Boyle, Fein charge Sri Lanka of Genocide in Chennai seminar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 02:20 GMT]
Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, and Bruce Fein, a Washington D.C. Attorney, speaking at a seminar in Chennai organized by the International Tamil Center Monday, reiterated charges of Genocide against the Sri Lanka Government alleging massacre of more than 50,000 Tamil civilians, sources attending the event said. While Prof. Boyle urged India to file charges in International Court against Sri Lanka for violating Geneva conventions, and to stop Colombo "to cease and desist from all acts of genocide against Tamils," Fein stressed the urgent need for the Tamils to reach a "consensus on their political aspirations." The event was organized by Dr Panchadcharam, a consultant physician from New York.
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'Geopolitical excuse for esoteric diplomacy'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 02:18 GMT]
“India views with unease the Chinese inroads into Sri Lanka as part of a broad move into the Indian Ocean. But India faces acute dilemma. Its capacity to cajole the diehard Sinhalese nationalists to compromise with the Tamils for an enduring settlement suffers so long as China extends such no-holds-barred political backing to the Colombo establishment”, writes M K Bhadrakumar, a former Indian diplomat in an article that appeared in Deccan Herald, 25 May. “The naval presence in Sri Lanka becomes invaluable for China if the planned canal across the Isthmus of Kra in Thailand materialises connecting Indian Ocean with China’s Pacific coast, a project that could dramatically shift the balance of power in Asia in China’s favour. Therefore, no matter what it takes, the West and China (with Russian backing) will compete for gaining the upper hand in Sri Lanka”, he further says.
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Sri Lanka turns back Mercy ship

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2009, 23:07 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka turned away the ship, MV Captain Ali, carrying relief supplies to the Tamils held in internment camps, after keeping the ship under Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) custody for nearly 4.5 days, and after admitting that the ship carried purely humanitarian supplies, a press release from the Mercy Mission Head Office in the UK said.
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2 Tamil foreign returnees arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2009, 12:31 GMT]
Wellawatte Police Saturday arrested two Tamils who returned from abroad and have detained on the order of the Defence Ministry. The arrested were taken into custody while they were staying in a house located along 37th Lane in Wellawatte with their relatives, media sources said.
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‘Stop-Genocide’ candidate secures record result, but misses London seat

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2009, 02:49 GMT]
Ms. Jan Jananayagam, an independent candidate contesting the European Parliament elections in London, secured over 50,000 votes, an unprecedented result, and a record for an independent candidate in an EU election. Though Ms Jananayagam failed to secure a seat, her campaign team said they were delighted with the results. Despite having decided to contest only days before voter registration closed and four weeks before the polls, the Tamil candidate had amassed more votes than some well-established small parties in Britain, and more than twice all other independent candidates combined, they said. Apart from Tamil expatriates, her campaign, conducted by students and volunteers, had drawn support and donations from British voters and other minority communities.
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International war crimes probe needed in Sri Lanka – Japan Times

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2009, 02:10 GMT]
Noting the civilian casualty list in Sri Lanka’s offensive against the Tamil Tigers “is long and growing” and the “disturbing” evidence has emerged from the warzone, the Japan Times Monday joined calls for a “complete, unvarnished international” investigation into alleged war crimes. “No government or rebel group must believe it is immune from the rule of law,” the paper said, adding: “If the government is telling the truth, it should have nothing to fear from an investigation.” The editorial comes as Japan sent a special envoy to Sri Lanka to discuss the plight of 300,000 Tamils interned in militarised camps.
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Historic task awaits all freedom fighters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 June 2009, 20:59 GMT]
The Eezham Tamil nation doesn’t need words to explain the current situation because everybody feels it in the core of their heart. This is a situation that warrants no one else but only the members of the nation to rise up to the occasion. Unprecedented catastrophe awaits unprecedented response from the nation.
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Sri Lanka refuses to allow Mercy Ship to unload relief

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2009, 20:32 GMT]
Despite repeated appeals by the Directors of Mercy Mission, a humanitarian project with a ship loaded with relief items donated by expatriate Tamils in Europe to help Tamils caught up in the war in NorthEast, Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has been detaining the Mercy Mission ship the MV “Captain Ali,” for more than three days, and is refusing to allow the 884 metric tons worth of relief items to be unloaded, sources close to the project said. Latest information indicates Colombo is moving towards returning the ship back to international waters, and force the ship to return to its origination port.
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Investment Promotion Minister visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2009, 12:12 GMT]
Former United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian and the present Sri Lanka Minister of Investment Promotion, Naveen Dissanayake and his younger brother Mayantha Dissanayake paid a sudden visit to Jaffna peninsula Saturday which the brothers described as a personal visit, to the media, sources in Jaffna said. The brothers are the sons of late Gamini Dissanayake, who is alleged to have been the person responsible for the burning of Jaffna Public Library in June 01, 1981, by Sri Lankan police, the sources added.
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The Liberal Moment in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 2009, 12:39 GMT]
“For decades, the international community, especially the Western liberal democracies, have simply refused to confront the Sinhala chauvinism at the heart of the island’s crisis. Instead, it has blamed the LTTE solely. … Without the LTTE, it was unshakably believed, compromise, reconciliation and peace were inevitable. Now, according to Colombo, the LTTE is no more. However, what is taking place is something very different to liberal peace. The Sinhalese, it seems, have little interest in liberalism or peace with the Tamils. The question, however, is what is to be done, ” the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week.
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300,000 Tamils in concentration camps - MIA

