LLRC accused of disclosing list of Tamil witnesses to CID

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 November 2011, 15:26 GMT]
Tamil witnessess who gave evidence at the sittings of the Sri Lanka’s Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and whose evidence was taken under the oath of secrecy have now been singled out for interrogation by the Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, sources in Colombo said. The LLRC, in contravention to the agreement with the witnesses, has allegedly disclosed the witness details to law enforcement authorities, placing lives of witnesses in danger, as revealed by the summons issued by the CID to 45-year old Ratnam Poongoothai, to appear before the CID in Colombo, legal sources said.
Full story >>

Colombo fails bid to host 2018 Commonwealth games

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 November 2011, 00:59 GMT]
Gold Coast, located in the eastern shores of Southern Queensland, Australia, a popular tourist destination, leveraging its experience in hosting large-scale sporting events and the well-developed infrastructure facilities, beat Sri Lanka to host the 2018 Commonwealth games Friday. Colombo furiously pursuing its goal of erasing memory of the massacre of 40,000 Tamil civilians in 2009, went after the bid to transform Sri Lankan President's home electorate, Hambantota, as a "sports city," but was voted down 27 to 43 by the voting members of the Commonwealth, according to reports.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka massacre, 5 times Srebrenica, 80 times My Lai, says German paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 November 2011, 11:55 GMT]
Referring to the Channel-4 documentary Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, journalists, Dirk Maxeiner and Michael Miersch, in an opinion column that appeared in German newspaper Die Welt said that the massacre of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka by the State military is five times the killings from Srebrenica genocide, and 80 times the numbers killed in the Mai Lai massacre. "Colombo successfully covered up the killings by sending away the UN observers on the grounds that the State will not be able to ensure their safety, and then began the mass murder," Die Welt said on 03 November.
Full story >>

Norway ‘LLRC’ distributes blame, washes hands of victims after ‘victory’

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 November 2011, 11:11 GMT]
A report on Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka, “Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian Peace Efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2009” was released in Oslo on Friday. Whether pawns of peace or ploys for genocide, Norway’s report distributed blame among all the actors. A deficiency the report finds in Norway was not its grave failure to warn the world about peace turning into genocide, but that Norway should have escaped from the scene at an earlier stage. The report admits that the peace process has only enhanced obstacles to peace now. But, even after the process facilitating internationally abetted genocide, the report subconsciously sees “victory” in the war and it now harps on “primacy of domestic politics,” to imply ways for solutions. Norway washes hands of its responsibilities to victims and the report now seeks lessons to learn for ’peacebuilding’ elsewhere.
Full story >>

Tamil man from Batticaloa reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 November 2011, 09:40 GMT]
32-year-old Tamil man Rasalingam Sangarapillai, resident of Periyapoa'ratheevu village in Batticaloa district has been reported missing since he left on October 5 this year with fifteen sovereign of gold from a jewellery shop in Panadura to Fort in Colombo, according to complaints by his relatives with the police in Colombo and Ka'luvaagnchik-kudi.
Full story >>

SL Appeal Court suspends land re-registration till Jan 19

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 November 2011, 08:00 GMT]
The operation of the controversial notice issued by the Sri Lanka’s Commissioner General of Lands instructing the owners of lands in the North and East provinces to r-register their lands under the Land Title Registration Scheme was suspended from Wednesday till January 19, 2012 due to the stay order by the Court of Appeal. According to the notice issued by the Commissioner General of Lands land owners in the two provinces should hand their application for re-registration of lands between September 20 and November 20 this year.
Full story >>

Shavendra not entitled to immunity, argue attorneys for Tamil plaintiffs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2011, 11:56 GMT]
Attorneys for two Tamil plaintiffs Tuesday filed a formal response to Sri Lankan ex-Major General Shavendra Silva’s motion to dismiss the war crimes lawsuit against him in the Southern District of New York, and international human rights groups united to urge the United Nations to suspend the credentials of Silva, who is Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Silva is facing allegations in federal court for war crimes including torture, extrajudicial killing and the intentional shelling of civilians during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict.
Full story >>

Political power and own state only could address structural genocide

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2011, 07:17 GMT]
Contrary to what certain Tamil politicians who are manipulated by India and/or western powers and intellectuals on the payroll of ‘donors’ may claim, the Eelam Tamils did not fight for individual human rights or equality. The structural genocide they face is not a one-time event but is a process, and that it is not an aberration but is inherent to the system of ‘united’ Sri Lanka. Any genuine politics therefore must start from the position that Eelam Tamils as a people are unequal, and will continue to be, unless they have political power in their hands in their own state, writes R M. Karthick, research scholar in political theory in a British university, citing Slovenian Philosopher, Slavoj Žižek, who upholds a thinking that we need a different notion of ideology to understand today’s politics.
Full story >>

