‘Pro-SL UK parliamentarians stoop to mockery in shielding genocide’

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 January 2013, 19:16 GMT]
Commenting on some pro-Sri Lanka UK parliamentarians citing a naïve conversation of Sampanthan in their speech at the UK parliamentary debate on Sri Lanka on Tuesday in urging toleration towards the genocidal State, TCC-UK activist Mr Sasithar Maheswaran said that “The use of such twisted arguments to cover-up the worst genocide of the 21st century is a mockery not just of democratic traditions in the UK, but of humanity at large.” Describing the citation of the UK parliamentarians as a “below the belt tactic to divert attention from genocide,” when there is no other credible point, Sasithar, who is an elected representative of UK Tamils with the TGTE-Democrats further said, “Citizens of the UK, Tamil or otherwise, must be aware of such tendencies among certain politicians and the grave threat it holds for peace and justice in the world.”
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Colombo ignores flood affected Tamils in Trincomalee in providing relief

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 January 2013, 23:24 GMT]
Colombo government has been ignoring to provide relief to people affected by the flood in Tamil District Secretariat divisions in Trincomalee district.Thirteen DS divisions have been affected by flood by rain and spill water from tanks. But flood relief and other assistance are being provided to people in Sinhala DS divisions Gomarankadawela, Padavi Siripura and Seruwila. No such relief has been provided to Tamils affected by flood in Moothoor East and those uprooted people from Champoor now being sheltered in temporary tents.
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Pro-Sri Lanka UK parliamentarians cite Sampanthan in debate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2013, 23:54 GMT]
The UK Parliament on Tuesday debated the question of participating the CHOGM meet in Hambantota in the island of Sri Lanka in November this year. Even as many voices among the parliamentarians urged the UK government to consider boycotting the CHOGM meet, there was however a section that argued for a conciliatory approach towards Colombo, despite the worst ever genocide of this century it committed and continues to commit against Eezham Tamils. This section cited the TNA leader Mr R Sampanthan in support of their argument. Obviously the intention of the pro-Sri Lanka section in citing Sampanthan was malicious, but Tamil politicians should take a note of it in guarding against providing undue space for adversaries through infirmity in political fundamentals, commented new generation political activists in the island.
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‘Australia’s foreign policy on Sri Lanka greatest sell-out in its history’: Trevor Grant

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2013, 00:38 GMT]
“The Gillard Labor Government has decided to dance cheek-to-cheek with a war criminal because it wants to stop Tamil refugees fleeing to Australia before this year's election,” veteran journalist Trevor Grant told TamilNet, dubbing Australian’s current foreign policy on Sri Lanka as “one of the greatest sell-outs by government in Australian history.” Responding to questions sent via mail, Mr. Grant, former chief sports writer at The Age with over 40 years of experience in journalism, further criticised Australia’s, particularly Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s support for the CHOGM conference in Sri Lanka. “I find it astounding that Australia is going to help Sri Lanka set up CHOGM,” he said, adding that Australia should be leading the boycott of CHOGM to be held in Sri Lanka. Criticising the LLRC as “Rajapaksa eyewash”, he opined Australia should help prosecute war criminals in Sri Lanka.
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Canadian minister cuts double image in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 January 2013, 19:57 GMT]
Beginning a ministerial visit to Colombo since the Vanni War, the Canadian government once again prepares itself for climbing on the geostrategic bandwagon that detracts or deviates from delivering righteous solutions to genocide-afflicted Eezham Tamils, political observers in the island commented. They cited the double image cut by the visiting Canadian Minister portrayed in two separate news releases of the Canadian government: one denying the right to flee to the people subjected to genocide and the other showing concern to ‘human rights’ situation in the island, but both upholding integrity of the genocidal State. A different set of citations of the minister appeared in the SL government news release. The minister also cut a double image when media quoted him referring to “Sri Lankan immigrants” and “Tamil Canadians.”
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Jaffna University reopens at the height of intimidation

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2013, 12:45 GMT]
Proving to the entire world, how a single mind as that of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s, suffering from paranoia related to power and genocide but unchecked by the world, could take a realm of institutions and people such as a university, vice chancellor, education secretary, Bishop, military commander, deans, professors and students for a ride, the Jaffna University reopens for classes on Tuesday, sources in Jaffna said. At a meeting held by the VC of Jaffna University on Monday, student representatives and the university community decided to resume classes from 08 January, after an SL government intimidation was conveyed to them that if classes were not resumed immediately, the university would be declared closed for a year and then even after a year resumption would be doubtful.
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CPI questions communist parties of Russia, China, Cuba, on Tamil issue

