EU terror ban on LTTE challenged

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 February 2014, 17:51 GMT]
The European Union's ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) hangs in the balance today after a hearing at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg exposed serious flaws in the original evidence used to proscribe the movement in 2006. Judges expressed concern at the European Council's use of an Indian anti-terror law as a suitable precedent for banning the LTTE, saying there was no evidence that the Council checked if terror suspects had access to a fair trial in India. The court was also dismayed by the Council's use of Wikipedia as a credible source for keeping a terrorism ban on the LTTE. Lawyers for the LTTE left the court in a positive mood, expecting a judgement within the next six months.
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India and world needs prod to recognize, act on Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 February 2014, 15:36 GMT]
Finding fault with the USA and EU for spoiling negotiated solution by banning the LTTE, the former head of SLMM says that North America and Western Europe lack interest in what is happening in the island as it is not in their backyard, and he points to India to now act on its regional matter. He also implied that effective public and media pressure is a prerequisite for any action in the island in the lines of Bosnia. Tamils in the island, in the diaspora, and especially in Tamil Nadu, will be miserable failures if they show any timidity, or find excuse in diplomacy in not telling the world in no uncertain terms the genocide faced by Eezham Tamils, said Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.
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EU made big mistake in banning LTTE: Henricsson, former head of SLMM

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 February 2014, 07:58 GMT]
It was a big mistake for the EU to ban the LTTE. There was pressure from the USA and the Sri Lankan government, said Major General Ulf Henricsson, who was heading the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in 2006. “I would say that was a big mistake, because it stopped the possibility to get a peaceful solution and negotiation,” Henricsson told TamilNet in an interview in Sweden on Saturday. Acting on solutions now, compared to Bosnia, he cited lack of interest in the West. He was stressing on the importance of India in acting on the question, but said that India is not interested in getting engaged. China and India and other countries are not interested in having the international community on that territory, he added.
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NPC member presents data exposing extent of genocidal land grab in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 February 2014, 23:09 GMT]
Colombo has seized at least 30,000 acres of residential and agricultural lands for Sinhala colonization in Mullaiththeevu district alone after 2010, according to the data presented by Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member Thurairasa Raviharan, who moved a resolution condemning the demographic changes at the NPC. The land grab in Sinhalicised Gajabapura in Oddu-chuddaan is also being expanded to the ancient village of Othiya-malai, Mr Raviharan said adding that the Colombo government was using the Mahaweli ‘Development’ Porgramme’s L Scheme to occupy the lands in Mullaiththeevu district. Othiyamalai is situated 25 km beyond the reach of Mahaweli waters, he said.
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Colombo diverts Indian housing assistance to wedge North and East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 February 2014, 23:18 GMT]
After Sinhalicising the civil administration of the Ma'nalaa'ru division, which is becoming almost a Sinhala only division in the Mullaiththeevu district, Colombo has seized the private lands of Eezham Tamils to allot the lands to Sinhala settlers in Kokku'laay, says Thurairasa Raviharan, an elected member of the Northern Provincial Council. While the war-affected Tamils languish without proper housing, new settlers brought from South are receiving houses intended for war-affected people under the Indian housing scheme, he says after visiting and witnessing the genocidal land grab taking place at Mukaththuvaaram in Kokku'laay.
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Thaava'lai, Thawalama, Thaavadi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 February 2014, 06:55 GMT]
The trade station of merchant guilds

The town or mart of merchants travelling and operating in distant territories

The military camp or cultivation camp
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UN should deliver remedial justice to Eezham Tamils, say 23 groups from India

