Sinhala policemen force Tamil journalists to delete evidence of Sinhalicisation in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2017, 21:44 GMT]
Eight Tamil journalists who went from Jaffna to Tha'n'ni-mu'rippu reservoir in the south of Mullaiththeevu district on Saturday to witness the Sinhalicisation, which is stepped up there through the militarization of occupying Sinhala Army, were subjected to severe harassment. The journalists, who were documenting the scale of Sinhalicisaton and militarisation of the irrigation tank of Tamils were stopped by the ‘Sri Lanka’ Army soldiers, who brought a higher-ranking officer from the nearby military camp. The SLA officer was attempting to confiscate the cameras of the Tamil journalists claiming that he wanted to inspect the equipment citing ‘national security’ concerns. The journalists refused to hand over their equipment. In the meantime, Sinhala policemen who arrived from Mullaiththeevu intervened deleting the photos and videos recorded by the journalists at the spot.
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SL Intelligence harasses ex LTTE members, warns against contact with UN rapporteurs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 December 2017, 22:38 GMT]
Three different intelligence agencies of occupying Colombo are simultaneously harassing former LTTE members in Vanni on contacts they were having or expected to have in the nearest future with thematic special procedure mandate holders of the United Nations Human Rights Council, ex-LTTE members who have been grilled by the SL intelligence agencies in Ki'linochchi told TamilNet this week. The notorious ‘Terrorist Investigation Division’ (TID) investigators, SL State Intelligence Service (SIS) which is the official intelligence agency of the SL State and the intelligence wing of the occupying SL military have been contacting the ex-LTTE members in recent days inviting them for ‘conversations’. The intelligence officers have issued veiled threats claiming that they were aware of those getting in touch with the UN Human Rights system.
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Families of enforced disappeared, uprooted people to boycott elections

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2017, 22:23 GMT]
The families of enforced disappeared who have been waging a continuous protest for 292 days in front of Kanthasamy temple in Ki'linochchi on Friday announced that they are going to boycott all the elections in the future as the electoral politicians have completely failed to address their demands. The uprooted people of Keappaa-pulavu in Mullaiththeevu, who have been waging a continuous protest for the last 283 days, said they were also going to boycott the elections. A spokeswoman for the protesting families at Ki'linochchi said their meetings with SL President Maithiripala Sirisena in the past, facilitated by the electoral politicians, were of no use.
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US Pacific Command complicit in Colombo’s structural genocide against Champoor Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2017, 21:36 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala navy’s Vidura training base is situated in Champoor in the Trincomalee district of the Eastern Province. The Sinhala navy has seized 3,200 acres of lands for the naval training base. The US Pacific Command is directly involved in upgrading the SL Navy with a marine force through its training sessions in Trincomalee. SL President Maithiripala Sirisena has upgraded the Sinhala militarisation through upgrading the 178 acres of SL Naval base into 3,200 acres of modern training base of the occupying SL Navy which is being groomed by the US Pacific Command through military-to-military training in Trincomalee. Now, the Sinhala navy is chasing for more lands in Champoor, the Rural Development Society representatives in Champoor said vowing to protest against the US Embassy in Colombo unless their demands were met by the Colombo government.
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Colombo accelerates Sinhalicisation of pubic sector in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2017, 15:55 GMT]
108 of 110 nurses, who were appointed on Tuesday to the government vacancies at teaching hospitals and medical institutions that come under the administrative control of Colombo's central Ministry of Health in the Jaffna district were Sinhalese, civil sources in Jaffna said. While there are 45,000 unemployed young graduates in the Northern province demanding job opportunities from the government, almost all the appointments in the health sector as well as at the administrative sector at the district and divisional secretariats are being allocated to Sinhalese from South, civil sources at the District Secretariat of Jaffna said. At the current rate of Sinhalicisation taking place at the University of Jaffna, the significance of the University as a centre of Tamil culture and education will be gone within the next 5 years, academic circles have commented.
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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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North-East under Sinhala colonial rule: NPC Minister Sarweswaran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2017, 17:35 GMT]
Instead of respecting the feelings of Tamils and looking at ways to resolve the national conflict, which also includes the introduction of a new flag that doesn't offend the feelings of the Tamil people, the Sinhala establishment of southern politicians and their ethno-religious leaders remain trapped in a colonial mind-set, says K. Sarsweswaran, the minister of Education, Youth affairs and Sport at the Northern Provincial Council. In a recent video interview to TamilNet on the reactions coming from the Sinhala politicians from South and the Sinhala colonial Governor to North regarding the NPC Minister’s avoidance of hoisting the offending Lion flag at a school event in Vavuniyaa, Sarawesaran said he was baffled at the reactions coming from the Sinhala politicians in South as if the denouncement of Lion flag was a latest discovery of Tamils.
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Sinhala colonists resume violence against Tamil farmers in Paduvaan-karai, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 December 2017, 13:40 GMT]
Sinhala colonists who have encroached into traditional Tamil areas in Batticaloa have again started to shoot and kill the cattle belonging to Tamil dairy farmers in Paduvaankarai region. Dairy farmers in Ko'ra'lai-pattu South blame three Sinhala encroachers as culprits after one of their cows was shot and killed on Thursday night. The farmers said they have recovered three of their cattle with gunshot injuries. Between 2013 and 2016, more than 1,000 cows, owned by Tamil dairy farmers were shot and killed. The process was accelerated after Sirisena coming to power. However, due to relentless protests and complaints, the menace was temporarily halted from the end of 2016. Now, it resumes again, Tamil farmers said. Paduvaan-karai was protected by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before the end of war in the East in 2007.
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Colombo’s deceptions on Tamil political prisoners continue unabated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 December 2017, 15:18 GMT]
Reginald Cooray, the SL Governor to North and the officials of the SL Presidential Secretariat in Colombo have systematically misled the families of the three Tamil political prisoners along with NPC Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam, who was negotiating with the SL President on their behalf, legal sources in Jaffna said. The prisoners were on a fast-unto-death for 38 days objecting their case being transferred to Anuradhapura court, where it was to be addressed by a Sinhala judge. The SL Governor and the officials of the SL Presidential Secretariat had ‘advised’ Mr Shivajilingam and the families of the prisoners to lodge an appeal against the transfer of the case to Anuradhapura in the Appeal Court of Colombo and had promised that the SL Attorney General would be cooperating with transferring their case back to Vavuniyaa by not attending the hearings at the Appeal Court in Colombo.
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Deploying wild elephants, Colombo blocks resettlement of Tamils along Vavuniyaa border

