Political truth of Mu’l’livaaykkaal

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 May 2011, 05:24 GMT]
The Sinhala nation is aware of the massacres, but they justify it the way the USA argues for its invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel argues for invasion of Palestine. For the UN and IC, it was not a mistake but a deliberate action taken by them to protect the Sri Lankan state. The same IC now says there are war crimes and Tamils are victims. Why? They want a group of helpless victims who begin to depend on them to find answers. Tamils had to face the first genocidal massacre of the 21st century, but this should not lead to a sense of helpless victimhood where the very forces who are responsible are seen to be saviours by the Tamils. It is the Tamil people who should decide what their future course of action should be, said Dr. Jude Lal Fernando, post doctoral scholar on International Peace Studies in Trinity College, Dublin, while delivering a speech on 18 May.
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India alone can’t be trusted, IC should be involved: TNLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 May 2011, 17:15 GMT]
India can’t be trusted anymore. A solution for the national question of Eezham Tamils in the island has to be reached through wider international participation and guarantee, said former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians and Tamil National Liberation Alliance (TNLA) leaders Sri Kantha and MK Sivajilingam in addressing a press conference in Jaffna on Wednesday. Informed circles say India pressurizes the TNA not to come out with any political proposals. But the TNA should immediately table the political demands of Eezham Tamils, based on their right to self-determination. TNLA has no difference of opinion in conceding that the TNA is currently the predominant political representation of the Eezham Tamils and the TNLA is prepared to give all support to TNA in tabling the Tamil proposal, they further said.
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Colombo defies court request, proceeds with obligatory military course to undergrads

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 May 2011, 05:58 GMT]
Defying SL Supreme Court request to provide one week time for it to consider a case filed by University students associations against a compulsory military training programme for the newly selected undergrads, the Rajapaksa regime proceeded with the programme on Sunday. The excuse of Colombo was that it had already spent money on the programme and students had already started traveling to the military centers announced by the SL government.
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Occupying SL Navy confiscates lands for new HSZ in Ma’ndaitheevu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 08:22 GMT]
More than 40 acres of private land, including Saiva temples and their tanks, have been recently confiscated by the occupying Sri Lanka Navy in Ma’ndaitheevu island off Jaffna city to build a naval base and to expand the High Security Zone (HSZ) in that island. Sri Lanka occupying the country of Eezham Tamils denies the existence of High Security Zones in the north. Presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa addressing a meeting in Jaffna last month said that there are no High Security Zones, but the entire island is a ‘peace zone’. The creation of a new HSZ in Ma’ndaitheevu contradicts Colombo’s claim that de-mining is the reason why it is not allowing the resettlement of the HSZs in Jaffna by the owners of the lands.
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People in cloth sheds, Buddhist stupas built in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 06:12 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka’s ‘reconciliation’ in Vanni, abetted by its international partners is building huge Buddhist stupas there, while keeping Eezham Tamil natives in cloth tents. If building Buddhist establishments and new Sinhala-military townships in Vanni is the job of the state and re-building houses for the war-ravaged people and providing them with ‘milk and bread’ are the jobs of others and the diaspora, what is wrong in Eezham Tamils and their diaspora demanding the world for their country to be handed over to them for the true development of its people and to ensure ‘milk and bread’ really reach them, asks a Tamil politician in Jaffna, particularly addressing India and two other South Asian countries Pakistan and Bangladesh that will be attending a Chinese sponsored coaching programme of Colombo by the end of this month on how to conduct genocide with international abetment.
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Amnesty urges NAM countries to act on Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 04:43 GMT]
As the foreign ministers of the 118 member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meet Wednesday in Jakarta, Amnesty International urged them to support an international investigation into the killings of 40,000 civilians in the final months of Sri Lanka’s war. In an op-ed published in the Jakarta Post, Amnesty’s international advocacy director, Steve Crawshaw, said NAM countries “have a critical part to play in ensuring these terrible abuses never happen again and that survivors of the conflict can seek justice, thus laying the groundwork for reconciliation” and urged them to act on the report on the mass killings by the UN expert panel – led by former Indonesian attorney-general Marzuki Darusman.
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Point Pedro to Mullaiththeevu coast encroached by Sinhala fishermen

