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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Ampaa'rai Tamil activist killed after protesting demographic changes

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2013, 21:31 GMT]
40 year-old Seenithamby Premanathan, a father of two, was waylaid and cut to death by an unknown killer squad Sunday night around 8:30 p.m., when he was returning home in a three wheeler from his brother’s house located at Malvaththai along a paddy field between Mallikaith-theevu and Malvaththai in Chammaanthu’rai police division. The killing comes a day after he was reported to have voiced concern over the injustice done in the demarcation of boundaries of the local authority concerned, civil sources in Ampaa’rai told TamilNet. In recent days, there were also reports of targeted harassments against Tamil women in Ampaa'rai.
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Eezham Tamil writers in UK criticize India’s role in genocide of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2013, 22:32 GMT]
UK based Eezham Tamil writers and journalists criticized the role of India in abetting the genocide of the Eezham Tamils and shielding the genocide perpetrators at book release function at London on Sunday. Speaking at the release of the book “Thookkuk-kayittil: Rajiv padukolai nijam” written by Tiruchi Velusami and compiled by P. Egalaivan, the Eezham Tamil writers expressed their opinions on how under the cover of eliminating the LTTE, India and other world powers effectively covered up the genocide of the Eezham Tamils.
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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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Two rebel leaders reported killed in Chechnya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2013, 23:57 GMT]
Russian security forces claim to have killed two key Chechen rebel leaders, along with nine other rebels, BBC reported on Friday. The two commanders, brothers Khusein and Muslim Gakayev, were considered the regions “most wanted men”, were reportedly killed during a clash with the security forces. The killings follow a “counter-terrorist operation” that has been on in the South of Chechnya since Wednesday, UPI cited Moscow backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who is largely considered by Chechen nationalists as a quisling.
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Human smuggling charges dismissed in MV Ocean Lady case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2013, 22:04 GMT]
Human smuggling charges in a British Columbia Court were dismissed against four Eezham Tamil men who were accused of bringing Tamil refugees aboard the MV Ocean Lady in October 2009, the Toronto Star reported on Friday. Justice Silverman of the British Columbia Supreme Court also temporarily suspended his January 11 ruling that rendered Canada’s human smuggling law “to be of no force or effect.” As a result the Crown has 30 days to appeal Justice Silverman’s ruling to the B.C. Court of Appeal. The outcome of this appeal will also affect ongoing human smuggling prosecutions against six Eezham Tamils from the MV Sun Sea.
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Soul searching in India, Obama wipes out tears

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2013, 17:55 GMT]
If peoples of the USA and India care to scrutinize what their governments are doing to the country of Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, they will realize that from which system certain disorders they face in their own countries originate. Both the Establishments that were in complicity in the genocide, and have tacitly approved a structural genocide to take place in the island, are engaged in another round of their machinations at Geneva in March. Once again, the USA is architecting a formula for the completion of the annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils – this time with specific steps of instructions to be fulfilled by the agent state in Colombo – and India, the Strategic Partner, is given with the task of designing and managing the implementation infrastructure, informed sources say.
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Catalonia’s declaration of sovereignty an example for Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2013, 11:09 GMT]
The Parliament of Catalonia on Wednesday adopted a resolution declaring the Catalan people, largely inhabiting the Catalonian North-eastern region of Spain, as a sovereign entity with the rights to self-determination. "The people of Catalonia have - by reason of democratic legitimacy - the character of a sovereign political and legal entity," the declaration read, with many claiming that this was the first step towards a referendum to be possibly held on 2014. Eezham Tamils should take note of the political terminology used by the Catalan leaders, especially the use of terms like ‘sovereignty’ and ‘nation’ as different from ‘nationality’, in effectively articulating the demands of their people and securing their rights, young generation Tamil political observers in the island said.
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SL military presence beefed up in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2013, 20:15 GMT]
The Sinhala unitary State of Sri Lanka, preparing to ‘celebrate’ its 65th Independence Day in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils on February 04, has put Trincomalee city and its suburbs on red alert under the direction of SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, news sources in Trincomalee said. Meanwhile nineteen schools in the Trincomalee education zone are to be closed down from January 28 till February 4 in order to give accommodation to additional military personnel brought down to Trincomalee from other parts of the island.
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Badurdeen supporters grab Tamil lands in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2013, 19:58 GMT]
Rifghan Badurdeen, a brother of SL minister Rishad Badurdeen and his supporters have been grabbing lands of Tamils situated in Thalaimannaar Pier, complain landowners in the area. Several landowners have lodged complaints with the SL police and the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission in Mannaar. But, there has been no action against the illegal land grab by the SL minister who has been causing disharmony among the peoples belonging to different religions. Civil officials in Mannaar have forwarded one of the complaints made in December 2012 to media, exposing the culprits behind the illegal encroachment.
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Turkish ambassador to Colombo welcomes ‘Sri Lanka model’ to deal with ‘terrorism’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2013, 07:47 GMT]
Despite the currently ongoing peace process between the PKK and the Turkey government, the Turkish ambassador to Sri Lanka, Iskender Okyay has welcomed the Sri Lanka model of counterinsurgency (COIN) to deal with ‘terrorism’, stating that “Sri Lanka's experience in fighting against terrorism could be a good example for Turkey” and adding that “the relationship between the countries could be deepened over the terrorism issue,” the Turkish nationalist news agency Today’s Zaman reported on Wednesday. Commenting on this, Kurdish activists in Europe told TamilNet that the Turkish diplomat’s endorsement of Sri Lanka’s genocidal model of COIN at a time when the Kurdish political movement was having faith in a peaceful settlement shows the insincerity of Turkey towards the peace process, besides being an tacit approval of the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation.
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Canadian Federal Court Overturns Refugee Status for MV Sun Sea Refugee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2013, 10:16 GMT]
The Federal Court of Canada has revoked the refugee status of a 26-year-old male Eezham Tamil refugee who arrived aboard the MV Sun Sea, the National Post reported on Monday. Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton’s recent ruling conflicts with decisions by the Immigration and Refugee Board in two separate cases granting refugee status to Eezham Tamil refugees aboard both the MV Sun Sea and Ocean Lady. In response to the recent Federal Court ruling based on an appeal by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Eezham Tamil political observers in Canada highlight the complicity of the Canadian government in the ongoing persecution of Eezham Tamil refugees.
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Sinhala, Muslim divisions carved in Ampaa’rai depriving territoriality to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2013, 06:43 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka plans to create a new Sinhala division in the Ampaa’rai district of Eastern Province that will be including the localities of the Oluvil port and a Buddhist temple constructed at Deegavaapi, news sources in the East said. Meanwhile, backed by SL minister Mr. ALM Athaullah, new Pradeasa Sapais (PS: civic bodies) and municipalities are carved out for the Muslims at Akkaraippattu and I’rakkaamam. But, the ancient Tamil villages in the district at Kalmunai, Paa’ndiruppu, Natpiddi-munai, Periya-neelaava’nai etc. don’t have their own PS or divisions. When the Sinhalese grab the lands of Muslims and Tamils and create enclaves, the Muslims in turn grab the lands of Tamils and totally marginalize them in the district, where Tamils have come only as the third ethnicity now.
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Eighth Indo-Lanka Commission ends with no innovation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2013, 06:36 GMT]
The Eighth meeting of the Indo-Sri Lanka Joint Commission held in New Delhi on Tuesday and was co-chaired by the External Affairs Ministers of the two Establishments, ended with nothing new either to the pressing issues of the genocide-facing island or to its bilateral issues with India, political analysts in the island commented. A Foreign Secretary level meeting on Monday preceded the ministerial meeting. Perhaps the only new programme found mentioned in the joint commission press statement was that both sides agreed to jointly celebrate the 150th birth anniversaries of Swami Vivekananda in 2013-14, and of Anagarika Dharmapala in 2014-15.
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Gotabhaya exonerates US-refused SL general

