Tamils, Muslims should unite as one force against Sinhala Buddhist nationalistic machine: Guruparan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2020, 13:16 GMT]
The Gazette notification on the SL Presidential Task Force (PTF) for Archaeological Heritage Management in East has particular instructions on allocating lands to archaeological sites. It is a move to give legal force to the dubious archaeological claims made by the Sinhala Buddhist groups in the East, commented Jaffna-based Attorney, academic and civil society activist Kumaravadivel Guruparan. Giving a detailed interpretation and sharing his perspectives on the terms of reference and composition of the PTF, he said: “If there is one message that the Tamils and the Muslim must take, and particularly for the Muslims I hope, we are in this fight together,” he said urging Tamils and Muslims to unite as one political force against the Sinhala Buddhist nationalistic machine. “If Tamils and Muslims unite in the North-East, we are an unshakable force against the onslaught,” he said.
Full story >>

Forge unified buffer against SL State-backed alteration of Tamil heritage: Fr Ravichandran

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 2020, 18:40 GMT]
All the successive “Sri Lankan” governments in the island have been bent on altering the historiography of the entire island as a Sinhala-Buddhist country. The tendency was also seen during the previous regime. The latest appointment of the all-Sinhala and military-led SL Presidential Task Force is just another step in imposing Sinhala-Buddhist identity throughout the island, commented Jaffna-based rights activist, Rev Fr E Ravichandran on Friday. The pattern will be the same under any future regime. From Kantharoadai in the North to Kanniyaa in the East, there is a systematic pattern, which seeks to eradicate the Tamil heritage. The Tamil political parties, civil society groups and the Tamil diaspora must go beyond their internal differences and forge a unified buffer to defend the Tamil heritage and historiography in the North-East, he urged.
Full story >>

Gotabaya institutionalises heritage genocide, Sinhala-military to supersede policing islandwide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2020, 22:08 GMT]
SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed an 11-member all Sinhala Presidential Task Force (PTF) for “Archaeological Heritage Management” in the Eastern Province. The PTF team comprises of SL military, extreme Sinhala Theravada Buddhist monks, director-generals of archaeology, surveying and land affairs, a Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police as well as handpicked academics who are all Sinhalese. The PTF is to be headed by SL Defence Secretary, Major General (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne. Mr Gotabaya has also appointed another 13-member team comprising mostly of military commanders and intelligence directors as well as police and customs directors. The second PTF is to build “Secure Country, Disciplined, Virtuous and Lawful Society,” which is also led by Kamal Gunaratne.
Full story >>

Colombo pushes for Indian dispossession of Trincomalee oil tanks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 June 2020, 22:20 GMT]
Colombo’s Minister of Power, Energy and Transport, Mahinda Amaraweera has met with Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay requesting India to obtain a few of the oil tanks from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), according to a Daily Mirror report on Wednesday. “I requested Mr Baglay to help us obtain a few of the tanks from the IOC and received a positive response from him. He is of the view was that there needs to be an official-level dialogue between the two parties with the blessings of the Indian government because IOC is a private company,” the Daily Mirror quoted Mr Amaraweera as saying. In the meantime, a piece of news filed by the SL government-owned Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) on Monday said that Mr Amaraweera, in a meeting with the trade unions, was blaming Mr Baglay for not giving positive responses to a letter sent to him earlier in this regard.
Full story >>

Pakistan’s military HC meets Sinhala nationalist SL Governor of Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 May 2020, 23:09 GMT]
Pakistan’s High Commissioner Major General (retd) Muhammad Saad Khattak was visiting Trincomalee on Thursday to discuss economic assistance to Eastern Province from Pakistan, media reports in Colombo said. Khattak was posted to Colombo in January 2020 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became the SL President. Khattak met with the extreme Sinhala nationalist SL Governor to East, Mrs Anuradha Yahampath at her office. The news was Colombo’s geopolitical message to the West and India, Tamil political observers in Trincomalee said.
Full story >>