TNA loses the best opportunity to be forthright: Tamil Nadu reader

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2011, 05:50 GMT]
“You are leaving us confused back here in Tamil Nadu,” especially when we “do not see India doing the right thing in Sri Lanka,” says a TamilNet reader in Chennai in sending a feedback responding to TNA leader Sampanthan’s current political stand. “The best opportunity to be forthright was lost by him,” the reader said in the feedback Tuesday. “An unclear goal and actions will not lead anyone anywhere. The kind of statements that Mr Sampanthan makes is making it difficult even for supporters of Eelam in Tamil Nadu to take a stand. No matter what you do, i.e., even if you act to please the power, New Delhi does not care. It is better to catch it by its collar and put it to shame. The result will only be the same. It would be in our best interest to look after our interests ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to look after us, the reader further said.
Full story >>

Remember that powers need Tamils too: Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 November 2011, 12:58 GMT]
Just as Eezham Tamils need international recognition for their cause, the powers that make moves in the island for a world order also need Tamils. What the Tamil politicians should keep in mind is that there is no reason for them to compromise on the fundamentals of the cause upheld by the people, said Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam of the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) in writing to Colombo-based Tamil Daily, Thinakkural, Sunday. In the changing current context, even if one of the competing powers take up the national question of Eezham Tamils as means for its leverage, the others can’t refuse it but have to follow suit. Tamil leadership shouldn’t miss the opportunity by abandoning the cause to pre-emptive tactics of any single power and thus excluding other international possibilities, he further said.
Full story >>

Declassified papers speak of Indo-US rivalry in South Asia

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 November 2011, 07:09 GMT]
The US Marines were prepared to attack Indian military during Bangladesh war in 1971. The US continued to supply weapons to Pakistan contrary to policies said outside. The US delayed passing Pakistan’s surrender announcement to India by 19 hours and diplomats suspected the delay was because Washington was possibly contemplating military action against India, said a feature based on freshly declassified top secret papers appeared in The Times of India, Sunday. There are worse ‘top secrets’ about India-US equation conducting a genocidal war without witness for the first time in South Asia, making around 140,000 Eezham Tamils to go unaccounted. It may take another 40 years for the ‘ultimate responsibility’ acknowledged. But the worst of the crime, in contrast to Bangladesh, is the equation’s continued denial of independence to Eezham Tamils, commented a political observer in Jaffna.
Full story >>

Thamizhar Changkamam draws sold-out crowd, celebrates Tamil culture

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 November 2011, 11:22 GMT]
The Ilankai Tamil Sangam, USA hosted a Thamizhar Changkamam (Confluence of Tamils) during its 34th Annual General Meeting in New Jersey and drew a sold-out crowd of Tamils. Visiting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs, Mr. Mavai Senathirajah and Mr. Suresh Premachandran addressed the event and noted the problems facing the Tamils in resettling in their original homes, resuming normal life and having their voices heard since the end of the war. Naam Tamilar Seeman, who was scheduled to attend the event from Tamil Nadu, was not allowed enter the country by the US border agency. In the meantime, Congressman of New Jersey, Rush Holt, who is well informed of the plight of Eelam Tamils, made an impromptu visit to the event. He was honored with pon-aadai (a Tamil custom) for his service to the Tamil community.
Full story >>

TNA relays US-India paradigm for ‘nondescript’ model of solutions

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 November 2011, 07:21 GMT]
Addressing a diaspora gathering in London on Sunday, The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politicians elucidated on trying a ‘nondescript’ model of solution for the national question of Eezham Tamils. The TNA relay on the paradigm comes after conditioned for long by New Delhi and after conferring with ‘creative thinking’ in the US State Department on the models for solutions. The TNA leaders didn’t hide the fact, but said it is worth trying, as the UN, EU, India and the USA are watching and any failures could be suitably addressed. Commenting on the nondescript nature of the model, Tamil political observers said that it is ideal for imperialism to get leverage and time for ‘development’ inroads and would provide more legitimacy, time and bartering power for genocidal Colombo to complete the annihilation of Eezham Tamils as a nation, while engaging them in a prolonged day-to-day struggle.
Full story >>

Media opinion urges Philippines to follow genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 November 2011, 12:15 GMT]
Philippines should follow Sri Lanka’s model in getting Chinese assistance and annihilate the Moro National Liberation Front (MILF) fighting for the nation of Muslims in Philippines, urges an Outlook column appeared in Philippine Daily Inquirer, Thursday. A similar outlook in Burma’s military government against the Karen nationalists has been pointed out in many media reports after the genocidal war against the nation of Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. The US and India, by setting the stage, by finishing a national war to genocidal end and by continue sitting on political and criminal justice, have inspired a host of rogue States to follow the genocidal path, but ironically the ill-gotten gains of the ‘inspiration’ goes to China, commented a political science academic in the Tamil diaspora.
Full story >>