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 February 2014, 23:03 GMT]
Following the recommendations of the Internal Review Panel (IRP) on ‘United Nations Action in Sri Lanka’ brought out in November 2012 by the panel led by Charles Petrie, the United Nations has come up with a follow-up initiative in December 2013. The latest report, flagged as ‘Rights Up Front’ initiative, has also failed to focus on delivering remedial justice to the nation of Eezham Tamils, who have now become the abandoned victims exposed to Sri Lanka's accelerated onslaught of structural genocide, said the activists of May 17 Movement, that staged protests at five cities, both outside and inside India, on February 12. Endorsing the May 17 Movement's approach, 23 influential parties, groups and movements from India demanded two key remedial approaches: UN referendum on Tamil Eelam and International Investigations on War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide.
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IC should address Tamil question coupled with international mechanism: Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 February 2014, 23:02 GMT]
No internal mechanism would deliver justice to the people of Tamil homeland. The International Community should come up with a constructive international mechanism capable of delivering political solution to the Tamil question. If the IC that is in fact well able to grasp the situation fails Tamils would regard the IC also as being complicit in the act of suppression being meted upon them, said Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF). The prevailing suppression on the peaceful, non-violent and democratic voices of the people of Tamil homeland is equivalent to the act of annihilation of the existence of Tamils as a nation, he said while attending a demonstration organized by the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) in Jaffna on Saturday. The occupying SL military has blocked the affected people from taking part in the protest.
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US Senators call for War Crimes investigations in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 February 2014, 23:33 GMT]
Noting that, "Human rights violations continue, and the Sri Lankan government has failed to bring to justice the perpetrators of attacks against journalists, religious and ethnic minorities, and opposition politicians. As the March session of the UNHRC approaches, I believe another UNHRC resolution is warranted,” a senior Democratic Senator Casey, and Republican Senator Richard Burr, in a resolution called "on the United States and the international community to establish an independent international accountability mechanism to evaluate reports of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other human rights violations committed by both sides during and after the war in Sri Lanka."
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Civil servants in Jaffna threatened to withdraw their support to NPC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 February 2014, 22:58 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has been refusing to extend his cooperation to the repeated pleas made by the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran to appoint a non-military governor and to install a Chief Secretary capable of extending allegiance to the elected representatives of the NPC, has now gone to the extent of allowing the occupying Sinhala military in Jaffna to harass and threaten the other senior civil officials to render the NPC defunct. While escalating the rift between the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) councillors and the SL governor-installed chief secretary on one hand, the SL military on the other hand subjects the civil servants who extend cooperation to the elected NPC to systematic harassment and intimidation.
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Eyp-pan'rik-kaadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 February 2014, 19:18 GMT]
The jungle of porcupines
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USA softer than UK in wooing genocidal Colombo: Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 February 2014, 10:14 GMT]
"Everyone must redouble their pressure on the Obama administration directly at the White House and the Cameron government directly at No. 10 Downing Street in order to get that international commission of investigation at the UNHCR in March. With elections coming up in India, everyone must redouble their pressure on the Tamil Nadu government to get them to pressure the Indian government to support that international commission of investigation at the UNHRC in March. The one hope we have is that the GOSL continues to be so obstinate, stubborn, pig-headed and genocidal that they will do nothing," said Professor Boyle, an expert in International law and a keen observer of Sri Lanka's genocidal politics said in a comment sent to TamilNet.
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Tamil Nadu should be welcomed to give jolt to Indian foreign policy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 February 2014, 00:44 GMT]
“The running of foreign policy by federal units is not advocated, but they can and should make benign inputs into its making. Think-tanks specialising in foreign relations and Area Studies Departments in Universities can play a meaningful role in this direction,” writes Chennai-based former South and Southeast Asian Studies Professor V. Suryanarayan, who was also a member of the National Security Advisory Board of India during the Vanni War. Claiming that his “essay is a perspective from Chennai,” Suryanarayan was particularly elucidating and detracting the moves of Tamil Nadu on the cause of Eezham Tamils in his foreign policy discourse that appeared in the website of New Delhi-based Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), on Friday.
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USA continues to harp on ‘reconciliation’ than investigation or arrest of genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 February 2014, 14:00 GMT]
According to the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna, the US Asst Secretary of State, Nisha Desai Biswal, visiting Jaffna on Saturday, was harping on ‘reconciliation’ in response to his request for a credible investigation on the conduct of the war. ‘Reconciliation’ is a paradigm set by the US State Department immediately after the genocidal war to facilitate continued genocide and structural genocide of the nation of Eezham Tamils. The events of the last five years have proved it beyond any doubt that ‘reconciliation’ is a camouflage for genocide. What is needed urgently is an international arrangement to protect the nation and territoriality of Eezham Tamils from the on-going genocide, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.
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NPC councillors demand SL military to hand over seized cattle back to civilians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 January 2014, 18:31 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military in Vanni is operating a dairy farm near Muththaiyan-kaddu tank in Mullaiththeevu and is competing with the resettling Tamil farmers by cutting the prices down through its military-corporatist approach, according to Tamil councillors P. Iyngaranesan and K. Sarveswaran of the Northern Provincial Council. The occupying SL military had seized around 2,000 cattle belonging to Tamil farmers in Vanni during the genocidal onslaught and has seized 65 acres of the lands and buildings belonging to the Irrigation Department to run its dairy farm.
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UNHRC urged against considering PSC route

