Ex-militant Tamil mother attempts suicide due to poverty, discrimination

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 July 2015, 19:37 GMT]
An ex-LTTE female member and a mother of three children, Premalatha, was admitted to Batticaloa hospital on Saturday after a suicide attempt, news sources in Vaazhaich-cheanai told TamilNet. The discrimination and targeted isolation of former LTTE members from Batticaloa, especially those who survived the genocidal onslaught at Mu'l'livaaykkaal and resettled in Batticaloa after so-called military rehabilitation and prolonged incarceration, has not improved even after 6 years have elapsed and the regime in Colombo got a ‘facelift’ enacted by Washington and New Delhi.
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Sinhala fishermen behind assault on Indian trawlers: Fishermen's Federation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 July 2015, 10:53 GMT]
While the occupying Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) was watching on, a group of Sinhala fishermen who operate trawlers in the seas off Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna attacked a group of Indian poaching trawlers that had entered into the seas off Chakkoadai in Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna on Wedensday night. The assault was a calculated act to pass the blame on Eezham Tamil fishermen, S. Arulathas, the president of the Federation of Vadamaraadchi Fishermen Associations, told TamilNet on Saturday. The denial from Jaffna fishermen comes following the reports in Tamil Nadu media that Tamil fishermen in Jaffna were behind the attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen on Wednesday.
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Colombo enacts farcical show in Mirusuvil massacre case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 July 2015, 17:21 GMT]
As part of a concerted showdown in its campaign to transform the Geneva-based OISL investigation discourse into a domestic investigation, the Sri Lankan legal system was recently deployed to ‘demonstrate’ its ‘capacity‘ to 'investigate' what would be described by the human rights defenders as a ‘mass atrocity’ crime. The case, in which one non-commissioned officer of the Sri Lankan Army, Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake, was sentenced to capital punishment, was in fact a genocidal crime in which several Sinhala soldiers, including a captain rank officer having command responsibility, took part. The main surviving witness in the case, who narrowly escaped the brutal massacre, had identified in 2001 the culprits, who belonged to the notorious ‘Deep Penetration Unit’, which was trained by Colombo to commit genocidal acts.
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Tamil activists in North-East question UN's hidden move on ‘domestic mechanism’

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 2015, 20:19 GMT]
“[W]e take note with serious concern the recent announcement by the UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka that the UN has already decided to fund a domestic mechanism,” said 15 Tamil organisations from North-East in a letter forwarded through the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday. The organizations have put forward two pertinent questions to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: A) How could the UN system decide on supporting a domestic mechanism in abstraction when there has been no proposal or consultation about one? B) Does this announcement not pre-empt the recommendations of the OISL report and any possible follow up action by the UN Human Rights Council and other UN bodies?
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US Tamils should rise to the occasion of power games in southern South Asia

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 2015, 00:30 GMT]
In a significant move, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA), predominantly representing US Tamils from Tamil Nadu, has invited the NPC-Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, as a guest of honour to its Tamil Convention-2015, which will be held on Friday and Saturday at San Jose in California. The US Tamils should grasp the global and regional dynamics of the precarious power games and military scenario currently unfolding in southern South Asia, and should rise to the occasion in edifying Washington and New Delhi against keeping Tamils always at the receiving end, just because they don’t have a State, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics. Justice Wigneswaran should instil that understanding among Tamils of North America, the activists further said.
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New Delhi calls for registration of Hindi speakers in Northern Province

