SL military in Batticaloa continues to exploit families returned from Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2015, 22:15 GMT]
The Sri Lankan State and its military intelligence in Batticaloa district continue to harass 1,080 families that survived the genocidal onslaught in Vanni in 2009. The families from Batticaloa returned to their native villages situated in 10 of the 14 Divisional Secretariat divisions in the district. The DS Secretaries in these divisions have also been instructed to refuse assistance to these families by the genocidal military. There is no change in the harassments on the ground despite the ‘changes’ taking place in Colombo, the families said. Even those affected by the recent floods have been neglected in the humanitarian assistance. Women-headed families continue to complain about targeted sexual harassments by the occupying Sinhala military in Batticaloa. Two of the 10 divisions where the families have resettled, Koa'ralaippattu South and Koa'ra'laip-pattu North are worst affected.
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UNP Batticaloa branch wants anti-people elements isolated from politics

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2015, 23:49 GMT]
The District Organiser of the United National Party (UNP) in Batticaloa Mr Arasaretnam Sasitharan said that a resolution has been passed at the UNP Batticaloa District Executive Committee to the effect that anti-people elements and former paramilitary operatives, who were deployed under the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, should not be absorbed into the UNP or the polity associated with the UNP in the new regime in Colombo. The resolution has named four persons who should be kept away from the politics of Maithiripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramaisnge if UNP needs to win credibility among the Tamil public in Batticaloa district, Mr Sasitharan further said.
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Resettlement meaningless without guarantee against structural genocide in East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2015, 23:22 GMT]
Governments may come and go, but the State of Sri Lanka gets strengthened in its genocidal project whether there is war, peace or talk of ‘change’, comment the resettled women of Mu'raa-oadai village, situated 5 km south of Vaazhaich-cheanai town in Batticaloa district. 400 houses have been destroyed. Two temples are damaged. Almost all the resettled families are women-headed households, poorest of the poor. The women of the village say: “It is only when we have permanent security from future genocide, we can breath the air of freedom.” The SL military has vacated last year from the village. But, a Buddhist statue and a ‘sacred’ Bo tree are still threatening the villagers who are haunted by the mere existence of the symbols of structural genocide.
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New SL cabinet to be sworn in on Monday evening

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2015, 12:48 GMT]
The cabinet of the newly installed Sri Lankan President Maithiripala Sirisena is to be sworn in on Monday evening at 6:00 p.m., according to SL presidential media unit. In the meantime Monday's Virakesary carried a news item quoting Mr M.A. Sumanthiran that TNA will not be accepting ministerial portfolios in the ‘national government’.
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‘LLRC’ Palihakkara expected to replace Military Governor of North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2015, 20:17 GMT]
Sri Lankan Military Governor of North, Major General (retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri, on Saturday told his staff that he would resign his job before anyone on the top coming with the instruction of transfer to him, informed civil sources in Jaffna said adding that Colombo's regime-changers have proposed HMGS Palihakkara, who was one of the eight panellists earlier appointed by former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the so-called Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which was aimed at buying space and time for Sri Lanka to escape international investigations. Colombo-centric agenda-setters are replacing a military governor with a more sophisticated diplomat concerned with safeguarding the unitary state of Sri Lanka.
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SL Paramilitary operatives threaten TNA supporters in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2015, 12:38 GMT]
Paramilitary operatives of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the former UPFA-appointed Chief Minister of Eastern Province, have threatened monitors appointed on behalf of the common opposition to monitor the polling stations at Chiththaa'ndi in Batticaloa, news sources in Batticaloa said. In the meantime, Iniyabarathy's paramilitary operatives in Ampaa'rai district have assaulted a TNA divisional councillor P. Vijayarasa near Thirukkoayil Peoples Bank.
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SL military divided over voting in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2015, 08:06 GMT]
Despite the tension about possible violence in Tamil areas by the occupying Sinhala military and its paramilitary, all arrangements necessary for brisk polling have completed in the two provinces, according to Sri Lankan Government Agents in the North and East. Voters were seen at many polling stations in queue. In the meantime, Sri Lankan military intelligence had stepped up disinformation campaign to divert the voting to another ‘Sirisena’ contesting the elections under the symbol of flag. While a section of the occupying military was hijacking the boycott call, thinking that it will be in favourable of Mahinda Rajapaksa, there were also SL soldiers encouraging the public to vote for the common opposition candidate Maithiripala Sirisena.
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UPFA deploys ‘Jihad’ operatives to harass Tamils in Mannaar to vote for Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2015, 23:26 GMT]
Two village (GS) areas in Mannaar, surrounding the public ground of the Urban Council, where the visiting Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to stage his election campaign activities on Wednesday, have been rounded up by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos, SL military soldiers and policemen since New Year eve. Government workers belonging to construction, road development and electricity departments are forced to work round the clock to finalise the stage for Rajapaksa. People from Chaavat-kaddu and Chinna-kaddu villages complain that normalcy has been disturbed and they were unable to observe New Year celebrations. The people have also been subjected to harassment by the operatives of SLFP ‘Blue Brigade’ that has occupied the city.
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Gotabhaya monitors Devananda's allegiance to Kumaratunga

