I'lantha'lir programme showcases struggle-oriented performance in Toronto

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 April 2012, 08:24 GMT]
Utilizing various mediums, including drama, dances, spoken word, songs, and dialogue, second generation Tamil youth in Canada conveyed the message of preserving the Eezham Tamil identity, and continuing the freedom struggle of the Eezham Tamils, at I'lantha'lir - The Artistic Revolution of Tamil Eelam’. The event performed to a packed audience on Friday at The Chinese Cultural Centre in Toronto showcased the historical evolution of the Tamil Eelam Struggle. “An outstanding play with such amazing concept, acting, dances, songs, spoken word, screenplay, dialogue, setting and flow. Our struggles, our nation building capacity, our resilience, our cries, our milestones and our vision were communicated most effectively,” said Neethan Shan, President of the New Democratic Party of Ontario and the Guest of Honor at the event.
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Amnesty rally in New York demands justice for Trinco-5 victims

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 April 2012, 00:14 GMT]
More than seven hundred Amnesty International human rights activists, including many high school students from the New England area, held a rally in front of Sri Lanka UN Mission Friday, demanding justice for Ragihar Manoharan and four of his friends extra-judically executed by Sri Lanka military on the 2nd January 2006. The protesting students demanded Colombo to bring perpetrators of the crime to justice. Sri Lanka was one of the rights violators, besides China/Tibet, Indonesia and Burma, targeted by the "Get on the Bus for Human Rights (GOTB)" rally organized by the Boston Chapter of Amnesty International.
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Ampaa'rai Tamil politician questions Rauff Hakeem on land justice

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 April 2012, 21:12 GMT]
Traditional lands belong to Tamil people in the Ampaa'rai district have been continuously grabbed by those sitting in power in Colombo, according to Selliah Rasaiah, the chairman of Kaaraitheevu Piratheasa Chapai (PS) situated in Ampaa'ria district of the Eastern Provice. Mr Rasiah, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politician, has asked the SL Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem, whether the Tamil people chased out of their villages in the district would be able to demand their lands forcibly occupied by the Sinhalese and Muslims. The SL minister had recently gone on record saying that he would make laws to enable those who lost their lands in the times of the war to gain them back.
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Samantha Power to chair US genocide prevention effort

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 April 2012, 16:09 GMT]
Samantha Power, Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, National Security Council of the Obama administration, and a long time advocate of genocide prevention in Bosnia and around the world will chair the newly created Atrocities Prevention Board, sources in Washington said. President Obama made the announcement when he spoke at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum commemorating the Holocaust Remembrance Day. Observers pointed out that the "Crime of the 21st Century" where Sri Lanka military forces killed more than 40,000 unarmed Tamil civilians, occurred in 2009 under Obama's watch while the President was making a statement of the imminent slaughter from the east-side lawn of the White House.
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UK deportee killed while Tamil Nadu returnees arrested in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2012, 11:41 GMT]
A 28-year-old Tamil man, recently deported from UK was found killed in Trincomalee on 18 April, news sources in the district told TamilNet Saturday. In the meantime, in a systematic combing operation launched by the special units of Colombo's military and police establishments, up to 300 Tamil males and females have been ‘arrested’ and sent to military detention camps in Welikanda and Vavuniyaa since last Saturday. Among the victims are also people who have recently returned from Tamil Nadu and they too have now ended up in Welikanda and Vavuniyaa, the sources in Trincomalee further said.
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Indian embassy, Chandrahasan, Rajadurai, conspicuous at Chelva memorial in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2012, 07:10 GMT]
Indian embassy officials, SJV Chelvanayakam’s son, SC Chandrahasan, who was long operating in Chennai reportedly with the backing of Indian intelligence agencies, and C. Rajadurai from Batticaloa who defected the Tamil national cause in the late 1970s to join with Sinhala parties, were conspicuous participants at the 35th death anniversary of Thanthai Chelva observed at his memorial in Jaffna on Thursday. The current TNA parliamentarians were absent in the gathering. TNA’s former MP, Sivajilingam, who paid homage at the memorial before the event, showed black flag to C. Rajadurai, saying that traitors should never be entertained unless they repent for their actions. Political observers suspect New Delhi using the event for a leadership endorsement of faces from the north and east agreeable to its designs.
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KP, Gotabhaya eye on Tamil children by hijacking LTTE institution names

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2012, 01:24 GMT]
Following a court order to close down two KP-run centres for war orphans in Vanni for their mismanagement, Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP, functioning in the custody of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and the SL Defence Establishment plan returning with their ‘child management’ activities by exploiting the names of the former social institutions of the LTTE, news sources in Vanni said. By using the names, they also aim at claiming funds from international donors and attracting money from gullible sections in the diaspora, the news sources further said. The district judge of Mullaiththeevu, Mr. Prabhakaran has recently ordered the closure of the KP-run orphanages after finding serious mismanagement and fearing abuse of children. But on Thursday, backed by SL Military, KP opened another orphanage at Mu’l’liyava’lai, in the name of a former LTTE facility.
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SLA suspected in slaying Jaffna youth while ex AG defends crimes as normal

