Fertile Tamil village targeted for Sinhalicisation in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 October 2011, 16:41 GMT]
An ancient Tamil village Tha’n’ni-mu’rippu, well known for its fertile landscape and resources in the Karaithu’raippattu division of the Mullaiththeevu district, has been brought under the newly created Sinhala division Weli-oya, and is targeted for fast Sinhalicisation of its land and water resources, while resettlement of the villagers is blocked. Sinhala and Muslim fishermen have started fishing in the Tha’n’ni-mu’rippuk-ku’lam tank and Sinhala businessmen have been given with acres of lands in the forest adjacent to the village for indiscriminate mining of gravel. While four fertile Tamil villages that have already gone into the Sinhala division have become Sinhalicised in practice, Tha’n’ni-mu’rippu faces a similar fate. Sri Lanka’s genocide of Tamils is geared to escalate while India particularly encourages it and the world Establishments delay justice.
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Scars of genocide to serve culture of imperialism

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 October 2011, 12:42 GMT]
“When the emissary of India, a country that backed Sri Lanka in its genocidal campaign against the Tamil people, marks out an artist to promote ‘cultural revival’ in their homelands, can this act and the performance be devoid of politics,” asks Mr. RM Karthick, a social science researcher from Tamil Nadu working in a British university, commenting on the recent ‘cultural tour’ of Chennai based Carnatic singer T M Krishna in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The Hindu on October 23 carried an article by Krishna on his visit to Jaffna, saying the performance went ‘beyond the scars’. “Artistes don't stand for elections, don't fight on the battlefield but we offer to everyone the very breath of life —happiness,” Krishna said in The Hindu article.
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Australia’s detention frustrates Eezham Tamil to kill himself

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 October 2011, 13:44 GMT]
An Eezham Tamil asylum seeker, already accepted as a refugee in Australia, but waiting for long to get ‘security clearance’ from the Australian intelligence to come out of his ‘detention,’ killed himself Tuesday night. Earlier on that day, which was also the Deepaavali festival day, his request to go out to visit a friend for the festival was turned down by the authorities. When asked by the media, whether the government takes any responsibility, the Australian Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen said “We take responsibility for ensuring that people have the chance to make their claims and for ensuring that national security is taken into account. We cannot and will not compromise on matters of national security.” Twice, Australia readily accepted Sri Lanka’s military commanders accused in the genocide of Eezham Tamils as ‘Ambassadors’.
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Delink War Crimes accountability from political process, NorthEast civil leaders urge Clinton

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 October 2011, 01:43 GMT]
In a memorandum sent to U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and copied to the Tamil National Alliance, a group of NorthEast Civil society leaders said that "the question of accountability [for war-crimes] should not be bartered for the sake of arriving at political solution [yet to be defined]," and added that the civil leaders believe that "justice cannot and should not be bartered for anything else," informed sources who obtained a leaked version of the confidential letter said Tuesday. The civil society group is comprised of politically active and highly respected professional members of the NorthEast Tamils.
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Australia facilitates timed diplomatic advantage for genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 October 2011, 14:59 GMT]
After creating much sensation by the Australian Prime Minister herself confirming on a federal police investigation of a war crimes case against SL president and envoy, the Attorney General of Australia on Tuesday quashed the case as it would be in “breach of domestic law and Australia’s obligations under international law,” bestowing genocidal Sri Lanka with a well-timed diplomatic victory on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet in Perth, Australia. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan delegation in Australia on Tuesday went to the extent of even denying the occurrence of any war at all in the island. “Number one, there was no war in Sri Lanka. There was brutal terrorism in Sri Lanka led by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka,” said Bandula Jayasekara of the Sri Lankan delegation to ABC.
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No bartering of war-crimes accountability for political concessions: TNPF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 October 2011, 16:02 GMT]
Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF), a post-war Tamil political formation in the island of Sri Lanka, in a press conference held Sunday morning 11:00 am at a Colombo residence, congratulated TNA leadership on the forthcoming visit to the USA, and said that the visit is a significant historic first where the US-State Department has extended invitation to a non-State Tamil political party, adding that the visit has potential for improving the political status of the Tamil people who have suffered within a majoritarian democracy for several decades. While pointing out that the TNA is carrying a tremendous burden on its shoulders to articulate clearly the aspirations of Tamils, TNPF cautioned that TNA, under no circumstance, should barter away Sri Lanka's accountability for war crimes for ‘political concessions.’
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Canadian Peace Alliance, unions show solidarity with Tamil Nation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 October 2011, 14:44 GMT]
The Canadian Peace Alliance, Canada’s largest umbrella organisation of 180 groups representing over 1 million Canadians, resolved last week to encourage “its member organizations to stand in solidarity with the Tamil nation in their global struggle for self-determination and freedom.” It called for an “immediate end to the colonialism and genocide of the Tamil nation and an end to the occupation of the Tamil homeland by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and its allied paramilitary groups.” It resolved to support “the Pongu Tamil Rally for Self-Determination on Saturday, October 29,” besides urging international investigation on war crimes. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest trade union, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers demanded Sri Lanka to “immediately withdraw from Tamil Eelam,” and the Canadian Federation of Students, Ontario, condemned the attack on the student president of Jaffna University.
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Dutch court convicts 5 Tamils, says LTTE not "terrorist"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 October 2011, 01:42 GMT]
The Hague district court, by refusing to brand Liberation Tigers as a "terrorist" organization, defied the current European Union policy, but convicted five Tamil naturalized dutch citizens to prison terms for using "nonviolent threats to force Tamil exiles to donate to the Tigers." The Dutch decision, in addition to being a "significant public relations victory for the Tigers" will also be critical to the on-going case in the European Court of Justice to overturn the 2006 decision by the EU to put the Tamil Tigers on the terror list, the Washington Post said. Victor Koppe, attorney for one of the defendants, said he would appeal the convictions.
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Outfits serving Sri Lanka target international media investigation: Channel 4