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 January 2014, 12:33 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s submissions to the UNHRC seek international pressure on the TNA and the UNP to take part in the deliberations of the deceptive Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). Rajapakse has not implemented even a single recommendation of his own Commissions and Committees so far. On what grounds can the International Community guarantee that a future for the Tamils lies in Sri Lanka, questioned a media release of the Tamil Action Front, New Zealand, on Tuesday. The media release signed by Mr. A. Theva Rajan reminded Tamils and the international community to never subscribe to the continuity of the catalogue of deceits.
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NPC calls for international investigation on situation ‘equivalent to genocide’

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 January 2014, 07:44 GMT]
A resolution brought in the Northern Provincial Council, calling for international investigation on the genocide, was diluted with the wording ‘equivalent to genocide’ at the instance of the NPC chief minister CV Wigneswaran, news sources said. The modified resolution was passed on Monday. The Resolution rejecting faith in investigations conducted by the State of Sri Lanka, demanded for an independent international investigation facilitated by the UN. The Council also resolved in expressing its opinion that no justice or political solution could come to Tamils without the active intervention of the international community.
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Veteran lawyer urges China to ensure UN investigation on Tamil plight

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2014, 23:49 GMT]
A veteran legal and social activist in Malaysia, Mr A. Kanesalingam urged the government of China on Thursday to ensure international conventions that could facilitate an independent international investigation conducted by the UN on the genocide in Sri Lanka. “I ask that China as a world leader and permanent member of he UN Security Council propose that an investigation be conducted by the UN under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations,” said, Mr A. Kanesalingam, in a letter sent to the Foreign Minister of China, Mr. Wang Yi. The Malaysian Tamils beseeching China on the issue is significant, commented diaspora Tamil political observers.
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NZ leader assures independent foreign policy and international investigation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 January 2014, 07:09 GMT]
Leader of the Opposition in the New Zealand Parliament, Mr David Cunliffe, on Saturday, assured that his party would follow an independent foreign policy and would support international investigations into the war crimes and crimes committed against Tamils. He was addressing a grand gathering of Eezham Tamils celebrating Pongkal festival at the Mt. Eden War Memorial Hall in Auckland. The NZ Labour Party leader has promising chances of becoming the next Prime Minister, political observers in New Zealand said.
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PPT judgement to be broadcast live at 10:00 CET

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2014, 00:01 GMT]
The official judgement of the investigations against the Sri Lankan State and its accomplices on the charge of Genocide against Eelam Tamils by the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), to be released on Wednesday, and would be broadcast live from the Geneva Press Club in Switzerland at 10:00 a.m. Central European Time, the organizers said. Dr. Denis Halliday, the former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations, Dr. Haluk Gerger, a renowned Turkish academic and Middle East analyst and Dr. Gianni Tognoni, the secretary general of the PPT will be present to answer questions and to elaborate on the points raised by the verdict.
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