Sinhalese forcibly take over paddy lands of Tamils in Thennaimaravadi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 November 2011, 03:38 GMT]
Some resettled Tamil farmers in Thennaimaravadi village were taken aback in the weekend to see their paddy lands they prepared for sowing for the forthcoming Maha cultivation had been sown by Sinhalese encroachers at the instance of the Sri Lanka Army stationed in the area. They fear this is a part of a covert plan by Colombo government to forcibly take over paddy lands in the traditional Tamil village Thennaimaravadi, located at the narrow boundary between Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee districts that links the Northern and Eastern territories of the country of Eezham Tamils.
Full story >>

US, India deploy ‘entry-refusal’ weapon against Tamil solidarity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 November 2011, 23:19 GMT]
Tamil Nadu film director and leader of the Naam Thamizhar Movement that upholds the cause of Eezham Tamils, Mr. Seeman, was refused of landing permission in the USA when he went to participate in a Tamil conference organized by three US-based diaspora associations of both Tamil Nadu and Eezham Tamils. Mr. Seeman was given with a valid visa to visit the USA but was refused entry at the New York airport on Saturday. Last month, the President of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the diaspora-based umbrella organisation of Eezham Tamils, Rev. Fr. S J. Emmanuel, was refused entry at Chennai airport when he travelled from Europe, despite having valid multiple entry visa to India. Whether the USA and India, long known for the misuse of visa by the Establishments, cooperate or compete in capturing Tamil polity for their agendas is the emerging question.
Full story >>

11 Tibetans commit self-immolation protesting Chinese occupation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 November 2011, 00:20 GMT]
With a 35-year-old Tibetan Buddhist nun immolating herself in Eastern Tibet on Thursday, the number of Tibetans committing self-immolation protesting China’s genocidal occupation of Tibet rises to 11 in the recent months. The escalation in self-immolation is a result of China intensifying martial law rule in occupied Tibet. The Tibetan diaspora in India, Nepal and elsewhere paid homage to the martyrs, but even a peaceful prayer gathering of around 400 Tibetans including 150 monks in Kathmandu was interrupted by Nepalese riot police that pulled down a banner of Dalai Lama, angering the Tibetan diaspora. Nepal says it cannot allow protests against ‘friendly’ nations such as China. Peoples of South Asia, especially Tamils have to show full solidarity to Tibetans oppressed by the Establishments, Buddhist circles in Tamil Nadu said.
Full story >>

Obama’s GSP benefit to genocidal Sri Lanka effective from Saturday

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 November 2011, 20:42 GMT]
Two weeks back the US President reauthorized GSP trade benefits to Sri Lanka that will come to effect from 5 November 2011. The reauthorisation provides even retroactive benefits from 1 January 2011 so that genocidal Sri Lanka will not suffer any loses by the gap in the absence of GSP benefits this year. Last year, Sri Lanka enjoyed the benefit of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for 147 million dollars worth of goods. The US patronage is assured at a time when the diaspora Eezham Tamils in the US campaign to boycott products from genocidal Sri Lanka and the Tamils of Tamil Nadu have passed a unanimous resolution in their State assembly for war crimes investigations and economic sanctions against Sri Lanka. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha after the Assembly passed the resolution.
Full story >>

US Congressman’s ‘Sri Lanka interest’ surpasses care for own constituency

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 November 2011, 20:13 GMT]
US Congressman of the Democratic Party, Heath Shuler, ‘sacrificed’ the interests of his own constituency in order to visit Sri Lanka last month and give a clean chit to the genocidal regime of Rajapaksa. He was absent at his own city Asheville in North Carolina, when Obama visited the city on October 17. He stands for re-election in the constituency next year. This was Shuler’s second visit to Sri Lanka since the end of war in 2009 and both his visits were paid by the Colombo regime. According to the US media reports, Shuler believes that the US could learn a lot from the diligence and triumph of Sri Lanka and he was cited saying “Sri Lanka is a long-time ally of ours and is accomplishing some incredible things right now.” Shuler, a businessman by profession, finds progress “tremendous” in the island. “I didn’t see any current evidence of human rights issues,” Shuler has told media.
Full story >>

Karadiayanaa'ru farmers ignored in agricultural development

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 November 2011, 15:41 GMT]
The destroyed Karadiayanaa'ru Agrarian Services Centre that caters to the needs of farmers in twenty six agricultural tracts in Batticaloa district has not been repaired and has not been used for the last one year. This centre was completely destroyed in a blast that took place on 26.08.2010 in Karadiayanaa'ru Police Station located in Ea'raavoor-pattu in Chengkaladi DS division of Batticaloa district.
Full story >>