US Tamils should rise to the occasion of power games in southern South Asia

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 2015, 00:30 GMT]
In a significant move, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA), predominantly representing US Tamils from Tamil Nadu, has invited the NPC-Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, as a guest of honour to its Tamil Convention-2015, which will be held on Friday and Saturday at San Jose in California. The US Tamils should grasp the global and regional dynamics of the precarious power games and military scenario currently unfolding in southern South Asia, and should rise to the occasion in edifying Washington and New Delhi against keeping Tamils always at the receiving end, just because they don’t have a State, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics. Justice Wigneswaran should instil that understanding among Tamils of North America, the activists further said.
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SL Police alleged of ‘protecting’ killers of Batticaloa social activist Mathisayan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 July 2015, 23:48 GMT]
The police of occupying Sri Lanka, receiving instructions from Colombo, has suppressed details on the progress of the investigations on the killing of 43-year-old Eezham Tamil Social Service Officer (SSO) Mathisayan Sachchithanantham. The killing, which shocked the civil activists in Batticaloa, took place a month ago on 26 May 2015. Informed sources in Batticaloa told TamilNet on Wednesday that one person, having ‘high level’ connections was initially arrested from Thikkoadai and two others were later arrested on the information provided by the person arrested first. Although the entire village was aware of these arrests, the SL police has so far provided no information on the progress of the case to the concerned public, the sources further said.
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Tamil GS officers interdicted with instruction to undergo ‘military rehabilitation’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2015, 13:45 GMT]
Colombo's Ministry of Public Administration has interdicted six Eezham Tamil Village Officers (GS) in Karaichchi division of Ki'linochchi District a week ago. The reason given was that the SL Defence Ministry wanted the 4 female and 2 male GS officers to undergo ‘military rehabilitation’, meant for ex-LTTE members with immediate effect. The interdicted GS officers are not ex-LTTE members. But, the reason cited for the military rehabilitation was that there were ex-LTTE members, either living or dead, in their families or among their close relatives. The shocking harassment from the UNP-run Defence and Public Administration ministries of the SL State shows that nothing has changed with regards to the military rule in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, concerned civil sources in Ki'linochchi told TamilNet on Tuesday.
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Naathasvaram maestro receives heartfelt funeral at Chaavakachcheari

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2015, 02:56 GMT]
Dr Murugappa Panchapikesan, a renowned Eezham Tamil expert in Naathasvaram, who passed away on Friday in Colombo at the age of 91, received a heartfelt funeral at his native village of Changkaththaanai in Chaavakach-cheari in Jaffna on Monday. Eezham Tamil academics, artists, civil and cultural activists turned out in large numbers to pay their last respects to the artist, who was held in high esteem for his contribution to the music using Naathasvaram, which is the most widely used wind instrument in weddings and auspicious rituals of cultural and religious significance among the Tamils.
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Swaminathan blames SL military for failure in releasing lands, resettlement

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2015, 23:22 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister of Resettlement and Reconstruction Mr D.M. Swaminathan, who visited Jaffna on Monday publicly admitted that his ministry was been unable to release lands and provide for resettlement of the uprooted people from Valikaamam North as it had been promised by himself earlier. The SL military has not been cooperating as required in the release of lands as promised, the powerless Colombo-based Tamil minister said passing the blame from political leaders to the occupying military establishment. The visiting UNP minister was addressing the elected representatives, civil officers and the organisations representing the uprooted Tamils from Valikaamam North at two places, in Thelliappazhai and at the Jaffna District Secretariat.
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Avurik-kaadu, Vearkkuththik-kadavai, Beru-wala

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 2015, 22:05 GMT]
The place found with dense growth of indigo plants

The dye-root diggers' place to pass through

The place found with dense growth of indigo plants or the jungle of Agrotistachys indica shrubs
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PCICMP resumes public sittings amidst protests against domestic commissions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 2015, 19:21 GMT]
Rajapaksa-appointed and Maithiripala-extended ‘Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints regarding Missing Persons’ (PCICMP) resumed its public sittings on Saturday at Moothoor Divisional Secretariat in the Trincomalee district. Around 300 relatives of the missing people and civil activists protested outside the venue, while 159 people who had been invited by the PCICMP for hearings took part in the sittings. The protesters were demanding international investigations. Even those who attended the sittings had no trust in the commission, said Mannaar Citizens' Committee vice chairman A. Sagayam. His committee had urged the people to take part in the sittings.
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Champoor Tamils should demand 1 bn compensation, political-demographic guarantees