SL Army’s 231 Brigade sexually abuses Tamil women in Batticaloa suburb

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2020, 22:38 GMT]
There have been allegations of soldiers of the occupying SL Army’s 231 Brigade Headquarters at Kalladi sexually abusing Tamil women for some time. In recent weeks, the issue has become a menace of increasing threat, community leaders in the area complain, on condition of anonymity. The SLA soldiers, who are predominantly Sinhalese, exploit the poverty-stricken families by providing minor jobs and seeking the households. Higher ranking officers and commanders are also involved in the exploitation, and some women are taken to the military quarters and abused by more than two or three soldiers during the nights, reliable sources said. The soldiers have started to collect details of female-headed households triggering widespread fear, the sources further said.
Full story >>

Indo-Pacific tensions run high

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2020, 23:14 GMT]
Geopolitics-triggered tensions are running high between the US and China in the South China Sea and between India and China in Galwan valley along the Line of Actual Control in the high mountainous Ladakh union territory of India. While Chinese and US military establishments were issuing statements blaming each other for the escalation, New Delhi remained mostly silent until US President Donald Trump offered to be a “mediator or the arbiter” between New Delhi and Beijing on Wednesday. The Spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said India had a direct diplomatic engagement with China on the matter and as “strictly following the procedures laid out in various bilateral agreements and protocols with China to resolve any issue that may arise in the border areas”.
Full story >>

Sinhalicisation targets Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal and Nanthik-kadal

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2020, 22:03 GMT]
Before 2009, there were no Buddhist viharas in Vadduvaakal and the areas surrounding the lagoon of Nanthik-kadal in Mullaiththeevu. In 2010, a Buddhist vihara was erected at Vadduvaakal, especially after the genocidal onslaught in 2009. Occupying Colombo's Sinhala colonisation was aimed at permanently wedging the demographic contiguity of the Northern and Eastern Provinces by seizing the coastal stretch from Kokkuth-thoduvaay to Kokku'laay and the interior lands. Now, the move is systematically expanded also to include the last tract of the coast, where the genocidal onslaught took place, namely Mu'l'li-vaaykkal and the banks of Nanthik-kadal, says Thurairajah Ravikaran, a former councillor of Nothern Province.
Full story >>

SL Police blocks journalists covering SL Navy-led quarantine transportation

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 May 2020, 22:43 GMT]
Occupying SL Navy and Police are blocking journalists in the North from exposing the use of Tamil areas as large-scale COVID-19 quarantine centres. Two Tamil journalists were recording video of a convoy of seventeen buses that were bringing individuals from South to SL military-operated quarantine centre at Pampai-madu in Vavuniyaa on Sunday. The SL Navy responded by blocking the A9 Road with the convoy until the SL Police negotiated with the journalists not to publish the video.
Full story >>

Gotabaya’s 19 May speech, outcome of defeatism, irresponsibility, say Colombo-based Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2020, 18:34 GMT]
The political struggle of the Tamil people in the North-East was waged independent of the external powers, and it continues to remain so as the people who braved the military restrictions demonstrated it on 18 May. It is Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is talking from the political backyard sustained by the external powers, notably the powers at loggerheads, the US and China. His speech on 19 May was a defeatist response to the political resolve demonstrated by the Tamils on the previous day, commented veteran human rights activist and Colombo-based Tamil Catholic priest Fr M. Sakthivel. In the meantime, Colombo-based Tamil politician Mano Ganesan questioned whether Mr Rajapaksa was transforming the SL State into a rogue state as Myanmar, North Korea and what Zimbabwe. He characterised Rajapaksa’s threat to withdraw from global bodies as an irresponsible stance.
Full story >>

