Sri Lanka police arrest 52 Jaffna Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 March 2011, 23:27 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate, Rashmi Singapuli, Tuesday ordered remand for 48 Tamils, all residents of Jaffna, till March 27, legal sources in Colombo said. Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) of Sri Lanka Police last week arrested fifty two persons, including four children less than 10 years of age, while they were staying in lodges in Colombo and Negombo.
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Sri Lanka has sinister plans in confiscating lands of Mu’l’livaaykkaal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 March 2011, 05:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka has sinister plans to confiscate the three large coastal villages, Mu’l’livaaykkaal East, Mu’l’livaaykkaal West and Ampalavan Pokka’nai, where the last stages of the Vanni war took place. Original inhabitants of 18 hamlets of the villages are not allowed to resettle and there are secret plans to relocate them to confiscate the stretch of rich marine wealth, said a press release of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF). Mines are still the pretext, but even after 22 months the SL military has not even permitted de-mining the land where thousands of Eezham Tamils and their fighters sacrificed their lives. Meanwhile, with Chinese assistance, colonial SL occupying the country of Eezham Tamils has recently built a fortress-like military base over a cemetery of the LTTE heroes at Koappaay in Jaffna.
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Resettled families in Valikaamam North lack infrastructure facilities

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 March 2011, 10:23 GMT]
Unless infrastructure facilities are made available to the people, the resettlement could take place only at snail’s pace in Jaffna peninsula, Thellippazhai Divisional Secretary S.Muralitharan responded to reporters who questioned him on the restrictions prevailing there. Currently, the occupying Sri Lankan military is limiting the freedom of movement of civilians to their native villages by keeping the access roads to resettlement areas closed most of the time and is only allowing them to use the roads for few days in a week.
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Karuna alleges Pillaiyan TMVP corrupt

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 March 2011, 14:38 GMT]
"The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) party led by the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan is a political party full of corruption and deceit. Pilliayan has no support from the government," said Resettlement Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan alias Karuna. "Pilliayan became the Chief Minister due to votes of Tamils. He is now hanging on the government to show Tamils that he has the support of the government. He cannot act alone," said Karuna who has been spreading Mahinda Chinthanaya in Ampaarai district. Both are leaders of two Para military groups in the east.
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Eezham Tamils should register their identity in UK Census 2011

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 March 2011, 05:21 GMT]
UK National Statistics has circulated forms to all residents in UK to take census for 2011. “What is your ethnic group” is Question 16 of the form. 16 C is for people of Asian/ Asian British background. Under that Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese are mentioned by name. Others have to specifically write in their ethnic background under the column “Any Other Asian Background.” Whether citizens of UK or just residents, Tamils originating from the island called Sri Lanka today, should write in their ethnic identity as Eezham Tamils. Apart from all contemporary politics, Eezham is the oldest ethnic identity claimed for at least 2000 years by Tamils hailing from the island, as testified by literature and inscriptions. Equally important is answering Question 18 that Tamil is their main language.
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Uprooted Tamils from Puthukkudiyiruppu still strive for resettlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 March 2011, 19:41 GMT]
Large number of Tamil families from Mullaiththeevu district of Vanni, forcibly displaced and still held behind barbed wire camps in Menik Farm and other places, are yet to be allowed into their native villages in Puthukkudiyiruppu. The occupying Sri Lankan military has only allowed civilians to enter 6 of 19 Village Officer (GS) divisions in Puthukkudiyiruppu. So far, Only 68,846 persons from 23,050 families have been resettled in 65 out of 92 Village Officer divisions in Mullaiththeevu district. Thirty percent of the civilians are not allowed to resettle in the entire district of Mullaiththeevu, according to the data from the Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat.
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Executives of TGTE-Democrats speak on Transnational Polity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 March 2011, 07:45 GMT]
“Our aim is to strengthen the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam and to take it to the next stage of the global struggle of Eezham Tamils,” said Sasi Mahesawaran, one of the three executives of the TGTE-Democrats, adding that Tamils believe in unity to win the struggle. The frequent questions that are asked whether the TGTE Democrats are part of the TGTE or whether they are an opposition party or whether they are an alternative TGTE, were answered in a panel address they gave on Saturday in Tamil.
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British Tamil businesses continue networking effort

