SL police refuses to register land grab complaint against Buddhist monk in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 January 2016, 23:36 GMT]
The Head of the Sri Mangalaramaya Buddhist vihara in Batticaloa city, Ven. Ampitiye Sumanarathana thero, is refusing to release the lands seized from Tamil villagers in Maalaiyar-kaddu village (GS) division in Vellaa-ve'li administrative division of the district. The SL police under the so-called good-governance of Maithiripala Sirisena are refusing to accept complaints from Tamil villagers against the Buddhist monk, civil sources in Vellaa-ve'li told TamilNet. The occupying Sinhala policemen are deployed to do the farming in the lands seized by the Buddhist monk, the Tamil owners of the lands said.
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Eezham Tamils at Thennai-maravadi face renewed threats from Sinhala military

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 January 2016, 17:20 GMT]
While SL President Maithiripala Sirisena’s Mahaweli ‘Development’ Ministry is engaged in appropriating vast tracts of fertile lands along the coastal and interior villages in the country of Eezham Tamils, the occupying Sinhala military of genocidal Sri Lanka is being continuously deployed against the resettled Tamil villagers at their traditional village of Thennai-maravadi, situated on the border of Trincomalee district of the Eastern Province and Mullaith-theevu district of the Northern Province. The huts provided by the UNHCR to the resettling people were destroyed by six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on January 01 around 11:30 p.m. 21 days have passed since the violent act, the SL police has not taken any action against the illegal and violent act by the Sinhala soldiers, Tamil villagers told TamilNet on Thursday.
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“Terminology should not be a key issue,” Swiss-supported seminar tells Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 January 2016, 23:28 GMT]
A series of seminars organised by Jayampathy Wickramaratne's Institute of Constitutional Studies with the support of Switzerland Embassy and attended by a Co-Director of Switzerland-based Institute of Federalism at the invitation of NPC Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran ended up advocating the ‘non-descript’ approach of Jayampathy Wickramaratna and M.A. Sumanthiran, especially when the key academic of the seminar, Professor Eva Maria Belser, was stressing that “terminology should not be a key issue” in the constitutional process. The Foreign Ministry of Switzerland has been backing the so-called ‘Singapore principle’ process and the non-descript approach of Jayamapthy Wickramaratne, for which Mr Sumanthiran has been a strong advocate.
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45 Tamil girls enslaved as child soldiers in SL Military

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 January 2016, 23:39 GMT]
More than 45 Tamil girls, who were recruited from poverty-stricken Tamil families in the North have been deployed under genocidal Sinhala military commanders, who committed extensive acts of genocide in the past, escapees from Palaali told TamilNet. The SLA Commander in Jaffna instructed commanders under him to keep the enslaved Tamil girls under their direct supervision within the High Security Zone in Palaali while the Tamil men, who were trying to escape, were deployed as forced labourers to construct new fortifications inside the Sinhala Military Zone, a recently escaped Tamil said providing extensive details. As more than 450 of 600 Tamils deceived into the SL military have managed to escape and ‘military punishments‘ went contrary to the SL propaganda, sophisticated ‘loans’ and increased payments are being organised to keep the Tamil recruits enslaved, the source further revealed.
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Diaspora network urges TPC to consolidate fundamentals, course-correct main polilty

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 2016, 18:44 GMT]
A group of like-minded diaspora youth activists and writers on Monday issued a document detailing 15 key issues, which they wanted the Tamil People's Council (TPC) in the homeland to clarify without ambiguity in consolidating the definitions, descriptions and attitudinal fundamentals of the Tamil cause during their present exercise of formulating a political framework on behalf of Eezham Tamils. While expecting the TPC to explore a model of confederalism, in which Eelam Tamils could exercise control over defined internal and external affairs, a proper negotiation required mediation by a third party at a global level. Various Empires, external States and the United Nations have been responsible for the injustices against Eezham Tamils in the past. The Global Community therefore needs greater awareness on the situation of Tamils in the island, the group said.
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None among political prisoners are real convicts, says released Tamil prisoner

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 January 2016, 23:25 GMT]
36-year-old Tamil political prisoner Jeneevan Sivarasa, who was released after being ‘pardoned’ by SL President Maithiripala Sirisena on January 08 told TamilNet that almost none of the 230 Tamil prisoners currently languishing inside the prisons of Colombo had command responsibilities or even contributed to the ‘crimes’ they had been accused of. Most of those detained for decades and those given prison terms beyond the scope of their lifetimes were all innocent people like A.G. Perarivalan of Tamil Nadu who had no knowledge that the battery he was buying was to be used in an assassination. The act of continued imprisonment of these people itself constitutes a crime against humanity, Jeneevan Sivarasa told TamilNet in a video interview this week.
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Colombo makes mockery of UN endorsed domestic mechanism - Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 January 2016, 23:52 GMT]
Noting Sri Lanka Cabinet spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne's statements that there was no deadline to complete the accountability process on the war, that his Government is in talks with the United Nations with regards to the accountability process, and that the process will be a domestic process and not a “hybrid process” as proposed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Professor Boyle, an expert in International Law, and who teaches at University of Illinois, College of Law, said that by these words "GOSL has publicly stated that it will continue its Crimes against Humanity against the Eelam Tamils. This makes an absolute and total mockery of the so-called “domestic mechanism” that was endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council."
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Sirisena’s promises to Champoor Tamils not fulfilled, SL Navy refuses to vacate

