Eezham Tamils protest UK inviting Rajapaksa to Queen’s diamond jubilee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 May 2012, 10:48 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in the UK gathered outside the UK Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street on Saturday demanding withdrawal of an invitation extended to Mahinda Rajapaksa for the upcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth. A petition given to the authorities by the Tamil Coordinating Committee UK (TCC-UK) which had organised the event underscored the significance of Britain recognizing the protracted nature of the genocide of the Tamils in the island stating that “given its colonial history on the island, the UK, more than any other international power, is aware that the Eelam Tamils are a nation of people with their traditional homeland in the north and east of the island. Eelam Tamils expect the UK government to recognise this truth which can go a long way in helping halt the genocide.”
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Tamils will never accept Sri Lanka constitution: Sivajilingam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 May 2012, 00:43 GMT]
Eezham Tamils were not a party and will never accept the one-sided constitutions Sri Lanka enacted either in 1972 or in 1978, said former TNA parliamentarian MK Sivajilingam speaking in Jaffna on the 40th anniversary of the 1972 republican constitution of Sri Lanka on Tuesday. The 1978 constitution not only continued the unitary concept but also made it more autocratic under executive presidency. The Amendments, including the 13 Amendment only strengthened the unitary character. Therefore, Tamils will not accept solutions bound by these constitutions. Based on the right to self-determination we demand the right to rule ourselves in our land, Sivajilingam said.
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1972 constitution reminds Tamils not to backtrack idea of nationhood

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 May 2012, 18:05 GMT]
The 1972 republican constitution of Sri Lanka, which for the first time constitutionalised a unitary Sinhala-Buddhist state, was enacted without the participation or mandate of Eezham Tamils. Not only their political opposition was brushed aside but even the judiciary also played a game against legal challenges. The constitution forced the shift in Tamil polity from federal to the idea of right to self-determination of the nation for independence, pointed out Jaffna University Law Lecturer, Guruparan Kumaravadivel on Tuesday, citing legal cases involving the republic. “You don't have to go further and look for anyone else than Murugesu Thiruchelvam's argument in the Amirthalingam trial-at-bar as to why our politics should be done on the idea of Tamil nationhood and self-determination,” Guruparan said addressing especially to the people in the TNA.
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40-year-old Sri Lanka constitution burnt at cremation ground of Parvathi Amma

