Sri Lanka plans ‘foreign’ enclave to balance India in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 February 2012, 19:19 GMT]
While the uprooted Eezham Tamil civilians from Moothoor East of Troncomalee district are languishing in temporary shelters and with their relatives and friends, the colonial Colombo government has sent land surveying teams with a plan to grab the remaining lands in the vicinity of the already seized area for Indian coal power plant in Champoor. Informed sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet Monday that SL presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa, who is the economic ‘development’ minister in Colombo, has allocated 6,500 acres of the occupied land to a foreign power for the construction of an ‘industrial zone’ surrounding the 1,500 acres of land already allocated to Indian coal power plant. Recently, the SL military was bragging in Jaffna about their ‘diplomacy’ in giving KKS harbour construction to India and giving rest of the northern coast to a Chinese corporate.
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Urging Colombo to rebuild railway to north evokes 143-year-old debate

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 February 2012, 00:39 GMT]
A group of politicians, academics and NGO workers in the South including some Tamils and Muslims of southern orientation, while urging implementation of several LLRC recommendations in consultation with the TNA, and at the same time urging demilitarisation and political solution based on devolution, concluded their signed statement on Friday, wondering it was “hard to understand delay in rebuilding the railway to the north – a one time artery of commerce and people movement.” The perception of the model of ‘integration’ with the Colombo-based system, evokes 143-year-old debate on ‘the tale of two cities’, started by the then British Government Agent in Jaffna, Sir William Twynham, whether the railway makes Jaffna independent or dependent of Colombo. Twynham in his time rather preferred to develop the external trade of the ports in Jaffna and land-link them with the rest of the island.
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Colombo demarcates new Batticaloa villages for Sinhalicisation

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2012, 22:27 GMT]
The Colombo government has been engaged in creating new villages for Sinhalese who are being brought down from the south to the Eastern Province. The SL government authorities have set aside around 25,000 acres of land in Vavu'natheevu in Batticaloa district under the pretext of allowing members of the so-called Sri Lanka Civil Defence Force, who are Sinhala home guards trained to colonise Tamil land by the Sri Lankan military, to do cultivation. Hundred percent of the paramilitary home guards in the unit receiving the lands in Batticaloa are Sinhalese.
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Cambodia analogy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 February 2012, 05:14 GMT]
The UN Secretary General is under attack by international legal experts and the media for a seriously bungled war-crimes prosecution in east asia- Cambodia's war tribunal (Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, ECCC). Two million civilians were killed by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and 35 years later, politics and finance, instead of law and evidence, appear to dictate the course of justice. But, here, now, Tamil political leaders point to the Cambodia model as reflecting the speed of international investigations, and assert that Tamils should not be impatient at the slow progress of international mechanisms. Western States, allegedly complicit in "crime against peace" in Sri Lanka, forward the same argument to avoid their own exposure and to buy the SL Government time so that 30-years into the future, prosecutions become largely irrelevant as is happening in Cambodia.
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TNA tries to sell Indo-US pre-emption to Eezham Tamil civil society

