Sinhala paramilitary attacks Tamil cattle farmers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 December 2012, 18:10 GMT]
Sinhala ‘home guards’ operated by the occupying Sri Lankan military have been attacking Tamil cattle farmers in the border villages of the Batticaloa district. The SL police is ignoring the complaints made by Tamil farmers against such attacks. The Sinhala ‘home guards’, who have appropriated lands of Eezham Tamils are doing cultivation in the occupied lands and are given military training by the SL military to operate as an occupation paramilitary along the borders of Polonnarwa - Batticaloa and Batticaloa - Ampa'rai districts in the East.
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EPC TNA councilor condemns attack on University students in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 December 2012, 15:55 GMT]
Jaffna University student J.Jenanarthanan who is also a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) councilor in the Eastern Provincial Council issued a statement condemning the attack on Jaffna university students by the State armed forces on the Heroes Day. Mr Jenanarthanan was one of the three councilors elected to the Eastern Provincial Council on the TNA ticket from the Trincomalee district. He has been studying in the Arts Faculty of the Jaffna University.
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Uda-peruwa, Palle-peruwa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 December 2012, 13:17 GMT]
The upper division
The lower division
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EPDP mobilizes protest against Indian trawlers while backing trawlers from South

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2012, 16:54 GMT]
Timed to the visit of the representatives of fishermen societies in Tamil Nadu to Jaffna on Thursday, the SL minister and EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda was allegedly engaged in triggering demonstrations in front of the Consulate General of India in Jaffna, protesting the intrusion of Indian trawlers. According to Jaffna fishermen, the SL minister backs trawlers from the South exploiting Tamil waters. On Thursday, when the EPDP-backed protesters were shouting “Mahalingam come out,” demanding the Indian Consul General to come out and address them, a group of fishermen in Valveddith-thu’rai (VVT) rounded up the SL police station there demanding action against 30 southern trawlers that were operating in the seas off VVT. Another 107 trawlers, backed by Mr. Devandanda were exploiting the seas off Kurunakar, the fishermen complained.
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Rice's silence on Sri Lanka may hurt cabinet appointment - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2012, 13:57 GMT]
While the accusation that Dr. Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, intentionally mislead the public by saying that the Bengazhi killings of four Americans was a spontaneous attack in response to a film mocking prophet Mohammed, appears to have damaged her chances of being appointed as the U.S.'s Secretary of State after Hilary Clinton, Rice's human rights record in the U.N., including her inaction on Sri Lanka killings, has also come under closer scrutiny, Washington Post said in an article this Friday, quoting comment from an official of the Human Rights Watch.
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Paramilitary allegedly backed by India effects arrest of Jaffna University students