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2015, 11:09 GMT]
While welcoming the incumbent SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to North and challenging the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in District Development Committee meetings with a pro-Colombo stance, SL minister and EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, has also assured his personal allegiance to former SL President Chandrika Kumaratunga, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet. Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives under the direct command of SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa have been questioning the close associates of Mr Devananda for his lack of interest in putting up Rajapaksa posters ahead of Rajapaksa's scheduled visit to Jaffna.
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Tamil youth brutally assaulted for questioning Pillayan at Rajapaksa campaign

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2014, 13:12 GMT]
A Tamil youth from Ka'luthaa-va'lai in Batticaloa district, who questioned ex-paramilitary operative and former chief minister of Eastern Provincial Council Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan at a pro-Rajapaksa campaign meeting at Ka'luthaava'lai on Thursday, was brutally assaulted after the youth questioned Pillayan on his merits. “We know the genocidal record of Rajapaksa, what is your record,” the 23-year-old youth had questioned the former EPC chief minister at the meeting where Chandrakanthan was eulogising SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The youth, Anthonipillay Atputharasa, has been admitted at the Teaching Hospital of Batticaloa in a serious condition, news sources in Ka'luthaa-va'lai told TamilNet.
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SL presidential race brings violence between EPDP, TNA in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2014, 18:11 GMT]
A District Development Council (DDC) meeting, which was co-chaired by Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chief Minister C.V Wigneswaran and SL Minister Douglas Devananda, ended in violence at Jaffna District Secretariat on Tuesday, when the EPDP paramilitary leader Mr Devananda faced objections from the NPC councillors of the TNA for turning the DDC meeting a venue for Rajapaksa's election propaganda. The paramilitary goons of the EPDP began to assault the TNA representatives who objected the conduct of the EPDP leader at the meeting. EPDP goons assaulted five TNA members, including NPC Ministers Aingaranesan and Sathiyalingam. The EPDP has also claimed that five of its personnel had sustained injuries in the violent episode.
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Interest in resettlement cost life to Nakuleswaran

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2014, 23:50 GMT]
Funeral of assassinated Krishnasamy Nakuleswaran was held on Sunday at his village, Eekam-kudiyiruppu (settlement of sacrifice), at Ve’l’laang-ku’lam in Mannaar. 15 uniformed SL military men were busy taking photographs from different corners at the funeral and 70 of the 200 participants were intelligence operatives on surveillance assignment, residents told TamilNet Sunday. While many people believed that the SL military intelligence had chosen a target to create fear psychosis among the families of Tamil Heroes, the residents of the village were of the opinion that Nakuleswaran’s interest in working for the proper resettlement of his people had cost him his life. Nakuleswaran's assassination was timed to respond to the call made by C.V. Wigneswaran in Tamil Nadu on bringing back Eezham Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu and resettling them in the North, political observers said.
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SL military fabricates evidences to distort Mannaar assassination, say residents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 November 2014, 08:20 GMT]
Ve’l’laangku’lam residents on Saturday denied Sri Lankan police reports that sought to fabricate evidence and distort the facts about Nakuleswaran, who was assassinated on Wednesday. The Sri Lankan military intelligence and the SL police have been trying to fabricate a story that the ex-LTTE member and former Tamil Eelam policeman Nakuleswaran was slain due to personal grudges, the residents said. On Friday, the Sri Lankan police claimed that two T-56 rifles had been located and four persons involved in a gang had been detained. In the meantime, Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) youth wing secretary S.V. Sivakaran in Mannaar told TamilNet that Mr Nakuleswaran was not an active supporter or member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
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Land Commissioner in East threatens Tamil farmers of Thennai-maravadi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2014, 22:33 GMT]
The Provincial Land Commissioner (PLC) of Eastern Province, Sirimewan Dharmasena, a Sinhalese, has been threatening the Tamil farmers of the ancient Tamil village of Thennai-maravadi in Kuchchcave’li division of Trincomalee district to share their lands with Sinhalese colonisers or face security threats at the hands of the Sinhala ‘home guards’ paramilitary. The threat comes after a series of meetings with the PLC on 12th, 24th and 30th of September 2014, the Tamil farmers from Kuchchave’li said. Thennai-maravadi is situated on the border of Trincomalee district and Mullaith-theevu district.
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Citing Buddhist monk, SL police refuses to act on land-grab complaints in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2014, 23:50 GMT]
The Head of the Sri Mangalaramaya Buddhist vihara Venerable Ampitiye Sumanarathana thero has been instrumental in seizing the lands of Eezham Tamils and handing over these lands to Sinhalese from the border villages. When the Tamil land owners complained to the Divisional Secretary of Poaratheevup-pattu (Vellaave’li), the DS accepted their lands have been illegally encroached. But, the Sri Lankan Police at Vellaave’li has refused to accept and act on the complaints by Tamil land owners. The latest seizure of farm lands has taken place at Chinnavaththai village in Vellaave’li division of Paduvaankarai region.
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Rajapaksa deception in North aims at elections