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 February 2012, 14:45 GMT]
Accepting the implementation of the 13th Amendment that is already in Sri Lanka’s constitution and failed to meet Tamil aspirations, was the subject matter the TNA was trying to impress upon the representatives of the Eezham Tamil civil society, in a meeting that took place in Vavuniyaa for five hours on Saturday. Eezham Tamils should not ‘hang on’ to their right to self-determination was the argument of a Colombo-based lawyer backing the stand of TNA leader R. Sampanthan, while this right was the very basis of the struggle of Eezham Tamils in the last sixty years, democratically as well as militarily, civil society circles told TamilNet. Many of the civil society representatives, especially from the East and Mannaar requested the TNA to conceive better ideas to bring in an interim administration for the North and East to face the current situation.
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Sumanthiran comes forward to save Rajapaksa from international investigations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2012, 01:47 GMT]
A few days left to the UNHRC sessions in Geneva, the Colombo-based nominated parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mr. M.A. Sumanthiran, has come out with a statement to BBC Sinhala Service on Tuesday, bailing out the regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa. “TNA backs a domestic process to implement the LLRC recommendations. We should ask for an international probe only after a failure of that,” Sumanthiran said. “It is a step-by-step process. It will take time. They took 30 years in Cambodia,” the BBC further cited the MP, who welcomed the ‘US pressure’ on the SL government. Meanwhile, the visiting US Under Secretary General of State, Maria Otero, told reporters in Colombo on Monday that the US will support a resolution at the UNHRC providing an opportunity for Sri Lanka to implement the LLRC recommendations.
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Colombo media movement shows sensitivity for linking it with TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 February 2012, 23:54 GMT]
Colombo-based Free Media Movement (FMM) on Tuesday strongly reacted to news appearing in SL government-run ‘Dinamina’ on 03 February which had alleged that the members of the FMM had been in collaboration with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in campaigning at Geneva against the Colombo government. Totally disowning any link with the TNA, the language and tone of the FMM press statement only show the anxiety and extra-sensitivity prevailing in Colombo's media associations over the South perceiving any image of their sympathy with the aspirations of Tamil politics in the island. Even in the times of the LTTE, the Colombo media associations were not sensitive like this, political observers in Colombo said.
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Illegal sand mining continues in East with Colombo backing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 February 2012, 23:48 GMT]
Sri Lankan presidential sibling and ‘development’ minister Basil Rajapaksa, through an officer working in the Geological Unit of the District Secretariat of Batticaloa, has given permit to a Sinhala businessman N.T.I.Tilakaretna, a Sinhalese. The move was also backed by the Sri Lankan Government Agent in Batticaloa, according to civil sources at the Batticaloa District Secretariat. Tilakaretna has been allowing tractors to remove sand from the river after obtaining 2,000 rupees per tractor. Ten percent of the money goes to Basil Rajapakse and 5 percent is being given to the Officer-in-Charge of the SLA army camp at Mu'rakkoddaagn-cheanai, the sources further said.
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Tamil journalists blocked from attending Rajapaksa's meetings in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2012, 12:10 GMT]
The wards of the Chaavakachcheari hospital, renovated with help from Red Cross societies from Finland and Ireland at different stages and that were already declared open, were declared once again opened by SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday. The ‘hijack’ move projected as a part of ‘grand opening’ under Rajapaksa's Vadakkin Vasantham (the spring of the North), was exposed by the local journalists, who discovered that the initial inaugural plaques with the names of foreign donors were hastily removed Sunday night and new plaques were installed. As the local journalists in Jaffna began questioning the episode, the SL establishment blocked the journalists from covering the visit of Mr. Rajapaksa to Jaffna Secretariat where he was scheduled to discuss his ‘development’ of North.
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China to build airport in Poonakari to balance India’s Palaali

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2012, 01:27 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka plans to invite China to build an airport of international standard at Poonakari in the north of the country of Eezham Tamils to balance India’s projects centring around KKS harbour and Palaali airport in the northern coast of Jaffna Peninsula, news sources from the island said. Colombo has started confiscating large tracts of lands for this purpose and China has presented models of the airport for approval, revealed TNA parliamentarian Mr. Sritharan. Poonakari is situated in a controlling location linking Vanni with Jaffna Peninsula, with Palk Bay and Jaffna Lagoon on either side. It is also located close to Raameasvaram and Tho’ndi of the Tamil Nadu coast.
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Destructive trend of Sinhalicisation harmful for future harmony in East: Thurairatnam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 January 2012, 23:57 GMT]
Archaeological traces of heritage, preserved in 25 acres of land in Chuvaami-malai and Kevu'liya-madu villages in Paddippazhai DS division of Batticaloa district, are being destroyed by Sinhala encroachers, who are attempting to construct a Buddhist vihara at the occupied lands, civil sources Paddippazhai said. Condemning the move, Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) member R. Thurairatnam, said the destructive trend is opposed to any future ethnic harmony in the East. The historical evidences in the area were well preserved even during the times of war, Mr. Thurairatnam observed.
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Colombo steps up Sinhalicisation of Batticaloa, Ampaa'rai border village

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 January 2012, 19:20 GMT]
Depriving the livelihood of resettled Tamils at 35th Colony, the Sri Lankan government authorities in Colombo have taken charge of the Tamil area, which comes under the Batticaloa district and the Eastern Provincial Council, aiming Sinhalicisation of the border village between the Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai district. The Tamil fishermen, who have been fishing in Navakkiri tank have now been denied access to the tank and only Sinhalese are allowed by the SL authorities to engage in fishing in the tank situated in the 35th Colony. The provincial minister responsible for fisheries affairs, Mr. Navaratnam, has also confirmed that the civil affairs at 35th Colony are being directly controlled from Colombo.
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USA pressurises civil society to accept genocide and to live with it

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 January 2012, 11:37 GMT]
Two officials from the US State Department who met civil society of Jaffna last week categorically told them that the US would not take up war crimes/ human rights issues against Sri Lanka in the March HRC session, as there is no sufficient pressure or request from the affected people. Ruling out any outside intervention for political solution, the officials said that the US would only support the implementation of the LLRC report, which means annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils and completion of structural genocide by 2020, as fixed by the report. The officials didn't listen to the civil group, but insisted only on passing the message. As genocidal Sri Lanka is going to be emboldened further by the stand of the USA and similar stand of India, what responses are going to come from Tamil Nadu and from those who pawned politics to the USA and India, ask the civil groups.
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Sinhala gang attacks Tamil residents in Trinco suburb

