Sumanan tortured, killed by Chunnakam police, eye-witness testifies

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 July 2016, 19:23 GMT]
Defence attorney for the five suspects who were charged in an alleged case of theft around November 2011, Visuvalingam Manivannan told TamilNet that one of the first three suspects in the above case had said in his testimony when the case was taken for hearing in Mallaakam courts this week, that the 5th accused, Sumanan Sriskandarajah, was hung upside down, tortured and killed in front of him at the Chunnakam police station. The 4th suspect told the Court during his testimony that he was tortured and severely beaten by the Chunnakam police, but he didn't personally witness any torture administered to the 5th suspect, the attorney further added.
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SLMC for North-East merger, NPC should do more for Tamil-Muslim unity: SLMC Vanni Wing

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 July 2016, 10:39 GMT]
Muthalip Bawa Farook, a former parliamentarian representing Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) from Vanni electoral district, SM Sagee and Noor Mohammed Alam from Mannaar, who also represent the executive committee of the SLMC in North on Thursday said that their party, which has been struggling to maintain its integrity amidst the dividing politics of Colombo, has never been against the Tamil demand for a unified North-East. In fact, the SLMC’s stated party position was that there should be a distinct mechanism to ensure the rights of the Muslims in a unified North-East, the SLMC Vanni district representatives said. At the same time, the SLMC’s northern wing was seeking Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and the NPC to do more in order to establish Tamil-Muslim unity at the provincial level.
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UNP answerable for 1983 genocidal pogrom: Batticaloa UNP Organiser

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 July 2016, 23:14 GMT]
“Although I am involved in UNP politics for 46 years, I am first a Tamil in my heart. There is no denying that UNP is responsible on the accountability for 1983 pogrom and other governments in Colombo for the crimes committed during their regime,” said Batticaloa District UNP organiser, Aloysius Thambimuthu Masilamani, responding to a question on UNP's reaction to the issue raised this week by Northern Provincial Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam that how could Tamils expect Justice for 2009 genocidal crimes from the UNP regime, which has failed to deliver accountability for 1983 pogrom against Tamils for 33 years. “What happened on 23 July 1983 was nothing else than a genocide. “Even my political mentor Devanayagam described it as a barbaric act at that time and Cyril Mathew demanded him to withdraw that description. But, Denavayagam stood by it,” Mr Aloysius Masilamani told TamilNet.
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2009 genocide justice not going to come from UNP of 1983 pogrom: Shivajilingam

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 July 2016, 21:12 GMT]
The United National Party (UNP) was responsible for the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom. The current SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe was a cabinet minister in 1983 in the UNP regime. 33 years have elapsed. The UNP has totally failed to deliver accountability for the crimes to which it was responsible. How could one expect any justice or solution to come from the UNP for the genocidal crimes committed against Eezham Tamils in 2009, asked M.K. Shivajilingam, a veteran political leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) marking 33rd anniversary of Black July. The Black July memorial events were held in Jaffna and Trincomalee in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils on Monday. The memorial events in Jaffna were held at St. Mary's Church and at Nalloor Murukan temple.
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‘SL President sanctioning 67-feet Buddha statue off Jaffna is act of aggression’

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 July 2016, 18:01 GMT]
Latest photographs from Nayinaa-theevu islet off Jaffna reveal that the occupying Navy of genocidal Sri Lanka being deployed in the construction of controversial 67-feet Buddha statue disregarding the sentiments of the gagged Eezham Tamil population in the islet under military occupation. “Eezham Tamils have clearly articulated their objection to the controversial move. If the new regime, which has came to power using Tamils‘ votes, didn’t want to respect the sentiments of Eezham Tamils, and if the SL President has sanctioned this illegitimate project, he has just invoked an act of aggression, not only against the Eezham Tamils, but also against the 70-million Tamils of Tamil Nadu,” NPC Councillor Vinthan Kanagaratnam told TamilNet on Monday. The public in Jaffna will raise against this move, he said.
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SL Commander of 58 Division twists lists at Mullaiththeevu Magistrates’ Court

