FT: Fight for Eelam far from over, say young activists

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 December 2009, 01:18 GMT]
Popular British broadsheet Financial Times, on a follow-up article to October coverage on young Tamils, said that while the western crackdown on the Tigers’ financiers among the diaspora, has created despondency among this often wealthy migrant community, the "clued-up second-generation migrants were turning to political lobbying," and that, "[t]hese young activists said the fight for Eelam, an independent Tamil homeland, was far from over."
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“We are not going to start another armed struggle” – PLOTE Sitharathan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2009, 10:25 GMT]
“We are not preparing ourselves to launch another armed struggle. The accusations that we had abducted minors from Vavuniyaa camps are baseless,” Sitharathan, the leader of People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) said in a press meet held Saturday in PLOTE office in Jaffna. He further said that after the talks held with President Mahinda Rajapakse his party has decided to support him in the forthcoming presidential election, sources in Jaffna said.
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Sarath is only a tool to eliminate Mahinda – Ranil, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2009, 08:18 GMT]
“The opposition intends to use Sarath Fonseka only as a tool to eliminate Mahinda Rajapakse from the presidential post; people should not be afraid of him because he was an army commander,” Ranil Wicremasinghe, the leader of the opposition said Saturday night in Jaffna at a press meet held in ‘Yaa’lpaadi’ guest house, sources in Jaffna said. “The failure of the people in the North and East to vote in the last presidential election enabled Mahinda to become president and the resulting sufferings of the Tamils is now clear to them,” Ranil further said.
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Colombo sacks Tamil doctor for internment camp comments

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 December 2009, 13:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Ministry of Health has interdicted a Tamil doctor, Dr Murali Vallipuranathan, for speaking out on the conditions on the detention camps, and informed him that the Ministry "found him to have acted in a manner that brought disrepute on the Government of Sri Lanka," Sri Lanka weekly Lakbima reported. Ministry of Health's communication, written in Sinhala dated 10th November 2009, said that Dr Vallipuranathan was being removed from service for causing disrepute to the Government of Sri Lanka, and that his salary was also being stopped.
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France goes for referendum on Tamil Eelam this weekend

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 2009, 08:15 GMT]
Eezham Tamils living in France will be voting this weekend to say yes or no for independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the island of Sri Lanka. Polling will take place in 30 centres in Paris and suburbs and in 5 centres outside, between 08:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Saturday and between 08:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Sunday. The formation committee for the country council of Eelam Tamils in France is organizing the poll with the support of 61 Eezham Tamil organizations and two NGOs in France. Taking the secret ballot will be officiated and presided over by independent French election officers coming from members of the local government councils of France. The poll gains significance at a time when Tamils are left with no choice other than politically proving their geopolitical importance as powers have made it absolutely clear that they are guided only by geopolitical considerations.
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NCET urges Obama to explore policy reciprocal to US-Tamil interests

