42 TPPs in Colombo join hunger-strike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 October 2018, 19:39 GMT]
Forty-two Tamil Political Prisoners in Colombo's Magazine Prison have joined the hunger-strike initiated by the TPPs in Anuradhapura prison on Wednesday. In the meantime, the health conditions of one of the twelve TPPs on hunger-strike worsened on Wednesday and the TPP has been transferred to hospital, the families of the TPPs said.
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SL-AG Department finds new excuses to dodge hunger-striking TPPs demands

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 October 2018, 15:07 GMT]
SL Attorney General's Department has told TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran that it would not be considering the demands of three of the twelve hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners at Anuradhapura prison at all. The families of the TPPs said the explanation given by the SL-AG was illogical and condemned the TNA for passively tolerating the Colombo establishment citing ongoing disputes between the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena's UPFA and the UNP led by SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe.
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Occupying Colombo erects 2nd Buddha temple at educational suburb of Tamils in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 October 2018, 22:57 GMT]
Sinhala extremist monks from South and the occupying SL military in civilian clothes along with Sinhala students launched a second Buddhist temple within the Ki'linochchi campus premises of the Jaffna University a week ago on 24 September. The move comes amidst strong objections from the Tamil students. The University administration was also critical as it had allocated a venue for the construction of places of worship for all religions enjoying equal status. However, Sinhala Buddhist Establishment and the occupying SL military want to put up a grand Buddhist site as the unitary Constitution of genocidal Sri Lanka is giving ‘foremost’ place to the Buddhism, Tamil student leaders said.
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Sinhala colonists resume occupation of pasture lands in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 September 2018, 21:45 GMT]
The Secretary of Dairy Farmers Association in Kiraan and Chengka'ladi, Nimalan Kanthasamy, said the Tamil farmers were facing the recurrence of violence from Sinhala colonists who have started to encroach into to Periya-maathava'nai and Mayilaththa-madu, a pasture land located in the interior Ko'ra'laip-pattu South (Kiraan) division of Batticaloa district. Sinhala colonists from Polonnaruwa, Badulla and Moneragala were withdrawn last year after repeated protests. The interior land was under the control of the LTTE before 2007.
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Thileepan Remembrance in Jaffna underscores need for new emancipation strategies

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 September 2018, 08:24 GMT]
All Tamil parties and movements that orientate their politics on the national liberation of the nation of Eezham Tamils actively took part in an emotional event participated by hundreds of Eezham Tamils on Wednesday at Nalloor in Jaffna. Lt Col Thileepan (Rasaiah Parthipan) sacrificed his life through a 12-day fast-unto-death without food and water in 1987. He was the political head of the LTTE in Jaffna when New Delhi intervened with its military force after entering a State-to-State agreement with Colombo. Thileepan's sacrifice was a crucial historical event in the political emancipation of Eezham Tamils as it exposed the real agenda of the intervening power, which was calling the shots in the island during the times of the Cold War.
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Two more TPPs join hunger-strike at Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 September 2018, 10:07 GMT]
Two political prisoners, including a Tamil-speaking Mulsim, recently transferred to Anuradhapura from Colombo have joined the hunger strike on Sunday. The SL military intelligence has alleged the Muslim prisoner, Abdul Hameed Umar Hattaaph, as being involved in the assassination carried out by the LTTE on a former commander of the genocidal military, Major General (retd) Janaka Perera in 2008.
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USAID-funded project renders exploitation of Tamil farmers by export conglomerate

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 September 2018, 20:03 GMT]
Poverty-stricken Eezham Tamil household farmers from Koa'ra'laip-pattu North (Vaakarai) division of Batticaloa, complain that they are systematically exploited by the SL State-owned Bank of Ceylon (BOC), which has threatened to seize their lands if they complained about exploitation by Hayleys Agriculture, the largest exporter of fruits in the island. The farmers were given technical assistance to commence Gherkin Cucumber farming with USAID assistance. The BOC maintains that the farmers have to pay back the initial funding by binding their sales to Hayleys. The produce is purchased at a low price, and if they complained about the exploitation, they would risk losing their lands, the BOC officials have threatened they said.
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Four hunger-striker TPPs admitted to Anuradhapura hospital

