Unified Eezham Tamil national front, beyond electoral politics, is next step: Jothilingam

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Criminals banished from South deployed for Sinhala colonisation in Musali, Mannaar

Criminals and former military men absconding from law enforcement authorities for crimes committed in the South, particularly those with a previous military background, have been provided with an escape route if they agree to take part as settlers in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The tendency has been observed in Ko'ndaichchi in Musali division of Mannaar district, informed sources in the division said. In addition to Sinhala workers who previously worked in Ko'ndaichchi cashew farm, there are tens of Sinhala colonists with criminal background from Colombo, Kegalle, Matara and Gampaha districts in the South. Although only twenty-seven families are registered in the voters' registry, and they were provided with housing scheme, there are scores of other Sinhalese living in the so-called “Sinhala Gammana” village in Ko'ndaichchi. Full story >>

Colombo isolates Tamil political prisoners within heavily fortified cells

SL Prison authorities not only continue denying families of Tamil political prisoners (TPPs) to their kith and kin, but they also refuse access to deliver essential supplies to them for more than five months. In the meantime, occupying Colombo, which relocated the Tamil prisoners from other prisons to Anuradhapura, has isolated the TPPs transferring them into heavily fortified isolation cells, the families complain. Full story >>

Community physician referring North and East as Tamil areas was ‘racism’ for GMOA

SL Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), which is the trade union of government doctors in the island, is again on a witch-hunt against Consultant Community Physician (CCP) Dr Murali Vallipuranathan, an outspoken Tamil from North. Secretary of the GMOA Dr Senal Fernando has written a letter to the Secretary of SL Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services Dr Sanjeewa Munasinghe urging the latter to initiate an investigation against Dr Vallipuranathan for calling Northern and Eastern provinces as Tamil areas. “We firmly believe that this is a racists remark as whole of Sri Lanka belongs to all ethnic groups of the country,” wrote Dr Fernando in his letter. Full story >>

Sinhala Archaeology officials attach GPS tracking to ‘heritage’ stones in East

A group of employees from all-Sinhala SL Archaeology Department spent time with a stone used to burn camphor at Chiththaa'ndi Murukan temple on Friday. When they left, they claimed to have attached a GPS tracker to the rock. In the meantime, SL Police Officer-in-Charge at Ea'raavoor Police was dodging to register a complaint from the temple board, sources close to the management said. Uniformed police personnel have been visiting the temple since 19 July and persons claiming to be employees of SL Archaeology Department come and go since 26 June. The intruding officials are not interested in informing through proper channels before their interventions. The situation has caused security-related concerns as there are valuable properties of the temple within the premises. Full story >>

University students mark Black July Remembrance in Jaffna, Vavuniyaa and Batticaloa

Tamil university students in Jaffna, Vavuniyaa and Batticaloa staged remembrance events within their university premises. Jaffna University Student Union leaders, who gathered at their office lighting candles for the victims of the 1983 SL State-sponsored pogrom against Tamils in the island said Black July remembrance must be integral to the process of international justice on Tamil genocide. Remembrance events were also observed at Vavuniyaa campus and the Eastern University. In the meantime, Tamil political parties that usually organise Black July Remembrance events, were too busy this time with their election campaign. Full story >>

Colombo's Archaeology Department, SL Police threaten chief priest of Chiththaa'ndi temple

Officials of occupying Colombo's Archaeology Department visited the ancient Saiva (Hindu) Murukan temple at Chiththaa'ndi, located 20 km north of Batticaloa city, last month on 26 June. The visiting team was taking photographs of stones used for crack opening coconuts and for burning camphor as well as the stone slabs used in the temple for various purposes. They claimed that the rocks resembled Buddhist artefacts and that they should be delivered back to the SL Archaeology Department. Sivasri Vasantharajah Kurukka'l, the chief priest of the temple, told them that the stones had been there for several decades while other slabs were produced in Vavuniyaa in 2010 when the temple was renovated. On Sunday, SL Policemen from Batticaloa visited the temple blaming the chief priest for ‘not cooperating’ with the officials of the department. Full story >>

Vadamaraadchi North fishers mobilise against Colombo's discrimination

Former Tamil paramilitary operative Douglas Devananda, who collaborated with the genocidal military of occupying Sri Lanka, is now SL Minister of Fisheries in the “caretaker” cabinet of Rajapaksa regime. Sinhala poachers from South are allowed to encroach and engage in destructive fishing along the coast of the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The quisling minister is citing the law imposed by the SL State during the times of war. The law is known as Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act of 1996. “The 1996 law was drafted with southern fishers in mind. It has not taken into consideration the concerns of Tamils. We are not opposed to others fishing here. But, we are opposed to poaching and destructive fishing methods destroying our fishing ecosystem by the Sinhala fishers,” said N. Varankulasingam, the chairman of the Federation of Vadamaraadchi North Fisheries societies. Full story >>

