Tamils unify to mark Thileepan Remembrance, brave Colombo's suppression of memorialisation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 September 2020, 12:05 GMT]
Colombo's widespread attempts through SL judiciary, Police and military covering all the potential memorial sites and the Maaveerar square within the University of Jaffna, didn't manage to curb Eezham Tamils, their grassroots activists and politicians from marking the collective memorialisation events on Saturday on the occasion of 33rd commemoration of Lt Col Thileepan. Jaffna University students took part in three events in Jaffna, Chaavakachcheari and Vavuniyaa North. All mainstream Tamil parties doing politics on Tamil nationalist platform were brought together by the pressure from Tamil media, grassroots activists and the students who were responding to the suppression coming from Colombo. All Tamil dailies published in the Tamil homeland gave prominence to Thileepan Remembrance and highlighted Colombo's harassment against the collective memorialisation events.
Full story >>

Sumanthiran alleged of exerting Colombo’s influence to tamper with preferential vote counts

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2020, 01:05 GMT]
The supporters of two leading candidates of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the Jaffna electorate vehemently protested against an alleged move to tamper with the preferential vote counts in Jaffna to the favour of MA Sumanthiran, who was ranked fifth for the most part the counting process. Two of TNA’s candidates, Dharmalingam Sitharthan (PLOTE) and Sashikala Raviraj (ITAK) were carefully following the development to ensure that the hierarchy of their party doesn’t exert back-door influence to alter their preferential vote counts. The supporters of Sitharthan and Sashikala alleged that the government officials were acting on instructions from their superiors. SL Police and STF commandos were providing security to Mr Sumanthiran, and they assaulted the protesters outside the counting centre. When Sashikala left the centre, she refused police protection.
Full story >>

Credibility of UNHRC at stake, say 21 Tamil civil groups in North East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 March 2017, 23:40 GMT]
“It has thus become very clear that the co-sponsorship of Resolution 30/1 was an attempt to divert the UN Human Rights Council’s attention away from Sri Lanka,” said 21 civil groups and political parties in a statement issued on Thursday on the ‘USA Sri Lanka’ Consensus Resolution that scuttled Tamil demand for international investigations two years ago at Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. “Sri Lanka’s subsequent behaviour following their co-sponsorship of Resolution 30/1 we believe threatens the credibility of the UN Human Rights Council,” the carefully worded statement of the civil society groups said. Escalation and not de-escalation of pressure on the Government is the real contribution that the international community can make towards enhancing the human rights situation in the North-East of Sri Lanka, the statement further said.
Full story >>

Missing Tamil journalist: octogenarian parents urge international investigation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 April 2015, 23:09 GMT]
Eight years have passed since 37-year-old Tamil journalist Subramaniam Ramachandran was arrested by the occupying Sinhala military at Kalikai Junction in Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna. One month after the SL military ‘abduction’, France-based media watchdog, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) stated in March 2007 that it was in a position to affirm that the Sri Lankan military participated in the arrest of journalist Mr Ramachandran, who was the Vadamaraadchi regional correspondent for newspapers Valampuri and Yaazh Thinakkural. His 85-year-old father and 83-year-old mother are still languishing without knowing what had happened to their son. Ramachandran's nine and twelve-year-old children have been expecting the return of their father for 8 years, the aged grandparents said in a video interview to TamilNet urging global attention on the plight of their missing son.
Full story >>

Sivanesan Memorial Hall declared open in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2015, 18:40 GMT]
A memorial hall has been declared open in Jaffna on Saturday in commemoration of Maamanithar K. Sivanesan, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian who was assassinated in a targeted claymore explosion by the Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on 06 March 2006 inside LTTE-controlled Vanni. Sivanesan worked tirelessly to improve the conditions of the deprived sections of population among the Eezham Tamils for a long time. He played also a key role in the democratic mobilization of the Tamil masses at the grassroots level.
Full story >>

Mission seeks answers to killing of Tamil MPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2013, 23:57 GMT]
Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's [IPU’s] Committee on the Human Rights are to begin a three-day mission, 9-11th July, to Sri Lanka to advocate investigations into the attempted assassination of an opposition Tamil MP, as well as seek answers on the unresolved cases of two other Tamil MPs killed in Sri Lanka, a press release issued by the IPU said. The mission is being led by the Vice-President of the Human Rights Committee, Chilean MP Juan Pablo Letelier. The timing of the visit, ahead of the Commonwealth meeting in Colombo, by an organization which has not been vocal on Sri Lanka's human rights record, raises questions on the motives of the key players behind the mission, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Jaffna University teachers remind SL President about rule of law

