TNA Parliamentarian calls for UN plebiscite on independent Tamil State

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 March 2018, 22:25 GMT]
Taking part in a side-event on Tamils Right to Self-Determination, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Sivagnanam Shritharan on Monday called for a UN referendum among Eezham Tamils to exercise their external Self-Determination. The TNA MP was referring to 1977 democratic mandate for Tamil Eelam and the 2009-2010 referenda held in the Tamil diaspora. Mr Sritharan was braving the prohibition imposed upon him to articulate the aspiration by the 6th Amendment of genocidal Sri Lanka as he was explicitly calling for the exercise of the right to external self-determination. Mr Sritharan has smashed the taboo placed upon him by the TNA hierarchy controlled by R. Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran through his explicit call for external right to self-determination at Geneva, Tamil political activists in Jaffna said welcoming the courageous move.
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Muslim grassroots activists from East call for unity with Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 March 2018, 17:20 GMT]
Batticaloa-based veteran writer and journalist HLM Hanifa and Ampaa'rai-based national organiser of the All Ceylon Government General Employees Union (ACGGEU) Ismail Mohamed Lebbe, interviewed separately by TamilNet this week, came with the same analysis of the causes, effects and the aftermaths of the recent anti-Muslim pogroms in the island. HLM Hanifa warned that the next wave of the pogrom, which he predicted after a future island-wide elections, would be more intense and destructive than what shocked the Central Province and Ampaa'rai in the Eastern Province this time. Both of the veteran grassroots activists underlined the urgent need for unity among Eezham Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims in the North-East, and they were highly sceptical to the exploitative attitudes prevailing among the political elites among the Tamil-speaking Muslims.
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Colombo barring Tamils from fishing along Adam's Bridge reef sparks protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 February 2018, 21:41 GMT]
More than one hundred Eezham Tamil families from Thalai-mannaar took to the streets on Monday protesting against the occupying SL Navy and SL Department of Wildlife for blocking them from fishing in their traditional territorial waters along Adam's Bridge reef and Thalai-mannaar. The SL Navy has forcefully chased away the fishermen on Sunday night and in the early hours of Monday stating that the SL Wildlife Department has barred fishing for the ‘protection’ of endangered birds. Occupying Colombo and its military are using ‘wildlife protection’ as a cover for militarisation, the fishermen questioned.
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Resolution to national question should precede reconciliation, development: NPC CM

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 January 2018, 23:49 GMT]
“In South Africa, the political problem was solved and then the Truth and Reconciliation Commission came into being. Before all these things, the necessity of solving the national problem or the Tamil problem looms large,” said NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, who was invited as a guest to the Colombo and New Delhi centric business exhibition Jaffna “International” Trade Fair” (JITF) held for the 8th consecutive year in Jaffna on Friday. The Chief Minister was also conveying the reservations of the native people in the North to the big-scale external investments not sensitive to the economic culture and concerns of the war affected population. Although the entire island is globally ranked as a ‘Middle Income Country’, the conflict and war affected homeland of Tamils in the North-East is below the poverty line according to the global standards, the CM further observed.
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Up-country origin Tamils most affected among uprooted in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 January 2018, 15:09 GMT]
166 families, most of them poverty-stricken Tamils of Up-country origin, who lived with self-respect in Vanni until 1996 doing farming after they ended their centuries old plantation life after state-sponsored pogroms against Tamils in the island in 1977 and 1983, are now again transformed into people doing menial work in the local fishing industry in Peasaalai, Mannaar. The families are living at Chi'ruth-thoappu village which is located on Mannaar-Thalaimannaar Road as they had lost their lands and farms in Vanni to occupying SL military. The families displaced to Mannaar in 1996 and were residing in an open refugee camp operated with the support of UNHCR at that time. While majority of the uprooted people had vacated from the camp, 166 families were unable to resettle due to the war and as their original lands in Vanni were being seized by the occupying Sinhala military.
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Koyilā-maṉai/ Kōyilā-maṉai

