Tamil mother complains of neglect in tracing missing daughter, featured in photo with Sirisena

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 2015, 23:12 GMT]
A 15-year-old Eezham Tamil girl, Thanoja Viveganathan from Mu'l'liyava'lai in Mullaiththeevu was reported missing since the final hours of genocidal onslaught on Vanni on 17 May, 2009. Thanoja's mother, Vathanalogini Viveganathan has been claiming for almost a year now that she discovered her missing daughter in a photo taken with the incumbent SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, when he was visiting a school in the South during his election campaign 12 months ago. The trauma-stricken mother has been approaching the political leaders and the investigating commissions to trace the girl in the photo. But, no one has done anything so far to verify the claim of the Tamil mother or to disprove it by acting on her complaint. Born on 23 June 1993, Thanoja, if alive, would be at the age of 22 this year.
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Another Tamil political prisoner goes on hunger-strike at New Magazine Prison

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 2015, 17:21 GMT]
32-year-old Komahan Murugiah, a former member of Jaffna Municipal Council, who has been detained in Colombo since July 2010 after being accused of attempting to assassinate Douglas Devananda, a former SL Minister and the leader of the EPDP outfit. The SL 'Terrorist' Investigation Division (TID) had arrested Mr Murugiah during the Rajapaksa regime and produced two cases, one in Vavuniyaa and another in Colombo. The High Court in Vavuniyaa had dismissed his case as his ‘confession’ had been obtained under torture. Mr Douglas Devananda has declined to witness against Mr Murugiah and openly urged for the release of the prisoner. However, the SL TID and SL Attorney General's Department have been trying to file a third case against Murugiah with the intention of keeping him detained indefinitely, informed legal sources told TamilNet on Thursday.
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Hik-kaduwa, Kadu-wela

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 2015, 23:20 GMT]
The forest of Hik trees

The jungle paddy field
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Tamil political prisoner, subjected to indefinite detention, goes on fast-unto-death

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 December 2015, 22:10 GMT]
36-year-old political prisoner Jeneevan Sivarasa, who has been indefinitely detained without trial for 9 years, on Monday launched fast-unto-death in Jaffna Prison. The SL military had detained Jeneevan Sivarasa, who hails from Achchuveali in Jaffna, in 2006 while he was on his way to Polonnaruwa from Batticaloa. An Assistant Superintendent of Police, Senakumara Singhe, who had fabricated a false confession from Jeneevan, has been systematically avoiding presenting himself at every hearing scheduled during the past 6 years at the High Court in Jaffna. Each time, the Tamil prisoner was taken to Jaffna from Colombo and his case was being postponed indefinitely. There are three cases framed against Mr Sivarasa and two of these were fabricated cases of conspiracy to assassinate Maithiripala Sirisena, who is the incumbent SL President.
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Case for Reparations for Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 December 2015, 19:28 GMT]
MacArthur fellow Ta-Nehisi Coates's historical narrative of the troubled history of racism in the US, which rekindled serious debate on systemic discrimination of blacks, starting with slavery, provides a stark parallel to a similar history behind Eezham Tamils from 1940s, about a decade before Ceylon gained ‘independence’. Similar to Coates characterization of white supremacy that lies at the core of the broken social contract for blacks in the U.S., the Sinhala Supremacy within the ruling elite and Sinhala population in general, is the root of the decades long evil oppression of Tamils, descending to State sponsored mass killing of Tamils leading to genocide. It is ironic that those accused by Coates, the past and current US policy makers, are now aiding and abetting the Sinhala supremacist political class to relegate the Tamils to subservient second class citizenship in the island.
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SL Navy to seize more lands in Vidaththal-theevu, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 December 2015, 22:51 GMT]
Resettled Eezham Tamil coastal villagers in Vidaththal-theevu, Mannaar, urged the SL administrative authorities last week to release the seized lands that belong to 12 of 200 resettled villagers. However, the commander of the occupying SL Navy in Vidaththal-theevu, who was present at a meeting on Thursday last week, responded by declining to take the request into consideration On the contrary, the SL Navy commander said he was looking for more lands to expand the naval camp into a full-fledged cantonment, news sources in Maanthai West told TamilNet on Saturday.
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Boyle denounces Power's notion of "trust deficit"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2015, 22:55 GMT]
Commenting on US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power's statement in an interview to the Sri Lanka's Sunday Observer that "[t]he entire country [Sri Lanka] needs to feel that there is positive and concrete action being taken to move forward...The government has commenced a journey and it must deliver the peace dividend to the people by calling for truth, justice and an end to impunity," Professor Boyle, an expert in International Law, said "Power knows full well that what she is saying here is total baloney and double-talk...It is ridiculous and preposterous for Power to talk about a ‘trust deficit’ between the GOSL and the Eelam Tamils—between the Genocidaires and their Victims."
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Eezham Tamils urged to concentrate on strategic connections opposed to imperialism

