US UNHRC inaction not inconsistent with saving Rajapakse in US Courts, says TAG

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2013, 01:03 GMT]
The resolution tabled in the Geneva UNHCR sessions by the USA in concert with India, which sidesteps forcing an independent international investigation into the Mu'l'livaaykaal killings, and misleads the Eezham Tamils into a mirage that international community will seek accountability, appears entirely consistent with the intervention of the U.S. State Department in the legal actions pursued by Tamil plaintiffs against Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse, legal sources in Washington said. U.S. is acting as a proxy to Rajapakses in filing legal briefs and replacing Patton Boggs as "the attorneys" for Rajapakse.
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Learn Lesson and Respond Concretely: ‘LLRC’ for Tamils on US resolution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 March 2013, 20:08 GMT]
The draft resolution based on Sri Lanka's LLRC tabled at the 22nd Session of the UNHRC, by the USA that architected the genocidal war against Eezham Tamils, should be an eye-opening lesson to all Tamils in the world in learning with confirmation the dismissive attitude of the USA towards the annihilation-facing nation of Eezham Tamils. The attitude of New Delhi, seeing Sri Lanka an enemy of humanity as a friend of India, and its interest in seeing Washington and Colombo directly engaging with each other are already known. Tamil activists teamed between the two powers for ages, believing that one or both would come to the rescue, and were showing a mirage to the common folk now and then, should learn the lesson at least now and respond concretely in addressing the ultimate adversaries.
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‘US resolution will not give Tamils justice’: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 March 2013, 07:22 GMT]
Stating that only an internationally monitored referendum among Eezham Tamils for an independent state of Tamil Eelam and an independent international investigation into genocidal war crimes of Sri Lanka would provide justice, MDMK leader Vaiko, in a statement on Wednesday asserted that the upcoming US resolution at Geneva falls drastically short of providing any justice to the genocide-affected nation of the Eezham Tamils. In the statement Mr. Vaiko also criticized political parties in India for holding up the US resolution as an appropriate step forward. Separately, protests against Sri Lanka have been intensifying across Tamil Nadu.
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Colombo reaches ‘understanding’ with USA, claims Sinhala daily

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 March 2013, 07:09 GMT]
Sinhala daily Divaina, which is a sister news paper of The Island, published by Upali Newspapers in Colombo, has stated in a recent news report citing ‘reliable’ sources that Colombo had reached a mutual understanding with Washington on the implementation of LLRC and monitoring its implementation through a Rajapaksa-appointed Commission of Colombo. According to the paper, the USA had promised to Colombo that it would refrain from imposing sanctions on Sri Lanka through UN Security Council until 2016. Last week, the External Affairs Minister of the New Delhi Establishment in the Indian parliament ‘encouraged’ the USA and Sri Lanka “to directly engage on the draft resolution and aim for a mutually acceptable outcome.”
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Veteran Eezham Tamil journalist, poet, Parvathinathasivam passes away

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 March 2013, 17:16 GMT]
Pulavar Parvathinathasivam, poet, journalist, author and Tamil scholar passed away in Jaffna on Tuesday morning at the age of 77. Coming from an illustrious family of Tamil scholars in Jaffna, Parvathi-natha-sivam was further inspired in his outlook and writings by his association with the renowned Tamil poet Bharathidasan in the late 1950s. Starting his journalistic career with Suthanthiran, he served as editor of the weekly edition of Eezhanaadu daily in Jaffna for a long time in the 1970s and 80s. Later, he worked for Uthayan in the 90s and also contributed to Murasoli, Sanjeevi and Thinakkural. The funeral ceremonies will take place at his family’s present residence at Nanthaavil Lane in Kokkuvil on Wednesday. His ancestral house at Maaviddapuram, coming under the SL military-occupied HSZ for two decades, was released recently, but in a completely razed-down condition.
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BJP cell of Tamil Nadu ex-servicemen apologises to Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 March 2013, 02:42 GMT]
“The deepest psychological wound rankling the minds of every veteran in Tamilnadu is the killing of Tamilians during the Indo-Srilankan war of 1987-90 by the Indian Armed Forces,” says the President of the Tamil Nadu BJP Ex-Servicemen’s Cell, Lt Col CR Sundar, in a statement circulated to media this week. Had the war crimes been taken up for investigations at that time itself, the later tragedy befallen on Tamils in the island could have been averted, he told Tamil Nadu correspondent of TamilNet on Tuesday. The need that has arisen for Tamil ex-servicemen to take up party line of politics on the Eezham Tamil issue is a significant development in India, political observers said.
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Thousands rallying in Geneva question TNA MPs on compromise

