Buddhist monk, SL military obstruct territorial contiguity of Tamil homeland at Kokku'laay

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 June 2015, 23:48 GMT]
An extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk, Sri Thissapura Gunarathna Thero, who has occupied the lands of Eezham Tamils at Kokku'laay, located along the coastal Mullaiththeevu - Batticaloa Road, has deployed the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers to proceed with the construction of the Vihara, completely ignoring an interim order issued last week by Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat to not to proceed with the construction of the ‘Sri Sambodhi Vihara’ until the dispute of lands occupied by the Incumbent monk is solved. The monk and the soldiers of the occupying army continue to the work despite the pressure and objection coming from the Eezham Tamils. The area surrounding Kokku'laay is the focus of Sinhala colonisation presently, as it is the key location for wedging the demographic contiguity of the North and East as well as direct communication between Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee.
Full story >>

SLN occupies most of military-seized lands outside ‘HSZ’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2015, 20:28 GMT]
Around 30 of 47 acres of lands seized together with residential houses outside the so-called High Security Zone (HSZ) in Jaffna district still remain occupied by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Neduntheevu (Delft), Maruthangkea'ni of Vadmaraadchi East and in Thellip-pazhai, according to the latest data collected by the District Secretariat in Jaffna in February 2015. SL Police has occupied 88 houses, SLN has seized 57 properties and the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) keeps 23 properties outside the ‘military zones’ in the district. The SL military has reiterated several times now that it has no plan of reducing the military deployment in the country of Eezham Tamils. The Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council, Justice CV Wigneswaran, who has been demanding de-militarisation of North recently characterised the density of SL military occupation as one soldier per 4 civilians.
Full story >>

Fundamentals non-negotiable for non-descript formulas

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 June 2015, 23:46 GMT]
In the current discourse over the US-agenda put through South Africa –Switzerland proxies that bargain the closure of files at the international level for ‘non-descript’ hoodwink of solutions to the genocide-afflicted national question of Eezham Tamils, two arguments are noteworthy of answering, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island. The first one repeatedly comes from the lawyer and spokesperson of the agenda, Mr. M.A. Sumanthiran that those who had earlier found fault with the US move at the UNHRC now realise its importance and demand continuation. The other one comes from Mr. Erik Solheim, who never lost his appetite for con, saying that the situation has now successfully gone back to 1972 and it is in the best hands of Sinhala leadership.
Full story >>

‘LLRC’ Palihakkara promotes pompous ceremony for genocidal ‘War Heroes’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2015, 23:20 GMT]
The office of the SL Governor to North, HMGS Palihakkara, who was one of the eight panellists earlier appointed by former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the so-called Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), was an an official co-organiser to the pompous ceremony organised together with Ranaviru Seva Authority (RSA) of the occupying Sinhala military in Jaffna on Wednesday. ‘LLRC’ Palihakkara himself was the chief guest of the ceremony organised in remembrance of the ‘fallen war heroes of three forces and the Police’. Mr Palihakkara has forced a section of Tamil public servants in the North to accompany him to the military ceremony. Tamil journalists in Jaffna have boycotted the event. The NPC councillors said they were not informed of public servants associated with the NPC being taken to the event.
Full story >>

New SL ministry schemes Sinhalicisation through ‘cultural diplomacy’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 June 2015, 23:16 GMT]
Earlier, the occupying Colombo under Mahinda Rajapaksa, declared 11,000 acres of lands in Vangkaalai, situated in the Mannaar mainland as Vankaalai Sanctuary, coming under the control of the SL ministries and departments in Colombo in 2008. The new regime, which came to power in January 2015, is now hurriedly engaged in claiming the remaining lands, where people have resettled with housing provided through the Indian Housing Scheme. The occupation of lands go beyond Vangkaalai in Naanaaddaan into Mannaar DS division intending to chase away the entire village of Chi'runaavatku'lam, located along the Mannaar - Mathavaachchi Road, some parts of Pa'l'li-munai and a residential area near the Thirukkeatheesvaram temple, activists in Mannaar told TamilNet on Tuesday. Colombo's ministry of ‘Tourism and Sports’ is deploying ‘cultural diplomacy’ as smokescreen to advance the occupation.
Full story >>

US-agenda Tamils fail sabotaging Asia-Pacific Greens resolution on Genocide

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 June 2015, 21:24 GMT]
The 3rd Congress of the Asia-Pacific Greens Federation, held in Wellington, New Zealand, between 12-14 June has successfully resolved urging international investigations on the allegations of genocide, war-crimes and the ongoing human rights abuses in the island of Sri Lanka, despite reluctance coming from a section of Australian Green Party, influenced by US-agenda Tamils against such a resolution, informed sources in New Zealand told TamilNet. For their ‘reluctance’, Australian Green Party sources privately cited ‘conflicting messages’ coming from Tamil activists. The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), which is a member of the so-called Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the GTF ‘strategic initiative’ director Mr Suren Surendiren and TNA's nominated parliamentarian Mr M.A. Sumanthiran have met the Australian Greens in March to influence them towards their agenda, the sources further said.
Full story >>