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2012, 01:14 GMT]
Sri Lankan military intelligence resorts to liquidate Tamil youths it suspect by using different means in recent times, human rights activists in Jaffna said, citing a brutal killing that took place on Tuesday this week at Vathiri Junction of Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi. The killer squad followed 28-year-old Sivarooban Sivagnanam, who had returned from Qatar six months ago when he was on his way to Manthikai hospital from his house in Koththiya-kaadu in Tho'ndaimaanaa'ru, taking food to his hospitalised father. The squad that followed Sivaraoopan in motorbike, knifed him to death in broad daylight near a Sri Lanka Army camp located near the Vathiri junction, residents said.
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UN admits use of cluster bombs three years after Vanni War

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2012, 11:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka using cluster bombs, an ordnance banned by several countries in the world, in a location where the Eezham Tamil civilians were herded during the Vanni war has been confirmed by a UN agency nearly three years after the civilians were silently allowed to succumb to such weapons by the international community. A report from a UN mine removal expert of the UNDP’s mine action group in Sri Lanka admits finding unexploded cluster munitions at Puthukkudiyiruppu, Associated Press reported Thursday, adding that the ‘revelation’ is likely to increase calls for international investigations. During the war, vividly describing the use of cluster bombs and other prohibited weapons, the affected people repeatedly appealed to the world to stop the genocide. TamilNet even published photographs of cluster bomb shells with Russian markings.
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Two children die in landmine explosion at Pazhai in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2012, 06:04 GMT]
Two children playing in front of their house at Mullaiyadi of Pazhai in Jaffna peninsula part of the Ki'linochchi district were killed Wednesday, when they found an unexploded ordnance and started playing with it. 4-year-old Thamilmaran Mukunthan and his younger brother 2-year-old Thanujan Mukunthan were the victims of the tragic incident. The family has resettled in their village recently when Pazhai and Ma'niyanthoaddam areas were declared free of landmines and were opened for resettlement. In the meantime, a leading de-mining group on Tuesday said that it was winding up its activities in Jaffna district and limiting its work in Ki'linochchi district. Independent de-mining groups, supported by international community are forced to close down services at a crucial time due to lack of funds while the SL military apparatus is seeking to dominate the agenda of the entire de-mining process.
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220 Tamils arrested in SLA combing in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2012, 17:53 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army and Police, backed by special teams of the ‘Terrorist Investigation Department’ from Colombo, have been entering selected houses in the villages of Trincomalee district, detaining ex-LTTE members since Saturday evening. The SL forces have detained around 220 Tamil males and females from their houses. The detained men have been taken to Welikande and the females have been taken to Poonthoaddam in Vavuniyaa, informed sources told TamilNet Wednesday. Ex-LTTE members who had left the movement more than 10 years ago have also been detained. The arrested also include returnees from Tamil Nadu and those who have been detained earlier and released for reunification with their families. While India and the West talk only about the North nowadays, the operations of genocidal Colombo in the East largely go unnoticed.
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TELO opposes Rajadurai attending Chelva anniversary in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2012, 22:27 GMT]
“Inviting Chelliah Rajadurai to attend Thanthai Chelvanayakam's 35th death anniversary is like inviting Karuna to the memorial event of Kumarappa and Pulendran, said M.K. Sivajilingam, the former TNA MP and the political leader of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), calling the act of the invitation a betrayal to the Tamil struggle. Mr. Sivajilingam has called for a black flag protest if Mr. Rajadurai, a former stalwart of the ITAK, who broke with the ITAK/TULF line after the demise of SJV Chelvanayakam and joined with the ruling parties in the south, is invited for the Chelva memorial event.
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Veteran Tamil activist and humanist reaches 88 in exile

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2012, 20:06 GMT]
Solomon Arulanandam David (S.A. David), popularly known as Gandhiyam David, who presided the Gandhian movement which spread simple agriculture, self-sustenance, and importance to early education as a way of life in the deprived villages of Tamil Eelam for nearly a decade from 1972, reaches 88-years Tuesday as he spends his older years among his friends in Chennai. TamilNet extends its wishes to Mr David as it recognizes his unique and selfless contribution to Northeast Tamils and the hill-country Tamils displaced by Sinhala intimidation, riots and pogroms in the 1970s and 80s. David was assisted by another humanist of the 70s, the late Dr Rajasundaram. Rajasundaram was killed in the Welikade prison massacre in 1983, whereas his friend, David, escaped, re-incarcerated in Batticaloa jail to escape again in the famous Batticaloa jail break.
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Religious fundamentalism on rise among Sinhalese, Muslims

