Denmark Tamils take legal step to file war-crimes charges

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2010, 16:25 GMT]
Bjørn Elmquist, a Danish attorney specializing in criminal law on crimes against humanity has written to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague Netherlands to bring war crimes charges against Sri Lankan officials alleged to have committed war-crimes against Tamils in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka. The legal effort is being initiated by three Danish Tamils and the Denmark Tamil Forum. The DTF officials told TamilNet that the Danish legal effort is being closely co-ordinated with the recent legal action undertaken by Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils (SCET).
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Argentina: a possible forum to prosecute war criminals

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 22:18 GMT]
In a notable reversal of roles Judge María Servini is taking steps, to litigate in Argentina's Courts, cases of torture, murder and disappearance of Franco's political opponents during Spain’s Civil War between 1936 and 1939. Such probes supported by universal jurisdiction, have long been exercised in Spain by the mercurial Judge Baltasar Garzón, whose case against Chilean General Augusto Pinochet in 1998 helped lead to the undoing of amnesties that had protected dictators. With Spain's judicial system imposing constraints on filing such cases, Argentina might become a suitable forum to bring charges against alleged war criminals in other parts of the world hiding behind the cover of diplomatic immunity, or by keeping UN silent using the support of other rights violator nations.
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Malaysian Tamils protest Indian PM inaugurating their township

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 18:25 GMT]
Around 200 Malaysians gathered Wednesday to protest Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating ‘Little India’ in Brickfields, Malaysia, were dispersed when police arrested key leaders, Free Malaysia Today reported Thursday. The protestors questioned the rationale of naming the area ‘Little India’ when most traders doing business there for the past three centuries were Tamils. The protestors were also unhappy about Malaysian government choosing Manmohan Singh to preside over the launch. Manmohan Singh was least concerned about Tamil welfare, “Look at what happened in Sri Lanka. The Tamils were massacred by the Sri Lankan army but he was very quiet about it. The Sri Lankan army also attacked Tamil fishermen in Rameswaram (India) but Manmohan was mum about it as well,” M S Arjunan, a Malaysian Tamil leader said.
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Britain reiterates support for independent inquiry into Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 00:39 GMT]
British Prime Minister David Cameron Wednesday reiterated his government’s support for an independent inquiry into war crimes committed during the closing stages of Sri Lanka’s protracted war. Mr. Cameron comments on his government’s stance, made in response to a question from opposition MP Siobhian McDonagh, come a week after similar comments by British Foreign Secretary William Hague in the wake of his meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Prof. G. L. Peiris.
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SLA, SLN take over lands of Muslims in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 09:45 GMT]
Several acres of land belonging to members of Muslim community located in villages of Pulmoaddai, I’raakka’ndi, Nilaave’li and Pudaivaikkaddu in the north of the Trincomalee district are still under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN). In Moothoor area several acres of lands belonging to Muslim farmers are still in the custody of the SLN. Hence farmers and fishermen of this community are not allowed to engage in their livelihood activities which have come to a standstill even after the war is over, R. M. Anwer, a councilor of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC), said.
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Sinhala fishermen invade Mannaar assisted by SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 08:13 GMT]
Sinhala fishermen from South Sri Lanka are allowed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Mannaar district to fish in Mu’l’likku’lam reservoir located in the area where local residents uprooted during war are not permitted by SLA to resettle, sources in Mannaar said. Hundreds of Sinhala fishermen from South with six cooler vehicles stay in Mu’l’likku’lam area and drain the tank dry of fish which they take to the South. Brigadier Nisanka Ranawana, the Commander of SLA 61 Division in Mannaar, is alleged to be the person who is instrumental in allowing the Sinhala fishermen to fish in Mannaar, the sources added. The sale of the catch from Mannaar sold in South brings quite a large amount of profit in the venture.
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SLA soldiers chase away resettled Tamil families in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 October 2010, 05:41 GMT]
Nearly a hundred Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers chased away Monday night more than fifty Tamil families who had returned after fifteen years to resettle in their lands in Vasanthapuram village in Ma’niam Thoaddam area located within Jaffna Municipal Council limits, sources in Jaffna said. The Sinhala families from South who had recently come to Jaffna seeking resettlement demand to be settled in Ma’niam Thoaddam which they claim as the lands of ancient Sinhala people, the sources added. The uprooted Tamil families had come to their lands Saturday and begun constructing sheds to live in.
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TNPF opposes new local government elections bill