Sinhala occupation of pastureland causes existential threat to Batticaloa Tamil farmers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 June 2015, 23:19 GMT]
316 Tamil farmers belonging to two administrative divisions in Batticaloa district own around 85,000 cattle. The cattle-herders from this region have been officially demarcated 45,000 acres of lands in Maathava'nai, Periya-maathava'ani and Mayilaththa-madu. More than 5,000 Tamils are dependent on the cattle industry in the region. They supply 15,000 litres of milk to three collecting centres run by Milko and Nestlé in Kiraan and Chengkaladi. The Sinhala colonisers have seized 12,000 acres (one fourth) of the allocated pastureland. Operatives belonging to SL Wildlife Conservation Department and the occupying Sinhala soldiers have been chasing the Tamil cattle herders away as the intruding Sinhala farmers engage in Chena-cultivation. The Tamil farmers demand a permanent solution before the Sinhala intruders are set to commence Chena cultivation for next season in August 2015.
Full story >>

Colombo continues to deploy Wildlife Department as agent of Sinhalicisatoin

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 June 2015, 23:48 GMT]
Wildlife Department officials operating along the border of Batticaloa-Polonnaruwa have become the chief operatives deployed to drive Eehzam Tamils away from their villages in Paduvaan-karai, say civil sources at the District Secretariat of Batticaloa. The ‘wildlife’ operatives have been encouraging Sinhala colonisers to run illegal breweries to sustain their needs as well as to maintain the violent conduct of the ‘home guards’ Sinhala paramilitary. In the meantime, around 70 Tamil villagers have so far lost their lives due to the uncontained attacks by wild elephants in Paduvaan-karai area alone.
Full story >>

TNA spokesman decries Sumanthiran discourse

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 June 2015, 23:53 GMT]
“Third party mediation and negotiations are important to resolve the Tamil national question. But, the process should be carried out in a proper context involving the actors with peoples mandate. The mediation should be undertaken by international actors, who are capable of course-correcting the Colombo regime”, TNA Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran told TamilNet on Friday. Mr Premachandran, who is an official spokesman of the TNA was responding to an official statement coming from a confidential process embarked on by certain actors, involving the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, a section of Tamil diaspora activists of the so-called Global Tamil Forum (GTF), a South African NGO known as ‘In Transformation Initiative’ (ITI), Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) official Martin Stürzinger and the failed Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim.
Full story >>

Sinhala Navy seeks funds to lure uprooted Champoor Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 2015, 23:46 GMT]
The occupying SL Navy is trying to lure a section of the uprooted landowners in Champoor in Moothoor East to sell their residential and fertile lands to SL military. Informed sources told TamilNet Thursday that the SL Navy has demanded the new regime in Colombo to allocate large sums of money for the so-called relocation of its military cantonment in Champoor. The SL Navy is not prepared to shift the military cantonment to a remote location away from the people. The SL Navy was seeking ‘alternative’ lands consisting fertile agricultural and residential lands of the uprooted people, the sources further said. The SL Navy has worked out a new plan to modernize its military cantonment, the sources further said.
Full story >>

Tamil diplomacy put to test

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2015, 23:51 GMT]
A democratically elected government in the State of Tamil Nadu in India has unanimously resolved for international investigation of the crime of genocide committed against Eezham Tamils. The democratically elected Northern Provincial Council of Eezham Tamils has called for the same. These are democratic demands manifesting from people’s struggle and uprising. The Permanent People’s Tribunal also has come out with its verdict finding genocide and on-going genocide. Justice Wigneswaran’s diplomacy is people-oriented. But the nominated parliamentarian Sumanthiran’s argument for ‘domestic mechanism’ to implement anything, while downplaying the fundamental question, subtly sabotages logical solution to the genocidal context, tilting the diplomatic balance as the military balance had been tilted in the war, to keep the accused State intact for the agenda of the ultimate culprits.
Full story >>

NPC Councillor condemns premature donor-brokering involving Tamil diaspora

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2015, 15:51 GMT]
Tamil diaspora groupings don't need to get locked into any premature donor-brokering process that enables the Sri Lankan regime to claim that a domestic process of so-called reconciliation was being agreed upon by the Tamil diaspora, Northern Provincial Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam told TamilNet on Monday, responding to the news of a premature donor brokering by third parties through a South Africa facilitated twin-track process. All the donor States have their development agencies through which they can assist the resettling people in Valikaamam, Champoor and in other places, Mr Shivajiingam told TamilNet adding that Tamil diaspora should be firm in effecting internationally-guaranteed and internationally-mediated solutions including an international investigation on genocide as demanded by the Northern Provincial Council.
Full story >>

