Making Eezham Tamil ‘Shiv Sena’ meaningful

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 October 2016, 23:39 GMT]
The chief coordinator of ‘Siva Cheanai’ in Jaffna, Ma'ravan-pulavu K. Sachithananthan has come out with a statement on Wednesday that on the Vijayadasami day (Tuesday), the Buddhists, Christians and Muslims disturbed Saiva Tamil religious rituals of Muththumari Amman temple in Anuradhapura Old Town. They chased away the devotees and one devotee who escaped into the sanctum of the temple was fatally stabbed by a Buddhist and a Muslim. Both of them also smashed the image at the sanctum. Condemning the act on behalf of ‘World Hindus’, Mr Sachithananthan urged for the supply of a replacement statue. The Eezham Tamil Siva Cheanai would be more meaningful if it could focus on countering the paradigm of Indian Shiv Sena that mischievously patronizes both genocidal Buddha and monkey god statues for geopolitical purposes in the island.
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Criticism emerges in Jaffna over USA training SL military, IC soft-pedalling Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 September 2016, 23:18 GMT]
In spite of all the accusations against the Sri Lankan government of war-crimes and other atrocities committed during the war, USA and other governments continue to have naval and military exercises with the Sri Lankan forces, as they also had these trainings with the SL military during the regime of the Mahinda Rajapaksa, said Rev Fr S.V.B. Mangalarajah, the chairman of the Commission for Justice & Peace of the Catholic Diocese in Jaffna in a follow-up video interview to TamilNet after the Ezhuka Thamizh uprising held in Jaffna. The implied message coming from the veteran human rights activist based in Jaffna was that the international community and its approach towards the national question of Tamils in the island was lopsided and unless that problem is seriously addressed by Tamils, the SL Government and the South would not deliver anything substantial for Tamils.
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Ezhuka Thamizh has sent sharp message to all corners: Fr Ravichandran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2016, 18:36 GMT]
The main message coming from the ‘Ezhuka Thamizh’ uprising, especially from the people, who participated in their thousands, was that Tamils on the ground were not prepared to compromise their collective demand for self-rule in a merged North-East, said Jaffna-based human rights and civil activist Rev. Fr. M.V.E. Ravichandran in a video interview to TamilNet on Monday. Tamils reject the unitary system and the message has now been conveyed clearly to all the corners, he said. “Tamils want to live as a People and they don't want their cultural and national identity erased in any way. They are opposed to structural genocide,” the director of Jaffna Diocesan Catholic Youth Federation further said. Tamils should be given the right to appoint international judges to ensure the credibility of any model of investigations with international participation, he said.
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Mobilisation towards ‘Ezhuka Thamizh’ uprising in Jaffna gains momentum

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 September 2016, 22:26 GMT]
Grassroots organisations, academics and students of University of Jaffna, business community, religious leaders involved in civil activism and various political parties voicing for the rights of Eezham Tamils are extending their support to the public rally named ‘Ezhuka Thamizh’ (Let Tamil rise up) to take place in Jaffna on Saturday. Despite the deviatory sections of the TNA hierarchy, led by M.A. Sumanthiran and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, have been fully busy with causing obstacles to the move taken forward by the Tamil People’s Council (TPC), the mobilisation has gained support from the people on the ground, activists close to the organisers said.
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Catholic Peace Mission in Jaffna challenges Colombo’s propaganda on ‘reconciliation’

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 September 2016, 23:16 GMT]
While the President of genocidal Sri Lanka has brushed away the objective criticisms on the utter failure of one-way-determined ‘Sinhala-Only Reconciliation’ as mere propaganda coming from ‘fundamentalist media’ in the North-East, Rev. Fr. S.V.B. Mangalarajah, the president of the Justice & Peace Commission in Jaffna, has issued a report exposing some of the fundamental failures of this ‘one-way’ determined campaign of ‘reconciliation’ and the so-called ‘good governance’. Lands of the people not returned, political prisoners not released, lack of accountability for missing persons, serious apprehensions regarding the OMP, the PTA still being enforced, denial of memorial rights, lack of official arrangements to look after the victims of war, poisonous injections causing concern, failed local investigations and unabated erecting Buddha statues are pointed out in the report.
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White van abduction reported in Ki'linochchi on International Day of Disappeared

