http://www.tamilnet.com Latest 20 TamilNet reports from Sri Lanka en Copyright (c) 1997-2013 TamilNet Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:49:29 GMT Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:49:29 GMT tamilnet@tamilnet.com http://www.tamilnet.com/img/feedlogo2.gif http://www.tamilnet.com 88 31 TamilNet logo http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36418 Karl Nerenberg, a veteran journalist with over 25 years of experience, came down sharply on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s policy towards refugees. In an article published on alternative news site Rabble.ca on Tuesday, Nerenberg, giving examples of refugees from Syria, Sri Lanka and Hungary, criticized the Harper government’s approach to refugees for being ‘inconsistent’ and ‘stigmatizing’. Giving the examples of the Tamils from the island, he opined Harper’s position on holding the CHOGM in Sri Lanka was in contrast to his government’s policy towards Tamil refugees. He further alleges that the new refugee law in Canada gives the Ministry of Immigration “untrammeled power” to pursue a discriminatory policy. Wed, 19 Jun 2013, 22:46 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36417 Referring to the ‘Code of Media Ethics’ official proposed by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Mass Media and Information two days back, Human Rights Watch in a release on Wednesday criticised the proposal for its “overbroad and vague language that could have a severe and chilling effect on free speech”. Noting how the proposed code could be used to curtail any dissent to the government and referring to the already existing repression of journalists, HRW reported that “Violence remains a real fear for journalists, which is only heightened by impunity for perpetrators.” Arguing that the vagueness of this code would lead to self-censorship by many journalists, Brad Adams, Asia Director of HRW, also commented that “The code would hand the Sri Lankan authorities a new tool to harass and threaten journalists who are already working in a very difficult environment.” Wed, 19 Jun 2013, 20:26 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36416 Tamil National Alliance MP C Yogeswaran on Sunday demanded that immediate steps be taken to stop the aggressive and meticulously planned sinhalicisation of Punaanai East, situated 52 km northwest of Batticaloa city. During the times of the LTTE, the presence of the Tiger forces from Kudumpimalai in the South to Vaakarai in the North had thwarted the earlier attempts of sinhalicisation. In the absence of LTTE, sinhalicisation is now rapidly taking place along the Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa border, where Punaanai is situated. Besides occupation by Sinhala families, Punaanai has also witnessed various instances of Sinhalicisation such as demolition of Saiva temples in the guise of archeological excavations and the deity in the sanctum sanctorum of a Pi'l'laiyaar temple missing. Tue, 18 Jun 2013, 12:11 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=36415 Whatever is the journalistic halo behind Swapan Dasgupta, his recent writings and utterances on the struggle of the genocide-facing nation of Eezham Tamils could have been ignored as coming from just another of the dubious ilk that writes for agendas, had he not been a member of the Rajapaksa-sponsored BJP-RSS-Shiv Sena delegation that went to Colombo and Jaffna. Now as he openly bares the line of thinking in the camp, the BJP-RSS-Shiv Sena lot aspiring for power in India, may have to answer to the world of Tamils and to the humanity in general whether it is aspiring to become worse than that of the present Establishments in New Delhi, Washington and Beijing, commented an activist of alternative politics in Jaffna, urging mainstream polity and public in Tamil Nadu to be prepared with the needed. Tue, 18 Jun 2013, 06:33 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36414 Mythili Raman, the newly appointed Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Justice Department and successor to Mr. Lanny Breuer, is widely acclaimed in legal circles as a trailblazer in the Justice Department. Her parents are from Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna. Ms Raman had her undergraduate degree from Yale, and obtained a law degree from the University of Chicago. Tue, 18 Jun 2013, 00:45 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36413 World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Religious Liberty Commission (RLC), which is a network of churches in 129 countries, in a ‘Research and Analysis’ report issued on Monday observed that Sri Lanka “appears to be seeking to establish social and political supremacy of the Sinhala Buddhist majority within a unitary state,” in the ‘post-war resurgence’ of Sihala Buddhist nationalism that no longer threatens only the Tamils, but also religious minorities, particularly Christians and Muslims. “The resurgence of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism can be attributed to the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009, which by some was seen as a victory of Buddhism over Tamil nationalism,” the report said. This year thus far, at least 30 churches have reported being attacked. Last year, Sri Lanka witnessed 52 incidents of Christian persecution. Mon, 17 Jun 2013, 23:32 