No alternative to people’s struggle-based diplomacy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 June 2015, 23:39 GMT]
Before defending the Powers-designed ‘engagement’ with Colombo to ‘cater to present needs’, any articulating Tamil leadership is particularly answerable where its ‘diplomacy’ stands in the current global power competition between the ultimate culprits of the Tamil genocide that seek ‘closing files’ for their collective benefit, without any fundamental justice delivered to the victims, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics, citing a currently negotiated world monopoly agenda of the Obama administration leaked by Wikileaks on Wednesday that keeps BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) out. The activists responded to Mr. Sumanthiran’s talk in Theepam TV on Saturday, commenting that it was in the line of muffling the Eezham Tamil struggle by abandoning certain fundamentals of justice, for the collective ‘counterinsurgency’ benefit of the competing powers.
Full story >>

Edifying Tamil leadership to face South Africa succeeding Norway in deception

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2015, 00:57 GMT]
The UK-based British Tamil Forum (BTF) and the so-called Global Tamil Forum (GTF), which are locked in a sectarian conflict with each other, have dragged almost all the Eezham Tamil diaspora outfits from the USA, Canada, Australia and several European countries into a two-pronged South Africa based discourse which the new Sri Lankan regime wants to exploit to its advantage to counter the internationalisation of the national question of Eezham Tamils, informed Tamil diaspora activists told TamilNet supplying documentary evidences of the interactions that have taken place in May and June 2015. It is historic duty of the Tamil diaspora to produce an appropriate leadership to advance the Tamil cause without diluting the fundamentals and falling prey to the ultimate culprits, the activists told TamilNet.
Full story >>

Overseas Eezham Tamil Muslims voice for Rohingyas

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 2015, 20:08 GMT]
“Stop the Genocide of Rohingya Muslims,” urges Pulampeyarnthoar Ilangkai Muslim Amaippu (Overseas Sri Lankan Muslim Organisation), which convenes a public demonstration in Richmond Terrace, London, on Saturday, asking the question, “Human Rights and Democratic Organisations, where is your solidarity for Roungya people?” The demonstration call condemns the Burmese government, demands the UN to drop the silence, asks the International Community to immediately intervene and addresses the British government to apply pressure to bring justice to peoples affected by its policies of the colonial times. Tamils have to understand that the Rohingya case is an immediate follow-up of the paradigm set by the genocide of Eezham Tamils, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics.
Full story >>

Batticaloa Tamils protest against land grab by SL Minister Amir Ali

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2015, 19:23 GMT]
30 Eezham Tamil families, whose lands have been illegally seized by Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of Housing and Samurdhi Amir Ali Sahabdeen, protested on Thursday against the injustice, which has caused ethnic disharmony at Mu'raa-oadai village situated 4 km south of Vaazhaichcheani in Batticaloa district. The SL Minister who seized the lands by making false land deeds has handed over these lands to his supporters from other districts, the Tamil landowners accused.
Full story >>

Chaa'ndaam Poakkaddi, Ve'l'laam Poakkaddi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2015, 18:18 GMT]
The land-part of toddy-drawers or oil-millers

The land-part of cultivators
Full story >>

Uprooted Tamils in Vaakarai demand back lands confiscated by SL military

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 June 2015, 23:09 GMT]
The uprooted Tamil villagers from Murukkaiyadi-munai in former LTTE-administered Vaakarai division situated north of Batticaloa staged a protest on Wednesday demanding immediate release of lands that have been seized from them by the occupying Sri Lankan military during the genocidal onslaught on Vaakarai between May 2006 and March 2007. When the uprooted Tamils wanted to resettle in their village, the SL military deceived them to put their signatures on documents written in Sinhala and English promising them resettlement. The uprooted people later realised that the papers they were tricked into signing were in fact documents that confiscated their village from them.
Full story >>

SL Navy deploys Sinhala extremist BBS to keep Tamils away from Champoor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 June 2015, 22:39 GMT]
On the invitation by the occupying Sri Lanka Navy in Trincomalee, Sinhala Buddhist extremist monks belonging to Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) have been exerting pressure on the Sri Lankan Police in Moothoor to keep the uprooted Tamils away from their lands in Champoor, informed sources in Trincomalee said. The BBS has also been exerting pressure on the Sri Lankan Gateway Industries (SLGI) to file complaints with the SL Police to maintain the status quo of occupation until the final verdict is issued on the on-going court case.
Full story >>

Mathisayan's killing evokes fear among social activists in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 June 2015, 23:06 GMT]
The killing of 43-year-old Mathisayan Sachchithanantham last Tuesday at Ma'ndoor situated 40 km south of the city of Batticaloa, has caused fear among the Eezham Tamil social activists in East. The slain victim was a leading social activist, who had confronted the previous administration of the Murukan temple, where corruption prevailed with the backing of civil administrative officers appointed by the occupying Sri Lankan State. The slain activist has also been vocal in opposing the construction of a playground at a river delta in his native village, close friends of the slain activist told TamilNet on Monday adding that paramilitary operative Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, has been backing the construction of the controversial playground. The activists say social activism among Eezham Tamils has been seriously threatened by the anti-people elements promoted by the occupying SL State.
Full story >>