Mining firm facing resistance in Thirukkoayil shifts exploitation area with fresh tactics

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 May 2018, 16:18 GMT]
Damsila Exports Pvt Ltd., a big company exporting phlogopite mica and other minerals from the island, has shifted its plan of excavating Ilmenite resources in Thirukkoayil North of Ampaa'rai district after the people mobilised against the move in December 2017. The company is now trying to deceive the people along the southern sector of the same division, Tamil activists in Thirukkoayil said. Damsila Exports is the premier mica mining and export company headquartered in Colombo. It is exporting phlogopite mica from the island under semi-processed and powder form to Japan, China, Germany and India. At present, about 65% of phlogopite mica product is sent to Japan according to the website of the company.
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TID harasses disability activists in Batticaloa with increased surveillance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 May 2018, 21:22 GMT]
The much-feared ‘Terrorist Investigation Division’ officers attached to various police stations in the district of Batticaloa have increased their surveillance on the activists of Disabled Peoples’ Organisations (DPOs) in ten of the fourteen administrative divisions in the district in recent days. The majority of 8,600 beneficiaries organised through the DPOs are disabled ex-LTTE members, according to the civil sources at Batticaloa District Secretariat. Already, one-third of disabled LTTE members are reluctant to be associated with the DPO. For example, there are 530 disabled persons in Koa'ra'laip-pattu South (Kiraan) division. But, only 300 of them have registered themselves with the DPO in the division, the sources further said.
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Uprooted Tamils embark on courageous sea landing, SL navy restrained at Ira'nai-theevu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2018, 21:35 GMT]
Four hundred uprooted Eezham Tamils, who have been waging a continuous protest since May 01, 2017 at Muzhangkaavil along the western coast of Vanni, embarked on a historic sea journey to the twin-islet of Ira'nai-theevu on the 359th day of their protest on Wednesday. They were vowing to resettle back in their native place braving any objection coming from the occupying SL Navy, The Sinhala sailors present at the naval detachment restrained as their officers were embarrassed by the courage of the people. The people went there in 46 boats. Seven Catholic priests, including their parish priest Fr Arudchelvan, accompanied them. The people are now staying at the premises of the Church of Our Lady of Holy Rosary and at the Catholic Tamil Mixed School in the twin-islet, which is located 12 nautical miles from the coast of the mainland in Mannaar facing the Palk Bay.
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Militarisation of housing contract frustrates storm affected Tamils in Ampaa'rai North

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2018, 18:49 GMT]
Tamil residents have expressed serious concerns over the occupying Sinhala military of genocidal Sri Lanka emerging as the contractor of reconstructing the roofs of a housing scheme with 684 apartments, which come under two village (GS) divisions in Periya-neelaava'nai of Kalmunai administrative division in the Ampaa'rai district, along the border of the Batticaloa district. The residents are in shock after learning that the apartments, initially constructed by the SL Foreign Ministry exploiting international funds in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami catastrophe, are not strong enough to bear roofs of traditional tiles. The SL military contractors are now going to put up lighter roofing sheets, which are prone to wind suction during extreme weather, informed civil sources in the division told TamilNet.
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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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Colombo strengthens impunity for genocidal Sinhala commander

