Tamil political prisoners transferred to cells with criminal inmates in Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 January 2018, 16:47 GMT]
A 70-year-old Tamil political prisoner from Mannaar and a 40-year-old political prisoner from Chaavakachcheari in Jaffna, both of whom survived a fatal assault by Sinhala prison guards, STF commandos and military intelligence personnel five years ago, complained on Friday that they have been transferred to cells with Sinhala criminal prisoners in Anuradhapura prison. The Tamil prisoners have been complaining for a long time of threats of ethnic violence against them from Sinhala prisoners. Apart from being subjected to violence, some Tamil political prisoners have also been exposed to narcotics from the criminal prisoners.
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Another stupa erected at controversial Buddhist vihara in Kokku'laay

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 January 2018, 21:10 GMT]
Sri Thissapura Gunarathna Thero, an extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk, who has been constructing a controversial Buddhist vihara establishment at the private lands of Eezham Tamils in the strategic Kokku'laay, which links the Northern and Eastern provinces, has put up another Buddhist stupa at the locality in recent weeks, Tamil officials at Karai-thu'raip-pattu division said. The monk is fully assisted by Sinhala soldiers who are deployed in civil clothes. Despite repeated complaints and interim orders coming from local and provincial authorities, the monk is continuing the construction with the backing of Colombo government, occupying Sinhala military and the extremist Buddhist Power Force (BBS). Mr Manivannathas, the Tamil owner of the land has once again sought help from the public to stop the construction work, but says no-one is coming forward to take up his case.
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Elder generation activists prepared to sacrifice lives to win Ira’nai-theevu resettlement

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 December 2017, 23:44 GMT]
The uprooted people of the twin islets of Ira’nai-theevu, located 12 nautical miles from the western coast of Vanni, have been waging a continuous protest for more than 8 months since 01 May 2017. They have been demanding resettlement in their native islets, which lie facing the Palk Bay. 8 years have elapsed since the end of genocidal war, the occupying Sinhala Navy is still adamant in its refusal to release the occupied residential, livelihood lands and the fishing coast which belonged to more than 2,500 people comprising at least 740 families before displacement. “We hoped that we could resettle in our village and celebrate 2018 New Year. But, we were deceived. If this situation continues after 01 January, we will have no other option than advancing our peaceful protest by proving our determination through sacrificing our lives even if it is necessary,” say the protesters.
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Genocidal Colombo does not even spare traditional food court of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2017, 22:26 GMT]
“Ammaachchi” was the name chosen by Northern Provincial Council's Ministry of Agriculture for a concept of traditional restaurant. The United Nations Development Programme financially assisted the initiative, which was launched in Vavuniyaa under the previous minister Mr P. Aingaranesan. The food court became a success earning a good reputation. The kitchen, driven by grassroots women groups, has been promoting war-affected women with livelihood opportunities and was serving traditional Tamil cuisine at affordable price and good quality. Soon, the concept was expanded to Ki'linochchi. However, when a similar NPC initiative was to be launched at Thirunelveali in Jaffna at the initiative of the same NPC ministry, Colombo based unitary system, preoccupied with the genocidal idea of ‘uniform Sri Lanka’, has been insisting upon naming the restaurant with its Sinhala counterpart, Hela Bojun.
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Paṭṭi, Āṭṭup-paṭṭi, Paṭṭik-kuṭiyiruppu, Paṭṭiya, Ẹt-paṭṭiya, Paṭṭi-pola

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 December 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The cattle-stall

The goat-stall

The settlement of the cattle-stall

The cattle-stall

The stall or enclosure to keep elephants

The cattle-stall place
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Families of enforced disappeared mark 300 days of rotational protest in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2017, 18:46 GMT]
The kith and kin of enforced disappeared Tamils on Wednesday marked 300 days of their rotational protest, which they have been staging in front of Vavuniyaa Post Office with the demand of seeking answers from the SL State on the whereabouts of their family members who were handed over to the SL military in front of the families at the end of war in Vanni in 2009. The protesting mothers said they had been deceived by the SL State, particularly its president Mr Maithiripala Sirisena, who has been making public relations stunts aimed at international opinion through entertaining them with meetings in the past. None of the assurances given by Mr Maithiripala were fulfilled, they said.
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Kiḷuvai-nāṭṭi, Kaṉṉāṭṭi, Kal-nāṭṭiṉa-kuḷam, Kannaṭṭiya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The place where Kiḷuvai trees are planted (to mark the boundary)

The place demarcated by stones erected (to mark the boundary)

The tank of the place in where the boundaries are set by erecting border stones; or the tank where a stone pillar or post has been set

The place demarcated by stones erected (to mark the boundary)
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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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Families of enforced disappeared, uprooted people to boycott elections