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 10:39 GMT]
The northeast coast of the Jaffna and Mullaiththeevu districts of the country of Eezham Tamils, from Kat-koava’lam in Point Pedro to Mullaiththeevu is encroached in recent days by hundreds of Sinhala fishermen supported by occupying Sri Lanka’s Army and fisheries officials. Exploitation of the catch of sea cucumber for the season is said to be the reason and many more Sinhala encroachers are expected soon, news sources in Jaffna said with concern that the encroachment coupled with the use of advanced fishing technology triggers off tension and confrontation between the native and poaching fishing communities. Sea cucumber is a valuable export item. But the real interest of the encroachers is Chank (conch shells), an export item more valuable than the sea cucumber, the news sources further said.
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Tamils threatened by Sinhalese to leave their lands in Poththuvil

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 03:08 GMT]
Tamil families, who have been living for generations in Tamil villages of Oo'rani, Kanakar Kiraamam, Koddukkal and Ma'natcheanai in Poththuvil DS division, are under threat from Sinhalese to leave their houses and paddy lands, Tamil political circles in Ampaa'rai said.
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Uprooted Champoor Tamils show resolution to get back their land

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 May 2011, 06:48 GMT]
Uprooted Tamils in Champoor, whose lands were taken away by the Sri Lankan government for India's thermal power project, de-populating the Tamil villages and declaring the area as High Security Zone, managed to secure permission from the occupiers to to hold Vaikaasi Pongkal in several centuries old Champoor Paththirakaa'li Koayil on Sunday. The uprooted Tamils prayed for the blessing of Kaa'i goddess that they should be allowed to resettle without further delay in their home villages and in their houses in Champoor area.
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Colombo targets Nalloor for Sinhalicization of the country of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2011, 21:50 GMT]
The occupying genocidal Army of Sri Lanka targets Nalloor, the former capital of the Kingdom of Jaffna, for focusing its agenda of Sinhalicisation of the country of Eezham Tamils in the island, news sources in Jaffna said. The occupying Army passed curfew-like orders this weekend prohibiting the movement of people in the locality of the Nalloor Kanthasaami Temple, while engaging in bringing in Sinhala traders and investors to occupy the surroundings of the temple. Nalloor is located in the suburbs of the Jaffna city today. It has an image as the cultural capital of the people of Jaffna. Not only the Colombo government, but also the international agencies and the Indian establishment have a focus on Nalloor. The recently opened Indian diplomatic mission in Jaffna and the UN offices are also located close to the temple of Nalloor.
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Sri Lanka defends Buddhism – against London restaurant

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2011, 02:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Sinhala nationalist constitution - introduced in 1972 in contemptuous dismissal of the protests of the Tamils and their elected leaders - makes it “the duty of the state to protect and foster” Buddhism. This is a responsibility Sri Lanka’s High Commission in Britain apparently takes very seriously: according to a London newspaper, the mission has “whipped up” a campaign against a local Nepalese restaurant, the ‘Greedy Buddha’, whose owner is being bombarded with abusive and aggressive emails and letters, some of which threaten violence.
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Shanmugaratnam in short list of possible IMF successors

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 22:08 GMT]
Increasing the profile of Ealam Tamils who have received international recognition, BBC has listed recently appointed as Deputy Prime Minister holding Finance, Manpower and Monetary Authority portfolios, in the Government of Singapore, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, as one of the top nine leading candidates to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The position became vacant after Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned so he could fight sexual assault charges.
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Jewish Conservative MPs in UK voice against Tamil Genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 19:47 GMT]
“Tamils deserve freedom, they deserve dignity and they deserve their independence, as they want. That is the right of any nation on earth. It is the right for the Tamils too,“ said Conservative MP Robert Halfon from Harlow, who addressed the participants at the London event of Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day. Meanwhile, Lee Scott, a Conservative Member of Parliament for Ilford North, and an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group, said it was unacceptable for people not to know what had happened to their relatives, children and not to be able to live in peace and harmony with dignity. “I recently met with the SL High Commissioner and asked these questions. And I will continue to ask these questions,” he said and signed an appeal on the stage urging independent international investigations.
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Tamil genocide was planned by international powers: British academic

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 15:57 GMT]
The British, the Europeans and the great powers played a dubious role. There was a peace process. But, visas were banned and the political status was denied to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. They were branded as a terrorist organisation by the European Union under the prompting of Britain and United States and they deliberately broke the peace process, which had its horrible termination in the killing fields of Rajapaksa. So, there is co-responsibility. This was not just any genocide; this was a genocide planned, including by the international powers, who knew what was going on, said Dr Andrew Higginbottom, the Principal Lecturer in Politics/Human Rights at Kingston University in London, taking part in the Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance event in London on 18 May.
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Early Eazham-Tamil diaspora novel published in Malaysia in 1927

