TNA politician in Ampaa'rai threatened not to contest against UPFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 June 2012, 18:14 GMT]
The chairman of the Kaaraitheevu Divisional Council (Piratheasa Chapai) who was elected on the ticket of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to the civic council, has been threatened in Sinhala by telephone on Thursday, according to a complaint made at Chammaanthu'rai Police station, sources in Ampaa'rai said. He would have to face serious consequences if he failed to contest on Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in the forthcoming election to the Eastern Provincial Council, which is expected to be held in September this year, the caller had said ‘inviting’ him for a meeting to the SL military camp, news sources in Ampaa'rai said.
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Colombo deploys paramilitary operative to intimidate Tamils in PC elections in East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 June 2012, 07:28 GMT]
SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa has deployed his district coordinator Kanthasamy Nishanthan alias Iniyabarathy, a paramilitary operative, to intimidate the Tamil people in the district in the run up to the next provincial council elections in the East. Iniyabarathy, an operative aligned with Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, has been found guilty by the courts of the SL State itself. The notorious paramilitary operative has been widely alleged as being behind various human rights violations in the district.
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SOS of Eezham Tamils seeks global Tamils, world humanity to respond

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 June 2012, 19:20 GMT]
Mu’l’livaaykkaal was only a beginning for the Sinhala State and its international abetters to perpetuate genocide of Eezham Tamils to suit overlapping agendas. After three years of Colombo’s accelerated structural genocide facilitated by the international community of establishments, the Tamil leaders in the island have once again voiced an SOS in unison on Tuesday, appealing to global Tamils and global community of humanity, to intervene and save their nation from militarised annihilation. Gagged, but experiencing the realities of the hoodwink of ‘post-war reconciliation,’ the voices coming from the island show better clarity and bearing, compared to the hijacked diaspora confused over where to address the issue and a Tamil Nadu leadership silent after a resolution that doesn’t address fundamental solutions, political observers in the island said.
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Colombo plans new demographic change in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 June 2012, 21:36 GMT]
After tactically promoting the Sinhala Buddhist extremist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a ruling UPFA ally of the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, to file a legal suit against a key post-Tsunami resettlement village of the Tamil-speaking Muslims in Digawapi in Ampaa'rai, the colonial state apparatus in Colombo is now scheming a demographic change in Ampaa'rai to create a Sinhala division covering the Digawapi area with other areas, civil sources in Ampaa'rai say. Digawapi is a Buddhist ‘Sacred Zone’ is the argument promoted by the exclusivist JHU and the genocidal elements in the Colombo establishment. The new Sinhala Buddhist division would be carved out from four divisions, informed civil sources Ampaa'rai say.
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SL military goes amok on uprooted civilians in Vanni, 2 injured, 1 suffers heart attack

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 June 2012, 17:08 GMT]
Children were thrown into vehicles and the occupying Sinhala Army assaulted uprooted Tamil families using gun butts and batons Monday evening at Thiru-mu'rika'ndi Hindu Tamil Viththiyaalayam in Ki'linochchi. A section of the uprooted families who had been brought from Menik Farm by the SL military a few weeks ago had declined to accept what they called an ‘enslavement’ offer of ‘resettlement’ by the SL military. They were placed temporarily at the school. On Monday, as one day was remaining till the protest organised by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) against the military land grab assisted by China, the SL military entered the school, bargained with the families at gunpoint for more than 4 hours and finally assaulted them forcefully transporting them back to Vavuniyaa. Tension prevails at Thiru-mu'rika'ndi after the horror let loose by the SL military on the uprooted civilians.
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SL Navy chases away resettled Tamil Catholics in Peasaalai, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 June 2012, 23:50 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Navy on Friday chased out at gunpoint 70 Eezham Tamil Catholics, who had resettled in the lands of the Church of Our Lady of Victory in Kurusup-paadu in Peasaalai, Mannaar. The Tamil families had resettled three weeks ago in the housing scheme area of 50 houses established by the the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), where they were living since 2004 till they were uprooted in entirety in 2007. The Church of Our Lady of Victory is one of the largest Catholic churches in the island. Peasaalai is a large village, situated in the North-West of the island of Mannaar, with a population of 8,000 Eezham Tamils and 90% of the population are Catholic fisher folk while the remaining are Hindu and Muslim fisher folk. The Sri Lankan military is alleged of scheming Sinhalicisation of Thalaimannaar Pier, which is the closest point in Mannaar to the coast of Tamil Nadu in India.
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SL minister Badurdeen diverts Indian aid to his supporters in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 June 2012, 23:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan minister of Industries and Trade, Rishard Badurdeen, a politician behind many controversies in Mannaar, has recently instructed the civil officials in Mannaar to divert the humanitarian aid from India, intended to war-affected fishermen in Mannaar, to his supporters in the district, according to reports from Mannaar fisheries sector sources. Mr Badurdeen has given a new list of 175 names as beneficiaries of the aid. The list prepared by Badurdeen includes only names of 12 Tamils, who are his supporters. Names of genuine fishermen are not included in his list.
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SL military extends HSZ in Jaffna, evicts resettled people from Kuppuzhaan North

