Sirisena’s deceptive PR campaign exposed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 April 2017, 23:45 GMT]
67-year-old Pillayan Thavam, a Tamil fisherman who has been uprooted for 27 years from Mayiliddi in Valikaamam North in Jaffna, says SL President Maithiripala Sirisena visited his hut in the so-called welfare camp 16 months ago on 21 December 2015 and promised him resettlement within 6 months. The photos taken at his huts during the occasion were used in the mainstream media in the South and outside the island. Following the PR visit of SL President, the occupying military commanders came and asked to identify the location of his land in Mayiliddi, which he did. But, the land was not released as promised. On the contrary, the SL military has started to exploit his land by scooping sand in large scale, Mr Thavam told TamilNet on Sunday. All the trees that stood there and the remains of his properties are all razed to the ground within the last 16 months.
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SL Governor in East sophisticatedly promotes controversial Buddha statue in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 April 2017, 18:14 GMT]
Eastern Provincial Land Commissioner D.D. Anura Dharmadhasa has come under fire from Tamil-speaking activists in the Eastern Province for his open support to extremist Sinhala Buddhist Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) through promising to fix 2 acres of lands for the controversial construction of a Buddhist temple at Maayak-kalli-malai in I’rakkaamam division of Ampaa’raid district. In the meantime, Colombo's colonial governor of Eastern Province Justin Fernando, a former defence secretary, has gone on record that he was not aware of the promises made by Provincial Land Commissioner Mr Dharmadhasa. However, informed civil sources in Trincomalee say the SL Governor was in fact supportive of the move to erect Buddha statue at Maayak-kalli-malai.
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Sivaram’s life work is direction-setter for future Tamil struggle: Viraj Mendis

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 April 2017, 23:16 GMT]
The quality of the life work of Sivaram, especially the geopolitical analysis he brought out on the struggle of Eezham Tamils 15 years ago, is deeply relevant even today to interpret the external factors seeking inroads in the island. Despite the time and space, the paradigm which Sivaram exposed remains the same, says exiled Sinhala activist Viraj Mendis, who has been supporting the cause of Eezham Tamils for more than four decades. Sivaram was talking about the Iraq war and its relevance to the interest of the Americans in Trincomalee harbour. Historically, the interests of Americans in the Middle-East and their interest of the island were interlinked. But, also in terms of the future, the American interests in the Pacific and the tensions that are emerging now in that region, the geostrategic location becomes an important factor.
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North-East shuts down, Tamil protests gain momentum

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 April 2017, 22:18 GMT]
Only the notorious ‘Special Task Force’ (STF) commandos of genocidal Sri Lanka and street dogs were plying the roads of Jaffna city on Thursday when North-East was brought to a complete standstill by trade unions, civil groups and the struggle-centric political parties among the Eezham Tamils, heeding the call from the families of enforced-disappeared people in Vanni. The shutdown also received the support of Tamil-speaking Muslims at several places in the North-East. Even a trade union, which was reluctant to heed the call extended full support in Vavuniyaa. The shutdown was a big blow to the promoters of the genocidal concept of Sri Lanka, its ‘strategic’ partners and their collaborators, commented Tamil activists in Jaffna.
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SL military deploys sophisticated surveillance against peaceful protesters

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2017, 23:35 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military, which has established its so-called ‘security forces headquarters’ for Mulllaiththeevu district at Keappaa-pulavu has transforming the area into a Sinhala Buddhist establishment with exclusive military-resort for Sinhala visitors. The Sinhala military has been deploying military photographers and documenting those visiting the protesting families for a long time. Now, it has further put up sophisticated CCTV surveillance equipment to record everything continuously. Along with veiled threats of future targeting of those visiting the protesters, the SL military has been trying to contain the protest through deceptive offers from the SL ‘Resettlement’ Ministry.
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TNA under fire for dealing with SL military commanders at district-level

