SL ‘Terrorist’ squad arrests 7 Tamils in Moothoor East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2013, 22:11 GMT]
An elite squad of the Sri Lankan ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division (TID) that arrived in Trincomalee on Monday from Colombo has been conducting search operations in the district targeting Tamil youth. The squad has so far arrested 7 Tamils and transferred them to Colombo from Moothoor police station, news sources said. The latest rounds of harassments by the TID squad is reported following the protest by Eezham Tamils who had put up posters condemning the observation of the SL ‘independence’ day in Trincomalee.
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British Under Secretary’s ‘war picnic’, misleading comments, draw flak from Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 February 2013, 21:17 GMT]
While Alistair Burt, British Under Secretary of State at FCO, endorsed on Twitter on Wednesday the self-determination of the people of the Western Sahara, in his Twitter discussions on Tuesday with Eezham Tamils, he opined that “Detail of political settlement must be for Sri Lankans themselves. We encourage TNA and govt to make serious progress.” Likewise, in a video recording taken with the British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka a few days back at the Mullaitheevu coast, which witnessed the worst massacres in May 2009, he welcomed the defeat of the LTTE calling it “terrorism” and picked only politically insignificant flaws with the Sri Lankan government. Civil society activists from the North remarked that the minister seemed to be on a sort of a “war picnic”, appreciating some aspects with Sri Lanka and criticizing others. Activists in the UK have also reacted to Mr. Burt’s comments.
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TESO urges New Delhi to move for referendum at Geneva

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 February 2013, 07:39 GMT]
New Delhi should take firm efforts to bring forward a resolution at the UNHRC sessions next month for conducting a referendum among Ilangkai Tamils, said a resolution passed by Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) in Chennai on Monday. The organisation cited its earlier resolution passed in this regard in August last year and said that it had already presented the case for the consideration of the UN, member countries of the UN, the Government of India and the UNHRC. In presenting the plight of Eezham Tamils, TESO has resolved to convene an all-India level meet of political party leaders in New Delhi in March. Condemning New Delhi encouraging Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa visiting India this week, TESO has also resolved to organise a black-clad demonstration in Chennai on Friday morning, protesting his visit.
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MV Sun Sea Refugee Faces Deportation in 10 Days

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 February 2013, 05:26 GMT]
The CBC reported on Thursday that an MV Sun Sea Eezham Tamil refugee faces imminent deportation. The Canadian government has issued a deportation order for February 13 in the case. Changes to refugee appeals processes by the Canadian government have restricted the avenues and time frame for appeals. The refugee’s lawyer, Hadayt Nazami, speculates that the government has been ‘judge-shopping’ by canceling two previous hearings regarding a stay of the refugee’s deportation. Nazami told the CBC these tactics are being employed by the government to ensure a favourable judge, who will not order a stay on the deportation, hears the case.
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Canadian minister fails to address genocide, annihilation of Tamil territory

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2013, 00:13 GMT]
Speaking to media at a gathering in Markham, Ontario (where Eezham Tamils live in considerable number), Mr Jason Kenny, Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism, who recently visited Colombo, was speaking on failure of Sri Lanka in addressing reconciliation, war-crimes accountability and general failure in protecting human rights and rule of law. He also mentioned excessive militarization of the North and East, even though in answering questions he said that he understands militarization to some extent. But the minister, seeing Tamils as minorities and not as a nation, failed to address the pressing question currently faced by Eezham Tamils as a nation in the island, i.e., structural genocide, Sinhala colonization supported by militarization and annihilation of the territoriality of the nation of Eezham Tamils.
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Sinhala military, Malayala martial arts to mark Indian celebrations in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 January 2013, 00:36 GMT]
Marking India’s 64th Republic Day (26-01-2013) celebrations, a performance of Malayala Martial Arts, called Ka’larip-payattu, has been organized at Veerasingam Hall in Jaffna on Thursday, by New Delhi’s Consulate General in Jaffna. The Commander of the Sinhala military occupying Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, will be the Chief Guest at the celebrations, presided over by New Delhi’s Consul General in Jaffna, Mr. V. Mahalingam. Genocidal Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Culture and Arts and New Delhi’s Indian Council of Cultural Relations jointly sponsor the programme. Meanwhile, India is in the top in training genocidal Sri Lanka’s Sinhala military at the rate of 1400 personnel per year, admitted, New Delhi’s envoy in Colombo Ashok K. Kantha.
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Retired Tamil Justice compares between own and occupied rule in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 January 2013, 15:32 GMT]
When I came here [Jaffna] at the beginning of this century, I was told that even at midnight women could move around without any fear or concern about security. But now, there is fear and apprehension even when one is confined to houses. Rather than saying that only those who have come from the outside commit acts causing fear, it is more appropriate to say that it is the sons of Jaffna who largely commit such acts, without any shame or concern. A careful scrutiny would show how some one of us was there operating and is still operating, behind every wrong committed by the outsiders. We should build unity and an internal mechanism so that our people don’t turn into pimps and servants to the outsiders, said Trincomalee-based retired Tamil Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, while addressing the Vaddukkoaddai YMHA on the Pongkal day.
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U.S. Senators call for international probe into Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 January 2013, 02:28 GMT]
U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called for an independent, international investigation into potential war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE during the civil war in Sri Lanka. In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Senators said such an investigation is needed because the legitimate concerns of the Sri Lankan people have not been answered by the government, Senator Leahy's website reported. “Sri Lankans have legitimate concerns about war crimes committed during the civil war that are not being addressed by the government, and an independent, international investigation is needed to get answers,” the letter said.
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Indigenous peoples of Americas, Tamils discuss genocide and resistance at London event

