Hearing in Sivaram assassination case put off for April 25

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 January 2012, 18:44 GMT]
The Colombo High Court on Thursday put off further hearing in the assassination case of TamilNet senior editor Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki) for April 25, 2012. SL State Counsel appearing for the prosecution requested the court to postpone further hearing as he found difficult to proceed with the case in the ‘absence of vital witnesses’. The Sri Lankan high court has postponed the case also on earlier occasions citing the same excuse.
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Rajapaksa to visit Pakistan

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 January 2012, 15:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse is scheduled to visit Pakistan from 8 to 10 February. His visit is expected to be in return for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari visit to Sri Lanka in 2010, Colombo media quoted SL foreign ministry sources. Rajapaksa's visit is in relation to the US dollars 200 million credit facility offered by Pakistan during Zadari’s visit last year, informed sources in Colombo said.
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TNA MPs urge Ampaa'rai GA to allow resettlement of war-displaced Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 January 2012, 20:43 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians Maavai Senathairaja, P. Ariyanethran and P Selvarasa, who visited Naavithan-ve'li, Kaarai-theevu, Aalaiyadi-vempu and Thirukkoayil Piratheasa Chapai (PS) in Ampaa'rai this week have urged the newly appointed Sri Lankan Government Agent of Ampaa'rai district Neil de Alwis to allow speedy resettlement of uprooted Tamil civilians in the district. Hundreds of civilians, uprooted from Kagnchi-kudichchaa'ru, Thangka-vealauthapuram, Chaakaamam, Kanakar-kiraamam and Oo'ra'ni following Sri Lankan military operations are yet to resettle in their own villages and are still living with their relatives and friends elsewhere.
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SL Military governor sabotages Jaffna GA meeting British Conservative MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 January 2012, 09:14 GMT]
Sri Lankan colonial governor of North, Major General (retd) G.A. Chandrasiri, on Wednesday instructed the SL Government Agent of Jaffna district, Ms. Imelda Sugumar, to come to his official residence and have meetings with the visiting British Conservative MP James Wharton, canceling her meeting at Jaffna District Secretariat with the British parliamentarian of UK - Sri Lanka Parliamentary Group. Colombo's Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs has recently ‘reminded’ the officials of the administrative sector in North and East that the foreign diplomats need to secure permission through the ministry in Colombo before meeting the officials. Ms. Imelda Sugumar had to receive Mr. Wharton at Alfred Duraiappah Stadium and join the delegation to governors residence, civil sources in Jaffna said.
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Colombo targets Tamil officials who defy instruction in land alienation in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 January 2012, 16:09 GMT]
Tamil divisional secretaries who are in charge of the administration of border Tamil villages in Batticaloa district are transferred out to other areas as they are strict in allocating lands according to law and without yielding to Colombo pressure. Villagers have been holding protests against such transfers. Transfers of divisional secretaries are being carried out targeting officers who are not yielding to the pressure of the structural genocide program of Colombo and not allowing Sinhala colonisation in border Tamil villages.
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‘Champions of Change’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 January 2012, 15:02 GMT]
Even as the nation of the Scots enjoys limited autonomy in the United Kingdom, its desire for independence coupled with other political and economic developments compels the leader of the Scottish National Party to optimistically assert that Scotland and other similar small independent nation-states will be the champions of change in the near future. On the other hand, as the efficiently functioning de facto state of the Eezham Tamils was crushed by Sri Lanka with support of world powers in May 2009, there is a need to soar above mere war crimes calls and other similar discourses, which only blunt the aims of our political goals. The year 2012 must involve reinvigorated efforts to assert sovereignty of the Eezham Tamils and to set the moral victory of our national liberation struggle as a standard to natural allies, writes TamilNet Economic and Geopolitical Analyst in the Asia Pacific.
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ICG Report on Eezham Tamil women receives flak from diaspora feminist

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 January 2012, 23:49 GMT]
In an article published on Countercurrents, an Indian online journal, Janani Paramsothy, a student in a British University, criticized the ICG report on Eezham Tamil women report for having deliberately ignored the real problem of genocide of Eezham Tamils, in which, sexual violence on Tamil women is an essential component. Ms. Paramsothy, who had been a vocal participant in protests in the UK during the period of Mu’l’livaikaal genocide and after, came down heavily on the ICG for maligning genuine voices in the diaspora addressing the national question and for having produced a distorted picture of the progress of women achieved under the LTTE. “Tamil women- safe under LTTE, raped and pillaged under Sri Lankan forces with no one to support them... For Tamil women to be safe under a Sri Lankan state is simply impossible”, she said.
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Teacher trade unions protest annual transfer in east