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 July 2015, 15:18 GMT]
New Delhi’s Consulate General in Jaffna has asked people in the Northern Province, who could speak, read or write Hindi, to come forward to register them at the consulate before 30 July. The necessary registration form for this purpose could be found in the consulate’s website, a press release from the consulate said on Thursday. Meanwhile, New Delhi’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has announced the creation of a post of Joint Secretary at her ministry for the promotion of Sanskrit. Indian media reports wonder why this post at the ‘Foreign Ministry’.
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Swaminthan continues ‘facilitation meetings’ between SL military, Tamil actors in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 July 2015, 10:07 GMT]
After the Sri Lankan regime led by Maithripala Sirisena had publicly stated that the continued occupation of civilian properties and any release of them are matters decided by its occupying SL military, D.M. Swaminathan, the SL Minister of Resettlement, has been visiting Jaffna and Ki’inochchi, conducting meetings involving the commanding officers of the SL military and Tamil politicians as well as the civil groups representing the interests of uprooted Eezham Tamils. At a ‘facilitation’ meeting chaired by Mr Swaminthan at Ki’linochchi District Secretariat on Wednesday, the representatives of uprooted people refused to accept the explanations given by the Sinhala military commanders for the delay in the resettlement.
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SL Police alleged of ‘protecting’ killers of Batticaloa social activist Mathisayan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 July 2015, 23:48 GMT]
The police of occupying Sri Lanka, receiving instructions from Colombo, has suppressed details on the progress of the investigations on the killing of 43-year-old Eezham Tamil Social Service Officer (SSO) Mathisayan Sachchithanantham. The killing, which shocked the civil activists in Batticaloa, took place a month ago on 26 May 2015. Informed sources in Batticaloa told TamilNet on Wednesday that one person, having ‘high level’ connections was initially arrested from Thikkoadai and two others were later arrested on the information provided by the person arrested first. Although the entire village was aware of these arrests, the SL police has so far provided no information on the progress of the case to the concerned public, the sources further said.
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Tamil GS officers interdicted with instruction to undergo ‘military rehabilitation’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2015, 13:45 GMT]
Colombo's Ministry of Public Administration has interdicted six Eezham Tamil Village Officers (GS) in Karaichchi division of Ki'linochchi District a week ago. The reason given was that the SL Defence Ministry wanted the 4 female and 2 male GS officers to undergo ‘military rehabilitation’, meant for ex-LTTE members with immediate effect. The interdicted GS officers are not ex-LTTE members. But, the reason cited for the military rehabilitation was that there were ex-LTTE members, either living or dead, in their families or among their close relatives. The shocking harassment from the UNP-run Defence and Public Administration ministries of the SL State shows that nothing has changed with regards to the military rule in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, concerned civil sources in Ki'linochchi told TamilNet on Tuesday.
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Naathasvaram maestro receives heartfelt funeral at Chaavakachcheari

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2015, 02:56 GMT]
Dr Murugappa Panchapikesan, a renowned Eezham Tamil expert in Naathasvaram, who passed away on Friday in Colombo at the age of 91, received a heartfelt funeral at his native village of Changkaththaanai in Chaavakach-cheari in Jaffna on Monday. Eezham Tamil academics, artists, civil and cultural activists turned out in large numbers to pay their last respects to the artist, who was held in high esteem for his contribution to the music using Naathasvaram, which is the most widely used wind instrument in weddings and auspicious rituals of cultural and religious significance among the Tamils.
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Swaminathan blames SL military for failure in releasing lands, resettlement

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2015, 23:22 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister of Resettlement and Reconstruction Mr D.M. Swaminathan, who visited Jaffna on Monday publicly admitted that his ministry was been unable to release lands and provide for resettlement of the uprooted people from Valikaamam North as it had been promised by himself earlier. The SL military has not been cooperating as required in the release of lands as promised, the powerless Colombo-based Tamil minister said passing the blame from political leaders to the occupying military establishment. The visiting UNP minister was addressing the elected representatives, civil officers and the organisations representing the uprooted Tamils from Valikaamam North at two places, in Thelliappazhai and at the Jaffna District Secretariat.
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Sirisena answerable for secret incarceration by SL Navy in East

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 June 2015, 23:06 GMT]
SL President Maithiripala Sirisena on Sunday visited the Sri Lanka Navy Eastern Naval Command, which was responsible for the secret incarceration camp known as ‘Gota’ camp, where more than 700 former LTTE members, including 35 families, have been illegally detained for more than 5 years. Mr Sirisena, who was acting Defence Minister under the Rajapaksa regime, is answerable for the genocidal incarceration by the Eastern Naval Command of the SLN, Eezham Tamil activists in Trincomalee said. The SL President is the Commander-in-Chief of the three armed forces.
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Avurik-kaadu, Vearkkuththik-kadavai, Beru-wala

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 2015, 22:05 GMT]
The place found with dense growth of indigo plants

The dye-root diggers' place to pass through

The place found with dense growth of indigo plants or the jungle of Agrotistachys indica shrubs
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PCICMP resumes public sittings amidst protests against domestic commissions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 2015, 19:21 GMT]
Rajapaksa-appointed and Maithiripala-extended ‘Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints regarding Missing Persons’ (PCICMP) resumed its public sittings on Saturday at Moothoor Divisional Secretariat in the Trincomalee district. Around 300 relatives of the missing people and civil activists protested outside the venue, while 159 people who had been invited by the PCICMP for hearings took part in the sittings. The protesters were demanding international investigations. Even those who attended the sittings had no trust in the commission, said Mannaar Citizens' Committee vice chairman A. Sagayam. His committee had urged the people to take part in the sittings.
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Champoor Tamils should demand 1 bn compensation, political-demographic guarantees