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 January 2013, 20:08 GMT]
Grassroots activists belonging to indigenous peoples of Americas, the Eezham Tamil diaspora in the UK and other solidarity groups discussed the different forms of oppression and genocide that their respective communities faced and the corresponding forms of resistance at an event in London on Monday, jointly organized by indigenous activists from the Americas based in the UK. In an exclusive interview to TamilNet, Sylvia McAdam Saysewahum, one of the co-founders of the popular “Idle No More” movement of indigenous people in Canada, spoke about the goals and strategies of the movement, question of identity and sovereignty, Canada’s multicultural policies, besides providing suggestions to the Eezham Tamils to preserve their traditions as a means to resistance.
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Visiting US team continues ‘counting trees’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2013, 23:23 GMT]
The visit of the US Defence and State Department officials to Jaffna on Sunday was marked by denial of issues by the occupying Sinhala military, denials countered by the Bishop and civil society of Jaffna, and comments by the visiting team – all just a bickering on counting trees but deliberate refusal to see the wood, because the ambit has been set by the US-tabled 2012 Geneva resolution that has to now facilitate the 2013 resolution under preparation, political analysts in Jaffna told TamilNet. A stage has been set, knowing how the characters would act and what dialogues they would come out with, so that the play could proceed endlessly to the benefit of the director. Unless Tamils insist on a stage to talk nothing but the fundamentals for any future association with the director, they will be ‘played out’ the analysts further said.
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Eezham Tamil writers in UK criticize India’s role in genocide of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2013, 22:32 GMT]
UK based Eezham Tamil writers and journalists criticized the role of India in abetting the genocide of the Eezham Tamils and shielding the genocide perpetrators at book release function at London on Sunday. Speaking at the release of the book “Thookkuk-kayittil: Rajiv padukolai nijam” written by Tiruchi Velusami and compiled by P. Egalaivan, the Eezham Tamil writers expressed their opinions on how under the cover of eliminating the LTTE, India and other world powers effectively covered up the genocide of the Eezham Tamils.
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Canadian Federal Court Overturns Refugee Status for MV Sun Sea Refugee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2013, 10:16 GMT]
The Federal Court of Canada has revoked the refugee status of a 26-year-old male Eezham Tamil refugee who arrived aboard the MV Sun Sea, the National Post reported on Monday. Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton’s recent ruling conflicts with decisions by the Immigration and Refugee Board in two separate cases granting refugee status to Eezham Tamil refugees aboard both the MV Sun Sea and Ocean Lady. In response to the recent Federal Court ruling based on an appeal by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Eezham Tamil political observers in Canada highlight the complicity of the Canadian government in the ongoing persecution of Eezham Tamil refugees.
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Gotabhaya exonerates US-refused SL general

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 16:48 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on Sunday tried to exonerate a Sinhala military general, Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe, who was refused admission into a US military training programme on grounds that he had served the war-crimes-accused 53 Division of the SL military. The said general, recently appointed as SL Military Secretary, had not commanded the 53 Division or any other fighting formations, but he was only ‘Commissioner General of Rehabilitation’ taking over a state-run project to ‘rehabilitate’ ex-LTTE cadres in Feb 2010, Gotabhaya said, accusing the US for its blunder in the denial of opportunity to a senior officer of a friendly country to enhance his knowledge, Colombo defence writers reported on Monday.
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Indian students federation stands with Jaffna students, urges withdrawal of SL military

