Fan club in Jaffna struggles to erect birth centenary statue for MGR

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2016, 22:10 GMT]
The birth centenary of the late M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), the actor-turned Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, falls on 17 January 2017. To mark the contribution of both MGR and the late Jayalalithaa to the Tamil cause in the island, All Ceylon MGR Fan Club, based in Jaffna has been trying to erect memorial statues within the city limits of Jaffna in remembrance of both the late chief ministers of Tamil Nadu. However, the Colombo Establishment, which is controlling the affairs of Jaffna Municipal Council through an appointed Commissioner, is sabotaging the attempt, complained Pon Mathimukarajah Vijayakanth, the chairman of MGR Club at a press conference held at the Jaffna Press Club on Friday.
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TNA should quit constitutional steering committee: EPRLF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2016, 20:26 GMT]
The position of the TNA was that talks on political solution should precede the discourse on constitutional proposals. This has not taken place. The parties comprising the TNA are kept at dark by Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran. The duo has completely disregarded the exercise of participatory democracy of others in the TNA alliance, including the majority of other ITAK parliamentarians, said EPRLF Leader Suresh Premachandran on Wednesday this week. Except some ‘secret meetings’ organised by SL Foreign Ministry at Singapore and in London with some of their collaborators in the Tamil diaspora, the duo have kept the entire Tamil nation uninformed of their work, Mr Suresh Premachandran said.
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New Delhi attempts to dictate terms on resolving fishing dispute: Fishermen Societies in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2016, 22:44 GMT]
A meeting, scheduled to take place between the officials of SL Fisheries Ministry and the Indian counterpart in Colombo on 02 January, has been called off and the New Delhi Establishment has invited Colombo’s officials to attend a meeting in New Delhi, according to the leaders of Federation of Fisheries Societies in Mannaar and the Federation of Fisheries Societies in Jaffna. At a press conference held in Jaffna on Wednesday, Noor Alam Mohammed, the chairman of Fisheries Societies in Mannaar, said the elected Northern Provincial Council and the representatives of fishermen in North are being sidelined in the process between Colombo and New Delhi. In the meantime, Mr Subramaniam, the chairman of Federation of Fisheries Societies in Jaffna blamed the SL military for scheming permanent military occupation of Kachchatheevu islet.
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Violations and violence in BJP-New Delhi bringing Gandhi statues

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2016, 23:49 GMT]
SL Police in Mullaiththeevu has been investigating four Tamil youth, who have recently shared messages criticising controversial erection of Gandhi and Buddha statues in the country of Eezham Tamils. The questioning by the occupying Sinhala police in Mullaiththeevu has come after a Gandhi statue, hurriedly put up in front of the District Secretariat a few days ago, was pulled down by unknown actors in the early hours of Monday. “The controversial erection of the statue, yet to be declared open, has actually taken place violating the procedures of the local government and the people having freedom of expression without instigating violence or be involved with the incident of pulling down this unknown statue are now being investigated by the police,” said Northern Provincial Councillor Thurairajah Ravikaran.
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Sinhala colonists issue death threat to Tamil, Muslim villagers in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 December 2016, 23:07 GMT]
Tamil villagers from Aa'rumukaththaan-ku'lam and Tha'n'ni-mu'rippuk-ku'lam in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division of Mullaiththeevu district have come under death threats from Sinhala colonists from Weli-Oya and Padawiya after the Tamil-speaking fishermen complained against large-scale intrusion by Sinhala colonists into Tha'n'ni-mu'rippu reservoir for fresh-water fishing. Sinhala colonists, have been burning down the boats and nets belonging to Tamil and Muslim villagers for some time have now threatened them with SL military backing stating if they opposed their intrusion, they would be slain, the Tamil-speaking fishermen said. The threats have come from several corners after the dispute became a hot topic at the recent District Coordinating Committee meeting held in Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat on 19 December.
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SL Navy transforms disputed Kachchatheevu islet into military zone

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2016, 22:28 GMT]
The occupying navy of genocidal Sri Lanka has put up a naval detachment with helipad at Kachchatheevu island, which is situated on the trans-oceanic sea-routes of the Palk Strait and has long been an island of contention between Tamil Nadu State in India and the unitary Sinhala State occupying the country of Eezham Tamils. Using the hostile atmosphere prevailing between Tamil Nadu fishermen and Eezham Tamil fishermen due to much disputed illegal and destructive means of fishing by the trawler operators from Tamil Nadu and appeasing the Catholic Establishment in Jaffna by volunteering to reconstruct the church of Saint Antony at Kachchatheevu, the occupying navy has transformed the islet into a military ‘security zone’. The late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Ms Jayalalithaa was at odds with New Delhi opposing Colombo’s territorial rights to the island.
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BJP-New Delhi plans erecting 100 Gandhi statues in North Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 December 2016, 21:22 GMT]
Consulate General of India in Jaffna has brought tens of Gandhi statues that are to be erected at several localities in the five districts of Northern Province, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet on Thursday. Apart from a small number of statues of Poet-saint Thiruvalluvar and Poet Subramania Bharati, already erected in Jaffna to satisfy the local Tamil politicians, a large number of statues to be put up in Vanni and Jaffna are Mahatma Gandhi statues, the sources further said. When some people involved in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi were released in the 1970s after serving a life-term, the supporters of the RSS and Shiv Sena paraded them in the streets of Poona in Maharashtra in India.
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Sinhala colonists harass Eezham Tamils, demand access to Tha'n'ni-mu'rippu reservoir

