Tehelka report brings out genocide at sea: Eezham Tamil activist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 April 2013, 05:29 GMT]
The Tehelka report on Friday by Revati Laul touches a crucial facet of the structural genocide against Eezham Tamils that takes place not only in land but also in sea, commented a Tamil political activist in the island. This facet of structural genocide, dating from the British rule in severing the natural relations of Eezham Tamils with the Tamils of Tamil Nadu was structured further by the Sinhala State after the so-called independence. It is now intensified with the complicity of New Delhi in coming to the level of sealing off the coasts of Eezham Tamils depriving of their traditional economic activity, industrial exploitation of their seas without their consent or participation, and even snatching away their subsistence by bringing in militarily protected Sinhala fishermen from the South to occupy the coasts and seas, the activist said.
Full story >>

‘Idea of Tamil nation not dead despite aftermath of genocide’: Tehelka report

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 April 2013, 21:10 GMT]
Even in the aftermath of terror and genocide, the idea of nationhood has not disappeared among the Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, writes journalist Revati Laul in an investigative feature published on the Indian news magazine Tehelka on its April 27 issue. Travelling to the militarily occupied Tamil homeland in the north and east and interacting with politicians, civil society activists, NGO workers, priests, ex-LTTE cadres and ordinary people, Ms Laul provides through their accounts a picture of the intense oppression that the Sri Lankan state is subjecting the Tamils to through various means, she further notes how the UN’s “pussyfooting on the war” and the Geneva resolution in March 2013 gave a cloak for such oppression, arguing that “It is this refusal to take in the whole narrative that allows Rajapaksa to tell the world all is well now with the Tamils in his country.”
Full story >>

Kerala researcher speaks on facets of Indo-Eezham discourse

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 April 2013, 07:35 GMT]
“Eelam and Kerala share similar history. We were ruled by the same colonial powers, the Portuguese, Dutch and later English. Kerala is not very far from Eelam and the war in Eelam was something happening right in front of our eyes. Yet Eelam never became the agenda before any political organizations in Kerala. Keralites were in the streets in solidarity with Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan. This never happened in the case of Eelam,” said Dr Vinod Krishnan from Kerala in an exclusive interview to TamilNet this week. Dr Krishnan, an academic researcher involved in studies related to social exclusion in South and Southeast Asia, is currently attached to the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST) in India.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka torture concerns well founded, says Time

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 April 2013, 06:17 GMT]
The popular biweekly, the Time magazine, commenting on Sri Lanka's deteriorating rights climate, said that amid abuse and fear, Tamils are continuing to flee Sri Lanka, and that torture and sexual violence by Sri Lanka's military against Tamils with alleged separatist ties during the 26-year civil war make credible the threat of torture to a well-known Tamil TV reporter who the UAE is threatening to deport to Sri Lanka. Also pointing to the attack on Uthayan, the Time said, "[t]he tensions revealed in the incident [at Uthayan] are becoming depressingly familiar. The clouds have been darkening over this picturesque island nation in recent years as euphoria over the end of its long-running civil war has ebbed."
Full story >>

Plight of UAE refugees expose human rights deception of IC, UN

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 April 2013, 08:08 GMT]
No country in the West should have any problem with providing political asylum to the fleeing Tamil Journalist Ms Lokini Rathimohan, currently held at detention in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), rights activists in the island concerned with the protection of journalists fleeing genocidal Sri Lanka told TamilNet. As the journalist's name and photos have been published in the international media now and as there have been write-ups in the hostile press in Colombo suggesting to the SL government to get her deported to Colombo to ‘disprove’ the killing of Isaippiriya, a colleague of Lokini at the National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), the need to assure Lokini's security has become much more important than ever before, the activists further said. In the meantime, a former administrative official at the NTT confirmed that Ms Lokini was not an LTTE member, but was an employed journalist.
Full story >>

NZ Intelligence alleged of monitoring former Green MP for involvement in Tamil question

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 April 2013, 16:50 GMT]
New Zealand's Security Intelligence Service (SIS), which is part of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence network, comprising the intelligence agencies of Australia, Canada, Britain and the USA, was alleged of monitoring former Green party politician Keith Locke, who has been sympathetic to the Tamil cause. Mr Locke believes the SIS began covert operations on him in 2003, when he travelled to Sri Lanka, reports The Dominion Post. The former Green Party politician has demanded apology for illegal spying and that all 88 New Zealanders who were being spied on should be notified if the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) has illegally snooped on them.
Full story >>