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 December 2012, 12:59 GMT]
“There is now no anti-state terrorism in Jaffna. An important part of consolidating peace is for the State to conduct itself in a manner that induces respect for the rule of law,” reminded Jaffna University Science Teachers’ Association in an appeal sent on Friday to Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapksa on grave and dangerous plight of students at the University of Jaffna. “Your Excellency well knows, having been in politics for several decades and in the center of two Southern insurgencies, that the defeat of an insurgent force does not extinguish the feelings or causes that gave rise to it. Such feelings are not a police matter, but are rather to be handled as part of the political task of reconciliation and rebuilding,” the academics reminded the SL President further.
Full story >>

SL police directs Medical Dean to hand over students to SL military intelligence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2012, 20:12 GMT]
People of Jaffna were shocked to see Prof Balakumaran, the Medical Faculty Dean of the University of Jaffna under pressure, handing over five students of his faculty directly to Sri Lanka’s military intelligence on Thursday. Another student of the Science Faculty was handed over by his father. When the students were first taken to the SL police at Koappaay, the police refused to take charge of them saying that they had no ‘instructions’ and directed the university authorities to take the students to Military Intelligence headquarters in Jaffna. The students who were handed over were immediately taken to Vavuniyaa where a notorious unit of Colombo’s White Van defence functions. While escorting the students the Medical Faculty dons scared of even taking the students in their cars asked them to come in motorbikes.
Full story >>

Translate political strength into solution: TNPF’s Kajendren

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 December 2011, 15:46 GMT]
The LTTE left endowing us with enhanced political strength in the international arena. It will be a folly if we don’t know to effectively translate that into political solution addressing to our aspirations, said the Secretary General of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), Selvaraja Kajendren, while remembering the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, N. Raviraj on Wednesday in Jaffna. The present TNA tries to project an image that the Tamils are now weak and they should not demand anything as in the past. This is a wrong projection. It is the political strength and righteousness the LTTE left with us that now makes the IC to poke its nose with seeming sympathy. Their real interests are different, but the space has to be used with firmness and not with naivety on our part, Kajendren said.
Full story >>

No security guarantee for Tamil parliamentarians: TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 March 2011, 07:58 GMT]
Over the attack on his vehicle at Nochchiyagama on Monday, Tamil National Alliance Ki'linochchi district parlimentarian S. Sreetharan said in Parliament on Wednesday, “It is clear that there is no security guarantee for MPs in this country. How can a Tamil here expect security from the state?” He further stated that while he was passing Medawachchiya on Monday at 5:30 p.m., a white colored van without a number plate overtook their vehicle. When they approached Ullukku'lam the said vehicle was parked on the side of the road and three men got off from the vehicle and fired at them using small weapons. In return, his security guards fired back before the assassins threw a grenade at his vehicle and fled the scene.
Full story >>

This is a struggle for all of us: Vikramabahu tells Heroes Day congregation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2010, 12:57 GMT]
Tamils were killed by successive Sinhala chauvinistic governments and at last but not the least by the Mahinda regime. Not only Tamils but also thousands of Sinhala youth who were sent for aggression in the Tamil homeland and attack Tamils died in an alien land. The misery created among the Sinhalese will also show its reaction in future. This is a struggle for all of us. Yes, we have gone through defeat. Now we have to get up and fight to overthrow this chauvinistic military regime to have democracy in the land, said Dr. Vikramabahu Karunaratne, Secretary of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), who was a star speaker at the Maaveerar (Heroes) Day gathering in London, Saturday. The event attended by more than 50, 000 diaspora Tamils paid homage to the heroes who laid down their lives fighting for the liberation of Tamil Eelam.
Full story >>

Assassinated TNA parliamentarian Raviraj remembered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 05:15 GMT]
Hundreds of people participated in the fourth anniversary memorial event of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj held Sunday around 3:30 p.m in Va’ra’ni in Thenmaraadchi. Professor Kathasamy, Dean of the Science Faculty in Jaffna University and a close friend of Raviraj, delivered the memorial speech while former TNA parliamentarians, Selvarajah Gajendran and Ms. Pathmini Sithamparanathan offered flowers and paid tribute to Raviraj, sources in Thenmaraadchi said. Raviraj had been conferred with the title Maamanithar (Great Human being) by Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Full story >>