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36412 In a move delicately endangering local fishing of the peoples of entire southern South Asia, the Rajapaksa Establishment in Colombo has provided facilities of a state-of-the-art fishing harbour near Colombo and State endorsement to Chinese vessels fishing beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Island’s waters. A Company in China has been graced with the rights to ply its fishing vessels with the flag of the genocidal State in Sri Lanka and to use the facilities of the Dikovita fishing harbour. While the Establishment in Colombo would get paltry benefits, shoals of fishes coming from the Antarctica would be exploited in the no-country water itself, before they come to South Asia, affecting the livelihood of not only Tamils, Malayalis and Maldivians but also the Sinhalese, fisheries sources in the island said. Mon, 17 Jun 2013, 15:22 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36409 Sinhala officials attached to Sri Lanka's Department of Forest Conservation, which comes under the SL Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy, have surveyed this weekend two traditional Tamil villages in the Thirukkoayil DS division of Ampaa'rai district, in a move to plant trees in the lands that belong to uprooted Eezham Tamils, who have not been allowed to resettle in the villages of Thangkavealaayuthapuram and Kagnchi-kudichchaa'ru, news sources in Thirukkoayil told TamilNet Sunday. The Sinhala officials of the Eastern Provincial Council also back the move, the sources further said. Sun, 16 Jun 2013, 20:26 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36408 Hundreds of Tamil refugees, including several hundreds who have been declared as "Mandate" refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in compliance with the UNHCR Charter and associated statutes, are languishing in camps in East Asian countries, and recently in Dubai, while Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) and the U.S., which have traditionally admitted mandate and convention refugees, are denying resettlement to many of these refugees. Australia, which is one of the contracting countries with UNHCR, is even keeping in detention, citing security threat, Tamil boat refugees who have been granted asylum. Sun, 16 Jun 2013, 15:21 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36407 Even after four years have passed, More than 30 Saiva temples are found either destroyed or damaged in the three divisions of Ki'linochchi district, informed sources in Ki'linohchi told TamilNet on Saturday. In one division alone, 24 churches have been damaged during the war, according to civil sources in Ki'linochchi. In one of the division, Poonakari, two churches (St. Mary's Church and Our Lady of Refuge Church) were fully destroyed while 22 other churches have been partially damaged in Poonakri (Pooneryn). Sat, 15 Jun 2013, 22:47 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36406 Tamil activist, film director and actor P Manivannan has passed away due to cardiac arrest at his residence on Saturday. He was 59. Mr Manivannan has directed nearly 50 films. He has also made a mark in acting Tamil cinema by playing sharp character roles having shades of comedy and political sarcasm in more than 400 films. Director Manivannan took an active role of an artist in expressing solidarity with the Tamil struggle and was instrumental in maintaining the link between the Tamil Nadu cinema artists and the nation of Eezham Tamils. Sat, 15 Jun 2013, 08:53 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36405 Aiming at totally bankrupting the Tamil farmers of Koa'raippattu South (Kiraan) division in Batticaloa district, the occupying Sri Lankan military, which schemes Sinhalicisaton and colonisation of the pasturelands in the division, now demand 3,000 rupees per 10 cattle from the Tamil farmers. The ‘Kappan’ military of Sri Lanka has instructed the Tamil farm-owners to pay the money before 25th of this month. The extortion is taking place in the name of providing ‘housing’ to disabled Sinhala soldiers, the farmers from Alli-oadai village told TamilNet on Friday. Fri, 14 Jun 2013, 22:38 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36404 “Tamil Eelam today is a crucible of ‘excess of power’ - Lankan President with unchecked executive power, the very heavy presence of his military in Tamil Eelam and the Prevention of Terrorism Act still in place almost four years after the defeat of the LTTE,” says the latest Human Rights report issued by the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR). “The leading human rights groups are hoping to deal with this situation of ‘excess of power’ only through appeals to individual rights. Indeed their mandates restrict them from dealing with it in any other way,” the NESoHR, which was formed during the internationally mediated peace process as the Human Rights body of the Tamil Nation, said on Friday, reviving its reporting on human rights in the country of Eezham Tamils and launching an international wing for dissemination of its reports. Fri, 14 Jun 2013, 20:30 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36402 The SL government move to construct a Buddhist temple adjacent to the Saiva-Vedda, Murukan temple at the Ukanthai hill sanctuary is now abandoned after heavy protests by Tamils in Ampaa’rai district of