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2013, 00:23 GMT]
What is the position of the Communist Party of Russian Federation (CRPF)? What is the position of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and what is the position of Cuba, asked Communist Party of India’s (CPI) National Secretary D. Raja, bringing the issue of international investigation on Sri Lanka at the round table of experts from different communist parties of the world held in Moscow last month. “You comrades have to reconsider your position and voice your concerns in favour of Tamil people in Sri Lanka,” Raja urged, expressing concern over the lack of understanding among the communist parties on the issue. In the contemporary history a massacre of people in such a scale happened nowhere. It was genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, Raja told the world communist parties.
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SL Archbishop collaborates with Gotabhaya in militarization land grab

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2013, 14:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Archbishop and a Cardinal of Vatican, His Eminence Malcolm Ranjith had personally come along with genocidal Colombo’s Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in grabbing Mu’l’lik-ku’lam village in Mannaar district for a naval base of the occupying Sinhala military and declaring the village out of bounds for its resettling inhabitants, news sources in Mannaar said. The Sinhala Archbishop had come and the Tamil Bishop of Mannaar, Rayappu Joseph, was made to silently sit along with him at the conference called by Gotabhaya at Mu’l’likku’lam on 26 December, in coercing the largely Tamil Catholic villagers to the sulking reconciliation of accepting alternative offers of land, the news sources further said.
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MIA, Goldcoast bound, speaks for Tamil refugees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2013, 00:05 GMT]
Jaffna born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA), called the "the most provocative pop star of her age," by the British Guardian, and who played a big role in raising the plight of Tamil refugees, again spoke out for the Tamil asylum seekers in Australia as she landed in the Gold Coast, near Brisbane Australia today to join The Chemical Brothers as one of the headline acts at the Summafieldayze music festival, reports from Australia said. "You know, it's really difficult to work out the future of a minority group [Eezham Tamils] that is considered disposable. Can you just let them in? It's a big enough country....I don't think it's about isolating those people. It's about embracing them because that's the future," MIA was quoted as saying in a local paper.
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Nepalese war criminal faces torture charges in UK

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2013, 13:54 GMT]
Colonel Kumar Lama, a 46-year-old Nepalese officer, currently seconded to the UN, was held at his East Sussex home by Metropolitan Police officers on Thursday, charged with intentionally "inflicting severe pain or suffering" as a public official on two separate individuals, BBC reported. "This encouraging development puts on notice persumptive war-criminals from Sri lanka who have participated or commanded extra-judicial killings, torture of civilians, and killings of surrendees, all qualifying as war-crimes during a State sanctioned massacre that comes perilously close to genocide, on visiting UK, or other European Countries where the Courts exercise Universal jurisdiction for such crimes," a spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said.
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Colombo ventures to coach New Delhi on ‘Counterinsurgency’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2013, 10:42 GMT]
After spearheading an internationally-coordinated counterinsurgency (COIN) operation against the LTTE which resulted in an internationally abetted genocide of the Eezham Tamils in May 2009, in which India played no small a role, Sri Lanka now claims that it can offer training to Indian and other military forces in COIN operations. The commitment of General Bikram Singh, the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army, to Sri Lanka’s security and his implicit appreciation of the Sri Lanka model of COIN by his statements at the passing out parade at Sri Lanka Military Academy on 22 December should be a cause of concern for progressive civil society activists in India, for while the ‘Sri Lanka solution’ was possible in its specific case only by a combination of geo-political factors and genocidal intent, it holds out lessons that could threaten democratic traditions in any country.
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Sri Lanka appoints military to teach Sinhala in Vanni schools

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2013, 21:21 GMT]
In a hitherto unheard experiment in conducting genocide, the Sri Lanka government has appointed its occupying military to teach Sinhala as second language to Tamil school children in Vanni. The Sinhala military personnel went in uniform to schools to report as Sinhala teachers and they claimed that they had permission from the SL education authorities to do so, news sources in Vanni said. The genocidal military teaching Sinhala goes parallel to the teaching of Theravada Buddhism to Tamils. The Sinhala military also aims to be in direct touch with the Tamil school children, the news sources further said. Already there were strict instructions to schools in Vanni that no functions could take place without inviting the occupying military and garlanding them publicly.
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UN continues to commit knowing blunder on Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2013, 08:14 GMT]
While various publications, including an internal investigation report of the UN, find fault with the way the UN handled the Vanni War that ended in genocide, the UN, the ICRC, the IOM and other international agencies continue to commit the same blunder knowingly, by leaving Eezham Tamils entirely in the hands of Colombo, with no outfits to complain with trust or to independently monitor the on-going genocide, said a senior social activist in the island, citing the cases of the repeated rape and abuse of former LTTE cadres, the sufferings of the Tamil women coerced into SL military, the plight of a doctor who voiced for them, forced relocation of re-settlers and the acts committed on Jaffna University students. These take place at individual level, apart from the larger militarisation, colonisation and Sinhalicisation of the genocidal agenda, he said.
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East mourns demise of Muslim Tamil educationalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2013, 11:50 GMT]
The 40th day mourning for Al-haj M.A. Samsudeen, who passed away on 25 November at the age of 82, is to be observed at Addaa’laich-cheanai in the Ampaa’rai district of Eastern Province on Thursday. Mr. Samshudeen dedicated nearly 40 years of his life to education in the East as well in the North and retired as Batticaloa’s Additional Director of Education. His education and career in the East, North and Tamil Nadu is one such that would inspire anyone of the larger perspective shared by Muslims and Tamils.
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Canada extradites citizens to stand "terrorism" trial in Brooklyn

