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11570 matching reports found. Showing 261 - 280 [TamilNet, Sunday, 14 April 2019, 22:43 GMT]Occupying Colombo's Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) has recently permitted twenty-six migrant fishers from outside the Mullaiththeevu district to put up huts as season settler fishers along the Chaalai lagoon in Mullaiththeevu district. None among these 26 settlers are Tamils. Eighteen of them are from Negombo, Chilaw and Puththa'lam while eight are Tamil-speaking Muslims from Trincomalee, informed civil sources in Mullaiththeevu said. The scheme is going to be a Sinhala colony as the one in Mukaththuvaaram in Kokku'laay, Tamil civil sources said. Full story >> [TamilNet, Monday, 08 April 2019, 22:13 GMT]Despite mounting criticisms, Silver Park Oil Refineries Pvt Ltd, owned by a Tamil Nadu politician's family, has begun its investment by transferring USD 400,000 to the SL Board of Investment, reports in Colombo said on Sunday. The forces, which have tricked the family of Tamil Nadu politician into the most massive single foreign direct investment ever in the history of the island so far, are aiming at blocking Tamils from waging a global BSD campaign against the SL State, Tamil activists in Jaffna said responded on Monday. SL Deputy Minister of International Trade and Development Strategies, Nalin Bandara was revealing the details of the initial transaction and forecasts of the USD 3.85 billion investment at a special media briefing held at the SL Information Department on Friday. The SL Minister was saying that the project would add USD 7 billion to the annual export earnings. Full story >> [TamilNet, Saturday, 06 April 2019, 22:59 GMT]The Magistrate of Polgahawela in the South has detained an award-winning Sinhala novelist on the charges of inciting ‘religious hatred’ for his short story on homosexuality among the Theravada Buddhist monks. The monks got the SL Police and the judiciary to invoke the clauses of the SL State's ‘compliance’ to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which prohibited religious hatred to remand 33-year-old Shakthika Sathkumara on 01 April. Meanwhile, Jaffna Magistrate Peter Paul, a Tamil who hails from the up-country, delivered a blow to the SL ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division on the issue of Freedom of Speech and the SL State's ‘compliance’ to ICCPR on Friday. To set everything into context, a Tamil short story, Pali-peedam, authored by the late Eezham Tamil creative writer S. Ponnuthurai (Es Po) four decades ago is reproduced at the end of this news feature. Full story >> [TamilNet, Thursday, 04 April 2019, 23:46 GMT] SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe was talking about the process of urbanisation and about setting up an economic corridor linking Colombo and Trincomalee. Mr Wickramasinghe was addressing media, intellectuals, and public servants on Wednesday. “The region from Mannar to Trincomalee would be brought under development. The road network linking Mannar, Trincomalee through Kandy and Dambulla and Colombo and Hambantota, would promote developed economic zones,” Daily News reported Wickramasinghe as saying. Responding, Tamil activists for alternative politics in Jaffna said the UNP regime, after consolidating itself in Colombo and Geneva with the collaboration of ITAK, is now going to accelerate the structural genocide against the nation of Eezham Tamils through so-called urbanisation. Full story >> [TamilNet, Monday, 01 April 2019, 22:11 GMT] ITAK Parliamentarian and President Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran, a proven ‘revisionist’ of Eezham Tamils’ external right of self-determination who sophisticatedly denies Tamil genocide, has now assailed former NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, who mistakenly or deceptively ended up harping on IIGEP as a precedent-setting argument to justify the illogical demand for hybrid courts. After Sumanthiran's intervention, which was highlighted by Jaffna daily Kaalaik-Kathir on 31st March, Wigneswaran issued a new statement on the same day – this time in Tamil only – and said he was not asking to set up a group like the IIGEP. His initial statement also pointed out that the act of IIGEP dissolving itself was an example why an international investigation was necessary in the island, he reiterated. Full story >> [TamilNet, Sunday, 31 March 2019, 23:04 GMT]DMK Politician S. Jagathrakshakan is trying to downplay the move for record-high investment in constructing an oil refinery and a cement plant by his family-owned business in Hambantota. The step, partnering with genocidal Sri Lanka and the Sultanate of Oman, which is having China as its biggest trade partner, “could see several more investors once the details were worked out”, the former Union minister has reportedly told media in India on Sunday. Eezham Tamils have severely criticised the move as being contradictory to the policy of his party and the legislature of Tamil Nadu, which has called for international investigations against Tamil genocide in the island as well as for an economic embargo. Full story >> [TamilNet, Thursday, 28 March 2019, 23:21 GMT]The forces seeking to escalate religious disharmony among Eezham Tamils in Mannaar have been both influencing and criticising the religious establishments of the Tamil Catholics and the Tamil Saivites in the district, trapping the two communities further into a prolonged conflict this week. The board of trustees of Thirukkeatheesvaram Saiva temple organised a protest on Thursday, a day before the SL Magistrate’s Court in Mannaar is set to hear the religious skirmish that took place in Thirukkeatheesvaram on 03 March. The protest drew four thousand participants from across the district bringing the traffic