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2015, 21:06 GMT]
“The US and Britain deliberately broke the peace process, they reorganised and re-equipped the Sri Lankan armed forces, provided it with training, intelligence and tactical support and let it loose [on Eezham Tamils]. Then at the critical moment they withdrew the UN, and allowed the mass killings to take place with international impunity. Now the same imperialist powers are orchestrating acceptance of SL’s cover up,” said Dr. Andrew Higginbottom, lecturer in Politics and Human Rights at the Kingston University in London. He was addressing the participants at Tamil Eelam Heroes Day remembrance event held in London on Friday. Solidarity activist Roberto Cardenas from MERU Verdadero, the movement of Ecuadoreans in the UK, also joined the British academic in urging Eezham Tamils to make strategic connections with the progressive social movements in Latin America.
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Heroes Day addresses in diaspora slam ‘US-Sri Lanka’ agenda on Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 November 2015, 17:52 GMT]
Thousands of Diaspora Eezham Tamils gathered in several cities across the globe on Friday marking Tamil Eelam Heroes Day and passed a sharp message to the unitary State of Sri Lanka and to the powers that steer the UN discourse to whitewash the genocidal State through perfunctory investigations and biased presentations of past crimes for their geopolitical benefits. Eezham Tamils were already aware of the nexus between New Delhi and Colombo. Now, Tamils have also realised the real nature of the smoke-screen discourses in Geneva and New York, which have actualized the ‘US-Sri Lanka consensus resolution’ upholding the Colombo-centric unitary State of Sri Lanka. Eezham Tamil activists of the first- and second-generation diaspora responded with direct messages to the US-Colombo nexus at Oslo in Norway and at Fribourg in Switzerland.
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Theravada Buddhism worse than Brahmanism in language replacement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2015, 23:54 GMT]
Pali-based Theravada Buddhism, especially its Sinhala version, is historically worse than Sanskritic Brahmanism in language replacement and denial of linguistic rights of peoples in their religious pursuits. Tamils in their long civilization have seen all the religions through their language, and from time to time have been rebelling against all kinds of oppression coming through them. In this respect the atheist Dravidian movement set an example to entire South Asia and the Tamil militant struggle upheld the legacy. Tamils will come out with fitting answer to genocide coming through religion and to the international paradigms harping on religions in the game for world monopoly, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics responding to the Nayinaa-theevu question.
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NPC reiterates not to change name of Nayinaa-theevu islet off Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 November 2015, 17:29 GMT]
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) officials on Tuesday released a letter to media, which it recently sent to the SL Minister of Provincial Councils & Local Government Mr Faiszer Musthapha, reiterating NPC's demand on the continuation of the historical Tamil name of Nayinaa-theevu (Nainathivu) islet in the official records. The Colombo regime, in a recent Gazette notification relating to the delimitation of wards 08 and 12 of Veala'nai Divisional Council, had deployed a Sinhala term in Tamil as "Nagadeepam" ("Nagadeepa" in Sinhala) to denote the residential wards under three GS divisions in the islet. The NPC had earlier complained in writing to the SL Minister opposing the name change on 06 November. However, the SL Minister was later twisting the issue other way around in the media reports in Colombo.
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Samantha Power evades questions in Jaffna on Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 2015, 22:22 GMT]
Placing high hopes on Colombo regime that it will act positively to accountability demands of the US, and that there would be a vibrant civil society, lasting democracy and increased prosperity in the island, the visiting US Ambassador to United Nations, Ms Samantha Power, in Jaffna, dodged questions on the need for investigations on Tamil genocide, when journalists in Jaffna met her at the Jaffna Public Library on Sunday. During the tightly scheduled visit to Jaffna, Ms Power met with SL Governor to North, NPC Chief Minister and his ministers, toured the offices of the Uthayan newspaper and ceremonially opened a new science building at Jaffna Osmania College, constructed with 450,000 USD aid from the US Pacific Command. The Tamil-speaking Muslims in Jaffna had experienced “ethnic cleansing” even before the term was coined, Power said in her Osmania address.
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Kadawatha, Galle Four Gravets