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2012, 12:07 GMT]
In a revealing turn of affairs following the Heroes Day incidents at the university of Jaffna, four Jaffna University student representatives were detained by occupying Sri Lanka’s police, based on a complaint made against seven students by a newly created paramilitary, called Sri TELO that is operating along with the SL military. The paramilitary, consisting of some Tamils recently brought from camps in India and allegedly backed by New Delhi, hurriedly opened an office adjacent to the university campus a week ago and lodged a complaint with the SL police at Koappaay that the named university students had engaged in throwing petrol bombs at its office on Thursday 3:30 a.m. According to unconfirmed reports, the paramilitary functioned with the SL forces in entering the hostels and in the attack on students.
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Canadian organizations condemn attack on students in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 November 2012, 09:41 GMT]
Condemning the brutal assaults on the students of University of Jaffna by the occupying Sri Lanka’s police and military apparatus that has been happening with intensity since Tuesday, the Canadian Peace Alliance (CPA), the York Federation of Students (YFS), the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU), and the Tamil Youth Organization-Canada (TYO-Canada) have issued statements supporting both the civil and political liberties of the Eezham Tamil students in the homeland as well as the democratic right of the Tamil nation to self-determination.
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Kurdish party conveys solidarity message on Tamil Eelam Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 November 2012, 06:59 GMT]
“History of the world has been full of clashes between the occupiers and the occupied. As a result of struggles, resistances and sacrifices more of the occupied people have been liberated and the fascist and chauvinist occupiers are being destroyed successively,” writes Mr. Rehman Haci Ehmedi, the Secretary General of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), in a solidarity message sent to the Eezham Tamil nation on the occasion of Heroes Day. In a note sent to TamilNet via Rojhelat.info on Thursday, Mr. Ehmedi, who is the highest authority in the PJAK, drawing parallels between the struggle of the Kurds and the Tamils, urged the Eezham Tamil nation to continue the struggle, “In the hope of revitalization of the heroic nation of Tamil Eelam, in the hope of triumphant and freedom for the resolute and revolutionary nation of Tamil Eelam; never rest unless triumphing!”
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SLA attack on Tamil students is ‘additional’ issue to US embassy in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 November 2012, 16:45 GMT]
A press release of the US embassy in Colombo on Thursday, while expressing concern about an attack on a reporter in Jaffna on Wednesday and searches without warrants of journalists, considered the entry of SL forces into the gents’ and ladies’ hostels of the Jaffna University and attack on the Tamil students inside the hostels on Tuesday and later when they peacefully demonstrated on Wednesday, as an “additional” issue. On Wednesday, while addressing the university students, a student representative asked, “where can we complain? There is nobody here for us to complain. Only the International Community should do something.”
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TNA parliamentarian, university students question ‘reconciliation’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 November 2012, 15:12 GMT]
Following atrocities committed on the Jaffna university students by occupying Sri Lanka’s military intelligence and police on Tuesday and Wednesday, TNA parliamentarian Mr. E. Saravanabhavan questioned the validity of the so-called reconciliation process when Sri Lanka’s military and police consider the Jaffna University students as enemies. The current developments remind of the situation 30 years back that paved way for the subsequent struggle, the parliamentarian said in a video address to media. Meanwhile student representatives addressing the university students on Wednesday, while condemning the genocidal military of Sri Lanka, asked where to lodge complaint except to the International Community.
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Thousands throng Sydney, London Heroes’ Day events

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, 16:21 GMT]
Thousands of Eezham Tamils from across the UK gathered at London on Tuesday to pay obeisance to the Maaveerar (heroes) who laid down their lives in the struggle for a sovereign Tamil Eelam. Likewise, large crowds showed up at the Heroes Day event at Sydney, which was held in open space, and the people stayed on till the conclusion despite a heavy downpour. At the Heroes day event at Excel centre, London, security sources informed that the overall crowd was roughly around 20,000. Speaking to TamilNet, a community activist from Australia said that the strong presence of Tamil public at the Heroes Day events in different parts of the world showed that the diaspora will not be intimidated by any targeting or attacks on grassroots activists. Separately, Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon also spoke in the parliament on the occasion, referring to challenges faced by the Tamils.
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Peaceful student protest attacked by SL military in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, 07:28 GMT]
Jaffna University students who boycotted classes on Wednesday and rallied in front of the university entrance Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. protesting against the SL military harassments inside the University premises on Tuesday on the occasion of Heroes Day, were brutally attacked by SL military commanders who had taken position on the road while the students were peacefully walking on a demonstration march.
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SL military attacks house of Kaarainakar PS Head for observing Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, 05:35 GMT]
A Sri Lankan military intelligence backed squad entered the house of Mr. Anaimukan Velayutham, the head of the civic council (Piratheasa Chapai) of Kaarai-nakar, who is a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member and a leading trader in Jaffna, and set fire inside his house using burning tyres, news sources in Kaarainakar islet off Jaffna told TamilNet. Mr. Anaimukan was threatened by the gang, alleging that he had observed the Heroes Day by lighting lamps and conducting special prayers at the temples in Kaarainakar.
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Ladies’ hostel lights Common Flame, bells stun SL military in Jaffna on Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, 04:49 GMT]
Defying the strict instructions by the occupying Sri Lankan military, the people of Jaffna on Tuesday tolled temple bells amid military patrols at 6:07 p.m. in remembrance of heroes. SL soldiers were taken aback witnessing the resolve of the people and hearing the sound of temple bells coming from all directions. Heroes Day remembrance was peacefully and emotionally observed by all the sections of people in the peninsula and in Vanni who lit candles inside their homes. Meanwhile, SL soldiers who entered into the gents’ hostel of the University of Jaffna, where the Heroes Day Common Flame was lit last year, guarded every single room and climbed on to the terrace to prevent it this time. But the flame was lit at the second floor of the Ladies’ Hostel, sharply at 6.07 p.m.
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People of Vanni hoist Tamil Eelam flag at Mu'l'livaaykkaal on Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, 03:15 GMT]
Braving the prying eyes of the occupying SL military, the people of Mullaiththeevu on Tuesday honoured the sacrifice of Tamil heroes at Mu'l'livaaykkaal by hoisting a Tamil Eelam Tiger flag at the sites of two Heroes Cemeteries that have now been razed down by the genocidal military of Colombo. A flag post was put up and the Tiger flag was flown at the cemetery grounds at Vadduvaakal, where the last burial of fighters who sacrificed their lives in the Vanni war took place. A Tiger flag was also flown at the site of A'lampil Heroes Cemetery in Mullaiththeevu district.
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Pirapaharan’s LTTE had moves to make Heroes Day inclusive