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 September 2018, 18:34 GMT]
Four of the hunger-striking Tamil Political Prisoners have been admitted to the public hospital in Anuradhapura as their health conditions have worsened. Two TPPs who had been admitted to the attached hospital at Anuradhapura prison earlier were transferred to the general hospital on Friday. Two more TPPs were rushed to the same hospital on Saturday. Rights activist Ganesh Velayutham who visited the fasting TPPs told TamilNet that all the prisoners were in bad condition as they were languishing for more than nine years in the prison. The TPPs are heavily traumatised due to the depression caused by the dilly-dallying by the occupying Colombo's rulers. All of them have staged hunger-strikes four times before, and that they are not fit for a lengthy hunger-strike, he said.
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SLA commander in Jaffna admits counter-insurgency agenda of Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 September 2018, 21:21 GMT]
An armed movement threatening the sovereignty and the ‘national security’ of the SL State originated in Jaffna. Even though almost ten years have elapsed since that movement was destroyed, the military is present in Jaffna to make sure that such an organisation doesn't rise again, said the commander of the SL military in Jaffna Major General Darshana Hettiarachchi at a PR conference he organised at Palaali on Thursday. The PR meeting organised as one of the first kind turned into a flop as the SL commander was exhausted facing an array of questions to which he was either dodging response or contradicting himself.
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SL State refuses to renew land permits to resettled Champoor Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 September 2018, 16:54 GMT]
The resettled Eezham Tamils from Champoor and the connecting section of Kadatkaraich-cheanai were refused of renewal of their land permits at a mobile land kachcheri held on Sunday at Moothoor. The Eastern Provincial Land Commissioner organised the land meeting at Moothoor to look into the land issues of the resettled people in the Moothoor East. However, the residents of Champoor were told the renewals of their land permits were on hold as the SL State has not revoked the earlier state acquisition of their lands from the times of Rajapaksa rule. The people who are in possession of old documents are refused of housing assistance as well as loans that could be obtained through Samurdhi scheme as they are unable to document current ownership to their lands where they reside.
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Vadamaraadchi East fishers besiege intruding poachers from South

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 September 2018, 22:42 GMT]
Eezham Tamil fishers from Valveddith-thu'rai (VVT) in Vadamaraadchi to Maruthang-kea'ni in Vadamaraadchi East in the district of Jaffna have mobilised against the Sea-Cucumber poachers who are deployed in the territorial seas and lagoons of Eezham Tamils in the North. The occupying SL Navy and the SL Police are protecting the intruders whom the native fishermen blame as destroying the fishing ecosystem in the North. The SL Fisheries Ministry and its department, coming under the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka, have been collaborating with the big export-oriented business owners in the South who deploy the fishers from South for large-scale Sea Cucumber poaching. On Tuesday, Tamil fishers staged a coordinated action searching for intruders in their coast during the early hours and detained 8 Sinhala poachers along with three boats.
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Drastic reduction of funds hampers resettlement of uprooted Tamils in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 September 2018, 22:25 GMT]
The uprooted people from SL military occupied Valikaamam North in Jaffna are still languishing in 34 camps. However, the occupying unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has allocated barely 250 million rupees (USD 1.5 million) for resettlement of the internally displaced people in Jaffna district in 2018, Tamil civil sources in Jaffna said. For comparison, 5,500 million rupees (USD 32.7 million) was allocated in 2016 - 2017, the sources said. Mr S. Muralitharan, the additional District Secretary who deals with land affairs, has admitted the figures on the expenditure on resettlement.
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Tamils confront Colombo by reviving deity rituals at threatened heritage-sites in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 September 2018, 22:01 GMT]
The Eezham Tamil villagers from Chemmalai-East in Mullaiththeevu and Nedungkea'ni in Vavuniyaa North have successfully marked ceremonial rituals for Hindu deities at two of their recently-threatened heritage sites in Vanni. The residents of Olu-madu and Muthiram-paddi villages in Nedungkea'ni staged a three-day long feast since Friday at Vedukku-naa'ri with broader participation and the villagers of Chemmalai in Mullaiththeevu marked a Pongkal feast on Monday at the Sinhala-Buddhicised Neeraaviyadi Pi'l'laiyaar temple. However, the extremist sections of the Sinhala Theravada Buddhist establishment, SL Archaeology Department and the occupying Sinhala military, remain emboldened through the military backing of the USA, Japan and India, particularly by the joint naval exercises that have taken place in Trincomalee in recent days, Tamil political observers in Trincomalee commented.
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US oil firm surveys seas off North-East using Chinese vessel

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 September 2018, 23:36 GMT]
Coinciding with the naval exercises of USA, Japan and India at Trincomalee with the navy of genocidal Sri Lanka, the U.S. oilfield services firm Schlumberger, has launched seismic oil exploration survey beyond Mannaar and Cauvery-basins in the sea of Tamils located off the eastern coast of occupied Tamil Eelam. BGP Pioneer, the vessel deployed to conduct the study, belongs to the Chinese state oil company China National Petroleum Corporation, and it is sailing under the flag of Panama. The deal of the USD 50-million project, run at free of cost to the occupying Colombo, is set for ten years. The target area is JS5 & JS6 blocks off the eastern coast facing the Bay of Bengal.
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Naval partnerships off Tamil Eelam coast need perusal at backdrop of structural genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 September 2018, 22:59 GMT]
Japan’s Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera visited Colombo from 20th to 22nd August and met high officials of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka, discussing maritime security and development of port facilities. His visits focused on the ports in Colombo, Hambantota and in particular Trincomalee, the capital of the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The following Week, Japan’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kazuyuki Nakane visited Colombo, amongst others to inaugurate the commissioning ceremony of two state-of-the-art patrol-ships worth around 11 million dollars donated by Japan to the SL Coast Guard. The Japanese collaboration with genocidal Sri Lanka comes as part of a joint U.S., India and Japanese geopolitical move, Tamil political observers in Trincomalee said.
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Sinhala colonists storm into lands south of Kokku'laay lagoon provoking Pulmoaddai Muslims

