ITAK must act to revoke Gazette notifications, transfer Land Commissioner in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 March 2019, 20:21 GMT]
SL President Maithiripala Sirisena has only revoked one of the Gazette notifications that had been issued by his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa who had seized the lands of Tamils in Champoor. After the revocation of Gazette notification of transferring lands to SL Board of Investment under the Urban Development Act (UDA), the people resettled. However, a previous Gazette notification, which was made by Mr Rajapaksa who acquired the lands of the people under an urgency clause of the Land Acquisition Act (LAA), remains in force. Although repeated requests were made by Moothoor Divisional Secretary to re-issue necessary land permits to the people who had owned these lands for decades, Provincial Land Commissioner of the Eastern Province D.D. Anura Dharmadhasa has been blocking the move citing the initial Gazette notification, say Tamil-speaking Muslim officials at Moothoor DS.
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Senior TELO leader urges DMK to withdraw Hambantota investment

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 March 2019, 22:04 GMT]
M.K. Shivajilingam, the senior political leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and former TNA parliamentarian, has urged DMK politician Samikannu Jagathratchagan in Tamil Nadu to reconsider the decision of his family to invest in the big business of building an oil refinery and cement factory in Hambantota in the South. “I urge Mr Jagathratchagan to reconsider his decision [...] Eezham Tamils have not yet gained justice to the genocide committed against them. A political solution is still far away [..] At this juncture, the investment move is also contradictory to the unanimous position of Tamil Nadu State Assembly which had called for economic sanctions on Sri Lanka until these issues are resolved,” Shivajligam told TamilNet on Friday.
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Interior village faces imminent Sinhalicisation in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 March 2019, 17:22 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military chased away the residents of four villages in Kudumpi-malai GS division, which is also known as Thoppik-kal and Baron’s Cap, during the times of war in 2007. The villages are located close to Polonnaruwa border. Although the uprooted Eezham Tamils were allowed to resettle back in 2013, the fertile highlands at Periya Miyaang-kal village, owned by Tamil settlers since 1969 were being retained by the occupying Sinhala military occupation. Even though the SL Army relocated its 11th Regiment troops from the location two years ago in 2017, the Tamil landowners are not being allowed to enter their lands. Now, the SL authorities have started to claim that the grounds have become ‘state property’ says Nagarasa Nagathamby, who was living there since 1969. The Buddha statue and the structures are intact, and the Tamils fear a Sinhala colony at the locality.
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IC urged to pressure Colombo to allow ICMP to detect more mass graves in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2019, 09:23 GMT]
If the Colombo government wants to establish that there are no war-time mass graves in Mannaar district, it should invite the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to initiate systematic scanning of all former and present military zones for mass graves, say families of persons subjected to enforced disappearances during the times of genocidal war in the district. More than 800 Tamil people have been subjected to enforced disappearances in Mannaar district alone within 19 years between 1990 and 2009. The families of the victims want to initiate a broader campaign calling for an independent international competent authority to take charge of the entire process. The families suspect there are potential sites of mass graves the Sunny Village in Mannaar island as well as in the notorious SL military base in the mainland.
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Colombo's rights body failed to report on anti-Muslim pogrom: Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 March 2019, 17:09 GMT]
Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the leader of Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) on Tuesday exposed the so-called Human Rights Commission of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka as failing to release a report on the anti-Muslim pogrom that shocked the island in 2018. The SL commission was supposed to issue it by July 2018. “But after 10 months, no report has been released and the SLHRC is yet to make an explanation on what has caused the delay,” he said while addressing the UN Human Rights Council under the general debate on Agenda Item 9, which deals with racism, xenophobia, other forms of intolerance and the implementation of the Durban Declaration.
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Father of three reported missing en route to Batticaloa from Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 March 2019, 18:53 GMT]
A Tamil father of three, 55-year-old R. Pathamanathan, who has been employed in masonry work in Colombo, has been reported missing since 14 March. Mr Pathamanathan was on his way to his native village, Thiruch-chenthoor in Kalladi, Batticaloa, on board a private passenger van to Batticaloa from Colombo, according to his wife. He had phoned after getting into the vehicle in Colombo, she said.
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SL ministry behind Sinhala-Buddhicisation of Muslims' lands in Pulmoaddai