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 August 2016, 23:04 GMT]
A white-van squad has abducted a 26-year-old Tamil man, who was formerly a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and released after the so-called ‘military rehabilitation’ on Tuesday while Eezham Tamils from all the districts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces took to the streets on the International Day of the Disappeared demanding international investigations against the genocidal State of Sri Lanka on the burning issue of thousands of forcible disappearances carried out by the occupying Sinhala military and its paramilitaries. The latest abduction in Ki'linochchi, believed to be the work of SL Military Intelligence, is the ‘military response’ to the destruction of Buddha statues in the early hours of the day, political activists in Ki'linochchi said.
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Ki'linochchi to mobilise against SL military erecting Buddhist sites in occupied Tamil land

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2016, 23:17 GMT]
Triggered by Sinhala military soldiers being deployed to construct Buddhist vihara inside the occupied temple lands of Kanakaampikai Amman at Ira'nai-madu, two mainstream Tamil formations have announced protests and shutdown in the following weeks with the backing of rural and grassroots organisations in Ki'linochchi district. The first protest is to take place on 22 August from Elephant Pass (EPS) to Ki'linochchi with the backing of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Sivagnanam Sritharan. The next protest and shutdown is scheduled on 07 October, on the initiative by Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) with the participation of former Parliamentarians of EPRLF, PLOTE, EPDP. Tamil National Council, Catholic and Saiva organisations have come together extending their support to the mobilisation.
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Sinhala journalist denounces State-patronized Buddhism

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 August 2016, 23:41 GMT]
“Politically decided State patronage always accelerates the decline and degeneration of Buddhism, or any religion for that matter,” writes Sinhala journalist Kusal Perera in his blogspot on Saturday. He was commenting on the current deliberations in Colombo for providing ‘constitutional’ pre-eminence to Buddhism in the whole of the island. He was particularly responding to Sinhala Catholic Archbishop in Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith, supporting preferential status to Buddhism in the ‘constitution’ and to Colombo regime’s Prime Minister, Ranil Wikramasinghe, going to the extent of suggesting ‘constitutional’ prohibition of dissension in Buddhist Sangha in the island.
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Tamil polity should face on-going communal dispute in Mannaar with statesmanship

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 August 2016, 23:30 GMT]
A conflict raging between Tamil-speaking Catholics and Muslims in Peasalai in Mannaar in recent weeks has again exposed serious lack of statesmanship on the part of secular Eezham Tamil political and civil activists, including Wigneswaran-led Northern Provincial Council, Sampanthan-led ITAK and the civil groups engaged in advancing the cause of Eezham Tamils in the North-East, particularly in the strategically-located Mannaar island, say independent and secular Tamil activists in Mannaar. Muslim leaders from Periya-karisal and Catholic leaders involved in TNA politics and civil activism on behalf of Eezham Tamils have been dragged into the communal dispute at Peasaalai, situated in the north-west of the Mannaar island.
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Sinhala-Tamil student clash in Jaffna exposes dangerous proportions of military occupation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 July 2016, 23:15 GMT]
Ethnic tension has been escalating over a period of time at the University of Jaffna recently and it culminated into the violent clash on Saturday, says Srinadaraj Kalaraj, the deputy secretary of non-academic staff at the University. He was blaming the military intelligence having allegiance towards different sections of politicians in the South as the main culprit for creating the violent tendency. Instead of investigating individual students, a proper investigation should focus on finding out the real reasons behind this tendency, he said. In the meantime, Human Rights Activist Rev Fr M Sakthivel told TamilNet that the SL military has not only occupied the lands of Tamils, but also the Universities in the North and East. They were also citing the trend of ethnic motivated violence in the Eastern University and at Badulla in the recent past.
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SL Commander of 58 Division twists lists at Mullaiththeevu Magistrates’ Court