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 2009, 12:25 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Jaffna born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (MIA) who used to live in Sri Lanka and experienced the war, told Sky News: "Three hundred thousand people have been put into concentration camps and they (the authorities) have taken all the rights away from these people. They have no food and access to the media and aid. No freedom of speech or freedom of press," and said Britain and international governments should step in and help. MIA was speaking in support of Ms Jananayagam who contested the European Parliament elections held Thursday. The results are expected to be released Sunday.
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NESoHR Head appeals for help to protect humanitarian workers

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Deputy Chairperson of Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), K Sivapalan, in a memorandum issued Thursday, appealed to the different Governments of South East Asia including Singapore, where many Tamil humanitarian workers from the conflict zone in Vanni have sought safety, to treat these refugees compassionately, and to protect them from falling back into the vindictive hands of the Government of Sri Lanka. Sivapalan also urged the Human Rights organizations across the world to exert pressure on the SriLanka Government to release the three medical doctors from Vanni who are currently being detained and interrogated in Colombo.
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Avoid witch hunt, HRW tells Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2009, 03:34 GMT]
Noting that "Disappearances" of ethnic Tamils in the north and east and in the capital, Colombo, allegedly by members of the security forces or Tamil armed groups remain a serious problem, New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a press release issued today said, "[t]he Sri Lankan government needs to ensure that the abuses that occurred when LTTE strongholds fell in the past don't recur," and that Sri Lankan Government "should ensure that military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam does not result in new "disappearances," unlawful killings or the jailing of government critics."
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D.C. District Court grants time extension for IMF case

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2009, 03:25 GMT]
Judge Richard J Leon of United States District Court of District of Columbia, issued an order granting the Motion for Extension of Time filed by Bruce Fein, counsel for plaintiff, Tamils Against Genocide, in response to the Motion to Dismiss filed by U.S. Attorney John R. Coleman of U.S. Department of Justice, representing Defendants, Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, and Executive Director of IMF Meg Lundsagar. Judge Leon allowed TAG's attorney till 29th June to file the response. Since the case will be "pending" until the Court makes a determination, which cannot take place at least until counsel Bruce Fein files a response, the U.S. is unlikely to vote on the IMF loan before 29th June, legal sources in Washington said.
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25 Tamil youths arrested Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2009, 02:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) commandos and police took into custody 25 Tamil youths from North, East and upcountry in a sudden cordon and search in Colombo and its suburbs Wednesday, sources in Colombo said. Security has been beefed up in Colombo since last week in view of the victory celebrations that is being held in the capital, the sources added.
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Sinhala "lebensraum" in progress in Vanni, warns Prof.Boyle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 June 2009, 03:15 GMT]
"The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is continuing to inflict Nazi-type crimes and atrocities against the Tamils even after their alleged excuse of fighting a "war against terrorism" has been exposed as a bogus pretext to annihilate the Tamils and to steal their lands and natural resources. This is what Hitler and the Nazis called "lebensraum"--"living space" for the Sinhala at the expense of the Tamils. The GOSL's "ethnic cleansing" of the Tamil Homeland for the benefit of the Sinhala is now underway," warns Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law.
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Colombo under tight security to celebrate government’s “Victory Day”

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 June 2009, 21:32 GMT]
Cordon and search operations are being conducted by large number of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army in Fort, Bambalapitya, Wellawatte, Dehiwala Kohuwela, Nugegoda, Kelaniya, Demtagoda and Gampaha in Colombo district since Monday to ensure foolproof security for grand victory day celebration with military parade that is scheduled to be held on Wednesday in Galle Face Green, media sources said.
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33 Tamils arrested in Wellampitya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 June 2009, 13:44 GMT]
Police took into custody thirty-three Tamil civilians in Wellampitya in Colombo district on Sunday during a cordon and search operation as they failed to register themselves with the police.
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Tamils unprotected under deteriorating Sri Lanka justice system – international lawyers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 June 2009, 10:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s judiciary is vulnerable to political interference and counter-terrorism legislation, in particular the emergency regulations, has had a detrimental impact on basic due process guarantees as well as freedom of expression, a high-level delegation of international lawyers say. Following its fact-finding tour, a report by the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) says “Sri Lanka’s justice system, legal profession and media are all under grave threat” under the government of President President Mahinda Rajapakse, which enjoys unprecedented popularity amongst Sinhalese. “Some members of Sri Lankan society, particularly those of Tamil ethnicity, are unprotected within the criminal justice system.”
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Setting the hands of the clock right

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 June 2009, 20:04 GMT]
The Eezham Tamils and their political representatives have no obligation to anyone now, to engage in the deliberations of fruitless alternatives. But the world has an obligation now to tell the Tamils whether its opposition is to what it has perceived as 'terrorism' or to Tamil nationalism. The Eezham Tamil mainstream has a historic responsibility on its shoulders to be performed right now. If the oppression to their nationalism is trans-national, the Eezham Tamils have to respond by forming a trans-national government fully responsible to them based on democracy, to negotiate with the world and to look after their own affairs.
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