‘Abuse of Tamil women part and parcel of intended genocide’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 July 2013, 11:02 GMT]
The abuse of Eezham Tamil women committed by the Sri Lankan state apparatus should not be seen as individual human rights violations but as a part and parcel of an intended genocide of a protracted nature, write Dr. N. Malathy, key member of NESoHR and author of ‘A Fleeting Moment in my Country’ and RM Karthick, research scholar at University of Essex, UK. In an article published on Indian journal Sanhati’s 6th issue for 2013, the authors, criticizing international organizations for their failure to properly deal with the issue of genocidal rape by Sri Lankan forces, also call on the Tamil community to have a change of social approach towards rape survivors, noting how violence against Tamil women is deeply intertwined with communal identity.
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Jaffna University teachers boycott SL-UGC ‘academic reconciliation’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 June 2013, 06:05 GMT]
Jaffna University Teachers’ Association boycotted a ‘national’ level conference on the “Role of Higher Education in Reconciliation” hosted in Jaffna last week by genocidal Sri Lanka’s University Grants Commission. Even though Colombo media reports said that the conference was a joint venture of the SL-UGC and the University of Jaffna, it neither took place in the Jaffna University premises nor was it participated by the academics of the university. Fearing the prevailing mood at the university, the conference was held almost as a closed-door affair at a hotel in Jaffna. Only the VC and the administration that were obliged to go represented the Jaffna University. Among the 25 speakers brought by the SL-UGC, the star speakers to “set the tone and tempo of the conference,” were ‘Terrorism Professor’ Rohan Gunaratna and Law Professor C.G. Weeramantry.
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SL State backs Christian persecution, 30 churches attacked this year: World Evangelical Alliance

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 June 2013, 23:32 GMT]
World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Religious Liberty Commission (RLC), which is a network of churches in 129 countries, in a ‘Research and Analysis’ report issued on Monday observed that Sri Lanka “appears to be seeking to establish social and political supremacy of the Sinhala Buddhist majority within a unitary state,” in the ‘post-war resurgence’ of Sihala Buddhist nationalism that no longer threatens only the Tamils, but also religious minorities, particularly Christians and Muslims. “The resurgence of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism can be attributed to the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009, which by some was seen as a victory of Buddhism over Tamil nationalism,” the report said. This year thus far, at least 30 churches have reported being attacked. Last year, Sri Lanka witnessed 52 incidents of Christian persecution.
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"US action on Sri Lanka necessary to protect Tamils"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2013, 00:22 GMT]
Dr. Karunyan Arulanantham, the executive director of the Tamil American Peace Initiative, an organization of American Tamils, in a article in the CNN World website says, "[j]udging by recent history, one thing seems clear: Sri Lanka won’t solve its problems on its own," and advocating that "U.S. pressure is necessary," suggests that "[a] U.N. mechanism that would allow the international community to act decisively and initiate independent investigations and conduct a U.N. supervised referendum on options for peaceful coexistence is long overdue. This is by far the best way to achieve real reconciliation."
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‘Sri Lanka’ poetry: Rajapaksa man edits, India publishes, SL-Canada mission launches

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 May 2013, 03:15 GMT]
National Book Trust of India (NBT), a publications outfit of the New Delhi Establishment had entrusted the editorship of an anthology of ‘Sri Lanka’ poetry to the well-known defender of the genocidal State, Prof Rajiva Wijesinha. New Delhi’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid ceremoniously received the book presented by the editor recently. The book “Mirrored Images” will be launched in Toronto, Canada, on Friday at a function jointly organised by Colombo’s High Commission in Ottawa and Consulate General in Toronto. Prof Chelva Kanaganayakam of the University of Toronto will deliver the keynote address at the event, the Sri Lanka High Commission invitation to select audience said.
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SL governor orders removal of Tamil church in East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 May 2013, 22:33 GMT]
The Sinhala colonial governor of the Eastern Province, Rear Admiral (retd.) Mohan Wijewickrema, has instructed officials under him to remove a Catholic church that has been constructed by the uprooted people of Naavaladi village in Moothoor division of Trincomalee district, informed civil sources in Trincomalee said. The people of Naavaladi village, uprooted in 2006, have resettled at a nearby locality to their native village as the occupying Sri Lankan military was refusing entry to their own lands has established the church for their worship at the new location, which has also been named Naavaladi.
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Tamil Nadu assembly passes unanimous resolution on retrieval of Kachcha-theevu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 May 2013, 23:30 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Friday passed a resolution demanding the retrieval of Kachcha-theevu citing “continued violent attacks, torture and arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha had emphasised that the retrieval of Kachcha-theevu was the only way to protect Tamil Nadu fishermen. The resolution, moved by the AIADMK, was unanimously passed in the assembly with the approval of the representatives of all political parties present.
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‘Idea of Tamil nation not dead despite aftermath of genocide’: Tehelka report