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2010, 05:15 GMT]
Former Jaffna district parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said that Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) would oppose the proposed new local government elections bill by Sri Lanka government in a press briefing held at the party office in Jaffna Sunday. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which had also expressed its strong opposition to the said bill will file a petition against it Monday in the High Court, according to the announcement made by TNA Jaffna parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah.
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Jury finds Singaporean guilty of material support to FTO

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 October 2010, 14:42 GMT]
Baltimore, Maryland jury Monday returned a guilty verdict on Balraj Naidu, a Singaporean tried in the US Federal Court for "providing material support" to a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), after a trial that lasted four days. Sentencing is scheduled for 16th of December. Before being extradited to the U.S., Singaporean Government arrested Balraj and later released him dropping all arms procurement charges. The FBI listed the out come of the trial as one of the top ten news stories for the week.
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Paintings depicting horror of war on Vanni draw large crowds in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2010, 21:24 GMT]
A collection of paintings by Artist Kuzhanthaivelu Pugazhenthi titled ‘The Faces of War’, depicting the horror experienced by Eezham Tamils in its Fourth War and the heroic sacrifice and valour of Liberation Tigers, was exhibited in several places in Tamil Nadu from 11 May till September, beginning in Chennai. The exhibition was later held in Thanjaavoor and Thiruchchi drawing large crowds of people who also took part in the political seminars conducted at the venues of the exhibition. The French Cultural Centre in Chennai which usually caters to the upper class society which had first exhibited the paintings for ten days later extended it for another ten days due to the unexpected welcome shown by the people of Chennai, sources in Chennai said.
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Manmohan Singh unworthy to open “Little India” in Kuala Lumpur – MMSP

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 October 2010, 06:03 GMT]
The Malaysia Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP) Youth Wing said that it does not want Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to open the “Little India” in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, according Free Malaysia Today (FMT) news report Wednesday. N. Ramu, the Youth Wing’s chief said that Manmohan was not the right person because of his government’s failure to protect the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the report said. “We feel that the New Delhi administration virtually did nothing to protect Sri Lankan Tamils. He just folded his hands and watched thousands of Tamils being killed,” Ramu had said.
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TNA appeals people to be aware of betrayers in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 October 2010, 05:24 GMT]
“People should be aware of persons who betray the Tamils for petty concessions of Sinhala chauvinists,” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) key person in Ampaa’rai district, Chelliah Rasaiah, the Executive Director of Kaarainakar Pushpa Social Development Society said in a meeting held in Ampaa’rai by TNA to create political awareness among people, sources in Ampaa’rai said.
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Tissamaharama Tamil Brahmi inscription ‘missing’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2010, 19:34 GMT]
The third century BCE potsherd inscription in Tamil language and in Tamil Brahmi script found at Tissamaharama in Hambantota district by German excavators is now missing in Sri Lanka’s Archaeology Department, informed sources said. The inscription found sometimes back was not included in the excavation reports of the Archaeology Department. Photo and decipherment of the inscription was brought out by Iravatam Mahadevan in The Hindu in June this year, followed by TamilNet. Meanwhile, accusing TamilNet for false publications, Dr. Susantha Goonatilleke in an article posted by transcurrents.com and published by Daily Mirror said that TamilNet had recently published inscriptions claimed to be from the South of Sri Lanka, which nobody in the Archaeology Department had seen.
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Batticaloa Court orders removal of ineligible occupants in Muslim colony