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 June 2015, 22:37 GMT]
The focus on Champoor so far by the new regime has been to get rid of the Chinese-affiliated Rajapaksa's ‘development’ family enterprises in Champoor. The India-oriented project of constructing Trincomalee Thermal Power Plant (TPP) was also part of the same ‘Industrial Zone’ game, conceived by Colombo involving all the powers locked in the geopolitical game of occupation. The geopolitical exploitation and the structural genocide will continue with a new model of conspiracy, which would be hatched by involving new actors unless the Tamils conceive a concerted struggle against the game without aligning themselves with any of the players, informed civil activists in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Friday. Meanwhile, a Tamil expert on the topic was of the opinion that Tamils should demand compensation for the destruction caused to the civil property, after the military seizure.
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Occupying Buddhist monk, SL military erect ‘memorial stones’ at seized lands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2015, 23:49 GMT]
The extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk and the occupying Sri Lankan military, who have seized the lands from Eezham Tamils at a strategic point linking North and East at Kokku'laay in Mullaiththeevu district, have hurriedly put up 7 ‘memorial stones’ for fallen Sinhala soldiers inside the premises where they intend to establish a Buddhist temple-centric economic establishment. The advice to erect memorial stones has come from the SL Defence Ministry in Colombo, informed sources in Mullaiththeevu told TamilNet on Thursday. One of the Eezham Tamil land owners, Manikkathas Thirugnanasampanthar, when interviewed by TamilNet, complained that the Buddhist monk and the SL military were seeking all avenues to complicate the situation to their advantage in permanently seizing the property. The Tamil land-owners lack resources to legally confront the genocidal land grab, he said urging assistance.
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Colombo reimposes military harassments against peaceful assembly in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 June 2015, 23:20 GMT]
Military intelligence operatives of the occupying Sri Lankan military in Batticaloa district has recently stepped up surveillance and intimidation of those who take part in civil, economic, cultural and religious meetings in all the 14 divisions of the district, according to the instructions coming from Colombo, informed sources in Batticaloa told TamilNet on Wednesday. The new regime in Colombo, claiming ‘good governance’, continues the ‘military governance’ through its genocidal Sinhala military in an attempt to control the civil affairs in the district, said civil activists who have been subjected to intimidating calls from the SL military operatives in recent days.
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Bathiudeen hijacks one more key institution from Swaminathan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 June 2015, 19:33 GMT]
The EPDP leader and a former SL Minister Douglas Devanada lost control of the affairs of the SL State-run industrial establishments such as the Palmyra Development Board and the Elephant Pass Saltern to the new collaborator of the SL regime in Colombo. The new collaborator, D.M. Swaminathan, who is a Colombo-based Tamil representing the UNP has virtually lost control of his own institutions. Five months have elapsed since the Elephant Pass Saltern was assigned to the SL Minister of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs. But, his ministry is still not in control of the key institution. The UPFA-affiliated controversial SL Minister Rishad Bathiudeen is controlling the affairs of one of the major industrial entity in North through Maanthai Salt Ltd., which comes under his ministry, civil sources in Jaffna told TamilNet on Tuesday.
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SL military seizes more lands at Tha'l'laadi, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2015, 23:08 GMT]
While the civil officials in Mannaar are struggling to locate lands to settle Eezham Tamil refugees, who are scheduled to be sent back from India with the facilitation by UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the SL Ministry of Resettlement, the occupying SL military in Mannaar has put up noticeboards claiming ownership to more than 50 acres of public lands along the A32 highway between Tha'l'laadi and Thirukkeatheesvaram. The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has recently seized these lands near the notorious Tha'l'laadi military base, civil sources in Mannaar told TamilNet on Monday. The SL military is scheming a military cantonment to facilitate long-term Sinhalicisation of the Mannaar mainland, the sources further said.
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Ampaa’rai Tamils side-lined by Sampanthan polity : TNA Councillor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 2015, 15:02 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance Councillor representing the Ampaa’rai district in the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) T. Kalaiyarasan on Sunday condemned TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan for failing to secure the release of the occupied lands of Eezham Tamils in the district. “Nothing has been delivered to Tamils in Ampaa’rai district despite Mr Sampanthan representing the TNA being a member of the apex body of the present SL Government in Colombo,” the TNA Councillor from the East said. The so-called National Executive Council has failed to deliver anything to Tamils in the 100-day programme, he said.
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