New Delhi meet of Tamil parties ends without consensus

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 18:55 GMT]
The two-days meet of Eezham Tamil political parties held in New Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday on the initiative of Congress Party parliamentarian Sudharshana Natchiappan ended without consensus, participants told TamilNet. The main issue was that those who didn’t want to disappoint the Congress agenda didn’t want to resolve on the status of Eezham Tamils as a nation and that the nation has the right to self determination in the island. Instead, some of them wanted to concentrate on measures of protection and on accepting whatever that is given. The TNA wanted to avoid specific wordings and demands on issues of fundamental nature in order to stage-manage a New Delhi sponsored consensus of Tamil political parties.
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3 Sinhala ‘intruders’ reported missing in Muslim town in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 16:09 GMT]
A combined search operation has been launched by the Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Police to trace three Sinhalese persons who are reported to be missing in Muslim dominated Kaathankudy in Batticaloa district during disturbances over the ‘grease devil’ scare. The disappearance of three persons suspected to be ‘grease devils’ is alleged to have taken place in Paalamunai village Friday night when they fled and sought refuge in a police station located in Karbala village. Thereafter SL police personnel and SLA soldiers had rushed to the area and attacked youths who were passing through Beach Road and Goodwin Junction and also damaged houses, shops, and vehicles.
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SLN, STF arrest 15 Muslims in Kalpiddi, Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 16:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy and Special Task Force personnel launched an attack on civilians irrespective of their sex in Kalpiddi in Puththa'lam district Tuesday morning and arrested over fifteen Muslims. The SLA and STF had forced the closure of all shops in Kalpiddi thereafter. Relatives of the arrested persons are in dark over their kith and kin taken into custody by the Sri Lankan forces. The arrested persons including daily paid workers, fishermen, and traders are said to be detained in Munthal Police Station.
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SLA terror unleashed in Jaffna after public unmasks ‘grease devils’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2011, 07:52 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka Army entered into houses at Naavaan-thu’rai in Jaffna city Monday night, dragged out hundreds of youth and children and tortured them in their camps during the night, following public in Naavanthu’rai on Monday identifying the ‘grease devils’ as SLA soldiers. Many houses were destroyed and plundered by the SL soldiers. On Monday when five ‘grease devils’ entered into a house at Naavaanthu’rai and when the public chased them, the intruders escaped by entering into a nearby SL Army camp. Identifying the intruders as SLA soldiers, the public waged a protest in front of the camp demanding the arrest of the intruders by SL police. The angry public pelted stones at the camp. The SL Army in a planned revenge terrorised the residents during the night.
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SLA destroys traces of Pirapaharan's house in VVT

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2011, 00:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Mondah night deployed a large number of troops at Aaladi in Valveddiththu'rai, surrounding the already demolished house, where Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Lieration Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was born and raised. The soldiers who came in armoured vehicles were engaged throughout the night in destroying the remaining structures of the already demolished house.
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SLA ‘grease devils’ caught red-handed by villagers in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 23:36 GMT]
A Sinhala soldier, posing as ‘grease devil’, entered a house Monday night at Aalangkaddai in Vathiri of Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna, was caught by the villagers. The man, when confronted by the residents, claimed that he belonged to Sri Lanka Army intelligence. At the same time, occupying SLA soldiers who came to the site in a white-coloured van rescued the intelligence man and took him to their camp, firing warning shots and dispersing the protesting villagers. However, the residents gathered outside the military camp and demanded the SLA handed over to the SL Police in front of them. The soldiers at the camp opened fire to disperse the crowd. In the meantime, two villagers were wounded in a similar confrontation at Naavanthu'rai, near the city of Jaffna.
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SLA, STF militarise Puththa'lam following unrest

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 13:07 GMT]
Hundreds of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and elite commandos of the notorious Special Task Force (STF) personnel have been deployed in Puththa'lam following the clashes between the residents and the SL Police on Sunday. The SLA has come to the town with military tanks and armoured vehicles. SLA and STF personnel are manning every 5 meter of the road, the residents said. The residents say the that two armed intruders, who caused injuries to a dog entering the premises of a house in Ma'nal-theevu, 3 km north of Puththa'lam and shot at the Muslim youth who confronted them, were Sinhala policemen.
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SLA establishes 224th Brigade in Ki'n'niyaa after ‘grease devil’ episode