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 09:59 GMT]
A Tamil novel, Sampasivam–Gnanamirtham, set in the background of migration from Jaffna to British Malaya and Singapore, and was published in 1927 in Kuala Lumpur, is one of the earliest pieces of Eezham Tamil diaspora literature, writes a student of History who brings out an electronic copy of the publication for the benefit of research and documentation. The author of the novel Mr. A. Nagalingam (1901-1979) himself was a migrant to British Malaya from the Island of Kaarainakar, Jaffna. He was working in the Treasury of Kuala Pilah at the time of the publication. The 360-page novel was printed by S. Lazar & Sons, 13, Scott Road, Kuala Lumpur. The author records his intention of renovating a tank in his native village from the sales of the book and the support he received in this respect from the Sultan of the Negri Sembilan State of Malaya, Sir Mohamed Shah.
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Tamils become key ministers in Singapore

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2011, 05:28 GMT]
In the new cabinet of Singapore, headed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that will be sworn in on Saturday, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Jaffna origin becomes Deputy Prime Minister holding Finance, Manpower and Monetary Authority portfolios, Mr. K. Shanmugam takes over Foreign Affairs and Law, Mr Vivian Balakrishnan becomes Minister for Environment and Water Resources and Mr. S. Iswaran holding the rank of a full cabinet minister will function in the Prime Minister’s Office as Second Minister for Home, Trade and Industry. The new cabinet has two Deputy Prime Ministers, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Mr. Teo Chee Hean. General Elections took place in Singapore on 7 May.
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Press USA, UK and France to talk to China, Russia: Vidar Helgesen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 05:40 GMT]
“I'm not the best-placed person to suggest how China and Russia could be convinced and how one could pass a resolution at the UN Security Council. One should pose this question to the governments of USA, United Kingdom and France, those who negotiate with China and Russia in New York,” said Vidar Helgesen, the highest-ranking diplomat who headed the Norwegian facilitated peace process, in a video documentary released by the Norwegian Council of Eezham Tamils Wednesday, hinting that if the USA, UK and France are really determined China and Russia could always be negotiated to bring in a political solution to the question of Eezham Tamils. “There was a conflict before the LTTE was established; still there is a conflict even after the LTTE has been vanquished; you will not get a solution without a political solution,” Helgesen further said.
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International probe into Sri Lanka’s war crimes urged at British rally

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 02:56 GMT]
A vigil in London commemorating the tens of thousands of Tamils massacred two years ago by Sri Lanka’s forces in the final months of the island’s war was addressed Wednesday by parliamentarians from all three major political parties and representatives of leading UK trade unions, rights and peace campaigns, as well as representatives of several Tamil Diaspora organisations, with many speakers calling for an international investigation into the atrocities and recognition of Tamil self-determination and Tamil Eelam. The British Tamil Forum (BTF), with the support of other diaspora groups has organised the Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance event. Braving rains, over twelve thousand people attended the Trafalgar Square event in the course of the evening, the organizers said, citing police liaison officers.
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Massacre commemoration rally in front of UN headquarters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 02:51 GMT]
Nearly one thousand expatriate Tamils from the U.S. and Canada held a protest rally in front of the United Nations headquarters near the Dag Hammarskjold park in Manhattan New York on the second anniversary of the Mu’l’livaaykkaal massacre of May 2009, appealing to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to act on the recommendations of his expert panel to conduct independent war crimes investigations in Sri Lanka. Protesters' chants of “UN, UN, Never again” and “Ban Ki-moon, Act Now” echoed off the white metal building where Secretary General Ban's office now is, Inner City Press (ICP) which covered the protest reported.
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Country of Eezham Tamils mourns silently on Mu’l’livaaykkaal Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2011, 02:44 GMT]
Subjugated to the extent of not being to able to even observe remembrance of the death of their kith and kin killed in thousands at Mu’l’lvaaykkaay in a powers-abetted genocide enacted by the Sri Lankan State in May 2009, the nation of Eezham Tamils on Wednesday demonstrated dormant anger through silent observations and confining themselves to their houses. The occupying military has ordered against any renting of public halls on Wednesday and has threatened potential organizers with dire consequences. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has requested people to mourn silently, and people responded. Movement of public, travel and commercial activities were very negligible in Jaffna and in other parts of the country of Eezham Tamils, amidst massive presence of the occupying Army of Sri Lanka.
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