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 November 2015, 15:36 GMT]
The border post

Galle town area within the four border posts
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Opposition leader should address sovereignty concerns of Tamils: Former Land Commissioner

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 November 2015, 21:16 GMT]
The United States of America, locked in a geopolitical competition with China in the Indian Ocean Region, is primarily concerned with its own interests. All the stakeholders are mainly concerned of their stakes with regards to the geo strategic location of this island in the Indian Ocean. This was also the case during the times of the World Wars. Now, the USA wants to be in control after ousting the Chinese. India was also interested in the same. The same way, Tamils should also be concerned of their primary interests, said Karthirgamathamby Kurunathan, a retired land commissioner, urging the Tamil polity not to allow the Sinhala politicians to buy time and space through the manoeuvrings in the United Nations. The Tamil polity should be sharp in countering the age-old dragging techniques, he told TamilNet. The opposition leader should address the sovereignty concerns of Tamils, he said.
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Veteran photojournalist passes away at 82 after bicyle accident

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 November 2015, 23:41 GMT]
82-year-old photojournalist Sankarakampan Kathiravelu passed away on Thursday at Jaffna Hospital after he accidentally fell into a well when his bicycle crashed on a by-lane located near the newspaper office of Thinakkural in Jaffna. Mr S. Kathirvelu, coming from Up-country Tamil origin, has been one of the key photojournalists of Jaffna, who remained committed in his service for more than three decades. “His last wish was that Tamil journalists in the diaspora and the homeland should jointly work to strengthen the journalists to remain committed in their work to document the systemic crimes against the nation of Eezham Tamils,” senior journalists paying tribute to him told TamilNet.
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Habara-kada, Wæli-kada

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 November 2015, 10:16 GMT]
The forest of Wæddas (hunters) or the forest of Habara trees

The sandy piece of land
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Hunger strike exposed non-seriousness of US Resolution: Prof Ramasamy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 November 2015, 09:10 GMT]
Since the prisoners’ plight has not been seriously addressed, many are wondering how the present Sri Lankan government would be able to address and punish those responsible for crimes against humanity, said Deputy Chief Minister of Penang state in Malaysia, Professor P. Ramasamy, in an article to TamilNet on Wednesday, announcing the intentions of a forthcoming international forum being organised on Saturday in Penang. “It is indeed ironic, that President Sirisena who promised truth, justice and reconciliation for Tamils, has failed to address the serious human rights plight of Tamils in the country,” he said. The conference comes at a time the prisoners in the island have placed the furtherance of their cause at the hands of the global Tamils and the Northern Provincial Council. The forum will be officiated by Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng.
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Political prisoners call off hunger strike, issue new ultimatum with global struggle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 November 2015, 07:38 GMT]
Following Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran's request to call off the hunger strike with a promise to undertake a global campaign for their release, the prisoners of war and political prisoners in the SL prisons on Tuesday have called off their hunger strike. After Justice Wigneswaran's visit to New Magazine prison on Monday, D.M. Swaminathan, the newly upgraded SL Minister of ‘Prison Reforms’, was also visiting the prisoners with the offer of sending around 70 prisoners to ‘military rehabilitation’ instead of releasing them with the recognition of ‘political prisoners’. The remaining prisoners have set December 15 as ultimatum before commencing their final fast-unto-death. The political prisoners have assigned the responsibility of advancing their cause to the Northern Provincial Council and the Tamil Diaspora.
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Tamil genocide continues, Sirisena shows no desire for change, says Grant

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 November 2015, 22:04 GMT]
Australian journalist and an advocate for Tamils rights, Trevor Grant, who has also written widely on the Sri Lankan State's genocide against Eezham Tamils and on the complicity of the Western governments in the genocide, in an interview with TamilNet this week opined that the Sirisena government's policies on critical Tamil issues are substantively not different from those of the predecessor Rajapakse government. Commenting on the recent prisoner issue where Tamil prisoners in several jails have resumed hunger strike after Sirisena failed to release the prisoners on Nov 7th as promised, Grant said that "if there was a genuine desire for change [in Srisena government], all prisoners would have been released within days of the election result in January." Grant added that Tamil Naadu has the capacity to turn India as a force supporting the cause of Eelam Tamils.
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Kæbællæwa, Kæbælla-lena, Kæbælla-kætiya

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 November 2015, 12:50 GMT]
The part of land or settlement

The bit of a cave, or the burrow-dweller's cave, or the cave for concealed living

The part of Kæbælla trees
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