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2012, 23:56 GMT]
Following the threats issued by Buddhist monks against a mosque in Dambulla on Friday that they would demolish it unless the Muslims relocated the mosque from the area, which the monks claimed as a holy Buddhist site, the SL Prime Minister DM Jayaratne, who is also the minister of Buddhist affairs, on Sunday instructed the Muslims to relocate the mosque, triggering anger among Muslims. The Buddhist monks, who are engaged in setting up new Buddhist viharas and Sinhala colonies in the country of Eezham Tamils, have carefully timed their action against the Muslims in Dambulla after successfully wooing the votes of the countries with overwhelming Muslim populations, either to back Sri Lanka or to abstain from voting at the recent Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Muslim circles in Colombo said.
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SL military-backed sand mining irreversibly destroys environment in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2012, 23:37 GMT]
Grassroot representatives from Vadamaraadchi East of Jaffna district on Sunday urged civil and political activists in Jaffna to help them legally confront the indiscriminate sand mining that continues unabated, exceeding any meaningful limit of scooping. The village of Ampan is being submerged in water. The organisations, who met civil and political representatives on Sunday expressed fear that a future Tsunami could cause the land link between Vadamaraadchi North and Vadaramaraadchi East to break rendering Vadaramaraadchi North into an island. The sand scooping, which has become a multi-million business for EPDP operated organizations like Maheswari Foundation, has already claimed the life of an environmentalist who was instrumental in organizing protests against the destruction.
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Indian delegation's visit to East, an eyewash: Batticaloa MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2012, 18:01 GMT]
For more than 6 years, five thousand uprooted people from Moothoor East in the Trincomalee district have been languishing in temporary shelters and have been denied resettlement. The Indian parliamentary delegation that had vowed to talk to uprooted Tamils before they departed India, has changed the agenda and was only attending “tea parties” and “opening ceremonies” without hearing the real concerns of the affected people during their visit to East, Tamil National Alliance MP from Batticaloa P. Selvarasa, told media Friday. The itinerary of the delegation was fully decided by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, the Tamil MP said.
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800,000 landmines remain in Thenmaraadchi FDL: DCO in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2012, 11:46 GMT]
The De-mining Coordinating Office attached to the District Secretariat of Jaffna, on Friday said that it estimated around 800,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) as remaining in the former Forward Defence Line along Naakarkoayil, Mukamaalai and Ki'laali in Thenmaraadchi. The DCO is the civil authority coordinating that the de-mining is carried out according to UN procedures and is responsible for clearing areas vacated or otherwise cleared by the SL military operated ‘Humanitarian de-mining Units’. The recent tragic incident at Ketpali, where two teenagers sustained serious injuries, has taken place at an area, which is yet to be cleared by the coordinating office, according to DCO official V. Murugadas, who also said that the people, who are interested in resettling in their lands, have lost patience and start visiting the areas without verifying the status of de-mining.
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Colombo deploys EPDP leader against Tamil Nadu, India

