All Ceylon Tamil Congress calls upon India, IC to ensure fundamentals

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 19:55 GMT]
“We are of the firm opinion that the recognition of the Tamil People in the island of Sri Lanka as a distinct Nation entitled to the Right to Self-Determination is necessary to ensure the continued existence and protection of the Tamils as a People. Only then would any negotiations with the Sri Lankan State be meaningful,” said All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in a separate statement as no consensus was reached in the meeting of Eezham Tamil political parties in New Delhi Tuesday and Wednesday. “We therefore call upon India and the International Community to recognize these rightful claims made by the Tamil Nation and emphasis such as the basis for any solution within one country,” the statement further said.
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SLA destroys traces of Pirapaharan's house in VVT

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2011, 00:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Mondah night deployed a large number of troops at Aaladi in Valveddiththu'rai, surrounding the already demolished house, where Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Lieration Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was born and raised. The soldiers who came in armoured vehicles were engaged throughout the night in destroying the remaining structures of the already demolished house.
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Context demands Tamil-Muslim solidarity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 13:15 GMT]
“Muslims may not be a community distinct from the Tamils, but they have some special problems pertaining to their security. […] Tamil support for Muslim security and peace could open a new chapter in Tamil-Muslim relations,” says an article by A.R.M. Imtiyaz and S.R.H. Hoole, appeared in Routledge-published July issue of Journal of South Asian studies. “We argue that the Tamils’ northern leadership has been insensitive to Muslims,” the article said. Reviewing the article, a Tamil academic in the island commented that while the argument is partly true, the East was always influencing and imposing decisions in this regard. Inspiring initiatives should therefore originate from the East, evolving from its experiences, and all Tamils should support it. Based on secular and inclusive attributes of Tamil identity, progressive forces in Tamil Nadu also have a role to play, the reviewer said.
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USA to conduct joint exercise with genocidal Air Force of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 05:44 GMT]
The Pacific Air Command of the US Air Force will be conducting a joint air exercise with the Air Force of Sri Lanka, involving the bases at Ratmalana in Colombo and Ampaa’rai in the Eastern Province, media reports from Colombo said. Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Malaysian Air Force, and the Bangladesh Air Force also will participate in the exercise. The Air Force of Sri Lanka is accused of specific instances of war crimes against Eezham Tamils in the UN panel report. While talk of human rights and crimes against humanity is dubiously manipulated by some powers for their political benefits, their defence establishments and intelligence agencies are all out to promote militarism of genocidal Sri Lanka for their strategic benefits, political analysts in the island said.
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Gotabhaya thinks giving into war crimes allegations will have no end

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 23:40 GMT]
Responding to war crimes allegations will not work, confronting them will only work, seems to be the orientation of Rajapaksa regime as implied by a comment of SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who reacted to Tuesday’s The Hindu editorial, saying "it seemed fresh charges would be levelled as soon as we responded to existing allegations". Addressing a symposium on ‘post-war’ challenges at BMICH, Colombo the SL defence secretary said that he would stand by what he had said on rejecting the rape allegations on the SL Army, citing the safe treatment of a UK national “so attractive” in the custody of the SL Army, The island reported Thursday. The Hindu in its editorial said that for this statement alone Gotabhaya should be taken to task.
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Sri Lanka to purchase 14 Mi-17 military helicopters from Russia

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 21:04 GMT]
Further bolstering its military ties with Russia and expanding its own military machine beyond its local needs, Sri Lanka has entered into yet another contract with Russia’s state-run arms enterprise, Rosoboronexport, to purchase different modifications of Mi-17 military helicopters, reports from Colombo and Moscow said. While Rajapasa-critics in Colombo said the purchase is ‘managed’ by SL Presidential sibling and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa through a so-called State-owned company, which is neither controlled by the SL Auditor General nor listed on the Stock Exchange, the Eezham Tamil circles said the military transport gunships are to be deployed in the ongoing SL militarisation of the country of Eezham Tamils.
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Congress and Colombo busy in shielding each other

