Mystification of post-war U.S strategic engagement with SL unitary state

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 December 2017, 21:14 GMT]
Following the 2015 regime change, U.S strategic interests in the island have advanced to unprecedented heights. Such structural development is obfuscated through the opinions engendered by the Geneva-UNHRC based Human Rights discourse as well as the ‘reconciliation, transitional justice and development’ discourses. The highly distorted discourse that is disseminated from established international systems pivoting the U.S and their allies, paints a picture of U.S axis of powers and U.N as being saviors of a ‘victimized’ Tamil ‘minority’ sans self-determination. Tacitly this discourse attempts to purge the national character of the aspirations and grievances of Eezham Tamils and brackets their political struggle into a ‘minority issue’. It bereaves the Tamils of their democratic will, national existence and sovereignty.
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Truth, justice can only come through international intervention, say protesters in North-East

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 December 2017, 17:45 GMT]
“As the world prepares to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the most meaningful action that the UN and the international community can take vis a vis Sri Lanka is to apply concrete pressure on the Government to take concrete steps to trace the fate of our loved ones and hold those responsible for their forced disappearance. Otherwise Human Rights will remain for us an unrealized value, full of rhetoric and of no practical relevance to our plight,” said the appeal from the families of enforced disappeared in Batticaloa district on Sunday. The appeal was addressed to the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. Protests were staged in Jaffna in the North and in Batticaloa in the East by the families of enforced disappeared from all the 8 districts of the occupied country of Eezham Tamils.
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Sinhala policemen force Tamil journalists to delete evidence of Sinhalicisation in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2017, 21:44 GMT]
Eight Tamil journalists who went from Jaffna to Tha'n'ni-mu'rippu reservoir in the south of Mullaiththeevu district on Saturday to witness the Sinhalicisation, which is stepped up there through the militarization of occupying Sinhala Army, were subjected to severe harassment. The journalists, who were documenting the scale of Sinhalicisaton and militarisation of the irrigation tank of Tamils were stopped by the ‘Sri Lanka’ Army soldiers, who brought a higher-ranking officer from the nearby military camp. The SLA officer was attempting to confiscate the cameras of the Tamil journalists claiming that he wanted to inspect the equipment citing ‘national security’ concerns. The journalists refused to hand over their equipment. In the meantime, Sinhala policemen who arrived from Mullaiththeevu intervened deleting the photos and videos recorded by the journalists at the spot.
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US Pacific Command complicit in Colombo’s structural genocide against Champoor Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2017, 21:36 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala navy’s Vidura training base is situated in Champoor in the Trincomalee district of the Eastern Province. The Sinhala navy has seized 3,200 acres of lands for the naval training base. The US Pacific Command is directly involved in upgrading the SL Navy with a marine force through its training sessions in Trincomalee. SL President Maithiripala Sirisena has upgraded the Sinhala militarisation through upgrading the 178 acres of SL Naval base into 3,200 acres of modern training base of the occupying SL Navy which is being groomed by the US Pacific Command through military-to-military training in Trincomalee. Now, the Sinhala navy is chasing for more lands in Champoor, the Rural Development Society representatives in Champoor said vowing to protest against the US Embassy in Colombo unless their demands were met by the Colombo government.
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Colombo accelerates Sinhalicisation of pubic sector in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2017, 15:55 GMT]
108 of 110 nurses, who were appointed on Tuesday to the government vacancies at teaching hospitals and medical institutions that come under the administrative control of Colombo's central Ministry of Health in the Jaffna district were Sinhalese, civil sources in Jaffna said. While there are 45,000 unemployed young graduates in the Northern province demanding job opportunities from the government, almost all the appointments in the health sector as well as at the administrative sector at the district and divisional secretariats are being allocated to Sinhalese from South, civil sources at the District Secretariat of Jaffna said. At the current rate of Sinhalicisation taking place at the University of Jaffna, the significance of the University as a centre of Tamil culture and education will be gone within the next 5 years, academic circles have commented.
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North-East under Sinhala colonial rule: NPC Minister Sarweswaran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2017, 17:35 GMT]
Instead of respecting the feelings of Tamils and looking at ways to resolve the national conflict, which also includes the introduction of a new flag that doesn't offend the feelings of the Tamil people, the Sinhala establishment of southern politicians and their ethno-religious leaders remain trapped in a colonial mind-set, says K. Sarsweswaran, the minister of Education, Youth affairs and Sport at the Northern Provincial Council. In a recent video interview to TamilNet on the reactions coming from the Sinhala politicians from South and the Sinhala colonial Governor to North regarding the NPC Minister’s avoidance of hoisting the offending Lion flag at a school event in Vavuniyaa, Sarawesaran said he was baffled at the reactions coming from the Sinhala politicians in South as if the denouncement of Lion flag was a latest discovery of Tamils.
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Sinhala colonists resume violence against Tamil farmers in Paduvaan-karai, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 December 2017, 13:40 GMT]
Sinhala colonists who have encroached into traditional Tamil areas in Batticaloa have again started to shoot and kill the cattle belonging to Tamil dairy farmers in Paduvaankarai region. Dairy farmers in Ko'ra'lai-pattu South blame three Sinhala encroachers as culprits after one of their cows was shot and killed on Thursday night. The farmers said they have recovered three of their cattle with gunshot injuries. Between 2013 and 2016, more than 1,000 cows, owned by Tamil dairy farmers were shot and killed. The process was accelerated after Sirisena coming to power. However, due to relentless protests and complaints, the menace was temporarily halted from the end of 2016. Now, it resumes again, Tamil farmers said. Paduvaan-karai was protected by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before the end of war in the East in 2007.
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Deploying wild elephants, Colombo blocks resettlement of Tamils along Vavuniyaa border