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 April 2013, 21:10 GMT]
Even in the aftermath of terror and genocide, the idea of nationhood has not disappeared among the Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, writes journalist Revati Laul in an investigative feature published on the Indian news magazine Tehelka on its April 27 issue. Travelling to the militarily occupied Tamil homeland in the north and east and interacting with politicians, civil society activists, NGO workers, priests, ex-LTTE cadres and ordinary people, Ms Laul provides through their accounts a picture of the intense oppression that the Sri Lankan state is subjecting the Tamils to through various means, she further notes how the UN’s “pussyfooting on the war” and the Geneva resolution in March 2013 gave a cloak for such oppression, arguing that “It is this refusal to take in the whole narrative that allows Rajapaksa to tell the world all is well now with the Tamils in his country.”
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Prof Gamlath passes away

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 April 2013, 21:57 GMT]
Veteran Professor of Sinhala, Dr Sucharitha Gamlath passed away at the age of 79 in Colombo on Saturday and the funeral took place on Monday. Prof Gamlath was righteously anti-Establishment throughout his career and for nearly 15 years, the governments in Colombo kept him unemployed, which he faced heroically without compromising on his principles and convictions. To the end he steadfastly stood for the Tamil right to self-determination in the island of Sri Lanka. He was the first Professor of Sinhala at the University of Jaffna, appointed in 1975 (then the Jaffna Campus of the University of Sri Lanka) and his penalisation by the JR Jayawardane government took place in 1980 while he was serving at the University of Jaffna. TamilNet pays tribute to the scholar of a rare genre and expresses condolences to bereaving family members, friends and comrades.
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Maa-eliya, Patti-eliya, Pul-eliya, Kala-eliya

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 April 2013, 06:26 GMT]
The big open space or plain
The open land to graze cattle
The open grassland
The open space serving as threshing floor

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TESO urges New Delhi to move for referendum at Geneva

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 February 2013, 07:39 GMT]
New Delhi should take firm efforts to bring forward a resolution at the UNHRC sessions next month for conducting a referendum among Ilangkai Tamils, said a resolution passed by Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) in Chennai on Monday. The organisation cited its earlier resolution passed in this regard in August last year and said that it had already presented the case for the consideration of the UN, member countries of the UN, the Government of India and the UNHRC. In presenting the plight of Eezham Tamils, TESO has resolved to convene an all-India level meet of political party leaders in New Delhi in March. Condemning New Delhi encouraging Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa visiting India this week, TESO has also resolved to organise a black-clad demonstration in Chennai on Friday morning, protesting his visit.
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Sri Lanka's STF commandos on sexual spree harass people of Peasaalai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 February 2013, 22:26 GMT]
Armed squads of the occupying Sri Lanka’s Sinhala commandos of the notorious Special Task Force (STF) in Mannaar have been sexually harassing the coastal people of Peasaalai in the country of Eezham Tamils, on a daily basis for more than a week now, residents complain. The STF has virtually banned the movement of men of all ages after 6:00 p.m. in Peasaalai so that its abuses would go unnoticed.
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Colonial governor diverts more education funds to Sinhala colonisation in North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 January 2013, 22:44 GMT]
Colombo’s colonial governor in North and the former Jaffna commander of the occupying SL military in Jaffna, Maj Gen (retd) GA Chandrasiri, has again diverted a major portion of the funds, allocated for education and health sectors in the five districts in the Northern Province, to the newly carved out Ma'nalaa'rau (Weli-Oaya) Sinhala division in Mullaiththeevu district for the construction of 72 new Sinhala schools and health stations as part of a hurried expansion of the Sinhala colonisation scheme, informed sources in Vanni told TamilNet on Wednesday. To facilitate the accelerated occupation, contractors hired from South are working day and night, putting up the schools and health stations, the sources further said.
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Visiting US team continues ‘counting trees’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2013, 23:23 GMT]
The visit of the US Defence and State Department officials to Jaffna on Sunday was marked by denial of issues by the occupying Sinhala military, denials countered by the Bishop and civil society of Jaffna, and comments by the visiting team – all just a bickering on counting trees but deliberate refusal to see the wood, because the ambit has been set by the US-tabled 2012 Geneva resolution that has to now facilitate the 2013 resolution under preparation, political analysts in Jaffna told TamilNet. A stage has been set, knowing how the characters would act and what dialogues they would come out with, so that the play could proceed endlessly to the benefit of the director. Unless Tamils insist on a stage to talk nothing but the fundamentals for any future association with the director, they will be ‘played out’ the analysts further said.
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TESO misrepresents Tamil cause by harping on UNHRC resolution