Explosion claims life of de-mining worker in Mukamaalai

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 April 2013, 14:09 GMT]
A Halo Trust worker lost his life in a landmine explosion Monday morning, while he was engaged in de-mining at Mukamaalai, a former Forward Defence Line (FDL). The tragic incident, comes at a time when the occupying Colombo is bent on expelling all independent de-mining NGOs and the SL military is poised to take control of even the last-phase quality assurance being carried out by the UN agencies.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka in Amnesty's Get on the Bus protest in New York

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 April 2013, 03:32 GMT]
More than 250 students from Massachusetts and other states including several Tamil youths Friday participated in Amnesty's "Get on the Bus for Human Rights" [GOTB] day of action focused on human rights in Uganda, China/Tibet, Sudan, Sri Lanka, and Burma. First rally in the afternoon targetted Sri Lanka, calling on the Sri Lankan government to end arbitrary detentions, torture, and enforced disappearances. The rally was held at the Permanent Mission of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, on the 3rd Avenue.
Full story >>

Indian housing aid programmed for exploitation by Colombo agents in East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 April 2013, 23:53 GMT]
Disregarding the repeated requests by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politicians in the Batticaloa district to include local community leaders such as the heads of the Rural Development Societies (RDS), representatives from women groups and trustees of temples in the committees to select the beneficiaries of the Indian housing scheme, the SL government has handed over the selection process in the Batticaloa district to its paramilitary and the political outfits of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling party, civil sources in the district say. Despite their rapport with New Delhi, the TNA has failed in making India to deliver the aid directly to the affected people without the exploitation of genocidal Colombo, the civil sources in the district further said.
Full story >>

Prof Gamlath passes away

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 April 2013, 21:57 GMT]
Veteran Professor of Sinhala, Dr Sucharitha Gamlath passed away at the age of 79 in Colombo on Saturday and the funeral took place on Monday. Prof Gamlath was righteously anti-Establishment throughout his career and for nearly 15 years, the governments in Colombo kept him unemployed, which he faced heroically without compromising on his principles and convictions. To the end he steadfastly stood for the Tamil right to self-determination in the island of Sri Lanka. He was the first Professor of Sinhala at the University of Jaffna, appointed in 1975 (then the Jaffna Campus of the University of Sri Lanka) and his penalisation by the JR Jayawardane government took place in 1980 while he was serving at the University of Jaffna. TamilNet pays tribute to the scholar of a rare genre and expresses condolences to bereaving family members, friends and comrades.
Full story >>

TNA MP cautions on PC elections harped on by Geneva resolution

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 March 2013, 15:05 GMT]
“We are a distinct Nation with historic records in this soil, proving our evolution [as a Nation]. The Sinhala Nation destroyed us. A nation was destroyed by another nation here. But, the international community has handed us over to those who destroyed us to investigate the crimes against us; we have been handed over to those who fired upon us; to those who fired shells on us; to those who fired phosphorus bombs against us; to those who fired cluster munitions on us. How can you expect justice from this country [of the Sinhala Nation],” asked Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivagnanam Sritharan, in a press meet in Jaffna on Wednesday. “Therefore, an intervention by the international community is a must and an urgent one,” failing which the existence of the Tamil nation in the island would be wiped out from the maps of the world, he further said.
Full story >>

Tamils should resist being taken into current western agenda: N Malathy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2013, 12:36 GMT]
Tamils should be wary of the intentions of the Western Establishments that are pricking Sri Lanka with this or that war crimes evidence released year after year. They hold possession of a lot more hard evidence of Sri Lankan atrocities, but still do not address the question of genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation, opines N. Malathy, arguing that, “the best option for the Tamils world all over is to use the insights they have gained in recent years and refuse to be taken into the Western fold. Tamils should firmly stand their ground about the genocide of Eelam Tamils and the necessity of the creation of independent Tamil Eelam.” In an article to TamilNet, Dr. Malathy, a key member of the NESoHR and the author of ‘A Fleeting Moment in my County’, gives a concise outline of how the West was playing the human rights card to bring both Sri Lanka and the Eezham Tamils into its fold.
Full story >>

Queen to skip CHOGM - paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2013, 11:34 GMT]
Quoting officials from the Commonwealth Secretariat, Sunday Guardian, an Indian English paper, said that the November scheduled Commonwealth Head of States Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo will "most likely go ahead," several heads of government will boycott "in protest at Sri Lanka's human rights record," and that Queen Elizabeth, is "almost certain to skip the meeting". Former UK Foreign Secretaries Malcolm Rifkind and David Miliband had jointly called the Queen's scheduled attendance at the Colombo CHOGM "grotesque", a sentiment apparently shared by the David Cameron government, the paper said.
Full story >>