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 April 2012, 23:43 GMT]
Sabotaging the civic efforts to resolve the disputes between the Tamil fishermen across the Palk Strait, Mr. Douglas Devananda, a minister in the cabinet of Rajapaksa regime and an SL paramilitary leader, on Friday, vowed to take 5,000 fishermen from Jaffna in 1,000 boats to India, against the Tamil Nadu fishermen, who enter the waters off Jaffna peninsula and destroy the livelihood of the local fishermen in the peninsula. The EPDP leader also blamed India for not having completed the housing scheme on time in an effort to hijack the sentiments prevailing amongst the people against New Delhi for its abetment of Colombo's genocidal war against Eezham Tamils, fishermen representatives in Point Pedro told TamilNet Friday.
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SLA prevents Tamil farmers from paddy cultivation in Punaanai, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 April 2012, 23:24 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA), which maintains a military base at Punaanai in Kora'laippattu North DS division of Batticaloa district, has been preventing Tamil farmers from engaging in paddy cultivation in their own land, even after the end of the war, the villagers complain. In the meantime, latest reports say that the occupying SL military is scheming a Sinhala colony in the occupied lands of Tamils.
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Indian delegation disappoints civil representatives in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2012, 23:53 GMT]
Civil representatives in Mullaiththeevu on Wednesday said that they were not provided any opportunity to meet and convey the plight of resettled Tamils in the district to the visiting delegation of Indian parliamentarians led by Mrs Sushma Swaraj. The Tamil representatives belonging to several civil organisations in the district had been invited and were waiting for a long time since 10:00 a.m. to meet the delegation. But, no meeting took place. The visiting delegation was taken on a ‘guided tour’ giving priority to inaugurations and distributing gifts. The Congress group of the delegation which came late to the opening ceremony of a housing scheme was seen quarrelling with the group of parliamentarians led by Mrs Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, who had declared the scheme open, news sources in Mullaiththeevu told TamilNet.
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Tamil student abducted, killed near SL military zone in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2012, 17:33 GMT]
18-year-old Sivalingam Sivakumaran, a student from Kerudaavil village in Vadamaraadchi North of Jaffna district, was found slain inside a bush, 2 km away from his house on Wednesday. The Tamil student was abducted five days ago, on 13 April after 6:00 p.m., when he had left his house towards the historic Chelvach-channithi temple, according to the family of the victim. The Kerudaavil village is situated along the eastern border of the Valikaamam ‘High Security Zone’ of the occupying SL military. The student has been tortured and killed, the villagers who witnessed the recovery of the dead body told media. In the meantime, Indian parliamentarians were taken to Jaffna Wednesday evening, after being taken on a ‘guided’ tour, which was fully packed with ceremonial events, carefully avoiding interactions with civil representatives in Mullaiththeevu.
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Military-managed de-mining endangers security of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 April 2012, 18:27 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military, which dominates de-mining activities in the former Forward Defence Line areas and in the so-called High Security Zone under its occupation, was not doing the de-mining work according to established norms and procedures, complain humanitarian workers in Jaffna, formerly attached to independent de-mining operations of international NGOs. On Monday, two teenage boys sustained severe injuries, one of them losing his leg, caught in landmine explosion in Ketpali in Thenmaraadchi while they were plucking co-conuts at a palm grove that had been cleared by the SL military. A few days ago, school children at Ki'laali School found unexploded shells from the sand brought inside the school for construction work. The children were saved by the timely intervention of the teachers, the NGO workers further said.
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Eezham Tamil activist Neethan Shan elected President of NDP, Ontario

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 April 2012, 22:50 GMT]
In a landmark event in Canadian politics and among the Eezham Tamil diaspora in Canada, Neethan Shan, vice chair of the NCCT, was elected as the President of Ontario New Democratic Party. The 33 year old Eezham Tamil activist, who is also the Executive Director of the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians, won the election competing against two other candidates. "As the President of the Ontario New Democratic Party, I will continue to advocate for the rights of all marginalized communities in Ontario and maintain my focus on helping children, youth and families,” Neethan Shan told TamilNet, adding that his history of being a refugee from his occupied homeland is what led him to become involved as a community organizer in his own community and the broader Canadian community to fight for the rights of the marginalized.
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‘Development’ gives no light to people while SL cantonment gets electricity in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 April 2012, 21:41 GMT]
More than 30 months have elapsed since the Sri Lankan government was promising electricity link to the resettling people in Ki'linochchi under the so-called Spring of North ‘development’, which is nothing but a camouflage for the structural genocide committed by Colombo in the country of Eezham Tamils. Electricity posts were put up creating hope among the people that power would be supplied. Many trees were also felled in Vanni jungle in the name of putting up infrastructure. Renewed hopes were again given during the civic elections held a year ago by SL Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka, the theoretician of the JHU, the Sinhala Buddhist extremist monks party, who declared opened a transformer at Chalvaa-nakar, a suburb of Ki'linochchi. The suburb is yet to see the light promised by the ‘Spring of North’, while the power lines are directed only to illuminate an SL cantonment.
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Sinhala academic blames US-UK axis for genocide in Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 April 2012, 23:15 GMT]
Speaking at a meeting on “The Tamil Struggle for Self-Determination: A Leftist Sinhala Perspective” at University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, Sinhala academic Dr. Jude Lal Fernando highlighted the need to understand the role of powers in shaping and manipulating the forces among the Sri Lankan state and the Eezham Tamils, on Thursday. Talking extensively about how the western establishments tilted the parity of status against the Tigers during the CFA period, he expressed the view that the US-UK axis was to blame for the 2009 massacre. Dr. Fernando, who was one of the main co-ordinators of the Dublin Permanent People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka, explained how with the implementation of neoliberal policies the Sri Lankan state expedited privatization and militarization of the Tamil homeland.
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SL military's draconian ‘civil’ rule hardens further in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 April 2012, 17:58 GMT]
The village level Rural Development Societies (RDS), which have started functioning again, especially in the agricultural areas of Vanni mainland, have been subjected to harassments by the occupying SL military in recent days. On the one hand, the Sri Lankan authorities have gone on record as if they were encouraging the re-emerging RDS societies, and on the other hand, the SL military is curbing the activities of the rural development organisations. The SL military has instructed the RDS societies not to conduct any meeting without securing permission in advance from the nearby military camps. In the meantime, female members of the families of former LTTE cadres and even the temple deities face sadistic treatment from the occupying Sinhala military, say civil sources in Ki'linochchi district.
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Nedumaran releases book on LTTE leader

