Premachandran urges ITAK MPs to establish party position on international investigations

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 September 2015, 23:13 GMT]
Suresh Premachandran, former parliamentarian and the leader of EPRLF, who recognised that the majority of the party members within the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) are opposed to the domestic accountability mechanism being proposed by the USA, urged the ITAK parliamentarians, provincial councillors and others to focus on clarifying the party position of the ITAK leadership instead of giving personal media interviews demanding International Investigations to save their skin. Mr Premachandran's interview comes after S. Sritharan, who entered parliamentary politics initially through EPRLF ticket and later crossed over to the ITAK, has been giving interviews to media saying that he was rejecting the domestic mechanism and was demanding international investigations without exerting pressure on ITAK hierarchy.
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TNA faces pressure from ITAK grassroots to reject US move on domestic mechanism

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 September 2015, 23:36 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) hierarchy is facing pressure from the grassroots of the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) against the move to extend its support to domestic investigations, informed sources told TamilNet on Thursday. In an interview to TamilNet this week, Eastern Provincial Council member of the ITAK, Mr Nageswaran Kumarasamy, categorically rejected the domestic accountability mechanism, which is to be proposed by the USA, Sri Lanka and other actors in collaboration in the forthcoming sessions of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, saying that a such mechanism lacks credibility and security in the context of the island of Sri Lanka.
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Ex-militant parties in TNA resolve to oppose US move on domestic mechanism

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2015, 09:44 GMT]
Three of the ex-militant parties in the Tamil National Alliance have decided to sharply oppose the US move, informed sources within the TNA told TamilNet on Sunday. A consensus has already been achieved between the three parties (EPRLF, TELO and PLOTE) on Sunday with regards to opposing the domestic mechanism and in demanding international investigations. However, on ITAK's reluctance in making democratic decisions within the TNA, the three ex-militant parties would demand a structural solution within the TNA before considering other options, an EPRLF source told TamilNet Monday noon.
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Del-wagura, Waguru-wela

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2015, 07:55 GMT]
The recently developed paddy field in the muddy or deep area; or the muddy/ deep-ground paddy field having wild breadfruit trees

The paddy field in the muddy or deep ground
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Families of enforced disappeared Tamils decry domestic investigations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2015, 15:38 GMT]
Around 1,200 people from all the 8 districts of North-East came together at an emotional gathering on Sunday at the De La Salle Brothers School in Mannaar, remembering the enforced disappeared persons in the country of Eezham Tamils. On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, the families of enforced disappeared demanded independent international investigations and categorically rejected the domestic and so-called hybrid mechanisms that are currently being advocated by the USA. In the meantime, leading lawyers from Mannaar told TamilNet on Sunday that international investigations were necessary on the mass graves at the killing fields of Mannaar. On Friday, an abandoned well allegedly used by the SL military to dump slain Tamils was located 40 meters close to Maanthai Junction near Thirukkeatheesvaram temple.
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‘Global War’ to wage genocide, ‘domestic mechanism’ to confirm structural genocide

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2015, 17:49 GMT]
The USA that designed the ‘International Community’ genocidal onslaught on the national question of Eezham Tamils in the name of Global War on Terror (GWOT) and the agent State in Colombo that conducted it on the ground will move in collaboration in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in September for a ‘domestic mechanism’ of investigation, which is sure to confirm and institutionalise the on-going structural genocide in the island. The announcement in this regard, immediately following the parliamentary elections, confirms the crux of the agenda for which electoral politics was engineered in the island, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics. Eezham Tamils, who have wasted their time, energy and money on a deceptive political course, designed by the ultimate culprits, should at least now think of a different paradigm of polity, the activists further said.
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SLM Hanifa urges Tamil-speaking politicians to transcend parochial localism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2015, 10:05 GMT]
Veteran writer SLM Hanifa has warned Tamils and Muslims of the sinister motives of the incumbent UNP-SLFP regime and the exploitative global politics of the Powers. Urging the Tamil-speaking Muslims and Tamils to shed past old wounds towards building unity between all Tamil speakers, also including the Upcountry Tamils, in order to defend the larger interests of their communities, the former NEPC councillor from Batticaloa condemned the opportunistic parliamentary orientations of the Muslim politicians, who have hitherto brought political confusion among the Muslim masses through their actions that have only strengthened the Sinhala-dominated coalitions. "Like the caste system is exploited for seeking votes in Tamil Nadu, locality-oriented parochialism has emerged as a destructive factor in the electoral politics in the island, which is exploited by the UNP and the SLFP,” Mr Hanifa said.
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TNA should clarify ‘consensus’ on domestic investigation