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 October 2011, 16:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields broadcast by Channel 4 had to face an organized campaign against it originating from the Sri Lankan ministry of defence, said British Channel 4 head of news and current affairs Dorothy Byrne testifying before the Communications Committee of the House of Lords of the British Parliament Tuesday. Citing the example, she warned the committee on the plight of international media’s investigative journalism facing increasingly sophisticated and orchestrated campaigns by hired PR companies and lobbying groups. Inappropriate Sri Lanka connections of the British defence secretary Dr. Liam Fox made him to resign this month. One of his connections was with Bell Pottinger, a PR company hired by Sri Lanka until recently.
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Tamil groups urge New Zealand not to host SL President

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 October 2011, 10:30 GMT]
Tamil Action Front (TAF), an umbrella organisation of Eezham Tamil associations in New Zealand have urged the NZ government on Tuesday not to host Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa who plans a stopover in Auckland to watch Rugby Final Match and to be accorded with a dinner on Sunday on his way to Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet in Perth, Australia. Accusing the NZ government for being tagged behind Australia in accepting war-crimes-accused as ambassadors, TAF in a letter to the NZ Foreign Minister urged the NZ government to support prosecution against the accused in the Australian court, independent international investigation of SL war crimes, suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth and to work for the appointment of a Commissioner for Human Rights in the Commonwealth.
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Colonising Sinhalese swindle resources while sanctions apply to resettled Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 October 2011, 08:28 GMT]
Fishing is completely banned for ‘resettled’ Tamils of the villages, Kokku’laay, Karainaadduk-kea’ni and Pu’liya-munai of the Ma’nal-aa’ru region of Mullaiththeevu district, where Colombo is creating a new Sinhala division in the name ‘Weli-oya.’ Sinhalese and Muslims brought in to the area now totally monopolise fishing traditionally carried out by Tamils in their land. The ‘resettled’ Tamils find fishing camps of the colonisers within their very villages when they returned after displacement by war. The Sinhala fishermen who earlier had only seasonal camps have now permanently settled in the strategic Mukaththuvaaram (mouth) part of the Kokku’laay Lagoon. They have now come with their families and genocidal Colombo is now helping then to build permanent houses.
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Buddhist stupa built in Kokku’laay after brutal attack on Tamil landowner

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 October 2011, 08:26 GMT]
An Eezham Tamil landowner in Kokku’laay in Mullaiththeevu district was brutally attacked receiving serious injuries when he refused to part with his land for the construction of a second Buddhist stupa in the locality. He was even chased away from the hospital where he was admitted, after severe warning. Koku’laay lagoon is the focus of Sinhala colonisation presently, as it is the key location for wedging the demographic contiguity of the north and east of the country of Eezham Tamils in the island, as well as direct communication between Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee. A new Sinhala administrative division ‘Weli-oya’ comprising of Sinhala-Buddhist colonies has started functioning in the region last week and the division is expected to include Kokku’laay to cut off north and east permanently up to the very coastline.
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Sinhala division starts functioning in Mullaiththeevu district