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2017, 22:17 GMT]
At least 250 Tamil families were living in the three villages of Koara-moaddai, Nochchik-ku'lam and Naavat-pa'n'nai along the border of Vavuniyaa North division and the now Sinhalicised Ma'na'l-aa'ru (Weli-oya) division in Mullaiththeevu district. The villages situated between the two districts in the Northern Province have been exposed to Sinhala encroachment coming through Padaviya and Anuradhapura of the North Central Province (NCP). The Tamil farmers living there were uprooted from their villages between 1991 and 1994 as the so-called Deep Penetration Unit of the SL Army let loose terror decapitating the Tamil farmers. So far, only a few families have managed to resettle, but they are being hunted by wild elephants that have been intentionally brought down by the SL Wild Life Department from South through Horowapothana in the NCP, Tamil civil sources in Vavuniyaa North say.
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Occupying Colombo's Intelligence steps up threats against ex-LTTE females in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 December 2017, 22:36 GMT]
A 33-year-old former LTTE female member from I'raal-oadai of Koa'ra'laip-pattu North (Vaakarai) in Batticaloa in Batticaloa district, complains that ex-LTTE female members from Batticaloa were being repeatedly harassed by the so-called Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) ‘intelligence’ operatives of occupying Colombo. The woman was detained under the so-called Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in 2006 in Colombo and was released in 2011 after her case was addressed through the SL courts. However, every time Tamil people show their resentment against occupying Colombo and express their resolve on their fundamental rights, the SL Intelligence establishment opens the files of ex-LTTE female cadres in the district carrying out new rounds of interrogations.
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Muḷḷip-paḷḷam, Veḷḷap-paḷḷam, Aṭṭaip-paḷḷam, Paḷḷak-kamam, Paḷḷaṉ-kō&am

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 December 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The low land found with Muḷḷi plants

The low land where floodwater pools in

The backwaters or sea-arm found with sea cucumbers

The low-lying paddy field or the wet-cultivation paddy field

The settlement enclosure or enclave of Paḷḷar community

The valley of elephants; or the place where a pit was dug to trap elephants

The stream valley

The low-lying paddy field; or the lower part of the paddy field tract

The low-lying jungle or the lower part of the jungle

The lower part village of the larger village called Paṭṭiyagama
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Occupying Colombo's intelligence harasses Maaveerar families in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2017, 18:32 GMT]
The intelligence operatives of the occupying Sinhala military have started to harass families of LTTE war-dead Tamil Eelam Heroes from Batticaloa district in the Eastern Province after the families openly braved the hindrances by the SL military and police against commemorating Tamil Eelam War Heroes on November 27 at the SL military demolished Heroes Cemeteries in the district. Claiming that they were from a Special Police unit in Vaazhaich-cheanai, the intelligence officials were contacting the families in Batticaloa since Wednesday morning and posed a series of questions. The questions ranged from who took part in decorating Maaveerar thuyilum illams, who donated coconut saplings that were distributed as part of the remembrance event and how a vehicle belonging to SL Electricity Board was used in the arrangement.
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Eastern Tamil Eelam marks Heroes Day with mass mobilisation after 10 years