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 November 2012, 10:22 GMT]
Conceding the fact that many members of the other militant organisations too had laid down their lives for the cause of Tamil Eelam, Pirapaharan’s LTTE took initiative in taking an account of them for honouring them as Maaveerar (heroes). Forms had been distributed for this purpose to get written consent from the next of kin of the slain heroes of the other militant organisations. The outbreak of war in 2006 stalled the process started in 2002, revealed a former senior member of the LTTE to TamilNet on Tuesday. If needed, he would openly come out and testify the fact in his own voice, the former senior member said.
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Resistance overpowers oppression in observing Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 November 2012, 04:13 GMT]
A new vigour and enthusiasm is noticed in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils this year in paying homage to the fallen heroes on the Heroes Day, despite full-scale efforts of intimidation by the occupying Sinhala military and its intelligence operatives, news sources in the island said. Contrary to the pretentions of genocidal Colombo that it is not obstructing the Kaarthikai festival of lights falling on the same day this time, the occupying SL military and its intelligence operatives were geared to top to engage in an open campaign of intimidation in the North and East, instructing temples and public not to light lamps, and not to toll bells. Public was told not to come out at all.
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Tamil youth in Canada experiment with virtual cemeteries for Tamil heroes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 November 2012, 03:22 GMT]
"Exactly one year ago, we as youth adopted the Tamil Sovereignty Cognition as a basis for our initiatives in the Diaspora. We should continue to move forward and never compromise on the fundamental principles to which we pledged our allegiance,” Pamela Katheswaran, the president of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Tamil Students Association in Canada told TamilNet on Sunday, attending the Heroes Day remembrance event organised by the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO) in Toronto. The organisers had also launched an experimental web-based virtual replication of Eezham Tamils’ Heroes cemeteries (maaveerar thuyilum illam), razed down by the Sri Lankan military following the occupation of the country of Eezham Tamils.
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New Zealand Tamils plant trees to perpetuate memory of heroes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 November 2012, 02:13 GMT]
In a novel way of remembering the Eezham Tamil heroes, the New Zealand Tamils planted trees in their country of domicile during the Heroes Day week. Almost all the Tamil community organisations in New Zealand participated the programme that took place on Sunday. “By planting trees we have conveyed a message to the people of New Zealand that what has happened in our home country was not merely war crimes or crimes against humanity but a full-fledged genocide,” said veteran civil society activist and QSM awardee, Mr. A. Theva Rajan, who presided over the programme.
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Canada’s position on Sri Lanka significant, but not enough: Neethan Shan

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 November 2012, 17:49 GMT]
Within days of the release of the UN internal review report on Sri Lanka, it became the subject of debate in Canada’s House of Commons. The House exchange belies an apparent discrepancy in present government policy, Tamil activists opine, citing the ruling Conservatives strongly denouncing the Sri Lankan government’s lack of respect for human rights, while simultaneously deporting Tamil refugee claimants from Canada to Sri Lanka. “I am happy that the Prime Minister who was generally silent with the mass murder of tens of thousands of Tamils during early 2009, is now beginning to stand up for the human rights of Tamils,” Neethan Shan, Eezham Tamil politician in Canada told TamilNet.
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