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 October 2011, 05:32 GMT]
A Sinhala administrative division, under a Sinhala Asst. Government Agent, has started functioning recently in the Mullaitheevu district. The new division with a toponym ‘Welioya,’ renaming the Tamil Ma’nal-aa’ru, will permanently wedge the demographic contiguity of the northern and eastern provinces of the country of Eezham Tamils occupied by Sri Lanka’s military. The division has been planned in such a way to demographically link the Anuradhapura district of the Sinhala North Central Province with the eastern coast at Kokku’laay, through recently established Sinhala colonies. With accelerated colonisation, soon the division may even pave way for a Sinhala electorate in the Mullaiththeevu district. Meanwhile, talking to Tamil diaspora members recently, the US Asst Secretary of State Robert Blake said that he was unaware of any Sinhala colonisation of Tamil lands in the island.
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Sinhala settlers block Tamils from fishing in Navakkiri tank in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 October 2011, 18:36 GMT]
Resettled Tamil people in 35th colony in Vellaave'li DS division in Batticaloa district are barred by from fishing in Navakkiri tank by Sinhalese from 36, 37 and 37 colonies on the orders of Samurdhi Authority officials in 36th colony. The Tamil families are told by the Sinhalese that Navakkiri tank belongs to Sinhalese and not to Tamils. Hence they cannot venture in inland fishing in the tank, according to affected persons.
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Sinhalese given lands in Tamil villages in East under Mahaweli Scheme: TNA MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 October 2011, 18:49 GMT]
Thirty Sinhalese families have been allocated lands under the Mahaweli Development Land Distribution Scheme in a traditional Tamil village Oamadiyaamadu located in Koa'ralaippattu North DS division in Batticaloa district. This planned land grab in Batticaloa district is being carried out on the direction of Colombo government led by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Colombo responsible for attack on JUSU Leader: Jaffna university students

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 October 2011, 17:37 GMT]
The successive SL governments in Colombo have been subjecting the student leaders of the University of Jaffna to state terror and harassment and the student community is not going to give up voicing for the rights of Eezham Tamils, said student leaders who addressed the gathering of more than 1,000 students at the University grounds Monday. The students carrying placards against the SL military boycotted their classes and came together in a meeting of condemnation against the attack on Student Union leader S. Thavapalasingam by alleged SL military intelligence operatives on Sunday.
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Foreign Office ‘relief’ at Fox resignation – The Times

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 October 2011, 01:59 GMT]
The Times newspaper Saturday described “a palpable sense of relief” in Britain’s Foreign Office at the resignation of Defence Secretary Liam Fox, whose “shadow diplomacy”, the paper said, “has seriously muddied the presentation of British policy abroad.” Although the Foreign Office had agreed to Dr. Fox visiting Sri Lanka to deliver a public lecture in July, after it added a phrase calling for an independent inquiry into crimes against Tamil civilians, suspicions remained. “There was a lot of suspicion about what was being said in private,” an FCO source told The Times. “We couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t unofficial diplomacy going on.”
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India urged to help tracing transfer of sovereignty document

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 October 2011, 10:32 GMT]
Like the Kandyan Convention signed between the British and the chieftains of Kandy in 1815, which is a legal document for the transfer of sovereignty, the Portuguese signed a treaty with the Muthaliyaars of Jaffna after their conquest of the Kingdom of Jaffna in 1621. Earlier historians have cited the availability of a copy of the document in Goa, the former colonial headquarters of the Portuguese in the East. Whether India that proposes to help developing a museum in Jaffna would help tracing the document and similar Portuguese documents on Jaffna for the display of copies in the proposed museum, ask academics in Jaffna.
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Rift in TNA citing dissatisfaction in struggle spirit

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 October 2011, 06:36 GMT]
TULF politician Mr. Anandasangaree, who was earlier supporting Rajapaksa’s war, has born again now, being furious at the TNA’s lack of spirit in fighting against Rajapaksa over the land re-registration issue. He publicly accuses the TNA leaders, particularly Mr. Sampanthan and Mr Premachandran for not leading a people’s struggle against the issue. Mr. Anandasangaree and the PLOTE of Mr Siddharthan, both who earlier backed the genocidal Colombo, have joined the TNA in contesting the last civic elections and they were successful in capturing three local bodies. This week, Mr. Anandasangaree has convened a ‘general body’ meeting for the TULF in which he and Mr. Kanagaraja have respectively been named as General Secretary and President of the TULF. Sampanthan has responded by protesting to the election commission that the meeting was illegal and was breaching earlier court rulings.
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Sinhala Army builds Buddhist temple in front of church in Valveddiththu’rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 October 2011, 05:37 GMT]
The virtually Sinhala Army of Sri Lanka that occupies the country of Eezham Tamils, is building a new Buddhist temple at Valveddiththu’rai Junction, in front of the historic St. Sebastian Church. Valveddiththu’rai, the birthplace of the LTTE leader Pirapaharan, never had any Buddhists, except the occupying Sinhala Army. The act is a naked show of Sri Lanka’s jubilation over the genocide of Eezham Tamils, mocking at those who talk about ‘post-war reconciliation,’ civil activists in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, former TNA parliamentarian MK Sivajilingam on Friday has appealed to the Vatican to take immediate ecclesiastical and diplomatic action to stop the military’s Buddhist construction as it seriously hurts the feelings of the Tamil Catholics of the town. Similar acts of the SL Army are also reported from Mannaar, a major Tamil Catholic city.
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