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 2009, 01:49 GMT]
US president Barak Obama visiting Oslo to receive Nobel Peace Prize Thursday was urged by the Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils (NCET) that the USA should explore possibilities of recharting a policy pragmatic to both the national question of Tamils and the US interests in the island of Sri Lanka. In a letter addressed to the President and made open to media, NCET expressed its deep concern about Monday’s recommendations of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs seeking to strengthen Colombo and sidelining political solution to Tamils. Hundreds of Eezham Tamils in Oslo, joining many other organisations of international politics making demands to Obama, also took part in a vigil Thursday evening, marching from the city centre towards the Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament.
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US Senate Committee evaluation pushes aside political solution to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 2009, 07:32 GMT]
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recommending Monday on ‘recharting’ US strategy on Sri Lanka, said the US should focus on economy and security of the island instead of humanitarian considerations, IDPs and civil society; should also invest in Sinhalese parts of the country instead of just focussing on North and East; should resume training of Sri Lankan military officials to ensure human rights in future operations as well as to build critical relationships and implied that US should not emphasise on political reform as a condition to assistance, bringing rift in US- Sri Lanka relations making the latter to align with countries of alternative model of development. While the report based on evaluation by two staffers, one of whom a US Sinhalese, is viewed by Tamil circles as an open insult to their struggle, it is also seen as an election ‘manifesto’ to woo Sinhalese votes.
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Hindu temple of ritual significance destroyed in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 December 2009, 09:22 GMT]
A Siva temple located at an ancient Hindu site called Akaththiyar Thaapanam, at Kangku-veali in the Moothoor division of the Trincomalee district, where Hindus gather especially to perform the Aadi Amaavaasai ritual for ancestors, was destroyed without any traces coinciding the Heroes’ Day on 27 November. The location of the temple is under the control of Sri Lanka Army stationed at a nearby Sinhala village, Neelaappola. The Sinhala villagers of Neelaappola protected the Tamil villagers of Kangku-veali from displacement in 2006. The Tamil villagers who were shocked and wept to see the temple razed to the ground now, suspect ‘outsiders’ and are scared whether this is a prelude to wipe out their traditional village as well.
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Indian parliament expunges remarks on genocide in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 December 2009, 08:13 GMT]
When Communist Party of India (CPI) member D. Raja in his speech Friday in Rajya Sabha pointed out what happened in the island of Sri Lanka was full-scale war and genocide against Tamils with the assistance of Government of India, the Chair ordered to expunge the word genocide from parliamentary records. The verbatim but lengthy debate Friday questioned the government on IDPs, Kachchatheevu, Tamil Nadu fishermen, and about sending a parliamentary delegation to meet Tamil IDPs. But when it came to the core issue of political solution, the debate had nothing new to offer as from Indian foreign minister S M Krishna to main opposition BJP’s Vekaiah Naidu were still harping on treating the Eezham Tamils not as a nation but as a ‘minority’ and perceiving solutions based on obsolete 13th Amendment. Even Raja was using the word ‘national linguistic minority’.
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IC should accept reality of genocide in Sri Lanka - Canadian student

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 December 2009, 02:25 GMT]
Kannan Sreekantha, one of three Canadian Tamil students, who started a 1000-mile walk from Chicago to Washington D.C., an awareness campaign titled 'Break the Silence' calling attention to the plight of Eezham Tamils, on Monday while returning to Canada, in a message to his contacts in the United States said: "Having done this project, while also being exposed to the emerging realities at point blank range, I now more than ever believe that the international community will one day fully come to accept that there has been a genocide committed in Tamil Eelam. All that we need to do is, act as catalyst in order to expedite this process."
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Tamils flee from East by sea, SL Police says

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 December 2009, 03:12 GMT]
The killing of a youth and injury to another in a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shooting Friday evening at Kiraan beach in Vaazhaichcheanai, Batticaloa, happened when a group of Tamil youth tried to flee the country by sea, Sri Lankan Police said Saturday. Food, medical items, gas cylinders and life jackets were recovered from the spot, according to the police, who alleged that a group of people were trying to flee the country by boat.
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Holding transnational government above collaboration politics

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 December 2009, 23:35 GMT]
For the first time in the history of Eezham Tamils they have moved to evolve an international polity for themselves, independent of armed struggle, through the concept of transnational governance. The space available today, especially in the diaspora, has to be made the best use of in forging an innovatively democratic structure that should be contributing not only to the cause of Eezham Tamils, but also challenging and shaping a global system that is inadequate in handling a crisis like that of Eezham Tamils. Conceiving the transnational government as a 'post-defeat' organ for collaboration will be the greatest ever tragedy in the polity of Eezham Tamils.
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Attempts to split TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 December 2009, 06:35 GMT]
A faction led by Mavai Senathirajah and some by Srikantha, both Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians for Jaffna, are said to be engaged in activities aimed at splitting TNA, sources in Jaffna said. Srikantha and Selvam Adaikalanathan, another TNA parliamentarian, met Monday Basil Rajapakse, the brother and senior advisor of President Mahinda Rajapakse, in Colombo after which Srikantha told press that Basil Rajapakse had consented to allow resettlement of 4,500 IDPs from Valikaamam North in the first stage. Meanwhile, Mavai Senathirajah said in a press release to the media that Thamizh Arasukk Kadchi (TAK) had sent a letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse requesting the resettlement of IDPs in Valikaamam North.
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Global meet urged to discuss environmental genocide by Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 2009, 13:18 GMT]
Decades-long massive military operations and occupation of Tamil Eelam by Sri Lankan forces have caused grave environmental destruction to the north and east of the island. Recovery is difficult as the Tamil homeland is in the dry and arid part of the island, depending on scanty and truant northeast monsoon, writes environmentalist and freelance journalist T. Thipaakaran. It may take more than 150 years for the plundered timber trees to grow again, he says. Tamil academic circles viewing the situation as 'ethnically motivated environmental rape taking place with international abetment,' urge the Denmark meet to discuss the challenge of curbing such crimes of ‘state sovereignty’ and to explore ways of entrusting in such situations the control of land to the sons and daughters of the soil, who only could take a genuine interest in the recovery and protection of their environment.
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Australian reveals “deplorable” conditions onboard Indonesian boat