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 March 2013, 23:34 GMT]
Thousands of Eezham Tamils from across Europe, who took part in a rally at Geneva on Monday demanded a UN sponsored referendum for a sovereign Tamil Eelam. In the meantime, sections of protestors, who confluenced in Geneva, approached the hotel where TNA politicians, who had come to attend a conference, were residing. Parliamentarians Maavai Seanthirajah and Ariyanethran were encircled by the people who questioned them on the compromising polity forgetting fundamentals adopted by the TNA leadership. According to informed circles, TNA leader Mr Sampanthan in London last week has claimed that the US government use to extend invitations for talks only to him and to Mr Sumanthiran.
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Tamil Nadu activist self-immolates demanding justice for Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 March 2013, 23:10 GMT]
Demanding justice for the Eezham Tamils and international action against the genocide-accused Sri Lankan state, a social activist from Kadaloor (Cuddalore), Tamil Nadu immolated himself on Monday. Citing police sources, the PTI reported that Mani, a 41-year-old social worker of coastal Nallavaadu village in Kadaloor district, “doused himself with petrol and set himself ablaze” at the Collectorate complex, raising slogans against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and demanding that he be tried in the International Court for alleged war crimes. Later reports said Mr. Mani succumbed to his serious injuries at the Kadaloor government hospital. Separately, there have been protests in Chennai against Sri Lanka in the context of the upcoming session in Geneva.
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Colombo uses international aid, abetment, for structural genocide in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 February 2013, 04:02 GMT]
The genocidal Sinhala State in Colombo has accelerated the process of creating a Sinhala division at Ma'nal-aa'ru renamed as Wæli-oya in Sinhala, in the strategic locality linking North and East territory of the Tamil nation in the island of Sri Lanka, by deploying Indian and other international aid, civil sources in Mullaiththeevu said. The housing aid of India and the infrastructure aid of the IC are pooled in creating the Sinhala division, with all facilities of attraction for the Sinhalicisation process at the wedging locality. This is carried out not without the blessings of India, the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia whose delegates visited the region in the recent months, the civil sources commented, adding that what was heard from the Indian Foreign Minister in the parliament on Wednesday on implementing the 13th Amendment was a sour joke of quarter a century.
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Veteran humanitarian Eezham Tamil activist passes away in UK

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 February 2013, 00:40 GMT]
Dr. Namasivayam Sathiyamoorthy (N.S. Moorthy), a veteran Eezham Tamil activist who was instrumental in the organization of the humanitarian agencies TRO and Ve'n Pu'raa (White Pigeon), passed away at the age of 61 at London, UK. Dr. Sathiyamoorthy was involved in the national liberation struggle of the Eezham Tamils in the homeland from its early stages and was also a popularly recognized activist in democratic politics among the Tamil diaspora in the UK. Dr. Moorthy, as he was fondly called, was known for his dedication to the Tamils’ cause through his activism, his professional work and for his amicable nature, is mourned by a large number of Eezham Tamils across the world who personally knew his contributions. In UK, he was given the privilege of becoming a Freeman of the City of London in 1993, in recognition of his contribution in the field of medicine.
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‘Sexual violence against Tamils is premeditated, deliberate’: HRW UK Director

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 February 2013, 06:26 GMT]
Responding to a question posed by TamilNet at a Human Rights Watch press meet in London on Tuesday, UK director of the HRW, Mr. David Mepham stated that the sexual violence perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state forces against the Tamils was not random but had a method in it, adding that it was deliberate and premeditated. In an exclusive interview to TamilNet, Mr. Mepham further said that HRW stood for an independent international investigation into human rights abuses committed by the GoSL, terming the LLRC “a bit of a farce”, and opining that the “culture of impunity” in Sri Lanka needs to be addressed by the International Community. However, Mr. Mepham said that HRW “has not taken the view that this is genocide,” but only that systematic human rights abuses were committed by the Sri Lankan government, blaming the LTTE also for human rights violations.
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NZ Tamils raise question on applying SA model to Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 February 2013, 00:03 GMT]
“We are constrained to seek a clarification from those few who are waxing eloquently on the need to study and gain from the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa vis-à-vis the LLRC recommendations of Sri Lanka,” said a press release coming from the Tamil Action Front (TAF) of New Zealand on Sunday, raising the question, “Will those protagonists of the South African experience please explain to the Tamil diaspora at least what they mean – what is it that is so significant for the Tamils to emulate?” The press release signed by the TAF coordinator Mr. A Theva Rajan, brought out the contextual difference between South Africa and the island of Sri Lanka.
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‘Tamil Van’ undertakes tour of Europe to highlight justice for genocide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 February 2013, 21:31 GMT]
Even as Tamils across the world are anticipating yet another watered down resolution on Sri Lanka at the forthcoming Geneva session this year, a group of Eezham Tamil youth activists from the UK have undertaken a journey on a ‘Tamil Van’ to reach out to the Tamil diaspora across Europe and also to interact with European civil society activists, solidarity groups and politicians, to raise awareness of the protracted genocide of the Tamil nation and the need for a corresponding just political solution. The Van, which began its journey from London on 12 February, is currently in Germany and will finish its tour at Geneva coinciding with the UNHRC sessions. Appealing to Tamils not to fall for any watered down resolution, the activists undertaking the tour stated that any solution which does not address the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation was a farce.
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New Delhi, Colombo, jointly ‘cherish’ IPKF memory at Palaali SMZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 February 2013, 22:13 GMT]
New Delhi Establishment’s envoy in Colombo, Ashok K. Kantha, accompanied by his wife Mrs. Sharmila Kantha paid tribute at the newly ‘rediscovered’ IPKF memorial at Palaali in the Sinhala Military Zone (SMZ) on Saturday. Joining the couple in cherishing the legacy of the IPKF was Colombo’s occupying Sinhala military commander in Jaffna, Maj. Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe, senior officers of the SL military, New Delhi’s Defence Advisor at the Colombo High Commission and the Establishment’s Consul General in Jaffna. New Delhi already has a memorial built for the war-crimes-accused IPKF at Colombo. New Delhi’s current gesture of rediscovering another memorial at Palaali along with the occupying genocidal Sinhala military signals negatively when there is demand for international investigation of war crimes in the island.
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Blake, architect of Tamil tragedy, spectator to genocide

