World Bank to fund genocidal Sinhala colonisation of Tamil lands in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 November 2017, 23:19 GMT]
SL Mahaweli Ministry, which is led by SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, has schemed a major Sinhala colonisation programme targeting the pasturelands of Eezham Tamils in two administrative divisions of Paduvaankarai region in Batticaloa district, informed civil sources at Batticaloa District Secretariat told TamilNet this week. While 320 Tamil dairy farmers from the two divisions of Ea'raavoor-pattu (Chengkaladi) and Koa'ra'laippattu South (Kiraan) are already struggling without adequate pasturelands for their cattle, SL Mahaweli ministry has sketched out a new plan to distribute 49 acres per Sinhala colonists through a leasing programme. The overwhelming majority of the recipients are Sinhala farmers, initial reports said. The programme, if allowed to be implemented, would be one of the disastrous Sinhala colonisation schemes in the district, the sources further said.
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SL military intelligence behind systematic increase of crimes in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 October 2017, 23:33 GMT]
The intelligence wing of the occupying Sinhala military is said to be behind the systematic and rapid increase of thefts, sexual harassments and narcotic spread in the Mullaiththeevu district within the last 2 months, civil sources in the district told TamilNet on Thursday as Councillor Thurairasa Ravikaran moved an awareness motion at the Northern Provincial Council at an NPC session. In a move to arrest the situation, Tamil youth and concerned grassroots activists have set up ‘vigilance committees’ and put up civil sentries at several places. However, they are unable to curb the culprits. Now, the Sinhala military intelligence is hatching plans to suppress the activities of the civil mobilisation including the vigilance committees. The occupation by Sinhala military stands at one soldier per two civilians in the district.
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SL Court in Anuradhapura humiliates hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 October 2017, 22:08 GMT]
The three hunger-strikers, waging fast-unto-death for the last 30 days demanding their cases not to be transferred to SL Court in Anuradhapura were on Tuesday forcefully taken to Anuradhapura Special Court, where the Judge told them their fast-unto-death or any protest being waged by Tamils would not work. “You have to either face case here or lodge an appeal against it,” the judge told the hunger-strikers, according to the families of the three hunger strikers told TamilNet on Wednesday. In the meantime, SL President Maithiripala Sirisena has again dodged responding to the request of the families of the Tamil political prisoners and is on a travel outside the island. SL Presidential Secretary Austin Fernando has told NPC Opposition Leader S. Thavarasa that Mr Sirisena would not be interfering in the matters of SL Attorney General.
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Tamil political prisoners incarcerated in Colombo go on hunger strike

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 October 2017, 23:26 GMT]
While the health condition of three Tamil prisoners who are waging fast-unto-death for the past 29 days in Anuradhapura prison has been deteriorating day by day, Tamil prisoners incarcerated in the high security Magazine prison in Colombo announced on Monday evening that they are launching a hunger strike on Tuesday demanding a principled decision on the release all 132 Tamil political prisoners detained and jailed in various prisons across the island. In the meantime, SL President Maithiriapala Sirisena, sitting on a time frame until Wednesday on making a decision on the demands from the hunger strikers in Anuradhapura. The SL prison authorities, fearing that the worsening condition of hunger strikers could spark off vigorous protests in the North, are treating the prisoners at prison ward without admitting them to the civil hospital in Anuradhapura to avoid media focus.
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Unitary constitution imposing choice irrelevant to fundamentals needs rejection by Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 October 2017, 21:46 GMT]
Imposing conditions on Eezham Tamils to denounce their sovereignty is denial of their right to self-determination. The Eezham Tamils are a distinct nation with sovereignty-based claim to exercise their right to Self-Determination. A framework for political solution should therefore recognise the nationhood of Eezham Tamils, their geographically contiguous homeland and their inalienable right of self-determination. The interim report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly [of genocidal Sri Lanka] has not only denied the right of self-determination, but it also attempts to force upon Tamils the unitary system with a ‘Sri Lankan’ identity, both of which have been historically and democratically denounced by Tamils. Therefore Eezham Tamils should not hesitate to reject it, says Jaffna-based Tamil political analyst S.A. Jothilingam in an exclusive interview to TamilNet.
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Paramilitary operative employed at Cooray's secretariat in Jaffna harasses public servants