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 March 2011, 03:50 GMT]
The Tamil Chamber of Commerce in UK held another introductory dinner on March 2 in Northwest London, attended by scores of local Tamil entrepreneurs. The aim of the event in Ruislip, which was addressed by Deputy Mayor of London Richard Barnes, Mayor of Ealing Rajinder Mann and Mayor of Hounslow Colin Ellar, as well as local politicians and representatives from Britain’s main political parties, was to explain the TCC’s goals and potential for growing Tamil enterprise and to expand its membership, organisers said.
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100 years of Thirunelveali YMHA: anthropology of a grassroot institution

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 March 2011, 18:27 GMT]
The Young Men Hindu Association (YMHA) of Thirunelveali in Jaffna that was started in April 1911 celebrates its centenary next month. Its members of old times met in London Sunday to observe the centenary. Located at the Thirunelveali Junction, where the Aadiyapaatham Road crosses the Palaali Road, the institution played an important role in the social, political and cultural history of the people of Thirunelveali village. An academic of the University of Jaffna writes on Thirunelveali, the anthropology of civil institutions and changing times in Jaffna.
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Transnational experiment can’t be allowed to go astray, says younger generation

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 March 2011, 02:09 GMT]
Conventional ‘government-modelled’ power politics shouldn’t be allowed to hijack the ideals of the experiment of transnational struggle by Eezham Tamils for their liberation, says the younger generation in the diaspora that on Saturday announced certain moves to set bearings for the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE). Consisting of members elected as well as contested to the TGTE and led by the younger generation, the TGTE-Democrats said that they would not obstruct the activities of the current executive of the TGTE, even though they didn’t agree with the one-person leadership constitution, but would work for evolving a proper constitution for the next election. To carry out the program, elected TGTE-Democrats decided to mandate 9 among them to function for two years as a committee and the committee to annually appoint 3 executives.
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"Mere association" insufficient to prove membership, says Canada Refugee board

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 March 2011, 01:49 GMT]
In ruling on a Tamil migrant who arrived in Canada last August onboard the MV Sun Sea, Refugee board member, Marc Tessler ruled Sunday that mere association with banned terrorist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is not enough to prove membership in that group, a conclusion that may make it more difficult for the federal government [of Canada] to send the migrants back, CTV News reported. "Having a definition of membership that would encompass such low-range activities [such as working as a mechanic to repair LTTE run buses] was too broad to encompass membership in a terrorist group," said lawyer Eric Purtzki, who represented one of the migrants at the hearing.
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Sri Lankan state shows ‘reconciliation’ in the country of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2011, 15:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka military occupying the Tamil country opened a new fort and an extensive military base on Friday at Koappaay in Jaffna, over the graves and memorials of the heroes who laid down their lives to the cause of the liberation of Eezham Tamils. The Chinese helped the occupying SL military to raze down the Maaveerar Thuyilumidam (the resting place of the heroes) and to build the fortress at that very premises for the occupying Army to tread on it. The resident of the king of Jaffna was at Koappaay during the times of the Kingdom of Jaffna. The Portuguese destroyed it in the 17th century. The US State Department coined the word 'reconciliation' but Colombo is writing the meaning for the word, commented a Tamil politician in Jaffna.
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Occupying SL military stops re-installing MGR statue in VVT

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 March 2011, 00:05 GMT]
Efforts by the people of Valveddiththu’rai in Jaffna to re-install a statue for Mr. M G Ramachandran (MGR), the Tamil film icon since 1950s and former chief minister of Tamil Nadu was stopped by the Sri Lanka Army occupying the Tamil country. A statue of MGR that existed earlier at Valveddiththu’rai was desecrated and the arms were broken by the occupying military a few months back. Eezham Tamils, especially the coastal community people, are strong admirers of the films of MGR for well over six decades. MGR was born in Kandy in the island.
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Meaningful accountability comes by addressing the national question

