Politics of the Way Ahead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 November 2011, 20:22 GMT]
The contradictions between the Establishments and Peoples are likely to be the most antagonistic in the Indian subcontinent and hence that is the region for the next major change in the World. Our alliance with Tamil Nadu is of utmost priority in this regard. It appears that India used the Vanni War without witness as a ‘Field Trial’ for its developing wars against its own Nations without State. In due course, the Indian Establishment will become the main enemy of the region and at that time coalition of Establishments supporting the Indian Establishment will be quite different to the coalition that supported genocidal Sri Lanka. With this in perspective, we should keep our eyes open to new opportunities including progressive Sinhala forces that recognize the Right of Self Determination of the Nation of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet Economic and Geopolitical Analyst in the Asia Pacific.
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Indian military tourists visit Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 November 2011, 16:24 GMT]
A 16-member delegation of the Indian military, led by Air Commodore P R Navalkar visited Vanni this week as part of its six-day tour programme in the island. The delegation toured around a number of places of “archaeological, religious, cultural and tourist interest” in the war-torn Vanni, apart from visiting SL military and ‘resettlement’ installations in the region, a PTI report said Wednesday. The Indian military has ‘Army to Army’ relationship, a special bondage, with the genocidal military of Sri Lanka. India’s refusal to acknowledge genocide and war crimes in the island, and the vanguard protection it volunteers to Sri Lanka in the international arena in shielding the latter’s war crimes are widely interpreted as India’s indirect admission of complicity or even a main role in the conduct of genocide and war crimes against Eezham Tamils in the island.
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Tamil families uprooted 20 years ago not resettled in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 November 2011, 10:46 GMT]
Even though the war ended three years ago in the East, houses and lands belonging to Tamils in Ward Four of Era’voor village in the Era’voorpaththu-Chengkaladi DS division are still under the control of the occupying Sri Lankan forces in the name of High Security Zone. The villagers displaced twenty one years ago in the year 1990. The roads that lead to Tamil settlements located 16 km off Batticaloa city along Batticaloa-Vaalaichchenai highway still remain blocked. SL Resettlement Ministry Secretary A.M.U.D. Basanayake has said that he was in dark regarding the resettlement of uprooted Ea'raavoor Tamil families.
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Shavendra raises immunity defense to escape torture charges

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 November 2011, 01:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and ex-Major General in Sri Lankan Army (SLA), Shavendra Silva, has invoked Article-31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Immunity as his defense to war-crimes charges leveled against him by two Tamil plaintiffs in the District Court of Southern District of New York (Case 11 Civ. 6645), court records show. With no declared formal intervention by the U.S. State Department, and despite earlier pronouncements that Silva will defend his actions in the Court of law, the ex-General appears to have thought it prudent to hide behind "absolute" immunity defense his counsel claims the General is legally entitled to.
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Mano Ganeshan condemns decapitation of Chelva’s statue

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2011, 19:38 GMT]
Mano Ganeshan, leader of the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) has condemned the decapitation of the late Tamil leader Thanthai SJV Chelvanayakam as an act of barbarism by chauvinist elements. Mr. Mano Ganeshan has reminded the services of Thanthai Chelva by launching a non-violent struggle against the subjugation of Tamils not only in North and East but also in the Upcountry at a time when the Sri Lankan government disenfranchised the Upcountry Tamils.
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Chelvanayakam statue decapitated in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2011, 00:14 GMT]
The statue of Thanthai Chelva (SJV Chelvanayakam) located near the Sivan Temple at Thirugnaanasampanthar Street in Trincomalee was decapitated on Sunday night. People who were enraged to notice the desecration on Monday morning placed a cloth on the headless statue. Local people suspect genocidal elements occupying Trincomalee for timing the act, when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) team led by Mr. R. Sampanthan, MP for Trincomalee, is on an international visit seeking solutions for the national question of Eezham Tamils. The statue is located in a recently Sinhalicised part of the Trincomalee city.
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Canadian civil activists vow support to Tamil struggle for national liberation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2011, 00:05 GMT]
In a significant move after Canada's largest peace organisation, the Canadian Peace Alliance and Canada’s largest trade union, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, recently resolving to support Eezham Tamils Right to Self-Determination, hundreds of non-Tamil activists in Canada have taken part in the Pongku Thamizh rally, the biggest politico-cultural event held Saturday afternoon by Canadian Tamils after 2009 Mu'l'livaaykkaal genocide. “The struggle for Tamil Eelam is legitimate and represents the essence of human dignity and justice. We will continue to unequivocally support Tamil student organizers as the struggle for national liberation moves into the international sphere,” said James Clark, the organizer of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War while addressing the thousands who thronged the Queen's Park in Toronto.
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Aaduka'lam 2011: spectacular dance performances celebrate pursuit of World Peace