Geneva resolution will impede progress: NYT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 March 2013, 20:42 GMT]
The Human Rights Council voted once again to urge the Sri Lankan government to investigate “alleged violations of human rights” for the growing evidence that government soldiers killed tens of thousands of civilians in their bloody campaign to crush the LTTE. "But as with last year’s resolution, this year’s Council vote offers little more than hand-wringing," an opinion column in the New York Times said, adding, "[w]hile they carry symbolic weight, such resolutions may, in fact, be impeding progress rather than facilitating it."
Full story >>

Tamil Nadu boils - WSJ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 March 2013, 04:26 GMT]
Thousands of students across Tamil Nadu have launched protests urging India to move a resolution in the UNHCR meeting in Geneva against Sri Lanka's war crimes, Wall Street Jounal, Indian edition, reported. Nearly 500 students have been arrested across Tamil Nadu in the past three days "for fasting, picketing and boycotting classes," according to the State's Police Commissioner. Meanwhile, New York Times commented that "[t]he recent upheaval in Tamil Nadu has been sparked by the recent release of disturbing photographs of the body of the former Tamil rebel leader’s 12-year old son, who appeared to have been shot at close range in the chest, and a report on the continued abuse of Tamils in Sri Lanka."
Full story >>

Conscious inequity: The Hindu’s “Mindless solidarity”

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 March 2013, 01:28 GMT]
As the peoples’ mobilisation in Tamil Nadu is surging up to question the junta of the Establishments that was ultimately responsible for the genocide and on-going genocide of Eezham Tamils, The Hindu that played a leading part in the media game seems to be ‘missing’ the LTTE. “With the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam no longer in the picture, large sections of the people in Tamil Nadu have begun to openly sympathise with the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka,” said the editorial of The Hindu titled “Mindless solidarity” on Tuesday. The Hindu, perhaps because of its base in Chennai and perhaps because it represents the interests of a particular class (not exactly caste) suffers from the defect of cat’s eye view when it comes to the question of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
Full story >>

Colombo executing structural genocide, not reconciliation - Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 March 2013, 11:54 GMT]
Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the President of the Tamil National People's Front, in a discussion with Phil Miller of "Open Democracy" in Geneva, criticized the language of "reconciliation" promoted by British officials and asserts that “structural genocide, not reconciliation, is the phrase which most accurately describes what is going on,” and adds that “[t]he land grab is not peculiar to this [Rajapakse] regime. It has been happening for the last 65 years. The only time it stopped was during the armed struggle of the LTTE, because then Sinhalese people were not willing to settle in the north and east, where a de-facto Tamil state existed."
Full story >>

U.S. Congressman calls for International Investigation into war-crimes

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 March 2013, 01:13 GMT]
U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a letter to Secretary Kerry on Wednesday, expressed serious concern regarding the deterioration of democracy and the lack of progress on reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka, and added that "now is the time for the State Department to support calls for an Independent International Investigation into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka." The Congressman's call answers those who argue among Tamils that the tabled resolution already has provisions for international investigation.
Full story >>

Colombo deploys former LTTE members to twist opposition to US resolution

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 March 2013, 07:32 GMT]
While the Tamil Nadu students in an unprecedented international approach have risen up targeting the hollow resolution tabled by the USA at Geneva, and have come out with 9 demands addressed to New Delhi and Tamil Nadu governments, Colombo engineering an ironical twist to the Tamil uprising, organised a simulated anti-resolution demonstration in Vanni on Tuesday directed by the Sinhala military with the forced participation of former LTTE members, who are now kept as farm labourers by the military. The demonstration was scheduled to take place in Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu by placing the detained former LTTE members in the forefront, followed by public passers-by who were detained for this purpose by the SL military on Tuesday morning. But, the plan flopped and the SL military had to bring in Sinhalese from Mannaar in 3 buses to stage the demonstration in Ki'linochchi.
Full story >>

Colombo attempts to resurrect bogey of suicide terror

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 March 2013, 02:35 GMT]
Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN, and the International Center for the Study of Terrorism at Penn State University co-sponsored "a dialogue" Friday on suicide bombers in New York, and how the Government of Sri Lanka eliminated the menace and successfully prosecuted the war on terror, sources attending the event told TamilNet. The belated attempt to rekindle the "suicide terror" factor, four years after the Mu'l'livaaykaal massacre and the death of LTTE leadership, was a desperate diversionary measure to shift the increasing focus from Sri Lanka's human rights violations and alleged complicity in mass atrocities, Tamil circles commented.
Full story >>