Another link to North and East sieged by Sinhala Buddhists

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 July 2013, 23:40 GMT]
A place called Kanthasaami-malai in Thennai-maravadi village, along the narrow border of the Trincomalee and Mullaiththeevu districts of the North and East provinces of the country of Eezham Tamils, is under siege by the Sinhala-Buddhist monks, who have arrived from the South. They claim that Kanthasaami-malai area belongs to a historic Buddhist Vihara and want about one hundred acres of land to be handed over to them. They have made ‘representations’ to the occupying Sri Lanka Army to get these lands for a new construction of the so-called Purana (ancient) Buddhist Vihara. While such claims are made for the interior landward link at Thennaimaravadi, a Buddhist monk from the South has already appropriated 500 acres of land at the coastal link at Pul-moaddai for a Buddhist enclave. The land was surveyed for him by the genocidal State’s Survey Department.
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‘US-British imperialism helps Sinhala colonization of Tamil homeland’

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 July 2013, 21:32 GMT]
The help of US and British imperialism assists the Sinhala state’s colonization of Tamil areas, observes a solidarity statement by Europe based Kurdish and Turkish diaspora youth organizations. Released on the occasion of Black July, the statement in German language, signed by 4 Left-leaning youth organizations and published on the official website of the German based Kurdish youth organization the Union of Students from Kurdistan (YXK), besides condemning the massacre in July 1983 also traced the continuity of genocide to May 2009 and after, stating that the rulers “had no interest in the scheduled peace process and negotiations”.
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Precedence setting determination by British court on SL Country guidance: legal activist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 July 2013, 23:19 GMT]
In an interview to TamilNet, Mr. Geetharthanan Kulasegaram, a Tamil legal activist based in the UK who assisted one of the solicitor firms in preparing material for UK’s Sri Lanka country guidance case, elaborated on the significance of the determination by the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal in UK. Initially, the Home Office in the UK had tried to paint a picture of normalcy in Sri Lanka, basing on the findings of the report by Norway based Landinfo report. This was challenged and the recent ruling takes note of the ongoing oppression of Tamils in the island, especially ex-LTTE cadres.
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Habitual detraction of due justice to Eezham Tamils continues in Indian media

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 July 2013, 04:51 GMT]
“In order to allay Sinhalese apprehensions, iron-clad guarantees should be provided that devolution to provinces should not lead to demand for separation,” writes V. Suryanarayan, in an opinion feature “Ethnic riddle in Sri Lanka,” appeared in The New Indian Express on Wednesday. “The Achenese model should be of relevance because like the Sinhalese, the Javanese are also opposed to federalism. The special autonomy status to Acheh, it must be underlined, is within the constitutional framework of a unitary Indonesia,” he further writes. Whatever that has happened or continue to happen, Eezham Tamils should never get independence and the Sinhalese should be appeased at any cost, even in their opposition to federalism, is the thrust of the opinion, on which the impunity of genocidal Sri Lanka is firmly anchored, responds TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Affiliating Trinco university campus with Anuradhapura: civil society calls for protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 July 2013, 12:33 GMT]
In one of the worst moves of educational genocide of Eezham Tamils, efforts are now being undertaken to affiliate the Trincomalee Campus of the Eastern University with the Rajarata University of Anuradhapura, informed sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Thursday. The university-level educational institutions of Tamils in Jaffna and Batticaloa, started by the missionaries in the 19th century, became secondary schools when the British rule transferring power to the Sinhalese towards its closing days, encouraged only a Colombo-centric education. Later, when the Tamils demanded a university after the so-called independence, they wanted it to be based in Trincomalee. Affiliating the Trincomalee Campus with the Sinhala University at Anuradhapura is the height of educational genocide, said, Tamil academic and civil circles in the East.
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‘Abuse of Tamil women part and parcel of intended genocide’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 July 2013, 11:02 GMT]
The abuse of Eezham Tamil women committed by the Sri Lankan state apparatus should not be seen as individual human rights violations but as a part and parcel of an intended genocide of a protracted nature, write Dr. N. Malathy, key member of NESoHR and author of ‘A Fleeting Moment in my Country’ and RM Karthick, research scholar at University of Essex, UK. In an article published on Indian journal Sanhati’s 6th issue for 2013, the authors, criticizing international organizations for their failure to properly deal with the issue of genocidal rape by Sri Lankan forces, also call on the Tamil community to have a change of social approach towards rape survivors, noting how violence against Tamil women is deeply intertwined with communal identity.
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Malaysia should boycott CHOGM, IC should call for referendum: Penang Dy-CM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 July 2013, 19:31 GMT]
Malaysia should not participate in CHOGM in Colombo simply because what took place in 2009 was a genocide against Tamil people. Unless the Sri Lankan government is taken to task on the genocide against Tamils, I think the Commonwealth countries should boycott CHOGM in Colombo this year, said Malaysia’s Penang State Deputy Chief Minister, Prof Ramasamy in an exclusive interview to TamilNet this week. While the Tamil issue has been so much internationalised, countries like India try to go back to the 13th Amendment. Rather than undemocratically imposing a solution, I suggest that the International Community should call for a referendum among Tamils, whether they want a separate state or not, because it was the Tamils who were victimised. Let’s not judge from what others say, let’s ask what the Tamils want, he further said.
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Twelve STF arrested for 2006 killing of five Trinco students