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 June 2012, 23:46 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna has re-confiscated more than 250 acres of land in Kuppuzhaan North in Valikaamam South division of Jaffna district in recent days, evicting resettled families from their land, complain the uprooted families. The Sinhala Army has been putting up permanent concrete fences and has instructed people not to cross the fence. The news of the latest land grab by the SL military and the news of people being evicted again from the resettled areas of the former ‘High Security Zone’, on top of the news that the SL military planting land mines in de-mined areas of Maathakal, have slashed hopes of resettlement among the 40,000 people, who still remain as uprooted people after their eviction from Valikaamam HSZ.
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Rajapaksa's son starts human trafficking from Vanni to Australia

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 June 2012, 16:14 GMT]
Namal Rajapaksa, the son of SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been behind a human trafficking ring, which operates from Mullaiththeevu in Vanni, sending Eezham Tamils to Australia from the seas off Mullaiththeevu at a price tag of one million SL rupees per person, reveal families that have already sent their sons and daughters through the ring. Snatching away the entire coastal stretch of Vanni from Eezham Tamils, the Rajapaksa regime is also evicting them exploiting all possible avenues, concerned civil sources in Vanni said adding that the operation also discredits the asylum seekers who really need protection from the South Asian establishments.
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Colombo stands exposed after attack on democratic protesters: Tamil politicians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 June 2012, 16:35 GMT]
The General Secretary of Democratic Peoples Front (DPF), Kumaraguruparan, who participated in both the protests in the city and in Thellppazhai in Jaffna this week told media that the way the Sri Lankan legal system and the police were deployed, and the way the peaceful protesters were attacked while they were returning home, raised questions whether the SL State wants the people to opt for an armed struggle again. Such suppressive and violent responses by the SL state apparatus has justified the armed struggle waged by Tamils in the past, he said. “You don't attack buses carrying participants of a peaceful protest,” he said. In the meantime, grassroot political activists in Jaffna also recalled that the participants who went in a bus to attend the annual meeting of the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), which was held in Batticaloa were also subjected to a similar attack.
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Colombo deploys riot police, blocks protest against land grab in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 June 2012, 11:47 GMT]
Riot control commandos of the Sri Lankan Police were deployed in large numbers Tuesday morning confronting hundreds of peaceful protesters, who objected the land grab being undertaken by the occupying SL military inside the so-called High Security Zone. The protesters were demanding immediate resettlement in Valikaamam North. Parking several vehicles across the road and deploying armed riot commandos, the officers of the SL police told the protesters that they would not be allowed to march on the KKS Road to hand over a petition at the Divisional Secretariat in Thellippazhai. The protestors have given one month for the SL authorities to respond and have warned to step up the protest campaign unless there was no favorable response by the SL government to their demands.
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SL Minister Devananda threatens civil protest in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 June 2012, 05:20 GMT]
Speaking in line with the SL courts in Jaffna on Monday, EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, who is a minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet, threatened protesting volunteer teachers from Vanni, declaring that if he uttered the word ‘postpone’ to the SL authorities, their appointments would be put on hold forever. Seating besides Maj. Gen. (retd) GA Chandrasiri, the colonial military governor of North, Mr Devananda, in a discriminating tone, said that the SL president doesn't like those who protest. The volunteer teachers, who have served for more than 12 years without SL government salary in Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts, have been promised permanent employment each time they were staging protests, but find them discriminated on every occasion. On Monday, they were protesting outside the provincial education ministry situated in Nalloor, Jaffna.
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Tissainayagam challenges Mohan Peiris statement to UN