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2017, 18:46 GMT]
A former EPRLF (Varathar wing) paramilitary operative turned ‘sanitary worker’ at the secretariat of SL Governor to North, 30-year-old Sivarasa Sivakulan alias Murali, has been harassing Tamil public servants who have been sympathetic to the kith and kin of the struggling political prisoners, Tamil journalists and activists who have been supporting the elected Chief Minister of the NPC. The SL operative has handed over details of Tamil public servants, who took part in the black flag protest and demanded the SL Presidential Security Division (PSD) to punish them through SL Presidential Secretariat instructions to relevant ministries. The harassment has already begun with instruction of transfers being sent to North, informed sources in Colombo said. A Ministerial Security Division (MSD) officer in charge of SL Governor's security is also involved in the latest operation.
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UN Refugee agency ignorant of stranded Tamil refugees in Indonesia

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2017, 07:15 GMT]
Eezham Tamil Refugees languishing for almost five years in the transit refugee camps in Medan, which is the capital of North Sumatra province in Indonesia, mobilized against the negligence by UNHCR and the local authorities last Thursday. They were demanding resettlement in a third country as promised to them by the UN body for refugees five years ago, when their boat en route to Australia was detained off the waters of Indonesia. The immigration authorities responded harshly with the arrest of 24-year-old Nathan Partheepan, one of the organisers of the agitation a few hours after the peaceful protest. Mr Partheepan is currently detained at a closed-door detention camp, where living conditions are appalling and medically hazardous. The organiser who talked to TamilNet before being transferred from the open camp, claimed he was among those recognised as refugees by the UNHCR.
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Tamil fisherman rammed by intruding Sinhala fishermens’ boat, fishing disputes escalate in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 October 2017, 19:12 GMT]
Speedboats of intruding Sinhala fishermen on Saturday attacked a Tamil fisherman, who was engaged in fishing in the seas off Vadamaraadchi East in a small vessel. The injured fisherman was admitted to Pazhai hospital and later transferred to Jaffna hospital for further treatment. The violent incident comes after a section of Tamil fishermen detained a group of intruding Sinhala fishermen on Thursday morning in the seas off Vadamaraadchi East at Naakarkoayil. The Sinhala fishermen had destroyed the fishing nets of the Tamil fishermen and the intruders engaged in illegal fishing of sea cucumbers and chanks were handed over to the SL Police at Pazhai. The Divisional Secretary of Maruthangkea'ni also went on record in local newspapers on Friday that no-one was allowed to engage in sea cucumber and chank fishing along the coast in the entire division.
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20 Tamil organisations to lay siege to SL Governor's office on Friday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2017, 23:48 GMT]
Twenty Tamil organisations, including a number of political parties, grassroots organisations and civil groups, have collectively decided on Tuesday to lay siege to the office of the Sinhala colonial Governor to North, Reginald Cooray, in Jaffna on Friday. The SL State should honour the demands of the hunger-striking political prisoners in Anuradhapura prison as a matter of urgency before SL President Maithiripala Sirisena's scheduled visit to Jaffna on Saturday to take place, the groups said in a joint statement. In addition, there should be a political decision on unconditional release of all 132 Tamil political prisoners, who are being detained or imprisoned across the island. The time has come for Eezham Tamils to demonstrate their mainstream opinion through democratic protests, the organisations said. The hunger strikers are continuing their protest for the 17th day on Wednesday.
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Protests gain momentum as hunger-striking political prisoners’ health deteriorates

