Shifting of May Day is fundamental rights violation - CTU

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 April 2018, 22:40 GMT]
The vice president of Ceylon Teachers Union Mr Theepan Thileeshan Arokianathan said the Sri Lankan State shifting the May Day from May 1st to May 7th this year was a fundamental rights violation. The CTU is joining hands with the Jaffna University Union of Non-Academic Staff, and other grassroots organisations, is marking May Day at the University of Jaffna on May 01st, he said adding that the union has flagged it as a rights violation with the Geneva office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. The Buddhist Vesak day was on April 29th. The following day on Monday was also a public holiday. Denying the right to mark May Day on May 01st, just because it is the third day after the Buddhist Vesak Day, cannot be justified, he said.
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Army of Sinhala traders desecrate Ko'neasvaram temple in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 April 2018, 21:40 GMT]
More than 65 shops have been put up in the vicinity of Thiruk-koa'neasvaram temple by an army of invading Sinhala traders causing several problems to the physical and spiritual environment of the historic temple of Eezham Tamils, K. Arulsubramaniam, the chairman of temple trustees told TamilNet this week.
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Don't deviate from agreed venue for memorial statue, JUSU warns VC of Jaffna University

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2018, 23:16 GMT]
The Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) has conveyed an ultimatum to Prof Ratnam Vignswaran, the vice chancellor of Jaffna University and the administration under him, to respect what they had previously agreed with the student leaders on launching a statue in remembrance of those who sacrificed themselves confronting the genocidal onslaught on Vanni in 2009. The University administration and the JUSU came to an understanding in a meeting on 19 April that the students could proceed with their plan of launching Mu'l'livaaykkaal memorial monument. The only dispute they had was on the venue, and it was the university administration that proposed the site to be alongside the Maaveerar memorial statue. But, now the University administration has come under pressure from the University Grant Commission and the SL Ministry of Higher Education, the student leaders said.
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SL Judiciary drags on lawsuits for years when Buddhist monks grabbing lands are respondents

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2018, 19:13 GMT]
Four Tamils, whose lands were encroached by the former soldiers of the occupying Sinhala military with the backing of two extremist Buddhist monks in Batticaloa district, approached the SL courts four years ago in 2014 seeking the SL judiciary to free their lands. The Tamil landowners chose the legal option as the police of the occupying unitary State genocidal Sri Lanka was reluctant to even file a case against the encroachers for more than two years at that time. So far, the legal suit has seen nine hearings over four years. Still, the simple case is not resolved by the District Court, legal sources in Batticaloa said. The judiciary of genocidal Sri Lanka is long known for dragging essential cases over many years, especially when those seeking justice are Tamils and those committing injustices are the occupiers.
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Eezham Tamils differ with SL State on shifting 2018 May Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2018, 20:33 GMT]
The May Day is universally observed on May 01. It cannot be changed according to the whims and fancies of non-secular Establishments and States, opined Eezham Tamil trade unionists and political activists in the North-East. They were responding to the move by the Colombo government to mark the day on May 7th instead of on May 01st following the advice coming from the Mahahanayake Theras of the Sinhala Buddhist Theravada Establishment in the South.
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SL Army continues to rob material remains of houses before releasing Valikaamam lands

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2018, 22:13 GMT]
The occupying Army of genocidal Sri Lanka makes it a routine to rob the remaining roof tiles, wooden door and window frames off of their houses every time it releases a pocket of land to the uprooted people of Valikaamam in Jaffna. The stolen material is transported into the military zones fenced away for civilian access. Also this time, a widespread pattern of robbing of structures has been witnessed by the people, who are preparing to resettle near the coast of Mayiliddi. In the meantime, the SL Resettlement Ministry is set to channel 830 millions of rupees of foreign aid to the SL military for further consolidation of military bases in the name of releasing lands. The people who get their lands are also left with the burden of cleaning the jungles. The SL authorities have no concern for the infrastructure of the resettlement.
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Illegal logging accompanying SL militarisation threatens agricultural ecosystem in Moothoor East

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2018, 16:52 GMT]
Colombo's military and police are functioning as brokers for intruding woodcutters coming from other areas to collect timber by logging the trees in SL military occupied Tamil villages in Moothoor East of Trincomalee. The farmer's associations representing the resettling uprooted Eezham Tamils in Champoor, who are struggling to resume their lost agricultural livelihood, complain that recent deforestation has become one of the most severe problems on par with the militarisation of Moothoor East.
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Sinhala guards assault Tamil cattle-herders in Batticaloa, set fire to huts