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2013, 18:13 GMT]
The All India Students Federation (AISF), a wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), in its national conference held in Mumbai on Saturday, unanimously resolved in condemning the Sri Lankan military detention of the Jaffna university student activists and in demanding their immediate release. The AISF urged the Indian government to intervene and facilitate the immediate release of the Jaffna students. The AISF also called upon the SL government to withdraw its armed forces from educational institutions and urged the Government of India to prevail upon the Sri Lankan government against stationing its armed forces in schools and educational institutions.
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SL military deployed ex-LTTE member, EPDP-journalist to frame Sritharan MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2013, 23:41 GMT]

A former LTTE member, known as Premraj Vasanthan, allegedly recruited by the SL military intelligence for covert operations in the post-Mu’l’livaaykkal times, had visited the office of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mr Sivagnanam Sritharan after a long time last Friday and was wandering around inside the office. On the following day, the SL “Terrorist” Investigation Department (TID) operatives raided the office of the TNA parliamentarian in Ki’linochchi, with Mr Vasanthan in their ‘custody’. The intelligence operative “located” explosives, while the SL military “discovered” pornography material and the EPDP journalist planted condoms in an apparent move to discredit and frame Mr Sritharan, who has been gaining public support from the people of Vanni.
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Colombo militarizes civil administration in Tamil DS divisions of Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2013, 23:07 GMT]
The establishment of three new camps of the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in three Tamil Divisional Secretariat divisions, Aalaiyadivempu, Naavithanve'li and Thirukkoayil of the Ampaa'rai district has caused tension and fear among the population as a part of militarization of civil administration, civil sources in Ampaa'rai told TamilNet.
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US-based former GTF President becomes advisor to SL colonial governor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2013, 00:16 GMT]
US-based Dr Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, the first president of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), accepts an advisor position to G.A. Chandrasiri, Sri Lanka’s colonial governor and retired Major General of the war crimes accused SL military. The website of SL run Northern Provincial Council on Saturday indicated that Dr Ethirveerasingam is already functioning as Advisor on Education and Sports to the SL Governor. A doctorate in Agriculture education from the Cornell University in the USA, Ethirveerasingam, now 78, is also a recognised sportsman who represented Ceylon in the Olympics of 1950s.
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Mass protests in London condemning assassination of Kurdish activists in Paris

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2013, 02:01 GMT]
Thousands of Kurds from across the UK took to the streets in London on Sunday condemning the recent assassination of three Kurdish women activists in Paris. Demanding a proper inquiry and immediate justice for the brutal murders of Sakine Cansiz, co-founder of the PKK, and activists Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez, the protestors raised slogans of ‘”Turkey is a terrorist state” and “We want freedom”. Kurdish sources told TamilNet that the assassination was an attempt to sabotage the Kurds desire for peaceful negotiations and France should act soon, lest it portrays itself complicit by inaction. Large protests were also held in France and Germany on Saturday. These protests saw the participation of solidarity groups and Eezham Tamil activists, who had joined to convey their solidarity with the Kurds.
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Nambiar, India's proxy in UN, complicit in white flag killings?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2013, 23:55 GMT]
While the International Community which, blinded by the 9/11 terror, architected the annihilation of Tamils' primary safeguard, the LTTE, is left to savor the resulting horror state and the autocratic dystopia in Sri Lanka, Rights groups have accused the U.N. of being derelict in its duty to protect civilian lives. Vijay Nambiar, the Chef de Cabinet, who was a key official in shaping UN's Sri Lanka policy, is also accused of complicity in the "Whiteflag" incident where several surrendees were executed by the Sri Lanka military after being given assurances of safety by International actors. Nepotism and family connections between Ban Ki Moon and Nambiar, with personal links to India and Colombo, may also have contributed to the U.N.'s unwillingness to stop the Mu'l'livaaykkaal massacre, observers say.
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Colombo’s military establishment steps up psyop war on Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2013, 23:32 GMT]
The Sri Lankan “Terrorist” Investigation Department (SL-TID), which had summoned Mr Sivagnanam Sritharan, the Tamil parliamentarian from Ki’linochchi, to Colombo Police Headquarters in June 2012 to grill him on his interviews published in diaspora and Tamil Nadu media, was first looking to frame the parliamentarian as someone who had violated the 6th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution. Three months later, the police bodyguards provided to him from the Ministerial Security Division were withdrawn by Colombo without any explanation. On Saturday, the SL-TID entered the office of Mr Sritharan alleging that they had information on explosives. Later, they “discovered” 300 grams explosives inside the kitchen allegedly after “planting” the evidence. Two of the TNA activists, working at Sritharan MPs office, were subjected to interrogations.
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