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 April 2017, 21:46 GMT]
EPRLF leader Suresh Premachandran has urged the elected Tamil parliamentarians to refrain from engaging directly with SL military on the issue of releasing private lands. The burning problem of military land grab of private lands should be addressed to the elected leaders in the South. It is the duty of the SL President, who is an elected leader to instruct the military to immediately hand over the lands seized from private land-owners, Mr Premachandran said at a press conference held in Jaffna on Tuesday. The SL President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the occupying Sinhala military.
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SL Police ranks first in appropriation of private properties in 6 of 14 divisions of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 April 2017, 22:02 GMT]
At least 77 private land-owners from 6 divisions in Batticaloa have recently complained that their lands are still under the custody of the occupying SL Police, SL Army and SL Police, according to Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) Parliamentarian S. Yogeswaran, who revealed the details to ITAK activists in Kiraan at a meeting on Sunday. SL Police is occupying large number of private properties, according to the complaints, followed by SL Army and SL Navy. The land grab by SL Police is primarily for the camps of the occupying Special Task Force (STF) commandos, a notorious terror unit trained once by the British. The STF is a full-fledged outfit organized under the SL Police Department.
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“Why is Sirisena dodging to meet me,” asks mother of enforced-disappeared girl in Vavuiniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 April 2017, 23:17 GMT]
Jeyavanitha Kasippillai, the mother of Jeromy Kasippillai reported missing at the age of 16 at Iraddai-vaaykkaal in Mullaiththeevu during the genocidal onslaught in 2009, has been claiming that her daughter’s photo appeared six years later in an election propaganda meeting. Jeromy was featured with SL President Maithiripala Sirisena on 07 January, 2015. Mrs Kasippillai managed to meet the Mr Sirisena in person on 07 August 2015 in Jaffna and the SL President promised the mother to trace the whereabouts of the girl featured in the photo with him. All he needed was just 27 days. Now, 19 months have elapsed and there has been no response from Mr Sirisena or anyone else, she says. “I have taken several attempts to meet him again. But, he dodges to meet me. I don’t know why,” the trauma-stricken mother who has been on a continuous protest for 58 days in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet on Saturday.
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Muslim land-owners confront extremist Sinhala monks in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 April 2017, 20:03 GMT]
A Sinhala Buddhist monk from Kalmunai with a group of Sinhala extremists, this week deployed heavy vehicles and machinery to put up a road and expand the locality of a hilltop known as Maayak-kalli-malai, where they had placed a Buddha statue in October 2016 amidst opposition from Tamils and Muslims who live at the locality, situated in I’rakkaamam division of Ampaa’raid district. On Thursday, Muslim residents were summoned through a speaker announcement from the nearby mosque and marched towards the hilltop and confronted the extremist monks and their construction workers and demanded the intruders to stop the construction work. The protesters cited a complaint made by the land-owner where the intruding monks had placed the Buddha statue.
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SL deceptions multiply as protests demanding lands intensify in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 April 2017, 19:55 GMT]
The so-called ‘Resettlement Ministry’ of the genocidal state of Sri Lanka has sought the support of the hijacked hierarchy of the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), the dominating component of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to contain the escalating protests in Mullaiththeevu, Ki’linochchi and Mannaar of genocide-affected Vanni region of the homeland of Eezham Tamils. The ITAK hierarchy has been approached to facilitate compromise between the uprooted Tamils and the occupying Sinhala military, a source close to Maavai Senathiraja, the leader of the ITAK told TamilNet on Thursday on condition of anonymity. The source also provided photos documenting how occupying SL Air Force has transformed the lands of uprooted Tamils in Keappaa-pulavu into military resorts and how new structures are being hurriedly constructed inside the occupied zone.
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Direct involvement of SL Fisheries Department in Kokku'laay structural genocide exposed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 April 2017, 22:03 GMT]
Two Sinhala officials from Colombo’s Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources were taking the side of occupying Sinhala fishermen in Kokku’laay, who on Tuesday went to the extent of violent threat against the Tamil officials from Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat, Land Commission and Village Officers (GS) of Kokku’laay East and West. The surveying was to be carried out according to the instruction of the courts. But, Sinhala fishermen, occupying all the 10 paadus (coastal sea-beds falling within the scope of a draw net) in the coast of Eezham Tamils at Kokku’laay, were aggressively opposing Tamil fishermen and the officials from Mullaiththeevu district. The showdown on Tuesday was illustrating the pathetic state of so-called reconciliation being advocated by the global and regional ‘strategic partners’ and their agent State in Colombo, commented Tamil activists in Vanni.
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Genocidal Sri Lanka erects Buddha statues in Muslim areas in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 April 2017, 23:47 GMT]
A Buddha statue with a temple-like construction has been put up along the entrance to Trincomalee through Ki’n’niyaa bridge at a locality with predominantly Tamil-speaking Muslims. The Buddha temple has been put up within the last 3 weeks. Sinhala policemen and homeguards have been deployed to provide security to the temple 24 hours a day from a checkpost just opposite the temple along the A-15 Trincomalee – Ki’n’’niyaa Road. The statue has been put up within the Tsunami zone in the public lands, where a ferry point was situated before the times of Ki’n’inyaa bridge, the residents said. The move of erecting Buddhist temples with armed protection is a Constitutional tactic to spearhead Sinhala colonisation, Tamil-speaking political observers in Trincomalee said.
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SL military, Resettlement ministry jointly deceive uprooted Valikaamam Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 April 2017, 23:29 GMT]
A section of officials attached to Jaffna District Secretariat and the Divisional Secretariat of Thellip-pazhai, have deceived around 114 families of uprooted Tamils living in the so-called welfare centers to opt for buying alternative lands elsewhere in Jaffna. The officials, operating under ‘ministerial instruction’ from Colombo to collaborate with the designs of the occupying SL military at Palaali in Jaffna, have been locking some of these families telling them that they would ultimately receive their lands in Valikaamam North in future, but until that time comes, they should move out of the welfare camps into lands they purchase with the money offered by SL Resettlement Ministry as a ‘temporary’ measure.
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People express solidarity with protests, low-key New Year in North-East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 April 2017, 11:18 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in North and East observed a largely silent Chiththirai New Year this year as the uprooted people in Mannaar and Mullaiththeevu are on the streets waging continuous protests along with the kith and kin of those subjected to enforced disappearances at the hands of the occupying Sinhala military. A protest march was staged in Vavuniyaa in support of the protest of the families of enforced disappeared. People wearing black armbands took part in the protest. In the meantime, occupying SL military personnel wearing traditional Sinhala clothes attempted to ‘celebrate’ New Year with protesting people at Keappaa-pulavu. The protesting people declined the offer and firmly stated that they would only celebrate New Year after getting their village back.
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Swaminathan’s ministry neglects reconstruction of temples in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 April 2017, 19:18 GMT]
Hindu temples destroyed by the occupying SL military during the times of war in Ampaa’rai district are being systematically sidelined in the allocation of funds for reconstruction despite repeated requests, complains the Trustee Board of Aaladi Pi’l’laiyaar temple, which is located in Poththuvil town of Ampaa’rai district. Similarly, the management of the Hindu temple at Inspector Eattam, located 2 km north of Poththuvil town, also says that the temple, which sustained destruction for two decades, has been systematically deprived of funds for a decent reconstruction.
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Colombo grabs private lands in strategic Vaakarai through long-term leasing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 April 2017, 19:51 GMT]
Colombo-base Sinhala politicians are bringing in colonisers from South into strategic Vaakarai region, which is located north of Batticaloa district in the Eastern Province. Sinhala traders are being encouraged to lease private lands from genocide-affected and poverty-stricken Eezham Tamils, civil sources in Koa’ra’laip-pattu North said. Sidestepping provincial and local mechanisms, the politicians in South facilitate the dealings through local benamis. Military occupation and Colombo’s business elite operate along the same agenda of land grab, the officials further said.
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Sophisticated white-van abductions continue unabated in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 April 2017, 16:21 GMT]
A Tamil man, 35-year-old Thiraviyam Naguleswaran from Vaddukkoaddai in Jaffna, was missing for the last 10 days. Three days ago, his wife received a phone call from him. He was being detained at Anuradhapura, the frightened husband told his wife from the custody of his abductors. Mr Thiraviyam asked his wife not to file any complaint with the SL Police and to avoid alerting any human rights watchdog or media. His abductors were investigating him and he would not be released if there was any complaint made to human rights groups, he had told. His wife refrained from complaining or alerting media. But, on Wednesday, the circumstance of a pending court case at Mallaakam courts has exposed the abduction. 
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Colombo wants discarded confessions obtained through torture reused against political prisoners