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 July 2016, 23:52 GMT]
Major General Kavinda Chanakya Gunawardena (K.C. Gunawardena) of the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (58 Division), which committed heinous genocidal crimes during the onslaught against Eezham Tamils had revealed to Mullaiththeevu Magistrates' Court on 17 February 2016 that there was a military document containing the names of all surrendered LTTE members in the final days of the Vanni war. He initially revealed the existence of the list thinking it was in defence of his argument that the names mentioned in a writ of habeas corpus case under hearing were not found in that list. But, on Thursday Gunawarena came up with two lists of LTTE members who have been subjected to military ‘rehabilitation’ and released.
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Genocidal Colombo demonstrates its ‘respect’ to passive discourse by UNHRC with latest abduction

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 July 2016, 23:34 GMT]
While the Foreign Minister of genocidal Sri Lanka was telling the Human Rights Council in Geneva that his State had ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Disappearance on Wednesday, the SL Military Intelligence of the SL State abducted a father of three and subjected him for a day-long unimaginable torture before dumping him away at a farmland in Mannaar with a warning that if he talked about what had happened to him at the torture chamber, he would be shot and killed next time. The victim, 38-year-old Santhiyogu Anton is receiving medical treatment at ward 04 of Mannaar hospital and the SL Police is ensuring what the abductors wanted the victim to do in remaining total silence to the world what had happened to him. The victim has revealed that there was at least one another person in the torture chamber of SL military intelligence.
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Multi-pronged structural genocide targets Periya-mu’rippu in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 May 2016, 23:45 GMT]
Eezham Tamil villagers from Periya-mu'rippu, a remote hamlet situated 65 km southwest of Mannaar city and 18 km south from Mannaar - Medawachiya A-14 Road in Madu division, narrated to TamilNet this week how they were facing a multi-pronged structural annihilation coming through the hierarchy of genocidal Sri Lanka. While Colombo's structural and demographic annihilation continues unabated in the country of Eezham Tamils, Washington and New Delhi remain adamant in upholding the genocidal unitary State through their imperialist outlook shaped by geopolitics. The ultimate culprits have not only denied Tamils international justice, they also continue to impose a Colombo-centric ‘development’ agenda, which is coupled to their ‘counter insurgency’ operations at a trans-national level, Tamil political activists in Mannaar said, urging Tamils to understand where their responsibility lies.
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Colombo's pompous ‘Vesak’ in North endorsed by India, while celebrations cancelled in South

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2016, 23:20 GMT]
Colombo's occupying Sinhala military has launched 7-day-long Buddhist Vesak celebrations from Saturday in the country of Eezham Tamils while Vesak festivities have been called off in the South where at least 73 people have been killed in landslides caused by torrential rains and more than 200,000 have fled their homes in recent days. The genocidal military and the State have transformed Vesak celebrations as ‘Sinhala Buddhist victory’ over Tamils after the 2009 onslaught. The added feature this time is the open and official endorsement given by New Delhi to the genocide gesture. In its over-enthusiasm to counter Tamils marking Mu'l'livaaykkaal Genocide Day on 18 May, the SL military advertised ‘very pompous celebrations’ of Vesak in Tamil newspapers, inviting the Tamils in Jaffna to take part in their celebrations.
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Sinhala, Muslim participation in Tamil genocide remembrance answers IC detractors