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 March 2019, 20:28 GMT]
The National Housing Development Authority (NHDA), which comes under the SL Ministry of Housing and Construction, has illegally allocated a housing scheme to intruding Sinhala colonists in Pulmoaddai, Trincomalee. The colonists are backed by four Sinhala Buddhist monks and the Sinhala-only Civil Defence Force (CDF), previously known as ‘home guards’ paramilitary. The construction is taking place at 12th Mile Post (Maalaanoor) and the 10th Mile Post (Ea'raa-madu) in Kuchchave'li division of Trincomalee district. The houses are being hurriedly constructed in the same fashion as the lands were occupied in September 2018, when the intruders put up almost 30 huts within a few days.
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Sinhala forensic archaeology academic rejects BETA findings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 March 2019, 23:13 GMT]
The Hong Kong-based Asia Times on Friday said Forensic Archaeological Consultant Professor at the University of Kelaniya, Raj Somadeva, as vehemently rejecting the radiocarbon dating results obtained from Beta Analytic on the alleged samples from Mannar mass grave. “There is a non-compatibility between materials and artefacts we unearthed from the mass grave and the results the American laboratory have given us. Therefore, it is difficult to accept this carbon dating,” Somadeva was quoted as saying by the Asia Times.
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Students mobilise big march in Jaffna, demand justice to Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 March 2019, 17:34 GMT]
The community of Jaffna University, comprising students across all faculties, marched with the families of enforced-disappeared persons, relatives of political prisoners and the uprooted families, demanding international justice to the protracted genocide against Eezham Tamils on Saturday. The protesters marched from Jaffna University to the old municipal square, walking a 4 km distance without causing any hindrance to the public life in the city. The march drew participation from across the society sending a strong message to the international community not to provide anymore extended escape-routes to the SL State at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
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TNA hierarchy backs controversial Sinhala extremist project at Jaffna entrance

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 March 2019, 21:02 GMT]
The unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka, which constitutionally accords ‘foremost place’ to Buddhism, has stepped up the hurried erection of a large Buddhist stupa at the entrance to Jaffna city in Naavatkuzhi. The ruling UNP has exerted pressure on the elected Divisional Council (PS) of Chaavakach-cheari to silently withdraw the case against the controversial project through its TNA collaborator M.A. Sumanthiran, civil servants who were forced to withdraw the case told TamilNet. The vihara was not to be built without the permission from the democratically elected civic council, the Magistrate of Chaavakach-cheari had previously ruled. After getting the TNA to withdraw its objection, SL Minister of Megapolis & Western Development ‘Patali’ Champika Ranawaka, a Sinhala extremist, visited Naavatkuzhi on 22 February to accelerate the ‘development’ of the hostile project in Jaffna.
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STF commandos torture Tamil man in Batticaloa, victim held incommunicado

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 March 2019, 22:36 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala police Special Task Force (STF) commandos brutally assaulted 27-year-old Tamil man Mannan Kajanthan at Iluppai-adich-cheanai in Karadiyan-aa'ru of Batticaloa district on Monday morning. The STF personnel tortured Kajanthan and also attacked another Tamil youth who went to help Kajanthan, the relatives of the victim said. The STF was assaulting the Tamil man blaming him for logging trees in the jungle. However, the exact cause is yet to be known, rights activists in Batticaloa said. The victim is still kept incommunicado by the notorious STF in the Batticaloa prison.
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Colombo schemes Sinhala Buddhicisation of 40 more locations in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 March 2019, 17:28 GMT]
The anti-Tamil Archaeology Department of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has approached the SL Survey Department to survey 40 more locations in Mullaith-theevu district alone with the intention of permanently declaring the places as heritage monuments of Sinhala Theravada Buddhism, informed civil officials had alerted the TNA Parliamentarian Shanthy Sriskandarajah. It is not known whether these are the places identified in a controversial Gazette declaration made already in 2013 or if these places are additional locations based on a new list, the civil officials who alerted the TNA parliamentarian explained to the journalists who were seeking to verify the information. The Eezham Tamils in Vanni should rapidly form heritage vigilance groups to confront the widespread surveying activities being schemed by the SL Archaeology Department, commented grassroots activists in Vanni.
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118 Muslim families demand occupying SL Navy to release their lands in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 March 2019, 17:33 GMT]
One hundred and eighteen Tamil-speaking Muslim land-owners from the strategic coastal village of Chilaavath-thu'rai in Mannaar are waging a continuous protest since 20 February demanding the release of their 36 acres of lands. The SL military has been occupying their lands since 2007. Currently, the SL Navy is stationed in their territories. Despite repeated assurances by SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe who visited Musali division in January 2018 during the local government election campaign and the latest promise from the SL President Maithiriipala Sirisena that their lands would be released before 31 December were only false promises, the protesters said.
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Manipulations at work to nullify NPC-evolved identity to Eezham Tamils food court