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2017, 22:17 GMT]
At least 250 Tamil families were living in the three villages of Koara-moaddai, Nochchik-ku'lam and Naavat-pa'n'nai along the border of Vavuniyaa North division and the now Sinhalicised Ma'na'l-aa'ru (Weli-oya) division in Mullaiththeevu district. The villages situated between the two districts in the Northern Province have been exposed to Sinhala encroachment coming through Padaviya and Anuradhapura of the North Central Province (NCP). The Tamil farmers living there were uprooted from their villages between 1991 and 1994 as the so-called Deep Penetration Unit of the SL Army let loose terror decapitating the Tamil farmers. So far, only a few families have managed to resettle, but they are being hunted by wild elephants that have been intentionally brought down by the SL Wild Life Department from South through Horowapothana in the NCP, Tamil civil sources in Vavuniyaa North say.
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Occupying Colombo's Intelligence steps up threats against ex-LTTE females in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 December 2017, 22:36 GMT]
A 33-year-old former LTTE female member from I'raal-oadai of Koa'ra'laip-pattu North (Vaakarai) in Batticaloa in Batticaloa district, complains that ex-LTTE female members from Batticaloa were being repeatedly harassed by the so-called Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) ‘intelligence’ operatives of occupying Colombo. The woman was detained under the so-called Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in 2006 in Colombo and was released in 2011 after her case was addressed through the SL courts. However, every time Tamil people show their resentment against occupying Colombo and express their resolve on their fundamental rights, the SL Intelligence establishment opens the files of ex-LTTE female cadres in the district carrying out new rounds of interrogations.
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Peoples’ uprising on Heroes Day delivers strong message to occupying Colombo, foreign powers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2017, 08:12 GMT]
More than 1000 families of fallen Tamil Eelam fighters gathered in front of the SL military demolished Heroes Cemetery on Rajaveethi Road amidst SL military harassment of blocking access to the memorial site, veiled threats of taking photos of the participants and the military display of deploying Armoured Personal Carriers and the firing of tear gas and demonstration of water hoses earlier in the day. Around 1,000 Sinhala soldiers were taking positions surrounding the largest Tamil Eelam Heroes Cemetery while Sinhala soldiers in civil clothes were riding vehicles. But, the soldiers in civil found themselves as they had to stay within their vehicles while the people brought everything to standstill as they emotionally marked Heroes Day remembrance at 6:00 p.m. on Monday.
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Jaffna University community marks Tamil Eelam Heroes Day with renewed resolve