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 July 2013, 23:59 GMT]
Twelve members of Sri Lanka Police Special Task Force (STF) were arrested in connection with the extra-judicial killings of five Tamil students, all aged 21, at a beach in Trincomallee on 2nd January 2006, and remanded in custody till the July 18th court hearing, Colombo media reported Friday. Colombo has been resisting pursuing the killers amidst accusations that high-level officials connected to the Government were allegedly complicit in the killings. Amnesty International, and Dr Manoharan, the father of one of the victims, Ragihar, have relentlessly raised the matter in the UN and other international human rights fora. Polical observers speculate that the arrests are likely intended to mitigate serious fallouts from the impending visit to Sri Lanka of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.
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Hypocrisy at best: US policy towards Syria and Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2013, 13:44 GMT]
US media reported on Wednesday that the CIA has begun shipping of arms to Syrian rebels to counter Bashar al-Assad’s forces. This move comes in spite of strong opposition from UNSC member Russia and warnings by a UN expert that increase in flow of weapons into Syria would only escalate the conflict. Likewise, American diplomat Susan Rice termed UNSC’s inaction on Syria a “stain” on the body. The hypocrisy of assisting Sri Lanka in its genocidal war on the Tamil nation while crying foul over al-Assad’s operations apart, the US through its actions on Syria makes it clear once again that the UNHRC, UNSC are of least concern should the US decide to intervene in a conflict. Given this nature of US foreign policy, till how long then will the Tamil Geneva pundits continue to believe in the impotent resolutions on Sri Lanka in the UNHRC, questions a political analyst in Colombo.
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Tamil youth in UK demand referendum for Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 June 2013, 11:53 GMT]
Second generation Eezham Tamil youth in the UK demonstrated at 10 Downing Street on Sunday demanding a referendum towards the creation of the state of Tamil Eelam. The Tamil youth and student activists from different universities who assembled for the protest called for an independent international investigation into the genocidal war crimes of Sri Lanka, also urging Prince Charles and the British Prime Minister David Cameron to boycott the CHOGM summit in Sri Lanka. The activists affirmed that British authorities' endorsing the CHOGM was tantamount to an approval of the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation. The protest was held under the banner of 'Student's Uprising Day', to commemorate the sacrifice of the late Pon. Sivakumaran, a pioneer of the Tamil resistance movement in the early 70s.
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Survivors of 1991 Kashmir mass rape case assert struggle for justice

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2013, 12:13 GMT]
A court in Kupwara district, Kashmir on Tuesday ordered the re-opening of the infamous Kunan Poshpora mass rape case, allegedly committed by Indian military personnel during a cordon and search operation in the Kunan Poshpora village on February 23, 1991. Despite the case gaining international attention and sparking condemnation by human rights bodies like Amnesty and HRW, the Indian government had officially been in a state of denial as regards the incident. In the wake of this court order, an event titled “Kunan-Poshpora mass rape and torture: Case reopening and future struggle for justice” was organized by Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society on Saturday in Srinagar in which the rape survivors and their relatives spoke to the public, asserting their struggle for justice.
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Gotabhaya names TamilNet a ‘security threat’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2013, 00:04 GMT]
While listing ‘national’ security threats faced by genocidal Sri Lanka, its Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa included the name of TamilNet and said that it is controlled by the Tamil Coordinating Committee, led by Nediyavan, which in turn has control over most of the assets of the LTTE’s international organisation. Gotabhaya who said it on 13 June, while addressing the Kotelawela Defence University, also said that now all the various intelligence services of his State are brought under one Chief of National Intelligence, who reports directly to him (as Defence Secretary). What Gotabhaya said on TamilNet either shows the ignorance of his intelligence or his intention to distort TamilNet’s image. TamilNet challenges him on the truth of his statement.
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Colombo schemes permanent occupation of two Tamil villages in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2013, 20:26 GMT]
Sinhala officials attached to Sri Lanka's Department of Forest Conservation, which comes under the SL Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy, have surveyed this weekend two traditional Tamil villages in the Thirukkoayil DS division of Ampaa'rai district, in a move to plant trees in the lands that belong to uprooted Eezham Tamils, who have not been allowed to resettle in the villages of Thangkavealaayuthapuram and Kagnchi-kudichchaa'ru, news sources in Thirukkoayil told TamilNet Sunday. The Sinhala officials of the Eastern Provincial Council also back the move, the sources further said.
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Tamil "Mandate" Refugees, left homeless, languish in foreign camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2013, 15:21 GMT]
Hundreds of Tamil refugees, including several hundreds who have been declared as "Mandate" refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in compliance with the UNHCR Charter and associated statutes, are languishing in camps in East Asian countries, and recently in Dubai, while Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) and the U.S., which have traditionally admitted mandate and convention refugees, are denying resettlement to many of these refugees. Australia, which is one of the contracting countries with UNHCR, is even keeping in detention, citing security threat, Tamil boat refugees who have been granted asylum.
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30 temples, 25 churches remain damaged in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2013, 22:47 GMT]
Even after four years have passed, More than 30 Saiva temples are found either destroyed or damaged in the three divisions of Ki'linochchi district, informed sources in Ki'linohchi told TamilNet on Saturday. In one division alone, 24 churches have been damaged during the war, according to civil sources in Ki'linochchi. In one of the division, Poonakari, two churches (St. Mary's Church and Our Lady of Refuge Church) were fully destroyed while 22 other churches have been partially damaged in Poonakri (Pooneryn).
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Sinhala military wants ‘Kappan’ from Batticaloa Tamil farmers