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2018, 19:57 GMT]
A group of Sinhala guards of the SL Wildlife Conservation Department, who came in a jeep belonging to the department have set fire to two huts of Tamil cattle herders in Koa'ra'lai-pattu South (Kiraan) division on Friday around 7:00 p.m. The attackers first entered the hut belonging to Tamil farmer Vadivel Somalingam, caught one of the cattle herders there, started to assault him and destroyed their belongings. The guards spoke in Sinhala and were drunk, according to the cattle owners. The attackers also instructed the cattle herders to present themselves at the office of SL Wildlife Department on Saturday.
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JUSU urges Tamils to mark Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance in its true spirit of uprising

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 April 2018, 21:15 GMT]
The Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) has urged Eezham Tamils to mark May 18 Genocide Day as a Day of Uprising without deviating from its true spirit. May 18 is a day of remembrance as well as a day of Tamil national uprising, the JUSU said in a statement signed by its president and secretary on Wednesday. The political movements of Tamils world over should jointly mark the day under the symbolism of Mu'l'livaaykkaal Genocide Remembrance. The Tamil movements and the younger generation should inspire Tamils to be themselves on their own terms, the JUSU said.
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Cooray emerges as broker of civil contracts to occupying Sinhala military in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2018, 23:03 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka's colonial governor to North, Reginald Cooray, is planning to allocate projects to occupying Sinhala military through the recently elected civic bodies in the North. The move comes after hundreds of Sinhala soldiers were engaged on Dengue prevention programme under the so-called National Dengue Prevention Campaign along with medical officers and Public Health Inspectors. Mr Cooray has also influenced the Catholic Establishment in Jaffna to hire SL military for construction work, Tamil officials at the District Secretariat in Jaffna told TamilNet this week.
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SL Resettlement Ministry twists figures on lands seized by Sinhala military in North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 April 2018, 23:31 GMT]
The SL Ministry of Resettlement, which has become a money laundering agent transferring foreign aid intended for resettlement to the consolidation of Sinhala militarisation in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, twisted the figures of military-held lands in the Northern Province. The SL Ministry was manipulating the number as 11,528 acres, a District Secretary told TamilNet on condition of anonymity. The figure is only 18% of the total military occupied lands as registered by the provincial authorities, the source further commented.
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Mano Ganesan challenged in Jaffna, politician complains of threat

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 April 2018, 20:02 GMT]
The SL Minister of so-called ‘National Dialogue’ Mano Ganesan, projecting himself as competing with Mangala Samaraweera in winning the hearts and minds of the Tamil diaspora [towards the Colombo-centric agenda promoted by certain foreign Establishments], has gone to the extent of threatening a Jaffna-based political activist this week. Mr Ganesan was visiting Jaffna this week on a propaganda campaign to promote the so-called ‘National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organizations’ (NSNGO), also known as NGO Secretariat, which is trying to control the civil society, Community Based Organisations and local NGOs by creating ‘federations’ at district-level.
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7 DS officials under pressure to collaborate with Sinhala colonisation schemes in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 April 2018, 10:13 GMT]
High ranking Sinhala officials of the SL Presidential Secretariat of occupying Colombo, who are led by former SL Governor of East Austin Fernando and the officials from the office of Rohitha Bogollagama, the present Governor of the East, are systematically harassing Tamil Divisional Secretaries of seven of the fourteen administrative divisions of the Batticaloa district. Informed civil sources at the District Secretariat said the former and present Sinhala governors do not want the Tamil DS officers to oppose the plans of the extremist Sinhala Theravada Buddhist monk Ampitiye Sumanarathana thero.
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SL Forest department blocks access to 300 acres of agricultural lands in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2018, 19:03 GMT]
The SL Department of Forest Conservation has put up border stones covering 300 acres of agricultural lands belonging to Tamils uprooted from a previously militarised area across three divisions of Ampaa'arai division. The SL Forest Department has taken over the grounds immediately after the SL military relocated from the places, the people said.
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Tamil political prisoner launches hunger-strike at Anuradhapura prison

