Indigenous peoples of Americas, Tamils discuss genocide and resistance at London event

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 January 2013, 20:08 GMT]
Grassroots activists belonging to indigenous peoples of Americas, the Eezham Tamil diaspora in the UK and other solidarity groups discussed the different forms of oppression and genocide that their respective communities faced and the corresponding forms of resistance at an event in London on Monday, jointly organized by indigenous activists from the Americas based in the UK. In an exclusive interview to TamilNet, Sylvia McAdam Saysewahum, one of the co-founders of the popular “Idle No More” movement of indigenous people in Canada, spoke about the goals and strategies of the movement, question of identity and sovereignty, Canada’s multicultural policies, besides providing suggestions to the Eezham Tamils to preserve their traditions as a means to resistance.
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Visiting US team continues ‘counting trees’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2013, 23:23 GMT]
The visit of the US Defence and State Department officials to Jaffna on Sunday was marked by denial of issues by the occupying Sinhala military, denials countered by the Bishop and civil society of Jaffna, and comments by the visiting team – all just a bickering on counting trees but deliberate refusal to see the wood, because the ambit has been set by the US-tabled 2012 Geneva resolution that has to now facilitate the 2013 resolution under preparation, political analysts in Jaffna told TamilNet. A stage has been set, knowing how the characters would act and what dialogues they would come out with, so that the play could proceed endlessly to the benefit of the director. Unless Tamils insist on a stage to talk nothing but the fundamentals for any future association with the director, they will be ‘played out’ the analysts further said.
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Ampaa'rai Tamil activist killed after protesting demographic changes

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2013, 21:31 GMT]
40 year-old Seenithamby Premanathan, a father of two, was waylaid and cut to death by an unknown killer squad Sunday night around 8:30 p.m., when he was returning home in a three wheeler from his brother’s house located at Malvaththai along a paddy field between Mallikaith-theevu and Malvaththai in Chammaanthu’rai police division. The killing comes a day after he was reported to have voiced concern over the injustice done in the demarcation of boundaries of the local authority concerned, civil sources in Ampaa’rai told TamilNet. In recent days, there were also reports of targeted harassments against Tamil women in Ampaa'rai.
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US team meets TNA first: Sampanthan tells TamilNet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2013, 22:42 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by its parliamentary group leader R.Sampanthan on Saturday noon met the US delegation comprising three US officials, James Moore, Jane Zimmerman and Vikram Singh, at the US Embassy in Colombo, Mr.Sampanthan told TamilNet adding that the USA team met the TNA delegation before meeting others during their stay in Colombo. Talking to TamilNet, Mr. Sampanthan said that the TNA had briefed the US delegation about the Tamil problem “since the country gained independence sixty five years ago.”
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Soul searching in India, Obama wipes out tears

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2013, 17:55 GMT]
If peoples of the USA and India care to scrutinize what their governments are doing to the country of Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, they will realize that from which system certain disorders they face in their own countries originate. Both the Establishments that were in complicity in the genocide, and have tacitly approved a structural genocide to take place in the island, are engaged in another round of their machinations at Geneva in March. Once again, the USA is architecting a formula for the completion of the annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils – this time with specific steps of instructions to be fulfilled by the agent state in Colombo – and India, the Strategic Partner, is given with the task of designing and managing the implementation infrastructure, informed sources say.
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Catalonia’s declaration of sovereignty an example for Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2013, 11:09 GMT]
The Parliament of Catalonia on Wednesday adopted a resolution declaring the Catalan people, largely inhabiting the Catalonian North-eastern region of Spain, as a sovereign entity with the rights to self-determination. "The people of Catalonia have - by reason of democratic legitimacy - the character of a sovereign political and legal entity," the declaration read, with many claiming that this was the first step towards a referendum to be possibly held on 2014. Eezham Tamils should take note of the political terminology used by the Catalan leaders, especially the use of terms like ‘sovereignty’ and ‘nation’ as different from ‘nationality’, in effectively articulating the demands of their people and securing their rights, young generation Tamil political observers in the island said.
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Turkish ambassador to Colombo welcomes ‘Sri Lanka model’ to deal with ‘terrorism’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2013, 07:47 GMT]
Despite the currently ongoing peace process between the PKK and the Turkey government, the Turkish ambassador to Sri Lanka, Iskender Okyay has welcomed the Sri Lanka model of counterinsurgency (COIN) to deal with ‘terrorism’, stating that “Sri Lanka's experience in fighting against terrorism could be a good example for Turkey” and adding that “the relationship between the countries could be deepened over the terrorism issue,” the Turkish nationalist news agency Today’s Zaman reported on Wednesday. Commenting on this, Kurdish activists in Europe told TamilNet that the Turkish diplomat’s endorsement of Sri Lanka’s genocidal model of COIN at a time when the Kurdish political movement was having faith in a peaceful settlement shows the insincerity of Turkey towards the peace process, besides being an tacit approval of the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation.
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TID squad searches Sritharan MPs office for second time