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 January 2018, 18:30 GMT]
The temple house; or the house of the temple servants
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Mudali-gedara, Paṭṭalē-gedara, Kapu-gedara, Hulō-gedara, Pali-gedara

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2018, 18:30 GMT]
The chief's house and premises

The workshop premises

The folk priest's house and premises or the silk-cotton-tree-fronted house and premises

The Roḍī chief's house and premises

The house and premises of a category of washerman
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Mutaliyār-kamam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 January 2018, 18:30 GMT]
The paddy fields of the chief
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Paṭṭi, Āṭṭup-paṭṭi, Paṭṭik-kuṭiyiruppu, Paṭṭiya, Ẹt-paṭṭiya, Paṭṭi-pola

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 December 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The cattle-stall

The goat-stall

The settlement of the cattle-stall

The cattle-stall

The stall or enclosure to keep elephants

The cattle-stall place
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Kiḷuvai-nāṭṭi, Kaṉṉāṭṭi, Kal-nāṭṭiṉa-kuḷam, Kannaṭṭiya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The place where Kiḷuvai trees are planted (to mark the boundary)

The place demarcated by stones erected (to mark the boundary)

The tank of the place in where the boundaries are set by erecting border stones; or the tank where a stone pillar or post has been set

The place demarcated by stones erected (to mark the boundary)
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Īccilam-paṟṟai/ Īccilam-pattai, Ińdi-bẹdda, Bẹddē-gama

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The thicket of dwarf wild date palms

The thicket or jungle of dwarf wild date palms

The jungle village or the village in the jungle
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Appointing PSC to look into uprooted Tamils’ land issue, another deception

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 November 2017, 15:08 GMT]
As the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) was preparing itself to conduct a detailed survey of uprooted people, who have lost their properties to SL military occupation in the Northern Province, the Rajapaksa loyalists (Joint Opposition) in the SL Parliament have come up with a deceptive proposal to appoint an SL Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into the land issue of the uprooted people in the North. The ruling SL regime also seems to back proposal of the PSC. The Sinhala parties are working on the same line when they want to deceive the Tamils and postpone release of lands further, said the representatives of uprooted people from Vasaavi'laan in Jaffna, who think the PSC move would only end up justifying Sinhala military occupation in the name of so-called national security.
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Lion flag controversy comes to forefront after NPC Minister declining to hoist it in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 November 2017, 23:10 GMT]
“Without giving adequate recognition to the original inhabitants of this Island and their religion our National flag gives undue importance to the Sinhalese and to Buddhism. This is the reason for the resentment of the Hon’ Education Minister,” responded Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, the chief minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in his weekly media address formed as Q&A. NPC CM's response came as SL Ministers in South started to react to media reports on the episode. On Wednesday, SL Governor to North, Reginald Cooray also exposed himself by interpreting the democratic and peaceful protest by the NPC Minister as “violating the constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka”. The SL Governor and ultra-nationalist Sinhalese in South seem to have not learnt their lessons from the recent history, commented political observers in Jaffna.
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34,000 war-uprooted in Jaffna district alone: NPC Report

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 November 2017, 20:43 GMT]
Jaffna district tops the five districts in the Northern Province in the statistics over uprooted people who are awaiting resettlement in their private properties, which still remain occupied by the Sinhala military for the purpose of military zone and cantonments, according to a recent report submitted to NPC CM Justice C.V. Wigneswaran by the Deputy Chief Secretary on Planning at the NPC. There are 34,099 uprooted individuals belonging to 9,758 families in Jaffna district alone, the report says. There are 47,044 individuals who remain uprooted across the five districts. However, these figures are rather conservative and minimalistic as these do not include the people who have not lodged entries for resettlement and those currently remain as refugees in Tamil Nadu State of India and those who live exiled elsewhere as asylum seekers.
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Vaṭali-yaṭaippu, Teṉṉam-piḷḷai-yaṭaippu, Pūtaṉ-aṭaippu, Paḷḷaṉ-aṭaippu, Nuṇacai-yaṭaippu, K

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 October 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The enclosure of young palmyra palms

