Independent international investigation on Sri Lanka called for at London event

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 May 2012, 05:35 GMT]
Eezham Tamils from across the UK gathered at Trafalgar Square, London to remember the Mu’l’livaaykkaal massacre at a remembrance event organized by the British Tamils’ Forum, on Saturday. With participation from the main political parties of the UK, diaspora groups and activists from the homeland and Tamil Nadu, speakers at the occasion emphasised the need for an independent international investigation in the island, a probe into charges of genocide committed by the Sri Lankan state, ending the militarization and colonization of the Tamil homeland, and self-determination of the Tamil people. Many of the non-Tamil speakers also strongly stated that the UK should stop deporting the Eezham Tamil asylum seekers back to the island. The event drew a crowd of over five thousand the organizers said, citing police sources.
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Demand UN-monitored referendum: Mahendran, Communist Party of India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 May 2012, 13:00 GMT]
We should demand withdrawal of SL military and creation of an atmosphere conducive to conduct an UN-monitored referendum for Eezham Tamils to decide on their political solution, said Mr. C. Mahendran of the Communist Party of India (CPI), interviewed Friday in Oslo by Palaka’ni presenter M.Pirabukannan from Tamil Nadu. If Washington and New Delhi want to refuse our rights, let them try. This is a struggle for justice. The emancipation comes when you realise that rights cannot be won by the mercy of others. Independence is achieved through uprising of people and their resolve. The unity of Tamil Nadu, Eezham Tamils and the diaspora holds the key. The next phase is to evolve joint action based on mass struggle from the three dimensions. I am convinced about big changes taking place in Tamil Nadu. Mu’l’livaaykkaal has brought a historic task on to World Tamils, he further told Palaka'ni.
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Jaffna University comes to standstill following attack on student leader

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 May 2012, 04:31 GMT]
Following a lethal attack on the Jaffna University Students’ Union Secretary, Dharshananth, who was on his way to the university on Friday to organize the Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance Day, students demanding the Vice Chancellor to get assurance for their security, decided to boycott classes and continue their struggle in various ways until the security question is resolved. We are not waging an armed struggle. We fight for our rights and for our people through democratic means. But politically motivated violent attacks continue to be unleashed against us. The International Community has committed a colossal blunder. Three years after the genocide none of the culprits has been punished. Our message to Tamil political parties and to the diaspora is that their actions should not betray our hopes, students said in their speeches.
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Tamil parties hold Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 May 2012, 04:20 GMT]
How could one expect that the Colombo government would negotiate with us to find a political solution while we are not even refused to honour the war dead people on this day, asked Maavai Senathiraja MP of the Tamil National Alliance on Friday at the remembrance event held on Martin Road office by the Tamil National Alliance. Meanwhile, the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) also observed a separate event marking Mu'l'livaaykkaal. The occupying SL military was registering the details of the participants. Both the remembrance events took place amid heavy deployment of the SL military.
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Photos show torture before killing Canadian Tamil in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 May 2012, 02:30 GMT]
The Canadian Tamil victim who was allegedly slain by Sri Lankan military-operated killing squad two weeks ago, while he was in Ki'linochchi claiming back his properties appropriated by the occupying military, was severely tortured before he was finally killed, legal sources in Ki'linochchi said. The 53-year-old victim, Mr Andrew Mahendrarajah Anthonippillai, was tortured inside his house by the squad and was chased out of the house and slain. The wristwatch he was wearing at the time of the killing stopped ticking at 8:56 p.m. on the fatal day of 03 May 2012, according to the photos submitted to the courts by the police. Due to legal and international value of the evidence, TamilNet publishes edited photos in black and white, cautioning readers against the strong content.
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Tamil Nadu begins campaign for UN referendum on Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 May 2012, 00:03 GMT]
Demanding the UN to conduct a referendum among Eezham Tamils to allow them to determine the political future of their homeland, Tamil Nadu based civil society group Youth Against War Crimes and Genocide (YAWCAG) started a campaign to collect one crore signatures to convey solidarity for the same, on Wednesday. The signature campaign which was inaugurated near the Gandhi statue at Marina beach involved participation of veteran political activists and civil society groups from Tamil Nadu. The organizers plan to take the campaign to other districts of Tamil Nadu soon. “It is necessary for the people of Tamil Nadu to pressurize the state and central government to recognize that the Eezham Tamils cannot live with dignity and peace under a unitary Sri Lankan state,” E. Ra. Thirumalai, one of the co-ordinators of YAWCAG, told TamilNet.
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Colombo unwilling to give grounds to Tamils, says NY Judge