TYO-UK pushes back on British Foreign Secretary's May 18 tweet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2020, 15:56 GMT]
On May 18, 2020 Dominic Raab, the British Foreign Secretary, posted a Twitter message about his conversation with SL Minister DCR Gunawardena and the “close relationship” between the UK and genocidal Sri Lanka. The Foreign Secretary’s tweet included an image of the Sinhala Lion Flag and the Union Jack. UK based activists in the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO-UK) along with fourteen Tamil student societies responded, “[Y]our tweet regarding UK’s close relationship with the Sri Lankan government, is bittersweet to the Tamil Community,” While Boris Johnson recovered from COVID-19, Dominic Raab served as Deputy Prime Minister.
Full story >>

SL TID interrogates outspoken Tamil activist VS Sivakaran in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2020, 22:09 GMT]
A five-member team of the notorious ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division (TID) that from Colombo to Mannaar carried out an intimidating interrogation of VS Sivakaran, the chairman of Thamizh Theasia Vaazhvurimaich Changkam on Wednesday. The SL TID personnel led by an inspector-rank officer were posing questions in the two-and-a-half-hour investigation about Mr Sivakaran’s role in Maaveerar-Naa’l (Heroes’ Day) marked on 27 November 2019. They also warned the outspoken critic of genocidal Colombo that he was on a watchlist for organising remembrance days for people whom the TID blamed as “terrorists”. The harassment comes two days after Eezham Tamils braved SL military and police harassments in North and East marking Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance and Awakening Day against Tamil Genocide on Tuesday. Sivakaran was formerly the secretary of the youth wing of Ilankai Tamil Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK).
Full story >>

IBC's sister-media Gagana used to threaten Tamil villagers in Trinco on 18 May Remembrance

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2020, 16:23 GMT]
A Sinhala-language news website, Gagana, owned by IBC Tamil Ltd., is being used in a campaign of reporting to prompt the intelligence wing of the occupying SL military to hunt down Tamil grassroots activists at Ki'li-veddi in Moothoor division of the Trincomalee district. A news item published in gaganga.lk with screenshots of social media messages supposedly shared in the accounts of three Tamils on the occasion of 18 May Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance has put the lives of three persons, particularly one of them, in great danger, rights activists in Trincomalee said. The Sinhala ‘news’ accused the Tamil youth sharing the posts as promoters of “terrorism” through social media. It went further claiming that the Tamil youth were making money from “pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora.”
Full story >>

Eezham Tamil and Muslim solidarity non-negotiable in true spirit of Mu'l'livaaykkaal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2020, 07:42 GMT]
“The viability of the collective political goal of Tamil Eelam is the most sublime truth about Mullivaikkal. This goal of justice and freedom cannot be changed for anyone’s comfort and convenience. Nor can it be changed by New Delhi, London or Washington. It should not be changed by the imperial agendas that are designed to divide the Tamil speaking Muslims and Eelam Tamils,” observes Professor Jude Lal Fernando of Trinity College, Dublin, in his May 18 Remembrance article to TamilNet on Wednesday. “Mullivaikkal tells Eelam Tamils that they are a people who had and who have demonstrated the highest possible moral courage in resisting subjugation. Nanthikkadal lagoon connects all of us to the sea of political wisdom of numerous struggles of oppressed peoples on earth that declares no one will give us freedom, but that we have to struggle for it and gain it ourselves,” he writes further.
Full story >>

The Guardian succumbs to pressure from SL High Commission on indigenous term Eelam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2020, 16:54 GMT]
“Eelam is an indigenous name for which popular holiday island?,” was a question posed by a travel quiz published by the Guardian on 15 May. The quiz had rightfully stated the term, which is one of the ancient names for the island. However, in a political move, the High Commission of the unitary state of genocidal “Sri Lanka” reacted against the term “Eelam” sending a letter misinforming the paper that the term had “never been used as an indigenous name for Sri Lanka”. The paper has removed the question without defending the term “Eelam”.
Full story >>