Sumanthiran’s nexus with “Raava'na Senai” in Kanniyaa heritage dispute questioned

Sinhala Buddhist extremist monk Ampitiye Seelawansa Tissa Thero has been escalating a heritage dispute at Kanniyaa Hot Wells by pushing for the construction of a Buddhist temple within the Saiva temple premises located in the lands that belong to a private landowner. When the case was taken up by the courts on Thursday, ITAK Parliamentarian and President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran represented the owner of the temple lands Ms Ganesh Kokilaramany. Meanwhile, “Ravana Senai,” a shady outfit allegedly connected to Hindutva organisations in India is also in a dispute with Kokilaramany as it had transformed the mutt belonging to Pi'l'laiyaar temple into a Sivan temple. The group maintains rapport with the Seelawansa Tissa Thero and with Mr Sumanthiran who represents Kokilaramany. Full story >>

Trident missing, seat of folk-deity desecrated at disputed heritage hillock in Mullaiththeevu

Unknown persons have removed the trident of Aiyanaar folk-deity, and its seat from the hillock of Kurunthoor-malai, violating a court order that said nothing should be changed. The occupying SL military was using the recently imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 Kumuzha-munai villagers to restrict access to the hillock. Tamil villagers from Kumuzha-munai in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division in the district of Mullaiththeevu alleged that the SL Archaeology Department and Sinhala Theravada monks were behind the removal of the trident (Trisulam) at their heritage site. Full story >>

Sonia-Rahul’s Congress advocates India strengthening US-led “Quad” alliance

“Two senior Congress leaders — AM Singhvi and Deepender Hooda — advocated that India play a leading role in a more muscular Quad,” reported The Economic Times on Sunday in an article titled “Quad is shaping up as the backbone of India’s post-COVID foreign policy.” The recent India-China border standoff in Ladakh has accelerated the tendency. In the meantime, Congress’ Shashi Tharoor, a former minister of state for external affairs, observed that foundations for US-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) were pointing towards “a more substantive strategic shift”. Full story >>

CBK, Kadirgamar condemned at Navaali genocidal massacre remembrance event

SL Foreign Minister in 1995, the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, a Tamil, denied that Colombo had carried out the massacre targeting St Peters Church in Navaali. It has taken 25 years for the then SL President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK) to admit it to some extent, and that too as an incidental one 4 km away from the battlefield, Rev Fr SJ Emmanuel observed in his speech. He blamed not only Kadirgamar and CBK but also the Sinhala Catholic establishment as well as sections of Tamil Catholic priesthood for failing to speak the truth about the attack. Tamil politician MK Shivajilingam said CBK had failed to admit the nature of the crime. “It is not an accidental event of dropping a parcel. The bombers targeted the church with 13 bombs,” he said. Former NPC Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan said the chain of attacks including Chemma'ni mass graves establishes that they were premeditated. Full story >>

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SL Navy brutally assaults Tamil fishers in Mullaith-theevu

The occupying Sinhala Navy brutally assaulted Tamil fisher families at Puthu-maaththa'lan in Mullaiththeevu causing injuries to a father, his son and three women in the early hours of Thursday. The SL Navy entered the house of fisheries society leader Mahendran Alex alias Suman. It attacked his family members using batons causing severe injuries to his father, 55-year-old Mahalingam Mahendran and 28-year-old Mahendran Nixon, the younger brother. Three women have also sustained injuries. The fisheries society leader said the violent attack was deliberate and unprovoked. The residents interpret the violent episode as part of an aggressive campaign against the peaceful protesters demanding resettlement in the nearby Keappaa-pulavu. The SL Navy is also having a dispute with Tamil fishers who are opposed to the sea cucumber poachers from the South. Full story >>

Colombo schemes to expand ilmenite scooping into North from Pulmoaddai in East

Occupying Colombo is silently expanding its scheme to excavate ilmenite mineral to the north of Kokku'laay lagoon after exploiting the silica-rich sand in Pulmoaddai located in Trincomalee to the south of the provincial border. Systematic surveying has been going on since 2016, and the incumbent administration under Gotabaya Rajapaksa is accelerating the plan, informed civil sources in Mullaiththeevu said. The planned exploitation, if allowed to proceed unchecked, could result in an environmental disaster, the sources said seeking the attention of environmentalists, academics, journalists and the politicians among the Eezham Tamils. Full story >>