Eastern Province, but Sinhalicisation of the place continues unabated following the model of another Tamil village Paa’nama, 16 km south of Ukanthai that is now dominated by Sinhalese, news sources in the East said. In front of the Ukanthai Murukan temple, in the one and a half acres of land claimed for the Buddhist temple, hundreds of Sinhala fishermen from the South are camped now. The Buddhist temple claim is based on this camp settlement and the one who spearheads the move is the incumbent of the Paa’nama Buddhist Vihara, who was born a Tamil and converted to become a Buddhist monk, news sources further said. Thu, 13 Jun 2013, 18:21 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36401 Supporting Tamil activists efforts to raise the awareness of Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils, a noted holocaust survivor, 79-year old Eva Mozes Kor, told the activists, "Remembering is not enough, we must take all actions possible to stop, and prevent genocides such as in Sri Lanka today." Ms. Kor, who formed a close kinship with the Tamil group on the second workshop day of the "One Million Bones" rally in Washington last Sunday, is a tireless activist for prevention and stopping Genocide, and runs a holocaust museum, doesn't simply project the wrongs of the holocaust but is forward looking on using the past experiences to prevent and stop Genocide, the organizer of the Tamil protest said.<br/><br/> Thu, 13 Jun 2013, 01:29 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=36400 New Delhi that had wanted the LTTE to commit on federal solution as condition to bring in ceasefire, started arrogantly imposing the unitary 13 Amendment once the war ended in genocide, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam exposes, bringing out the roles played by new Delhi’s National Security Advisor, M.K. Narayanan, and the former Foreign Secretary and the present NSA, Shivshankar Menon. When some of the TNA members attempted to explain that the 13th Amendment couldn’t be the way to find a political solution to the national question, Mr Narayanan responded in an angry tone stating that India knew what was good for Tamils much better than the Tamils themselves. The Indian delegation categorically told us that the 13th Amendment was the solution, Mr Gajendrakumar said. Wed, 12 Jun 2013, 06:33 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36397 US Ambassador at Large on War Crimes Issues, Stephen J. Rapp, during his visit to the UN in New York June 11, said on Sri Lanka, he is disappointed on the "accountability for the alleged grave atrocities near the end of the conflict on both sides," and on the lack of implementation of the provisions of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, Inner City Press (ICP) which covers UN, said. Wed, 12 Jun 2013, 00:58 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36396 Occupying Sri Lanka’s Government Agent in the Eastern Province’s Ampaa’rai district, Mr Neil de Alwis, who held a meeting with the Va’n’nakkars (trustees) of the historic Saiva shrine at Ukanthai-malai last Wednesday, has asked the trustees to cooperate with the SL authorities in constructing a Buddhist stupa, at a one and a half acres plot of land, 400 meters close to the Saiva shrine, informed sources in Ampaa’rai told TamilNet this week. The SLGA was particular in urging the trustees that this news should not be leaked to media. The disappointed trustees find themselves at a delicate situation, unable to reveal the truth to the Saiva devotees of the sacred abode. The Ukanthai-malai temple of Saiva-Vedda tradition is located at a rocky hillock in Lahugala division. Wed, 12 Jun 2013, 00:16 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=36395 If the conscience of academics and intellectuals especially in the field of culture is not prepared to boycott the genocidal State of Sri Lanka, at least in subject matters and institutions that have a bearing on genocide, how to expect politicians to boycott events such as CHOGM hosted by Sri Lanka, commented an academic in Jaffna responding to British archaeologist Prof Robin Coningham choosing to address Colombo’s Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology on a topic related to Buddhism on Saturday. Just like there were mass killings every day during the genocidal war, mass-scale structural genocide now takes place every day in the Sinhala military-occupied country of Eezham Tamils. Buddhism and archaeology are pivotal to the process. In 2010, British journalist Jeremy Page alerted the world on “the army and the archaeology department” of Sri Lanka. Tue, 11 Jun 2013, 22:55 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36394 Saivaites in the country of Eezham Tamils have expressed deep concern over the sudden change of dates of the annual festival of the Kathirkaamam Murukan Koyil this year without any notice to them. Hundreds of Saiva devotees who are on foot pilgrimage that commenced last month from Jaffna Chella Channithi Murugan Koyil via districts of Ki'linochchi and Mullaith-theevu to reach Kathirkaamam on the day of flag hoisting that was to take place on July 8 have been stranded in midway in the districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa with the announcement of the new dates by the Kathirkaamam Koayil administration that is now exclusively Sinhala-Buddhist. Tue, 11 Jun 2013, 12:41