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 April 2012, 18:30 GMT]
The much anticipated ‘Pirapaharan – Tamizhar Ezhuchchiyin Vadivam’ (Pirapaharan - The Embodiment of Tamils’ Struggle) written by veteran Tamil Nadu political activist Pazha Nedumaran was released in Chennai on Friday at PT Thiyagaraja Hall. Published by Tamizhk-kulam Pathippaalayam, this book, of 1223 pages and illustrated with 32 pages of photographs some of which are hitherto unpublished, contains handwritten letters of Mr. Pirapaharan and includes important personal conversations with the author, that throw light on the deep philosophy of the LTTE leader. Along with CPI stalwart Mahendran’s book ‘Veezhveanen’ru ninaiththaayoa’, this book written by a long time supporter of the Eezham Tamils’ struggle will join the series of must-read literature written by Tamil Nadu activists on the struggle for Tamil Eelam, for Tamils everywhere, Tamil literary circles in Chennai said.
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MIA writes theme music for Assange's Russian talk show

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 April 2012, 01:58 GMT]
Music industry reports say Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA), the Jaffna born music phenom, has written the theme music for the new talk show hosted by Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder to debut on Tuesday on the Russian network. "Mr. Assange has taped 12 episodes of the show, “The World Tomorrow,” according to the statement, with “an eclectic range of guests, who are stamping their mark on the future: politicians, revolutionaries, intellectuals, artists and visionaries,” according to the press release posted in the Wikileaks website.
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Rajapaksa's blithe contempt for world opinion: Paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 April 2012, 21:48 GMT]
Pointing out that in Sri Lanka "[t]he rule of law continues to be set aside. A huge military machine is yet to be stood down. Glaring war crimes remain to be investigated. Tamils are treated as a subjugated people. Emergency security measures continue, turned against Rajapaksa's critics even among the Sinhala majority," Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) wondered that, "if Sinhala majority are not protected by law, what hope do Tamils have?"
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Resettled Tamils threatened in Ampaa'rai - Batticaloa border, girl kidnapped

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 April 2012, 18:25 GMT]
Around one hundred and fifty uprooted Tamil families of Chinna-vaddai, a village situated in the Poara-theevup-pattu division of Batticaloa district, bordering Uhuna village of Ampaa'rai district, complain that they are being harassed by the Sinhala paramilitary personnel and settlers, who have occupied their village for 22 years, since 1990. A Sinhala electricity worker, who came to the village from Kurunegala two weeks ago, abducted a 17-year-old Tamil girl forcing her to marry him, complain the family of the girl and her relatives. In the meantime, the Sinhala paramilitary men of the ‘Civil Defence Force’ have been harassing the Tamil families, who have recently resettled in the village. The CDF men are plundering fish and vegetables belonging to returnees at gunpoint and are warning the Tamils to vacate the village.
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SL military steps up harassment on resettled Tamils in Poonakari

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2012, 16:29 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military in Vanni has stepped up harassment on resettled civilians in Poonakari and in the adjoining coastal areas, news sources in Poonakari told TamilNet Thursday. Recently, Sri Lanka Navy has taken over the occupation of the strategically located coastal stretch from the SL Army and has imposed strict ‘pass’ regulations on fishing in the seas, Tamil fishermen complain. Southern intruders with the backing of occupying military are also forcing people to sell their lands following recent reports that the Colombo establishment was planning to invite China to build an airport of international standard at Poonakari to balance India’s projects centring around KKS harbour and Palaali airport in the northern coast of Jaffna Peninsula.
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Tamil Nadu ruling party withdraws from Delhi's Sri Lanka tour

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2012, 09:28 GMT]
Preempting the joint agenda of Colombo and New Delhi that seek to project a positive image of Genocidal Colombo among the Indian public, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday pulled out AIADMK Rajya Sabha parliamentarian Rabi Bernard who was to take part in a parliamentary delegation, scheduled to visit the island in the coming week to inspect the condition of Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka after the war. The reaction from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister comes following the itinerary of the visit has been produced by the Indian External Affairs Ministry in collusion with the Sri Lankan counter-part, favoring the Sri Lankan State and excluding a free and fair way of inspecting and debating the post-war policies of the SL state. Ms. Jayalalithaa also blamed the Centre for having watered down the US resolution at the recent UNHRC sessions in Geneva.
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Tsunami watch issued for countries across indian Ocean