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 April 2017, 23:30 GMT]
Colombo's Attorney General's Department and the judges appointed with a pre-determined agenda to the so-called Special Courts to hear the cases of Tamil prisoners, are trying to accord new ‘credibility’ to confessions obtained through torture to sentence Tamil political prisoners with long term imprisonment, say political prisoners in Anuradhapura. The false confessions allegedly obtained through torture were being dismissed by the courts in North-East. The SL State responded through its Attorney General’s Department deploying various tactics to transfer these cases to the so-called Special Courts with an intention of punishing the Tamil political prisoners as criminal offenders. Tamil political prisoners are going to agitate against the move and seek support from Tamil activists in the island and outside.
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Tamil people in Ampaa’rai prepared for protests, but not Tamil politicians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 April 2017, 20:14 GMT]
Tamil politicians elected to SL Parliament and the Eastern Provincial Council are not coming forward to launch protests against genocidal land grab by the occupying Sinhala military and the notorious Special Task Force, complain grassroots activists from Thirukkoayil, Naavithan-ve’li, Aalaiyadi-vempu, Chammaa-thu’ri and Kalmunai divisional secretariat divisions. The presence of military and STF in private and public lands is hampering the resettlement by sustaining a war-like deployment in the Tamil areas. It is also an impediment to education and the recommencement of livelihood of the Tamil people.
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Time has come for joint action by protesting masses: NPC Councillor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 April 2017, 21:13 GMT]
The uprooted Tamils from Mu’l’ik-ku’lam in Musali division and the Tamil-speaking Muslims in Ma’richchuk-kaddi were encouraged to see the support and solidarity they received from NPC Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan and the activists of the Voice for North-East Enforced Disappeared (VNEED), an organisation launched recently by the NPC councillor on behalf of the families of persons subjected to enforced disappearances. The destruction caused by military land-grab in Champoor in Trincomalee, at Keapppaa-pulavu in Mullaiththeevu, at Valikaamam North in Jaffna and at Mu’l’lik-ku’lam in Mannaar are similar. The intention of the SL State has been the same. These protests are integral part of the struggle for the territorial integrity of the homeland of Tamil-speaking people in the North-East, she said.
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Sinhala police attempts to evict Tamils from fishing Paadu in Naayaa'ru