SL Army fires at Tamil youth in Point Pedro, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2020, 12:26 GMT]
22-year-old Anushan Pasupathy sustained three gunshot wounds as the occupying SL Army (SLA) opened fire at the Tamil youth while he was riding a motorbike between Kaanthiyoor and Mu'raavil in Point Pedro, Jaffna, around 10:30 pm on Thursday. One of the SL Army soldier groups, deployed on Jaffna-Point Pedro Road fired at him without any provocation. The youth has been admitted to the hospital with three wounds. The incident has taken place near Manthikai hospital at Point Pedro in Vadamaraadchi. Three-member groups of SL Army soldiers have been deployed along the roads, junctions and suburbs in Jaffna to carry out the duties of the SL Police. In recent days, there have been reports of increasing violent acts by the Sinhala soldiers, who are stationed in the occupied Tamil homeland. The SLA soldiers claim that they are controlling the spread of COVID-19 as well as assisting the SL Police.
Full story >>

Mannaar fishers confront off-season right after Pandemic curfew ravaging their livelihood: Alam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2020, 21:24 GMT]
Most of the fisher families in Mannaar live below the poverty line. The fishers have been severely affected due to curfew and other measures imposed to control the spread of COVID-19. The district, as well as many other districts in the island, have been under curfew since 20 March 2020. Although there has been some assistance, such as the advance payments for Samurdhi beneficiaries, no other humanitarian aid has been forthcoming, says Noor Alam Mohammed, the deputy head of Mannaar Fisheries Federation. The only exception has been the activity of some NGOs assisting the most vulnerable, he said. Meanwhile, the off-season has also arrived adding to their plight, Mr Alam said.
Full story >>

Occupying Sinhala soldiers mete out revenge assaults against Tamil families in Jaffna, Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2020, 11:31 GMT]
A group of Sinhala soldiers, believed to be coming from the 522 Brigade camp of the occupying SL Army in Point Pedro, entered the house of Aingaran Achchitha and assaulted the women and children who were home in Vadamaraadchi East, Jaffna. 64-year-old Vijeyaluxmy Pathmanathan, the mother of Achchitha's husband, has been admitted to Point Pedro Base Hospital with injuries. The incident occurred around 10:45 pm Friday. The soldiers were searching for Aingaran, a former LTTE member, who had slapped a soldier following a minor quarrel sometime back in January. Mr Aingaran, fearing extra-judicial revenge, has gone underground as the SLA soldiers have been searching for him.
Full story >>

Gotabaya Rajapaksa is no more US-citizen, but SL military relationship with US continues

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 2020, 23:50 GMT]
SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s name has finally appeared in the Federal Register of the US Government, which publishes a quarterly list of individuals, who have chosen to expatriate. Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s name appeared in the list issued on Friday. Mr Gotabaya was commanding the genocidal war against Eezham Tamils as a US citizen with a well-knit link with the US Department of Defense, the Pentagon in the run up to the genocidal onslaught in the island. Mr Gotabaya was also the signatory of a defence agreement with the US in 2007, which lasted till 2017.
Full story >>

SLAF Chief attends virtual conference hosted by US PACAF to discuss resuming joint exercises

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2020, 22:29 GMT]
The Commander of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., was hosting a virtual teleconference call with the air chiefs of nineteen countries on 30 April 2020. The PACAF Commander was discussing “virtual Subject Matter Expert exchanges or continuing the practice of physically distancing aircrews while enhancing opportunities to train and integrate in the air,” according to a news release issued by the US Pacific Air Forces on Saturday. The Commander of the SL Air Force (SLAF) Air Marshal Dambure Liyanage Sumangala Dias, who took part in the Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium (PACS 19) in December 2019, joined the conference. The SLAF participation is an indication that SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a “former” US citizen, considers his airforce as part of the US and India-led alliance in the airspace of the Indo-Pacific, Tamil political observers in Jaffna said.
Full story >>