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 February 2013, 22:22 GMT]
Blinded by the 9/11 terror and impelled by the perceived need for swift action against "terrorism," the US-led International Community, made two serious miscalculations in Sri Lanka war: By allowing unhindered space for Sri Lanka's final military thrust, they misjudged Sinhala society's willing capacity to inflict bestial, savage crimes on fellow human beings; and the IC's belief that, once the Tigers are eliminated Rajapakses will “fill in the gaps” and provide an acceptable political solution, has been shown as embarrassingly flawed. Now, as the IC savors the dystopian-monster they created, the need to whitewash the atrocities by side-stepping accountability, and to focus on development, appear to be driving IC's actions. Tamils, now left defenseless, hold Ambassador Blake, as the key US official who shaped the US policy on Sri Lanka's war, responsible for the tragedy.
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Sri Lankan TID harasses ex-LTTE members in East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 February 2013, 22:28 GMT]
Tension and fear continues to prevail among the families of former LTTE members, who have rejoined their families in the East, especially in Vaakarai in Batticaloa and in Moothoor East of Trincomalee district as the SL military thinks any resistance coming from the uprooted families that demand resettlement originates from people who were associated with the LTTE in the past. The SL TID squads have been visiting several houses in Kathirave'li and Puchchangkea'ni in Koa'ralaip-pattu North (Vaakarai) DS division in the Batticaloa collecting details of former LTTE members through Village level (GS) officers.
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Weak UN resolution caused Colombo to sustain lack of political will: Christian clergy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 20:46 GMT]
“What we have seen since the rather weak resolution adopted at the 19th session of the Council is a total lack of political will on the part of the government to implement recommendations therein, such as the call for investigations into allegations of international law during the final stages of the conflict and cooperation with the UN Special Procedures,” said 133 priests of various Christian denominations in the North and East in an appeal to UN Human Rights Council on Monday. They urged the Council not to interpret the problem as ‘lack of capacity’ by the SL State. Despite the deviatory tone in using the terms such as ‘internal self-determination’ and the orchestrated deception of the so-called ‘stronger resolution’, the priests from the gagged country of Eezham Tamils didn't fail in establishing what was taking place on the ground as protracted genocide against the Tamil people.
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Channel 4 releases documentary evidence on SL war crime

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 01:03 GMT]
Releasing photos of LTTE leader Pirapaharan's 12-year-old son Balachandran, who was captured by the occupying Sinhala military in the final hours of the genocidal onslaught on Vanni, the British Channel 4 television on Monday said that the photos, which had been taken before and after the brutal slaying of the boy, stemmed from the same camera within a period of two hours. Releasing the photos in a write up to The Independent, Callum Macrae, the director of “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka,” said “this is proof, beyond reasonable doubt, of the execution of a child – not a battlefield death.” The news was titled “Handed a snack, and then executed: the last hours of the 12-year-old son of a Tamil Tiger”.
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Sinhala militarisation, genocide in East goes unnoticed, unaccounted

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 February 2013, 10:51 GMT]
In the name of a Sinhala-titled programme ‘Divineguma,’ Colombo intensively spearheads structural genocide of Eezham Tamils in the East. It has now gone to the extent of mushrooming Sinhala military camps and settlements running grocery shops and restaurants to the public. The only major construction activity in the East is the construction of Sinhala military camps. By talking only of the North and leaving out the East, the visiting foreign dignitaries buttressing State in the island systematically obscure what is happening in the East and imply that the annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils in the East is ‘normal and acceptable’. The line of subversion started when Mr. Robert Blake was the US ambassador in Colombo after the SL military capture of the East from the LTTE, and the line was later taken up by the Indians, political activists in the East said.
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UK under secretary gives ‘friendly’ advice to genocidal Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 February 2013, 04:30 GMT]
Stating that the genocide-accused Mahinda Rajapaksa “has banished terrorism from his country and ushered in a new period of prosperity”, Alistair Burt, British Under Secretary of State at the FCO, advised Colombo to learn from the British experience in Northern Ireland and to implement the LLRC recommendations, in an article written for the Canadian news agency The Globe and Mail, on Friday. Mr. Burt was making these comments after a tour of the militarily occupied Tamil homeland earlier this month, which was criticized by civil society activists in the North as a “war picnic”. Grassroots Eezham Tamil activists in the UK came down on the Conservative minister’s article, alleging that it was lending legitimacy to the genocidal Sri Lankan state.
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