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2017, 22:09 GMT]
Three Tamil political prisoners waging fast-unto-death in Anuradhapura prison were admitted to the public hospital in Anuradhapura on Sunday as their health deteriorated at the prison hospital. Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) Leader Mavai Senthirajah, who went to meet the prisoners at Anuradhapura, received flak as parliamentarians representing his party have been collaborating with the unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka. One of the protesters, 30-year-old Sulaxan Mathiyarasan, was transferred back to prison after treatment. Protests were staged at several places in Jaffna peninsula and in the Vanni mainland in support of Tamil political prisoners who are on a fast unto death opposing their cases being transferred away from Vavuniyaa High Court.
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‘Vidura’ becomes gravity centre of structural genocide on Champoor Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2017, 20:22 GMT]
The occupying navy of genocidal Sri Lanka has seized around 3,200 acres of lands in the territory belonging to the nation of Eezham Tamils in Champoor, Moothoor East, Trincomalee, in an attempt to upgrade the SL Navy with a marine force, which is being groomed by the U.S. Pacific Command under the notion of ‘military-to-military’ engagement. Eezham Tamils are very well aware that the USA is conducting its ‘access strategy’ through the genocidal State of Sri Lanka after altering the diplomatic, military and remedial equilibrium of the nation of Eezham Tamils, commented a Tamil activist from Champoor. “The harassment meted out to resettled Tamils in Champoor stems from the subservient military needs of the agent State in Colombo,” the activist, who has been subjected to repeated military PsyOps harassment by the occupying Sinhala military, told TamilNet on Wednesday.
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Australia's policies lead to deaths of Eezham Tamil refugees

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2017, 23:32 GMT]
32-year-old Eezham Tamil asylum seeker, Rajeev Rajendran, lost his life after he had slit his own throat on 29th September to protest the inhuman conditions prevailing at the Manus Island, at the off-shore detention centre operated by a Spanish-owned private firm on behalf of the Australian government in Papua New Guinea. In the meantime, 42-year-old Eezham Tamil female, Santhiya, who has been languishing in an Indonesian refugee camp located in Jakarta lost her life on 1st of October due kidney failure, and the subsequent negligence of medical attention by the local authorities. The Australian government is known for its continued anti-people refugee policies, denying peoples fleeing from persecution and genocide.
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SL Navy groomed by Washington destroys Tamils’ houses as US naval ship docks at Trinco port

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2017, 23:44 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala navy of genocidal Sri Lanka was destroying the houses of uprooted Eezham Tamils in Champoor, Trincomalee, to obtain concrete material to fortify its newly-built administrative headquarters for the training of the ‘Marine Battalion’ of the SL Navy. On Sunday, the resettled Tamils in Champoor had to confront the Sinhala navy sailors to block them from dismantling the walls of a Tsunami settlement with 75 houses, which has already been plundered of the roofs and doors by the occupying SL military. The SL Navy has managed to rob three tractor loads of concrete material before the people mobilised against the move, residents in Champoor told TamilNet on Monday as US Navy Ship Lewis and Clark arrived at Trincomalee port to take part in what the SL Navy was claiming as first of its kind joint training taking place between the SL and US Navies in the island.
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Western, Indian housing schemes used as trump card to weaken uprooted people’s struggle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 October 2017, 23:29 GMT]
The poverty-stricken uprooted Tamils from Valikaamam North in Jaffna, residing in more than 34 so-called welfare camps for three decades, are now being lured into buying alternative lands outside their military-occupied villages. Administrative officials deployed by occupying Colombo are giving an ultimatum that if the familes were to ‘qualify’ for housing schemes funded by India, Norway, Switzerland and the EU, they should buy lands elsewhere without delay. The housing schemes would disappear if the beneficiaries were to wait for their original lands to be released by the SL military, the families are being told. The western countries and India, that intentionally avoided demanding de-militarisation of the North-East in the post-war human rights discourse staged in Geneva, seem to be interested in grooming the hostile Sinhala military along the coast of Eezham Tamils in the North-East.
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Health of 2 hunger-striking political prisoners deteriorate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2017, 20:30 GMT]
Two of the three Tamil political prisoners currently waging a hunger strike for 6th day at Anuradhapura prison have been transferred to prison hospital as their health condition has deteriorated. 30-year-old Sulaxan Mathiyarasan and Rasathurai Thiruvarul (Chengkan) reportedly fainted before being admitted to hospital. In the meantime, the third political prisoner Ganesan Tharshanan has been shifted back to his cell after being held for a while along with Sinhala criminal prisoners sentenced to death. On Monday, the remaining Tamil political prisoners are going on a one-day symbolic hunger-strike in support of the three, informed legal sources in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet.
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Sinhala Catholic establishment continues to abet Theravada Buddhists-led ethno-nationalist project