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 June 2015, 22:37 GMT]
The focus on Champoor so far by the new regime has been to get rid of the Chinese-affiliated Rajapaksa's ‘development’ family enterprises in Champoor. The India-oriented project of constructing Trincomalee Thermal Power Plant (TPP) was also part of the same ‘Industrial Zone’ game, conceived by Colombo involving all the powers locked in the geopolitical game of occupation. The geopolitical exploitation and the structural genocide will continue with a new model of conspiracy, which would be hatched by involving new actors unless the Tamils conceive a concerted struggle against the game without aligning themselves with any of the players, informed civil activists in Trincomalee told TamilNet on Friday. Meanwhile, a Tamil expert on the topic was of the opinion that Tamils should demand compensation for the destruction caused to the civil property, after the military seizure.
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Occupying Buddhist monk, SL military erect ‘memorial stones’ at seized lands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2015, 23:49 GMT]
The extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk and the occupying Sri Lankan military, who have seized the lands from Eezham Tamils at a strategic point linking North and East at Kokku'laay in Mullaiththeevu district, have hurriedly put up 7 ‘memorial stones’ for fallen Sinhala soldiers inside the premises where they intend to establish a Buddhist temple-centric economic establishment. The advice to erect memorial stones has come from the SL Defence Ministry in Colombo, informed sources in Mullaiththeevu told TamilNet on Thursday. One of the Eezham Tamil land owners, Manikkathas Thirugnanasampanthar, when interviewed by TamilNet, complained that the Buddhist monk and the SL military were seeking all avenues to complicate the situation to their advantage in permanently seizing the property. The Tamil land-owners lack resources to legally confront the genocidal land grab, he said urging assistance.
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Colombo reimposes military harassments against peaceful assembly in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 June 2015, 23:20 GMT]
Military intelligence operatives of the occupying Sri Lankan military in Batticaloa district has recently stepped up surveillance and intimidation of those who take part in civil, economic, cultural and religious meetings in all the 14 divisions of the district, according to the instructions coming from Colombo, informed sources in Batticaloa told TamilNet on Wednesday. The new regime in Colombo, claiming ‘good governance’, continues the ‘military governance’ through its genocidal Sinhala military in an attempt to control the civil affairs in the district, said civil activists who have been subjected to intimidating calls from the SL military operatives in recent days.
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Bathiudeen hijacks one more key institution from Swaminathan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 June 2015, 19:33 GMT]
The EPDP leader and a former SL Minister Douglas Devanada lost control of the affairs of the SL State-run industrial establishments such as the Palmyra Development Board and the Elephant Pass Saltern to the new collaborator of the SL regime in Colombo. The new collaborator, D.M. Swaminathan, who is a Colombo-based Tamil representing the UNP has virtually lost control of his own institutions. Five months have elapsed since the Elephant Pass Saltern was assigned to the SL Minister of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs. But, his ministry is still not in control of the key institution. The UPFA-affiliated controversial SL Minister Rishad Bathiudeen is controlling the affairs of one of the major industrial entity in North through Maanthai Salt Ltd., which comes under his ministry, civil sources in Jaffna told TamilNet on Tuesday.
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SL military seizes more lands at Tha'l'laadi, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2015, 23:08 GMT]
While the civil officials in Mannaar are struggling to locate lands to settle Eezham Tamil refugees, who are scheduled to be sent back from India with the facilitation by UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the SL Ministry of Resettlement, the occupying SL military in Mannaar has put up noticeboards claiming ownership to more than 50 acres of public lands along the A32 highway between Tha'l'laadi and Thirukkeatheesvaram. The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has recently seized these lands near the notorious Tha'l'laadi military base, civil sources in Mannaar told TamilNet on Monday. The SL military is scheming a military cantonment to facilitate long-term Sinhalicisation of the Mannaar mainland, the sources further said.
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Ampaa’rai Tamils side-lined by Sampanthan polity : TNA Councillor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 2015, 15:02 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance Councillor representing the Ampaa’rai district in the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) T. Kalaiyarasan on Sunday condemned TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan for failing to secure the release of the occupied lands of Eezham Tamils in the district. “Nothing has been delivered to Tamils in Ampaa’rai district despite Mr Sampanthan representing the TNA being a member of the apex body of the present SL Government in Colombo,” the TNA Councillor from the East said. The so-called National Executive Council has failed to deliver anything to Tamils in the 100-day programme, he said.
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Buddhist monk, SL military obstruct territorial contiguity of Tamil homeland at Kokku'laay

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 June 2015, 23:48 GMT]
An extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk, Sri Thissapura Gunarathna Thero, who has occupied the lands of Eezham Tamils at Kokku'laay, located along the coastal Mullaiththeevu - Batticaloa Road, has deployed the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers to proceed with the construction of the Vihara, completely ignoring an interim order issued last week by Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat to not to proceed with the construction of the ‘Sri Sambodhi Vihara’ until the dispute of lands occupied by the Incumbent monk is solved. The monk and the soldiers of the occupying army continue to the work despite the pressure and objection coming from the Eezham Tamils. The area surrounding Kokku'laay is the focus of Sinhala colonisation presently, as it is the key location for wedging the demographic contiguity of the North and East as well as direct communication between Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee.
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SLN occupies most of military-seized lands outside ‘HSZ’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2015, 20:28 GMT]
Around 30 of 47 acres of lands seized together with residential houses outside the so-called High Security Zone (HSZ) in Jaffna district still remain occupied by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Neduntheevu (Delft), Maruthangkea'ni of Vadmaraadchi East and in Thellip-pazhai, according to the latest data collected by the District Secretariat in Jaffna in February 2015. SL Police has occupied 88 houses, SLN has seized 57 properties and the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) keeps 23 properties outside the ‘military zones’ in the district. The SL military has reiterated several times now that it has no plan of reducing the military deployment in the country of Eezham Tamils. The Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council, Justice CV Wigneswaran, who has been demanding de-militarisation of North recently characterised the density of SL military occupation as one soldier per 4 civilians.
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Fundamentals non-negotiable for non-descript formulas