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 October 2011, 04:34 GMT]
Aaduka'lam 2011, an international dance competition hosted by the Tamil Youth Network in Munich, Germany on October 22 drew spectacular performances from Diaspora teams vying for the top prize. Staged in the Theater Leo 17, one of the city’s most prestigious venues, the event was organised by the Global Tamil Youth League, and had as its theme, ‘In pursuit of Global Peace’. Interpreting this, the performances depicted how all forms of oppression, as well as hunger, poverty and greed, needed to be confronted if this aspiration is to be realised. The competition was won by a British team which also won best prize for technical execution, while teams from Switzerland and Canada won prizes for choreography and costume.
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Britain echoes Canada’s warning to Sri Lanka on CHOGM 2013

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 October 2011, 16:40 GMT]
British Prime Minister David Cameron urged Sri Lanka on Sunday to make progress on human rights before it hosts the next Commonwealth leaders meeting in 2013 to prevent the likelihood of boycotts, AFP reports. Mr. Cameron also said he pressed President Mahinda Rajapaske during this year's summit in Australia to show that Colombo did not "have things to hide" following the end of the island’s civil war. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared last month he would not attend the CHOGM meeting in Sri Lanka “if we do not see progress in Sri Lanka in terms of human rights and … political reconciliation, democratic values and accountability.”
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Colombo pushes for 40,000 acres land grab for Sinhalese in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 October 2011, 15:48 GMT]
More than 40,000 acres of fertile lands that are located in border villages that come under the DS division of Koa'ralaippattu North, Vavu'natheevu, Ea'raavoorpattu, Chengkaladi, Koa'ralaippattu South and Paddippazhai in the Batticaloa district belonging to Tamil speaking people are under alienation to Sinhalese without the permission of the District Land Alienation Committee, the District Government Agent and Divisional Secretary and is undermining the Provincial Land Ordinance, says Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) member R. Thurairatnam. The EPC has not taken any action against the illegal encroachments Mr. Thurairatnam says in a memorandum to the Chief Minister of the EPC, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan.
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Confederation of civil groups formed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 October 2011, 18:01 GMT]
A confederation of people’s forums for humanitarian work was formed in Jaffna on Saturday morning, when representatives of various civil groups and civil activists met at the NGO Centre located at the Temple Road in the city. The decision to form the confederation was unanimously resolved at the meeting. President of the NGOs Consortium in Jaffna, Mr. CVK Sivagnanam and the Jaffna University Students Union President, Mr S. Thavabalasingham were elected respectively as Coordinator and Secretary of the confederation. Student union of the University of Jaffna took the initiative to convene the meeting. Such a confederation of civil groups to face human rights violations was formed in Jaffna on an earlier occasion too, when the ‘peace keeping’ force of India was occupying Jaffna.
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Perth Tamils join Australians protesting amidst attempts to bail out genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 October 2011, 22:57 GMT]
While Her Majesty the Queen was inaugurating the Commonwealth sessions in Perth, Australia, a few hundreds meters away, hundreds of Tamils have joined over a thousand of 20 diverse groups of the mainstream population of Perth to protest against Mahinda Rajapaksa attending the Commonwealth Sessions. The protest of the diaspora Eezham Tamils and global civil society took place while some Establishments guilty of abetting the crimes are keen in bailing out genocidal Sri Lanka by diplomatic manoeuvres in Perth and by hijacking the polity of Eezham Tamils elsewhere by simulating that everything is coming to normalcy and is under ‘control’. The outcome of Perth Meet will show to what extent the Commonwealth boasting of its origins from the ‘cradle of democracy’ could prove its effectiveness in checking States globally turning into anti-people Establishments, commented political observers.
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TNA MPs advocate for Tamils rights in U.S. capital

