TPC success depends on geopolitically addressing national question

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 December 2015, 18:22 GMT]
Tamil People’s Council (TPC), a 30-member body launched in Jaffna on 19 December consisting of three-member co-chairs that includes NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, has gained momentum and hype despite the shortcomings in the formation of an institution bringing together political, religious, civil activists and professionals at a critical juncture. The TPC is set to meet on Sunday to discuss the way forward to articulate the Tamil outlook for a political framework in resolving the Tamil national question. Those involved in the move should rise above the average introvert dialectics and conceive the TPC as a platform in articulating the real aspirations of the nation of Eezham Tamils to the outside geo-political ‘conflict managers’, who seek to contain the aspirations of the people, Tamil political observers in the island said.
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Occupying Colombo seeks 450 Tamil deserters enlisted by SL military in North

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 December 2015, 23:36 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military of genocidal Sri Lanka is silently deploying targeted search operations to arrest conscripted Tamils, who are absconding from their military enlistment in the Northern province. A total of 450 of 600 Tamils, recruited to SL military through deceptive methods after 2009, have escaped from the genocidal grips of the SL military in the North, informed sources told TamilNet on Monday. They were deceived with the promise of non-military civil work and good salaries, but after they signed up, they were given a basic form of ‘disciplinary’ training and showcased in parades with military uniforms against their wish. Later, they were deployed as slaves in the military-run farms inside the so-called High Security Zones (HSZ). Now, the absconding victims have become subjects for search and arrest operations by the SL military. The victims are now seeking protection.
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Repeal 6th Amendment for free discussion: VIS Jayapalan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 2015, 08:55 GMT]
There could be no claim of reconciliation without the release of political prisoners in the island. Attempting reconciliation and engaging in reconciliation are two different things. So far, the incumbent SL president has only been attempting reconciliation, VIS Jayapalan, a well-known Eezham Tamil poet and an award-winning actor in Indian Tamil cinema, said in an interview to TamilNet Palaka’ni this week. Stating that a political solution, be it separation or federation, should be achieved through an open debate in a free environment between the Tamil-speaking people and the Sinhalese people, Mr Jayapalan urged the civil society in the South to realise the significance of creating the necessary non-violent space through making the SL State to repeal the 6th Amendment to the SL Constitution.
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Jeneevan, Komahan call off hunger strike after meeting TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 December 2015, 23:29 GMT]
The two Tamil prisoners, 36-year-old Jeneevan Sivarasa and 32-year-old Komahan Murugiah, waging a huger-strike at the New Magazine prison, called off their protest on Wednesday evening around 3:00 p.m., after two Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, D. Sitharthan and S. Viyalendran, met the Tamil prisoners and urged them to postpone their hunger strike giving SL authorities one more chance to address their cases without further delay. The SL Minister for ‘Prison Reforms’ Mr D.M. Swaminathan has agreed to instruct the SL Police ASP Senakumara Singhe to be present at the High Court in Jaffna when Jeneepan Sivarasa's case is taken up for investigation, the Tamil prisoner said.
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Tamil political prisoners on hunger strike face death threats inside SL prisons

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 2015, 20:21 GMT]
The families of Tamil political prisoners expressed fear on Tuesday that the prison authorities of occupying Sri Lanka have started to deploy harsh methods against their detained kith and kin inside the jails in South to contain their struggle. A violent group of criminal Sinhala prisoners were deployed at the same room of the prison hospital, where 36-year-old Jeneevan Sivarasa was warded at the New Magazine prison. The Sinhala prisoners harassed Mr Sivarasa with racist and death threats, the families of the Tamil prisoners told TamilNet. Another Tamil political prisoner, 32-year-old Komahan Murugiah, was also subjected to similar harassments. The two Tamil prisoners are continuing their hunger strike amidst deteriorating health conditions.
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Systematic enforced disappearances, an international crime, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 December 2015, 23:21 GMT]
Noting the re-emerging threat of white van abductions and enforced disappearances in the historic homeland, the NorthEast, of Eezham Tamils, Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in international law, said that systematic enforced disappearances is a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute, and in Sri Lanka this criminality of the Government of Sri Lanka is "an indicium of genocide against the Eelam Tamils." Boyle noted, as evidence of his concern, the recent incident in Jaffna where Colombo's military intelligence operatives threatened the editors of a local newspaper that they would have to face the "white van" if the paper failed to retract a published story on missing persons.
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SL military intelligence threatens Jaffna daily, reminds editors on ‘white-vans’ of past

