SL Police harasses Shivajilingam at 25th Remembrance of Navaali massacre in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 July 2020, 00:05 GMT]
Hundreds of people emotionally marked the 25th remembrance of 147 Tamil men, women and children who perished in SL Air Force bombing and artillery attacks when they had sought refuge at two temples at Navaali in Jaffna on 09th July 1995. On Thursday, the Sinhala police of occupying Colombo was trying to block former TNA parliamentarian and former provincial councillor M.K. Shivajilingam when he went to the remembrance event. On Wednesday, the SL Police was attempting to secure a court order against the participation of the Tamil politician in the remembrance. Mr Shivajilingam, who has been in the forefront championing the right of Eezham Tamils memorialisation events, especially after 2009, was however allowed to take part by the courts. Yet, the SL Police was harassing him at the site, irking the Tamils.
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Sinhala colonists encroach into Kangku-veali, Mean-kamam reservoirs in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 2020, 16:33 GMT]
Encroaching Sinhala colonist farmers from Dehiwatta in Seruvila division of Trincomalee district have cut the recently re-constructed bunds of Kangku-veali reservoir and drained it to seize and illegally convert more than 55 acres of the 200 acres of the tank catchment area for agriculture. The destruction has taken place at two locations of the bunds with the backing of two Sinhala politicians, Rajapaksa-aligned former deputy minister Mr Susantha Punchinilame and SLFP Trincomalee District Organiser Mrs Ariyawathi Galappaththi. The Sinhala politicians had vowed to allow the Sinhala settlers encroach the reservoir last year after the Tamil National Alliance had managed to accomplish the reconstruction by getting the SL State to allocate the needed money.
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Colombo schemes to expand ilmenite scooping into North from Pulmoaddai in East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 July 2020, 19:36 GMT]
Occupying Colombo is silently expanding its scheme to excavate ilmenite mineral to the north of Kokku'laay lagoon after exploiting the silica-rich sand in Pulmoaddai located in Trincomalee to the south of the provincial border. Systematic surveying has been going on since 2016, and the incumbent administration under Gotabaya Rajapaksa is accelerating the plan, informed civil sources in Mullaiththeevu said. The planned exploitation, if allowed to proceed unchecked, could result in an environmental disaster, the sources said seeking the attention of environmentalists, academics, journalists and the politicians among the Eezham Tamils.
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University students, Shivajilingam brave SL harassment to commemorate fallen Black Tigers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 July 2020, 23:06 GMT]
Reacting to SL military harassment against paying tribute to Tamil war hero Captain Miller and other Black Tigers at Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna, Tamil students at the University of Jaffna lit the flame of sacrifice within the university premises at 7:05 pm at the time of the death of Miller on Sunday. The students released the photos to journalists in Jaffna. The reaction came as the occupying SL military and police in Jaffna blocked Tamil political parties and their representatives from paying tribute to the Tamil heroes on Black Tigers Day. Former TNA Parliamentarian M.K. Shivajilingam also braved to mark the day at a public event in Vadamaraadchi on Sunday.
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After Naavat-kuzhi, Colombo targets Poonakari for Sinhala colonisation across Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 2020, 19:28 GMT]
Strategically located Naavat-kuzhi in Jaffna peninsula and Poonakari across the Jaffna lagoon at the entrance to the peninsula in the mainland were systematically targeted for Sinhalicisation by occupying Colombo during the previous Rajapaksa regime. Politicians, including Rajapaksa family members, were directly involved in grabbing lands and farms in Poonakari. Sinhala colonists were brought to Naavat-kuzhi in Jaffna. The colonisation of Naavatkuzhi carried out clandestinely during the Rajapaksa rule gained “legal” status under the Sirisena-Wickramasinghe rule that followed. Sections of Sinhala nationalists who joined the US bandwagon, such as Patali Champika Ranawake, allocated lands and housing schemes to the colonists. They also completed a Buddhist stupa. Now, the Rajapaksa regime is back in business escalating the project into Poonakari, informed Tamil officials in Jaffna said.
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Colombo imposes restrictions on Tamil valour related symbolism in schools of North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 July 2020, 22:26 GMT]
Director of Northern Provincial Department of Education Sellathurai Uthayakumar has instructed the school principals to “discipline” the sport meets held in the schools within the province not to use symbols associated with the armed struggle of Tamils in the house decorations. The move comes after the SL military intelligence monitored a trend in the schools of Vanni, where Tamil students and teachers have been using the symbolism of resistance against European colonialism as well as the Sinhala occupation in the sports events. Often, the winning “house decorations” of the sports meets depicted Pandaara Vanniyan or names of Tamil Eelam War Heroes (Maaveerar) in the titles, a principal of a renowned school in Vanni told TamilNet.
