UN mechanism fails in gaining confidence of victims: NPC-CM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 September 2015, 14:50 GMT]
A statement on Wednesday coming from the Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister, Justice C. V. Wigneswaran, said that it is a matter of grave concern that the mechanism coming from the resolution at UN fails in gaining support and confidence of the victims. The Chief Minister cited concerns about the process to be adopted in seeing the prevalence of International Laws in a local system that misses them; placing the responsibility of prosecution to local hands that would never bring in justice to victims and the possibility of local judges vetoing or undermining decisions. “I remain deeply concerned about some of the serious weaknesses in the resolution which unless addressed could lead to the failure of this whole process,” Justice Wigneswaran said.
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SL Military Intelligence steps up surveillance on Eezham Tamils in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 September 2015, 20:01 GMT]
The military intelligence of genocidal Sri Lanka has stepped up surveillance on Eezham Tamils, who have been advocating independent international investigations and who have been vocal against ‘domestic’ and ‘hybrid’ investigation mechanism, despite the global focus on human rights abuses in the island. The latest harassments and threats are being reported from Ampaa'rai district in the East. Tamil people who have been talking in favour of independent international investigations have been receiving anonymous telephone calls from the operatives of the SL military intelligence in Kaarai-theevu, Thirukkoayil, Thampiluvil and Paa'ndiruppu, news sources in Ampaa'rai told TamilNet.
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Australia concerned about ‘domestic violence’, not genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2015, 01:21 GMT]
Australian Minister for Women, Michaelia Cash, has urged her colleague, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, to bar recording artist, dancer and actor, Chris Brown, from entering Australia for a performance in December, because of his history of domestic violence, Sky News reported on Thursday. Australia received genocide-accused Sri Lanka’s Navy Commander Thisara Samarasinghe as High Commissioner to serve in the country between July 2011 and February 2015.
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Iran seeks international investigation on Hajj tragedy

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 September 2015, 23:47 GMT]
On a lamentable tragedy of humanity in which around 700 Hajj pilgrims were killed in a stampede at Mina in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, “Riyadh's regional rival Iran said 131 of its nationals were among the victims, and on Friday stepped up its criticism of the kingdom, demanding that affected countries have a role in the Saudi investigation into the disaster,” reported AFP, a Western media agency on Friday. Iran was a strong supporter of Sri Lanka’s ‘sovereignty’, against any international scrutiny on the genocidal war against the nation of Eezham Tamils. In 2012, in a show of solidarity, Iran’s military officials visited Sinhala military occupied Jaffna, on the eve of a UNHRC session at Geneva.
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USA sets new stage for Tamil struggle

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 September 2015, 18:42 GMT]
Tamils have to understand that there is a ‘profound’ logic in the US resolution tabled at Geneva on Thursday, ultimately settling for prodding Eezham Tamils into ‘domestic’ investigation of ‘Sri Lanka’, just as the USA had set the stage for the genocidal war and the barbed-wire camps. International investigation for genuine reconciliation comes only when a war is over. But the war on the nation of Eezham Tamils is not yet over. It has only entered into another stage is what the tabled resolution implies. The blessing in disguise is that Tamils all over the world could now clearly identify the main villains and their henchmen. Eezham Tamils were long lacking this perception, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.
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Arrests in historical numbers in Tamil Nadu, TVK vows to fight for international investigations