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2018, 23:20 GMT]
A 36-year-old Tamil Political Prisoner from Chu'n'naakam in Jaffna, languishing in the SL prison in Anuradhapura in the North Central Province, is on a hunger strike since Wednesday morning. The hunger strike comes as the Sinhala prison officials refused medical treatment to Thavarooban Rasapallavan, who is suffering from a stomach ulcer. The hunger-striking Tamil political prisoner demands immediate medical treatment and to transfer him back to the cell with fellow political prisoners.
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Genocidal Sri Lanka imposes forcible military training for CSD pre-school teachers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2018, 18:19 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka has instructed enslaved Tamil women teachers in the pre-schools operated by its Civil Security Division (CSD) in Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts. The pre-school teachers were earlier forced to undergo three-day training sessions. The SL military has now instructed a section of these teachers to take part in 21-days of a full-fledged military training programme, named as ‘leadership training’. The military training is conducted at SL military training centres in Diyattalawa and at Panagoda in the South. The training programme also aims at a brainwashing programme targeting the younger generation of enslaved children of CSD parents, employed at SL military-operated farms in Vanni.
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Fisheries society cautiously welcomes Court decision on fishing access to Naayaa'ru Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2018, 11:40 GMT]
After dragging the case, filed by the intruding Sinhala fishermen against the rights of native Tamil fishermen accessing Kokku'laay fishing coast, for two years the courts in Mullaiththeevu has finally instructed the Divisional Secretariat to demarcate new points of access separate from those used by the Sinhala fishermen along the coast between Naayaa'ru and Mukaththuvvaaram on Friday.While welcoming the belated decision by the SL Court, St. Antony's Fisheries Society leaders, who have been defending the rights of Tamil fishers to the coast of Naayaa'ru, questioned the ability of the civil authorities to implement the decision. A similar instruction given by the Courts earlier was not respected, and the intruders went to the extent of filing yet another case. Until Tamil leaders manage to put an active end to the ongoing Sinhala occupation, the struggle will continue, they said.
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Muslim politicians block relocation of SL military base in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2018, 21:34 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military in Batticaloa is under pressure to abandon its plan of relocating one of its artillery bases 18 km north of Batticaloa city as the Tamil-speaking Muslim villagers have been protesting against the move and their politicians have taken the issue seriously with the Colombo regime, informed sources in Batticaloa said. Rauff Hakeem, a cabinet minister in the SL government and Ali Zahir Moulana, an SLFP parliamentarian from Ea'raavoor, have been exerting pressure on the Colombo government against the planned military base at Punnaik-kudaa. Mr Hakeem seems to have managed to stop the move after making it as one of his key demands in the dealings with SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe before extending his support against the no-confidence motion in the SL Parliament, the sources further said.
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Vavuniyaa Judge warns SL Attorney General against delaying tactics on TPP cases

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 April 2018, 16:46 GMT]
Vavuniyaa High Court Judge Balendran Sasi Mahendran on Tuesday gave a strong message to SL Attorney General's Department questioning the absence of its representative at the hearing of the case of three Tamil political prisoners on Tuesday. The case was taken up at Vavuniyaa High Court after it was transferred back following firm pressure from the prisoners and their people against the transfer the case from Vavuniyaa to Anuradhapura last year. Fixing a new date for the hearing the Judge said the AG should not miss representation next time and went to the extent of stating consider a new Judge if there were any hesitation against him hearing the case. But, the hearings should proceed without further postponements, Judge Sasi Mahendran has warned.
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SL Navy deploys illegal means of fishing in Batticaloa North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 April 2018, 05:09 GMT]
Sinhala navy sailors are using prohibited fishing nets to fish in the seas off Ko'ra'laip-pattu North (Vaakarai) division of Batticaloa district, say fisheries society leaders in Vaakarai. Earlier, the occupying SL Navy seized the nets from a section of local fishers, who were deploying illegal means of fishing.
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Sinhala colonists attempt to rob Tamil cattle herders in border village of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 April 2018, 18:26 GMT]
Unknown intruders who spoke in Sinhala escaped after a Tamil farmer shouted for help after seeing the gang attempting to steal their cattle at the pastureland of Mayilaththa-madu, a border village situated in Ko'ra'laip-pattu South (Kiraan) division of Batticaloa district. The incident took place Saturday night when the farmers were at sleep in their huts.
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NPC launches Ammaachchi food court with CBK's participation in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2018, 23:20 GMT]
Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister Justice C.V.Wigneswaran has launched another food court retaining the original concept and the name ‘Ammaachchi’ as conceived by the NPC ministry of agriculture. The new branch of Ammaachchi food court was declared opened by former SL President Ms Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK) at Keerimalai on Sunday. In the meantime, the food court launched by the NPC at Thirunelveali three months ago, is still unable to use the name ‘Ammaachchi’ as the SL Ministry of Agriculture has been demanding the traditional food court concept promoted by the Northern Provincial Council to be Sinhalicised as ‘Hela Bojun’.
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