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 March 2019, 17:11 GMT]
The forces opposed to the concept of allowing Eezham Tamils to articulate a collective identity to their traditional food court have pressurised the elected divisional council (Piratheasa chapai) of Vavuniyaa North to deviate from the unilaterally democratic decision adopted by the council a month ago to name the latest restaurant as ‘Ammaachchi’. The council was manipulated to change the name to "Vanni A'ru-chuvai-akam" before inviting former SL President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who is leading Colombo's Office of National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) to inaugurate the restaurant on Thursday.
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Occupying Colombo set to grab 227 acres of private lands in Vali North in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2019, 20:24 GMT]
At least 163 acres of private lands of Eezham Tamils in a triangle area along the coast in Kaangkeasan-thu'rai (KKS) between the Cement Factory, the old hospital and Keerimalai are to be officially seized by the SL State for the use of the occupying Sinhala Navy in KKS Centre (J/234) GS Division. In the meantime, another area of 64 acres is being appropriated in the vicinity of the historically famous Keerimalai Nakuleasvaram temple in Keerimalai GS Division (J/226). The ‘Tourist Development Authority’ of genocidal Sri Lanka (SLTDA) is set to receive this land. Two acres of these lands are also going to be transferred to the SL Navy, Tamil officials at Jaffna District Secretariat said.
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Sinhala ‘emperor’ monk wants Muslims expelled from Arisi-malai in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 March 2019, 17:29 GMT]
An extremist Sinhala-Buddhist monk in Pulmoaddai division of Trincomalee has vowed to expel all the Muslims from Arisi-malai area, which he considered as ‘Buddha Pooja Boomi’ of an allegedly fictive ‘ancient heritage’. The monk, Panamure Thilakawansa, was attending the SL courts earlier this year carrying a placard which said ‘I am Chakravarthy’ (emperor). L.H.M. Halid, one of the six families that filed a case against their lands being appropriated, said the latest dispute was about six of forty-six acres of lands in extent.
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Tamils mark Shivaratri at base of hill seized by SL Archaeology Department in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 March 2019, 19:42 GMT]
The uprooted families of the ancient Tamil village of Thennai-maravadi in the northern Trincomalee marked a Pongkal feast on Monday at the base of Kanthasaami-malai. The ritual was staged in objection to the Archaeology Department of the unitary state genocidal Sri Lanka, which was refusing to allow the people to access the temple of their folk-deity, Murukan, at the top of the hill where they used to observe Shivaratri in the past. The move comes amidst tension prevailing at Thirukkoa'nesvaram temple in Trincomalee where the SL Archaeology Department and Sinhala colonisers have desecrated the statue of Sivalingam, which was put up along the pathway to the temple on the occasion of Shivaratri festival. Colombo is trying to convert the hilltop of Kanthasaami-malai into a Buddhist temple, the uprooted Tamils said.
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Ranil's ‘development’ of North-East is divide-and-rule imposed on Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 March 2019, 14:18 GMT]
Grassroots activists in Moothoor East in the Trincomalee district have blamed the SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe for imposing a so-called development agenda of his design, which deploys divide-and-rule tactics in the occupied North-East. The short-term aim of the programme is designed to gain electoral and political mileage to the UNP party by diminishing the role of the Tamil politicians including that of the collaborating TNA. The hidden, much more sophisticated and the long-term agenda of the hostile ‘development’ and ‘rehabilitation’ programme is Sinhala-Buddhicisation of the North-East, they said.
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Protest continues beyond two years at Keappaa-pulavu in Mullaith-theevu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 March 2019, 18:05 GMT]
The uprooted Eezham Tamils from Keappaa-pulavu village, located along the Nanthik-kadal lagoon in Mullaiththeevu, launched their continuous protest demanding the release of their lands two years ago on 01 March 2017. One hundred and thirty-eight families are still waging their continuous protest demanding 432 acres of their private lands and public properties such as schools, temple, church and a public hall to be released. The protesting people require de-militarisation of their village to resume their livelihood of fishing as well as agriculture in their fertile lands. The younger generation of Keappaa-pulavu Tamils demands the occupying Sinhala military to go home. They describe the presence of SL forces as illegal.
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Desecration of Sivalingam by SL Archaeology Department sparks tension in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 March 2019, 11:09 GMT]
The Tamil Saivites in the east port city erected a Shivalinga statue along the path to the Hindu shrine of Trincomalee on Thursday as part of the annual observation of Maha Shivaratri festival. However, sections of Sinhala extremists with the backing of the SL Department of Archaeology and the Sinhala police have desecrated the statue in the early hours of Friday. The board of trustees of the historic temple have urged the SL Department of Archaeology, which was causing the dispute by claiming the location as falling under its domain, to tolerate the presence of the statue during the observation of Maha Shivaratri. Tension prevails at the locality as the hostile Sinhala extremist sections have started to demand installation of a Buddha statue near the Hindu shrine.
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