EPDP paramilitary stricken by internal strife

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 December 2013, 23:37 GMT]
Following the arrest of EPDP’s Jaffna District organizer and the opposition leader in the Northern Provincial Council Kamal Kamalendran for alleged involvement in the killing of the EPDP chairman of Neduntheevu civic body Mr Daniel Rexian alias Rajeev, the internal strife in the paramilitary group has widened. The involvement of EPDP operatives in the killing of Tamil journalists will be exposed, informed sources said. The Sri Lankan military intelligence has been using EPDP operatives to exercise control over the occupied Jaffna. Some of these operatives would be deployed as scapegoats when Colombo would be forced to conduct a show of investigations in the near future, the sources further said.
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Reminding Britain of its geostrategic injustice against Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 December 2013, 23:35 GMT]
The British Prime Minister David Cameron seeking ‘engagement’ with Tamils needs to be reminded of the root injustice the imperial Britain had committed against Eezham Tamils by making them prone to more than 60 years of genocide in the hands of the unitary Sri Lankan State. The British cabinet in 1947 decided to short-circuit the discourse of an evolutionary constitutional approach with an accelerated process of handing over of power to Sinhalese, an exercise it carried out on the basis of its own geostrategic considerations amidst the pressure exerted by DS Senanayake, a shrewd politician on the Sinhala side. In their geostrategic concerns to secure defence, trade and external-affairs control of the independent Ceylon within the British Commonwealth, the British ignored the Tamil ‘50-50’ balanced representation demand as well as the Kandyan claim of three federal units.
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Lankan diplomat ducks rights discussions in UK

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 December 2013, 12:29 GMT]
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Britain, Chris Nonis, declined to participate in a rights discussion on Sri Lanka held end of last week at the UK's Frontline club where the author of Sri Lanka's Unfinished War, Frances Harrison, Channel-4's producer of a series of documentaries on Sri Lanka's war, Callum Macrae, and policy and advocacy manager at Freedom from Torture, Sonya Sceats, took part. The discussion was moderated by barrister Sadakat Kadri, who was a rapporteur to the investigation into the impeachment of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice.
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PPT names panel of judges to hear genocide case against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 December 2013, 23:51 GMT]
The Permanent Peoples Tribunal (PPT) in Rome has announced the names of 11 judges, who would be hearing the long-awaited case on the accusation of genocide against Eezham Tamils to be heard by an independent panel. “Like in the first session, a respected panel of judges consisting of experts in Genocide studies, former UN-officials, experts in international law and renowned peace and human rights activists will hear the evidence that is presented and make a determination,” a press statement signed by Mr Gianni Tognoni, the secretary general of the PPT, stated. The first session held in January 2010, known as the Dublin Tribunal, was the first independent international undertaking that recognised the need to look into the case of genocide in the island of Sri Lanka. The second session is to take place between December 07 -10, 2013 in Bremen, Germany.
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Students protest against Colombo's discriminatory closure of Jaffna University

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 December 2013, 18:10 GMT]
The Sri Lankan State through its administration kept the universities across the island closed while the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) took place in Colombo. Except the University of Jaffna, other universities were opened before 02 December. The reason for Colombo instructing its authorities to keep the Jaffna University closed till Monday was to make sure that the students were away from the University premises during the Heroes Day, the university management in Jaffna said. When the university was opened on Monday, the students staged a demonstration inside the premises. Sinhala and Muslim students also took part in the demonstration. Hundreds of riot control police commandos of the occupying Sri Lanka were deployed around the premises.
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Violent Buddhist monk defies civil administration, steps up Sinhalicisation in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 December 2013, 23:46 GMT]
The Chief Incumbent of Buddhist temple in Batticaloa, Ven. Ampitiye Sumanarathana Thera, who behaved violently at Ma'nmunai South-West (Paddippazhai) Divisional Secretariat, threatening the Tamil Divisional Secretary Ms Vilvaratnam continues the Sinhalicisation project at Batticaloa – Ampaa’rai border village, Kevu’liyaamadu, with the backing of the occupying Sri Lankan military. In the meantime, more Sinhalese were being brought into Kevu'liyaa-madu to occupy Tamil lands, civil sources in Batticaloa said.
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Cameron reneges on Sri Lanka war-crimes investigations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 November 2013, 16:30 GMT]
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, after returning from Colombo Commonwealth meeting, said in an article that appeared in the Arab News, that there should be a transparent, credible investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. But he reneged on the time frame pronounced for the completion of the inquiry. In Colombo, Cameron said, "Let me be very clear, if that investigation is not completed by March then I will use our position on the UN human rights council to work with the UN Human Rights commission and call for a full, credible and independent international inquiry." However, in the Arab News, likely issued to blunt expectations of March completion of investigations, Cameron said, "if those investigations were not begun properly by next March, we would call for an international inquiry through the United Nations."
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Heroes Day in homeland, Diaspora, Tamil Nadu gains more significance than previous years

