Tamils should prepare for alternative international investigation if UN fails

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 September 2015, 06:06 GMT]
At least now realising the persistently deceptive agenda of Washington and New Delhi, what Tamils could do is acting on their own with innovation in internationalising the investigation and extracting justice, if the UN is going to fail, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island. By righteously reiterating the resolution on genocide and international investigation in the wake of the latest US deceit, the NPC led by Justice Wigneswaran has provided a historic moral mandate for all those who care for the rights of humanity all over the world to alternatively internationalise the investigation, focussing on what the powers and the agent State in the island have committed and are committing, the activists said.
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BJP, Indian Marxists should stop talking about 1857

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2015, 17:39 GMT]
When the 1857 rebellion in India broke out against British imperialism and when the British tried to degrade it as mere ‘Sepoy Mutiny’, Marx and Engels, then writing from London, based on reports that took months to come via sea, saw the point that it was not Mutiny, but the “First War of Indian Independence.” Decades later, Veer Savarkar, one of the founders of the Hindu Mahasabah, the forerunner of the RSS, Jan Sangh and today's BJP, wrote a book, “The Volcano” to describe 1857. The BJP, Indian Marxists and the so-called Indian nationalists have no right to speak about 1857, the Jallianwala Bagh of the 1919 etc., when they fail to see the genocide of the nation of Eezham Tamils for imperialistic purposes and the historical righteousness of their struggle that has faced all the imperialisms of the present times, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.
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SLM Hanifa urges Tamil-speaking politicians to transcend parochial localism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2015, 10:05 GMT]
Veteran writer SLM Hanifa has warned Tamils and Muslims of the sinister motives of the incumbent UNP-SLFP regime and the exploitative global politics of the Powers. Urging the Tamil-speaking Muslims and Tamils to shed past old wounds towards building unity between all Tamil speakers, also including the Upcountry Tamils, in order to defend the larger interests of their communities, the former NEPC councillor from Batticaloa condemned the opportunistic parliamentary orientations of the Muslim politicians, who have hitherto brought political confusion among the Muslim masses through their actions that have only strengthened the Sinhala-dominated coalitions. "Like the caste system is exploited for seeking votes in Tamil Nadu, locality-oriented parochialism has emerged as a destructive factor in the electoral politics in the island, which is exploited by the UNP and the SLFP,” Mr Hanifa said.
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TNA should clarify ‘consensus’ on domestic investigation

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 August 2015, 15:24 GMT]
While interviewing Mr Ranil Wikremesinghe for The Hindu on Monday, Indian media’s veteran antagonist of Eezham Tamil independence, ‘Sri Lanka Ratna’ Ram, came out with a question like guidance: “And on the human rights issues, there is a demand for an international investigation. But clearly there is a consensus in Sri Lanka that the investigation should be domestic.” The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) should clarify to Tamils whether it is part of this ‘consensus’, since genocidal Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister recognizes it in the interview as one of the three key players. Any silence of TNA in this matter should prompt Tamils to lose no time in mobilising their polity to face the drama that is going to be enacted in Geneva next month by the Indo-US playwrights, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics.
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TNA betrays Eezham Tamils by succumbing to LLRC hoodwink: Thirumurugan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 August 2015, 11:32 GMT]
Thirumurugan Gandhi of May 17 Movement in Tamil Nadu has urged the Eezham Tamils and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) not to commit an irreversible historic betrayal to the Tamil struggle by opting to succumb to a discourse, which has been conceived to trap the Eezham Tamils through the LLRC-oriented, US-designed resolutions passed in the Human Rights Council. The discourse systematically sabotages international investigations on genocide. The same architects are also trying to trap the Eezham Tamils through TNA's election manifesto, which seeks to negate the path of Tamil sovereignty and full right to self-determination. The TNA, after placing the election manifesto, has failed to respond to the key issues in the debate, the Tamil Nadu activist said in a video address to Eezham Tamils.
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Australia funds biometric passports of genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2015, 22:33 GMT]
At a time, when the demand of Tamils is to internationally investigate the genocide and on-going genocide in the island, the response coming from Australia is funding genocidal Sri Lanka’s passport intimidation project, which will be targeting especially the Tamil diaspora. With the provision of 500 million rupees coming from Australia, Colombo this week begins the programme of taking fingerprints for the issue of biometric passports. Under the programme, everyone needing a new passport has to personally go to offices located only in the island for taking biometric data. New passports obtained through diplomatic missions outside may become invalid on landing in Colombo.
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Gajendrakumar clarifies differences in TNPF-TNA polity

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 August 2015, 23:37 GMT]
In an interview to TamilNet on Sunday, Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) leader Mr Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam clarified the differences between the TNPF polity and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) polity on the question of solutions to the national question of Eezham Tamils, amidst claims by TNA politician Mr M.A. Sumanthiran that both the TNA and the TNPF talk of the same thing. Whether Tamils like to confirm the line of guided polity taken by imperialisms of own interests over the island, or whether Tamils like to edify (if not confront) the imperialisms by passing a strong message, is the difference between voting for the TNA and voting for the TNPF, commented Tamil political observers in Jaffna.
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New act of structural genocide seeks to uproot 3,500 Tamils from Mannaar islet