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2010, 16:55 GMT]
Batticaloa District Court ordered the Secretary of Ma’nmunaipattu to immediately remove all who are not eligible reside in the Muslim Colony for tsunami victims established in 2004 in the lands of Tamils by M. L. A. M. Hisbulla when he was the Minister of Post and Telecommunication during former Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaranatunge with funds from Kuwait government. The owners of the land encroached for the Muslim colony had filed petition against the Muslim colonization scheme and M. L. A. M. Hisbulla who is a Deputy Minister in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) now. Directed by the court, the Secretary of Ma’nmunaippattu, Ms. Pathmarajah had written to the ineligible occupants to vacate before 11 November.
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SL Resettlement minister meets Sinahala families claiming resettlement in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2010, 05:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka minister of Resettlement Affairs, Milroy Fernando, on a special directive of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa paid a sudden visit to Jaffna Monday to meet the Sinhala people brought into Jaffna by Sri Lanka government claiming resettlement in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. The minister assured the Sinhala families now lodged in the old Jaffna Railway Station that their problems will be solved within the next three months. Meanwhile, some of the Sinhala families have been allowed to erect shelters in vacant lands adjoining some of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in Jaffna town, the sources added.
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Mahinda Rajapaksa shuns North TNA parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2010, 05:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has failed to invited the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians of the North to a meeting related to ‘Development of North’ in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Joseph Camp Tuesday, deliberately keeping away the elected representatives of the people from participating in the meeting, TNA parliamentarians of North accused. The participation of the elected representatives is crucial as issues of Sinhala colonization in the North, refusal to resettlement of uprooted Tamils in their own properties and similar matters are to be explored in Tuesday meeting, they said. Purposely shunning the democratically elected representatives from participating in decision making meetings by Sri Lanka government reveals how very much it discriminates the Tamils, TNA MPs said.
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SLA, police harass ex LTTE members in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 October 2010, 15:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police personnel collect details of persons who had been members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and ex-combatants who had surrendered themselves and later released in Batticaloa district and use the information to check on them house by house subjecting them to harassment in the name of interrogation, P. Ariyanenthiran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian said. The families of LTTE war heroes are also harassed by the police and SLA soldiers, according to complaints made to him by the affected persons, the MP said.
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Sinhalicisation of Jaffna disguised as resettlement

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 October 2010, 04:41 GMT]
Sinhala people from various parts of Sri Lanka brought into Jaffna peninsula by Sri Lanka government claiming resettlement has raised suspicion of Sinhalicisation in the name of resettlement among the residents of the peninsula, civil societies said in a message to local media Sunday. Sinhala and Muslim people who had resided in Jaffna peninsula before displacement are welcome to resettle providing they produce the legal documents for their properties in Jaffna peninsula, the message said. Attempting to encroach the lands near Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in the peninsula to settle Sinhala families will only lead to ethnic confrontations, the message further said.
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Birth centenary of V. Navaratnam, pioneer of Tamil Eelam polity

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 October 2010, 05:35 GMT]
18 October 2010 is the birth centenary of V. Navaratnam, doyen of the Tamil Eelam cause and founder leader of Thamizhar Chuyaadchik Kazhakam (TCK) in the late 1960s. TamilNet interviewed him in July 2005 when he was 95 years old. He passed away on 22 December 2006. Eezham Tamils and Sinhalese could never live under one government, even a confederation will not work and separation is the only way, he asserted in his interview. When his party contested the 1970 election there was only a little support. He was criticized for dividing the vote bank of the Federal Party. But within a few years all the mainstream Tamil political parties fell in line with his polity. The Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of 1976 was a copy of his party manifesto, said Mr. Navaratnam. His interview in voice is reproduced here.
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Amnesty to begin campaign on SLA execution of Trincomalee students

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 October 2010, 18:41 GMT]
With the fifth anniversary of the massacre of five Tamil students in Trincomalee beach by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers approaching on January 2nd, Amnesty International (AI), the human rights watchdog has embarked on a postcard campaign "to use this case as an example of the ongoing lack of accountability in Sri Lanka," according to the U.S. Director of Amnesty Jim McDonald. AI researchers plan to use the campaign as the focus of a broader effort to highlight the need for an independent international investigations into Sri Lanka's war crimes.
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