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 May 2012, 02:05 GMT]
The 1972 republican constitution of Sri Lanka, which for the first time constitutionalised the unitary Sinhala-Buddhist State and brought in the name ‘Sri Lanka’, against the wishes of the nation of Eezham Tamils in the island, has been burnt on its 40th anniversary on Tuesday, 22 May 2012, at the spot where the LTTE leader Pirapharan's mother was cremated but desecrated by the occupying Sinhala forces last year.
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Solheim joins orchestration against independence of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 May 2012, 05:13 GMT]
Spelling out the current orchestration against the independence of Eezham Tamils, the former Norwegian minister and failed peace facilitator, Erik Solhiem said that international support is not for a new separate state in Sri Lanka, but for a multicultural, multiracial and multireligious state. Given the age-old understanding of the phrase in the context of the island, Solheim in other words was only implying support to the annihilation of the ancient nation of Eezham Tamils. Solheim, recently removed from ministerial position by his own party was invited to address a gathering in Oslo on Tuesday, by a 2012-registered Tamil organisation led by Yogarajah Balasingham alias Basharan, who was rejected by Norwegian Tamils in the diaspora elections. Sharing the stage with Solheim was visiting TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran.
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Indian embassy, Chandrahasan, Rajadurai, conspicuous at Chelva memorial in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2012, 07:10 GMT]
Indian embassy officials, SJV Chelvanayakam’s son, SC Chandrahasan, who was long operating in Chennai reportedly with the backing of Indian intelligence agencies, and C. Rajadurai from Batticaloa who defected the Tamil national cause in the late 1970s to join with Sinhala parties, were conspicuous participants at the 35th death anniversary of Thanthai Chelva observed at his memorial in Jaffna on Thursday. The current TNA parliamentarians were absent in the gathering. TNA’s former MP, Sivajilingam, who paid homage at the memorial before the event, showed black flag to C. Rajadurai, saying that traitors should never be entertained unless they repent for their actions. Political observers suspect New Delhi using the event for a leadership endorsement of faces from the north and east agreeable to its designs.
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TELO opposes Rajadurai attending Chelva anniversary in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2012, 22:27 GMT]
“Inviting Chelliah Rajadurai to attend Thanthai Chelvanayakam's 35th death anniversary is like inviting Karuna to the memorial event of Kumarappa and Pulendran, said M.K. Sivajilingam, the former TNA MP and the political leader of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), calling the act of the invitation a betrayal to the Tamil struggle. Mr. Sivajilingam has called for a black flag protest if Mr. Rajadurai, a former stalwart of the ITAK, who broke with the ITAK/TULF line after the demise of SJV Chelvanayakam and joined with the ruling parties in the south, is invited for the Chelva memorial event.
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Tamil student abducted, killed near SL military zone in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2012, 17:33 GMT]
18-year-old Sivalingam Sivakumaran, a student from Kerudaavil village in Vadamaraadchi North of Jaffna district, was found slain inside a bush, 2 km away from his house on Wednesday. The Tamil student was abducted five days ago, on 13 April after 6:00 p.m., when he had left his house towards the historic Chelvach-channithi temple, according to the family of the victim. The Kerudaavil village is situated along the eastern border of the Valikaamam ‘High Security Zone’ of the occupying SL military. The student has been tortured and killed, the villagers who witnessed the recovery of the dead body told media. In the meantime, Indian parliamentarians were taken to Jaffna Wednesday evening, after being taken on a ‘guided’ tour, which was fully packed with ceremonial events, carefully avoiding interactions with civil representatives in Mullaiththeevu.
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TNA MP warns protest against desecration of statues in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2012, 00:15 GMT]
If the Sri Lankan Police fails to take action, within one week, against the culprits who destroyed and desecrated the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Baden-Powell, Swami Vipulananda and Poet Pulavarma'ni Periyathampipi'l'lai on 05 April inside the ‘high security area’ of Batticaloa city, there will be protests against the desecration, TNA parliamentarian Pon. Selvarasa warned on Monday. Stating that the destructions have taken place within 48 hours of the restoration of an already destroyed statue of Swami Vivekananda in Aaraiyampathi, Mr. Selvarasa blamed that there was a connection between the desecration of statues in Batticaloa in January and March and the decapitation of the statue of Thanthai SJV Chelvanayakam in Trincomalee in November 2011.
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Gandhi, Vipulananda, Poet Periyathampi, Baden-Powell desecrated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2012, 07:27 GMT]
The statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vipulananda, Pulavarma'ni Periyathampi-pi'l'lai and Baden-Powell revered by Eezham Tamils in the heart of Batticaloa city have been desecrated and destroyed in the early hours of Friday. The statues of Gandhi and the founder of Scout Movement Robert Baden-Powell are located near the clock tower in the city centre. Renowned Tamil scholar and Hindu reformer Swami Vipulananda and Tamil Poet Pulavarma'ni Periyathampi Pi'l'lai, both were born in the Eastern Province. All the four statues are located within the perimeters of the high security area manned by the SL Police and the SL Army in the city. The latest desecration of statues comes as a result of anti-Indian and anti-western sentiments shown by the occupying Sinhala forces in the East, political observers said.
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Conforming to mandate more important than getting offices of position: Suresh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2012, 23:54 GMT]
It was a last resort for the democratic political struggle of Thanthai Chelva to call for the independence of Tamil Eelam in 1976, after a series of political deceits and finally his 6-point demand following the 1972 constitution to resolve the Tamil question within a united Sri Lanka was also rejected, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran, while speaking at the 114th birth anniversary of SJV Chelvanayakam in Jaffna on Saturday. But after Tamils paying a heavy price in the armed struggle only the world has now started looking at the issue, which has now become international. TNA has the mandate and responsibility at a crucial time and it should not make even a small slip. Petty offices of position are not the answer to the price paid by our people. We are conscious of the mandate given to us by our people, he further said.
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Indian FM exerts pressure on TNA, wants Sampanthan in Rajapaksa's PSC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2012, 18:11 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance has been pressurised by the visiting Indian Foreign Minister S. Krishna to take part in the SL Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), sources close to TNA told TamilNet Wednesday. At the same time, demanding the TNA to come through the PSC farse, the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's delegation that has been engaging with the TNA in fruitless talks, boycotted scheduled talks this time for the second day. Reacting to the behaviour of the Sri Lankan government, which has failed to meet the TNA as scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday, Mr. M.K. Sivajilingam, the political leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), which is a constituent party of the TNA, said Wednesday that the Tamil alliance should at least now realise that there is no point in talking about the 13 amendment, or something plus or minus to it.
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TNA parliamentarian condemns desecration of Vivekananda statue in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 January 2012, 06:06 GMT]
Politically motivated mischievous elements should not be allowed to create disharmony between Tamils and Muslims in the East, said Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian P.Ariyanethran in a statement condemning the desecration of the state of a Hindu Swami Vivekananda in Aaraiyampathi - Kaaththaankudi border recently. “Those who want to pursue their political ambition currently in the scene are suspected to be behind such crimes and violence between communities,” the TNA MP said.
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TamilNet releases LTTE documents of 2006 talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2011, 16:34 GMT]
A set of documents prepared by the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat during Geneva peace talks held in February 2006, in June 2006 in Oslo and in October 2006 in Geneva, some of which have not yet reached public domain, are being released by TamilNet to facilitate a deeper understanding of the peace process and its eventual collapse. While 2011 has been a "year of reports," the UN panel report, Norway’s ‘Pawns of Peace’, the genocide model LLRC report etc., the LTTE documents provide valuable insight into the Tigers' efforts undertaken to fulfill LTTE's commitment to the International Community. Though groups such as the International Crisis Group (ICG) reject the application of the concept of "earned sovereignty" to Eezham Tamils, the documents prepared by the Peace Secretariat show how the concept was validated in practice by the LTTE.
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Eezham Tamil Diaspora activists in UK question SL reconciliation motives

