Vellai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The seashore
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Tamil children massacred by CBK's Sinhala Air Force remembered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2017, 09:46 GMT]
The people of Vadamaraadchi East in Jaffna emotionally marked 22nd remembrance of Naakarkoayil school massacre on Friday. The massacre was carried out by ‘Sri Lanka’ Air Force during the times of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's (CBK) presidency in 1995. The SLAF targeted Naakarkoayil MV school by firing 8 rockets from Argentina-made Pucará ground attack aircrafts. 26 school children, aged between 08 and 17 years, and a 4-year-old child lost their lives. 20 more civilians were killed in artillery fire and air-attacks elsewhere in the village. The Catholic church at Ma'nal-kaadu was also destroyed in a separate air attack by the SLAF where 3 civilians were killed. More than 100 civilians including 42 students were injured due to air and artillery attacks that targeted innocent civilians on that fateful day.
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Sinhala colonisation stepped up, genocidal system cannot be transformed through ‘consensus’

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2017, 23:32 GMT]
It is not possible to reform or reconfigure the genocidal State system in the island through so-called consensus engagements with the Colombo Establishment either internally or externally, commented a leading civil official in Batticaloa revealing details of a new Sinhala colonisation scheme silently spearheaded by the Mahaweli Ministry of SL President Maithiripala Sirisena. “As far as Tamils are concerned, any consensus programme coming from outside towards the SL State should be viewed by Tamils as a consensus forged among the Establishments for continued strutural genocide against the nation of Eezham Tamils,” the official, who would be risking the SLAS job if publicly identified, told TamilNet. The official revealed how Mahaweli ‘Development’ Ministry is now reviving a colonisation scheme which was originally proposed under Rajapaksa regime in 2008 and later abandoned in 2010.
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Champoor Tamils’ security, livelihood threatened by US military partnership with genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2017, 22:14 GMT]
The occupying navy of genocidal Sri Lanka has put up 25 new coastal sentry posts, 75 meters at distance from each other along the coast of Champoor in Trincomalee. The naval build up taking place since August 2017 has raised security concerns among the native Eezham Tamil fishermen, who are also caught up in anxiety over fishing restrictions occurring again. The fortification has also come amidst increased reports of surveillance and harassment on resettled Champoor Tamils in the recent times. The military installations in Champoor were being beefed up as foreign trainers, particularly those from the Seventh Fleet of the US Navy based in Japan and South-Korea, use to visit Trincomalee to train the marine corps of genocidal Sri Lanka, informed sources in the East port city said.
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Sathasivam papers on Sumerian-Tamil connections see the light of day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2017, 23:37 GMT]
Four pioneering research papers on the Dravidian connections between ancient Sumerian and Tamil, written between 1964 and 1987 by Eezham Tamil scholar, the late Prof A Sathasivam, are now available as a book. Writing a note to one of those papers in 1965, renowned linguist Prof T. Burrow said that Sathasivam breaks new ground in seeking to relate Dravidian with Sumerian, and added that if it were to be accepted the theory would be of considerable importance for the prehistory of both Dravidian and Sumerian. Brought out by the efforts of Mrs T Sathasivam and edited by Dr. Siva Thiagarajah, the book titled “Proto Sumero Dravidian: The Common Origin of Sumerian and Dravidian Languages,” has been published this year by the History and Heritage Unit of the Tamil Information Centre in the UK.
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Uprooted people find houses destroyed by SL Navy in Ira'nai-theevu after 2008

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2017, 18:18 GMT]
There were almost 190 concrete-built houses, which stood in good shape when the SL Navy occupied Ira'nai-theevu twin-islands, which are situated 12 nautical miles west of Muzhangkaavil along the coast of Vanni in the Palk Bay. There was no military confrontations wihtin the islands in 2007-2008 when SL Navy occupied the islets. However, last week, three representatives of the protesting villagers, who went to witness the surveying of the lands, were shocked to see majority of their houses being razed to the ground by the occupying SL Navy. Only around 45 houses have standing structures. Among these, 15 to 20 houses could be reconstructed without much investment. The occupying SL Navy should bear the responsibility for the full and partial destruction of 187 houses, they said. Prior to 2007, the owners had dismantled only 3 houses, the villagers further said.
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Muslims oppose Colombo's ‘Sinhala-only’ policy in public administration of Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2017, 22:07 GMT]
Tamil-speaking Muslims in Ampaa’rai have blamed the Colombo regime, its ministries and the SL Government Agent of Ampaa’rai for failing to implement official language policy in Ampaa’rai district, where more than 61% of the population are Tamil-speaking people. All official administrative communiqués, letters and circulars coming from the District Secretariat to public offices and to the divisional secretariats are in Sinhala. The SL Government Agent and the District Secretariat are deploying Sinhala-only policy with a long-term Sinhalicisation agenda, say Tamil-speaking Muslim activists in Ampaa’rai. They have taken up the issue through the National Council of Muslims criticizing the failure of Maithiripala and Wickramasinghe regime.
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Families of enforced disappeared want answers, no deceptive bills to genocidal system