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 July 2016, 23:52 GMT]
Major General Kavinda Chanakya Gunawardena (K.C. Gunawardena) of the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (58 Division), which committed heinous genocidal crimes during the onslaught against Eezham Tamils had revealed to Mullaiththeevu Magistrates' Court on 17 February 2016 that there was a military document containing the names of all surrendered LTTE members in the final days of the Vanni war. He initially revealed the existence of the list thinking it was in defence of his argument that the names mentioned in a writ of habeas corpus case under hearing were not found in that list. But, on Thursday Gunawarena came up with two lists of LTTE members who have been subjected to military ‘rehabilitation’ and released.
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Colombo demonstrates military diktats over resettlement in Jaffna after Geneva ‘update’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 July 2016, 13:10 GMT]
The commander of the occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka in Jaffna has re-iterated the military diktat on Monday by going on record that there was no reduction in the camps or number of military troops in Jaffna. Claiming that there would be no such consideration of reducing the troops in 10 years in the future, Major General Mahesh Senanayake was also demonstrating that any resettlement of uprooted Eezham Tamils in the former ‘High Security Zone’ in Valikaamam North could only take place at the mercy of the Sinhala military. A few uprooted Tamil women and the Additional Government Agent of Jaffna were asked to be present in the ‘inauguration’ ceremony of the military-conceived, SL government-funded housing scheme for 100 families at a limestone quarry land near Maavidda-puram. The quarry lands belong to KKS Cement factory.
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Eezham Tamils fleeing persecution expose ICE-nexus with genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 July 2016, 23:14 GMT]
On 15th of June, Indonesian authorities apprehended 44 Eezham Tamils en route to Australia in a fishing trawler in the eastern province of Aceh. Indonesian officials prohibited the refugees from disembarking upon Indonesian soil stating that they were not eligible for asylum. During one incident, as five Tamil women attempted to disembark, Indonesian authorities were reported to have fired gunshots in the air. Pictures emerged, with one of the Eelam Tamil women in tears mimicking with her hand a gun pointed to her head. The silence from the International Community of Establishment (ICE) was ‘demonstrated’ when Colombo’s officials through a UN body visited Indonesia in order to negotiate the return of the refugees back to Colombo’s military rule, from which they were fleeing.
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Gaining more ‘time and space’ at Geneva, Colombo steps up genocidal grip on Eezham Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 July 2016, 22:40 GMT]
The so-called Civil Security Department (CSD), which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Defence of genocidal Sri Lanka, is trying to seize 500 acres of additional farmlands at several locations of Mullaiththeevu district through ‘legal’ means, civil sources in Vanni said. While the genocidal-paradigm is upheld by the powers through a passive discourse at Geneva, the CSD under Maithiripala Sirisena is absorbing more farmlands through Sinhala military corporatism. The enslaved Eezham Tamils are to be deployed as slaves and more Tamil children are going to be subjected to brainwashing by the SL military. In the meantime, the income generated from the military-run farms is being channelled to employ a Sinhala-only armed paramilitary, known as Civil Defence Force (CDF) to colonize strategic Tamil lands along the coast and the interior borders of the occupied country of Eezham Tamils.
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UN’s credibility on delivery of justice seriously eroded: rights activist in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 July 2016, 23:12 GMT]
Even after coming up with resolutions and reports, the response coming from Human Rights chief with regards to practical delivery on international justice is based upon the thinking of giving more time and space to the Sri Lankan regime, which is acting against the spirit of accountability, Justice and rule of law, says Kathir Barathythasan, a leading human rights activist from Batticaloa. In an interview to TamilNet this week, the activist, who has served as the secretary of Citizens’ committees in Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai and Gandhi Seva Sangam, said the people on the ground, particularly the victims, will remain firm on seeking justice to thousands of their kith and kin perished in the 2009 onslaught and in demanding the whereabouts of those who have been reported missing.
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Veteran Eezham Tamil archivist passes away at 81