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 December 2016, 20:20 GMT]
Eezham Tamils from Tha'n'ni-mu'rippu GS area, which is situated in the south of Mullaiththeevu district, are being systematically harassed by Sinhala colonists from Ma'na'l-aa'ru (Sinhalicised Weli-Oya) and Padawiya, demanding fresh-water fishing access to Tha'n'ni-mu'rippu lake, which is the major tank used by Tamil farmers to irrigate their paddy fields during the cultivation periods. After seizing almost all reservoirs that belonged to Eezham Tamils in Vavuinyaa North and discriminating the Tamils to be largely dependent on rain-fed farming alone, the occupying Colombo is now trying to seize the irrigation tanks of Tamils in Karaithu'raip-pattu division too, the Tamil farmers complain.
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Public servants in East under increased pressure to alienate lands from Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 December 2016, 23:13 GMT]
The Divisional Secretary of Koara'laippattu North (Vaakarai), Ms S.R. Rahulanayaki, has been under constant pressure from the Speaker of Eastern Provincial Ms Ariyawathi Galappaththy, a Sinhalese, and the Government Agent of Batticaloa District Ms P.S.M. Charles, who is a Tamil, to collaborate with Colombo's ministries and departments to alienate lands from the people of Vaakarai, informed civil sources in Vaakarai told TamilNet. While the Divisional Secretaries are under pressure to alienate lands to intruders from other areas in the island, the Governor to Eastern Province is busily engaged in identifying lands elsewhere along the strategic coast of Trincomalee to lease those lands out to US and other external actors, the sources further said.
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Religious conflict instigated in Koara’laip-pattu South, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 December 2016, 22:24 GMT]
Unidentified persons believed to be from outside Vaakaneari GS area entered the Hindu temple of Sri Chiththivinaayaakar, situated 18 km west of Vaazhaich-cheanai town, desecrated the Linga statue and vandalised the temple on Saturday night. Similar events are also reported in the past twice at Iththiyadi Sri Siththivinaayakar temple in 2014 and 2015. The villagers suspect external elements engaged in a covert ploy to instigate violence between different religious sections among the Tamil-speaking people in Batticaloa. During the regime of Rajapaksa, there were some mischievous moves to change the administrative borders to facilitate demographic changes. However, Tamil politicians managed to block such attempts.
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Tamil landowners in Vaakarai coerced to sell their coastal lands to external traders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 December 2016, 23:19 GMT]
Eezham Tamils from Kathirave'li village in the tsunami- and war-ravaged Koara’laip-pattu North (Vaakarai) division of Batticaloa district protested on Wednesday in front of Vaakarai Divisional Secretariat opposing the role of some public servants for coercing Tamil landowners to sell their coastal lands with palm groves to traders belonging other communities. The poverty-stricken Tamils, confronting structural genocide, complained that they were able to stop the open attempts by the Colombo government to Sinhalicise their coastal area. But, it has been difficult to confront the exploitation now coming in different forms. Some Tamil public servants are functioning as brokers in facilitating the transfer of lands against the interests of the Tamil villagers, fisheries society sources in Vaakarai told TamilNet on Thursday.
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Genocidal Sri Lanka schemes military base razing to ground Tamil Heroes Cemetery in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 December 2016, 19:22 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka is silently engaged in destroying the remaining traces of the only Tamil Heroes cemetery at Kagnchi-kudichcha-aa’ru in the Ampaa’rai district of the Eastern Province this week. The Maaveerar Thuyilum illam, situated at a hilltop area in 4 acres of land has already been razed to the ground after the genocidal onslaught between 2007 and 2009. Sinhala military personnel are planning to put up military camp and a play ground at the site, Rural Development Society members said. The families of war-dead Tamil fighters have complained to the RDS and to the elected member of the Eastern Provincial Council, Mr T. Kalaiyarasan, who came to the site on Wednesday to witness the desecration.
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Ownership of released Champoor lands not transferred to people from SL State

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 December 2016, 21:41 GMT]
Maithiripala Sirisena, the president and the commander-in-chief of the occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka, has not legally released the lands back to the resettled people in Champoor. In May 2015, Mr Sirisena issued a Gazette notification revoking and setting aside the previous alienation of the lands to the Board of Investment, which was carried out by Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2012. However, Mr Sirisena has avoided to revoke the original acquisition of the lands from people, which was carried out according to a previous order under the clause of the proviso to S.38A of the constitution of the unitary State in Colombo. The lands where people have resettled are still ‘State property’ according to the law of genocidal Sri Lanka.
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Villages in Maanthai West unable to grapple with structural genocide