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2017, 23:49 GMT]
The genocidal State of Sri Lanka would simply ‘privatize’ white van abductions in future to circumvent any restrictions be its own Acts or international conventions such as the “International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance” (ICPPED). Therefore, the SL ratification of the ICPPED and the discourse of enacting bills are not of immediate concern to the families of persons subjected to enforced disappearances, commented Mr Velayutham Vijayakumar, who represents the families of persons reported missing. The Jaffa-based activist said Tamil people were more concerned about SL State's official answer on what happened to those subjected to enforced disappearances, particularly the fate of hundreds of persons who were handed over to the SL military in front of their families inside the SL military controlled area after the genocial onslaught in May 2009.
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30th remembrance of Lt Col Thileepan strengthens resolve among Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2017, 23:30 GMT]
Lt Col Thileepan (Rasaiah Parthipan), who was LTTE's political head in Jaffna, sacrificed his life through a 12-day long fast-unto-death without food and water in September 1987. He had put forward five demands to the Indian Establishment following the signing of Indo-Lanka accord in July 1987 and his fast-unto-death exposed New Delhi and its Colombo-centric geopolitical dealings with the SL State among the grassroots of Eezham Tamils. Three decades on, Eezham Tamils are still dealing with almost the same demands as that were put forward by Thileepan in 1987. The Eezham Tamils waging protests demanding whereabouts of their kith and kin subjected to enforced disappearances and the protests demanding de-militarisation, resettlement and release of political prisoners, are again exposing the Colombo-centric geopolitics of the ‘Strategic partners’, political observers in Jaffna said.
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EPRLF opposes 20A to SL Constitution, ITAK duo wrongs again says Premachandran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2017, 16:39 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has completely failed to conduct an internal democratic discussion on the consequences of the so-called 20th Amendment and the latest amendments to the 20th Amendment, said EPRLF Leader Suresh Premachandran at a press conference held in Jaffna on Tuesday. Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, who has started to lament the situation of the current regime that has failed to deliver justice and power sharing, has not publicly articulated his position. The ITAK has even failed to address the Tamil media. Meanwhile, the ITAK councillors in the Eastern Province have been tricked to vote in favour of the amendment, he said. In the meantime, M.A. Sumanthiran is staging selective campaigns and invitees-only briefings advocating for the amended 20A.
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Alienate lands to Sinhala colonists or face transfer: SL Governor warns Tamil DS in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2017, 23:17 GMT]
Occupying Colombo’s Sinhala Governor to North Reginald Cooray has threatened S. Gunabalan, the Tamil divisional secretary of Karai-thu’raip-pattu (Maritime-pattu) division of the Mullaiththeevu district to either face transfer to a remote station or find a way to alienate lands owned by uprooted Tamils at the coastal village of Mukaththuvaaram to 300 Sinhala colonists, informed civil sources in Jaffna said. The threat was issued in front of the representatives of the encroaching Sinhala fishermen, who were gathered last week at the secretariat of the SL governor for an exclusive ethnic Sinhala meeting. Colombo-based Director General of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) MCL Fernando, who happens to be a relative of an influential colonist in Mukaththuvaaram and Ven Sri Thissapura Gunarathna Thero, the extremist Buddhist monk from Kokku’laay, attending the meeting.
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Alvāy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The seafront
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Muḷḷiya-vaḷai, Kaḻutā-vaḷai/ Kaḷutā-vaḷai, Kumpaḻā-vaḷai, Āḻiya-vaḷai, Kōṇā-

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The circuit or surroundings found with Muḷḷi plants

The circuit or surroundings found with Kaḻutai-muḷḷi plants

The circuit or surroundings found with Kampaḻā shrubs; or the Potters' circuit

The seaside circuit or surroundings

The remote circuit or the corner circuit

The secluded or detached circuit
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SL Attorney General's Dept., TID continue to conspire against Tamil political prisoners