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2017, 22:23 GMT]
The families of enforced disappeared who have been waging a continuous protest for 292 days in front of Kanthasamy temple in Ki'linochchi on Friday announced that they are going to boycott all the elections in the future as the electoral politicians have completely failed to address their demands. The uprooted people of Keappaa-pulavu in Mullaiththeevu, who have been waging a continuous protest for the last 283 days, said they were also going to boycott the elections. A spokeswoman for the protesting families at Ki'linochchi said their meetings with SL President Maithiripala Sirisena in the past, facilitated by the electoral politicians, were of no use.
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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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Colombo’s deceptions on Tamil political prisoners continue unabated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 December 2017, 15:18 GMT]
Reginald Cooray, the SL Governor to North and the officials of the SL Presidential Secretariat in Colombo have systematically misled the families of the three Tamil political prisoners along with NPC Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam, who was negotiating with the SL President on their behalf, legal sources in Jaffna said. The prisoners were on a fast-unto-death for 38 days objecting their case being transferred to Anuradhapura court, where it was to be addressed by a Sinhala judge. The SL Governor and the officials of the SL Presidential Secretariat had ‘advised’ Mr Shivajilingam and the families of the prisoners to lodge an appeal against the transfer of the case to Anuradhapura in the Appeal Court of Colombo and had promised that the SL Attorney General would be cooperating with transferring their case back to Vavuniyaa by not attending the hearings at the Appeal Court in Colombo.
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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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Occupied Tamil Eelam mobilised to mark Heroes Day amidst SL military threats

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 November 2017, 23:45 GMT]
Braving various harassments coming from the occupying Sinhala military and the SL Police, the people of occupied Tamil Eelam have fully mobilised to mark Tamil Eelam Heroes Day (Maaveerar Naa'l) in a big scale for the first time since 2008 in their occupied homeland. One of the first Heroes Cemeteries (Maaveerar thuyilum illam) at Ka'l'lik-kaadu, Nedungkea'ni in Vavuniyaa, which was created by the LTTE during the times of Indian occupation, has been renovated by the people, news sources in Vanni said. Similarly, one of the last Heroes Cemeteries at Iraddai-Mu'l'livaaykkaal, where the war dead Tamil fighters were buried during the final days in 2009, has also been prepared by the people. Red and yellow decorations have been put up at all the locations of Heroes Cemeteries except those being still occupied by the SL military.
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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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34,000 war-uprooted in Jaffna district alone: NPC Report

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 November 2017, 20:43 GMT]
Jaffna district tops the five districts in the Northern Province in the statistics over uprooted people who are awaiting resettlement in their private properties, which still remain occupied by the Sinhala military for the purpose of military zone and cantonments, according to a recent report submitted to NPC CM Justice C.V. Wigneswaran by the Deputy Chief Secretary on Planning at the NPC. There are 34,099 uprooted individuals belonging to 9,758 families in Jaffna district alone, the report says. There are 47,044 individuals who remain uprooted across the five districts. However, these figures are rather conservative and minimalistic as these do not include the people who have not lodged entries for resettlement and those currently remain as refugees in Tamil Nadu State of India and those who live exiled elsewhere as asylum seekers.
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CBK's so-called reconciliation faces acid test from North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 October 2017, 16:21 GMT]
“There are 150000 soldiers in the Northern Province. It is amusing that the Attorney General wants to protect three State Witnesses by transferring the case from Vavuniya to Anuradhapura,” said Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister and former Supreme Court Judge C.V. Wigneswaran in a letter addressed to former SL President Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike (CBK), who is the Chairperson of Colombo's so-called ‘Office for National Unity and Reconciliation’ urging the latter to intervene and transfer the cases of fasting Tamil political prisoners back to Vavuniyaa or to Jaffna High Court. “Your intervention, Madam Chandrika, at this point of time would ensure understanding and good will among our people if you choose to be empathetic,” Justice Wigneswaran wrote in his letter to CBK.
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Jaffna University at standstill as hunger-striking political prisoner rushed to hospital

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 October 2017, 23:04 GMT]
One of the three hunger-striking political prisoners, Rasathurai Thiruvarul (6th Division, Vela’nai West, Jaffna), was admitted to hospital on Monday as his health condition seriously deteriorated, family members said. In the meantime, Non-Academic staff and the University Teachers Union joined hands with Jaffna University Student Union in imposing total boycott of all activities at the campuses in Jaffna starting from Monday. The students have been boycotting classes since October 20. The protesters, blocking the two entrances of the Jaffna University amidst pouring rains, said their protest would continue until the SL Government heeds to the demands of the Tamil political prisoners.
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Sirisena disappoints student leaders, Cooray humiliates families of hunger-striking prisoners

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2017, 17:11 GMT]
The Leader of Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) K. Krishnameenan and Secretary K. Jackson on Thursday evening said their negotiations with SL President Maithiripala Sirisena earlier on the day have failed to produce a favourable timeframe for meeting the demands of the hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners. Since the JUSU was behind postponing a fast-unto-death campaign announced unilaterally by the Arts Faculty Student Union earlier in the week and as the health of the three political prisoners on 25th day of the fast-unto-death in Anuradhapura prison would become life-threatening within the next five days, the JUSU leaders said Thursday evening that they now have no other option than stepping up the protest after consulting with fellow students.
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Vaṭamarāṭci, Teṉmarāṭci, Pirāmaṇāṭci, Mẹdavacciya

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The northern lordship territory (a traditionally recognized division in Jaffna Peninsula)

The southern lordship territory (a traditionally recognized division in Jaffna Peninsula)

The Brahmin land possession

The middle lordship territory (a territorial recognition coming from its location between Kandyan and Jaffna Patnam territories)
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