Allegations of killing LTTE surrendees under UN probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 December 2009, 12:20 GMT]
Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary execution to Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations office at Geneva, in a letter to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, requested explanation for the allegations made by Sarath Fonseka on the extra-judicial executions of of three senior members of Liberation Tigers and their families when they tried surrender to the Sri Lanka military on the night of 17th May, Daily mirror reported. In the letter, Alston quotes Common Article 3 of Geneva Conventions of 1949 which prohibits killing of persons who have laid down their arms. These allegations, if proven, will amount to war-crimes.
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Third boycott protest held in Atlanta

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 December 2009, 03:30 GMT]
Tamil activists in Atlanta held a protest at the North Point Mall in the Atlanta's suburb of Alpharetta Saturday, urging ethical consumers to stop buying "made in Sri Lanka" products, especially the garments, for the 3rd time since this campaign started in September, an attendee to the protest said. North Point Mall is a super-regional shopping mall serving affluent part of the metropolitan Atlanta, according to the protesters.
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British Minister under fire for Lanka vacation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 15:48 GMT]
"Ben Bradshaw will be free to travel in Sri Lanka in a way that 100,000 displaced Tamils cannot," said the British daily Independent, adding, "the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has raised eyebrows by taking a Christmas holiday in Sri Lanka days after the British government condemned the Colombo administration for its poor human rights record." Bradshaw's act follows a month after Gordon Brown blocked "Sri Lanka's attempt to host the next Commonwealth summit," and a week after last "David Miliband told the Commons that there remained ongoing concerns about the island's government after a crackdown on the Tamil population earlier this year," the paper said.
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Restriction on Upcountry Tamils traveling to Colombo to be lifted

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 13:33 GMT]
Tamils of upcountry can travel to Colombo and other areas in the south without any restriction from Monday. Earlier they had to obtain clearance certificates from their respective police station due to security concerns.
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"Tamils should reject Mahinda, Sarath in the presidential poll" - Sivajilingam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 11:30 GMT]
"I am contesting in the presidential election only to give the Tamils of the North and East to register their unified protest against the presidential candidates Mahinda Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka who were the key characters in killing our people and subjecting them to untold suffering," Sivajilingam, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and the Tamil presidential candidate said Friday in a press meet held in Janatha Hotel in Jaffna. Sivajilingam extended a public appeal to TNA to support him in the election in order to show the world that the Tamils of the North and East reject both Mahinda and Sarath.
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99.8 percent say yes to Tamil Eelam in Canada referendum

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 08:49 GMT]
99.82 percent of 48,583 voters mandated independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the poll conducted in 31 centres across Canada, Saturday. The Canadian media and politicians showed great interest in the process of the ballot and organizers expressed satisfaction as 50, 000 was the expected turn out they quoted to media earlier. The poll was officiated by ES&S a professional company in North America that used counting machines. Unlike in Norway and France and contrary to earlier assurances, the ballot took place with complete registration of voters, which limited confidential participation, observers said. Voter turn out is assessed to be between 50 and 65 percent, but no authentic statistics is available on eligible Eezham Tamil voters.
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"Tamils should claim rights gradually" - Douglas Devananda

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 06:58 GMT]
Tamils have been reduced to the stage where they cannot no longer fight for their rights. Their non-violent approaches as well as armed struggle have failed leaving them in a situation where they can only claim their rights step by step, Minister Dougala Devananda said Saturday in a press meet held in Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) office in Jaffna Srithar theatre. The minister further said that EPDP will take full responsibility of the consequences arising by Tamils in North and East voting for President Mahinda Rajapakse in the forthcoming presidential election.
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"Plans afoot to kill me" - Sivajilingam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 04:12 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and independent candidate in presidential election said that efforts are being made to kill him so as to prevent him getting the Tamil votes in North and East in the presidential election, in a press conference held in Jaffna Friday. He further said that he had received certain information from Basil Rajapakse, the brother of President Rajapakse and that pressure was exerted on him to return to India.
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Jaffna Tamil girl abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 04:05 GMT]
Sinnappu Suhintha, 21, a resident of Jaffna, was abducted in Colombo, when she went out hospital where her mother was an in-patient, to buy food, according to a complaint lodged with the Maradana Police Friday by her relatives. Suhintha had come to Colombo to admit her mother Sinnappu Thavamany, 61, in the Colombo General Hospital for treatment.
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Referendum deciding identity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 2009, 19:40 GMT]
More than laying sound democratic foundations to the liberation struggle, the referendum will be deciding how the free Eezham Tamils and their descendants choose to identify themselves to the world – whether as ‘Sri Lankans’ or as Eezham Tamils, in the wake of international attempts to impose identity on them, commented Tamil circles in Canada on the on going referendum Saturday. Meanwhile, volunteers who worked for the referendum in France, especially the younger generation, shared their thoughts with TamilNet in a video interview.
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IFJ report adds to Colombo's woes on war-crimes video