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 11:38 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has established its 224 Brigade in Ki'n'niyaa town where ninety nine percent of the population are Tamil-speaking Muslims. The deployment of Sri Lankan military at Ki'n'niyaa, the most densely populated town in the Trincomalee district, comes in the wake of protests held by Muslim residents of the area against the arrest of twenty four Muslim civilians over an attempted ‘grease devil’ attack by an alleged Sri Lanka Navy man last week. The new SLA Brigade consists two battalions with 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers, informed sources in the East told TamilNet Monday.
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Taking Eezham Tamils for another ride: New Delhi’s preparations

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 10:33 GMT]
While a Congress politician EM Sudarshana Natchiappan convenes a meeting in New Delhi ‘inviting’ nearly 10 Tamil political parties from the island to commit to a hoodwink solution suiting New Delhi’s agenda, Dr. V. Suryanarayan, harping on Sampanthan’s repeated statements that the TNA does not subscribe to a separate state of Tamil Eelam, wrote on Saturday that the ‘minorities’ should now come together against marginalisation. Responding, an Eezham Tamil politician in the island said that with the kind of militarisation having a genocidal Army of exclusive ethnicity and with the kind of grooming it gets from the powers, the ‘minorities’ coming together alone is not going to help in anyway. Rather, the making of Tamil Eelam only could guarantee safety and self-esteem of all, including the up-country Tamils, whether inside or outside of Tamil Eelam.
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It is not mere corruption, but militarisation of corruption in South Asia

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 05:02 GMT]
“Military forces across South Asia are flexing their commercial muscles to create ventures that rival private firms and threaten to militarise civil society,” says a New Zealand Herald article, Saturday. “In Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, defence chiefs have interests in everything from airlines to sugar factories, banks to bakeries, from power plants to ports. Investments worth billions of dollars are controlled by a military elite that is eclipsing civilian bureaucracies and, in some cases, corrupting the services,” the article by Rahul Bedi said. TamilNet commentator responded by saying that as militaries in South Asia don’t hesitate now to commit even genocide to protect corrupt states, the current anti-corruption uprising in India needs to be more inclusive and Tamil Nadu should enlighten peoples of India on the need to integrate the struggle of Eezham Tamils with it.
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SL Army begins registering Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 03:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers have been engaged in registering Tamil youths of both sexes who are staying Colombo with their relatives and friends and lodges in Colombo city and its suburbs. This has caused fear among Tamils living in the South. But the SLA says that this ethnic and selective registration is a ‘routine affair’ and not an especially implemented assignment, a new kind of explanation aimed at escaping criticism. In Mayoorapathi area in Wellawatte, the SLA personnel even photographed members of each family residing there, civil sources in Colombo said. The sudden registration of Tamils residing in Wellawatte has caused fear that the Rajapaksa government is contemplating to acquire several flats now being occupied by Tamil civilians.
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Context demands Tamil-Muslim solidarity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 13:15 GMT]
“Muslims may not be a community distinct from the Tamils, but they have some special problems pertaining to their security. […] Tamil support for Muslim security and peace could open a new chapter in Tamil-Muslim relations,” says an article by A.R.M. Imtiyaz and S.R.H. Hoole, appeared in Routledge-published July issue of Journal of South Asian studies. “We argue that the Tamils’ northern leadership has been insensitive to Muslims,” the article said. Reviewing the article, a Tamil academic in the island commented that while the argument is partly true, the East was always influencing and imposing decisions in this regard. Inspiring initiatives should therefore originate from the East, evolving from its experiences, and all Tamils should support it. Based on secular and inclusive attributes of Tamil identity, progressive forces in Tamil Nadu also have a role to play, the reviewer said.
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SLA increases its control in Ki'n'niyaa town after ‘grease devil’ episode

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 09:50 GMT]
Ki'n'niya with a population of over one hundred thousand people, ninety nine percent of them are Muslims has been reeling under the repression of the Sri Lankan armed forces since they successfully got the release of civilians arrested by the Sri Lanka Army last week over the ‘grease devil’ scare. Hundreds of people held hostage the District Government Agent Ranjith de Silva and SLA Commander of East, Maj. Gen. Boniface Perera, inside the Ki'n'niyaa Divisional Secretariat building till they obtained the release of 24 civilians.
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USA to conduct joint exercise with genocidal Air Force of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 05:44 GMT]
The Pacific Air Command of the US Air Force will be conducting a joint air exercise with the Air Force of Sri Lanka, involving the bases at Ratmalana in Colombo and Ampaa’rai in the Eastern Province, media reports from Colombo said. Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Malaysian Air Force, and the Bangladesh Air Force also will participate in the exercise. The Air Force of Sri Lanka is accused of specific instances of war crimes against Eezham Tamils in the UN panel report. While talk of human rights and crimes against humanity is dubiously manipulated by some powers for their political benefits, their defence establishments and intelligence agencies are all out to promote militarism of genocidal Sri Lanka for their strategic benefits, political analysts in the island said.
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Archbishop praying for united Sri Lanka speaks on ‘we and they’