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 November 2013, 16:22 GMT]
The Indian prejudice and the global injustice, committed on the nation of Eezham Tamils by the various powers, enabled the Sri Lankan State to wage its genocidal war on Eezham Tamils to its end. But, the Tamil Heroes together with their steadfast people, who had no support from any State party in the world, achieved a superior moral victory. This is a unique case in modern human civilisation. This year, the remembrance of Tamil Heroes gained far more significance than the previous years after 2009, as Eezham Tamils in their homeland defied the ‘gag order’ by the occupying SL military, Diaspora Tamils marked the day without giving room for divisions engineered by the intelligence outfits of the Establishments and in Tamil Nadu, the Tamil national grassroots and political movements marked both LTTE leader Pirapaharan's birthday on 26 November and Maaveerar Day on 27 November.
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Australia's Lawyers blast Abbott, Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 November 2013, 14:29 GMT]
In hard-hitting articles appearing in the Lawyer's Weekly, the Law Council of Australia's (LCA's) president Michael Colbran QC, criticized Sri Lanka over the worsening rule of law in Sri Lanka and expressed concern over the "reports of threats and intimidation directed at members of the legal profession and judiciary." The Law Weekly also slammed Prime Minister Tony Abbott whose recent comments appeared to condone the allegations of torture by Sri Lanka security forces, as “deplorably simplistic," and that Abbott's assertion "is contrary to international law as well as Sri Lanka’s own Constitution which prohibits torture without exception," adding also that "[Abbott's] remark underscores a basic lack of understanding regarding the problem of impunity that Sri Lanka, now the chair of the Commonwealth, faces."
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Jaffna Tamil daily wins Press Freedom Award

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 November 2013, 14:05 GMT]
The 2013 Press Freedom award from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Le Monde and TVMonde was awarded to the Jaffna Tamil-language daily Uthayan and an Uzbek journalist, RSF announced Wednesday. Uthayan editor Vallipuram Kaanamylnaathan and owner Eswarapatham Saravanapavan, received the awards during a ceremony Wednesday evening in Strasbourg’s city hall, an RSF media release said. "Uthayan has never balked at covering stories that are controversial in a still fragmented society. As a result, it has been the target of repeated violence, leading to the departure of many of its employees over the years. Two were killed in May 2006 and its editor, Gnagnasundaram Kuhanathan, was beaten unconscious in Jaffna in 2011," the announcement said.
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Fr Johnpillai reveals details of death threat by alleged SL operatives