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 August 2015, 15:24 GMT]
While interviewing Mr Ranil Wikremesinghe for The Hindu on Monday, Indian media’s veteran antagonist of Eezham Tamil independence, ‘Sri Lanka Ratna’ Ram, came out with a question like guidance: “And on the human rights issues, there is a demand for an international investigation. But clearly there is a consensus in Sri Lanka that the investigation should be domestic.” The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) should clarify to Tamils whether it is part of this ‘consensus’, since genocidal Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister recognizes it in the interview as one of the three key players. Any silence of TNA in this matter should prompt Tamils to lose no time in mobilising their polity to face the drama that is going to be enacted in Geneva next month by the Indo-US playwrights, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics.
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Champoor Tamils to join hands with Muslims in opposing controversial coal power plant

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 August 2015, 23:29 GMT]
"Our resettlement was blocked 3 times within the last 8 months between the Sri Lankan Presidential Election in January till the SL Parliamentary Elections in August. We have seen the Gazette notification, legal cases in Colombo and the SL president visiting before the election and after the election. Again, Champoor has gained focus because of the much awaited OISL report in September,” Tamil activists from Champoor told TamilNet on Saturday after witnessing the much orchestrated visit by SL President Maithiripala and former SL president Chandrika Kumaratunga. In the meantime, the people of Champoor will soon to join hands with the Tamil-speaking Muslims in Moothoor in demanding annulment of the controversial coal power plant in Champoor, they further told TamilNet.
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Uprooted people in Champoor demand coordinated Tamil effort on resettlement

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 August 2015, 18:00 GMT]
While Tamil activists are set to push for a billion-rupee compensation from the Sri Lankan State for the structural destruction caused to Champoor so far, the president of the genocidal State in Colombo is visiting to Champoor on Saturday to donate 13,000 rupees per family to 25 families together with a symbolic hand-over of their lands, news sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Friday. Meanwhile, the resettling uprooted Tamils said they had spent 30,000 rupees each during the last weeks alone to clear the freed lands. Although there are Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) showing a keen interest in providing support, there is no co-ordinated effort to channel assistance to resettle the people, the civil sources in Trincomalee said.
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Call for independent political judgement is ‘radicalism’ to Indian media