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2013, 15:31 GMT]
A 6-member team of Sri Lankan ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Department on Tuesday searched the Ki'linochchi office of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivagnanam Sritharan for three hours. The TID squad, led by a Inspector ranked officer, Sarach Chandra, was searching the office inch-by-inch and were looking for computers that belonged to the parliamentarian, news sources in Ki'linochchi told TamilNet. When Mr Jeevanayagam Singarasa, who was in charge of the office on Tuesday, questioned the procedure of the TID, he was subjected to ‘interrogation’ for two hours inside the office. The TID inspector, when contacted by Mr Sritharan over telephone told the MP that the search operation was being conducted under the Sri Lankan Prevention of Terrorism Act.
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Australian civil society should be outraged by Sri Lankan cricket: Trevor Grant

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2013, 23:58 GMT]
Civil society in Australia should be outraged once they are exposed to the on going persecution faced by Eezham Tamils was the opinion of Trevor Grant speaking to TamilNet following the latest protest on Sunday organized by BSLCC and TYO. The protest was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground and has been the latest in a string of demonstrations focused on exposing Sri Lanka for its protracted genocide against Eezham Tamils and demanding the Australian Government and Cricket Australia to boycott all matches with the Sri Lankan team. Mr. Grant, former chief sports writer at The Age with over 40 years of experience in journalism, further commented that the Australian civil society should be “spearheading the unrelenting demands to their government and sporting bodies to enforce such boycott.”
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US Court to hear oral argument on war-crime case against Rajapakase

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2013, 02:35 GMT]
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit has scheduled March 8th, 9:30 am for the oral argument in the appeal case against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse for civil damages on war-crimes charges filed by three Tamil plaintiffs whose relatives were extra-judicially executed or unlawfully killed under the "command responsibility" of Rajapakse. "The key legal issue in this case is whether the U.S.'s Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA) deputed the Executive Branch with authority to extinguish TVPA claims against sitting heads of state based on professed foreign policy concerns," plaintiff-appellants' attorney, Bruce Fein, said. Judges Merrick Garland, Janice Brown, and Brett Kavanaugh have been assigned to hear the case, according to Court papers.
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SL military deployed ex-LTTE member, EPDP-journalist to frame Sritharan MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2013, 23:41 GMT]

A former LTTE member, known as Premraj Vasanthan, allegedly recruited by the SL military intelligence for covert operations in the post-Mu’l’livaaykkal times, had visited the office of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mr Sivagnanam Sritharan after a long time last Friday and was wandering around inside the office. On the following day, the SL “Terrorist” Investigation Department (TID) operatives raided the office of the TNA parliamentarian in Ki’linochchi, with Mr Vasanthan in their ‘custody’. The intelligence operative “located” explosives, while the SL military “discovered” pornography material and the EPDP journalist planted condoms in an apparent move to discredit and frame Mr Sritharan, who has been gaining public support from the people of Vanni.
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UK should exert pressure on Sri Lanka: BTF

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2013, 21:28 GMT]
Referring to the systematic repression and attacks on Eezham Tamil political activists, civil society and students by the Sri Lankan state, the BTF called on the British government to “to exert serious diplomatic pressure on Sri Lanka.” Speaking to TamilNet, BTF Coordinator Ravi Kumar said that since the so-called ‘independence’, concentration of powers in the Sinhalese rulers has systematically increased and that after a successful genocidal war on the Tamil nation in 2009, now all powers in the Sri Lankan state, executive, legislative and judicial powers are concentrated under the President. “Under such circumstances, UK and the International community should not focus on internal mechanism to provide justice to the Tamil Nation. This is the time for the UK government to call for an external mechanism towards an international independent investigation,” he added.
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Colombo militarizes civil administration in Tamil DS divisions of Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2013, 23:07 GMT]
The establishment of three new camps of the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in three Tamil Divisional Secretariat divisions, Aalaiyadivempu, Naavithanve'li and Thirukkoayil of the Ampaa'rai district has caused tension and fear among the population as a part of militarization of civil administration, civil sources in Ampaa'rai told TamilNet.
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Mass protests in London condemning assassination of Kurdish activists in Paris