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 September 2018, 21:04 GMT]
Sinhala colonists, backed by the occupying SL military stationed in Pulmoaddai have stormed into 25 acres of lands, located south of Kokku'laay lagoon in the Trincomalee district on Monday night. They have hurriedly put up several huts overnight at Maalanoor. The intruders have plan to put up 30 shelters. SL authorities in Colombo have assured State-sponsored housing scheme to them, informed civil sources said. Most of the encroached lands belong to Tamil-speaking Muslim families. The hostile move comes at a time when Sinhala Buddhist establishment was clashing with Eezham Tamils at Kumuzha-munai and Naayaa'ru in the Mullaiththeevu district to the north of the Kokku'laay lagoon. The time has come for joint action by Eezham Tamils in the North and the Tamil-speaking Muslims in Trincomalee in the East against the cultural and demographic genocide, the activists in Pulmoaddai said.
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NPC CM prepares to face contempt of court case engineered by Sumanthiran et al

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 September 2018, 22:15 GMT]
The justice system of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has been deployed against the Northern Provincial Council as the TNA Parliamentarian and President's Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran was making another die-hard move to weaken the position of the NPC Chief Minister and former Supreme Court Justice C.V. Wigneswaran through furnishing new cases. The latest in the series is a contempt of court case, filed against him and two of his ministers, Ananthy Sasitharan and K. Sivanesan. The case comes amidst an appeal filed by NPC Chief Minister against the interim order issued by the SL Court of Appeal, pending a scheduled hearing on Wednesday. However, the NPC CM is fully prepared to address the challenge, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet on Monday. It is not the reputation of the NPC CM, but that of the SL Justice System, getting exposed, political observers in Jaffna said.
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UN silence on Mannaar killing fields questioned, legal activists urge Bishops to act

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2018, 16:31 GMT]
The victims of Mannaar killing fields could be families that were fleeing from Peasaalai and other places to Tamil Nadu in India during the times of Eezham War II which lasted from 1990 to 1995, legal activists working with the enforced disappeared families told TamilNet on Sunday. Since there is a systematic pattern and the massacres seem to have been deliberately committed against unarmed civilians fleeing from the war zone, these are Crime Against Humanity of the first-degree according to any standard of the International Criminal Law, they said. The UN system, particularly the Geneva-based Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), well aware of Colombo's drive to dodge international forensic analyses of the exhumed human skeletons, also keeps mum, they complained.
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Judicial investigations on Mannaar killing fields marred by Colombo transferring judges

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 September 2018, 23:19 GMT]
The all-Sinhala Judicial Service Commission (JSC) of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has been subjected to political influence by the regime of occupying Colombo sabotaging the independent investigations of the mass graves in Mannaar. The judicial investigations on mass graves exhumed four years ago at Thirukkeatheesvaram in Mannaar mainland with 88 human skeletons and the latest excavations at the entrance to Mannaar city at the premises of Cooperative Wholesale Establishment, where traces of 111 slain humans, including children and women, have been marked so far since 28 May, informed sources in Mannaar and in Colombo told TamilNet. The local media is thoroughly avoiding to report the controversy, and the lawyers are avoiding to talk about it fearing charges against them based on Contempt of Courts, the sources further said.
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NPC Minister wants international excavations of war-time SL military camps in North-East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 August 2018, 22:48 GMT]
Excavations must be carried out at the direct presence of international monitors wherever the SL military was stationed with camps during the times of war in the North-East, said Ananthy Sasitharan, who is the NPC Minister of Women’s Affairs and Rehabilitation. Thousands of Tamils, subjected to forced disappearance and arrests during the times of war, are still unaccounted for and their trauma and dismay has aggravated at the scale of the recent discovery of mass graves in the North, Ms Sasitharan said. The NPC Minister is one of the thousands of survivors, who are yet to receive a clear answer from the SL State on the whereabouts of their loved ones. Furthermore, Ms Sasithran said international mediation was necessary to achieve a political solution to the conflict and blamed the Colombo government for marring the NPC with a hostile attitude.
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