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 December 2011, 00:41 GMT]
While structural genocide continues unabated in the homeland of the Eezham Tamils, certain well funded Sri Lankan NGO’s that harp on peace and reconciliation are steadily pursuing a war by other means on the Eezham Tamil Diaspora. Programmes initiated by organizations like the One Text Initiative, which receives generous funding from foreign donors as well as support from the Sri Lankan state, in the name of ‘engaging with the Sri Lankan diaspora’, are attempting to marginalize the Eezham Tamil diaspora polity that is pushing for international investigation into genocide committed by the Sri Lankan state as well as recognition of their political sovereignty. This agenda was evident from a recent meeting in London where such proponents of reconciliation were challenged by Eezham Tamil activists of various shades.
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Indo-US competition deprives justice to Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 December 2011, 12:12 GMT]
A historical perusal of the long plight of Eezham Tamils would show that a subtle cold war between India and the USA, played over the national question in the island, and their competition to have the dominant nation of Sinhalese on their side, denied justice to the nation of Eezham Tamils at every stage. After leading the matter into an open genocide and on-going structural genocide, the relationship of Tamils with New Delhi or Washington could never be the same again, unless both come to a consensus of delivering justice to Eezham Tamils. Both the powers now pay for their long injustice, as China’s confident entry into Indian Ocean is directly connected to their failure and loss of credibility in the Eezham war. If Tamils siding with India or the USA is vain without delivery of justice, better to collectively opt non-cooperation against both, writes TamilNet political commentator.
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Former SC judge sceptical of solution without internal or external pressure

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 December 2011, 23:32 GMT]
“I do not see any possible solution to the ethnic conflict immediately, unless extraneous pressure, inland or foreign, compels the powers that be to relent,” said former Supreme Court Judge CV Wigneswaran in giving an interview to Colombo-based Daily Mirror, Thursday. Justice Wigneswaran’s interview gains significance in the light of Sri Lanka’s ‘leaked’ LLRC report, coming out with a blue print for completing structural genocide by 2020, accuses Tamils seeking international remedy as counterproductive. Justice Wigneswaran’s interview, dealing in detail with the past deceits of Sinhala polity, also corresponds with Prof. Sitrampalam’s concerns over Colombo-centric elements in Tamil polity once again leading Tamils into a trap and with the recent Tamil civil society admonition to the leadership of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
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Colombo’s colonial rule, TNA and diaspora frustrate people in the Tamil country

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 December 2011, 00:07 GMT]
From allowing blatant burglary and fleecing businesses to harassing people and making money from fabricated petty offences, the Sinhala military, police and officials of occupying Sri Lanka aim to frustrate Tamils to make them leave their country, said a feature by S.M. Thiyagarajah appeared in Tamil media on Saturday. There are deeper political reasons in depriving Tamils of their self-respect and imbibing a feeling of insecurity in them, the article further said. Meanwhile, citing Prof. SK Sitrampalam speaking on Thursday, The Virakesari’s weekly editor V. Thevaraj wrote that Colombo-centric elements in the TNA and collaborative sections in the diaspora disappoint Tamils in the island. Tamils should be united against once again falling into traps by succumbing to collaboration and dearth of leadership, he further said.
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Solheim hijacks thrust of Norway report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 November 2011, 03:39 GMT]
Norwegian minister Erik Solheim, while speaking in Oslo 11 November at the release of the report evaluating Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka, tried to hijack the philosophical thrust of the findings of the report and this brought him into confrontation with the evaluation team leader, Gunnar M. Sørbø. Mr. Erik Solheim tried to defend the main criticism in the report and the stand of Sørbø that Norway should have quit the peace process to signal the world of the impending dangers. Arguing that nobody expected a military solution succeeding, Solheim painted the picture of a star-crossed and epic-style tragedy that everyone has to be now contended with in a philosophical way, and said that the stand of Sørbø was ‘arrogant’. Solheim’s speech made Sørbø to remind that the issue was of life and death and Norway should have had contingencies ready.
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TNA relays US-India paradigm for ‘nondescript’ model of solutions

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 November 2011, 07:21 GMT]
Addressing a diaspora gathering in London on Sunday, The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politicians elucidated on trying a ‘nondescript’ model of solution for the national question of Eezham Tamils. The TNA relay on the paradigm comes after conditioned for long by New Delhi and after conferring with ‘creative thinking’ in the US State Department on the models for solutions. The TNA leaders didn’t hide the fact, but said it is worth trying, as the UN, EU, India and the USA are watching and any failures could be suitably addressed. Commenting on the nondescript nature of the model, Tamil political observers said that it is ideal for imperialism to get leverage and time for ‘development’ inroads and would provide more legitimacy, time and bartering power for genocidal Colombo to complete the annihilation of Eezham Tamils as a nation, while engaging them in a prolonged day-to-day struggle.
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