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 September 2015, 23:28 GMT]
Around 100,000 supporters of Thamizhaka Vaazhvurimaik Kadchi (TVK), a prominent party led by T. Velmurugan gathered at various cities of Tamil Nadu State on Monday and staged protests blocking the Indian Railway. “The main demand of our party is independent international investigations on genocide. The USA should decide whether it is interested in listening to 65 million Tamils in the region or 15 million Sinhalese in genocidal Sri Lanka. The Indian government should listen to the unanimous resolutions passed by the TN Assembly. The UN should decide whether it is going to discard Tamils as victims in favour of a Member State that has no constitutional mandate of Eezham Tamils. We are not going to welcome the Hybrid Court that recognizes the genocidal State as a party and ignores Tamils as victims,” Mr Velmurugan told TamilNet on Tuesday.
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Chequered Swiss history of supporting Sri Lanka's crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 September 2015, 22:02 GMT]
Switzerland, besides U.S., U.K, and India, has played a key role in providing diplomatic sanctuary for Sri Lanka in international fora against censure for alleged criminal conduct against Tamils. The most strident display was when the Swiss sponsored a UN resolution calling "upon the Government of Sri Lanka to investigate and prosecute itself for war crimes and crimes against humanity," as the State killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in the final phases of 2009 war. This paved the way for the international community to whitewash a possible genocide. This practice continues to this day as Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and Swiss Peace [NGO] participate this week in a meeting organized by an NGO outfit to soften the Tamil call for international investigations on Sri Lanka genocide.
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Reforms will not happen, genocide will continue, warns Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 September 2015, 00:21 GMT]
Asserting that war crimes and crimes against humanity “on discriminatory grounds” can constitute genocide, Professor Boyle, an expert in International Law and who teaches at the University of Illinois, commenting on the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights overview report on Sri Lanka made public Wednesday, said, that "a Truth and Reconciliation Process does not work within the context of genocide," and that instead of a hybrid court recommended by the OISL there is a "need for an International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka or else referral by the United Nations Security Council to the International Criminal Court." Boyle also warned that reforms by GOSL will not happen and that "[t]he Sinhala genocide against the Tamils will simply and predictably continue."
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Hybrid Mechanism saves State lacking political will, fools Tamils: NESoHR

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 September 2015, 07:43 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 categorically rejected the Hybrid Mechanism, recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein while the much expected report of the Human Rights (OHCHR) investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) was made public on Wednesday. “Eelam Tamils know and should know that the UN, and through the UN the USA, has done the minimum to appear neutral in face of mountain of evidence. This is the knowledge that should prevent Eelam Tamils from being fooled by the hybrid mechanism that can never work without the ‘domestic political will,’ which is absent even in the current Sri Lankan government,” NESoHR said in a statement issued on Thursday.
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Wigneswaran thanks Jayalalithaa, but confused on Geneva

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 September 2015, 15:07 GMT]
“It is a happy news to us that Selvi Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu has been very forthright in coming out with a resolution accepting what we had passed a few days ago on 01 September 2015 and bringing a very strong message to the Indian government asking them to take all possible steps in order to see that an international mechanism is formulated to hear the war crimes with regards to Sri Lanka,” NPC Chief Minister Justice Wigneswaran told media in Jaffna on Wednesday. However, he was confused in welcoming OHCHR position on OISL with the same spirit of welcoming the Tamil Nadu resolution.
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TN State Assembly passes resolution against US move to back domestic investigation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 September 2015, 06:07 GMT]
In a key development, the State Assembly of Tamil Nadu unanimously passed a resolution, which was brought forward by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday, reiterating the call for international investigations on genocide and war crimes committed against Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. Urging the Central Government of India to diplomatically block the move by the USA if it chooses to propose domestic investigations in favour of a domestic SL investigation, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, in her introduction to the resolution, said the reported US move to support domestic investigation in Sri Lanka went against the concept of natural justice. The entire Tamil race stood firmly behind the call for international investigations as demanded by the Northern Provincial Council resolutions that were brought by CV Wigneswaran, the chief minister of NPC, she said.
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Grassroot mobilisation strengthens demand for international investigations

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 September 2015, 23:41 GMT]
Northern Provincial Councillors M.K. Shivajilingam and Ananthy Sasitharan, who were on a walk from Ki'linochchi to Jaffna rejecting domestic mechanism on war-crimes accountability and demanding international investigations on genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, concluded their campaign on Monday in Jaffna. In parallel, a signature campaign was mobilising the grassroots in North and East. In the meantime, the officials at the UN complex (UNHCR, WFP), declined to receive the appeal from the NPC councillors stating that there was no appropriate officer to receive their appeal, an act that was severely criticised by the NPC councillors. The NPC councillors handed over the copies of their appeal to the Indian mission in Jaffna and to the Chief Minister of NPC Justice C.V. Wigneswaran.
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Force of opinion unplugs Sampanthan to voice for international investigations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 September 2015, 23:39 GMT]
Three days ahead of genocidal Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe officially visiting New Delhi, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr R. Sampanthan, who is also the opposition leader in the Colombo parliament, on Saturday told The Telegraph in India that the TNA expected the international community, including India, to support an international investigation into war crimes in the island. "Our experience with past domestic inquiries suggests that they can't be truly independent," Mr Sampanthan was quoted as saying by the Culcutta based paper. The new Sri Lankan government is “coordinating more with the international community, but it is the TNA's clear position that an international investigation is necessary," Mr Sampanthan told The Telegraph.
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Tamils need new ways to challenge exhausted credibility of ‘Sri Lanka’ and partners