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2015, 23:28 GMT]
Four Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives, who entered the office of the Jaffna edition of Thinakkural newspaper on Wednesday night, threatened the editorial staff for publishing a news item that exposed the ‘activities’ of certain surveillance operatives, who were camouflaged as journalists and deployed to monitor a meeting held on the previous day. The paper had published a story detailing the presence of four to six ‘operatives’, who were monitoring the participants at a meeting organised by the families of missing persons from all the 8 districts in the North and East on Tuesday. The SL military intelligence operatives who entered the office of the paper on Wednesday warned the editors to withdraw their story with a correction and apology to be issued on Thursday.
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Colombo seeks to contain political prisoners' struggle through adding ‘complications’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 December 2015, 23:32 GMT]
When Tamil political prisoners and prisoners of war waging their struggle demand release through existing SL mechanisms such as the presidential pardon and rehabilitation, they do not mean the SL ‘military rehabilitation’ or to get subjected further to the complicated procedures under the so-called Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the political prisoners planning their next phase of the struggle told TamilNet on Saturday. Although the Tamil prisoners have waged two phases of hunger strikes to bring attention to their plight, the Colombo regime has only complicated the matter citing the PTA. The outside world should take note of the conduct of the Colombo regime, the prisoners who are expected to announce their next phase of the struggle after December 15, said.
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Tamil mother complains of neglect in tracing missing daughter, featured in photo with Sirisena

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 2015, 23:12 GMT]
A 15-year-old Eezham Tamil girl, Thanoja Viveganathan from Mu'l'liyava'lai in Mullaiththeevu was reported missing since the final hours of genocidal onslaught on Vanni on 17 May, 2009. Thanoja's mother, Vathanalogini Viveganathan has been claiming for almost a year now that she discovered her missing daughter in a photo taken with the incumbent SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, when he was visiting a school in the South during his election campaign 12 months ago. The trauma-stricken mother has been approaching the political leaders and the investigating commissions to trace the girl in the photo. But, no one has done anything so far to verify the claim of the Tamil mother or to disprove it by acting on her complaint. Born on 23 June 1993, Thanoja, if alive, would be at the age of 22 this year.
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Another Tamil political prisoner goes on hunger-strike at New Magazine Prison

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 2015, 17:21 GMT]
32-year-old Komahan Murugiah, a former member of Jaffna Municipal Council, who has been detained in Colombo since July 2010 after being accused of attempting to assassinate Douglas Devananda, a former SL Minister and the leader of the EPDP outfit. The SL 'Terrorist' Investigation Division (TID) had arrested Mr Murugiah during the Rajapaksa regime and produced two cases, one in Vavuniyaa and another in Colombo. The High Court in Vavuniyaa had dismissed his case as his ‘confession’ had been obtained under torture. Mr Douglas Devananda has declined to witness against Mr Murugiah and openly urged for the release of the prisoner. However, the SL TID and SL Attorney General's Department have been trying to file a third case against Murugiah with the intention of keeping him detained indefinitely, informed legal sources told TamilNet on Thursday.
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Hunger-striking political prisoner transferred to Colombo prison

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 2015, 20:47 GMT]
The police officials of occupying Sri Lanka have hurriedly transferred the Tamil political prisoner, Jeneevan Sivarasa, from Jaffna prison to Colombo prison on Wednesday following instructions from SL Attorney General's Department, informed sources told TamilNet. The sudden transfer, against his will, comes following a failed attempt to convince the 36-year-old prisoner to abandon his fast-unto-death campaign through false verbal promises. 36-year-old Jeneevan from Achchuveali, Jaffna, began fast-unto-death campaign at Jaffna prison since Monday.
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Case for Reparations for Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 December 2015, 19:28 GMT]
MacArthur fellow Ta-Nehisi Coates's historical narrative of the troubled history of racism in the US, which rekindled serious debate on systemic discrimination of blacks, starting with slavery, provides a stark parallel to a similar history behind Eezham Tamils from 1940s, about a decade before Ceylon gained ‘independence’. Similar to Coates characterization of white supremacy that lies at the core of the broken social contract for blacks in the U.S., the Sinhala Supremacy within the ruling elite and Sinhala population in general, is the root of the decades long evil oppression of Tamils, descending to State sponsored mass killing of Tamils leading to genocide. It is ironic that those accused by Coates, the past and current US policy makers, are now aiding and abetting the Sinhala supremacist political class to relegate the Tamils to subservient second class citizenship in the island.
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SL Navy to seize more lands in Vidaththal-theevu, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 December 2015, 22:51 GMT]
Resettled Eezham Tamil coastal villagers in Vidaththal-theevu, Mannaar, urged the SL administrative authorities last week to release the seized lands that belong to 12 of 200 resettled villagers. However, the commander of the occupying SL Navy in Vidaththal-theevu, who was present at a meeting on Thursday last week, responded by declining to take the request into consideration On the contrary, the SL Navy commander said he was looking for more lands to expand the naval camp into a full-fledged cantonment, news sources in Maanthai West told TamilNet on Saturday.
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Colombo harasses Senthuran’s family, insults Tamil political prisoners

