Tamil politicians, activists protest against SL military attacks on civic leaders in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 October 2012, 01:20 GMT]
Tamil politicians and civil activists on Wednesday protested condemning the brutal attack Sunday on Paramsothy Vasanthakumar, the elected chairman of Nalloor Piratheasa Chapai (PS). Vasanthakumar was on his way to prepare a legal suit after lodging a formal complaint against the illegal SL military occupation of 5 acres of land belonging to the civic body when he was attacked. The attackers, alleged to be the operatives of the SL military intelligence, had followed Mr Vasanthakumar in motorbikes, assaulted him using sharp iron rods at Kokkuvil and forcibly removed the legal documents on the SL military occupied land together with a sum of money. The protestors on Wednesday openly blamed the SL military intelligence in Jaffna for carrying out a systematic campaign of terror, targeting elected civic leaders in the peninsula.
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Uprooted Maathakal residents file FR petition in SL Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 22:35 GMT]
Six uprooted residents of Maathakal from the Valikaamam district secretariat division of the Jaffna district have filed a fundamental rights violation petition in the Sri Lankan Supreme Court (SLSC) last week seeking an order that they should be allowed to resettle in their own lands and houses. They have cited the SL Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander of the Jaffna Security Forces Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe and the Attorney General as respondents.
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Colombo opts for anti-Tamil campaign to handle constitutional case

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 12:31 GMT]
The petitioners of a constitutional case against the ‘Divineguma’ Bill that will snatch away even grassroot development and social welfare powers of the provinces in genocidal Sri Lanka are currently targeted through a Sinhala poster campaign of ‘counterinsurgency’ style that collectively names the petitioners as ‘Paikiasothy Gang’ aiming ‘separation of the country’. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), headed by Colombo-based Tamil, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, in a statement on Tuesday hinted at the connection between the posters and Sri Lanka Army coming for ‘investigations’ of the Centre on Monday. The SL Supreme Court on Monday decided for a separate hearing of the case filed by the TNA and has fixed it to next Monday, while four more writ petitions challenging the bill will be taken up for hearing by the court on Thursday.
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German translation of NESoHR’s book on pre-2009 massacres released in Frankfurt

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 October 2012, 15:51 GMT]
The German translation of a compilation of large-scale massacres of Eezham Tamils by Sinhala forces from 1956 to 2008, brought out by the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), has been released at the famous Frankfurt Book Fair, reputed to be the largest book festival in the world, on Sunday. The book release of “Damit wir nicht vergessen” saw the participation of Peter Schalk, Professor Emeritus Uppasala University, Christian Weiss, the owner of the publishing house that brought out the book, apart from several Eezham Tamil activists. Speaking at the release, Prof. Schalk said that this book contained important evidence indicting the GoSL of human rights violations and genocide and it would be an asset in hauling the Sri Lankan state before the International Criminal Court.
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TNA, New Delhi, harp on LLRC implementation

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 October 2012, 11:23 GMT]
The TNA parliamentary delegation that visited New Delhi last week thanked the Government of India for its consistent interaction with the SL President in bringing about reconciliation and political solution through implementation of LLRC recommendations. The complaints of the TNA were confined to the lack of progress in the implementation of ‘constructive’ recommendations of the LLRC and lack of commitment on the part of Colombo in evolving an acceptable political solution. The TNA earlier rejected the LLRC recommendations but was later made to harp on them for non-descript solutions. The TNA has also refused attending Rajapaksa’s all party process for solution, without guarantees. But last month, the genocide-accused President on a Buddhist visit to India told TNA that the matter would be pursued after his return from India.
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UK Tamil tortured in Colombo, returned after payment of ransom to CID

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 October 2012, 07:46 GMT]
Sivasubramaniam Jeevan, an Eezham Tamil youth citizen of UK living in Scotland, who was on a visit to the island of Sri Lanka on 3 October, was detained by the notorious Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Colombo from the day he landed to 9 October, and was allegedly tortured under suspicion of “LTTE links”, after taking away his passport and other documents. He was released last Tuesday after managing a payment of a sum of 1.5 million rupees, plus 325 pounds, as ransom money to the CID. Speaking to TamilNet from his residence in Scotland, 33 year old Jeevan, who is now undergoing psychological treatment owing to the trauma of interrogation, said that the CID officers tortured him by beating him, verbally abusing him, and threatening to kill him. He was also interrogated on diaspora activities in the UK, he said.
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Colombo appropriates Trinco fish market from civic body