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 November 2017, 10:48 GMT]
More than 2,000 students along with lecturers, faculty deans and the staff of the University of Jaffna took part on Monday morning in an emotional floral tribute in front of the newly renovated Tamil Eelam Heroes memorial statue, which was destroyed by the occupying SL military after 2009. The event on Monday was equally emotional to the first event held 12 years ago when the statue was declared open. "The people of Jaffna will never forget nor pardon the desecration of the memorials," the vice chancellor at that time Prof Mohanadas told TamilNet after declaring the statue open in 2005. After 2009, the occupying SL military also destroyed the statue inside the University premises as it razed to the grounds all the Heroes’ cemeteries in occupied Tamil Eelam. The emotional event in Jaffna on Monday has passed a strong message to the world, student leaders at Jaffna university said.
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Appointing PSC to look into uprooted Tamils’ land issue, another deception

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 November 2017, 15:08 GMT]
As the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) was preparing itself to conduct a detailed survey of uprooted people, who have lost their properties to SL military occupation in the Northern Province, the Rajapaksa loyalists (Joint Opposition) in the SL Parliament have come up with a deceptive proposal to appoint an SL Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into the land issue of the uprooted people in the North. The ruling SL regime also seems to back proposal of the PSC. The Sinhala parties are working on the same line when they want to deceive the Tamils and postpone release of lands further, said the representatives of uprooted people from Vasaavi'laan in Jaffna, who think the PSC move would only end up justifying Sinhala military occupation in the name of so-called national security.
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Empowering genocide-victims, particularly women, is nation-building: diaspora writer

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 November 2017, 20:16 GMT]
A France based Eezham Tamil diaspora writer, Parani Krishnarajani, who has been studying sexual violence unleashed on Tamil women and children in the aftermath of the genocidal war, says rape was not only used as a tool of war or as tool of terror, but as a tool of genocide with multi-pronged effects. The effects are well-recorded but not the intentions and how they were set in motion to achieve the end results that we are witnessing today in the society. The genocidal intent seems to vary from suppressing the memories of valour of Tamil women from the times of Pirapaharan’s LTTE and to the destruction of their familial set-up, nullifying all positive social transformations that had been achieved during the times of the armed struggle. The nation of Eezham Tamils should empower the victimised Tamil women on the ground through evolving familial institutions for them.
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Lion flag controversy comes to forefront after NPC Minister declining to hoist it in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 November 2017, 23:10 GMT]
“Without giving adequate recognition to the original inhabitants of this Island and their religion our National flag gives undue importance to the Sinhalese and to Buddhism. This is the reason for the resentment of the Hon’ Education Minister,” responded Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, the chief minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in his weekly media address formed as Q&A. NPC CM's response came as SL Ministers in South started to react to media reports on the episode. On Wednesday, SL Governor to North, Reginald Cooray also exposed himself by interpreting the democratic and peaceful protest by the NPC Minister as “violating the constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka”. The SL Governor and ultra-nationalist Sinhalese in South seem to have not learnt their lessons from the recent history, commented political observers in Jaffna.
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Braving Colombo’s harassment, people in occupied Tamil Eelam prepare for Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 November 2017, 23:10 GMT]
Harassments by the occupying Sinhala military intelligence and the SL Police are being reported across the 8 districts in the North and East as Eezham Tamils have been mobilising themselves this week to prepare the remaining of the destroyed structures at various Tamil Eelam Great Heroes Cemeteries that have been razed to the ground by the occupying military of genocidal Colombo. The SL Police in Jaffna has deployed additional ‘Special Task Force’ commandos and the Senior Deputy Inspector General in Jaffna has vowed to deploy Sinhala Army soldiers at any time under the pretext of controlling gang violence and narcotic trafficking. Both the crimes have been systematically spread by the military intelligence in the occupied Tamil Eelam as part of a systematic psychological warfare against Eezham Tamils.
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Jaffna University students add a breath of fresh air to principled politics: Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 November 2017, 23:40 GMT]
The leader of Tamil National Peoples' Front (TNPF) Mr Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam has welcomed the student community of Jaffna University for taking a well-researched principled position in advancing the struggle of Tamil political prisoners in the island. Mr Ponnamabalam, an experienced human rights lawyer who is also well-versed on the political foundations of the Tamil struggle, was particularly appreciating the appeal document prepared by the Student Union of the Jaffna University on Tuesday. The fact that the University community has come forward to struggle for the right of the political prisoners, legally arguing why Tamil prisoners were entitled to international rights as Prisoners of War under the Geneva Conventions and demanding the most responsible actors to at least recognize them as political prisoners is a “game changer”, Mr Ponnambalam said.
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Veteran journalist of Tamil Eelam passes away at 87

