Ex-militant parties in TNA resolve to oppose US move on domestic mechanism

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2015, 09:44 GMT]
Three of the ex-militant parties in the Tamil National Alliance have decided to sharply oppose the US move, informed sources within the TNA told TamilNet on Sunday. A consensus has already been achieved between the three parties (EPRLF, TELO and PLOTE) on Sunday with regards to opposing the domestic mechanism and in demanding international investigations. However, on ITAK's reluctance in making democratic decisions within the TNA, the three ex-militant parties would demand a structural solution within the TNA before considering other options, an EPRLF source told TamilNet Monday noon.
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Domestic process will be tantamount to “victor's justice”: TNPF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2015, 20:25 GMT]
Citing its consistent warnings to Tamils about the use of their struggle by geo-political contestations, the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) in a statement on Saturday said that it insists on an international criminal justice process since any domestic process will be tantamount to “victor's justice”. The TNPF also said that the ‘devolution paradigm’ [so far imposed by Washington and New Delhi, and recently re-iterated in hoodwink by Ranil Wickramasinghe], would not work to the context of the island. Rejecting ‘Sri Lankan’ nation-state, the TNPF argued for Tamils and Sinhalese coming together as nations of Self-Determination in a bi-national State in the island. It is up to the Muslims and Up Country Tamils whether they wish to assert to their right to self-determination with consciousness or not, the policy statement further said.
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Colombo spent 6.5 million USD to influence Washington in 2014

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 August 2015, 14:25 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government, over a 5-month period in 2014, paid USD 6.5 million directly and indirectly to US-based WR Group and a private equity fund manager, Imaad Zuberi, who is one of Hillary Clinton's "Hillblazers" for her 2016 presidential campaign and a top tier of bundlers for Obama's 2012 relection campaign, the Foreign Policy Magazine has revealed on Friday. 45-year-old Imaad Zuberi, born to Pakistani father and Indian mother is also a venture capitalist and an elite political fundraiser, reported Bill Allison of the FP Magazine. "The Sri Lanka experience hasn’t deterred Zuberi from seeking nw business abroad. He continues to post to Facebook pictures of himself side by side with the powerful, most recently with Hillary Clinton," the report further said.
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Colombo's Wildlife Department harasses Eezham Tamil villagers in Maanthai West

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 August 2015, 23:24 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military and the operatives of Colombo's Wildlife Department, have been harassing the Tamil people to vacate from Kuruvil village, situated in Paalaip-perumaa'l-kaddu GS division in Maanthai West DS division of Mannaar District. The harassment has been going on since SL President Maithiripala Sirisena came to power in January 2015. Around 70 families have already left from the village, where they have been residing since late 60s. More than 35 families are still fighting for their right to live in the village, which is located on the northeast sector of Kadduk-karaik-ku'lam (Giant's Tank). The SL Wildlife Department, claiming the village as coming under Giant's Tank Sanctuary, has filed cases against 6 families at Mannaar District Court. While the case is going on, Colombo's department has put up Sinhalicised name boards at several locations of the village.
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Uprooted people in Champoor demand coordinated Tamil effort on resettlement

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 August 2015, 18:00 GMT]
While Tamil activists are set to push for a billion-rupee compensation from the Sri Lankan State for the structural destruction caused to Champoor so far, the president of the genocidal State in Colombo is visiting to Champoor on Saturday to donate 13,000 rupees per family to 25 families together with a symbolic hand-over of their lands, news sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Friday. Meanwhile, the resettling uprooted Tamils said they had spent 30,000 rupees each during the last weeks alone to clear the freed lands. Although there are Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) showing a keen interest in providing support, there is no co-ordinated effort to channel assistance to resettle the people, the civil sources in Trincomalee said.
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TNA secures 16 of 29 SL parliamentary seats in North-East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 August 2015, 05:50 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has secured 5 seats in the Jaffna electoral district, 4 seats in Vanni, 3 seats in Batticaloa, 1 in Trincomalee, 1 in Ampaa'rai and two seats for nominated parliamentarians according to the latest figures. In Jaffna, S. Sritharan, Mavai Senathirajah, M.A. Sumanthiran, T. Sitharthan and E. Saravanapavan have secured their seats after repeated counting of preferential votes on Tuesday while Suresh Premachandran lost his parliamentary seat. In the meantime, United National Party (UNP) led by Ranil Wickramasinghe is set to form the SL government in the South, despite a tough race with Mahinda Rajapaksa's UPFA. The UNP was leading the electoral districts in the South, particularly where Tamils and Muslims live in considerable numbers. UNP has got 106 seats in the SL parliament followed by the UPFA (95), TNA (16), JVP (06), EPPD (01) and SLMC (01).
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SL voting concludes peacefully with 67% participation in North-East