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2014, 23:22 GMT]
The elected representatives of Tamil National Alliance in the North fully boycotted the ceremonial events staged by the visiting SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Vanni and Jaffna on Sunday and Monday claiming that the meetings “do not appear to be in furtherance of a legitimate objective, and are not transparent nor collaborative.” While large numbers of SL soldiers were deployed on the streets of Jaffna subjecting the public with security checks, EPDP paramilitary operatives and a section of occupying SL military soldiers were coercing public sector workers, teachers, students together with the people deceived with false promises of livelihood assistance to attend the meetings.
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EPDP, Sri Lankan CID jointly harass newspaper editors in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2014, 21:18 GMT]
Sri Lankan military and police establishments in Jaffna and Vanni mainland have intensified threats against Tamil journalists and activists in recent days. Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division, Criminal Investigation Division, Intelligence operatives of Defence Ministry and paramilitary operatives are jointly deployed in a systematic programme suppressing the freedom of expression, an editor of a daily newspaper told TamilNet Wednesday. The SL police CID have deployed EPDP operatives twice within the last month to stage protests against Jaffna Thinakkural.
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Tamil teachers protest against SL military interference in schools

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2014, 06:43 GMT]
Sri Lankan military, which usually threatens people against taking part in civil protests in advance, has now went a step further with staging ‘counter protests’ to disturb the democratic mobilisation of the people, trade unions and activists. On Monday, the occupying Sri Lanka Army deployed its operatives to stage a ‘counter protest’ in front of the Jaffna Central Bus stand where Tamil teachers in Jaffna, organized under the Ceylon Teachers Union were protesting with 15 demands against appointments with low-wage, discrimination in promotions, SL military interference in the administration of the schools in North and East, circulars in Sinhala, continued occupation of Palaali Teachers training college, discrimination in transfer policy and continued ignorance of complaints filed against corruption.
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1,200 Sinhala families encroached into Batticaloa-Ampaa’rai border

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2014, 21:36 GMT]
Since 2011, more than 1,200 Sinhala families have been brought into the Batticaloa district within the bordering areas of Ampaa’rai district, say Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politicians who have taken a fact-finding mission to Mayilantha-madu and Periya-maathava’nai on Friday. Thousands of acres of grazing lands allocated for farmers from Batticaloa have been seized by the occupying Sri Lankan military and its so-called ‘homeguards’ paramilitary. The Sinhala colonists are doing agriculture in the occupied lands.
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Tamils denied of observing collective remembrance in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2014, 16:11 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police in Batticaloa has been harassing the families of the victims of 1990 Puthukkudiyiruppu massacre on Sunday when they gathered to observe the annual memorial event in front of the statue of 17 civilians who were slain by ‘homeguards’ paramilitary operated by the Sri Lankan military in 1990. Tamil Councillor K. Thurairajasingam, who was present at the event with parliamentarians P. Selvarasa and P. Ariyanethiran blames that the SL Police was blocking the peaceful event with a court order from an Acting Magistrate. This is the second incident in recent days where the SL Police, under false charges of ‘causing disturbance to peace’, has blocked the kith and kin of the victims of the past massacres from paying tribute to their slain victims by lighting candles together.
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