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2017, 18:03 GMT]
Three Tamil political prisoners, including an Up-Country Tamil, ended their short-lived hunger-strike in August as they were given an assurance by their lawyers that the High Court Judge B. Sasi Mahendran was determined to proceed with their cases in Vavuniyaa as the fasting prisoners had demanded. Earlier, the so-called ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division of genocidal Sri Lanka, was trying hard to transfer their cases to a high court in the South, where chances for a Sinhala judge to accept the forcibly obtained confessions by the TID were high. As it became evident that their cases were going to be heard in Vavuniyaa, the TID has recruited a prisoner, recently released from Bossa, to testify against the three with a false confession, the families of the three prisoners told TamilNet on Thursday.
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Cooray emerges as ‘civil’ guardian of Sinhala colonists wedging North-East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2017, 23:21 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military forcibly evicted Eezham Tamils from strategic Mukaththuvaaram, the northern tip at the lagoon-mouth of Kokku’laay in 1983. After the 2009 genocidal onslaught, 350 Sinhala colonist families have encroached into Mukaththuvaaram. An extremist Sinhala monk has been constructing a Buddha vihara just 1 km north of Mukaththuvaaram. A Sinhalicised Catholic church is operating there already. In the meantime, the SL Governor to North, Reginald Cooray, has been harassing the Tamil officials of Karaithu’raip-pattu division and Mullaiththeevu District in a fresh drive to allocate more houses to Sinhala colonisers through Colombo’s National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) at the occupied lands belonging to uprooted Eezham Tamils. Mr Cooray is interacting with the colonists without involving the elected Northern Provincial Council (NPC), civil sources said.
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Tamils, Muslims join hands in Mannaar against Rohingya genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2017, 23:40 GMT]
The organisers of a protest in Mannaar on Tuesday urged global Tamils to rise up against the genocidal onslaught that has been intensified by the genocidal Myanmar State against the Rohingya Muslims. Tamil-speaking people belonging to all religions in Mannaar took to the streets on Tuesday in a joint protest. Theravada Buddhist Myanmar State's persecution against Rohingya Muslims has reached a full-scale stage of genocidal military onslaught. At least 1,000 people have been killed within a month time, reports say. Some activists claim even higher number of civilian casualties. At least 90,000 have recently fled the north-western State of Rakhine, which has been the Rohingya homeland known as Arakan in the past. The Theravada Buddhist Myanmar has also blocked the UN agencies from supplying medicine, food and water to at least 250,000 Rohingyas who have been besieged by the Myanmar State.
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Cāṭṭi, Kurakkaṉ-cāṭṭi, Kampañ-cāṭṭi, Āvarañ-cāṭṭi, Kāṉṟai-cā&am

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The cultivation field; or the abandoned cultivation field; or the pastureland

The finger-millet cultivation field; or the abandoned finger-millet cultivation field

The bulrush-millet cultivation field; or the abandoned bulrush-millet cultivation field

The abandoned cultivation field found with Āvarai shrubs; or pastureland found with Āvarai shrubs

The abandoned cultivation field found with Kāṉṟai shrubs or pastureland found with Kāṉṟai shrubs
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People fearing military repercussion, afraid to remove abandoned Buddha structures

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2017, 21:21 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military, which was stationed in the village of Mu'raa-oadai, 5 km south of Vaazhaichcheanai town in Koa'ra'laip-pattu division of Batticaloa distrit, vacated its military base in 2014. When the military was stationed there, it had put up a Buddha statue worshipped by the Sinhala soldiers. The SL military had also planted a Bo tree. Almost 4 years have elapsed, but the owner of the land is still unable to remove the concrete structure, which was used to house the Buddha statue. In the meantime, Buddhist extremist monk based in Batticaloa city, Ampitiye Sumanarathna thero, has been scheming a plan to erect a Buddhist temple there. The move was halted after a complaint was lodged with the Divisional Secretary.
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Northern fishermen oppose State moves to unconditionally release confiscated Indian trawlers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2017, 23:28 GMT]
The occupying Colombo regime, particularly its Ministry of Fisheries and the SL Navy are working closely with the Indian High Commission in Colombo to release 42 trawlers that were confiscated while trespassing into the territorial waters of Northern province two years ago. The owners of the bottom-trawlers, have been silently visiting the jetty under the control of the SL Navy and repaired their boats. The trawlers are going to be ceremonially released in the sea at an event between the Indian and SL Navies. The associations of the local fishermen societies in North have been demanding written statement from each owner of the bottom-trawlers being released stating that they would not trespass anymore and engage in bottom-trawling which has been legally banned in the island. But, the SL Ministry of Aquatic Resources has dodged their demands.
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Veteran Journalist Sinniah Gurunathan passes away

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2017, 16:01 GMT]
Sinniah Gurunathan from Trincomalee who has been committed to professional journalism during his 55-year-long career in the field, has passed away on Friday at the age of 79 in the east port city. With 40-year background in print media, Mr Gurunathan joined TamilNet in January 1999 and was its Trincomalee correspondent until his retirement in 2014. He was also a Sub-Editor filing translated reports from fellow correspondents on the ground under the guidance of the late Senior Editor, Maamanithar Taraki Sivaram. Gurunathan served the field of independent journalism of Eezham Tamils during the times of war with commitment, resilience and humbleness. He was also a fine example of an experienced bilingual journalist capable of adapting himself to changing technology from the pen to the personal computer and to the Internet-based reporting.
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