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 2015, 23:45 GMT]
Unidentified Sinhala operatives in civil cloths, claiming as intelligence wing officers of the occupying Sri Lankan military, as investigators from the ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division (TID) and as police officers attached to SL Criminal Investigation Department (CID), have been continuously and systematically harassing the grieving family of 18-year-old Tamil student Senthuran Rajeswaran, who committed suicide last week in Jaffna, relatives of the family told TamilNet on Friday. The A/L student killed himself a day before Eezham Tamils observed Tamil Eelam Heroes Day. Senthuran left behind a letter demanding immediate release of Tamil political prisoners languishing in the prisons of genocidal Sri Lanka.
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Boyle denounces Power's notion of "trust deficit"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2015, 22:55 GMT]
Commenting on US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power's statement in an interview to the Sri Lanka's Sunday Observer that "[t]he entire country [Sri Lanka] needs to feel that there is positive and concrete action being taken to move forward...The government has commenced a journey and it must deliver the peace dividend to the people by calling for truth, justice and an end to impunity," Professor Boyle, an expert in International Law, said "Power knows full well that what she is saying here is total baloney and double-talk...It is ridiculous and preposterous for Power to talk about a ‘trust deficit’ between the GOSL and the Eelam Tamils—between the Genocidaires and their Victims."
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Premachandran releases photos of SL military-run torture chamber in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 December 2015, 23:04 GMT]
Former Tamil Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran has released photos taken by him from a former torture chamber operated by the occupying Sri Lankan military in Jaffna to media on Tuesday. The photos show blood-stained walls of a house used as torture cell and the roof of the abandoned house netted inside with barbed-wire. The photos were taken after the occupying Sri Lankan military relocated one of its most dreaded camps, known as 52nd Brigade Head Quarters, from Vara'ni to Kodikaamam in Thenmaraadchi. Describing the photographic traces of the former torture chamber in Vara'ni, Mr Premachandran told TamilNet that he was releasing the photos after the visiting UN working group on enforced disappearances had confirmed his earlier allegations on the existence of a similar torture chamber at Trincomalee Naval base in the East.
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Eezham Tamils urged to concentrate on strategic connections opposed to imperialism

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2015, 21:06 GMT]
“The US and Britain deliberately broke the peace process, they reorganised and re-equipped the Sri Lankan armed forces, provided it with training, intelligence and tactical support and let it loose [on Eezham Tamils]. Then at the critical moment they withdrew the UN, and allowed the mass killings to take place with international impunity. Now the same imperialist powers are orchestrating acceptance of SL’s cover up,” said Dr. Andrew Higginbottom, lecturer in Politics and Human Rights at the Kingston University in London. He was addressing the participants at Tamil Eelam Heroes Day remembrance event held in London on Friday. Solidarity activist Roberto Cardenas from MERU Verdadero, the movement of Ecuadoreans in the UK, also joined the British academic in urging Eezham Tamils to make strategic connections with the progressive social movements in Latin America.
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Colombo withdraws police protection to NPC members after Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 November 2015, 09:19 GMT]
While keeping genocidal military for ‘State’ protection, Colombo regime has suddenly withdrawn police protection given to Northern Provincial Council (NPC) members Sunday morning. “It may have something to do with the democratic political voicing of their feelings and concerns by our Members yesterday (27 November 2015),” NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran noted while reminding the Senior Deputy Inspector General W.S.U Fernando in Jaffna that the “police must not get involved in tit for tat” situation. The NPC CM has sent the letter as a matter of urgency to the DIG, news sources in Jaffna told TamilNet.
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Fallen Tamil Eelam sea fighters commemorated in North Sea, Europe

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 November 2015, 21:05 GMT]
A special remembrance event was organised by Eezham Tamil diaspora activists, including former Sea Tiger fighters, on Friday, in the North Sea of Europe, a non-Tamil solidarity activist told TamilNet providing video clips and photos of the memorial event held on board a boat at the mid-sea. The boat was representing Sea Tiger vessel “M.V. Sofa Maru 2”, the activist further said. Eezham Tamil activists on board the vessel hoisted Tamil Eelam flag and paid floral tributes to the fallen Tamil heroes. The activist didn't want to reveal the location of the event or the details about those who organised the memorial event.
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Samantha Power evades questions in Jaffna on Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 2015, 22:22 GMT]
Placing high hopes on Colombo regime that it will act positively to accountability demands of the US, and that there would be a vibrant civil society, lasting democracy and increased prosperity in the island, the visiting US Ambassador to United Nations, Ms Samantha Power, in Jaffna, dodged questions on the need for investigations on Tamil genocide, when journalists in Jaffna met her at the Jaffna Public Library on Sunday. During the tightly scheduled visit to Jaffna, Ms Power met with SL Governor to North, NPC Chief Minister and his ministers, toured the offices of the Uthayan newspaper and ceremonially opened a new science building at Jaffna Osmania College, constructed with 450,000 USD aid from the US Pacific Command. The Tamil-speaking Muslims in Jaffna had experienced “ethnic cleansing” even before the term was coined, Power said in her Osmania address.
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