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2012, 10:01 GMT]
Following an 8.7-magnitude quake, centered 33 kilometers beneath the ocean floor around 434 kilometers from Indonesia's Aceh province, Tsunami watch has been issued for countries across the Indian Ocean. The tremor was felt in the North and East. Employees were evacuated from Veerasingham Hall and Jaffna Public Library following the tremor that lasted for a few seconds around 2:15 p.m. Indian National Disaster Management Authority later said there was no likelihood of tsunami being formed anywhere in the Indian Ocean.
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GTYL Conference calls for international mechanism to secure justice for Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2012, 04:52 GMT]
The second annual conference of the Global Tamil Youth League held on 7th and 8th April in the UK passed resolutions calling for an independent, international accountability mechanism into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan state and to advocate against the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation. Emphasising that Tamil sovereignty is the only meaningful expression of self-determination for the Tamil nation in their historic homeland and the only guarantee against genocide, Krisna Saravanamuttu of the NCCT, a participant in the conference, told TamilNet "At a time when powers are trying to manipulate the diaspora to arrive at a settlement within a unitary Sri Lanka, the Tamil Sovereignty Cognition declaration provides a principled ideological and conceptual reference point for Eezham Tamil youth across the world in our struggle for national liberation."
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TNA MP warns protest against desecration of statues in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2012, 00:15 GMT]
If the Sri Lankan Police fails to take action, within one week, against the culprits who destroyed and desecrated the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Baden-Powell, Swami Vipulananda and Poet Pulavarma'ni Periyathampipi'l'lai on 05 April inside the ‘high security area’ of Batticaloa city, there will be protests against the desecration, TNA parliamentarian Pon. Selvarasa warned on Monday. Stating that the destructions have taken place within 48 hours of the restoration of an already destroyed statue of Swami Vivekananda in Aaraiyampathi, Mr. Selvarasa blamed that there was a connection between the desecration of statues in Batticaloa in January and March and the decapitation of the statue of Thanthai SJV Chelvanayakam in Trincomalee in November 2011.
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State pays remuneration to monks in select areas of North and East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2012, 23:15 GMT]
Buddhist monks in select temples facing economic difficulties in the North and East and in other areas are paid a subsistence amount by the state in Sri Lanka, revealed The Sunday Times last Sunday, in the context of a question put in Colombo’s parliament by a UNP member and the reply of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister and Buddha Sasana Minister, DM Jayaratna. The UNP member for Kurunegala, Jayawickrema Perera wanted to increase the amount to Rs 5000 per month to temples facing hardships. Sri Lanka has 42,803 novices and 16,538 higher monks registered under its Buddhist Affairs department, while the number of registered Buddhist temples stand at 9,654.
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Paramilitary men arrested for alleged abduction, slaying of Thenmaraadchi woman

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2012, 15:40 GMT]
Three persons including a Sri Lankan military operated Civil Defence Force (CDF) paramilitary person and an alleged EPDP man, have been detained by SL Police in Thenmaraadchi on suspicion of abduction, alleged rape and slaying of 28-year-old Atputhamalar Subramaniyam from Thanangki'lappu, who was reported missing since November 13 and later found dead near a Sri Lanka Army bund on 25 January 2012. Women rights groups in the peninsula have urged global watchdogs to follow the conduct of SL Police in the investigations on the detained suspects.
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Colonial Governor closes down computer section of Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2012, 23:48 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka's Governor of North and war crimes accused former SL commander of Jaffna, Major General (retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri, has instructed the Jaffna Municipal Council administration to immediately remove the computer section at the Jaffna Public Library, used by the readers of the library for viewing electronic documents, to construct a modern toilet there for the benefit of the visitors from the South. CVK Sivagnanam of the Council of NGOs in Jaffna District has sent an urgent letter to SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to intervene and stop the destructive move. Talking to media, Mr. Sivagnanam on Monday warned to wage a campaign if the move is not abandoned by timely intervention. The news has already upset the wider community of the Eezham Tamils in the district, the veteran civil and political activist further said.
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ACF plaintiff encouraged by French Embassy's push for probe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 April 2012, 18:02 GMT]
Kalaichelvi Lavan, whose ex-husband was killed in the execution-style slaying of 17 aid workers from the French NGO, Ac in the northeastern town of Moothoor on August 4, 2006, and who is currently settled in Florida, said she was encouraged by the French Ambassador's meeting with Sri Lanka's Attorney General to discuss the status of the investigations into the crime, and that she hopes the French officials follow the investigations in every step to ensure that the investigations comply with international standards and the killers of her ex-husband are identified.
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Sri Lanka news coverage in UN presents challenges, ICP says