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 August 2011, 10:57 GMT]
His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, while presiding and addressing the feast of Our Lady of Madu in Mannaar on Monday, wished a miracle to come from Our Lady to make people of the country respect the rights and identity of one another. The Cardinal who preached in Sinhala lamented that even after finishing 30 years of war still we talk about peace within a divided framework. He prayed for a united Sri Lanka. The Catholic Archbishop for the entire island didn’t conceal his identity going with the Sinhalese when he said, “As Sinhalese, we need to think of political rights and social needs of the Tamil and Muslims in the North. […] Although this country is one by law, it is still divided in hearts. It is still clear that the people of North do not think like the people of South. We need to work flexible ways to win their hearts.”
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Gotabhaya thinks giving into war crimes allegations will have no end

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 23:40 GMT]
Responding to war crimes allegations will not work, confronting them will only work, seems to be the orientation of Rajapaksa regime as implied by a comment of SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who reacted to Tuesday’s The Hindu editorial, saying "it seemed fresh charges would be levelled as soon as we responded to existing allegations". Addressing a symposium on ‘post-war’ challenges at BMICH, Colombo the SL defence secretary said that he would stand by what he had said on rejecting the rape allegations on the SL Army, citing the safe treatment of a UK national “so attractive” in the custody of the SL Army, The island reported Thursday. The Hindu in its editorial said that for this statement alone Gotabhaya should be taken to task.
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Sri Lanka to purchase 14 Mi-17 military helicopters from Russia

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 21:04 GMT]
Further bolstering its military ties with Russia and expanding its own military machine beyond its local needs, Sri Lanka has entered into yet another contract with Russia’s state-run arms enterprise, Rosoboronexport, to purchase different modifications of Mi-17 military helicopters, reports from Colombo and Moscow said. While Rajapasa-critics in Colombo said the purchase is ‘managed’ by SL Presidential sibling and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa through a so-called State-owned company, which is neither controlled by the SL Auditor General nor listed on the Stock Exchange, the Eezham Tamil circles said the military transport gunships are to be deployed in the ongoing SL militarisation of the country of Eezham Tamils.
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Abandoned Tamil schools acquired by occupying SL military

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 17:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka military occupying the country of Eezham Tamils acquires abandoned Tamil schools for converting them into military camps. Occupying military officers are busy in recent days in collecting particulars of the abandoned schools in the Vanni districts as well as in the Vadamaraadchi, Thenmaraadchi and the islands divisions of the Jaffna district. The occupying military has ordered the northern directorate of education to submit particulars of all abandoned schools to facilitate military’s increasing demand for infrastructure facilities. Using the abandoned schools, 30 new military camps are planned in the Jaffna peninsula alone. Occupying military has a particular programme to first intensely militarise and Sinhalicise the islands off the Jaffna peninsula. It makes no secret about it to the Tamils remaining in the islands.
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SLA personnel assault UNP Provincial Councillor in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 05:18 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka Army soldiers on Wednesday assaulted a 61-year-old member of the Eastern Provincial Council, Thambimuthu Aloysius Masilamany, who rushed to scene in a three-wheeler at Oo'ra'ni on receipt of information that a young woman had been assaulted. Mr. Masilamany, who represents the United National Party (UNP) in the EPC, said that the SLA soldiers at the site had attacked him even after he identified him as a member of the EPC.
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Tamil villagers clash with SL Police in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 13:56 GMT]
A man suspected to be a Sinhala policeman or soldier, who entered the house of a Tamil woman at Oo'ra'ni in Batticaloa attacked the young women Wednesday afternoon around 2:00 p.m. The intruder, using a sharp object, caused injuries to her chest and her stomach before leaving the premises. An eyewitness saw the attacker escaping into the police post located 100 meters away on Oo'ra'ni - Chelvanayakam Road. Soon after the episode, angered villages started to burn tires and put up roadblocks preventing vehicle movement along Batticaloa Trincomalee Road. The SL policemen deployed in the area attacked the protesters with wooden clubs. The SL police has also used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Tension prevails in Oo'ra'ni.
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