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2017, 23:08 GMT]
The Sinhala Archbishop of Colombo Rt Rev Cardinal Malcom Ranjith who was very close to genocidaire Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and was instrumental in suppressing Tamil Catholic sentiments which were opposed to the crimes of the unitary regime in Colombo, is now scheming a plan to attach two substations in Mukaththuvaaram, coming under the Parish Priest of Kokku'laay with the Diocese of Anuradhapura, informed sources in Vanni told TamilNet this week. Mukaththuvaaram, which is the northern tip of the lagoon-mouth of Kokku'laay is situated close to the border of the Northern and Eastern provinces. In an attempt to permanently wedge the territorial and demographic contiguity of the homeland of Eezham Tamils, Colombo Establishment is deploying hardline Sinhala Catholic elements in the genocidal colonisation project. The Jaffna Diocese, when contacted, was dodging to give any information.
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Sinhala colonisation stepped up, genocidal system cannot be transformed through ‘consensus’

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2017, 23:32 GMT]
It is not possible to reform or reconfigure the genocidal State system in the island through so-called consensus engagements with the Colombo Establishment either internally or externally, commented a leading civil official in Batticaloa revealing details of a new Sinhala colonisation scheme silently spearheaded by the Mahaweli Ministry of SL President Maithiripala Sirisena. “As far as Tamils are concerned, any consensus programme coming from outside towards the SL State should be viewed by Tamils as a consensus forged among the Establishments for continued strutural genocide against the nation of Eezham Tamils,” the official, who would be risking the SLAS job if publicly identified, told TamilNet. The official revealed how Mahaweli ‘Development’ Ministry is now reviving a colonisation scheme which was originally proposed under Rajapaksa regime in 2008 and later abandoned in 2010.
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Uprooted people find houses destroyed by SL Navy in Ira'nai-theevu after 2008

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2017, 18:18 GMT]
There were almost 190 concrete-built houses, which stood in good shape when the SL Navy occupied Ira'nai-theevu twin-islands, which are situated 12 nautical miles west of Muzhangkaavil along the coast of Vanni in the Palk Bay. There was no military confrontations wihtin the islands in 2007-2008 when SL Navy occupied the islets. However, last week, three representatives of the protesting villagers, who went to witness the surveying of the lands, were shocked to see majority of their houses being razed to the ground by the occupying SL Navy. Only around 45 houses have standing structures. Among these, 15 to 20 houses could be reconstructed without much investment. The occupying SL Navy should bear the responsibility for the full and partial destruction of 187 houses, they said. Prior to 2007, the owners had dismantled only 3 houses, the villagers further said.
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Families of enforced disappeared want answers, no deceptive bills to genocidal system

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2017, 23:49 GMT]
The genocidal State of Sri Lanka would simply ‘privatize’ white van abductions in future to circumvent any restrictions be its own Acts or international conventions such as the “International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance” (ICPPED). Therefore, the SL ratification of the ICPPED and the discourse of enacting bills are not of immediate concern to the families of persons subjected to enforced disappearances, commented Mr Velayutham Vijayakumar, who represents the families of persons reported missing. The Jaffa-based activist said Tamil people were more concerned about SL State's official answer on what happened to those subjected to enforced disappearances, particularly the fate of hundreds of persons who were handed over to the SL military in front of their families inside the SL military controlled area after the genocial onslaught in May 2009.
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EPRLF opposes 20A to SL Constitution, ITAK duo wrongs again says Premachandran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2017, 16:39 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has completely failed to conduct an internal democratic discussion on the consequences of the so-called 20th Amendment and the latest amendments to the 20th Amendment, said EPRLF Leader Suresh Premachandran at a press conference held in Jaffna on Tuesday. Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, who has started to lament the situation of the current regime that has failed to deliver justice and power sharing, has not publicly articulated his position. The ITAK has even failed to address the Tamil media. Meanwhile, the ITAK councillors in the Eastern Province have been tricked to vote in favour of the amendment, he said. In the meantime, M.A. Sumanthiran is staging selective campaigns and invitees-only briefings advocating for the amended 20A.
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