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 April 2012, 14:57 GMT]
Questioning "why the SAG [Special Advisory Group on Peace Keeping] meetings, primarily of member states' Permanent Representatives, held not in the North Lawn building but in 380 Madison Avenue," and "why different security procedures are being applied to the new venue as if it were a staff meeting," Matthew Lee, a journalist attached to the Inner City Press [ICP] said in a report that the UN's Media Liaison Unit is acting like a "minder" and is being "permitted to shadow the Press, either by observing who speaks or discouraging such contact by its presence." ICP raised concerns after Lee encountered new security procedures when Lee went to cover the April 2nd meeting. Sri Lanka's Shavendra Silva whose presence in the SAG meetings was declared inappropriate by the SAG's chair, Louise Frechette, had vowed to attend the meeting.
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SL military conducts search operations in Trincomalee, 10 Tamils detained

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2012, 09:52 GMT]
At least ten Tamils have been taken into custody by the occupying Sri Lanka Army and SL Police in cordon and search operations in Trincomalee district on Friday. The victims, detained by the SL Army include uprooted persons recently returned from Tamil Nadu and former LTTE cadres ‘rehabilitated’ and released by the SLA. Villagers from remote areas of the district said that around 600 to 700 members of SL Army and SL Police were involved the house-to-house search operations and that they took the males for interrogation to their camps in the presence of their wives and children.
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Boyle compares Syria action, dismisses UNHRC resolution as a "fraud"

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2012, 23:53 GMT]
Dismissing the US sponsored United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution as "a fraud," Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in international law, said, "if the US were serious about Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Tamils, US would have done something like it did to Syria this week." The U.S. State Department established a Clearinghouse on Syria and provided $1.25m to assist to "collect, collate, analyze, and securely store evidence, documentation, and other information concerning human rights abuses and violations, while protecting witnesses and sources."
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Gandhi, Vipulananda, Poet Periyathampi, Baden-Powell desecrated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2012, 07:27 GMT]
The statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vipulananda, Pulavarma'ni Periyathampi-pi'l'lai and Baden-Powell revered by Eezham Tamils in the heart of Batticaloa city have been desecrated and destroyed in the early hours of Friday. The statues of Gandhi and the founder of Scout Movement Robert Baden-Powell are located near the clock tower in the city centre. Renowned Tamil scholar and Hindu reformer Swami Vipulananda and Tamil Poet Pulavarma'ni Periyathampi Pi'l'lai, both were born in the Eastern Province. All the four statues are located within the perimeters of the high security area manned by the SL Police and the SL Army in the city. The latest desecration of statues comes as a result of anti-Indian and anti-western sentiments shown by the occupying Sinhala forces in the East, political observers said.
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UK accused of permitting alleged war-criminal to escape prosecution

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2012, 03:02 GMT]
Questions have been raised over the failure of the British Foreign Office to investigate Prasanna de Silva, ex-Sri Lanka army general alleged to be complicit in war-crimes, as reports emerged that the Mr Silva's return to Sri Lanka is imminent, sources in London said. European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) assisted by Society for Threatened Peoples Switzerland, and TRIAL, submitted to the British Foreign Office in January 2012, a 28-page dossier on the alleged involvement of De Silva in war crimes committed during the last months of the Sri Lankan civil war. The dossier is widely believed to be the reason for De Silva's war crimes predicament, according to political observers in UK.
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Buddhist Stupa to become ‘cultural landmark’ of Jaffna harbour

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 April 2012, 21:30 GMT]
A massive Buddhist Stupa that is being constructed at the Beach Road of Jaffna harbour by the occupying Sinhala military will be the new ‘cultural landmark’ of Jaffna city for vessels coming towards its harbour. The Stupa with pre-fabricated parts and statues, brought from the South, is being built day and night by the Sinhala soldiers. The Stupa is built in the locality of a Saivite Amman temple, between Jaffna Fort and Kurunakar, known as Aluppaanthi, meaning the wharf of the harbour. Many more Buddhist Stupas are hurriedly constructed by the SL military and one of them with extensive residential facilities is going to be just in front of the Jaffna Railway Station. During the liberation war, colonial Sri Lanka constructed a huge Buddha statue overlooking Trincomalee to give a Sinhala Buddhist cultural image to the world-renowned harbour of Eezham Tamils in the East.
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Kohona under AFP spotlight over war-crime charges