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2018, 23:13 GMT]
Jaffna High Court Judge Manickavasagam Ilancheliyan on Monday gave green signal to proceed with the cases of habeas corpus seeking a senior commander of the SL Military to produce three of twenty-five Tamil youth, whose whereabouts are not known after the SL Army at Naavatkuzhi detained them 22 years ago in 1996. The SL Police instructed by the Judge to investigate the case stated that it was impossible for them to investigate the case as more than 20 years have elapsed since the disappearance of the victims. The first respondent is Major General Duminda Keppettiwalana, who commanded the Sinhala soldiers of the military camp at Naavatkuzhi in 1996 when he was a captain. He has been systematically protected and promoted by Sarath Fonseka, the former SL Army commander and a partner of the current regime in Colombo.
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Ex-LTTE members with war-injuries discriminated with burden of medical documentation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 March 2018, 13:29 GMT]
The SL authorities are refusing to assist former members of the Tamil liberation movement with war injuries by merely demanding medical documentation from the times of their injuries. The ex-combatants of the LTTE, who were subjected to prolonged incarceration at the hands of the occupying Sinhala military, do not have such documentation with them. The SL military that carried out a so-called ‘military rehabilitation’ of former LTTE fighters didn't provide any document entitling them for medical treatment after their release. Now, they are struggling without proper treatment, Tamil doctors say.
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SL Forest Department seizes lands for future Sinhala colony northwest of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 March 2018, 21:34 GMT]
The Forest Conservation Department of the occupying unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka has seized the residential and agricultural lands of war-uprooted Eezham Tamils in four villages 30 km northwest of Batticaloa city, civil officials at the District Secretariat told TamilNet on Monday. The villages come under three GS divisions in the administrative division of Ea'raavoor-pattu (Chengkaladi) of Batticaloa district. Already, the division is exposed to Sinhalicisation as it is bordering with Maha-oya division of Ampaa'rai district in the west with Sinhala settlers in Tempitiya, Poolawala and Aranthalawa GS divisions of Maha-oya.
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TNA Parliamentarian calls for UN plebiscite on independent Tamil State

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 March 2018, 22:25 GMT]
Taking part in a side-event on Tamils Right to Self-Determination, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Sivagnanam Shritharan on Monday called for a UN referendum among Eezham Tamils to exercise their external Self-Determination. The TNA MP was referring to 1977 democratic mandate for Tamil Eelam and the 2009-2010 referenda held in the Tamil diaspora. Mr Sritharan was braving the prohibition imposed upon him to articulate the aspiration by the 6th Amendment of genocidal Sri Lanka as he was explicitly calling for the exercise of the right to external self-determination. Mr Sritharan has smashed the taboo placed upon him by the TNA hierarchy controlled by R. Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran through his explicit call for external right to self-determination at Geneva, Tamil political activists in Jaffna said welcoming the courageous move.
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Pogrom shows negative side of majority, unworkability of local investigations: NPC CM

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 March 2018, 23:12 GMT]
The recent anti-Muslim pogrom seems to be a pre-planned act, said Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council Justice C.V. Wigneswaran in an interview to TamilNet on Friday. The same tendency was also witnessed in the anti-Tamil pogroms of the past, and it is the wrong attitude on the part of the Sinhala politicians that has been contributing to the pogroms in the island. The SL leaders are displaying the same attitude with regards to the war crimes investigations, he said. “Only if there is a foreign input into the process of investigations, we might be able to bring about an attitudinal change on the part of the government and the majority community. Nothing will come out of a local inquiry,” he said.
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Muslim grassroots activists from East call for unity with Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 March 2018, 17:20 GMT]
Batticaloa-based veteran writer and journalist HLM Hanifa and Ampaa'rai-based national organiser of the All Ceylon Government General Employees Union (ACGGEU) Ismail Mohamed Lebbe, interviewed separately by TamilNet this week, came with the same analysis of the causes, effects and the aftermaths of the recent anti-Muslim pogroms in the island. HLM Hanifa warned that the next wave of the pogrom, which he predicted after a future island-wide elections, would be more intense and destructive than what shocked the Central Province and Ampaa'rai in the Eastern Province this time. Both of the veteran grassroots activists underlined the urgent need for unity among Eezham Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims in the North-East, and they were highly sceptical to the exploitative attitudes prevailing among the political elites among the Tamil-speaking Muslims.
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Grassroots stand united against militarisation of PTK

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 March 2018, 14:48 GMT]
The representatives of grassroots organisations in Puthuk-kudiyiruppu (PTK) representing all sections of the people in the division unanimously resolved against militarisation and demanded the civil authorities and politicians for de-militarisation of PTK. A Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian received flak for his proposal to SL military for an alternative venue to relocate its camp currently situated at Ponnambalam hospital created during the times of the de-facto State of Tamil Eelam under the LTTE.
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Elected Muslim councillor in Jaffna refutes claims of SL military commander