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 January 2016, 23:21 GMT]
The uprooted Eezham Tamils from Champoor in Moothoor East of Trincomalee district complain that the occupying Sri Lanka Navy, which was supposed to vacate from Champoor Maha Viththiyaalayam School and the adjacent residential areas of 237 acres, has indefinitely postponed the hand over of lands back to the people. The promises made by SL President Maithiripala Sirisena have not been fulfilled, the uprooted Tamils said. The Eastern Provincial Governor Austin Fernando, who is a former defence secretary of occupying Colombo went on record on December 15 that the SL Navy would be handing back the lands before January 05. But, the SL Navy is now telling the people it would not move away for another 6 months, Champoor Tamils told TamilNet on Tuesday.
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Eastern Province Governor interferes in teachers’ transfers violating established procedures

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 January 2016, 23:11 GMT]
Colombo's colonial Governor to East, Austin Fernando, who is a former Defence Secretary of the occupying military of the unitary ‘Sri Lanka’, was interfering in processing the applications by Tamil teachers in the Eastern province who have been seeking transfer to schools situated near their villages. Principals and teachers who approached the Provincial Director of Education M.T.A. Nizam were told that their applications were now at the desk of the SL Governor in the East.
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Released Tamil political prisoner pays tribute to Senthuran, vows to stay the course

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 January 2016, 11:58 GMT]
36-year-old Tamil political prisoner Jeneepan Sivarasa, who was released after being ‘pardoned’ by SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, paid a visit to the family of 18-year-old Senthuran Rajeswaran, who sacrificed himself jumping in front of a speeding ‘Sri Lankan’ train on 26 November demanding the Sri Lankan President Maithiripala Sirisena to release all the Tamil political prisoners. In the meantime, Jeneepan's father 62-year-old Nagamuttu Sivarasa condemned the Colombo-based correspondents of international news agencies, who didn't see ‘news value’ in giving coverage to the struggle waged inside the prison by his son and others. “It was only because of the supreme sacrifice of Senthuran and the efforts of Tamil journalists operating from Jaffna, Jeneevan's case got focus,” Mr Nagamuttu told TamilNet.
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Aided by UN, US, genocide continues under Sirisena, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 January 2016, 02:02 GMT]
Noting recent rights groups reports that Tamils continue to face torture and gang rapes a year after President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in Sri Lanka promising reform, Professor Boyle, an expert in international law, who teaches at the University of Illinois College of Law, said that it is obvious that the "Sinhala Genocide against the Eelam Tamils continues apace under Sirisena," and that the GoSL, the U.S. Government and the UNHRC "perpetrated..a fraud upon the Eelam Tamils by calling for the establishment of nothing more than a so-called “domestic mechanism” by the GOSL Genocidaires that will give them the legal cover and fig-leaf to continue their campaign of outright genocide against the Eelam Tamils."
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IC-backed Colombo hurriedly erases evidences of Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 January 2016, 00:15 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka has hurriedly burnt and destroyed the remaining traces of a newly discovered makeshift torture chamber within the recently released lands in Valikaamam North in Jaffna at a locality known as Pazhai-Veemankaamam. Tamil journalists filmed the locality a few days ago. After the video evidence was published, the SL Defence Ministry in Colombo instructed its military at Palaali to remove the traces of the torture chamber, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet on Wednesday. In the meantime, former TNA Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran and Valikaamam North Deputy Chairman of Divisional Council S. Shageevan, have blamed Maithiripala - Ranil regime in Colombo for removing the crucial evidences instead of protecting the alleged traces that need to be investigated.
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Colombo SLT extends TamilNet censorship to south of the island

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 January 2016, 00:03 GMT]
The Colombo regime of Maithiripala Sirisena (SLFP) and Ranil Wickramsinghe (UNP) have once again proved that they are not different from the previous regime of Rajapaksa in suppressing access to tamilnet.com for the vast majority of Internet users in the island who connect through ADSL broadband provided by ‘Sri Lanka’ Telecom PLC (SLT). The main stakeholder of the SLT ownership is the Government of ‘Sri Lanka’. The other dominant shareholder of the SLT is Egypt-based Global Telecommunication Holdings. The SLT has been continuously blocking access to TamilNet in the North and East despite the claim by the Maithiripala regime last January that the Government of ‘Sri Lanka’ would not be practicing Internet censorship anymore as it was during the Rajapaksa regime. Ironically, the marketing slogan of the SLT is: ‘One Country. One Voice.’
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Uprooted Tamils demand occupying SL military to vacate from Keappaa-pulavu