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New secret unit among four SL military and police squads competing to arrest Tamil youth in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 July 2020, 13:22 GMT]
Four SL military and police squads, including a new secret unit led by a Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) based in Colombo, have been detaining Tamils under the allegation of attempting to regroup armed struggle. Apart from the notorious ‘Terrorist Investigation Division,’ based in Colombo, the new unit led by another DIG is also operating from Colombo with field trips to all the five districts of North, informed sources in Jaffna said. Four different “networks” of Tamil youth have been detained in Magazine New Remand Prison in Colombo in the recent months, the sources further said. In the meantime, Coordinator of SL Human Rights Commission in Jaffna, Thangavel Kanagaraj, has admitted that his office had received an increased number of complaints in June. At least one of those detained were below the age of 18.
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Tamils blocked from accessing properties near SL Navy training base in Champoor, Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2020, 22:10 GMT]
The occupying SL Navy in Champoor in Trincomalee has deceived twenty poverty-stricken Tamil families into clearing one-hundred acres of lands located between SLNS Vidura base and the nearby Munpa'l'li Murukan temple with the false promise of resettlement. Five months ago, the SL Navy told the resettling Tamil families that they could move back into 300 acres of their properties. In their drive to get back their lands, the families went to the extent of borrowing money to clean up the bushes and trees. When one-third of the work was complete towards the end of May, the SL Navy refused access to the lands. SLNS Vidura is SL Navy's naval training base of the SL marines, established and groomed by the US Indo Pacific Command since 2017.
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SLMC Chairman: Time for joint Tamil-Muslim efforts

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2020, 18:17 GMT]
Intellectuals, civil society activists and politicians among the Tamils and the Muslims should jointly design a joint programme if their people are to exist with self-respect, said A.L. Abdul Majeed, the chairman of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). The Tamils and Muslims are confronting an existential threat. The tendency is going to worsen further with dire consequences to their collective rights. His party favoured a merged North-East Province, Mr Majeed, who once served as a councillor in the merged province, said. The majority of the Muslim people in the de-merged North and East will follow suit if a convincing formula was to be conceived for their coexistence within the merged unit. India needs to be reminded of its historical responsibility in ensuring the merger, he added.
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Ex-councillor: Poverty-stricken Tamils at receiving end of SL military brutality in North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 2020, 23:11 GMT]
The occupying SL Army fired gunshots at 24-year-old Tamil man at a close distance between 25 and 50 meters distance on Saturday, says former civic councillor Sutharsing Vijayakanth, who is the general secretary of Progressive Tamil National Party. The soldiers fired when the victim, Ramakrishnan Nakarasa, was fleeing from the chasing SL Army after his motorbike was stuck in the sand. The four men, who were released on bail, witnessed the incident, he said after talking to them on Sunday. The SL Army was twisting facts on the episode in its report to the SL Police, Vijayakanth said. The SLA was claiming that it fired after the late Ramakrishnan had pulled down a soldier while riding a motorbike.
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Dr Amir Ali: SL Archaeology aims to obliterate Tamil traces, shrink territory of Muslims in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2020, 23:30 GMT]
In Israel and India, archaeology is used as a weapon to disenfranchise a whole community, writes Dr Amir Ali, a renowned academic based in Australia, in a guest column of the Colombo-based Daily Financial Times on Friday. “What the Sri Lankan archaeologists did was no different from what Israeli and Western archaeologists accomplished in Palestine,” he observes. “From the time of independence, archaeology has been a powerful tool in the hands of Sinhalese nationalists to obliterate any vestiges of an ancient Tamil civilisation in Sri Lanka,” writes Dr Ali from the School of Business and Governance in Murdoch University, Western Australia.
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SL military cordons off Jaffna islet with war-time like harassment, families fear reprisals

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2020, 22:12 GMT]
The occupying SL Navy, Army and Police have completely cordoned off Analai-theevu islet off Jaffna after a group of residents confronted SL Navy personnel, whom they suspected as harassing Tamil women sexually last week. In the resulting dispute, Sinhala Navy sailors assaulted the Tamils. An SLN officer and his assistant, who tried to restrict treatment for civilians who had injured in the violence meted out on them by his troopers, was attacked outside the hospital by Tamil men who were angry at the conduct of the occupying Sinhala Navy. Following the episode on 09 June, the Tamil families are subjected to relentless harassment by the SL Navy, Army and Police who are on a hunt to arrest the suspected attackers, who have gone underground. The SL Navy is not allowing journalists in Jaffna to inspect the situation and civilian contact with the outside world remains cut off.