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 11:26 GMT]
A Congress parliamentarian from Tamil Nadu in Rajya Sabha, Dr. E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan has convened a meeting of ruling and opposition party parliamentarians of India in New Delhi on Thursday with the help of Colombo-based Indian writer N Sathiyamoorthy, aiming to diffuse the growing political momentum that challenges the crimes committed, and being committed, by New Delhi and Colombo on Eezham Tamils. Meanwhile, genocidal Colombo’s High Commissioner in New Delhi, Prasad Kariyawasam is engaged in preaching ‘ethics’ to journalists and in canvassing to get their support by sending propaganda material prepared by the SL ministry of defence. The Indo-Lanka public relations machinery is in over drive to limit damages caused by media exposing the crimes of the two establishments in partnership.
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Hambantota port commercially not viable: Sarath N Silva

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 06:38 GMT]
"We have built a mega port in Hambantota, but it is not commercially viable yet," the Reuters reported Wednesday quoting former SL Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva at a JVP organised meeting in Colombo on Tuesday. “From the top to bottom, corruption has become a systemic issue... Foreign investors will be discouraged from investing here if this goes on,” Mr. Silva has said. "The anti-corruption law is ineffective. The anti-graft commission can investigate only if they receive a compliant and if the complaint is wrong, the complainant will be given an up to 10 year jail term," the former SL chief justice has said.
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Belated realisation finds fault with ‘brother’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 August 2011, 06:11 GMT]
President Rajapaksa would be well advised to distance himself swiftly from his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, said The Hindu in its editorial on Tuesday. The problem is not the brother but the confidence the Colombo regime gets from the stand of the big brother in New Delhi, is the opinion of political observers and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalitha. The Hindu now scapegoats ‘Gotabhaya brother’ as a last resort to bail out Rajapaksa, New Delhi establishment and all those who contributed to genocide in the island, political observers in Chennai said. The Hindu could have contributed to pre-empt genocide had its journalism confuted the big brothers in New Delhi and Washington and appealed to the masses in India and outside by telling the truth about the intentions of state in the island, the political observers further said.
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Oppressive Sri Lanka benefited from Ban Ki-moon’s lax hand: The Guardian

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 August 2011, 11:11 GMT]
Coming hard on the United Nations and its incumbent administration for neglecting the very founding principles of the UN and thus allowing its slow decay, a renowned UK-based independent daily, The Guardian said in its editorial on Sunday that the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s “lax hand” has benefited oppressive Sri Lankan government.
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India answerable for both genocide and structural genocide of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 August 2011, 09:05 GMT]
The Speaker of the Indian Parliament, Meira Kumar, conceding to an objection from a Congress member, altered the topic of discussion in the parliament from “Alleged killing of Sri Lankan Tamils by the island nation’s Lankan army in 2009 as recently revealed in a United Nations report” to “On the steps taken by Government of India for relief and resettlement of Tamils in Sri Lanka and other measures to promote their welfare.” The deviated discussion scheduled for last Thursday has also been postponed to coming Tuesday. But whether in war or in post-war, New Delhi cannot escape answering for its partnership in committing genocide and structural genocide of Eezham Tamils, commented Tamil political circles in the island, citing the activities of India-partnered SL Army in the war and its aftermath.
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UK, Netherlands join fight against Koppe's EU Court filing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 August 2011, 01:43 GMT]
United Kingdom applied to the General Court of the European Union (CVRIA) for leave to intervene in the case (T 208/11) against the ban on the Liberation Tigers filed by Victor Koppe, attorney from Amsterdam-based Bohler Advocaten representing the LTTE, legal sources in Amsterdam said. The case is against the Council of the European Union's extension of the LTTE ban. Earlier, European Commission and The Netherlands had applied to intervene in the case. The Registrar of the Court has ordered the parties to submit observations by 19th September, according to Court records. Notable absentee nations, not expressing intent to participate in the intervention, are Germany, France and Denmark, where several Eelam Tamils have been prosecuted for allegedly providing material support to the LTTE.
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Iran, Turkey follow Sri Lanka model: Kurdish paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2011, 22:02 GMT]
While the Sri Lankan government is accused of deploying Israeli ‘Gazafication’ model in Sinhalicising the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, Iran and Turkey are adopting the so-called Sri Lankan model of ‘warfare’ against Kurdish people. In an article titled, “Reminding the Kurdish nation of the case of Tamil,” The Kurdish Globe, a weekly published in Erbil, Kurdistan in northern Iraq, on Saturday cited recent instances of pro-Turkey writers discussing ‘Sri Lanka model’. In the meantime, the executives of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have also gone on record comparing the Tamil situation with their own, the paper said.
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Ratnajeevan Hoole ‘flees’ Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 August 2011, 05:53 GMT]
Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole, the unsuccessful candidate for the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jaffna supported by a section of pro-Rajapaksa elements, had to flee Jaffna as well as the island in the wake of a criminal case filed by SL minister Douglas Devananda in the Kayts court, news sources in Jaffna said adding that Prof Hoole is on his way back to the USA via UK. Even though Hoole accuses Devananda for his miseries, informed circles are of the opinion that the issue is much deeper, associated to international power polity. Hoole, known for re-invoking the colonial idiom of confrontation between Protestant Churches and native revival movements as his ‘sociological’ approach, gets the rare distinction of not getting the trust of both Pirapaharan and Rajapaksa, despite his opportunistic approaches or denunciations, the news sources said.
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Vanni survivors recount mass killings, rape in Headlines Today documentary