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2015, 15:50 GMT]
At least 67% of the voters in the North-East have taken part in the electoral race for 29 parliamentary seats in the parliament of the genocidal State of Sri Lanka where the Eezham Tamils are deprived of expressing their political aspiration through ballot after 1977 General Elections following the introduction of the so-called 6th Amendment in 1983. According to the initial details, the rate of participation was high at 75% in Trincomalee, which has been subjected to systematic Sinhala colonisation and demographic genocide over a long period of time.
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More than 50% cast votes in East by noon, 48% in North

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2015, 10:25 GMT]
55% of the registered voters in Batticaloa district, 52% of the voters from Ampaa'rai district and 50% of the voters in Trincomalee district have cast their votes for 16 seats in the parliamentary elections until noon Monday, news sources in the East said. News sources in Jaffna said the voting percentage was at 48% in the Jaffna electorate by noon.
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Voting high in Mannaar where UNP competes with TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2015, 08:00 GMT]
Voting percentage is reported to be around 30% at 10:00 a.m. in the Eastern Province and around 22% in the Jaffna electorate in the Northern province. The people in Mannaar in Vanni electorate have been taking part in the elections with enthusiasm, especially in the Mannaar island where more than 50% of the people have cast their votes before 12:00 a.m. Large sums of money were distributed among the voters by the UNP in Mannaar Sunday night, news sources in Mannaar said.
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STF deployed in large numbers in North-East on election day

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2015, 07:03 GMT]
Commandos of Special Task Force (STF), which is a full-fledged military outfit, administratively organised under the SL Police, have been deployed in large numbers in Tamil-speaking Muslim dominated Kaththaan-kudi and Vaazhaich-cheanai towns and the suburbs in Batticaloa as well as at Chaayntha-maruthu in Ampaa'rai district. In North, the STF has been deployed in Vavuniyaa and Mannaar, news sources said. Voting is taking place smoothly in the North-East, news sources said. Initial results are expected around 11:00 p.m. local time.
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TNA betrays Eezham Tamils by succumbing to LLRC hoodwink: Thirumurugan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 August 2015, 11:32 GMT]
Thirumurugan Gandhi of May 17 Movement in Tamil Nadu has urged the Eezham Tamils and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) not to commit an irreversible historic betrayal to the Tamil struggle by opting to succumb to a discourse, which has been conceived to trap the Eezham Tamils through the LLRC-oriented, US-designed resolutions passed in the Human Rights Council. The discourse systematically sabotages international investigations on genocide. The same architects are also trying to trap the Eezham Tamils through TNA's election manifesto, which seeks to negate the path of Tamil sovereignty and full right to self-determination. The TNA, after placing the election manifesto, has failed to respond to the key issues in the debate, the Tamil Nadu activist said in a video address to Eezham Tamils.
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Wife of slain ex-policeman of Tamil Eelam denounces slow resolution of case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2015, 14:56 GMT]
Kavitha, the wife of assassinated Tamil social activist Nakuleswaran Krishnasamy in Ve’l’laangku’lam, Mannaar, this week cried out her frustration over the slow progress of the investigation surrounding the Nov 12, 2014 assassination of her husband. She alleges that the Sri Lankan Police and powerful politicians have been deliberately slowing the investigation process and expressed her fears that both are working together in bailing out the suspects involved in the slaying of her husband.
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War-affected Women Development Society leader threatened in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2015, 23:43 GMT]
47-year-old Thavapalan Piriayatharsini, who is the head of Women Development Society at Theaththaa-vaadi, a village situated near Iluppaik-kadavai in Maanthai West division of Mannnaar district, says she and her three daughters have been subjected to death threats by an unknown squad. The family has been subjected to death threats since 11 August. A group of unknown men, who came in a white van entered her house that day and warned ‘rape and death’ if she continued to give social leadership to the villagers. They were particularly angry about Piriyatharsini making demands from political parties. The threatening presence of a white van squad is still continuing, she told TamilNet on Thursday.
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Australia funds biometric passports of genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2015, 22:33 GMT]
At a time, when the demand of Tamils is to internationally investigate the genocide and on-going genocide in the island, the response coming from Australia is funding genocidal Sri Lanka’s passport intimidation project, which will be targeting especially the Tamil diaspora. With the provision of 500 million rupees coming from Australia, Colombo this week begins the programme of taking fingerprints for the issue of biometric passports. Under the programme, everyone needing a new passport has to personally go to offices located only in the island for taking biometric data. New passports obtained through diplomatic missions outside may become invalid on landing in Colombo.
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Sinhala settlers claim ownership to Tamils' lands in Thiyaa-vadduvaan, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2015, 21:45 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan Military and Police in Batticaloa district are attempting to transfer a section of lands seized from Tamils at Koara'laip-pattu (Vaazhaich-cheani) division to Sinhala settlers, informed civil sources in Batticaloa told TamilNet. While Tamil landowners are still struggling to get released their lands, where were seized from them in 1990, Sinhalese persons have started to claim ownership to a section of lands at Thiyaavadduvaan in the division, the sources further said.
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Lawyers in Mannaar seek external assistance on mass grave investigations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2015, 23:39 GMT]
Colombo-based Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department officer H. Ranasinghe was confronted last Wednesday by leading lawyers from Mannaar, when the case on continued exhumation of the alleged killing fields of Mannaar was taken at Mannaar Magistrate Court. Colombo's CID officers were trying to annul further investigations by sabotaging DNA based forensic investigations to judge the exact time when the victims were slain and by projecting a false claim that the skeletons belonged to a graveyard. However, Judge Aseervatham Gracian Alex Raja, after hearing the arguments from both the Colombo's Police and the lawyers representing the missing persons in Mannaar and the lawyers association in Mannaar, ordered for further excavation of another site, which is believed to be a well, where the SL military is believed to have dumped slain Tamils, 14 years ago.
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SL police makes no progress in investigations on assassination of SSO