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 December 2016, 23:47 GMT]
People of Eechchai-a’lavakkai and Channaar vilaages in Maanthai West of Mannaar district have been facing immense difficulties due to the existence of a training base, so-called “Commando Regiment Special Warfare Training Camp” of the occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka after 2009. The SL military has seized more than 3,000 acres of the most fertile lands that were once popular for agricultural produce, especially dried chilli. The military is also occupying the Channaar tank, blocking the resettled people from sustaining their livelihood of freshwater fishing. The people are deprived of cattle herding as pastureland is completely occupied by the SL military. Even the cemetery of the two villages is under SL military zone and people have to seek permission to bury or cremate their dead.
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Eezham Tamils face isolation after Jayalalithaa’s demise: ITAK Youth Leader

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 December 2016, 23:20 GMT]
The late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Ms Jayalalithaa, came forward with statesmanship to articulate the aspirations of Eezham Tamils to the Indian Government in New Delhi and to the powers elsewhere. Her untimely death has created a deep fear among the Eezham Tamils. They feel that they are about to face increased isolation without a strong leader in Tamil Nadu, said V.S. Sivaharan, the youth wing leader of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK).
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It is time for SL President to act against extremist Buddhist monk, says Batticaloa Bishop

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 December 2016, 22:38 GMT]
SL President Maithiripala Sirisena should take action against the Buddhist monk, who has caused much damage to the ethnic and religious harmony prevailing in the district of Batticaloa, the Roman Catholic of the Diocese of Batticaloa, Rt Rev Dr Joseph Ponniah, told TamilNet in an interview on Monday. The Bishop said he had asked the SL police, law enforcement authorities and even the military commanders visiting him why they were unable to stop him. But, none of them were prepared to act against a religious leader, particularly against a Buddhist monk, Bishop Joseph Ponniah said. SL President knows about the act of this monk. As it is not possible to do anything to stop the destructive trend at grassroots or lower levels of law enforcement, it is now the responsibility of the SL President to interfere and prove that he is serious about ethnic and religious harmony in the island, he said.
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Jayalalithaa's demise: NPC flag flown at half-mast for three days

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 December 2016, 22:08 GMT]
The Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council, Justice C.V Wigneswaran in his condolence message to Tamil Nadu people said that the Council was sharing the sorrow and agony on behalf of the entire Tamil society [based in the island and elsewhere]. Justice Wigneswaran said that the life of Ms Jayalaithaa was like a comet that shined in the political universe [of Tamils]. After observing two-minutes of silence, the chairman of the NPC said that the NPC flag would be flown at half-mast for three days as Eezham Tamils were expressing national mourning for the demise of Ms Jayalalithaa.
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Families associated with LTTE in past face constant threats from Colombo’s Intel squads

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 December 2016, 18:00 GMT]
Intelligence operatives of the occupying Sinhala military of genocidal Sri Lanka have not yielded from brutally suppressing Eezham Tamils who were earlier associated with the Tamil freedom movement and its civil infrastructure. The SL military, police and their intelligence outfits continue to harass those who are not willing to become their stooges in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. People who politely decline to collaborate are threatened with planted evidence such as narcotics. On 29 November, a 47-year-old mother of four, whose husband was a former Tamil Eelam Police officer, narrated her experience to the so-called ‘National Peace Council’, a Colombo-based peace group, how her family was being threatened by the military squads. At a meeting held in Jaffna, retired Judge L. Vasanthasenan was almost ‘cross-examining’ the traumatized woman on behalf of the Colombo-based outfit.
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Extremist monks march towards Batticaloa, Tamil and Sinhala youth mobilise for confrontation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 December 2016, 18:19 GMT]
SMS message were being sent across Batticaloa calling Tamil and Muslim youth to confront the violent Sinhala-Buddhist Power Force (Bodu Bala Sena), which is marching towards Batticaloa with a vow to erect 10 Buddha statutes in the Tamil-speaking Batticaloa district. The BBS monks have managed to reach Punaanai, outmanoeuvring SL policemen at Ridhi-thenna, a locality between Welikanda and Punaanai. Sinhala youth have also been mobilised from Polonnaruwa and Ampaa’rai to accompany the marching monks. In the meantime, informed sources said Ampitiye Sumanarathna Thero was recently spotted being in possession of a pistol beneath his saffron. The sources has also revealed that the monk was initially a recruit of the so-called ‘National Intelligence Bureau’, especially in the early 1990s and he was posted to Batticaloa with a particular mission.
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SL military dismantles houses, destroys traces before releasing lands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 December 2016, 20:07 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka is dismantling houses and bulldozing constructions within selected pockets of former High Security Zone lands in Valikaamam North before readying the places to be released for resettlement, uprooted Tamils from Maaviddapuram area in Jaffna told TamilNet on Thursday. The SL military is also preparing to construct another beach resort and hotel similar to the so-called Thal Sevena Army Resort at Kaang-keasan-thu'rai. The new resort is to be constructed along the coast of Mayiliddi, the sources said. Meanwhile, the Sinhala military establishment at Palaali is discouraging resettlement and is attempting to make the Tamil land-owners within the former HSZ area to purchase lands elsewhere.
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