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2013, 16:51 GMT]
By calling for pressure on Colombo to immediately implement the 2012 UNHRC resolution as solution, TESO is misrepresenting the cause as well as plight of Eezham Tamils, and is misleading the world in lines with the agenda of New Delhi and Washington, Tamil activists in the island and in the diaspora commented. The UNHRC resolution harping on the implementation of LLRC recommendations of Colombo is actually ‘international legitimisation’ of the structural genocide and annihilation of the territoriality of the nation of Eezham Tamils in the island. This only serves the agenda of New Delhi and Washington that uphold the genocidal Sinhala State in the island for their geopolitical and imperialistic purposes. TESO has to urge the International Community of Establishments to revise the resolution, the activists further said.
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French ambassador concerned about fishermen encroachment, Tamil - Muslim relations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2013, 12:28 GMT]
The French ambassador in Colombo, Christine Robichon, visiting Jaffna and Mannaar between 07 and 12 of this month, was able to “assess the damages of the trespassing of Indian trawlers on the livelihoods of local fishermen, and the consequences of the use of banned methods of fishing on the environment and natural resources,” said a press release of the French embassy in Colombo on Sunday. In her meetings with resettled people, she paid particular attention to the relations between Tamil and Muslim communities. “It is encouraging to see that Tamil and Muslim work together to provide support to all the war affected people in some organizations but it is worrying to perceive signs of communal tensions particularly in Mannar,” the press release said citing the ambassador.
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Jaffna Catholic organization urges Bishops to see illusion of development, reconciliation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2013, 23:50 GMT]
The Commission for Justice and Peace of The Catholic Diocese of Jaffna urged the President and Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the island, who recently visited the North, to do justice to the existing realities by working for addressing them in the right direction. Cautioning against ideas of cosmetic development and “enforced rehabilitation” as solutions to the conflict, and listing out some of the fundamental and practical issues faced by the Tamil people, which might not have been “visible” to the Bishops during their short visit, the Catholic organization in its statement on Thursday said that “If the present situation continues we fear that it will be paving way for another cycle of violence. The country cannot afford to pay such a heavy price as in the past.”
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Kuruppu-mulla, Kochchi-kade

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2013, 23:16 GMT]
The Kuruppu’s Corner
The Kochchi Bazzar
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Peace activist grilled by terrorism department in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2013, 10:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) grilled Rev. Fr. Praveen OMI, Director of the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR) in Jaffna, for 7 hours on Tuesday, news sources in Jaffna said. TID personnel who went to the office of the centre at No 8, Grousseault Road in Jaffna by 8.30 am, subjected the priest to intense investigation until 3.30 pm. The entire office was searched and files and documents were scrutinized. In addition, Fr. Praveen has been ordered to go to the ‘Fourth Floor’ (CID headquarters) for further investigations on Friday. The CPR, an organization affiliated to the Catholic Church in Jaffna was actively involved in dealing with cases of abductions and disappearances of people in Jaffna.
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Batticaloa Bishop slams collaborators, Jaffna Bishop eulogises SL military

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2013, 20:36 GMT]
While the acts of Eddappans (traitors) betraying others for self-interest and contributing to violence are not going to end, we find even non-violent struggles demanding just rights being suppressed by military might. This has become the daily routine in Ilangkai. Authoritarianism is at its height here. Despite the development propaganda aimed at the outside world, freedom and human rights are yet to reach our people. The underlying factors [of the conflict] remain unresolved as ‘sleeping fire’, said the Bishop of Batticaloa, Rt Rev Joseph Ponnaiah in his New Year message in Tamil, broadcast by Vatican Radio on 30 December. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Jaffna addressing in English the Christmas Carol organized by the occupying SL military in Jaffna, was “grateful” to the SL government and military for “all the beautiful services they rendered to our people.”
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