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 June 2016, 01:24 GMT]
Mr R. Kanagaratnam (Kurumpasiddi Eraa Kanagaratnam), who tirelessly collected Tamil and English newspaper clippings and manuscripts related to political and cultural affairs of Eezham Tamils for almost 6 decades, has passed away at the age of 81 in Kandy on Wednesday. The leaders of Tamil Eelam and Tamil Nadu respected Mr Kanagaratnam for his contributions to the modern archival history of Eezham Tamils as well as his continued focus on the historiography of Tamils living across the larger region, from Fiji Islands to South Africa. His unique contribution to the nation of Eezham Tamils was collecting, archiving, microfilming and at the same time ensuring secure storage of the Tamil and English documents outside the island – all achieved through his focused and relentless efforts. He was an institution by himself.
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Structural genocide targets Kudumpimalai despite Tamil protests, media focus

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 June 2016, 16:05 GMT]
Despite repeated protests coming from Village (GS) Officers in Batticaloa district against the recent assault on Tamil GS Officer Shanmugam Guru by a group of Sinhala soldiers, the occupying Sinhala military is continuing illegal logging of trees in the interior jungle hamlet of Kudumpimalai. The demograhic genocide is being spearheaded by Colombo’s Forest Department that comes under the direct supervision of SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, Divisional Secretariat officials in Kiraan told TamilNet. The SL Forest Department is planning to create a Sinhala colony for agricultural farmers from the bordering Anuradhapura district and elsewhere in the South, they said.
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Deminers remain tight-lipped over crucial traces of cluster, chemical UXOs deployed in genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 June 2016, 15:47 GMT]
A supervisor rank worker associated with demining work carried out by Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) and was deployed in clearing Unexploded ordnance (UXO) between 2010 and 2014 in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) where SL military deployed cluster bombs and chemical weapons during the genocidal onslaught in 2009, told TamilNet this week that the hierarchy of the FSD, when alerted about the traces of cluster bombs and crucial human skeletal remains indicating deployment of chemical warheads, communicated the matter to the SL military under Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's military establishment, which was quick to remove the traces. If the workers revealed the findings, the FSD would lose its project and they would risk losing their jobs as funds coming from USA, Japan and EU would go to other mine clearing agencies, the workers were told by the FSD hierarchy.
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SL Military surveillance forces Mannaar Citizens‘ Committee to relocate office

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 June 2016, 20:43 GMT]
The occupying military intelligence operatives of genocidal Sri Lanka have been monitoring those visiting and engaging with the Citizens’ Committee in Mannaar to an intolerable level during the past two years. The surveillance operatives were taking photographs and some times videos of those visiting the Citizens‘ Committee, which was situated within the Public Library premises, behind the main building. The Sinhala military operatives have been harassing the visitors and employees at the Public Library asking details of those visiting the Citizens’ Committee office, informed rights activists in Mannaar told TamilNet on Monday.
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Colombo's ‘Mahaweli Authority’ chases away resettled Eezham Tamils in Kokkuth-thoduvaay

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 June 2016, 21:18 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka's Ministry of ‘Mahaweli Development & Environment’, which is led by SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, has started to deploy violence to chase away the resettled Eezham Tamils at 15th Mile Post in Kokkuth-thoduvaay, a strategically situated coastal village in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division of Mullaiththeevu district, the affected families complained. On 02 June, SL Forest Department personnel, accompanied by ‘Mahaweli Development’ officials forcibly removed the temporary huts of some of the resettled Tamil families at 15th Mile Post. After the end of genocidal onslaught on Vanni in May 2009, the project of Sinhalicisation has been intensified through the Sinhala colony of Padaviya in Anuradhapura and Vavuniyaa districts and the entire Ma'nalaa'ru (Weli-oya) area has been fully Sinhalicised and emerged as the ‘Sinhala Only’ administrative division in Mullaiththeevu.
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Colombo beefs up naval installations along eastern coast