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 May 2012, 00:40 GMT]
Accusing the international community for being "unwilling or incapable of objective fact finding on the issue applied to the Tamils and what has happened in Sri Lanka," Judge Dearie, Judge for the District Court of the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), said during the sentencing hearing of Karunakaran Kandasamy, a Tamil charged with material support to the LTTE, that the situation "really does cry out for some independent reliable voice to tell the full story," and noted that "[t]his Colombo government doesn't seem willing to give ground in terms of the Tamil community, and although the war is over, the conflict continues."
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SL military celebrating ‘victory’ in Jaffna insults Indian diplomat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 May 2012, 16:38 GMT]
Indian diplomat in Jaffna, V. Mahalingam, who chose to insult the Eezham Tamils bereaving the Mu’l’lvaaykkaal genocide by participating the ‘victory’ celebrations of the genocidal Sinhala military at the Palaali camp in Jaffna, was in turn insulted by the occupying military and its commander Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe on Thursday. The consul at the Deputy Indian High Commission in Jaffna was offered neither a place in the stage nor a seat reserved for him, but was ignored by the SL military and officials of the colonial governor Maj. Gen. Chandrasri. Mahalingam getting out of the event was seen encountered by Hathurusinghe and entering into an argument. Later, a seat was offered to him in the frontline of the audience. Meanwhile school children in Jaffna were forced to participate the celebrations to ‘honour’ Sinhala soldiers with medals.
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Solheim joins orchestration against independence of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 May 2012, 05:13 GMT]
Spelling out the current orchestration against the independence of Eezham Tamils, the former Norwegian minister and failed peace facilitator, Erik Solhiem said that international support is not for a new separate state in Sri Lanka, but for a multicultural, multiracial and multireligious state. Given the age-old understanding of the phrase in the context of the island, Solheim in other words was only implying support to the annihilation of the ancient nation of Eezham Tamils. Solheim, recently removed from ministerial position by his own party was invited to address a gathering in Oslo on Tuesday, by a 2012-registered Tamil organisation led by Yogarajah Balasingham alias Basharan, who was rejected by Norwegian Tamils in the diaspora elections. Sharing the stage with Solheim was visiting TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran.
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SLA expands occupation of Mannaar with two new camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 23:42 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan Army in Mannaar has started constructing two new large camps in Murungkan in appropriated lands, civil groups in Mannaar mainland complain. Hundreds of SL Army soldiers have come into agricultural settlements occupying water supplies and appropriating lands adjacent to lakes. Tamil and Muslim females complain that they are unable to move in their villages in evening times due to the heavy presence of occupying Sinhala soldiers. Questioning why the SLA is constructing two large camps in the same village, civil activists expressed fear that the move was part of a larger design to occupy and Sinhalicise the entire area comprising fertile agricultural lands of Tamils and Muslims.
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Military GA constructs Buddhist stupa at historic Saivite site in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 15:10 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government Agent of Trincomalee Major General (retd) Ranjith de Silva has appropriated 15 acres of land that belongs to the Trincomalee District Young Men’s Hindu Associations Federation (TDYMHAF) in the traditional Tamil village Kanniyaa, situated 7 km north of the east port city, for the construction of a Buddhist Vihare. The appropriated land is located in the vicinity of the Kanniyaa hot wells, a revered place for Saivites. The administration of the historic Kanniyaa hot wells has also been handed over to a Buddhist monk who is the head of the Velgam Buddhist Vihare, which is located two km away from the site, according to a memorandum submitted to the All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC).
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Uprooted Tamils in Ampaa'rai district languish without resettlement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 May 2012, 23:48 GMT]
Tamil villages in the DS divisions of Poththuvil, Chammaa-thu'rai and Akkaraippattu in Ampaa'rai district are still in the state of complete destruction. Out of 427 families uprooted from Thangkavealautha-puram, only 70 have been resettled. 80 families have been resettled in Kagnchi-kudichchaa'ru village out of 424 uprooted families. 60 families of 126 uprooted have been resettled in Kaagnchirankudaa village and only 35 out of 127 uprooted families have been resettled in Chaakaamam village, civil officials said.
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New York Judge frees another Tamil man accused of aiding terrorism

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 May 2012, 00:22 GMT]
Ramanan Mylvaganam, 35, accused by the U.S. prosecutors of trying to buy night vision goggles and assisting in the purchase of computer equipment, electronic components and communications equipment for the Liberation Tigers, was allowed to go free after Eastern District of New York Judge Drearie sentenced Ramanan to time served, rejecting the request by the Prosecutors who sought a 15-year sentence. Only on Friday the same judge let another Tamil man who the FBI and the prosecutors labelled the "leader" for the Tigers in the U.S. go free after time served.
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India, USA denying fundamentals reduce Tamils to discuss 13 Amendment