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 January 2012, 04:13 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Association, Ceylon Democratic Teachers Union and Ceylon Islamic Teachers Association, leading three teacher trade unions, have jointly requested the Eastern Provincial Minister of Education to postpone the transfer scheme for another month as transfers are not completed according to schedule.
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Extra-judicial execution of Trincomalee students, Sixth anniversary

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 January 2012, 00:05 GMT]
Two Tamil organizations in the U.S. jointly issued a commemorative stamp to mark the 6th anniversary of the extra-judicial execution by Sri Lanka security forces of five Trincomalee high school students on the 2nd January 2006, when the highly accomplished students were spending an afternoon at a seafront in Trincomalee. The stamp, the issuing organizations said, is a mark of respect to the families that are fighting for justice, and to celebrate the indomitable spirit of Dr Manoharan, the father of one of the students, Ragihar, who had made the fight to bring the killers of his son to justice his life's mission. Meanwhile, Amnesty International conducted a "Write-for-Rights" campaign seeking justice for Dr Manoharan's family during the first week of December 2011.
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EPDP accused of post-2006 killings as SLFP-EPDP feud escalates in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 January 2012, 23:58 GMT]
Pandemonium prevailed and Police was called to manage the altercation during a Jaffna Municipal Council meeting Friday when Nishanthan, an ex-member of the Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP), and currently functioning under ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) label, accused EPDP of carrying out abductions, extortions, and gruesome killings that occurred in Jaffna after the breakdown of the peace process in 2006 under Sri Lanka military occupation, sources in Jaffna said. Nishanthan was a key activist within EPDP when EPDP was functioning as an armed-paramilitary unit under the command of Sri Lanka military intelligence. The exposé of EPDP complicity in killings was a manifestation of brewing infighting between the members of the EPDP and SLFP within the Jaffna Municipal Council, political observers in Jaffna said.
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Majority ITAK members welcome civil society report, seek course-correction

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 January 2012, 14:16 GMT]
Majority of the key members of the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), who met Friday for a central committee meeting at the residence of TNA parliamentary group leader Mr. Rajavarothayam Sampanthan in Trincomalee, have welcomed the recent memorandum submitted by leading members of the Tamil civil society. Calling the TNA leaders to engage with the civil society, the ITAK group sought a course-correction in the process. Two civil society and ITAK senior members, and signatories, Professor emeritus of Archaeology, S.K. Sitrampalam, an ITAK stalwart, and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Hindu Civilisation of Jaffna University, Mrs. Naachiyar Selvanayagam, were present at the committee meeting and explained their concerns of accountability. The meeting resolved that Mr. Sampanthan should engage with the civil society as early as possible in January 2012.
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TamilNet releases LTTE documents of 2006 talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2011, 16:34 GMT]
A set of documents prepared by the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat during Geneva peace talks held in February 2006, in June 2006 in Oslo and in October 2006 in Geneva, some of which have not yet reached public domain, are being released by TamilNet to facilitate a deeper understanding of the peace process and its eventual collapse. While 2011 has been a "year of reports," the UN panel report, Norway’s ‘Pawns of Peace’, the genocide model LLRC report etc., the LTTE documents provide valuable insight into the Tigers' efforts undertaken to fulfill LTTE's commitment to the International Community. Though groups such as the International Crisis Group (ICG) reject the application of the concept of "earned sovereignty" to Eezham Tamils, the documents prepared by the Peace Secretariat show how the concept was validated in practice by the LTTE.
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Kurdish civilians killed in ‘Sri Lanka style’ attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2011, 07:26 GMT]
In a deadly strike that was carried out in Uludere of Sirnak province in Turkey’s Southeast region on Wednesday, Turkish F16’s killed at least 36 Kurdish civilians. While the ruling party AKP’s spokesperson called the attack an ‘operational mistake’ and the government has claimed that there will be investigations in to the matter, the PKK said in a statement that the strike was “the result of the all-out war concept developed by the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government against our leader, movement and people. This is the continuation of the system of arrest and torture that aims at intimidating our people”. Even as the PKK called for an uprising, there have been huge protests by the Kurdish people in Turkey’s capital and other places.
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LLRC Report, an apologia for Sri Lanka Army, says New York Times