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2015, 17:29 GMT]
Two months have passed since the assassination of Social Service Officer (SSO) S. Mathisayan at Ma'ndoor in Batticaloa district. The Sinhala police of occupying Colombo has failed to produce any result in identifying and nabbing the assassins, who are believed to be politically “well-connected”, the sources close to the family of the victim, told TamilNet on Thursday. The SL police officials who were involved in the investigations have privately admitted that the killers were probably well connected to influential politicians and civil officials associated with powerful circles, the sources further said.
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Deployment of SL Intelligence operatives triggers fear among villagers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 August 2015, 21:10 GMT]
Sri Lankan military has increased the deployment of Sinhala military intelligence troopers in Paduvaan-karai region of Batticaloa district, news sources in Kokkaddich-choalai told TamilNet on Wednesday. The sudden deployment of intelligence operatives has caused tension and fear among the public in Kokkaddichchoalai and other rural environs in Paddippazhai division of the district. The freedom of civilian movement has been severely restricted ahead of the SL Elections and the SL military has deployed a former Tamil paramilitary operative as a tactic to divide the Tamil votes, the sources further said.
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Buddhist monk, SL military step up construction of Buddhist vihara at Kokku'laay

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2015, 22:31 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military and Sri Thissapura Gunarathna Thero, the Buddhist monk, who is behind the construction of a Buddhist vihara establishment at a disputed land in Kokku'laay, which links Northern and Eastern provinces, have fenced off the area and are engaged in construction work during the nights defying the instructions of the District Secretariat of Mullaiththeevu. The monk and SL soldiers were photographed this week while they were engaged in the construction work. The area remains fenced off during the daytime to avoid focus. While the Tamil politicians were busy with the elections, the extremist monk and Sinhalese soldiers resumed the banned construction work. TamilNet has obtained photographs that document the construction taking place with the direct involvement of the monk.
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Relatives of missing persons in East to boycott SL elections

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2015, 23:28 GMT]
The organisations representing the kith and kin of the missing persons in Trincomalee have resolved to boycott the Sri Lankan General Elections as politicians involved in the electoral politics have failed to deliver anything so far during the regimes of Rajapaksa and Sirisena, civil sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Monday.
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Victims of Moothoor massacre must see justice prevail: mother of Kokilavarthani

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2015, 23:40 GMT]
60-year-old Vairamuththu Pushparany, the mother of one of the victims who was assassinated on 04 August 2006 at Moothoor, in Trincomalee, along with 16 of her co-workers at the office of France-based NGO Action Contre la Faim (ACF, Action Against Hunger), is sharing her grief with Tamils on the occasion of 9th year anniversary of one of the brutal massacres in the war. Those who committed the crime are yet to be subjected to proper investigations. All the investigations that took place happened in “their courts with their judges and police,” the mother of 27-year-old Vairamuththu Kokilavarthani, who was a Hygine promotion moderator with the ACF, told TamilNet. Kokilavarthani was the eldest and the only breadwinner of the family at the time of the massacre. The crime should be subjected for an international investigation of genocide, Tamil activists in Trincomalee said.
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War-affected Tamils in North resolve to boycott SL Parliamentary Election

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2015, 23:47 GMT]
The representatives of uprooted Eezham Tamils from the former ‘High Security Zone’ in Valikaamam have stated that they are going to boycott the elections. In the meantime, the main organisation representing the kith and kin of the missing persons in North has condemned the North-based political parties and alliances as well as the South-based parties, for subjecting the plight of the war-affected victims to the ‘use and throw’ politics. SL President Maithiripala Sirisena who visited Jaffna a week ago and SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe who visited Jaffna on Friday have failed to deliver anything concrete, the representatives of both the missing persons associations and the uprooted people from Valikaamam told TamilNet on Saturday.
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