TNA's draft on constitutional reforms exposes dilution of fundamental principles

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 July 2015, 00:21 GMT]
“In point of fact, if the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka is to be preserved from claims to the right of secession, it is a sine quo non that the right to self-determination of the Tamils is recognized and the nature of the state is restructured to enable meaningful exercise of internal self-determination,” concludes the draft introduction prepared by TNA in November 2009 to accompany its proposals of constitutional reforms. 5 years have elapsed since. The TNA, now claiming a final solution in 2016, is yet to educate the masses on what efforts it has undertaken to establish the sine quo non (“cause-in-fact”) and on how long it is going to cling to the explanation of re-inventing the wheel, getting voluntarily locked to a genocidal situation which is beyond any rectification. TamilNet is releasing the documents from November 2009 for the awareness of Eezham Tamils.
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TNA sabotages Tamils proving will for genocide investigation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 July 2015, 13:49 GMT]
Despite the mounting pressure on the planted Colombo-centric polity controlling the affairs of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the alliance has once again sabotaged Eezham Tamils' call for international investigations on genocide. The General Election Manifesto produced by R Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran undermines the unanimous and democratically established position of the elected members of its own alliance in the Northern and Eastern provincial councils on the question of genocide. TNA's manifesto is also non-descript with regards to its demand to the SL State on expected constitutional framework, political solution and the question of accountability, deploying self-contradictory and ambiguous terminology.
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Colombo-centric ‘State within State’ is model envisaged for the island

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 July 2015, 23:52 GMT]
Similar to Bangkok being different from Thailand, a separate State in disguise at Colombo, which will be different from the rest of the island, and which for all practical purposes will wield the real power and control over all economic, military and political matters of the rest of the island, is the ‘devolution’ model envisaged by the ultimate culprits, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island, citing the ‘election’ manifesto coming from Colombo. All the Colombo-centric Sinhalese, Eezham Tamils, Muslims, Up-country Tamils and the diaspora invested in Colombo, will be lured into the model for their vested interests. Whenever the model finds ‘difficulties,’ the lascarine Sinhala military will be used, as it often happens in Thailand, the activists further said.
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Tamil parties contesting SL General Elections face acid test on national cause

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2015, 13:09 GMT]
The Tamil political parties or alliances who fail to confront in their election manifestos the Article 157A of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, which was brought through the Sixth Amendment in 1983, are doomed to fail the Eezham Tamils in their future struggle, commented Eezham Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island in the wake of UNP releasing its 5­ points manifesto for the ‘United National Front for Good Governance’ in South at the presence of Sinhala Buddhist Maha Sangha on Thursday. As the Southern polity is preparing for the fourth conjuncture of ‘state formation’ in the island through bringing a new Constitution to ‘Sri Lanka’, it is critical for the Tamils to articulate their refusal to accede their sovereignty once again. This time, it is more important than ever to make it perfectly clear to all the stakeholders in the affairs of the island, the activists said.
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Book on Eezham Tamil educationalist reproduced in Canada

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 July 2015, 16:49 GMT]
The Toronto-based Saiva Siddhanta Manram in Canada has reproduced a valuable old publication on a unique Eezham Tamil educationalist, Aru'naasala Upaaththiyaayar, born 150 years ago at Kaarai-theevu (Kaarainakar), an island off Jaffna Peninsula. The reprint, which will be released on Saturday at Scarborough Civic Centre, is of much historical importance to today’s younger generation of Eezham Tamils as well as to academics studying the affairs of the island of Ilangkai/ Lanka, to understand the discourse of the struggle for self-respect waged by the nation of Eezham Tamils in the times of British colonialism. The teacher devoted his entire life in challenging and edifying the then British and American ‘educational imperialism,’ which demanded that one has to become a Christian in order to become a teacher in any of the government recognised schools.
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Hom-baawa, Kæs-bæwa, Gal-kissa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 July 2015, 10:36 GMT]
The facing part or the opposite part

The armpit-like bent part (of the river or lake)

The rocky cove
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Tamil civil society calls for fundamentals-oriented participation in election

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 July 2015, 13:18 GMT]
Coming out with a statement on Friday, the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) in the island has called upon Tamil politicians running for Colombo’s parliamentary elections to come out with an open and fundamental policy-oriented programme, keeping in mind the catalogue of deceptions in the past. The forum also called for the formation of Tamil National Council of civil societies, transcending political parties. Commenting, Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island said that if Tamils could succeed in orientating the voting to prove the demand for international investigation of genocide and prove at least in a small way their will for a shift in the polity to openly address the struggle against imperialist deceptions, that will perhaps make the only point in participating the elections in the given circumstances.
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Srebrenica, Mu'l'livaaykkaal: genocide's political dimension