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 2009, 17:05 GMT]
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), in a report released Friday after a fact finding mission to Sri Lanka, notes that the current political rivalry between the two leading presidential contenders is exposing the "abuses suffered by the media during the years of war, especially in its final stages." On possible new flashpoints the report notes the "anxiety in Sri Lanka official circles" when a video footage "purporting to show summary executions by army troops of a group of men described as Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka’s north" was broadcast on Britain’s Channel 4 in August. Despite attempts by Sri Lanka to dismiss the video as fake, a Colorado firm in the U.S, and British Daily Times have independently verified that video is authentic, raising the spectre of renewed calls for charging the presidential contenders of war crimes.
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Sivajilingam contesting presidential election causes confusion among Tamil political parties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 2009, 06:29 GMT]
Confusion and rift among the constituent parties of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) came to light Friday when Thamizh Arasukk Kadchi (TAK) prominent persons walked away from the event of paying respects to Thanthai Selva’s memorial monument in Jaffna when Sivajilingam, TNA parliamentarian and presidential candidate, tried to participate in the event, sources in Jaffna said. Sivajilingam garlanded the monument alone and the TAK persons came and paid their respects 15 minutes after Sivajilingam had left the place.
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Vote Yes, Shander appeals to Canadian Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 2009, 05:53 GMT]
"These are extraordinary times requiring extraordinary solutions made by extraordinary people. You are those extraordinary people. Tamils of Eelam unite! Step forward and say YES to the referendum of creating a separate state called Tamil Eelam," appeals Dr Ellyn Shander, a Connecticut Psychiatrist, a humanitarian worker and a critic of the Sri Lanka Government, on the Saturday referendum where Tamils will vote across Canada on the question of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam.
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Tamil Nadu leaders wish well for referendum in Canada

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 2009, 23:04 GMT]
Tamil Nadu political leaders Pazha Nedumaran, Ko'laththoor Mani, Aruna Bharathi and Thamizharuvi Maniyan in their statements Friday wished well for the democratic move of Canadian Tamils in conducting a referendum on Tamil Eelam Saturday and urged all Canadian Tamils to make it a grand success. Other prominent leaders like Vaiko and Thol Thirumavalavan have already extended their support to this international effort. Mr. Thirumavalavan has recently called for such democratic exercises in Tamil Nadu too. In the meantime, the move for the referendum is enlightening many Canadians on the history of Eezham Tamil struggle and how the struggle predates militant movements, said a Canadian Tamil who happened to spend some time with Canadian intelligence officials in explaining what was Vaddukkoaddai Resolution.
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BTF, TNC welcome referendum in Canada, urge full participation

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 2009, 19:46 GMT]
British Tamil Forum (BTF) and Tamil National Council (TNC) of UK welcomed the referendum scheduled to take place in Canada Saturday on saying yes or no to independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam and urged the full participation of Eezham Tamils in Canada. Tamil National Council was initiated for the purpose of conducting a similar referendum in UK and the British Tamil Forum, the largest body of Eezham Tamils in UK co-officiates the ballot scheduled for January in UK.
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Improve lives of resettled people in Moothoor, demands IDP Union

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 2009, 13:44 GMT]
The president of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Union requested government authorities to take several actions which could greatly help the resettled people to improve their lives, in a meeting held Wednesday around 10:00 a.m in Kaddaippa’richchaan Vipulaanantha Mahaa Viththiyaalayam. Eastern Province Chief Minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, Governor Mohan Vijayavickrama, Government Agent T. T. R. de Silva, Cooperative Development Minister, A. Majeed, Eastern Province Agriculture Minister T. Navaratnarajah, Divisional Secretary N. Selvanayagam and government officials participated in the meeting, sources in Trincomallee said.
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Merak Tamil refugees demand fundamental right to health-care, safety

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 2009, 12:35 GMT]
Two hundred and fifty four Tamil boat refugees who fled the war in Sri Lanka and currently held in a boat at the Indonesian Port of Merak after being intercepted by Indonesian Navy, demanded in a press release issued Thursday, that they are want "respect for their fundamental rights," and added that they are not "asking for anything more than a guarantee to live in a safe place and to safeguard the future of their kids. It is absolutely inhumane to deny this right to anybody."
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Zurich, Vienna, war crimes and Tamil polity

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 2009, 07:28 GMT]
By concentrating in an undue way on the choice of a president between the two main candidates seen as war criminals, why should Eezham Tamils ultimately uphold the interests of any of the powers either committed or abetted those very war crimes but show no signs of mending their ways on the national question and are now backing those dummy candidates, argues TamilNet political commentator in Colombo. Instead, Tamil politicians and new political aspirants among Tamils should leave the matter to genuine and spontaneous decision of the Tamil people and should make the best use of the time to concentrate more on laying strong foundations to the emerging national polity of Eezham Tamils to face any eventuality that emerges after the presidential elections, he further said.
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Referendum to speak for themselves - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 December 2009, 01:39 GMT]
Why after three decades once again a democratic mandate on independent Tamil Eelam? The answer is simple says Tamil Guardian in an editorial this week: The collective demand and popular mandate of 1977 has been studiously ignored and instead all kinds of voices - including the Sinhala state, marginal Tamil actors and important members of the international community - have simply asserted that 'the majority' of Tamils reject independence, whilst simultaneously lending tacit or overt support to the systematic and forcible denial of any space for the Tamil people to freely express their views on this core issue. On their assertion, a war was waged to devastate Tamils. The demand to conduct UN-run referendum was only met with silence. The referenda on Tamil Eelam now being organized by the Diaspora are an effort by Tamils to speak over those speaking for them, the editorial said.
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Yes or no to Tamil Eelam, referendum in Canada on Saturday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 December 2009, 16:56 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in Canada will vote on the question of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam at 31 polling centres using 52 voting machines across the country this Saturday between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., said Coalition for Tamil Elections Canada, an independent body organizing the referendum. It is a historic opportunity never to be missed by the large number of Eezham Tamils in Canada, said Siva Vimalachandran, spokesperson for the coalition and chairperson for the York University Student Centre INC. "Casting aside all differences and biases they should make this democratic exercise a success, not only to uphold the basic premises of liberation of their nation in the island, but also to assert to their own diaspora identity and to be free from the shackles of Sri Lankan identity oppressors attempt to forcefully impose onto them globally,” he further said.
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