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 March 2011, 10:33 GMT]
When events similar to what happened and is happening in the island led to international intervention and liberation of the affected in many other instances of the world, the issue of Eezham Tamils is consciously blunted as something concerned to insurgency, counterinsurgency and war crimes investigation of both. In the process, the main culprit of decades, i.e., the Sri Lankan state (not the regimes) escapes unscathed and is being saved by those who have a problem of irregularity with their appetite, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo responding to discussions in a live web-seminar conducted by Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research of Harvard University on 24 February.
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Officials opposing Sinhala encroachment threatened with transfer

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 March 2011, 12:10 GMT]
Tamil Divisional Secretaries in the eastern province are facing transfer threats due to the non-co-operation to implement Mahinda Chinthanaya in the Eastern Province in allowing encroachment by Sinhalese in Tamil villages. Already, Divisional Secretaries of the two DS divisions Koa'ra'laip-pattu South and Koa'ra'laip-pattu North in Batticaloa district are said to be informed of their transfer, sources in Eastern province said.
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Sri Lanka's rights violations compel investigations, says Australian MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 March 2011, 02:45 GMT]
Laurie Ferguson, Member of Australian Parliament for Werriwa and Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services, in his statement following submitting a private members bill for debate on "Humanitarian Issues During the War in Sri Lanka," Monday detailed the egregious violations of human rights in Sri Lanka and said he supported eminent personalities, Governments, and premier Rights organizations around the world in demanding an independent, international investigations into Sri Lanka's rights violations.
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Kohona, Samarasinghe issues raised in Australia Parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 March 2011, 02:28 GMT]
John Murphy, Australia's Labor pary member of parliament for Reid, during a house debate on Thursday expressed grave concern at the "foreshadowed appointment" of Sri Lanka's ex-Navy commander Admiral Samarasinghe as the next high commissioner, and called upon the Australian Government to "independently investigate" the involvement of Dr Palitha Kohona, an Australian National, in the killing of surrendees during the last phase of Sri Lanka's civil war.
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Occupying military orders VVT people to register before 10:00 a.m. Wednesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2011, 20:40 GMT]
In a draconian order, the SL military occupying the country of Eezham Tamils has asked the people of Valveddiththu’rai, a densely populated town in the northern coast of Jaffna, to register themselves with the military, along with family photos, before 10:00 a.m. Wednesday. The shocked Eezham Tamils wonder whether their country is fast turning into an open concentration camp for them. The order comes even as there is a case against such registrations filed by TNA is pending in the court. The notice to the public to register within 24 hours and forms for that are distributed by the SL Army to local shops. On the order of the Army, the local village officials were seen carrying out the work even during the night. People feel that the show of terror is a revenge for the participation of the people of VVT in the funeral of Parvathi Amma, despite military harassment.
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Antiquity of Jaffna city goes back to Roman times

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2011, 07:31 GMT]
Pottery associated with Roman times of the early historic period were found in the premises of the King’s House in Jaffna fort by archaeologists of the University of Jaffna led by Prof P. Pushparatnam. The team took over digging after getting information on pottery finds when a pit was dug for toilet purposes in the King’s House premises. The disturbed rubble layer at the top had a variety of pottery of various periods, including Rouletted Ware and Amphora Ware associated with Roman times. Digging further, the Jaffna University team reached a floor level and artefacts are being excavated even below that level. From the indications at the surface, the excavators expect to reach undisturbed levels of early historic habitation in the excavation.
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UNSC weekend resolution on Libya incorporates ICC exclusion provision

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2011, 00:50 GMT]
Under US's insistence, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), during its weekend sessions lasting into late nights on drafting a resolution on Libya, had to include a provision that "exempts personnel from states not members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from prosecution," Innercity Press (ICP) reported. The provision was a "red line" for the US, and was deal breaker, a French Representative told the ICP, adding, the provision had to be included to have the "unanimity of the Council."
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