Foreign Office ‘relief’ at Fox resignation – The Times

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 October 2011, 01:59 GMT]
The Times newspaper Saturday described “a palpable sense of relief” in Britain’s Foreign Office at the resignation of Defence Secretary Liam Fox, whose “shadow diplomacy”, the paper said, “has seriously muddied the presentation of British policy abroad.” Although the Foreign Office had agreed to Dr. Fox visiting Sri Lanka to deliver a public lecture in July, after it added a phrase calling for an independent inquiry into crimes against Tamil civilians, suspicions remained. “There was a lot of suspicion about what was being said in private,” an FCO source told The Times. “We couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t unofficial diplomacy going on.”
Full story >>

Sinhala Army builds Buddhist temple in front of church in Valveddiththu’rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 October 2011, 05:37 GMT]
The virtually Sinhala Army of Sri Lanka that occupies the country of Eezham Tamils, is building a new Buddhist temple at Valveddiththu’rai Junction, in front of the historic St. Sebastian Church. Valveddiththu’rai, the birthplace of the LTTE leader Pirapaharan, never had any Buddhists, except the occupying Sinhala Army. The act is a naked show of Sri Lanka’s jubilation over the genocide of Eezham Tamils, mocking at those who talk about ‘post-war reconciliation,’ civil activists in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, former TNA parliamentarian MK Sivajilingam on Friday has appealed to the Vatican to take immediate ecclesiastical and diplomatic action to stop the military’s Buddhist construction as it seriously hurts the feelings of the Tamil Catholics of the town. Similar acts of the SL Army are also reported from Mannaar, a major Tamil Catholic city.
Full story >>

UK’s Defence Secretary Liam Fox quits as pressure mounts

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 October 2011, 16:05 GMT]
UK’s Defence Secretary Liam Fox has resigned from his post Friday afternoon amid mounting pressure over his working relationship with his flatmate and self-styled adviser Adam Werritty. Dr. Fox was widely accused of running a ‘shadow foreign policy’ on Sri Lanka and undermining Britain’s official foreign policy, a mysterious trust he set up to solicit private sector contributions to ‘development’ in Sri Lanka – with Mr. Werritty as its key contact - seems to have done nothing other than fund his visits to the island, and now it appears that Mr. Werritty’s globe-trotting to numerous places Dr. Fox was also visiting on official business, has been partly funded by a corporate intelligence company with “a close interest” in Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka links to the fore in Liam Fox political storm

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 October 2011, 04:48 GMT]
Amid the relentless political and media storm over British Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s relationship with Mr Adam Werritty, a close friend who has been operating as an unofficial ‘advisor’ to him on security and foreign policy matters, the duo’s links to Sri Lanka’s regime have been regularly popping up. By Friday, three separate types of links had been established in a series of reports filed over the past week by The Times, The Guardian, the Financial Times, and The Daily Telegraph newspapers, as well as Channel 4 and BBC television. The main opposition Labour party has in recent days tabled several questions in Parliament over Dr. Fox’s links to Sri Lanka, while the seemingly ceaseless revelations by the media are unsettling both Dr. Fox’s hitherto staunch allies in the right wing of the ruling Conservative Party, as well as senior Ministry of Defence staff and top military officers.
Full story >>

Maldives defence minister visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 October 2011, 05:04 GMT]
Maldivian Defence Minister, Thalhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaanu, visited Sri Lanka’s occupying Army in the country of Eezham Tamils in Jaffna on Wednesday. His visit follows Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed’s unhindered support to genocidal Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa in shielding the latter from international war crimes investigation. The ‘hundred per cent Islamic country’ Maldives in recent times has entered into a number of agreements with Israel, the secret protocols of which are yet to be known to the public. However, the new friendship and the lease of one of the islands to Israel for ‘agricultural development’ are much talked about in Maldives. The support of US Asst Secretary of State Robert Blake to Nasheed’s Maldives in the international organisations is not without reason, political observers say.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka entices India in Commonwealth Games bid

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 October 2011, 02:41 GMT]
If Sri Lanka becomes successful in the bid to host 2018 Commonwealth Games in Hambantota, India will get 5 billion dollar investment opportunity in building facilities, The Hindu Business Online reported SL envoy Prasad Kariyawasam saying in New Delhi on Tuesday. The construction corruption of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and the diplomatic corruption of Rajapaksa being the ‘Guest of Honour’ are well known. While Sri Lanka’s very membership in Commonwealth and it hosting the 2013 Heads of Govt Meet have become controversies likely to be raised in Perth this month, Colombo entices India by offering partnership in swindling ‘Common Wealth’ to further development imbalance of the nation of Eezham Tamils and to diplomatically establish Genocide as an acceptable State paradigm for the region, Tamil politicians commented.
Full story >>

