnic violence in Mannaar attempting to woo Muslim voters in favour of Rajapaksa's ruling SLFP.
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Unemployed graduates protest in Jaffna, UPFA dominates public sector employment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 July 2012, 18:29 GMT]
SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Colombo government is widely blamed for handling new and temporary appointments in the Northern province for electoral political purposes. Recent temporary appointments have been provided with the condition that the employees should extend support the UPFA government in the provincial elections, unemployed graduates demanding justice said. On Thursday, a section of unemployed graduates, who have been sidelined in such appointments, demonstrated in front of the District Secretariat in Jaffna amidst harassment from the SL military intelligence and police commandos.
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New Delhi grooming Sinhala military needs careful perusal in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 July 2012, 02:11 GMT]
In the wake of reports on New Delhi continuing its training to Sinhala military personnel at a base in Bangalore after transferring them from Chennai following opposition from Tamil Nadu government, the Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalithaa on Saturday said "Tamils want action for war crimes against Sri Lanka. We will not accept the training of Sri Lankan airmen anywhere in India." New Delhi’s obsession with grooming the Sinhala military after being in complicity with it in the genocide of Eezham Tamils needs careful perusal in Tamil Nadu, in the background of mushrooming Sinhala military bases trained against Tamil Nadu, New Delhi pressing for subjugation of Eezham Tamils within a united Sri Lanka model when one party has a genocidal military and the other has none, and in addition, New Delhi currently sitting in the UNHRC monitor group on Sri Lanka, observers said.
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Colombo's new highways scheme genocidal demographic change in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 July 2012, 21:17 GMT]
The Colombo government has been appropriating lands belonging to civilian population under the guise of implementing several highway road development projects in the Trincomalee district with a genocidal agenda, say Tamil civil officials in the district. While many of the roads within the district, especially in Tamil areas, are not cared for in the so-called ‘reconstruction’ and ‘development’ by the regime in Colombo, new roads such as the one that links Sinhala dominated Seruvila in the district with Soamaavathi village in Polonnaruwa district through Maavil Aa'ru, have mushroomed with Buddhist viharas with highly developed infrastructure for Sinhala settlements, after 2009.
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Paramilitary compromises activities of Zonal Education office in Kalkudaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 July 2012, 18:46 GMT]
The Kalkudaa Zonal Education Office in Batticaloa district is functioning under the direct control of a paramilitary group, teachers and heads of schools complain. As a result of the paramilitary threat, the education of children has been hampered. Kalkudaa education zone was at 9th rank at provincial and island level in 2007. But the rank has now gone down to 16th place, the teachers say. In the meantime, officials of the education sector report misappropriation of funds by the paramilitary.
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Data reveals scheme for Sinhala military colonies in country of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 July 2012, 22:33 GMT]
Details emerging from four divisional secretariats of Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, since April this year, indicate a concerted and structural move by the occupying Sri Lanka military establishment in Vanni to legally appropriate more than 6,069 acres of public and private lands in the country of Eezham Tamils. The pattern of genocidal land grab also reveals that Mullaiththeevu district is being transformed into a military enclave of the occupying Sinhala forces. TamilNet brings out some of the data it has obtained from the civil officials who have braved the threats by the military run civil administration, in releasing the details.
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Tamils in Germany protest India’s ill-treatment of Eezham Tamils in Chengalpet

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 June 2012, 23:54 GMT]
Conveying solidarity with the Eezham Tamil refugees illegally detained in the Chengalpet ‘special camp’, Tamils in Germany demonstrated in front of the Indian Embassy in Berlin today, demanding India to close “such inhuman detention facilities and treat the genocide affected Eelam Tamil refugees like others who have entered its territory for sanctuary from persecution” and urging the UN to compel India to adhere to the standards of the UNHCR. Speaking at the demonstration Vithya Jeyasangar, a democratically elected Eezham Tamil representative from Berlin now working with the VETD, said “After assisting the Sri Lankan government with the structural genocide of the Eelam Tamils, and bartering with the Mahinda regime for economic slices in the Tamil homeland, India is showing its naked contempt for world Tamils through its inhuman treatment of Tamil refugees.”
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