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 June 2012, 03:18 GMT]
Award winning Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam who was incarcerated in Sri Lanka prison for his writing, refuted statement made by the former Attorney General of Sri Lanka, Mohan Peiris, to the UN's Committee Against Torture that Tissainayagam accepted complicity in the charged crime [of supporting terrorism] by expressing remorse in the letter requesting Sri Lanka's President for a pardon. Publishing the full text of the letter, Tissainayagam told a Colombo paper that "any allusion to my admitting complicity is completely false," and added that he only apologized for any embarrassment that his writing may have caused Mahinda Rajapakse or his Governement.
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US Ambassador meets Mannaar Bishop

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 June 2012, 10:28 GMT]
The United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Patricia Butenis, Wednesday, during an official visit to Mannaar, paid a courtesy call to Rt. Reverend Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannaar Diocese, and talked to him for more than three hours on the current situation faced by Tamils in the NorthEast, sources close to the Bishop said.
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Colombo exerts political influence on government employments in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 June 2012, 08:02 GMT]
Unemployed Tamil graduates in the Batticaloa district are being forced by the Colombo government through its colonial agents in the Eastern Province to join SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), to get job opportunities in the government sector. 2,800 unemployed graduates attended the interview examinations held at district secretariat last week.
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UK’s soft policy towards Rajapaksa, despots criticized by British journalist

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 June 2012, 21:28 GMT]
“Appearing at events such as the jubilee is a PR gift to heads of state with poor human rights records, giving the impression that they're just like any world leader. It also encourages a sense of impunity,” writes British journalist Joan Smith, criticizing the presence of Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations last week. In an article published on The Independent on Sunday, Ms. Smith notes how a soft policy of Western governments in general, UK in particular, towards despots and war crimes accused leaders like Rajapaksa encouraged blood baths in countries like Syria. Emphasizing the need to send a strong message to rogue states, she stressed the need for UK to announce a boycott for the proposed CHOGM meeting in Sri Lanka in 2013 and to call for an independent inquiry into Sri Lanka’s war crimes.
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After messing up question of Eezham Tamils ‘IC’ embarks on Myanmar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 June 2012, 22:58 GMT]
After messing up the national question of Eezham Tamils into genocide, the so-called international community now conceives identical models for the struggling nationalities in the island of Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma). The basic message is that the struggling nations should abide by the existing constitutions, compromise with the genocidal militaries of the respective states, envisage only non-descript solutions to come eventually and now concentrate only on resettlement rehabilitation and reconciliation to facilitate the ‘development’ of the so-called international community. Following the peace initiation of Norway in Burma, Australia and Singapore embark upon to play a role there, resembling what the Co-Chairs did to Eezham Tamils.
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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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Canadian Tamils join protesting Queen hosting Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 June 2012, 23:53 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in Canada protested the hosting of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the British Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations on Wednesday. The demonstration took place in front of the British Consulate-General in Toronto. The Queen of England is also the head of State and Queen of Canada. The protesters displayed placards calling SL President Mahinda Rajapakse as a war criminal and shouted slogans against the ongoing genocide against Eezham Tamils. They also condemned Sri Lanka's membership in the Commonwealth.
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Kellner: Rights improvement by Colombo imperative to prevent 2013 CHOGM disaster

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 June 2012, 22:58 GMT]
"Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse should not have been allowed to attend the jubilee celebrations. The mistake of inviting him was not made by the Queen or the Buckingham Palace; the mistake was made by the Commonwealth in the last summit at Perth where they took no action against mounting evidence of human rights violations exposed by Channel-4 among others," the Chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Peter Kellner, said, adding the "next Commonwealth summit expected to be held in Sri Lanka next year will be a disaster if there is no marked improvement in human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Sustained protests carried out by large numbers of Tamil expatriates marked Rajapakse's presence in UK, and fearing disruption to businesses in London his speech to the Commonwealth Business Council was cancelled Wednesday.
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