Unrest in Tamil Nadu following Colombo’s death sentence to 5 fishermen

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2014, 18:15 GMT]
As Hindutva New Delhi’s partnership with genocidal Sri Lanka gathers momentum and reaches a stage of jointly aiming intimidation and destabilisation of Tamil Nadu, Colombo’s high court on Thursday delivered death sentence to five Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested in 2011 on charges of smuggling drugs, political observers in Chennai said. Following the sentence, widespread protests engulf Tamil Nadu, where Tamil fishermen face decades-long arrests, attacks, loss of property and death in the hands of the Navy of genocidal Sri Lanka. While death sentence itself is universally controversial, the government, law-enforcement agencies and judiciary in the genocidal State themselves don’t have any credibility at all, the observers further said.
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Colombo sniffs at emails being sent to OISL from the island

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2014, 15:04 GMT]
Intelligence officers attached to the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry have given secret instructions to Internet providers in Colombo to covertly scan the emails addressed to OHCHR Investigations on Sri Lanka (OISL), a reliable source in Colombo told TamilNet on Thursday. The intelligence officers have deployed simple network packet sniffing techniques to make copies of the messages that are addressed to the OISL. A lot of messages are also being discarded, while some are allowed to proceed in order to avoid provocation, the source further said. To ensure that their messages have reached the intended destination, the people who have made submissions should request acknowledgement from the OISL, an activist who got a bounced message told TamilNet.
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More than 300 missing after massive landslide in Up-Country

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2014, 23:14 GMT]
In one of the biggest landslide in the island, more than 66 Up-Country Tamil families are feared dead on Wednesday in Meeriyabedda in Badulla District in the Up Country. While official reports said 14 dead bodies were recovered, unconfirmed reports put the figure at 30. Tamil relief workers in the Up Country said more than 300 people are feared missing and there is no hope for survivors. While a section of the people have got assistance, people who have sought security at Poonagala Tamil School are yet to receive proper assistance, reports reaching Colombo said Wednesday night.
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UN urged to secure release of arrested eyewitness in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2014, 23:35 GMT]
57-year-old Sinnathamby Krishnarajah, who was detained by the Sri Lankan CID in Ki’linochchi on Saturday and taken to Vavuniyaa and from there to Colombo by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) was arrested while he was copying forms from the Internet for producing affidavit about his daughter who was reported missing at the final stage, according his family. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesman Suresh Premachandran and the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) General Secretary Selvarajah Kajendren have urged the UN to ensure the release of the father of six from the Sri Lankan TID.
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SL military steps up threats against OISL submissions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2014, 09:48 GMT]
The SL military has arrested a Tamil man in Ki’linochchi, allegedly in possession of forms to be sent to the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) in Geneva on Saturday, according to reports from Vanni on Sunday. The SL Police has informed the family of Sinnathamby Krishnaraja from Ira’nai-maa-nakar in Muzhangkaavil that Mr Krisnarajah was being taken to Colombo for interrogations. As the deadline for submissions to OISL in nearing, the SL military has instructed the Internet café owners to alert them on people scanning documents for submission, a net-café owner in Ki’linochchi told TamilNet.
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SL military attempts to curb Nam-Theasam Tamil monthly in North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2014, 23:28 GMT]
The occupying military in Jaffna and Vanni has been harassing the distributors of Ithu-Nam-Theasam monthly in recent days. Last week, a distributor of the paper was attacked at Uruththirapuram in Ki’linochchi district. The assault has come right after the distributor was interrogated at the military camp in Uruththirapuram, media sources in Jaffna said. A squad that followed him from the SL military camp assaulted him and dumped the papers into a reservoir. A systematic harassment of the distributors of the paper, which stands for the rights of Eezham Tamils, is reported also at several other locations in North.
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TCSF defends majority councillors position on Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2014, 12:44 GMT]
Requesting an investigation into genocide serves to ensure that all possible violations of international law are appropriately identified and explored. Needless to say such a request does not prejudice OISL's investigation into other crimes including war crimes and crimes against humanity, said a statement from Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) issued on Friday. "Tamils and their representatives also have a concomitant right to seek the intervention of the International Community to prevent and protect them from the commission of Genocide. The right to state and claim the above stems from their right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined in international human rights law," the TCSF statement further said.
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Citing systematic SL intimidation, Ananthy urges more time from OISL