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 June 2016, 23:16 GMT]
Emboldened with the blessings coming from the diplomatic US Establishment and its increased ‘military-to-military’ rapport with the Sinhala navy in the island, the military Establishment of genocidal Sri Lanka has stepped up its programme of militarisation and Sinhaliciation of the strategic belt in the three coastal directions of the country of Eezham Tamils in the recent months. The SL Navy, which has been fortifying its coastal cantonments, mini-camps and detachments along the western coast facing towards the Gulf of Mannaar and the Palk Bay during the past 6 months, has in recent weeks stepped up its expansion programme along the eastern coast of Northern and Eastern provinces facing the Bay of Bengal.
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Multi-pronged structural genocide targets Periya-mu’rippu in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 May 2016, 23:45 GMT]
Eezham Tamil villagers from Periya-mu'rippu, a remote hamlet situated 65 km southwest of Mannaar city and 18 km south from Mannaar - Medawachiya A-14 Road in Madu division, narrated to TamilNet this week how they were facing a multi-pronged structural annihilation coming through the hierarchy of genocidal Sri Lanka. While Colombo's structural and demographic annihilation continues unabated in the country of Eezham Tamils, Washington and New Delhi remain adamant in upholding the genocidal unitary State through their imperialist outlook shaped by geopolitics. The ultimate culprits have not only denied Tamils international justice, they also continue to impose a Colombo-centric ‘development’ agenda, which is coupled to their ‘counter insurgency’ operations at a trans-national level, Tamil political activists in Mannaar said, urging Tamils to understand where their responsibility lies.
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Professor Kanagaratnam succumbs to accident and heart attack in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 May 2016, 00:11 GMT]
Veteran Eezham Tamil academic, Professor Ramanathar Vaithilingam Kanagaratnam passed away in Jaffna on Tuesday, after meeting with an accident and succumbing to heart attack. He was 70. Professor Kanagaratnam was one of the rare personalities produced by the Eezham Tamil nation, who were silently but rigorously contributing to studies in Saivism, Tamil and folklore. He devoted an entire life and has made a significant mark especially in the study of the genre of the cultural heritage of Eezham Tamils that was responding to European colonialism. Coming from the grassroots, his academic mission was on the memory and awakening of the grassroots culture of Eezham Tamils, and he did that contributing practically to the people in the land when they needed it the most. His funeral is scheduled to take place on Sunday in Jaffna.
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‘Sinhala Ravaya’ colony in Jaffna, outcome of US-Indian policy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2016, 23:42 GMT]
SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, genocidal Sri Lanka’s occupying Sinhala military, the Special Task Force (STF) and Colombo’s ‘National’ Housing Development Authority (NHDA) have all joined hands with a Sinhala-Buddhist extremist group, ‘Sinhala Ravaya’, in extending the Sinhala military colony at Naavatkuzhi, which is situated at the entry point to the Jaffna City. In recent days, the Sinhala colony has received a new name board, naming the village as “Sinhala Ravaya Gama” (Sinhala Ravaya Village). What is practically evolving after 7 years of Mu’l’livaaykkaal tells the actual agenda of USA and India, commented political observers in Jaffna, urging the affected nation of Eezham Tamils to identify and act against the ultimate culprits and their ‘vision’ of genocidal handling through Agent States.
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Kurdistan National Congress expresses solidarity with Tamils on genocide remembrance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2016, 23:50 GMT]
The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) has expressed its solidarity with the Tamil people on the 7th anniversary of the massacres committed against the Tamils and all civilian victims and their families during the war in the island. “Even though the ethnically-motivated mass murder of the Tamils shows clear features of genocide, it is not recognized as such by international institutions. In fact, the massacre on the Tamil people was possible due to the tacit approval of global actors,” the Brussels-based umbrella group of exiled Kurds said in a statement dated 20 May 2016. Comparing the oppression of the Kurds and the Tamils, the KNK said the model behind the States of Turkey and Sri Lanka, based on the hegemony of one ethnic group over another, is doomed to fail. The KNK also drew parallels between the continued support extended to these States by the Western powers.
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