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 April 2012, 00:11 GMT]
Australian Federal Police (AFP) have said that they will evaluate a document submitted by the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA) charging Palitha Kohona, an Australian citizen and currently Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, over alleged war-crimes. AFP said in a letter AFTA that the referral was from the Minister for Justice, Jason Clare as a result of a correspondence to Michele Rowland, MP by AFTA.
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Displacement continues 22 years for coastal people of northern Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 April 2012, 23:14 GMT]
Resettlement Committee of the Displaced Citizens of Valikaamam North (RCDCVN) and Valikaamam North Fishermen Societies Union on Wednesday handed over an appeal addressed to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa through the SL Government Agent in Jaffna Ms. Imelda Sugumar, reminding the SL president that the people of Valikaamam North, especially those from the coastal villages, have not been allowed to resettle in their own soil for 22 years.
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SL Army restricts NGO movement in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 April 2012, 18:57 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army has imposed restrictions on the movement of Non Governmental Organizations to Paduvaankarai from Batticaloa via Kiraan Bridge, civil sources in Batticaloa city told TamilNet Wednesday. The SLA soldiers at Kiraan Bridge are reported to have refused permission to several NGOs in recent days to travel beyond the bridge without SL Defense ministry authority. The NGO officials have been asked to obtain ‘pass’ from Welikanda SLA camp. The travel-ban on NGOs comes as SL military backed encroachment of Sinhalese is reported in the border areas of the Piratheasa Chapai (PS) divisions of Koa'ra'laip-pattu South, Vavu'na-theevu, Ea'raavoor-pattu and Chengkaladi.
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SL military, police protect Sinhala soldier caught by villagers for attempted rape

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 April 2012, 19:10 GMT]
A 16-year-old Tamil girl narrowly escaped from a Sinhala soldier, who attempted to rape her, while she was on her way from her house in Paalamoaddai to Olumadu in Mullaiththeevu district around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. The soldier of the occupying SL military was manning a military check post near the American Mission Tamil Mixed School at Paddadai-pirintha-ku'lam. He threatened the girl and took her to into the school building where he attempted to rape her. The residents who heard the girl shouting gathered at the site and saved the girl from the hands of the soldier of the occupying military.
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Plaintiffs file appeal on war-crimes case against Rajapakse in U.S.

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 April 2012, 02:50 GMT]
Bruce Fein, the attorney for the three Tamil plaintiffs who filed war-crimes charges against Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse, said Sunday that as instructed by his clients he has filed an appeal against the ruling by the District Court of District of Columbia. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in the Court opinion that she had to dismiss the case because the Obama administration had intervened to say Rajapakse was immune from litigation as a foreign head of state. "We intend to ask for an initial en banc hearing by the entire U.S. Court of Appeals in lieu of a three-judge panel," Fein said, adding, "the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Zivotofsky v. Clinton strengthens our appeal immeasurably. There the Court held that the Executive Branch’s foreign policy prerogatives cannot dictate to federal courts the outcome of cases that rest on statutory rights created by Congress."
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Buddhist monks, SL military step up Sinhalicisation of Kuchchave'li in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2012, 23:22 GMT]
Large tracts of lands adjoining in vicinity of an ancient stupa site in Thiriyaay and newly installed Buddist monks in at least three places in Kuchchave'li Divisional Secretariat division of Trincomalee district are behind grabbing lands of Tamils and blocking Tamils from re-settlement, civil officials in Kuchchave'li division said. A systematic programme of Sinhalicisation has been taking place, begun after the area was captured by the SL military from the LTTE, is now being accelerated by the Colombo establishment, according to Tamil civil officials in the division.
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SL Army threatens to destroy Sivan temple to construct Buddhist Vihara in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2012, 18:38 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army is said to have planned to demolish the historical Chivanakar Siva temple in Uruththirapuram in Ki'linochchi district and to construct a Buddhist Vihare in that site, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Sritharan has said. The Tamil parliamentarian has urged the Colombo government to stop the demolition of the Hindu temple. Around 40 soldiers of the occupying SLA came to the temple on Friday 27 March evening in three vehicles and entered the temple without the permission from the chief priest and desecrated the temple by walking in their military boots and threatened to destroy the temple and construct a Buddhist vihara at the site.
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Conforming to mandate more important than getting offices of position: Suresh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2012, 23:54 GMT]
It was a last resort for the democratic political struggle of Thanthai Chelva to call for the independence of Tamil Eelam in 1976, after a series of political deceits and finally his 6-point demand following the 1972 constitution to resolve the Tamil question within a united Sri Lanka was also rejected, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran, while speaking at the 114th birth anniversary of SJV Chelvanayakam in Jaffna on Saturday. But after Tamils paying a heavy price in the armed struggle only the world has now started looking at the issue, which has now become international. TNA has the mandate and responsibility at a crucial time and it should not make even a small slip. Petty offices of position are not the answer to the price paid by our people. We are conscious of the mandate given to us by our people, he further said.
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Abducted youth recovered in Trincomalee: SL Police

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2012, 23:26 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police spokesman Ajith Rohana on Saturday said that the 22-year-old Tamil youth, Ananda Kishore Thanikasalam, abducted in Vaakarai on 28 March, was recovered at Dehiwatte in Serunuwara of Trincomalee district. The youth had been abducted from his house as his parents refused to hand over their 8 acres of palm grove to a Sinhala person from the South. As the abduction was highlighted in the media, the SL police was attempting to project the abduction as a ransom case, informed sources said.
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