The enclosure of young coconut palms

The enclosure of land owned by a person named Pūtaṉ; or the land left in the custody of a person named Pūtaṉ

The enclosure of land owned by a man of Paḷḷar community; or the land left in the custody of a man of Paḷḷar community

The land attached to the place called Nuṇacai

The land leased out to service families attached to a feudal lord or temple; or (The place/ living quarters) of the service families attached to a feudal lord or temple
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NPC Chief Minister addresses question on future road map for Tamil struggle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 October 2017, 23:15 GMT]
The Chief Minister of Northern province Justice CV Wigneswaran has cast his thoughts over what he regards as significant in consolidating the future road map of Tamils in the island. Tamil leadership should realise the futility of collaborationist politics and focus on a rights oriented struggle with a positive outlook, he said. Describing the strengths, he emphasized the cooperation with Tamil diaspora, support of Tamil Nadu, stepping up global pressure on the SL Establishment, increased solidarity with Sinhalese who understand the concerns of Tamils, and the last but not the least, the edification of Sinhala masses on the real share, history and the ownership stake of Tamils to the traditional homeland in the North-East. He was also seeking attitudinal change among the upper echelons of the Tamil society.
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Unitary constitution imposing choice irrelevant to fundamentals needs rejection by Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 October 2017, 21:46 GMT]
Imposing conditions on Eezham Tamils to denounce their sovereignty is denial of their right to self-determination. The Eezham Tamils are a distinct nation with sovereignty-based claim to exercise their right to Self-Determination. A framework for political solution should therefore recognise the nationhood of Eezham Tamils, their geographically contiguous homeland and their inalienable right of self-determination. The interim report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly [of genocidal Sri Lanka] has not only denied the right of self-determination, but it also attempts to force upon Tamils the unitary system with a ‘Sri Lankan’ identity, both of which have been historically and democratically denounced by Tamils. Therefore Eezham Tamils should not hesitate to reject it, says Jaffna-based Tamil political analyst S.A. Jothilingam in an exclusive interview to TamilNet.
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Paramilitary operative employed at Cooray's secretariat in Jaffna harasses public servants

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2017, 18:46 GMT]
A former EPRLF (Varathar wing) paramilitary operative turned ‘sanitary worker’ at the secretariat of SL Governor to North, 30-year-old Sivarasa Sivakulan alias Murali, has been harassing Tamil public servants who have been sympathetic to the kith and kin of the struggling political prisoners, Tamil journalists and activists who have been supporting the elected Chief Minister of the NPC. The SL operative has handed over details of Tamil public servants, who took part in the black flag protest and demanded the SL Presidential Security Division (PSD) to punish them through SL Presidential Secretariat instructions to relevant ministries. The harassment has already begun with instruction of transfers being sent to North, informed sources in Colombo said. A Ministerial Security Division (MSD) officer in charge of SL Governor's security is also involved in the latest operation.
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Vaṭamarāṭci, Teṉmarāṭci, Pirāmaṇāṭci, Mẹdavacciya

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The northern lordship territory (a traditionally recognized division in Jaffna Peninsula)

The southern lordship territory (a traditionally recognized division in Jaffna Peninsula)

The Brahmin land possession

The middle lordship territory (a territorial recognition coming from its location between Kandyan and Jaffna Patnam territories)
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UN Refugee agency ignorant of stranded Tamil refugees in Indonesia

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2017, 07:15 GMT]
Eezham Tamil Refugees languishing for almost five years in the transit refugee camps in Medan, which is the capital of North Sumatra province in Indonesia, mobilized against the negligence by UNHCR and the local authorities last Thursday. They were demanding resettlement in a third country as promised to them by the UN body for refugees five years ago, when their boat en route to Australia was detained off the waters of Indonesia. The immigration authorities responded harshly with the arrest of 24-year-old Nathan Partheepan, one of the organisers of the agitation a few hours after the peaceful protest. Mr Partheepan is currently detained at a closed-door detention camp, where living conditions are appalling and medically hazardous. The organiser who talked to TamilNet before being transferred from the open camp, claimed he was among those recognised as refugees by the UNHCR.
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