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 August 2011, 04:05 GMT]
In a world exclusive report aired Tuesday, India’s Headlines Today (HT) television broadcast eyewitness accounts of mass slaughter, the use of chemical weapons and cluster bombs, and torture, rape and sexual humiliation in internment camps by Sri Lanka’s military. The accounts were gathered inside Vanni from survivors of the catastrophic violence of 2009 by one of HT’s investigative reporters, P. Priyamvatha, who traveled undercover into the region – described by the channel as “the most densely militarized place in the world.” She conducted her interviews in Tamil. Responding to the documentary, titled ‘I witnessed genocide’, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India condemned it as “tendentious, unsubstantiated, inflammatory” and questioned Priyamvatha’s bona fides.
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Russell, Foucault on Truth, Lies in Sri Lanka context

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 August 2011, 13:49 GMT]
"While the LTTE’s propaganda machine continues to spin its lies, and such lax standards of journalism continue to prevail in the west, the narrative on Sri Lanka may continue to be obscured by vicious falsehoods," says Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary in a media briefing convened in Colombo in a frontal assault on confronting the damage inflicted on Sri Lanka by the Channel-4 video, UN war-crimes report, and the Rights NGOs calling for International Investigations into war-crimes. The underlying moral question in discerning the truth of what happened in the final months of the war is laid by British philosopher Bertrand Russell in his advice to the future generations: "...never let yourself be diverted either by what you would wish to believe or by what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed, but look only and solely at what are the facts...."
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Corpse recovered near SLA post in Vanni causes suspicion on the cause of death

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 August 2011, 14:43 GMT]
A 42-year-old family man, Philip Chelvanayakam, who had gone from his village, Kumizha-munai in Karaithu'raip-pattu, to a bank situated in Mullaiththeevu, was recovered dead last Tuesday near a Sri Lanka Army post located in Theakkangkaadu on Kumizhamunai - Mullaiththeevu Road. In the meantime, the officers of the occupying Sri Lanka Army have ‘explained’ to the family and the relatives of the deceased that soldiers manning the post had gone on vacation. Further, the body of the deceased was sent to Colombo for post-mortem and not to Ki'linochchi or Jaffna, the residents of the village told media.
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Colombo rejects TNA’s ultimatum on non-existing devolution plan

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2011, 11:54 GMT]
Rejecting outright the demands of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a typical Sinhala hegemonic manner, the militaristic government of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday said that the demands set out in the TNA’s ultimatum for future talks have reflected the attitude of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Gotabhaya’s sexist comments on war victim giving evidence on rape

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2011, 11:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s genocidal soldiers making lewd comments on the naked bodies of female victims killed in the war, suggesting that they were killed after rape has been documented in the Channel 4 documentary. While denying the documentation as fake to Headlines Today this week, Sri Lanka’s defence secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa made a sexist comment on a war victim who was giving evidence to Channel 4. The attitude of Gotabhaya only proves the mind-set with which a defence establishment is being steered in the island, media circles in Chennai commented. Headlines Today released the main comments of Gotabhaya on Thursday. The full interview will be on telecast on Monday.
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SLA complicit in assisting Karuna's extortion ring

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2011, 03:32 GMT]
Paramilitary personnel of the group led by Karuna working hand in hand with the intelligence personnel of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are engaged in extorting money from people who go to work in Paduvaankarai village, Batticaloa, according to complaints filed by the victims to authorities, civil sources in Batticaloa said. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, currently holds the post of Deputy Resettlement Minister in Mahinda Rajapakse government.
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