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 May 2012, 23:20 GMT]
Saving genocidal state of Sri Lanka as a continuity of the long European colonial order in South Asia has now become an obsession with India and the USA, more than the Sinhala nation. From Congress-BJP-CPM to VCK in India, and from hijacked sections of the diaspora in North America to London, the orchestration is to make the genocide-affected Eezham Tamils to denounce their right to protection, right to self-determination, and most importantly their right to call themselves a nation. Sumanthiran’s TNA, instead of working for an alternative secular state in the North–East, only mumbles the gagged situation in between the lines in the presence of Indo-US diplomats in Jaffna. The diaspora still don’t know where to address the issue. Law lecturer Guruparan Kumaravadivel in Jaffna on Sunday aptly brought out the unworkability of India-conceived 13 Amendment.
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Tamil Conservatives discontent over Rajapaksa’s visit to British Monarch’s celebrations

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 May 2012, 00:30 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the commander-in-chief of the war-crimes and genocide accused SL military, has been invited to participate at the Diamond jubilee celebrations of British Monarch Queen Elizabeth. Expressing regret at the news, Arujuna Sivananthan of the British Tamils for Conservatives told TamilNet “Her Majesty has led an exemplary life binding together various communities not just in the United Kingdom but the the world. As Conservatives committed to the principle of individual liberty, we do not wish the celebration of her six decade reign tarnished by the presence of individuals alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
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No unitary is our understanding: TNA says sharing stage with Indo-US diplomats

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 May 2012, 18:56 GMT]
In a political seminar organised in Jaffna by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Sritharan on Sunday, which was addressed by both the US and Indian diplomats, TNA’s nominated parliamentarian, Mathiaparanam Abraham Sumanthiran, twice received applause from the audience, when he said that the TNA was participating in the talks with the Sri Lankan government with an understanding that there could be no solution within the unitary constitution. But he was suggesting that there is ‘something’ in the 13th Amendment, even though he seemed agreeing that there is ‘nothing’ in the 13th Amendment. As the IC, especially India and the USA want a united Sri Lanka, if the TNA is not showing agreement, it would lose international backing, he said. Neither the Tamil people nor the TNA did ask for Tamil Eelam, he replied to a question.
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Chalapathy brings out Thamotharampillai letters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 May 2012, 10:15 GMT]
Tamil historian Professor AR Venkatachalapathy, delivering keynote address at Tamil Studies Conference in Toronto on Saturday, brought out hitherto untapped objective evidences of around two scores of letters written by CW Thamotharampillai (1832–1901) to UV Swaminathaiyar (1855–1942), for a better understanding of the relationship between the two pioneer editors coming from Jaffna and Tamil Nadu in transferring Tamil classics from palm leaf manuscripts to print media. The letters dating between 1883 and 1899 show that despite being rivals in publication the two were in close contact and cooperative if not collaborative. The letters also show the generosity and magnanimity of Thamotharampillai, personally and in matters of publication, and as a senior scholar he encouraged Swaminathaiyar and saw in him the future of classical editorial scholarship, Chalapathy said.
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Statues disappear from Saiva temples in Batticaloa district: TNA MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 May 2012, 01:31 GMT]
The statue of the chief deity of Pi'l'laiyaar temple in Punaanai, situated 52 km northwest of Batticaloa, has been reported missing after the occupation of a plot of land close to the temple by a Buddhist monk sent by Colombo-based Buddhist organizations, says C.Yogeswaran, the Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian. Punanai is a border village located along Batticaloa - Polonnaruwa road that runs through Sri Lanka Army garrisons situated between Punaanai and Welikande. Recent reports have also exposed Sinhalicisation taking place in Vadamunai, situated southswest of Punanai.
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Colombo in full swing to cover up culprits of Canadian citizen's murder

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 May 2012, 13:34 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military in Ki'linochchi is making every effort to cover up the culprits of the brutal killing of Canadian Tamil citizen who was struggling to get his business properties back from the SL military in Ki'linochhci, informed civil sources in the town told TamilNet Saturday. The intelligence officers of the occupying SL military are now attempting to pass the blame of the slaying of the property owner on petty criminals. The latest move has come to light this week when the military ‘investigators’ were attempting to book some petty criminals for the killing, forging documents that they were former combatants of the LTTE. In the meantime, SL District Judge for Ki'linochchi S. Sivakumar has been made aware that the slain victim had a quarrel with the occupying military a day before his killing, the sources further said.
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LA students help victims of Sri Lanka Genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 May 2012, 12:12 GMT]
Students from a popular private high school in Los Angeles California, motivated by lessons on genocide learnt from their history class, have organized fund-raisers and social awareness campaign to help victims of the alleged genocide in Sri Lanka, said a communique from the students. "We searched videos and read articles of the Sri Lankan people and we felt that it was our duty to help them in any way we could," said the students who also created a video on the details of genocide as part of their information campaign.
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