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2014, 06:53 GMT]
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) councillor and a direct eyewitness to the genocidal onslaught on Eezham Tamils in Vanni in 2009, Ms Ananthy Sasitharan, on Thursday urged the OHRC Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) to give more time for the people on the ground to send their submissions to the OISL. Ms Ananthy has requested to extend the time for submissions by one month or at least to the extent possible, citing the intense atmosphere of intimidation, threats and attacks against potential witnesses in the North and East. There is also a serious lack of communication on the process of submitting evidences, the councillor further said. Meanwhile, a planted section in the TNA that argues against Tamils demanding genocide investigation came out with a last minute statement this week, as eyewash, asking people to give evidence to the OISL.
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Planted section in TNA detract genocide question of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2014, 21:15 GMT]
When the majority of TNA members in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) wanted the council to tell the world on the planned genocide and on-going genocide conducted by ‘Sri Lanka’ in the homeland of Eezham Tamils, a section planted in the TNA leadership to look after the interests of imperialisms, try to detract the whole genocidal dimensions of the plight of the nation of Eezham Tamils, said informed circles citing a 11-point explanation internally circulated by the so-called TNA leadership. The planted leadership claimed that it had consulted ‘legal experts’ and the NPC demanding genocide investigation or talking of genocide is not only inappropriate but also would affect the ‘credibility’ and independent function of the current international investigations.
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Land Commissioner in East threatens Tamil farmers of Thennai-maravadi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2014, 22:33 GMT]
The Provincial Land Commissioner (PLC) of Eastern Province, Sirimewan Dharmasena, a Sinhalese, has been threatening the Tamil farmers of the ancient Tamil village of Thennai-maravadi in Kuchchcave’li division of Trincomalee district to share their lands with Sinhalese colonisers or face security threats at the hands of the Sinhala ‘home guards’ paramilitary. The threat comes after a series of meetings with the PLC on 12th, 24th and 30th of September 2014, the Tamil farmers from Kuchchave’li said. Thennai-maravadi is situated on the border of Trincomalee district and Mullaith-theevu district.
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NESoHR releases collated reports 2005-2009

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2014, 21:23 GMT]
North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), which was formed during the internationally mediated peace process as the Human Rights body of the Tamil Nation and functioned in the Tamil homeland from July 2004 till January 2009, has released its human rights reports from 2005 till January 2009. Given the current climate of investigation by the OHCHR on Sri Lanka these old NESoHR reports are published in a large single file with continuous page numbers and content pages for easy access, according to Attorney K. Sivapalan and Dr Malathy of NESoHR. Majority of the atrocities covered in these reports falls within the period currently being investigated by the OHCHR. “It is well known that the UN and other international agencies ignored these atrocities when they were taking place. NESoHR team hopes that the OISL investigators will pay due attention to these reports,” they further said.
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14th death anniversary of journalist Nimalarajan observed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2014, 23:12 GMT]
Amidst the prevailing harassments against the journalists in the North, more than 40 journalists from Jaffna peninsula and Vanni mainland gathered at the Jaffna Press Club on Sunday marking the 14th death anniversary of Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, who was assassinated on 19 October 2000. The journalists also paid their tributes to the veteran journalist, Iya Sachchithanantham, who had recently passed away in Jaffna at the age of 64.
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SL military turns back UN official at Oamanthai check-post on World Food Day

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2014, 09:51 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka on Thursday turned back the country representative for United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) at Oamanthai military check post in Vavuniyaa citing the lack of SL Defence Ministry pass to travel to North, civil sources in Vavuniyaa said. Ms Beth Crawford, the FAO representative for Maldives and Sri Lanka, invited as Special Guest to attend the World Food Day event organised by the Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS) in Ki’linochchi, was unable to attend the event. Colombo has imposed a new restriction on foreigners traveling to North without Defence Ministry permission since last Friday.
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Citing Buddhist monk, SL police refuses to act on land-grab complaints in Batticaloa

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

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

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2014, 21:32 GMT]
The funeral of senior journalist Iya Sachchithanantham was held in Jaffna on Sunday. The 64-year-old journalist, who devoted his life for people-centric journalism and served two dailies, Eezha-Naadu and Thinak-kural, for a long time, passed away Thursday night following a heart attack. He was also a talented announcer, editor of Joasiyar magazine and the regional correspondent for Radio Ceylon.
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Ignoring Sri Lanka’s sexual violence is service to ‘British foreign policy’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2014, 05:38 GMT]
British monarch Queen Elizabeth II made Angelina Jolie an honorary dame for her work against sexual violence in war zones and her services to British foreign policy, media reports said on Friday. In June, Jolie co-chaired an international conference on war-related sexual violence, along with former British foreign minister William Hague. The conference was heavily criticised even by British media, for conspicuously ignoring sexual crimes committed by the Sinhala military against Eezham Tamils in the Vanni War.
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Colombo disproves functionality of 13A