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 October 2012, 19:47 GMT]
Centuries old public fish market of the Trincomalee Urban Council, which was recently renovated with the consent of the Trincomalee Urban Council (UC), is to be appropriated by the Fisheries ministry of Colombo government. Susantha Punchinilame, the deputy minister of fisheries and a UPFA parliamentarian from Trincomalee district has made the announcement at the Trincomalee District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) meeting held this week. Mr.K.Selvarajah, the chairman of the Trincomalee UC, who attended the DCC meeting vehemently protested against the appropriation and said the UC would not agree for the takeover of the fish market by the central government. The market belongs to the Trinco UC and it was renovated with the permission of the council, he added.
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Media questions fate of missing report on UN inaction during Vanni war

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 October 2012, 18:25 GMT]
Nearly a year has passed since a heavily criticized UN Secretary General, had asked the former Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, Thoraya Obaid, to submit a review within 4 months on UN inaction during the 2009 Vanni massacre. However, in an un-announced change in the committee leadership, UK's Charles Petrie replaced Thoraya Obaid. Even Petrie, is now engaged in Norway's Myanmar Peace Support Initiative (MPSI). But, the report on the UN in Sri Lanka is yet to come out. Where is the report, asked the Inner City Press, on Friday. Answering the question, the UN spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, confirmed the incompletion and non-availability of the report.
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SL Supreme Court to decide on governor’s approval to Divineguma bill

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 October 2012, 19:02 GMT]
The writ application filed by a Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian pertaining to the powers of the Northern Provincial Governor referred to the Sri Lankan Supreme Court for interpretation and determination by the Court of Appeal will be mentioned before the Supreme Court on Monday, legal sources in Colombo said. The draft bill has paved way for the establishment of a Department of Divineguma Development incorporating the existing Samurdhi Authority, Southern Development Authority and the Udarata Development Authority into a single unit under Colombo governments Development Ministry, which is headed by SL presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa.
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Poor Saiva families subjected to Islamic proselytism

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 October 2012, 19:02 GMT]
Administrators of mosques in Ampaa'rai district are engaged in converting members of poor Tamil Saiva families to Islam with financial inducement, civil society sources in Ampaa'rai said. Poor Tamil families from Chiththa'ndi, Mu'rakkottaancheanai, Chanthive'li, Kiraan and Ko'rakkallimadu who go work in rice mills, textile shops and brick making centres owned by Muslim businessmen are being coerced with inducements from the business owners according to sources.
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‘A right way and a wrong way to protest’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 October 2012, 13:42 GMT]
In May 2009, before the civil war in Sri Lanka came to a fiery end with Sri Lanka armed forces killing tens of thousands of unarmed Tamil civilians in what has been labelled as the "crime of the century," several thousand Canadian Tamils, in protest, blocked the busy Gardiner Expressway angering Canadian motorists, and drawing condemnation from politicians. Gillian Philipupillai, a second generation Canadian Tamil, in a research paper, explores the position of diasporic Tamils in the "white settler state" through a focus on colonialism, movement, violence and sovereignty, and concludes, "[b]y racializing Tamil protesters as an intrusive mob of illegal occupiers, the Canadian state normalized and further justified mass Tamil civilian deaths and casualties on their homelands in the state of Sri Lanka."
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Achchezhu, Oorezhu, Ezhuthu-madduvaa’l

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 October 2012, 06:43 GMT]
The open land enclosed by a ridge or divided into plots by ridges

The open land of the village

The open land in the flood plains

The muddy surrounding or the mud-walled encirclement
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Veteran Eezham Tamil educationalist passes away in Seychelles