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2011, 03:47 GMT]
Noting that "regarding the war’s terrible final weeks, it [the LLRC Report] is largely an apologia for the army," a report appearing in New York Times Saturday says that "while the commission makes sensible recommendations and exposes grave atrocities committed by the Tigers against ordinary people, it also demonstrates that government troops shelled no-fire zones in order to neutralize rebel attacks from within," and adds, "Sri Lankans no longer need to pretend that the army didn’t shell zones where civilians were encouraged to gather, or subscribe to the fantasy that no innocents died when shells landed on or near hospitals."
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ITAK activists threatened by SLA intelligence operatives in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 December 2011, 14:34 GMT]
Activists of the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) in Mullaiththeevu of Vanni, who were engaged in organizing party activities this week have been threatened with death by intelligence operatives of the Sri Lanka Army, sources in Mullaiththeevu told TamilNet. The intimidation by the occupying SLA has come following the leading activists of the ITAK Mr.C.V.K.Sivagnanam and Mr. Kunanayagam, went to the district distributing forms to enrol members to the party. The SLA intelligence personnel have targeted the activists of the party in Mullaiththeevu for accepting these forms.
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UPFA goons attack on Mullaiththeevu district accountant draws protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 December 2011, 08:17 GMT]
The employees at Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat on Thursday staged a token strike protesting against the attack by UPFA goons on the accountant of the District Secretariat of Mullaiththeevu on Wednesday. A five-member group of Colombo's ruling UPFA Wednesday around 7:30 p.m. entered the office of the accountant, S. Jeyakumar and attacked him. Mr. Jeyakumar has been voicing against the political interference and against the misappropriation of the funds taking place in the district, informed sources told media. The sources alleged involvement of various personalities associated with Rajapaksa establishment with vested interests, ranging from SL minister Rishad Bathiutheen to the Mullaiththeevu coordinator of North East Housing Rehabilitation Project (NEHRP) and the Puthukkudiyiruppu SLFP organiser for intervening in the affairs of the District Secretariat.
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SL ‘special agents’ ransack human rights activist's apartment in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 December 2011, 02:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan investigation officers claiming to be from the ‘Special Unit’ on Wednesday evening ransacked an apartment where a Tamil human rights activist from the East was residing in Colombo. The agents clad in civil and uniform entered the room of the human rights activist around 10:00 p.m. and took away documents and files without mentioning the intention of the action and without providing any list of what they have taken from the apartment, informed sources said. The Human Rights activist, who was formerly a progamme officer of a Belgium-based international organisation, was living in the apartment with his Sinhala room mate. The Sinhala friend was taken away by the investigating officers, detained for almost 20 hours and harrassed, informed NGO sources in Colombo told TamilNet Thursday.
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SLA soldier shoots dead traveller on Poonakari Road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2011, 14:29 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier, manning a check post on Poonakari Road, shot and killed a traveller on motorbike Thursday around 7:00 a.m. after demanding the traveller to hand over his motorbike, sources in Poonakari told TamilNet. The SLA soldier was reportedly killed in friendly-fire when he later confronted fellow soldiers, the sources further said. Tension prevailed in the area and the road remained closed for hours. Although the dead body of the SLA soldier was sent to Jaffna hospital and transferred to Palaali military hospital, the information or identity of the slain traveller is yet to be made public. SL military officials are yet to reveal details of the episode and journalists were blocked from reaching the site.
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SL military governor builds expensive bungalow, diverts aid to Sinhala colonists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2011, 12:22 GMT]
The estimated cost of the modern bungalow now under construction in the Old Park for the use of Major General (retired) G.A.Chandrasiri in Jaffna has exceeded 190 million rupees, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet. For comparison, the annual expenditure for the education of the Northern Province stands at 250 million rupees. Questioning the need for such an expensive bungalow for the SL military governor in Jaffna, civil officials in Jaffna blamed G.A. Chandrasiri for meddling with the disbursement of aid in the province. G.A.Chandrasiri, has directed that fifteen sewing machines out of 65 that were allocated for distribution among war widows in the five districts of the Northern Province should be distributed to encroached Sinhalese families in Kaithadi-Naavatkuzhi in Jaffna district.
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Protestors force SL military to open cremation ground in HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2011, 18:51 GMT]
Resettled Tamils in the eastern part of Kaangkeasanthu'rai (KKS) on Tuesday staged a spontaneous protest against the Sri Lanka military demanding the right of the dead to be cremated in their own cremation ground. The protestors threatening to carry the casket of one of their relatives to the cremation ground blocked the main access route of the SL military, demanding the occupying army to open the route to the cemetery. Although the SL military blocked more than a hundred villagers, who attempted to take forward the casket to the cremation ground, the military hierarchy was forced to allow the villagers to reach the cremation ground through an alternative route as the protest lasted for more than 3 hours. The elected TNA members of the civic body in KKS joined the protest, which is described as first of its kind agitation in the SL occupied Jaffna.
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