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 March 2018, 22:21 GMT]
“Muslims from the North-East did not play any leadership role in militarily defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as the Sri Lanka Chief of Defence Staff was claiming last week. There is no truth in the claim,” K.M. Nilam Niyaz, one of the two Muslim councillors recently elected to Jaffna Municipal Council, told TamilNet on Sunday. “As you are aware, the military is trying to exploit the situation to its advantage politically. Tamils and Muslims should not allow them to be deceived by this propaganda. Instead, they should stand united as Tamil-speaking people like they did before 1990. All the ethnicities in the island should live in peace and harmony,” the 47-year-old Tamil-speaking Muslim politician commented further.
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NPC to seek direct response from SLA commander on transfer of cashew farms

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 March 2018, 22:16 GMT]
The Chief Minister of Northern Province Justice C.V. Wigneswaran has initiated a move demanding a direct response from the commander of the SL military, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, on its repeated requests to hand over the cashew farms that are under the occupation of SL military stationed in Ki'linochchi and Mannaar districts to a civil authority.
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Increasing reports of Sinhala colonists gunning down cattle belonging Tamil dairy farmers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2018, 19:18 GMT]
Armed Sinhala colonisers have again stepped up the killing of cattle owned by Tamil dairy farmers in Koa'ra'laip-pattu South (Kiraan) division of Batticaloa district. The intruders have gunned down six cows and caused injuries to two since January 01 2018, the dairy farmers complain. Between 2013 and 2016, more than 1,000 cows, owned by Tamil dairy farmers were shot and killed. The process accelerated after Maithiripala Sirisena coming to power. However, due to relentless protests and complaints, the menace was temporarily halted from the end of 2016. Now, it has resumed in full force again, the farmers further said. The SL Police at Karadiyan-aa'ru doesn't act against the activities of illegal settlers but collaborate with SL Forest Department against the interests of Tamil dairy farmers.
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Colombo's fake mangroves for export destroy fishing-ecosystem of Eezham Tamils in East

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 February 2018, 18:42 GMT]
Occupying Colombo's “National Aquaculture Development Authority” (NAQDA) has deployed Sinhala-owned companies from South to engage in “fake mangrove” production along the northern coast of Batticaloa. The fake mangroves, made with cement blocks, are systematically sunk along the coast of Kaayaang-kea'ni affecting both the natural mangroves and the fishing environment of native Tamil fisherfolks, A.M. Anton, the chairperson of the fisheries association at Kaayaang-kea'ni told TamilNet this week. The fake stones are dug up after 6 to 8 months and exported to the USA before the next wave of artificial layer gets spread over the natural mangroves.
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SL military enlists 50 Tamils for slave work in military-run farms in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 February 2018, 19:30 GMT]
The Jaffna commander of the occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka, Major General Dharshana Hettiarrachchi, on Thursday came with the false propaganda claiming that he was integrating fifty former LTTE members as a workforce in the armed forces of ‘Sri Lanka’. In reality, the SL military was employing the fifty Tamils for slave work in the military-run agriculture farms in the fertile lands, which it had seized from the uprooted people of Valikaamam North, informed sources in Jaffna said.
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13 years elapsed, GTZ-initiated housing scheme yet to obtain roofs in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 February 2018, 17:28 GMT]
Many of the 300 houses of a housing scheme, initiated 13 years ago by Germany's governmental organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), in Tsunami and war-affected Vaakarai in Koa'ra'laip-pattu North of Batticaloa district, are yet to obtain their roofs, windows and doors, complain the beneficiaries of the housing project. Some time back, the officials of the Divisional Secretariat were collecting 1,500 rupees from each family promising to complete the project with roofs. But, nothing has been delivered, the poverty-stricken families said.
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UNHRC, OHCHR belong to failed human rights paradigm, say victims in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 February 2018, 21:18 GMT]
The families of enforced disappeared, who have been waging continuous protests for hundreds of days have again blamed SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, who is also the commander of the armed forces of genocidal Sri Lanka, for repeatedly deceiving them with different explanations each time he met them last year and for his latest claim in Jaffna on Monday that none of the enforced disappeared were in the custody of his forces anywhere in the island. Mr Sirisena was visiting Jaffna for election campaign on Monday. The families of enforced disappeared have been demanding the International Community to trace what had happened to those who were handed over to the SL military in Mullaiththeevu and in Vavuniyaa after the occupying SL military instructed the families of all LTTE members to hand over the surviving at the end of genocidal onslaught in May 2009.
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