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 October 2012, 06:12 GMT]
Mr V. Sivasupramaniam, teacher, educational administrator, trade unionist and social worker, passed away in Seychelles on Wednesday, at the age of 81. His funeral takes place on Friday. Mr. Sivasupramaniam taught at Jaffna Hindu College between 1953 and 1972. Besides his reputation as an eminent, committed and inspiring teacher, he was also a leading trade unionist, long associated with the Northern Province Teachers Association that was the predominant teachers union of the region at that time. Later, the newly independent Seychelles government was benefitted by his services in developing educational infrastructure and institutions there. Serving Seychelles for nearly quarter a century, Mr. Sivasupramaniam was also a key person in building a cultural centre, a temple, for the South Asian Hindu community there.
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‘Sri Lanka model of COIN sets a dangerous precedent for humanity’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 October 2012, 18:26 GMT]
After the International Community of Establishments working in tandem with a genocide-intending Sri Lankan state oversaw a brutal military solution over the armed struggle of the Eezham Tamils in May 2009, the ‘Sri Lanka model’ of dealing with insurgencies is now being incorporated into the science of Counterinsurgency (COIN), opines RM Karthick, observing what dangerous ramifications this could have for struggling peoples worldwide in an article published on Sanhati, an Indian online journal, on Wednesday. Outlining internal and external factors in shaping the conflict, using the politico-military analysis of the late TamilNet senior editor ‘Taraki’ Sivaram, the author explains how internationally coordinated measures against the LTTE and the genocidal intent of Sinhala nationalists led to Mu’l’livaaykkaal and the systemic repression of the Eezham Tamils in their homeland that followed.
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JHU monks besiege historic Munneasvaram Siva temple in Chilaapam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 October 2012, 17:16 GMT]
The Sinhala Buddhist extremist monks party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which is a constituent of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), has been blocking the construction of ten-storied front tower (Rajakoapuram) of the several centuries old Munneasvaram Siva temple in Chilaapam (Chilaw) district in the North Western Province, according to the chief priest of the koayil, Mr Pathmanabakurukka'l.
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Sinhalese occupy grazing lands of Tamil cattle breeders in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 22:56 GMT]
Tamil cattle breeders face threat and intimidation from the occupying Sri Lanka Army to use their grazing grounds in Periya Maathava'nai and Mayilaththa-madu areas situated in Koara'laip-pattu South DS division of Batticaloa district. Eezham Tamils are being chased away from the area with their cattle by the occupying Sri Lanka Army that only allows the Sinhala cattle breeders to enter the grazing lands. A group of Tamil cattle breeders led by K.Thurairajasingham, a former Batticaloa district parliamentarian who is an elected member to the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC), went to the site on October 4 to see the ground situation. They were told by the occupying Sri Lanka Army camped in the area that more than one hundred Sinhalese had been settled down in the area and are preparing for the Maha paddy cultivation.
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Canada’s will to intervene guided by geopolitics or humanity, ask Tamil activists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 20:17 GMT]
On September 24, the Canadian capital of Ottawa announced its endorsement of the “Will to Intervene” Project. It is the fourth Canadian city to endorse external military intervention on human rights grounds. Discussion at September 24th's event centred on the present civil conflict in Syria. Given Canada's recent rupture of diplomatic ties with Iran, the prospect of intervention in Syria holds clear geo-strategic implications. "Genocide" discourse, however, masks a selectively humanitarian foreign policy whose inconsistency demonstrates Canada's political interests in conflict situations. The divergence between Canada's approaches toward Syria and Sri Lanka is instructive and Tamil activists allege that Canada does not want the “Responsibility to Protect” Eezham Tamils, and harbours no moral “Will to Intervene” against Sri Lanka.
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Genocide needs investigation but separation contextually unwise: Alan Keenan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 October 2012, 21:43 GMT]
Calls for investigation on what has happened and is happening now in Sri Lanka from genocide angle need to be looked into, said ICG’s Sri Lanka Project Director, Dr Alan Keenan, in an interview to TamilNet on Friday. “If you want to call it an investigation, it needs to be looked into. I am fully supportive of it being looked into,” he said 3 years after the war and the Dublin Tribunal calling for such an investigation in Jan 2010. The ICG had earlier targeted the diaspora for the genocide argument that it aims achieving Tamil Eelam. To questions on ICG negating independence to Tamils, while supporting it for others, he said that independence [even] as an ultimate goal is unwise to the current context of Tamils, while “balance of merits” favours it in other contexts. When pressed to explain the contextual difference, he hinted at the chance of further violence coming from the Sinhalese.
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Colombo's militarisation budget to increase by 26%

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 October 2012, 14:58 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Defence Ministry, headed by SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has sought a 26% increase in its military and ‘urban development’ expenditures for the year 2013, news sources in Colombo said. The military expenditure for the year 2012 was 230 billion rupees out of a total budget of 2,220 billion. For the year 2013, out of a total budget of 2,520 billion, the SL defence ministry seeks 290 billion rupees. While the budget increase is 13% the military seeks 26% increase, a double. Meanwhile, a group of international academics pointed out last week that Sri Lanka's expenditure on education is only 1.86% of the GDP, which is the lowest in South Asia and one of the lowest in the world.
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Jaffna civil society concerned about Sri Lanka using UN teams

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 October 2012, 23:29 GMT]
Many UN teams are visiting the island of Sri Lanka in connection with the reviews of UNHRC in November 2012 and March 2013. The civil society in Jaffna is concerned that the UN team visits are encouraged to serve the agenda of the Colombo government, said civil society activist and Jaffna University academic in law, Mr Guruparan Kumaravadivel to media in Jaffna on Monday. The visits are not transparent, as they have not revealed the Terms of Reference and restrictions to their visits, and most of the time, they end up visiting SL government officials and people who do not come up with independent views. The whole exercise raises questions on UN deliberations in the island and “the UN definitely has not learnt lessons,” Mr Guruparan further said.
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