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 April 2017, 19:17 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala police of the genocidal Sri Lankan State has threatened Tamil fishermen at Naayaa'ru in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division of Mullaiththeevu district this week to vacate from their coastal fishing point, complain the leaders of Naayaa'ru fishermen’s society. The Tamil fishermen are having only one fishing ‘Paadu’, which is an area of coastal sea-bed falling within the scope of a draw net at 10 feet length at a locality known as Padakuth-thurai in Naayaa'ru while intruding Sinhala fishermen from Negombo have seized the entire coastal stretch. TNA Parliamentarian Ms Shanthi Sriskantharasa has condemned the Colombo regime for engaging in demographic genocide against Tamil fishermen.
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Colombo's ‘resettlement’ assistance traps Champoor Tamils into private mortgage

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 April 2017, 23:33 GMT]
Many families among the resettled Tamils in Champoor are now trapped into taking huge loans in order to complete housing to qualify ‘resettlement’ assistant from the genocidal State of Sri Lanka, right activists in Trincomalee say. The Divisional Secretary of Moothoor Division, who is tasked with the delivery of so-called resettlement assistance from the SL Ministry of Resettlement, has been repeatedly telling the ‘beneficiaries’ from Champoor to take up loans and complete the construction of houses on their own in order to receive monetary assistance through the SL government programme. Trusting the promises, several families have taken up private loans with high interest rates. Some of them have even handed over their land deeds to external agents as security for their loans. They are facing the risk of losing their lands.
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Protesting Musali villagers expose structural genocide at strategic Mu'l'lik-ku'lam

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 April 2017, 21:43 GMT]
The entire village of Mu'l'lik-ku'lam with its fertile lands, at least 7 irrigation tanks and a thriving fishing infrastructure has been under SL military occupation for 10 years since 2007. Tamil villagers were having at least 200 cement houses, a school, church, temple and a multi-purpose cooperative society, says 75-year-old Tamil fisherman Antony Lambert, who is one of the uprooted Tamils waging a continuous struggle for the last 12 days. All the houses except the few numbering between 27 and 30 have been destroyed by the military, he says. After languishing at different places for more than 4 years, a section of the people went back to Malang-kaadu, a jungle locality near Mu'l'li-ku'lam with a resolve to get back to their fertile village and they were braving military threats. Now, they are resolved to continue the fight to the end, says 63-year-old mother Anthoniya Vaz Sinnappu.
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