in the city to a standstill for two hours. In the meantime, SL Minister of Power, Energy and Business ‘Development’, Ravi Karunanayake, a Sinhala Catholic from Colombo, rushed to Madu shrine in Mannaar to discuss ‘development’ of the shrine. Full story >> [TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 March 2019, 17:22 GMT] The occupying Sinhala military chased away the residents of four villages in Kudumpi-malai GS division, which is also known as Thoppik-kal and Baron’s Cap, during the times of war in 2007. The villages are located close to Polonnaruwa border. Although the uprooted Eezham Tamils were allowed to resettle back in 2013, the fertile highlands at Periya Miyaang-kal village, owned by Tamil settlers since 1969 were being retained by the occupying Sinhala military occupation. Even though the SL Army relocated its 11th Regiment troops from the location two years ago in 2017, the Tamil landowners are not being allowed to enter their lands. Now, the SL authorities have started to claim that the grounds have become ‘state property’ says Nagarasa Nagathamby, who was living there since 1969. The Buddha statue and the structures are intact, and the Tamils fear a Sinhala colony at the locality. Full story >> [TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2019, 09:23 GMT]If the Colombo government wants to establish that there are no war-time mass graves in Mannaar district, it should invite the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to initiate systematic scanning of all former and present military zones for mass graves, say families of persons subjected to enforced disappearances during the times of genocidal war in the district. More than 800 Tamil people have been subjected to enforced disappearances in Mannaar district alone within 19 years between 1990 and 2009. The families of the victims want to initiate a broader campaign calling for an independent international competent authority to take charge of the entire process. The families suspect there are potential sites of mass graves the Sunny Village in Mannaar island as well as in the notorious SL military base in the mainland. Full story >> [TamilNet, Monday, 25 March 2019, 19:47 GMT] Occupying Colombo's Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) has filed a ‘B Report’ requesting the Magistrates’ Court in Jaffna to demand the editor of Colombo-based Thamizhth-thanthi weekly to reveal the author and the source of an article, which was published in May 2018. The article was about the late Brigadier Balraj, a highly esteemed military commander of the LTTE, who played the key role in the Tiger victory of the Elephant Pass garrison in 2000. The TID has approached the SL Court in January 2019, eight months after the article, titled “Balraj, the unparalleled war hero of the 21st century”, appeared. The SL State wants to suppress the media freedom of Eezham Tamil writers to file articles under pen names. It wants the editors to impose self-censorship and not to protect the identity of the authors. Colombo wants to make an example through this case, journalists in Jaffna said. Full story >> [TamilNet, Sunday, 24 March 2019, 23:29 GMT]Within a few days after getting over with the ‘mere formality’ at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramsinghe is moving ahead with upholding the very same ‘development’ paradigm of the former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa through securing USD one billion loan from China to link the centre of the island to the Chinese-built seaport Hambantota, which Mr Wickramasinghe leased out to China for 99 years in 2017. The SL Prime Minister has also tricked the family-owned business of Tamil Nadu's DMK politician Samikannu Jagathratchagan to invest 70% of USD 3.85 billion to build an oil refinery and cement factory in Mirijjawila in Hambantota district. The investment, made along with Oman's Oil Co (30%), is the largest foreign direct investment in the island, according to media reports in Colombo. Full story >> [TamilNet, Friday, 22 March 2019, 15:28 GMT]The successive UN Human Rights High Commissioners starting from the Canadian jurist Louise Arbour (2004–2008), South African Tamil jurist Navaneetham Pillay (2008-2014), Jordanian diplomat Prince Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein (2014-2018) and the incumbent Chilean politician Michelle Bachelet, have all been following the same roadmap, laid out during the times of Ms Arbour at height of the genocidal war. That approach was based on the paradigm of avoiding looking into the crime of genocide, equating the GoSL and the LTTE and only concentrating on the war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred during the last phase of the war in 2009. The roadmap came to light, straight from the horse's mouth in 2010 when Ms Arbour was the head of the ‘International Crisis Group’ (ICG). The paradigm was also a part of the larger ‘intended’ failure on the part of the UN system. Full story >> [TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 March 2019, 17:09 GMT]Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the leader of Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) on Tuesday exposed the so-called Human Rights Commission of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka as failing to release a report on the anti-Muslim pogrom that shocked the island in 2018. The SL commission was supposed to issue it by July 2018. “But after 10 months, no report has been released and the SLHRC is yet to make an explanation on what has caused the delay,” he said while addressing the UN Human Rights Council under the general debate on Agenda Item 9, which deals with racism, xenophobia, other forms of intolerance and the implementation of the Durban Declaration. Full story >> [TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 