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 2009, 11:21 GMT]
Cramped conditions, illness, poor sanitation and a lack of food are some of the many hardships being endured by 254 Tamil refugees onboard an Indonesian vessel stated Australian Socialist Party member Anthony Main on his recent visit to the port of Merak. Able to gain access as part of a delegation of Indonesian and Australian unions, Main spoke to several of those on board, including women and children, and revealed an atmosphere of fear and confusion almost 8 weeks since they were intercepted by the Indonesian Navy at the request of the Australian Government.
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Indonesian commandos attempt raid on refugee boat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 December 2009, 11:19 GMT]
Politicians and human rights groups have slammed Indonesia after claims that several high speed navy ships surrounded a boat carrying 250 Tamils docked at the Indonesian port of Merak and tried to storm the boat in an attempt to end a tense standoff that has lasted almost 8 weeks.
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Total rejection of SL Constitution should be the demand - Sachithananthan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 December 2009, 01:22 GMT]
Mere removal of Sixth Amendment as an election agenda of any Tamil candidate will not do justice to the Tamil cause. It will be tacitly approving the rest of the Constitution. Therefore, a total rejection of the Constitution should be the demand, writes academic and former UN consultant Maravanpulavu K. Sachithananthan, responding to a TamilNet feature appeared on 28 November 2009.
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Facing offensive presidential election with self-respect

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 23:04 GMT]
The Tamil parties thinking of fielding a common candidate should rise above outside diktats, should do justice to the Tamil cause at this formative stage of new Tamil polity and should come out with an election agenda that doesn’t harm the cause of Tamils in the long run. Any mistake made now will be irreversible, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Australians slam 'Indonesian Solution'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 15:08 GMT]
Over a 150 people marched through the streets of Sydney on Sunday calling upon the federal government to abolish its harsh stance on refugees and grant asylum to hundreds of Tamil refugees currently being detained in Indonesia at Australia’s request. Citing persecution faced by Tamils at the hands of the Sri Lankan Government, protestors labelled Prime Minister Rudd’s “Indonesian Solution” as “racist” and called for the closure of the Christmas Island offshore detention centre, currently housing hundreds of Tamils.
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Grabbing land for wrecking contiguity of Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 December 2009, 10:22 GMT]
‘Investors’ may see the eastern coastal tract of the island of Sri Lanka, from Kokku’laay to Kuchchave’li, potential for minerals, tourism and fisheries. But the tract is of utmost importance to Eezham Tamils in linking the north and east of their historic homeland. Tamils wouldn’t have been averse to the idea of anyone coming and investing in this tract had there been a guarantee to the territorial integrity of their nation. It would have even been welcomed. But the genocidal Sinhala State and powers of greed have chosen the cruel way to achieve ambitions by crushing the Tamil nation – killing, maiming, chasing, incarcerating and weakening the historical inhabitants. If India that has a particular eye on this tract wants its gratification peaceful and long lasting it should take the responsibility of not altering the demography, writes a university academic of the Eastern Province.
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