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2017, 04:57 GMT]
Tamil students at the Eastern University marked Tamil Eelam Heroes Day with remembrance event at the University premises as well as organising a blood donation campaign. No-one can ever erase November 27 as Heroes Day in the hearts and minds of the Tamil people, said Arts Faculty Student Leader Dineshkanth. An academic of the faculty, who addressed the audience said That the Tamil resolve to remember their war-dead fighters as Tamil National Heroes also reiterated that rightful freedoms of all peoples in the island should be restored by ensuring their inalienable rights. Maaveerar Naa'l was marked in Ampaa'rai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee braving the surveillance harassments of the occupying Sinhala military and police in the East. The people openly defied the ‘instructions’ from the SL military and Police not to use photos with LTTE uniforms.
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Peoples’ uprising on Heroes Day delivers strong message to occupying Colombo, foreign powers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2017, 08:12 GMT]
More than 1000 families of fallen Tamil Eelam fighters gathered in front of the SL military demolished Heroes Cemetery on Rajaveethi Road amidst SL military harassment of blocking access to the memorial site, veiled threats of taking photos of the participants and the military display of deploying Armoured Personal Carriers and the firing of tear gas and demonstration of water hoses earlier in the day. Around 1,000 Sinhala soldiers were taking positions surrounding the largest Tamil Eelam Heroes Cemetery while Sinhala soldiers in civil clothes were riding vehicles. But, the soldiers in civil found themselves as they had to stay within their vehicles while the people brought everything to standstill as they emotionally marked Heroes Day remembrance at 6:00 p.m. on Monday.
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Nīr-noccit-tāḻvu, Tāḻvu-pāṭu, Āṇṭit-tāḻvu, Ūr-uḍayan-daḷuva

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 November 2017, 18:30 GMT]
The low-lying land of Nīr-nocci trees

The low-lying seashore or shoal for Beach Seine Fishing

The abode or quarters of the religious mendicant or the community of religious mendicants

The quarters of the lord of the village
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Jaffna University community marks Tamil Eelam Heroes Day with renewed resolve

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 November 2017, 10:48 GMT]
More than 2,000 students along with lecturers, faculty deans and the staff of the University of Jaffna took part on Monday morning in an emotional floral tribute in front of the newly renovated Tamil Eelam Heroes memorial statue, which was destroyed by the occupying SL military after 2009. The event on Monday was equally emotional to the first event held 12 years ago when the statue was declared open. "The people of Jaffna will never forget nor pardon the desecration of the memorials," the vice chancellor at that time Prof Mohanadas told TamilNet after declaring the statue open in 2005. After 2009, the occupying SL military also destroyed the statue inside the University premises as it razed to the grounds all the Heroes’ cemeteries in occupied Tamil Eelam. The emotional event in Jaffna on Monday has passed a strong message to the world, student leaders at Jaffna university said.
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Occupied Tamil Eelam mobilised to mark Heroes Day amidst SL military threats

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 November 2017, 23:45 GMT]
Braving various harassments coming from the occupying Sinhala military and the SL Police, the people of occupied Tamil Eelam have fully mobilised to mark Tamil Eelam Heroes Day (Maaveerar Naa'l) in a big scale for the first time since 2008 in their occupied homeland. One of the first Heroes Cemeteries (Maaveerar thuyilum illam) at Ka'l'lik-kaadu, Nedungkea'ni in Vavuniyaa, which was created by the LTTE during the times of Indian occupation, has been renovated by the people, news sources in Vanni said. Similarly, one of the last Heroes Cemeteries at Iraddai-Mu'l'livaaykkaal, where the war dead Tamil fighters were buried during the final days in 2009, has also been prepared by the people. Red and yellow decorations have been put up at all the locations of Heroes Cemeteries except those being still occupied by the SL military.
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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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Empowering genocide-victims, particularly women, is nation-building: diaspora writer

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 November 2017, 20:16 GMT]
A France based Eezham Tamil diaspora writer, Parani Krishnarajani, who has been studying sexual violence unleashed on Tamil women and children in the aftermath of the genocidal war, says rape was not only used as a tool of war or as tool of terror, but as a tool of genocide with multi-pronged effects. The effects are well-recorded but not the intentions and how they were set in motion to achieve the end results that we are witnessing today in the society. The genocidal intent seems to vary from suppressing the memories of valour of Tamil women from the times of Pirapaharan’s LTTE and to the destruction of their familial set-up, nullifying all positive social transformations that had been achieved during the times of the armed struggle. The nation of Eezham Tamils should empower the victimised Tamil women on the ground through evolving familial institutions for them.
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