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2013, 02:29 GMT]
Two naturalized Canadian citizens of Eezham Tamil origin, Suresh Sriskandarajah and Piratheepan Nadarajah, plead not guilty to charges on providing material assistance to the now defunct Liberation Tigers when both were arraigned Thursday last week in the District Court of the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), after a six year battle in Canada fighting extradition, legal sources in New York said. The defendants lost a constitutional challenge in the Canadian Supreme Court when the Court ruled that Canada’s terrorism laws did not infringe on the defendants constitutional rights and that the Canadian Justice Minister's order to surrender the defendants to the United States was legal.
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Malaysian Tamil declaration upholds Eezham Tamil sovereignty

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2013, 00:14 GMT]
The World Tamilar Protection Conference (WTPC) in its second session conducted in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on Friday, declared that it recognises the need to understand the question of Eezham Tamils in terms of their claim for Historical Sovereignty, Earned Sovereignty and Remedial Sovereignty in their territory. The declaration said that the nation of Eezham Tamils having sovereignty and the right to self-determination in their traditional homeland in the island of Sri Lanka had been subjected to genocide over 60 years by the Sinhala nation. Convened jointly by the President of Puthiya Thamizhakam Party in Tamil Nadu Dr K. Krishnasamy and the Deputy Chief Minister of Penang State in Malaysia Prof P Ramasamy, the conference was addressed by Malaysia’s Leader of the Opposition Mr Anwar Ibrahim.
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Veteran Eezham Tamil activist Rasaiah Navanayagam passes away in London

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 December 2012, 21:46 GMT]
Rasaiah Navanayagam, a veteran Eezham Tamil activist based in the UK, passed away in London on Wednesday at the age of 71. Mr. Navanayagam, who rose in prominence as an activist in UK in the 80s, was instrumental in the formation of several grassroot political and social organizations in London. Recognized for being one of the key organizers of the first Maaveerar Naa'l in London in 1990 with the guidance of the late Col. Kittu, activists who worked with him remember his homeland oriented perspective and his resourcefulness in mobilizing the Tamil community in the UK for political and cultural activities. Mr. Navanayagam’s demise is mourned by a cross-section of the Eezham Tamil community in the UK.
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Interference in Sri Lanka judiciary under international spotlight

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 December 2012, 19:22 GMT]
Gabriela Knaul, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, warning that intimidation and the "dramatic increase" inattacks against judges and judicial officers in Sri Lanka may constitute a threat to the independence of the justice system, said, “The recent steps taken by the executive and legislative towards impeaching the Chief Justice appear to be the culminating point of a series of attacks against the judiciary for asserting its independence."
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Brian identifies Sri Lanka, Australia as beneficiaries of his Singapore deportation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 December 2012, 12:35 GMT]
Dr Brian Seneviratne, 81-year-old Australian human rights activist of Sinhala origin steadfastly fighting for the rights of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, was deported by Singapore immigration on 14 December, when he came from Australia to go to Malaysia and address closed-door meetings on the push factors of refugees coming from the island via Malaysia and their handling by Australia. In a letter addressed to Australian Prime Minister, Ms Julia Gillard, raising several questions on the modus operandi of his deportation by Singapore defying a State’s obligation to the international rights of any person, Brian identifies the Government of Sri Lanka and the Government of Australia as the ultimate beneficiaries of his deportation.
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Colombo posters wage war against all shades of Tamil nationalism

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 December 2012, 09:20 GMT]
Citing the posters that appeared in Colombo and in southern parts of the island last week, a notice in Sinhala addressing ‘intelligent students’ of the Jaffna University, invariably accused all shades of Tamil polity in the island and in the diaspora that are not collaborating with the genocidal regime, as working for the division of the ‘country’. The notice also accused Sinhala students and shades of Sinhala Left in the south showing solidarity with the students of the Jaffna University, as unconsciously becoming a “prey to the interests of the LTTE to divide the country.” An English translation of the notice is produced herewith.
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