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 January 2016, 19:32 GMT]
More than one hundred families, languishing at a jungle pocket named Sooriyapuram a few kilometres away from their fertile village Keappaa-pulavu, which has been occupied by the occupying Sinhala military of genocidal Colombo, staged a protest on the first working day of 2016 demanding Colombo to fully de-militarize their village and hand over their village back to them for resettlement. The occupying SL military was harassing the protesters by posing intelligence wing soldiers to take photos and videos of those participated in the protest. Despite the intimidation by the occupying SL military, the protesting people remained firm in demanding the SL military to vacate from their ancient village.
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Colombo continues to demographically erase Tamil villages in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 January 2016, 08:32 GMT]
Uprooted Eezham Tamils from Kanakar-kiraamam village in Ampaa'rai district complain that their lands have been permanently seized by Maithiripala Sirisena's Mahaweli Ministry in Colombo through SL Forest Department in December 2015. Colombo continues to deploy Sinhala military at Tamil settlements. The Tamil villagers who received permit lands in mid 1970s have been unable to renew their permits as they were uprooted from these settlements. The mechanisms that come under the provincial and central ministries operate with the motive of permanently erasing these settlements. Ever since 1956, when the Tamils in the district were chased out from their traditional and later settlements for the first time, the successive regimes in Colombo have operated against resettlement of Tamils in Ampaa'rai, Tamil civil officials complain citing the latest example of Kanakar-kiraamam.
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10th Anniversary of STF murder of Trincomalee Tamil students

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 January 2016, 02:36 GMT]
Dr Kasippillai Manoharan and four other families will be commemorating the tenth anniversary of the murder of their sons extra-judicially executed by the Special Task force (STF) of the Sri Lanka Government on the 2nd January 2006. The high school students, all then nearly 20-years old, were spending an afternoon at a seafront in Trincomalee when the allegedly planned crime took place. Dr Manoharan told TamilNet that while he is disappointed with the Western powers who are acquiescing with Colombo to impose 'victor's justice' in SriLanka, he will continue to fight to seek justice for his son, and expressed his appreciation to the support he has received from individuals and organizations for his work.
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De-militarize Mu’l’likku’lam in 2016: Uprooted Tamils in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 January 2016, 00:31 GMT]
Rt Rev Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Sinhala Archbishop of Colombo, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leaders, Northern Provincial Council (NPC) and the civil organisations in Mannaar district should demand the Sri Lankan State to fully de-militarize Mu’l’lik-ku’lam GS division of Musali division in the district in 2016 and enable more than 1,200 Eezham Tamils, who were uprooted from their village in September 2007 to resettle in their village, said the representatives of the uprooted Tamils, who have not received any response for their repeated appeals in 2015. The villagers talking to TamilNet in December 2015 urged the concerned stakeholders to come forward in demanding full de-militarization of Mu'l'likku'lam in 2016. The villagers managed to mark the dawn of 2016 at their own church in Mu'l'lik-ku'lam on January 01.
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White-van abductions continue in North with ‘UNP sophistication’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 December 2015, 21:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan military intelligence is operating white-van abductions through diaspora and homeland based intermediaries, a well-informed right activists in Jaffna told TamilNet on Wednesday. There have been at least three cases in the recent weeks where abductions were carried out in the Northern Province. The affected parties were given death threats if they chose to go public through other channels than the intermediaries through whom they were released after abductions. The targeted people were Tamil journalists, family members of diaspora activists and traders.
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Tamils should identify natural allies against US-UK military geopolitics: Viraj Mendis

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 December 2015, 23:09 GMT]
The strategic location of the island of Sri Lanka becomes hot and very important, especially when the paradigm of war becomes more dominant than the peace paradigm at a global level, says Viraj Mendis, a progressive Sinhala rights activist who is a long-term supporter of the struggle of Eezham Tamils. In an in-depth interview to TamilNet Palaka'ni, the exiled veteran activist details his understanding on how the successive external powers, pre-occupied with the war-paradigm and the geopolitical significance of the island in a military sense in the Indian Ocean Region, have shaped the ‘genocidal consciousness’ of the Sinhalese to their benefit in the past as well as at the present. The Eezham Tamils, particularly their diaspora, should have no illusions about who their adversaries are and whom they should rely upon as their natural allies in their continued freedom struggle, he says.
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SL Governor Austin Fernando schemes Sinhala colonization of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 December 2015, 16:14 GMT]
Colombo’s colonial Governor to Eastern Province, Austin Fernando, who is a former Defence Secretary of the occupying Sri Lankan military, is working behind the scene to settle Sinhala colonisers in Batticaloa district. A settlement is being schemed close to the railway station at Punaa’nai. The nearby ‘Sinhapura’ military camp situated on Batticaloa – Colombo Road is being transferred into a Sinhala military cantonment. Additional lands to the extent of 1,500 acres have been seized for this military purpose. Both the sides of the road stretching to 1.5 km along the main road have been fenced off with barbed-wire. There were only five Sinhala families at Pu’naanai before 1990. Now, 29 families have been settled down. The SL Governor has instructed the SL civil officials to increase the figure to 56 families in the near future.
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