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 June 2015, 23:46 GMT]
In the current discourse over the US-agenda put through South Africa –Switzerland proxies that bargain the closure of files at the international level for ‘non-descript’ hoodwink of solutions to the genocide-afflicted national question of Eezham Tamils, two arguments are noteworthy of answering, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island. The first one repeatedly comes from the lawyer and spokesperson of the agenda, Mr. M.A. Sumanthiran that those who had earlier found fault with the US move at the UNHRC now realise its importance and demand continuation. The other one comes from Mr. Erik Solheim, who never lost his appetite for con, saying that the situation has now successfully gone back to 1972 and it is in the best hands of Sinhala leadership.
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‘LLRC’ Palihakkara promotes pompous ceremony for genocidal ‘War Heroes’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2015, 23:20 GMT]
The office of the SL Governor to North, HMGS Palihakkara, who was one of the eight panellists earlier appointed by former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the so-called Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), was an an official co-organiser to the pompous ceremony organised together with Ranaviru Seva Authority (RSA) of the occupying Sinhala military in Jaffna on Wednesday. ‘LLRC’ Palihakkara himself was the chief guest of the ceremony organised in remembrance of the ‘fallen war heroes of three forces and the Police’. Mr Palihakkara has forced a section of Tamil public servants in the North to accompany him to the military ceremony. Tamil journalists in Jaffna have boycotted the event. The NPC councillors said they were not informed of public servants associated with the NPC being taken to the event.
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New SL ministry schemes Sinhalicisation through ‘cultural diplomacy’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 June 2015, 23:16 GMT]
Earlier, the occupying Colombo under Mahinda Rajapaksa, declared 11,000 acres of lands in Vangkaalai, situated in the Mannaar mainland as Vankaalai Sanctuary, coming under the control of the SL ministries and departments in Colombo in 2008. The new regime, which came to power in January 2015, is now hurriedly engaged in claiming the remaining lands, where people have resettled with housing provided through the Indian Housing Scheme. The occupation of lands go beyond Vangkaalai in Naanaaddaan into Mannaar DS division intending to chase away the entire village of Chi'runaavatku'lam, located along the Mannaar - Mathavaachchi Road, some parts of Pa'l'li-munai and a residential area near the Thirukkeatheesvaram temple, activists in Mannaar told TamilNet on Tuesday. Colombo's ministry of ‘Tourism and Sports’ is deploying ‘cultural diplomacy’ as smokescreen to advance the occupation.
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US-agenda Tamils fail sabotaging Asia-Pacific Greens resolution on Genocide

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 June 2015, 21:24 GMT]
The 3rd Congress of the Asia-Pacific Greens Federation, held in Wellington, New Zealand, between 12-14 June has successfully resolved urging international investigations on the allegations of genocide, war-crimes and the ongoing human rights abuses in the island of Sri Lanka, despite reluctance coming from a section of Australian Green Party, influenced by US-agenda Tamils against such a resolution, informed sources in New Zealand told TamilNet. For their ‘reluctance’, Australian Green Party sources privately cited ‘conflicting messages’ coming from Tamil activists. The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), which is a member of the so-called Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the GTF ‘strategic initiative’ director Mr Suren Surendiren and TNA's nominated parliamentarian Mr M.A. Sumanthiran have met the Australian Greens in March to influence them towards their agenda, the sources further said.
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Sinhala occupation of pastureland causes existential threat to Batticaloa Tamil farmers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 June 2015, 23:19 GMT]
316 Tamil farmers belonging to two administrative divisions in Batticaloa district own around 85,000 cattle. The cattle-herders from this region have been officially demarcated 45,000 acres of lands in Maathava'nai, Periya-maathava'ani and Mayilaththa-madu. More than 5,000 Tamils are dependent on the cattle industry in the region. They supply 15,000 litres of milk to three collecting centres run by Milko and Nestlé in Kiraan and Chengkaladi. The Sinhala colonisers have seized 12,000 acres (one fourth) of the allocated pastureland. Operatives belonging to SL Wildlife Conservation Department and the occupying Sinhala soldiers have been chasing the Tamil cattle herders away as the intruding Sinhala farmers engage in Chena-cultivation. The Tamil farmers demand a permanent solution before the Sinhala intruders are set to commence Chena cultivation for next season in August 2015.
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