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 June 2013, 22:38 GMT]
Aiming at totally bankrupting the Tamil farmers of Koa'raippattu South (Kiraan) division in Batticaloa district, the occupying Sri Lankan military, which schemes Sinhalicisaton and colonisation of the pasturelands in the division, now demand 3,000 rupees per 10 cattle from the Tamil farmers. The ‘Kappan’ military of Sri Lanka has instructed the Tamil farm-owners to pay the money before 25th of this month. The extortion is taking place in the name of providing ‘housing’ to disabled Sinhala soldiers, the farmers from Alli-oadai village told TamilNet on Friday.
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Auschwitz survivor recognizes Sri Lanka genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 June 2013, 01:29 GMT]
Supporting Tamil activists efforts to raise the awareness of Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils, a noted holocaust survivor, 79-year old Eva Mozes Kor, told the activists, "Remembering is not enough, we must take all actions possible to stop, and prevent genocides such as in Sri Lanka today." Ms. Kor, who formed a close kinship with the Tamil group on the second workshop day of the "One Million Bones" rally in Washington last Sunday, is a tireless activist for prevention and stopping Genocide, and runs a holocaust museum, doesn't simply project the wrongs of the holocaust but is forward looking on using the past experiences to prevent and stop Genocide, the organizer of the Tamil protest said.
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Ampaa’rai Sinhala administration schemes Buddhicisation of Saiva-Vedda site

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 June 2013, 00:16 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka’s Government Agent in the Eastern Province’s Ampaa’rai district, Mr Neil de Alwis, who held a meeting with the Va’n’nakkars (trustees) of the historic Saiva shrine at Ukanthai-malai last Wednesday, has asked the trustees to cooperate with the SL authorities in constructing a Buddhist stupa, at a one and a half acres plot of land, 400 meters close to the Saiva shrine, informed sources in Ampaa’rai told TamilNet this week. The SLGA was particular in urging the trustees that this news should not be leaked to media. The disappointed trustees find themselves at a delicate situation, unable to reveal the truth to the Saiva devotees of the sacred abode. The Ukanthai-malai temple of Saiva-Vedda tradition is located at a rocky hillock in Lahugala division.
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Canada youth initiate ‘Thazhumpakam’ for genocide awareness

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2013, 23:41 GMT]
”The end of May completes the first stage of a genocide memorial project called ‘Thazhumbakam’ targeted toward civil society in an effort to educate and to raise awareness about the ongoing structural genocide of the Tamil nation,” says Shagana Thangaraj, a coordinator for rights advocacy in the Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance. Thazhumbakam project by the CTYA has started in the form of a traveling mobile art exhibition that has made appearances at remembrance events, University campuses and other high traffic public areas. The collection of artwork by Eezham Tamil artists depicts many of the ground realities faced by the nation of Eezham Tamils subjected to a protracted genocide.
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US Tamils join "One Million Bones" genocide protest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 June 2013, 21:18 GMT]
Several Tamil activists attended the "One Million Bones," protest, a project conceived by a U.S. visual artist, Naomi Natale, to raise awareness of ongoing genocides and mass atrocities in places Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Sudan, Congo and other countries, held in the Mall in Washington D.C. Saturday. The event was attended by more than four thousand volunteers who laid several hundred thousand man-made bones in the rectangle covered by the 3rd, 4th Streets and Madison and Jefferson streets, and several thousand spectators including tourists. Tamil volunteers displayed prominent posters describing Sri Lanka's troubled history, and the genocide of Tamils, and distributed leaflets describing the mass atrocities committed by Sri Lanka military during Mu'l'livaaykkaal killings.
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