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2013, 02:01 GMT]
Thousands of Kurds from across the UK took to the streets in London on Sunday condemning the recent assassination of three Kurdish women activists in Paris. Demanding a proper inquiry and immediate justice for the brutal murders of Sakine Cansiz, co-founder of the PKK, and activists Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez, the protestors raised slogans of ‘”Turkey is a terrorist state” and “We want freedom”. Kurdish sources told TamilNet that the assassination was an attempt to sabotage the Kurds desire for peaceful negotiations and France should act soon, lest it portrays itself complicit by inaction. Large protests were also held in France and Germany on Saturday. These protests saw the participation of solidarity groups and Eezham Tamil activists, who had joined to convey their solidarity with the Kurds.
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SLFP threatens Tamils filing cases against Sinhala land grab in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2013, 23:12 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) men in Ki'linochchi have been threatening the Tamil land owners who have been filing cases against the Sinhalese from South who have occupied their lands. The SLFP men are behind ‘providing’ lands to the family members of the Sri Lanka Army soldiers and other Sinhalese from South. At least 15 cases are pending the Ki'linochchi courts against illegal land grab of priviate lands by the Sinhala settlers from South, legal sources in Ki'lnochchi told TamilNet.
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SLA ex-officer testifies on orders to plant bomb at TNA MP's house in 2008

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2013, 20:27 GMT]
A former commissioned officer of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), testifying to the Canadian Immigration officials after fleeing to Toronto from Sri Lanka, said that a Colonel of the SLA had ordered him to plant bomb materials in the home of Mr M K Sivajilingam, a Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian in 2008, reports a Canadian newspaper, the National Post, on Sunday. The revelation gains significance in the context of alleged ‘recovery’ of explosives at the office of a current TNA parliamentarian Mr S Sritharan last week.
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Nambiar, India's proxy in UN, complicit in white flag killings?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2013, 23:55 GMT]
While the International Community which, blinded by the 9/11 terror, architected the annihilation of Tamils' primary safeguard, the LTTE, is left to savor the resulting horror state and the autocratic dystopia in Sri Lanka, Rights groups have accused the U.N. of being derelict in its duty to protect civilian lives. Vijay Nambiar, the Chef de Cabinet, who was a key official in shaping UN's Sri Lanka policy, is also accused of complicity in the "Whiteflag" incident where several surrendees were executed by the Sri Lanka military after being given assurances of safety by International actors. Nepotism and family connections between Ban Ki Moon and Nambiar, with personal links to India and Colombo, may also have contributed to the U.N.'s unwillingness to stop the Mu'l'livaaykkaal massacre, observers say.
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SL “Terrorist” investigators allegedly plant bomb at TNA MP's office in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2013, 12:32 GMT]
The Sri Lankan “Terrorist” Investigation Department (TID) personnel, who receive instructions from SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa “recovered” C4 explosives from the office of the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Sritharan in a move to trap the Tamil parliamentarian, on Saturday, sources close to the TNA MP told TamilNet. The SL-TID operatives who came to the office with a TNA supporter who had campaigned for Sritharan during the election, planted the explosives inside the office and “discovered” them, the sources close to the Tamil parliamentarian alleged. The latest move by the TID, deployed in systematic campaign against the democratic voices of Eezham Tamils, only indicates the level of paranoia prevailing in the Colombo Establishment at the moment, the sources further said.
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‘Australia’s foreign policy on Sri Lanka greatest sell-out in its history’: Trevor Grant

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2013, 00:38 GMT]
“The Gillard Labor Government has decided to dance cheek-to-cheek with a war criminal because it wants to stop Tamil refugees fleeing to Australia before this year's election,” veteran journalist Trevor Grant told TamilNet, dubbing Australian’s current foreign policy on Sri Lanka as “one of the greatest sell-outs by government in Australian history.” Responding to questions sent via mail, Mr. Grant, former chief sports writer at The Age with over 40 years of experience in journalism, further criticised Australia’s, particularly Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s support for the CHOGM conference in Sri Lanka. “I find it astounding that Australia is going to help Sri Lanka set up CHOGM,” he said, adding that Australia should be leading the boycott of CHOGM to be held in Sri Lanka. Criticising the LLRC as “Rajapaksa eyewash”, he opined Australia should help prosecute war criminals in Sri Lanka.
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CPI questions communist parties of Russia, China, Cuba, on Tamil issue

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2013, 00:23 GMT]
What is the position of the Communist Party of Russian Federation (CRPF)? What is the position of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and what is the position of Cuba, asked Communist Party of India’s (CPI) National Secretary D. Raja, bringing the issue of international investigation on Sri Lanka at the round table of experts from different communist parties of the world held in Moscow last month. “You comrades have to reconsider your position and voice your concerns in favour of Tamil people in Sri Lanka,” Raja urged, expressing concern over the lack of understanding among the communist parties on the issue. In the contemporary history a massacre of people in such a scale happened nowhere. It was genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, Raja told the world communist parties.
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