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 November 2013, 17:21 GMT]
Parish Priest of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Trincomalee, on Thursday, described, in an email released to media through the Catholic mission sources in the East how two armed men, claiming to be Sri Lankan intelligence operatives threatened him on 26 November. When the priest asked them to show proof, they refused. But, as the questioning was rapidly becoming a heated argument, one of the operatives suddenly told the priest that he would give him proof of his identity, caught Fr Johnpillai by his priestly garb, pushed him against the wall pointing a pistol at his head and threatening to shoot him.
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Tamils in East observe Heroes Day amidst heavy SL military presence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 November 2013, 15:41 GMT]
More than 80% of the households in former LTTE controlled territory in Batticaloa-Ampaa'rai districts paid tribute to Tamil Heroes in their houses as the occupying Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives and soldiers were roaming around the streets in Vellaave'li, Vav'natheevu and Vaakarai. In Ampaa'rai, Sinhala soldiers were deployed in Tamil areas in bicycle patrol. However, temple bells were tolled exactly 6:05 p.m.
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SL military operatives issue death threat to Catholic priest in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 November 2013, 08:06 GMT]
Pointing their gun at the parish priest of Our Lady of Gaudalupe church, unidentified persons who came in motorbike that had no number plate, issued death threat to Fr. S.S. Johnpillai in Trincomalee city. The incident took place around 9:00 p.m. on 26 November. The gunmen blamed that the priest was praying on the birthday of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan.
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Heroes Day remembrance by public gains significance in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 November 2013, 18:31 GMT]
Almost all sections of Eezham Tamils in North on Wednesday remembered the Tamil Heroes Day in North amidst heavy deployment of the armed soldiers of the occupying Sri Lankan military. This year, the public observing remembrance in Jaffna, Vanni, Mannaar and Mullaiththeevu gains importance above all the events in the country of Eezham Tamils. University lectures, students across all the schools and grassroots political activists observed the Day paying tribute inside their houses amidst the gagged condition and attacks launched by the SL military operatives. While the Sri Lankan soldiers, anticipating a lightning event in the University premises were deployed in large numbers there, the students and the public lit the main flame of remembrance at the roof of one of the tallest buildings in the Jaffna Teaching Hospital at 6:00 p.m.
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Allow people to give way to their emotions, Wigneswaran warns Colombo on Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 November 2013, 16:01 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military in Jaffna on Tamil Heroes Day blocked the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) from planting trees at the public venue of Thanthai Chelva's memorial square. However, three provincial ministers, including the NPC Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and three councillors went ahead planting tree saplings in the premises of the secretariat of the provincial education ministry, which is located in a private land. “This is about our emotions and feelings. If the [SL] government didn't allow us to proceed with this, the outcome would be much more drastic,” the chief minister of NPC warned Colombo.
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Heroes Day observed in Tamil homeland under gagged conditions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 November 2013, 08:38 GMT]
Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives were monitoring the activities of the grassroots political activists and the elected councillors of the provincial council and the civic bodies in North and East. However, the Teachers Union of Jaffna University observed a memorial event Wednesday noon by lighting candles of sacrifice and paying a floral tribute braving the SL military harassments. Handwritten and printed posters in memory of those who sacrificed their lives in Tamil struggle have been put up at several places throughout the peninsula where the occupying Sri Lankan soldiers were seen removing them. This year, the student community in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils has been active in remembering the Tamil Heroes.
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EPDP chairman of Neduntheevu civic body shot and killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 November 2013, 08:23 GMT]
Tension prevails in Nedun-theevu (Delft) where the president of civic council, Daniel Rexian alias Rajeev, was shot and killed on Tuesday. Although the exact motive behind his killing is not known, civil sources said Mr Rexian was at odds with the occupying Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on reconstructing a monument in memory of the brutal boat massacre by the SLN, news sources at the farthest inhabited island off the Jaffna Peninsula said on Wednesday. The killing also comes following reports of internal conflict within the EPDP in Neduntheevu.
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Naa'na'r-pul-meadu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 November 2013, 07:05 GMT]
The rising ground of reed grass
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Sri Lankan TID involvement in attacks on Tamil councilors exposed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 November 2013, 01:16 GMT]
A vehicle registered in North Central Province was used in the attack on the houses of Tamil councillors in the early hours of Tuesday in Vadamaraadchi. The attackers’ vehicle number was noted down by one of the neighbours and passed to a rights activist. On Wednesday, the same vehicle was observed at the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division camp at Nelliyadi.
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University Teachers Union leader harassed by SL interrogators

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 November 2013, 23:13 GMT]
The ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division of the occupying Sri Lanka has questioned the president of Teachers Union of Jaffna University, Mr S. Rajkumar, over a news item that appeared in a local news paper in Jaffna where he defended the collective right of Tamil people in remembering their loved ones who have sacrificed their lives for their common cause. The TID operatives in Jaffna also grilled the reporter, who interviewed the president of the Teachers Union.
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