The Times slams Liam Fox’s ties to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 October 2011, 07:17 GMT]
Amid the continuing – and seemingly expanding – controversy in Britain over Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s working relationship with close friend, Mr. Adam Werritty, the former’s relationship with Sri Lanka’s regime has been thrust into the media spotlight. In its editorial Wednesday, The Times newspaper slammed Dr. Fox’s involvement with the Colombo government with which, press reports reveal, Mr. Werritty is also intimately associated. “The Defence Secretary’s ties to Sri Lanka are wrong and have exceeded his ministerial remit,” The Times said, referring to how his actions have undermined UK policy in dealing with the “grotesque and criminal” actions of the Sri Lankan armed forces against Tamil civilians in 2009.
Full story >>

Forest destruction, land grab go unabated in Batticaloa: TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 October 2011, 20:34 GMT]
Twenty thousand acres of grazing lands along the border villages in Batticaloa district have been fenced and allocated on lease to the families of the members of Sinhala home guards, according to Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.P.Selvarasa. 8.4 percent forest resources in Batticaloa district have now been reduced 6.4 percent and twelve thousand acres of forest land has been handed over to Mahaweli Development Authority by the Department of Forest, Mr. Selvarasa told journalists in Batticaloa. The SL Mahaweli Development Authority has allocated these lands to the Sinhala home guards at the rate of fifty acres per family, Mr.Selvarasa further told journalists while visiting the village of 38th colony this weekend.
Full story >>

War or post-war, Sri Lanka’s explicit genocide is unchecked

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 October 2011, 20:58 GMT]
Whether one shows legal land deeds of heredity or not, to establish the private ownership of land in the country of Eezham Tamils, the occupying Sri Lanka Army would place a signboard that the land is out of reach. Thereafter, if the owner of the land is not prepared to bribe the occupying Army, the land will be given to anyone who collaborates with the occupying Army. This is the reality about fertile cultivation lands especially in Vanni, since genocidal Sri Lanka has embarked upon ‘re-registering’ lands in the country of Eezham Tamils under a programme ‘Bim Saviya’ of Sinhala nomenclature. The explicit land-related structural genocide has made even a Rajapaksa-supporting Tamil politician like Anandasangaree to become more vociferous than the TNA in calling for a non-cooperation movement of Tamils.
Full story >>

SL Police intimidated Tamil voters in Kalmunai: TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 October 2011, 23:26 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Police had unleashed terror on Tamil voters who went to cast their votes and return after exercising their franchise in the Kalmunai Municipal Council election held Saturday, according to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) sources in Kalmunai. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) polled 22,356 votes (48.99%) and secured 11 seats. The TNA has secured 4 seats polling 9,911 votes (21.72%). The UPFA came third, securing 3 seats and the UNP 1 seat of the Kalmunai Municipal council.
Full story >>

Remedial Sovereignty

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 October 2011, 05:22 GMT]
Tamils' demand for self-determination in the past four decades, which posed persistent challenges to Sri Lanka's sovereignty, was rooted on the acceptance of Tamils fundamental right to self-determination under customary international law, as a "people" possessing a distinct language, distinct culture and living in an identifiable region considered as the historic homeland. But recent, state sanctioned, massacre of 40,000 Tamils in Mu'l'livaaykkaal, and the continuing structural genocide, while reinforcing the traditional argument based on rights, also supplies an independent, stand alone justification for the creation of a state, based on the need to defend the Eelam Tamil population from further destruction - the doctrine of "remedial sovereignty."
Full story >>

Snail pace delivery of houses with Indian assistance, mere 0.1% completed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 October 2011, 14:38 GMT]
Housing scheme for displaced civilians of North and East, announced by India last year, has failed to deliver, according to Tamil NGO and political circles in Jaffna. India had announced last year that it would construct 50,000 houses for the displaced in the North and East. However, only 53 houses have been constructed so far till October 2011, Tamil NGO sources said. Plans were afoot in Mannaar, Vavuniyaa, Ki'linochchi, Mullaiththeevu and Jaffna in North to construct houses for the war-displaced people. Earlier this year, when asked on the lack of progress of Indian announcement, Indian officials in the island responded that at least one thousand houses will be constructed before the end of 2011. The officials diluted the commitment further indicating that the numbers also included repair of existing houses.
Full story >>

Sinhala encroachment of grazing lands continues unabated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 October 2011, 20:32 GMT]
Under the direction of SL authorities in Colombo, the Ampaa'rai District Agrarians Services Department has begun issuing permits to Sinhala encroachers on grazing lands in the Batticaloa district giving permanent status. Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr.P.Selvarasa addressing a meeting of the farmers at Vavu'natheevu DS secretariat last week requested the Sri Lanka Government Agent of Batticaloa District to stop legalizing encroachment by Sinhalese on grazing land located in Vavu'natheevu, Paddippazhai and Vellaave'li DS division in the Batticaloa district.
Full story >>