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Dairy farmers feel harassed after exposing Sinhala encroachment in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 June 2020, 16:41 GMT]
An Information Officer attached to the Media Unit of Batticaloa District Secretariat was harassing the dairy farmers who had met journalists and rights activists in Chengkaladi division on 01 June to complain about the encroachment of pasturelands by Sinhala colonists. Within three days of the meeting, the Information Officer wrote a letter to the Regional Director of Health Services in Batticaloa exerting pressure on the latter to take action regarding the meeting. The District Secretariat officer, S.V. Jeevananthan, who is a Tamil, was acting in a biased manner, the dairy farmers who had to travel 60 km to meet the RDHS officials in Batticaloa on Friday told media on Monday. Mr Jeevananthan was blaming the organisers of the meeting of failing to comply with the measures against COVID-19 spread. He was citing social media posts about the meeting.
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Sea cucumber poachers from South enter Jaffna triggering tensions once again

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 June 2020, 23:01 GMT]
A group of eighty Sinhala poachers from South, backed by the SL military and the occupying Colombo's fisheries authorities have camped at the coastal public grounds at Koddadi in Point Pedro since Thursday. In the meantime, another group has arrived in Kudaarappu, Vadamaraadchi East in eight boats violating the Court order on Sunday, said Anantharasa Sureshkumar, a divisional councillor representing Naakarkoayil in Point Pedro Piratheasa Chapai. The intruding poachers claim that they have permits issued by the SL Department of Fisheries in Colombo. However, the practice is legally forbidden in the Beach Seine Fishing seashore from where dragnets (Karai-valai) are laid by the local fishers. The encroachment by sea cucumber divers was opposed by Tamil fishermen who fear environmental destruction as well as ethnic unrest and there have been violent episodes in 2018 in Vadamaraadchi East.
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Resentment between SL forces and Tamils escalates in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 June 2020, 19:20 GMT]
Frustration and resentment against the occupying SL military and the SL police are escalating in Jaffna peninsula as witnessed in various incidents in recent times. On Tuesday, a group of Tamil residents in Analai-theevu islet assaulted SL Navy officers, who were threatening their fellow residents receiving treatment at the local hospital after being attacked by SL Navy personnel in an earlier clash. The SL Navy imposed a travel blockade for two days and harassed the people. The dispute was reported after SL Navy men started to roam around the residential areas with suspicious intent, Tamil families in the islet said.
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Impunity continues amidst stiff resistance against illegal encroachment of pasturelands in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 2020, 21:34 GMT]
One of the three main livelihoods of Tamils in Batticaloa district is dairy farming with 300,000 registered cattle. One of the central pastureland tracts, Mayilaththamadu-Periyamaathava'ani, falls within two of the fourteen administrative divisions of the district. Although this area doesn't officially belong to SL Mahaweli Authority, it is being claimed by it in addition to the SL Forest Department. After 2009, Sinhala intruders, with SL military backing, have used every opportunity to seize the area and convert it into agricultural lands. Tamil dairy farmers have been resisting the colonists without active support from their politicians and local authorities, who are reluctant to act against the intruders. However, the dairy farmers managed to thwart the previous attempt two years ago after a prolonged agitation. One month ago, the invasion was renewed.
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Sinhala media questions Gotabaya’s alleged pro-MCC ‘connections’ with US

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2020, 23:39 GMT]
Sinhala media in the South have started to raise questions on SL President Gotabaya’s intermediaries connected to Milinda Moragoda’s Pathfinder outfit, which wants to promote a slightly modified Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project. The issue also gained focus, especially in connection with SL Police brutally suppressing a George Floyd protest held outside the US Embassy in Colombo on Tuesday. The role of four personalities, Senior SL Presidential Advisor Lalith Weeratunga, Additional Secretary to SL President Admiral (retd) Jayanath Colombage, SL Presidential Secretary P. B. Jayasundera and SL Ports Authority Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Daya Ratnayaka was taken up in the live political programme, “Salakuna” on Hiru TV already on Monday.
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Gota's Task Force on Archaeology, a direct threat to Tamils and Muslims: Fr Rohan in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2020, 22:16 GMT]
The freedom of belief and religion has become questionable and the “inclusive democratic rights” of all the citizens, particularly that of Muslims and Tamils, are made uncertain in the island. The SL government authorities have brought a “huge gap between Sinhala Buddhist majorities and the Tamil Muslim minorities” through their recent actions, commented Rev Fr Rajan Rohan, the secretary of Inter-Religious Forum in Batticaloa. The latest decision by SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, legalising a Presidential Task Force to preserve the archaeological sites under the command of SL Defence Secretary is received as a threat to the Tamil-speaking peoples, he said. “The Sinhala Buddhists are colonising the homeland of Tamils and Muslims,” he added.
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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.
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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.
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