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2017, 16:07 GMT]
S.M. Gopalaratnam (SMG), the most senior journalist to serve the Tamil Eelam liberation struggle with a prolific journalistic career in the Tamil-language press with more than 50 years of continuous service, passed away at the age of 87 at his residence in Batticaloa on Wednesday. Born in Jaffna and based in Batticaloa, Mr Gopalaratnam joined Virakesari in Colombo as a proof-reader in 1953 and rose to the level of sub-editor in the same year. SMG joined Jaffna-based Eezha Naadu daily in 1961 as one of the founding editorial board members and served the paper for 20 years covering the non-violent struggle of Eezham Tamils. He narrowly escaped from an arson attack by the occupying Sinhala police who burnt down the office and machinery of Eezha Naadu the very night the Jaffna Public Library was put to ashes in 1981.
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Landowners reluctant to dismantle military-vacated Buddha statues due to SL constitutional clause

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2017, 22:29 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army was stationed at Mailampaa-ve'li village, which is situated 8 km north of Batticaloa city along Batticaloa - Vaazhaichcheanai highway (A4). The SL military vacated from the private lands three years ago. After that, the occupying Sinhala police has put up a post at the locality and the landowner is still reluctant of removing a Buddha statue which was left behind by the Sinhala military.The SLA was occupying the said lands at Mailampaa-ve'li lands for 25 years. SL Police doesn't seem to use the small temple, which is found in the abandoned state. However, the ‘foremost place to Buddhism’ clause in the SL constitution would be used against the landowner if the structure is removed.
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Jaffna students demand US and UN agenda-setters to declare PTA detainees as political prisoners

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2017, 23:44 GMT]
More than 1,000 Tamil students from across the faculties of Jaffna University as well as the students from the College of Education, Jaffna Technical College and High Tech institute took to the streets in Jaffna on Tuesday demanding the main intervening actors of the International Establishment to recognise the Tamil prisoners detained under the so-called Prevention of Terrorism Act as Political Prisoners. They handed over open and urgent appeals addressed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President of UNHRC and to the US Permanent Mission for UN in Geneva, which has been behind the drafting of the ‘consensus’ resolution with the SL State in Geneva Human Rights Council in 2015 and with postponing a final evaluation by two more years in 2017. The student leaders handed over the appeals through the UN Residential Office in Jaffna and the American Corner in the city.
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Factoring political solution more important than addressing human rights: Prof Ramasamy

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2017, 21:33 GMT]
Not only did the Sri Lankan regime won the war against the Tamil liberation force, it might even win the propaganda war if the problems of Tamils in the island are exclusively focused on human rights to the neglect of the fundamental question of a long lasting political solution, commented Deputy Chief Minister of Penang state in Malaysia, Professor P. Ramasamy, told TamilNet on Monday. “Yes, human rights must be addressed, but in the larger context of the Tamil political question. It would make no sense just to address the human rights issues without factoring the political solution,” the longtime advocate of the rights of Eezham Tamils said. Focusing primarily on human rights might be an irritant to the Sri Lankan regime, but it may prefer it simply because it diverts the attention from the need of a political solution of Tamils, he further said.
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