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2014, 17:38 GMT]
Despite the tall claims of New Delhi and Washington on the effectiveness of the Provincial Council model under 13 Amendment of the unitary constitution of genocidal Sri Lanka, as a ‘starting point’ for the solution of national question in the island, the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) chief minister Mr. C. V. Wigneswaran himself on Friday has pointed out how the Rajapaksa regime in Colombo disproves the functionality of the 13A. In a letter to Mahinda Rajapaksa, the NPC-CM condemned the Colombo regime unilaterally convening a “Special District Development Meeting” on Monday for the 5 districts coming under the NPC, without consulting the provincial body or even informing it on the necessity and agenda of the “curious meeting.” The NPC decided not to attend the meeting.
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Tamil prisoners subjected to racial assault in Anuradhapura prison

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2014, 08:57 GMT]
A Sinhala assistant jailor and Sinhala inmates in the Sri Lankan prison of Anuradhapura have brutally assaulted three Tamil political prisoners, one of them a pastor and another a 60-year-old man, causing serious injuries to them on Wednesday, said Northern Provincial Councillor Ms Ananthy Sasitharan, who described the attack as a targeted racist assault on Tamil inmates at the prison. The Tamil political prisoners are suffering in the Sri Lankan jails. The racist jailors subject them to psychological harassment by putting Sinhala narcotic criminal prisoners in the same cells. The Tamil prisoners are not being treated as human beings in the SL prisons, she said urging immediate international pressure on the Sri Lankan government.
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Vavuniyaa Citizen Committee chairman escapes assassination attempt

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2014, 21:51 GMT]
While the Citizen Committee of Vavuniyaa has been preparing for a protest against the prolonged detention of the Tamil activist Ms Jeyakumari and all other Eezham Tamil political prisoners on Friday, an attack squad operated by the Sri Lankan military has targeted the 61-year-old chairman of the Committee, Mr Krishnapillai Thevarasa, on Wednesday night. A 4-member squad that followed Mr Thevarasa while he was returning home after attending a preparatory meeting at Vavuniyaa, blocked him near the Sri Lankan military camp at Nedungkea’ni and brutally attacked him using iron rods and batons. The attack comes 5 days before SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to North.
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EPDP, Sri Lankan CID jointly harass newspaper editors in Jaffna

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

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2014, 15:56 GMT]
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member M.K. Shivajingam on Tuesday vowed to confront any legal action from the South against the joint appeal sent by the majority NPC and Eastern Provincial Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Councillors to the Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) in August demanding investigations on genocide against Eezham Tamils. At a press conference held at Jaffna Press Club, the senior political leader of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) also warned those expressing views against the association with former militant groups turned political parties constituting the TNA alliance not to spoil the unity within the Tamil alliance.
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Tamil teachers protest against SL military interference in schools

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

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2014, 19:28 GMT]
Two bodies washed ashore in September have not been identified, legal sources in Mannaar said. The decomposed bodies have been kept for identification. While many believed that the victims could be Tamil Nadu fishermen as there was no local reports of missing fishermen. One of the bodies was buried before the stipulated time for burial and was dug up again following a court order on Saturday.
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SL military chases Tamils out of farming land in Poththuvil, Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2014, 22:16 GMT]
15 Tamil farmers who were clearing the agricultural lands at Oottuch-cheanai in Poththuvil of Ampaa’rai district were chased away by the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who came from Oo'rani camp on Friday. The SLA soldiers have seized the tools used by the Tamil farmers, said T. Kalaiyarasan, a councillor from the Eastern Provincial Council. The Tamil councillor said the act by the SL military is just another example for how the civil affairs are being subjected to the control and command of the SL military. The Tamil people have been using the upper-lying lands of 100 acres for more than 60 years, he said.
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SL police arrests protesting former EDPD politician in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2014, 23:15 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police in Jaffna arrested the General Secretary of Mutpoakkuth Thamizh Theasiya Kadchi (MTTK) Sutharsingh Vijayakanth and two of his fellow party members Friday night while they were waging a peaceful fast at Nalloor temple demanding the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to release all Tamil political prisoners from the Sri Lankan prisons. The arrests were made on the charge that they were getting electricity from a nearby house to the podium of the fasting campaign. The fast was launched as there was no reply from the Sri Lankan President to their letter urging general amnesty to all Tamil political prisoners, the protesters said. Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to visit Jaffna on a two-day visit on October 12.
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SL investigators harass senior journalist in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2014, 12:34 GMT]
Senior Journalist and media activist Thayaraparan Ratnam in Jaffna has been subjected to interrogation style investigations by a 'Special Criminal Investigation Division' in Kaangkeasanthu'rai (KKS) on Wednesday, media circles in Jaffna said. Mr Thayaparan has been subjected to continous harassment by Sri Lankan Defence Ministry operated 'investigation' units, Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) and the CID, the sources said adding that the harassments started after the journalists and media activists started to attend media workshops held in Colombo and other places. However, the timing of the harassment against Tamil journalists has a different motive, civil activists in Jaffna told TamilNet.
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