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 July 2015, 00:04 GMT]
In Srebrenica, two decades ago, Serbian forces massacred 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and young adults, widely recognized as the worst genocide in Europe after World War II. While UN never formally recognized the genocide, UN statements and member states [read US, UK] have done so, and had recognized their failure to protect Srebrenica Muslims. In contrast, the nearly 80,000 civilan Tamils massacred in Mu'l'livaaykaal in 2009, in plain eye-view of advanced satellites, UN openly suppressed evidence, and the US, despite State Department's reports to the contrary, remained stoically silent, likely to avoid complicity in failing to prevent the beastial massacres. Wednesday's veto of Russia on UN security council resolution on Srebrenica drew condemnation from the US, in another demonstration of US's selective approach to geopolitical game of genocide.
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Agaare

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 July 2015, 07:30 GMT]
The depression where water collects
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Eezham Tamils Learning lessons from Srebrenica

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 July 2015, 06:28 GMT]
Eezham Tamils, especially their politicians and activists, should learn the lesson from Srebrenica that an international investigation on ‘Sri Lanka’ doesn’t merely mean investigating the island at an international level, but investigating the international elements that led to the plight of the island. New researches clearly reveal that the USA and UK knew about the genocide at Srebrenica well ahead of it, but decided to allow it because of a premeditated policy decision. Unchecked, they did it again to Eezham Tamils 14 years later, and the difference is that they still do nothing about the occupying genocidal military, continued genocide, structural genocide and annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils, may be because of another premeditated, original policy, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.
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Colombo enacts farcical show in Mirusuvil massacre case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 July 2015, 17:21 GMT]
As part of a concerted showdown in its campaign to transform the Geneva-based OISL investigation discourse into a domestic investigation, the Sri Lankan legal system was recently deployed to ‘demonstrate’ its ‘capacity‘ to 'investigate' what would be described by the human rights defenders as a ‘mass atrocity’ crime. The case, in which one non-commissioned officer of the Sri Lankan Army, Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake, was sentenced to capital punishment, was in fact a genocidal crime in which several Sinhala soldiers, including a captain rank officer having command responsibility, took part. The main surviving witness in the case, who narrowly escaped the brutal massacre, had identified in 2001 the culprits, who belonged to the notorious ‘Deep Penetration Unit’, which was trained by Colombo to commit genocidal acts.
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US Tamils should rise to the occasion of power games in southern South Asia

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 2015, 00:30 GMT]
In a significant move, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA), predominantly representing US Tamils from Tamil Nadu, has invited the NPC-Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, as a guest of honour to its Tamil Convention-2015, which will be held on Friday and Saturday at San Jose in California. The US Tamils should grasp the global and regional dynamics of the precarious power games and military scenario currently unfolding in southern South Asia, and should rise to the occasion in edifying Washington and New Delhi against keeping Tamils always at the receiving end, just because they don’t have a State, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics. Justice Wigneswaran should instil that understanding among Tamils of North America, the activists further said.
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Swaminthan continues ‘facilitation meetings’ between SL military, Tamil actors in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 July 2015, 10:07 GMT]
After the Sri Lankan regime led by Maithripala Sirisena had publicly stated that the continued occupation of civilian properties and any release of them are matters decided by its occupying SL military, D.M. Swaminathan, the SL Minister of Resettlement, has been visiting Jaffna and Ki’inochchi, conducting meetings involving the commanding officers of the SL military and Tamil politicians as well as the civil groups representing the interests of uprooted Eezham Tamils. At a ‘facilitation’ meeting chaired by Mr Swaminthan at Ki’linochchi District Secretariat on Wednesday, the representatives of uprooted people refused to accept the explanations given by the Sinhala military commanders for the delay in the resettlement.
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Swaminathan blames SL military for failure in releasing lands, resettlement