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 September 2015, 18:56 GMT]
Historically speaking, all the successive Sri Lankan regimes have exhausted their credibility in the delivery of domestic level investigations on the crimes committed against the Tamil people. The SL judiciary has also succumbed to Sinhala chauvinist majoritarianism. Tamils cannot expect justice from the culprit itself. This is against natural justice, said political analyst S Yothilingam in an interview to TamilNet this week from Jaffna. “The international powers, backing the SL regime, are only concerned of protecting the regime, based on their geopolitical interests. Their monitoring of a domestic mechanism is also called into question,” the veteran analyst said, urging Tamils to see the difference between the real Global Community and the International Powers, and conceive new strategies and tactics to deal with the challenges being posed by the Powers and the Agent State.
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Disparity in US funding to schools in East creates dissension between Tamils, Muslims

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 September 2015, 06:40 GMT]
Deputy Chairman of Eastern Provincial Council, Indirakumar Nithiyanantham (Prasanna) who represents the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has condemned the disparity in utilising the aid from the United States to schools in the Eastern Province. The aid, amounting to USD 3.2 Million has been allocated to 7 Muslim schools and to one Tamil school, the EPC Councillor told media on Tuesday. There is a serious question whether those providing these funds intend to cause further divisions between the Tamils and Muslims in the Eastern Province, commented Tamil councillors from Batticaloa.
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Disabled ex-LTTE female cadre, surviving suicide attempt, speaks out

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 September 2015, 23:09 GMT]
A former LTTE combatant, who attempted to commit suicide in July 2015 as she was unable to repay the loans taken from her relatives in order to complete the construction of their house, which the family received through the Indian Housing Scheme, told TamilNet that disabled ex-LTTE members, especially women, have been subjected to constant trauma as they were unable to sustain their livelihood. Instead of receiving monetary assistance, the disabled former fighters preferred employment opportunities, which could relieve them from discriminatory practices in the job market such as in the garment industry, the recovered mother of three told TamilNet on Saturday.
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Premachandran urges ITAK MPs to establish party position on international investigations

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 September 2015, 23:13 GMT]
Suresh Premachandran, former parliamentarian and the leader of EPRLF, who recognised that the majority of the party members within the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) are opposed to the domestic accountability mechanism being proposed by the USA, urged the ITAK parliamentarians, provincial councillors and others to focus on clarifying the party position of the ITAK leadership instead of giving personal media interviews demanding International Investigations to save their skin. Mr Premachandran's interview comes after S. Sritharan, who entered parliamentary politics initially through EPRLF ticket and later crossed over to the ITAK, has been giving interviews to media saying that he was rejecting the domestic mechanism and was demanding international investigations without exerting pressure on ITAK hierarchy.
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TNA faces pressure from ITAK grassroots to reject US move on domestic mechanism

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 September 2015, 23:36 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) hierarchy is facing pressure from the grassroots of the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) against the move to extend its support to domestic investigations, informed sources told TamilNet on Thursday. In an interview to TamilNet this week, Eastern Provincial Council member of the ITAK, Mr Nageswaran Kumarasamy, categorically rejected the domestic accountability mechanism, which is to be proposed by the USA, Sri Lanka and other actors in collaboration in the forthcoming sessions of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, saying that a such mechanism lacks credibility and security in the context of the island of Sri Lanka.
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Chief Minister Wigneswaran rejects domestic investigation in new NPC resolution

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 September 2015, 06:23 GMT]
Questioning the legal possibilities of conducting a credible investigation within the domestic sphere of the Sri Lankan Constitution and pointing out other hurdles within the SL State system, C.V. Wigneswaran, the Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) on Tuesday passed a resolution rejecting the domestic process being proposed by the USA and other powers. In ithe new resolution, the NPC has once again demanded a credible international investigation mechanism. Mr Wigneswaran, the NPC chief minister, who was a former Supreme Court Judge of Sri Lanka, citied previous examples of domestic failures including the earlier commissions that had international participation. Explaining the nature of crimes and legal circumstances prevailing in the island, the suggestion of domestic mechanism would be a ‘travesty of justice’ the CM proclaimed in the resolution.
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