March 2019, 18:53 GMT]A Tamil father of three, 55-year-old R. Pathamanathan, who has been employed in masonry work in Colombo, has been reported missing since 14 March. Mr Pathamanathan was on his way to his native village, Thiruch-chenthoor in Kalladi, Batticaloa, on board a private passenger van to Batticaloa from Colombo, according to his wife. He had phoned after getting into the vehicle in Colombo, she said. Full story >> [TamilNet, Friday, 15 March 2019, 21:02 GMT]The unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka, which constitutionally accords ‘foremost place’ to Buddhism, has stepped up the hurried erection of a large Buddhist stupa at the entrance to Jaffna city in Naavatkuzhi. The ruling UNP has exerted pressure on the elected Divisional Council (PS) of Chaavakach-cheari to silently withdraw the case against the controversial project through its TNA collaborator M.A. Sumanthiran, civil servants who were forced to withdraw the case told TamilNet. The vihara was not to be built without the permission from the democratically elected civic council, the Magistrate of Chaavakach-cheari had previously ruled. After getting the TNA to withdraw its objection, SL Minister of Megapolis & Western Development ‘Patali’ Champika Ranawaka, a Sinhala extremist, visited Naavatkuzhi on 22 February to accelerate the ‘development’ of the hostile project in Jaffna. Full story >> [TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 March 2019, 17:28 GMT]The anti-Tamil Archaeology Department of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has approached the SL Survey Department to survey 40 more locations in Mullaith-theevu district alone with the intention of permanently declaring the places as heritage monuments of Sinhala Theravada Buddhism, informed civil officials had alerted the TNA Parliamentarian Shanthy Sriskandarajah. It is not known whether these are the places identified in a controversial Gazette declaration made already in 2013 or if these places are additional locations based on a new list, the civil officials who alerted the TNA parliamentarian explained to the journalists who were seeking to verify the information. The Eezham Tamils in Vanni should rapidly form heritage vigilance groups to confront the widespread surveying activities being schemed by the SL Archaeology Department, commented grassroots activists in Vanni. Full story >> [TamilNet, Sunday, 10 March 2019, 18:34 GMT]The radiocarbon tests carried out on bone samples, which the SL authorities had dispatched to a US laboratory, as dating 377 to 615 years back has disappointed many people, who have valid reasons to believe that the recently exhumed mass graves in Mannaar are from the 1990s. The results obtained from Florida-based Beta Analytic (BETA) are being prematurely released by Colombo to imply that the period of the mass grave predates the genocidal war in the island by centuries. BETA has not issued an overall interpretation of all the samples or passed any judgement on the supplied samples as being adequate to conclude the core issue. Besides, there are several unanswered questions, most of them concerning the trustworthiness of the SL State-operated institutions handling the submission, as well as other artefacts revealing 1990s as the time of the crime. Full story >> [TamilNet, Saturday, 09 March 2019, 17:11 GMT]The forces opposed to the concept of allowing Eezham Tamils to articulate a collective identity to their traditional food court have pressurised the elected divisional council (Piratheasa chapai) of Vavuniyaa North to deviate from the unilaterally democratic decision adopted by the council a month ago to name the latest restaurant as ‘Ammaachchi’. The council was manipulated to change the name to "Vanni A'ru-chuvai-akam" before inviting former SL President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who is leading Colombo's Office of National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) to inaugurate the restaurant on Thursday. Full story >> [TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2019, 20:24 GMT]At least 163 acres of private lands of Eezham Tamils in a triangle area along the coast in Kaangkeasan-thu'rai (KKS) between the Cement Factory, the old hospital and Keerimalai are to be officially seized by the SL State for the use of the occupying Sinhala Navy in KKS Centre (J/234) GS Division. In the meantime, another area of 64 acres is being appropriated in the vicinity of the historically famous Keerimalai Nakuleasvaram temple in Keerimalai GS Division (J/226). The ‘Tourist Development Authority’ of genocidal Sri Lanka (SLTDA) is set to receive this land. Two acres of these lands are also going to be transferred to the SL Navy, Tamil officials at Jaffna District Secretariat said. Full story >> [TamilNet, Thursday, 07 March 2019, 21:10 GMT]A group of Saiva Tamil activists, attempting to renovate a decoration-arch placed four years ago on the road to Thirukkeatheeswaram temple in Mannaar, were opposed by a section of Tamil Catholic people on Sunday. The Catholics alleged that the presence of the galvanised arch was a disturbance to Our Lady of Lourdes Church at the locality. The Lourdes church, which was a minor place of worship, had also been expanded into a big temple four years ago in Maanthai parish. The parish priest of nearby Vangkaalai was opposing the ‘renovation’ of the arch blaming that the Saivites were scheming a permanent concrete structure. The Saivites, in their turn, were arguing that they were only consolidating the damaged parts of the existing galvanised arch on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri which was to be observed on Monday. The dispute was blown out of proportion by the parties with vested interest. Full story >>
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