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 July 2015, 23:39 GMT]
The civil officers working under the SL Government Agent in Mannaar have been exerting pressure on 500 Eezham Tamil families living in three GS divisions within Mannaar DS division to vacate from their coastal villages in the islet and settle in alternative lands 15 km away in the mainland. The war-affected poor families, comprising 3,500 to 4,000 people, are dependent on fishing as their livelihood. They were given land deeds in the three GS divisions in 2008 and 2009. Utilized with land deeds, the families have constructed permanent houses and huts in their villages. The move would severely affect their access to the coast and their livelihood. But, the officials receiving instructions from Colombo's administrative system, are bent upon uprooting the fishing families without any promising alternative arrangements, concerned civil sources in Mannaar told TamilNet on Wednesday.
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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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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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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Trinco Bishop reminds India, UK on moral obligations, denounces domestic processes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2015, 23:24 GMT]
“If we are to view the recent history, the judicial system [of Sri Lanka] has been deployed against the interests of Tamils. Be it the State or it's military, the system has been deploying these laws against Tamils, further complicating the difficulties faced by them”, said Rt. Rev. Dr. Kinglsey Swampillai, the Bishop of Trincomalee, in an exclusive interview to TamilNet this week. “Although the Tamils have been waiting for a solution to relieve their plight for a long time, there is still no ray of light in this regard,” he said. Noting that India and the UK have contributed to the complexity of the dynamics enabling the successive SL governments to sustain the oppression on Tamils, the Bishop urged Tamils of reminding these Powers on their moral obligation to mediate between the Tamils and the Sri Lankan government to arrive at a political solution resolving the underlying conflict.
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NPC Minister demands de-militarisation of Chu'ndiku'lam Bird Sanctuary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2015, 22:08 GMT]
The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Minister, responsible for the environmental affairs Ponnuthurai Ayngaranesan has stated that the NPC was demanding the occupying Sri Lanka Navy to hand over the environmental tourism related establishments it has established in the bird sanctuary of Chu'ndik-ku'lam. Like the forest department of the Tamil Nadu government and the local people have been protecting the Veadanthaangkal Bird Sanctuary, which is situated in Chengkalpaddu District of Tamil Nadu, the people in Vadamaraadchi East and the ministry at the NPC with the responsibility of protecting the environment want to take over the affairs of their environment from the military, he said. The people-environment relationship in the North-East would be best taken care of by the people in their traditional homeland than a [occupying] military, he said.
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CMPC in Tamil Nadu pays tribute to Eezham Tamil Journalist Sivaram

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2015, 17:19 GMT]
Centre of Media Persons for Change (CMPC), a journalist movement based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, observed 10th year anniversary of the assassination of Eezham Tamil journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam (Taraki) at a journalists meeting, which was organised on Sunday to mark the World Press Freedom Day and the 5th year of the CMPC movement, media sources in Chennai said. Young journalists from mainstream media groups participated in the event discussing conflict-reporting, self-realization on the role of the journalists in the larger society dominated by a corporate culture, commitment to principled approaches and focus on human rights of the oppressed nations and people.
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New generation of organic intellectuals needed to continue Sivaram’s work

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2015, 12:08 GMT]
“Only a new generation of organic Tamil intellectuals, who have a clear understanding of changing global paradigms and who are able to create paradigm shifts in Tamil political discourse, can preserve and take forward Sivaram’s legacy” writes research scholar RM Karthick. In an article written on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the assassination of ‘Taraki’ Sivaram Dharmeratnam, Mr. Karthick argues that the current Tamil intelligentsia needs to live up to its historical responsibility in exposing the designs of the powers, be it in Oslo, Geneva or Singapore. Criticizing mainstream Tamil intellectuals for their apathy and for failing to keep up with important changes in South Asian geo-politics, he further says that “a nation’s ability to spring back to its feet politically depends on how soon it is able to organize itself intellectually.”
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Sivaram commemorated in Tamil Nadu on 10th anniversary of his assassination

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 April 2015, 10:29 GMT]
The 10th death anniversary of assassination of Senior Editor at TamilNet, an Eezham Tamil intellectual, journalist, political analyst and activist Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki) was marked on Tuesday in Chennai. Sivaram, beside his profound love for his people, was a genuine internationalist who dedicated his life and writing- to quote him in his own words, “…to create a body of knowledge to help oppressed people all over the world help themselves to get out from under oppression; to disseminate this body of knowledge.” A decade after his assassination by the hands of the Sri Lankan state, Eelam and much of the oppressed nations of the world which he espoused solidarity with and desired to aid are still beleaguered and subjected to counter-insurgency perpetuated by their respective oppressor states aided by world powers.
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