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2015, 23:22 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister of Resettlement and Reconstruction Mr D.M. Swaminathan, who visited Jaffna on Monday publicly admitted that his ministry was been unable to release lands and provide for resettlement of the uprooted people from Valikaamam North as it had been promised by himself earlier. The SL military has not been cooperating as required in the release of lands as promised, the powerless Colombo-based Tamil minister said passing the blame from political leaders to the occupying military establishment. The visiting UNP minister was addressing the elected representatives, civil officers and the organisations representing the uprooted Tamils from Valikaamam North at two places, in Thelliappazhai and at the Jaffna District Secretariat.
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PCICMP resumes public sittings amidst protests against domestic commissions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 2015, 19:21 GMT]
Rajapaksa-appointed and Maithiripala-extended ‘Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints regarding Missing Persons’ (PCICMP) resumed its public sittings on Saturday at Moothoor Divisional Secretariat in the Trincomalee district. Around 300 relatives of the missing people and civil activists protested outside the venue, while 159 people who had been invited by the PCICMP for hearings took part in the sittings. The protesters were demanding international investigations. Even those who attended the sittings had no trust in the commission, said Mannaar Citizens' Committee vice chairman A. Sagayam. His committee had urged the people to take part in the sittings.
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Champoor Tamils should demand 1 bn compensation, political-demographic guarantees

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 June 2015, 22:37 GMT]
The focus on Champoor so far by the new regime has been to get rid of the Chinese-affiliated Rajapaksa's ‘development’ family enterprises in Champoor. The India-oriented project of constructing Trincomalee Thermal Power Plant (TPP) was also part of the same ‘Industrial Zone’ game, conceived by Colombo involving all the powers locked in the geopolitical game of occupation. The geopolitical exploitation and the structural genocide will continue with a new model of conspiracy, which would be hatched by involving new actors unless the Tamils conceive a concerted struggle against the game without aligning themselves with any of the players, informed civil activists in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Friday. Meanwhile, a Tamil expert on the topic was of the opinion that Tamils should demand compensation for the destruction caused to the civil property, after the military seizure.
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Ampaa’rai Tamils side-lined by Sampanthan polity : TNA Councillor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 2015, 15:02 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance Councillor representing the Ampaa’rai district in the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) T. Kalaiyarasan on Sunday condemned TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan for failing to secure the release of the occupied lands of Eezham Tamils in the district. “Nothing has been delivered to Tamils in Ampaa’rai district despite Mr Sampanthan representing the TNA being a member of the apex body of the present SL Government in Colombo,” the TNA Councillor from the East said. The so-called National Executive Council has failed to deliver anything to Tamils in the 100-day programme, he said.
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‘LLRC’ Palihakkara promotes pompous ceremony for genocidal ‘War Heroes’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2015, 23:20 GMT]
The office of the SL Governor to North, HMGS Palihakkara, who was one of the eight panellists earlier appointed by former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the so-called Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), was an an official co-organiser to the pompous ceremony organised together with Ranaviru Seva Authority (RSA) of the occupying Sinhala military in Jaffna on Wednesday. ‘LLRC’ Palihakkara himself was the chief guest of the ceremony organised in remembrance of the ‘fallen war heroes of three forces and the Police’. Mr Palihakkara has forced a section of Tamil public servants in the North to accompany him to the military ceremony. Tamil journalists in Jaffna have boycotted the event. The NPC councillors said they were not informed of public servants associated with the NPC being taken to the event.
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US-agenda Tamils fail sabotaging Asia-Pacific Greens resolution on Genocide

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 June 2015, 21:24 GMT]
The 3rd Congress of the Asia-Pacific Greens Federation, held in Wellington, New Zealand, between 12-14 June has successfully resolved urging international investigations on the allegations of genocide, war-crimes and the ongoing human rights abuses in the island of Sri Lanka, despite reluctance coming from a section of Australian Green Party, influenced by US-agenda Tamils against such a resolution, informed sources in New Zealand told TamilNet. For their ‘reluctance’, Australian Green Party sources privately cited ‘conflicting messages’ coming from Tamil activists. The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), which is a member of the so-called Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the GTF ‘strategic initiative’ director Mr Suren Surendiren and TNA's nominated parliamentarian Mr M.A. Sumanthiran have met the Australian Greens in March to influence them towards their agenda, the sources further said.
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TNA spokesman decries Sumanthiran discourse

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 June 2015, 23:53 GMT]
“Third party mediation and negotiations are important to resolve the Tamil national question. But, the process should be carried out in a proper context involving the actors with peoples mandate. The mediation should be undertaken by international actors, who are capable of course-correcting the Colombo regime”, TNA Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran told TamilNet on Friday. Mr Premachandran, who is an official spokesman of the TNA was responding to an official statement coming from a confidential process embarked on by certain actors, involving the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, a section of Tamil diaspora activists of the so-called Global Tamil Forum (GTF), a South African NGO known as ‘In Transformation Initiative’ (ITI), Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) official Martin Stürzinger and the failed Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim.
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