Unidentified operatives attack JVP engaged in wooing Tamil support in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 15:02 GMT]
A gang of ten men arriving on five motor cycles to the residence of former Tamil parliamentarian, Pathmini Sithamparanathan Sunday around 6:30 p.m, assaulted the visiting Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party members, causing serious injuries to the group members including parliamentarian Sunil Handunneththi, who were engaged in talks with Ms. Pathmini Sithamparanathan. The injured were rushed to Jaffna Teaching Hospital. The extremist anti-Tamil JVP, which is now locked in waging a campaign against Rajapaksa family-rule in South, is attempting to woo Tamil support in Jaffna by highlighting the plight of the disappeared Tamils arrested by Rajapaksa's military. The attack by unidentified operatives on JVP has taken place a few hours after Namal Rajapaksa visited Jaffna to attend an opening ceremony.
Full story >>

TNA MP: Low turnout reflects Tamils losing faith in political system

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 01:34 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson Suresh Premachandran has been quoted by The Island as saying that the very low turnout of Tamils in North and East in the 7th parliamentary elections of Sri Lanka signalled that the Tamil voters were losing faith in the political system. The TNA MP from Jaffna further said that the majority of Tamils who participated in the elections had endorsed the TNA manifesto for the resolution of the conflict and speedy re-settlement of the uprooted civilians.
Full story >>

“All military camps in Jaffna peninsula will be scrapped if UNP wins” – Ranil

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2010, 16:25 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of United National Party (UNP), who arrived in Jaffna accompanied by his wife said that all the military camps in Jaffna peninsula will be scrapped except Palaali Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp, in the UNP election campaign meeting held in Jaffna Veerasingham Hall Friday. “High Security Zones are no longer necessary in the peninsula and the people evacuated from these places will be immediately resettled in their own properties if UNP becomes the ruling party in the general election,” he further said.
Full story >>

UNP parliamentarian says his life is under threat

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 15:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Mr. Palitha Ranga Bandara informed the Speaker Friday that "cadres of an armed political group based in eastern province have been sent to Colombo to harm him. A gang of masked men in motor bikes have been already following me wherever I go," Mr. Bandara, who represents Puttalam district in the West coast of Sri Lanka stated in a letter addressed to the Speaker Mr.W.M.J. Lokkubandara.
Full story >>

Presidential Commission on HR violations ceases to function

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2009, 10:55 GMT]
The eight-member Presidential Commission which was appointed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2007 to inquire into serious violations of human rights that took place in the year 2006 ceased to function from Sunday without completing its mandate as its term was not extended. The commission was set up amid pressure exerted by local and international human rights organizations to investigate sixteen major human rights violations in the year 2006.
Full story >>

2 Tamil youths fasting in Paris admitted to hospital

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 15:03 GMT]
French medical authorities Sunday took two of the four Tamil youths, Rajkumar and Varunan, observing fast unto death for the last 19 days in Paris in the Tamil diaspora demonstration against the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, for immediate medical treatment as their physical state had deteriorated, sources in Paris said. The other two youths continue their fast until they are given a positive response from the French Government for the demands for which the Tamil diaspora in France has been demonstrating for the 21st day, the sources added. The diaspora Tamils in France are converging in their thousands at the place near the Wall for Peace monument where the fast is being observed, on learning of the situation of the fasting youths.
Full story >>

Diaspora Tamils fast against genocide of Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 05:47 GMT]
Thousands of diaspora Tamils of all ages took part in the hunger strike protest demonstrations launched by Tamil youths in France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Britain against the unceasing atrocious attacks by Sri Lanka armed forces on innocent Tamil civilians in Vanni. Similar protest demonstrations organized by Tamil Youths Organization (TYO) continue in many other countries in an effort to draw the attention of the International Community to the carnage of Tamils in Vanni that continues unchecked.
Full story >>

Protests in Paris against genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 April 2009, 07:39 GMT]
The protests against the carnage of innocent Tamil civilians in Vanni held in order to draw the attention of the International Community (IC) by French diaspora Tamils, launched in several popular places in Paris, reached its sixth day Saturday. Four Tamil youths are fasting unto death in the protest demonstration being held for the last two days near the Wall for Peace in Paris near the French Military Academy, the sources added. Members of Tamil Youth Organization (TYO) in France distributed pamphlets describing Sri Lanka government’s genocide of the Tamils to the tourists who visit the Wall for Peace monument from all over the world.
Full story >>