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2016, 20:22 GMT]
A section of Sinhala and Muslim students took part in the Mu'l'livaaykkaal Genocide Remembrance organised by the Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) on Wednesday and a group of Catholic Sinhalese from the South were also present at St. Paul's church at Mu'l'livaaykkaal. At Mannaar, Muslim representatives were present at the memorial event organised by ITAK Youth Wing leader V.S. Sivakaran. The Sinhala and Muslim participation sends message to International Community and UN actors refusing to accept genocide in the island. The very first monument to be erected in remembrance of those who perished in Mu'l'livaaykkaal was also sculpted by a non-Tamil in the island, although the identity of the artist could not be revealed. The statue, having artistic significance has been silently put up near the St. Paul's church by the Tamil villagers of Mu'l'livaaykkaal, news sources in Vanni said.
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Kannaa-thiddi, Kamburu-pitiya

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2016, 21:54 GMT]
The raised ground of copper workers

The raised ground of metal workers
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SL Governor condemned for justifying military-run preschools in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2016, 22:55 GMT]
NGO sources in Vanni recently released photos exposing the SL military-run preschools where Tamil children were being made to wear ‘Civil Security Division’ uniforms with CSD and Lion symbols of the occupying Sri Lankan military. More than 8,000 Tamil children are attending the military-run preschools in Vanni at 270 locations. While the SL military is refusing to hand over the administration of these preschools to the provincial council, the SL Governor to North, Reginald Cooray, has rushed to Vanni last week to justify continued military administration of these preschools. Former LTTE members at three different locations were forced to sing ‘Sri Lanka’ anthem in Sinhala and the CSD women had to garland him after dancing in Kandyan Perhara style, news sources in Vanni said. NPC Minister P. Aingaranesan has condemned SL Governor's description of SL military as a ‘development’ agency.
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Key Tamil organisations boycott Colombo's dialogue meet in Norway

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 May 2016, 11:35 GMT]
The mainstream political and development related diaspora organisations of Eezham Tamils in Norway boycotted a so-called “high level” dialogue meeting organised by two NGOs funded by Norway on Wednesday. The Foreign Ministry of Norway has been advocating behind the scene to lock the Tamil organisations into the ‘dialogue’ meeting with the Netherland-based NGO operative Ram Manikkalingam, who is a close associate of former SL President Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike (CBK) and is an official member of SL President Maithiripala Sirisena's “Office for National Unity and Reconciliation”. At least 8 of the 12 invited organisations either boycotted or abstained from attending the meeting on Wednesday. Five of the boycotting organisations came out with a joint communiqué clarifying their position.
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Undeterred by civil actions, extremist monk at Kokku'laay vows to complete controversial Vihara

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2016, 05:27 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military is deployed round-the-clock to construct the controversial Buddhist temple-centric establishment, conceived as a tool for Sinhalicisation of the strategic coastal stretch at Kokku'laay, which links Northern and Eastern provinces of the country of Eezham Tamils. The construction is proceeding despite repeated requests to find an alternative place from Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran and despite instructions from Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat to halt the construction till the dispute of private land, which has been occupied by the Sinhala extremist monk, is resolved. On Sunday, Ven Sri Thissapura Gunarathna Thero, the extremist monk was demonstrating his vow to continue with the construction when he spotted Tamil journalists taking video of the resumed construction work from a distance.
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Role of The Netherlands abetting Colombo's cultural genocide questioned in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 March 2016, 16:03 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military of genocidal Sri Lanka has erected more than 20 Buddha statues in the Mannaar island to facilitate Sinhalicisation of the ancient urban port city of Eezham Tamils. As the SL military is engaged in consolidating its temporary structures with permanent walls in the recent days, the people were shocked to see the huge statues that have been erected inside the military fortifications across the district. At the same time, the SL military has already handed over a large area within the Dutch Fort to Colombo's Archaeology Department, which has been a key architect in conceiving and executing cultural genocide against Eezham Tamils. The Netherlands is about to launch renovation of the Fort through SL ‘Army and Archaeology’ paradigm. A huge Buddha statue raised by the SL Army is causing controversy in the predominantly Tamil-speaking city.
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