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 16:48 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on Sunday tried to exonerate a Sinhala military general, Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe, who was refused admission into a US military training programme on grounds that he had served the war-crimes-accused 53 Division of the SL military. The said general, recently appointed as SL Military Secretary, had not commanded the 53 Division or any other fighting formations, but he was only ‘Commissioner General of Rehabilitation’ taking over a state-run project to ‘rehabilitate’ ex-LTTE cadres in Feb 2010, Gotabhaya said, accusing the US for its blunder in the denial of opportunity to a senior officer of a friendly country to enhance his knowledge, Colombo defence writers reported on Monday.
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SL defence takes Jaffna University administration for a ride

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 01:26 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka’s defence establishment and education secretary have secretly promised the Colombo-appointed Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University that two of the detained students would be released before 14 January and the other two would be released after that, in order to persuade the VC and other members of the university administration to pressurize the students to drop the boycott and resume classes by the first week of January. This made the VC to go to the extent of her resignation threat and other threats to prevail upon the student representatives to agree to the reopening on 08 January. But so far there are no signs for the release of the detained students. The case is a good example for the futility of collaborationism entering into secret agreements with SL State and regime, political observers in Jaffna said.
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Australian civil society should be outraged by Sri Lankan cricket: Trevor Grant

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2013, 23:58 GMT]
Civil society in Australia should be outraged once they are exposed to the on going persecution faced by Eezham Tamils was the opinion of Trevor Grant speaking to TamilNet following the latest protest on Sunday organized by BSLCC and TYO. The protest was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground and has been the latest in a string of demonstrations focused on exposing Sri Lanka for its protracted genocide against Eezham Tamils and demanding the Australian Government and Cricket Australia to boycott all matches with the Sri Lankan team. Mr. Grant, former chief sports writer at The Age with over 40 years of experience in journalism, further commented that the Australian civil society should be “spearheading the unrelenting demands to their government and sporting bodies to enforce such boycott.”
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Colombo’s UPFA allies further accelerate divide in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2013, 23:37 GMT]
While Muslim politicians of Batticaloa, aligned with Rajapaksa regime in Colombo seek to annex Tamil villages with Muslim-dominated divisions of Batticaloa, Tamil paramilitary elements operated by Colombo attempt to woo Tamil voters by staging shutdown protests against Muslims, capitalizing from the lack of a broader political mobilization from the part of the TNA. The line of collaboration politics with Colombo, adopted by the SLMC, has made it easier for Colombo to deploy the divide and rule tactic, setting Tamils and Muslims against each other, providing necessary time and space to the occupying Sinhala military to scheme Sinhalicisation of resourceful interior villages of Batticaloa.
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DMK chief lists out multifaceted structural genocide beginning from toponyms

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2013, 16:14 GMT]
The DMK chief Mr. M. Karunanidhi, in a letter dated 19 January sent to the Indian Prime Minister, has drawn his attention to Sri Lanka “carrying out an intensive and systematic programme of erasing the Tamil language, culture, religion and diluting the concentration of Tamils in areas where they had historically been predominant.” Beginning from the renaming of Tamil villages, the letter listed out the various facets of the structural genocide committed on Eezham Tamils by the Sinhala State. Citing India’s moral obligation to stop this atrocity immediately, Mr. Karunanidhi requested suitable action.
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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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