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 October 2011, 03:33 GMT]
Four Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Members of Parliament visiting the U.S. on an invitation by the State Department arrived Tuesday night and have completed two days of meetings at the State Department and with Congress persons including members of the Sri Lanka caucus, sources close to the MPs said. The team led by Parliamentary group leader Mr Sampanthan said that they were aware of the political significance of this unique gesture by the State Department in inviting a non-State political party and that they would use every opportunity available to articulate Tamils position to the decision makers in Washington.
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New Delhi’s anti-Tamil manoeuvrings challenged in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 October 2011, 21:19 GMT]
New Delhi’s Congress parliamentarian Dr. Sudharshana Natchiappan who was leading a team of ‘international parliamentarians’ visiting Jaffna on Thursday, was asked by news reporters, whether the visit was planned by India to bail out Colombo from war crimes accusations when a momentum is building up for international investigations of the crimes. The visit of the team brought by Natchiappan was timed for the Commonwealth Meet in Perth where war crimes of Sri Lanka and even its expulsion is a topic of discussion and was also timed for the US visit of the Tamil National alliance (TNA). The Indian Foreign Secretary on Thursday supported Colombo to be the venue for the next Commonwealth Meet and rejected the idea of Commonwealth monitoring human rights and rule of law in the member countries. After being covert for sometime, India once again openly props up genocidal Sri Lanka.
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Fertile Tamil village targeted for Sinhalicisation in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 October 2011, 16:41 GMT]
An ancient Tamil village Tha’n’ni-mu’rippu, well known for its fertile landscape and resources in the Karaithu’raippattu division of the Mullaiththeevu district, has been brought under the newly created Sinhala division Weli-oya, and is targeted for fast Sinhalicisation of its land and water resources, while resettlement of the villagers is blocked. Sinhala and Muslim fishermen have started fishing in the Tha’n’ni-mu’rippuk-ku’lam tank and Sinhala businessmen have been given with acres of lands in the forest adjacent to the village for indiscriminate mining of gravel. While four fertile Tamil villages that have already gone into the Sinhala division have become Sinhalicised in practice, Tha’n’ni-mu’rippu faces a similar fate. Sri Lanka’s genocide of Tamils is geared to escalate while India particularly encourages it and the world Establishments delay justice.
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Scars of genocide to serve culture of imperialism

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 October 2011, 12:42 GMT]
“When the emissary of India, a country that backed Sri Lanka in its genocidal campaign against the Tamil people, marks out an artist to promote ‘cultural revival’ in their homelands, can this act and the performance be devoid of politics,” asks Mr. RM Karthick, a social science researcher from Tamil Nadu working in a British university, commenting on the recent ‘cultural tour’ of Chennai based Carnatic singer T M Krishna in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The Hindu on October 23 carried an article by Krishna on his visit to Jaffna, saying the performance went ‘beyond the scars’. “Artistes don't stand for elections, don't fight on the battlefield but we offer to everyone the very breath of life —happiness,” Krishna said in The Hindu article.
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Ban reminds Sri Lanka -again- about accountability

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 October 2011, 01:29 GMT]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed to the Sri Lankan government importance of dealing with accountability issues in themeeting on Wednesday at United Nations Headquarters in New York with Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Special Envoy of the President of Sri Lanka on Human Rights, the UN news agency said.
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Australia’s detention frustrates Eezham Tamil to kill himself

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 October 2011, 13:44 GMT]
An Eezham Tamil asylum seeker, already accepted as a refugee in Australia, but waiting for long to get ‘security clearance’ from the Australian intelligence to come out of his ‘detention,’ killed himself Tuesday night. Earlier on that day, which was also the Deepaavali festival day, his request to go out to visit a friend for the festival was turned down by the authorities. When asked by the media, whether the government takes any responsibility, the Australian Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen said “We take responsibility for ensuring that people have the chance to make their claims and for ensuring that national security is taken into account. We cannot and will not compromise on matters of national security.” Twice, Australia readily accepted Sri Lanka’s military commanders accused in the genocide of Eezham Tamils as ‘Ambassadors’.
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Delink War Crimes accountability from political process, NorthEast civil leaders urge Clinton

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 October 2011, 01:43 GMT]
In a memorandum sent to U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and copied to the Tamil National Alliance, a group of NorthEast Civil society leaders said that "the question of accountability [for war-crimes] should not be bartered for the sake of arriving at political solution [yet to be defined]," and added that the civil leaders believe that "justice cannot and should not be bartered for anything else," informed sources who obtained a leaked version of the confidential letter said Tuesday. The civil society group is comprised of politically active and highly respected professional members of the NorthEast Tamils.
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Australia facilitates timed diplomatic advantage for genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 October 2011, 14:59 GMT]
After creating much sensation by the Australian Prime Minister herself confirming on a federal police investigation of a war crimes case against SL president and envoy, the Attorney General of Australia on Tuesday quashed the case as it would be in “breach of domestic law and Australia’s obligations under international law,” bestowing genocidal Sri Lanka with a well-timed diplomatic victory on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet in Perth, Australia. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan delegation in Australia on Tuesday went to the extent of even denying the occurrence of any war at all in the island. “Number one, there was no war in Sri Lanka. There was brutal terrorism in Sri Lanka led by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka,” said Bandula Jayasekara of the Sri Lankan delegation to ABC.
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