Rajapakse, an enemy of all mankind, filed U.S. Court papers say

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 October 2011, 17:07 GMT]
In a potential precedent setting motion filed in the U.S. District Court of District of Columbia, Bruce Fein, attorney for three Tamil plaintiffs, requested Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, to authorize issuing summons through latest electronic social networks and local papers to the defendant, Sri Lanka's sitting President, Mahinda Rajapakse, forcing the defendant to answer war-crimes charges, paving the way for Court determination of civil claims of $30m, legal sources in Washington said. Arguing that Rajapakse is "hostis humani generis," an enemy of all mankind, the motion provides legal precedence to establish that Rajapakse's crimes fall under Universal Jurisdiction applicable under TVPA.
Full story >>

Politics of Human Rights

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 September 2011, 08:49 GMT]
“Is it not time for us to realize that these partners in collusion are making us to chase a mirage that is getting further and further away,” asks TamilNet Economic and Geopolitical Analyst in Asia Pacific, citing Human Rights Council in Geneva giving further time for Rajapaksa to stabilize the genocide. Stressing on the importance of collectivism in ideology to face the situation, the analyst said the lacuna in current human rights activism is that it harps only on individual human rights and not on collective human rights such as the right to self-determination of nations. Individualism carefully promoted by the Establishments leads to inaction, frustration and negativism. The present HR activists hooked to the paradigm should be reminded of the limitations of their activism resulting in negativism capturing the minds of all oppressed peoples, he further writes.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka governor demolishes British heritage in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 September 2011, 21:14 GMT]
Part of a landmark heritage complex at the Old Park in Jaffna, the residency buildings of the British Government Agents, dating back to the beginnings of British rule, was demolished overnight on Wednesday at the orders of the occupying Sri Lanka governor in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasri, despite the SL Archaeology Department declaring it a heritage site, preventing any demolitions. The SL governor is already building a mansion for the occupying governors in that location at a cost of 100 million Rs, news sources in Jaffna said. Both SL President Rajapaksa and his governor give utmost importance to the symbolism in showing who are the colonial masters now, by building a mansion for the SL president at the ‘King’s House’ inside the Dutch Fort and by building a governor’s mansion at the complex of the former British Residents.
Full story >>

Regimes in Sri Lanka, Maldives, forge questionable alliance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 September 2011, 06:09 GMT]
Maldivian Vice-President Dr Mohammed Waheed, meeting Mahinda Rajapaksa over the weekend at the UN General Assembly Sessions, assured the latter of the support of Male to Colombo’s stand on its human rights issues, according to Maldivian media Haveeru, Tuesday. “Early this month Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed defended Sri Lanka’s position at the UN Human Rights Council sessions held in Geneva,” Haveeru said in its feature “Maldives assures support for Sri Lanka amidst UN allegations.” The undue extra efforts taken by the present regime in Male to shield Colombo against the struggle of Tamils and Muslims in the island need careful scrutiny by the people in Maldives and peoples movements across South Asia, commented a political observer in Male.
Full story >>

Tamils protest outside Rajapakse's UN address

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 September 2011, 07:13 GMT]
Nearly one thousand Tamils protested outside the United Nations Friday between 10 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. while Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse was addressing the UN's General Assembly. Protesters held placards criticizing UN's inaction on Sri Lanka, and took the 'Pongku Thamizh' oath promising to continue to non-violent struggle until Tamils' inalienable rights are recognized in a political settlement based on Tamils right to self-determination, attendees to the event said. Several protesters crossed the Canadian border to be present at the rally held amid tight security on the 47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka relocates uprooted civilians by force in jungles to cover-up war crimes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 September 2011, 15:40 GMT]
Closing down the infamous Manik Farm barbed-wire camp where several thousands of war-displaced Tamil civilians were detained under extremely difficult conditions since early 2009, the genocidal Rajapaksa regime has now decided to relocate them in some strange jungle areas by force, under the name of ‘resettlement’ of internally displaced people (IDPs), mainly to cover up war crimes. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence this week announced that preparations were under way to construct 600 acre new village in Koampaavil in Puthukkudiyiruppu area to resettle the remaining 7,394 IDPs from 2,097 families at the Manik Farm Camp.
Full story >>

US cables show how international silence enabled Sri Lanka’s genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 September 2011, 03:55 GMT]
In March 2009 Sri Lanka had come to the attention of the UN’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, Francis Deng, but despite his disquiet he did not take further steps as Sri Lanka had assured him the United States and India supported its military campaign, according to a leaked US cable. The account of the meeting on March 16, 2009 between Mr. Deng and the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, as well as other US cables, shows how international inaction and silence, rather than ignorance, made it possible for Sri Lanka to continue and escalate its mass killings of Tamil civilians.
Full story >>