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2015, 06:27 GMT]
The NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran’s written statements during the elections for people to have their own independent judgement in voting for polity and personalities might have implied transcending TNA’s political discourse, but by reporting it as “urging the Tamils to vote for radicalism” the New Indian Express reporter P K Balachandran, based in Colombo, has only proved his journalistic incapacity in correctly conveying statements issued in Tamil to English readers in India. The New Indian Express should immediately recall him if it cares for journalistic justice in reporting sensitive statements coming in Tamil language, unless such reporting is the current official policy of the media corporate on the affairs of the island, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.
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Eezham Tamils preparing for unfolding phase of struggle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2015, 05:50 GMT]
The Eezham Tamil voting pattern in August-2015 elections resembles in certain ways the 1970 elections in then Ceylon. Mr V. Navaratnam, who had understood the course of deceptive politics by genocidal Colombo and futility of Tamils alternately looking upon Sinhala political parties, came out of the ITAK (Federal Party) to form Thamizhar Chuyaadchik Kazhakam (Tamil Self-Rule Party). The Party’s performance in 1970 elections was pathetically poor, overshadowed by the Federal Party and Tamil Congress. But it took just two years for the situation to change thoroughly. Colombo’s new constitution in 1972 compelled both the FP and TC, as well as Tamil communists, to declare higher than what Navaratnam was envisaging – independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam, which the Tamils endorsed in the 1977 elections.
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TNA secures 16 of 29 SL parliamentary seats in North-East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 August 2015, 05:50 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has secured 5 seats in the Jaffna electoral district, 4 seats in Vanni, 3 seats in Batticaloa, 1 in Trincomalee, 1 in Ampaa'rai and two seats for nominated parliamentarians according to the latest figures. In Jaffna, S. Sritharan, Mavai Senathirajah, M.A. Sumanthiran, T. Sitharthan and E. Saravanapavan have secured their seats after repeated counting of preferential votes on Tuesday while Suresh Premachandran lost his parliamentary seat. In the meantime, United National Party (UNP) led by Ranil Wickramasinghe is set to form the SL government in the South, despite a tough race with Mahinda Rajapaksa's UPFA. The UNP was leading the electoral districts in the South, particularly where Tamils and Muslims live in considerable numbers. UNP has got 106 seats in the SL parliament followed by the UPFA (95), TNA (16), JVP (06), EPPD (01) and SLMC (01).
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Voting high in Mannaar where UNP competes with TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2015, 08:00 GMT]
Voting percentage is reported to be around 30% at 10:00 a.m. in the Eastern Province and around 22% in the Jaffna electorate in the Northern province. The people in Mannaar in Vanni electorate have been taking part in the elections with enthusiasm, especially in the Mannaar island where more than 50% of the people have cast their votes before 12:00 a.m. Large sums of money were distributed among the voters by the UNP in Mannaar Sunday night, news sources in Mannaar said.
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TNA betrays Eezham Tamils by succumbing to LLRC hoodwink: Thirumurugan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 August 2015, 11:32 GMT]
Thirumurugan Gandhi of May 17 Movement in Tamil Nadu has urged the Eezham Tamils and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) not to commit an irreversible historic betrayal to the Tamil struggle by opting to succumb to a discourse, which has been conceived to trap the Eezham Tamils through the LLRC-oriented, US-designed resolutions passed in the Human Rights Council. The discourse systematically sabotages international investigations on genocide. The same architects are also trying to trap the Eezham Tamils through TNA's election manifesto, which seeks to negate the path of Tamil sovereignty and full right to self-determination. The TNA, after placing the election manifesto, has failed to respond to the key issues in the debate, the Tamil Nadu activist said in a video address to Eezham Tamils.
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War-affected Women Development Society leader threatened in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2015, 23:43 GMT]
47-year-old Thavapalan Piriayatharsini, who is the head of Women Development Society at Theaththaa-vaadi, a village situated near Iluppaik-kadavai in Maanthai West division of Mannnaar district, says she and her three daughters have been subjected to death threats by an unknown squad. The family has been subjected to death threats since 11 August. A group of unknown men, who came in a white van entered her house that day and warned ‘rape and death’ if she continued to give social leadership to the villagers. They were particularly angry about Piriyatharsini making demands from political parties. The threatening presence of a white van squad is still continuing, she told TamilNet on Thursday.
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Time for Indian media to investigate what went wrong with New Delhi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2015, 23:30 GMT]
Four decades ago, overpowering the US outlook, New Delhi successfully materialised the liberation and independence of Bangladesh from the colony-like rule of Pakistan. But within a couple of years the USA managed to hijack Bangladesh into military rule and to become non-friendly to India. New Delhi did quite the opposite to Eezham Tamils. It was the crucial strategic partner to the US-led coalition that enacted the first ever gang-genocide in the region to uphold a congenitally genocidal State. New Delhi emerged as the main protector of Rajapaksa after the war. Yet, if Indian journalists like P K Balachandran, long operating in Colombo, could now link Rajapaksa with emerging shades of Eezham Tamil nationalism, and they find only anti-Indian sentiments in them, then there must be something constantly wrong with New Delhi, which the Indian media should investigate.
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Gajendrakumar clarifies differences in TNPF-TNA polity

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 August 2015, 23:37 GMT]
In an interview to TamilNet on Sunday, Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) leader Mr Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam clarified the differences between the TNPF polity and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) polity on the question of solutions to the national question of Eezham Tamils, amidst claims by TNA politician Mr M.A. Sumanthiran that both the TNA and the TNPF talk of the same thing. Whether Tamils like to confirm the line of guided polity taken by imperialisms of own interests over the island, or whether Tamils like to edify (if not confront) the imperialisms by passing a strong message, is the difference between voting for the TNA and voting for the TNPF, commented Tamil political observers in Jaffna.
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US, Jewish outfits in Colombo behind deceptive ‘hybrid court’, TRC advocacy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2015, 11:56 GMT]
Human Rights activists in North and East told TamilNet this week that it was USA, more than any other countries, that has been promoting the South Africa inspired Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the so-called “hybrid mechanism” for transforming the international process into a domestic process lately in the island. The Colombo-based USAID and American Jewish World Service (AJWS) have been working behind the scene to campaign among Eelam Tamils to support these mechanisms, the sources told TamilNet. In the meantime, Northern Provincial Councillor M.K. Shivajilngam, in a letter sent to UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Saturday urged the UN Rights Chief to “take measures for proper international judicial process under the auspices of the UN.”
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Relatives of missing persons in East to boycott SL elections

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2015, 23:28 GMT]
The organisations representing the kith and kin of the missing persons in Trincomalee have resolved to boycott the Sri Lankan General Elections as politicians involved in the electoral politics have failed to deliver anything so far during the regimes of Rajapaksa and Sirisena, civil sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Monday.
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