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2012, 16:56 GMT]
Four Tamil residents of Vinaayagapuram, a suburb in Trincomalee town, were injured, including one with severe injuries, when a gang of Sinhalese attacked them on Saturday evening around 6 p.m, sources in Trincomalee said. Thurainayagam Sanjeevan, 32, an employee of the Trincomalee office of a leading Tamil daily Virakesari, is in critical condition and has been admitted to the Trincomalee General Hospital. Other injured Tamils were discharged from the hospital after treatment, hospital sources said. The attackers had threatened the Tamil residents to vacate the village, according to the injured residents.
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Book documents pre-colonial Tamil connections of New Zealand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 January 2012, 00:27 GMT]
“Tamil Imprints in New Zealand” by 87-year-old Eezham Tamil author A.T. Arumugam, now living in New Zealand, re-documents and discusses in detail a bronze bell inscribed in Tamil in c. 14-15 century writing that was in the possession of the native Maori people of New Zealand. Originally written in 2007 in Tamil, the book has been translated into English and will be released shortly in Wellington. The publication is sure to give a sense of pride and belongingness, and would contribute to integration with identity for the Tamils of New Zealand today, commented a social worker. Meanwhile, reviewing the book, V. Sivasupramaniam, who also contributed to the translation says, “This book of fifty-two pages could provide a good incentive for historians and researchers to go further deep into the migratory pattern of this multi-cultural country.”
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Award winning filmmaker presents documentary on exiled Sinhala, Tamil journalists

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 22:45 GMT]
‘Silenced Voices – Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile’, a new documentary by Norwegian filmmaker Beate Arnestad, who directed and produced the award winning documentary ‘My Daughter the Terrorist’ in 2007, is to be pre-premiered in Oslo, Norway, on 09 February. The screening of ‘Silenced Voices’, which is about journalists, who contributed to international exposure of the internationally abetted genocidal war without witnesses, will be followed by a debate featuring journalists Bashana Abeywardane, the former chief editor of Hiru weekly, Frances Harrison, the former BBC foreign correspondent to Sri Lanka and Sverre Tom Radøy, a Norwegian journalist. The film features Mr. Bashana Abeywardene, his wife Sharmila Logeswaram, Sonali Wickrematunge and A. Lokeesan, TamilNet wartime correspondent, who was reporting from 2005 to April 2009 from Vanni.
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Kalam unaware of Tamil fishermen's plight

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2012, 23:56 GMT]
Jaffna District fisheries societies representatives on Monday urged the visiting former Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who was in Jaffna as part of his visit to the island, to impress upon the Indian government to facilitate the Eezham Tamil fishermen to resume their livelihood by containing the Indian poachers who destroy the nets of the local fishermen and cause serious destruction to the environment necessary for sustaining the fisheries industry. Dr. Kalam was listening to the plight of the fishermen in the peninsula as if he was totally unaware of the decades long dispute in the sea and the destruction caused to the Eezham Tamil fishermen by the intruding Indian trawlers that engage in poaching close to the coast of Jaffna peninsula. The visiting former president of India, later visited the University of Jaffna and gave a speech at a fully packed Kailasapathy auditorium.
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TNA should use its Tamil national mandate: Bishop of Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2012, 15:32 GMT]
The aim of the Tamil civil groups’ memorandum dated 13 December 2011 and addressed to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was in fact to strengthen the Tamil national polity and its democratically mandated representatives. It was not meant to weaken the TNA. There is a mandate given by the people to the TNA about continuing talks with the SL government and that the TNA in its course of action should stick to its mandate is the thrust of the memorandum, clarified the Bishop of Mannaar, Most Reverend Rayappu Joseph, in a press release issued on last Monday on behalf of the civil society signatories of the memorandum.
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Krishna visit patterns Indo-Sri Lanka deceit on Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2012, 21:23 GMT]
There was no enthusiasm or expectation in Jaffna on the recent visit by India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, media circles said. Civil groups in Jaffna also reflected the same opinion. Just as the visits of MK Narayanan and Shiv Shankar Menon patterned the course of the genocidal war, the visits of the Indian dignitaries in the subsequent phase show a pattern in consolidating the structural genocide of the nation of Eezham Tamils in order to facilitate overlapping interests of India's imperialism and the militarized Sinhala state in the island. Rather than pointlessly expecting India's 'development' help or 'mediation' role, all shades of Tamil polity should firmly demand India to get out, if India's imperialism is incapable of finding any overlapping interest in conceding the right to self determination of the genocide-affected nation of Eezham Tamils, civil circles in Jaffna said.
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Missing ITAK representative in Jaffna under ‘investigation’ in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2012, 15:22 GMT]
The organizer of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) in Jaffna city and a former representative of Jaffna University Student Union, Mr. Arnold, has been reported missing after being invited to Colombo by a person yet to be identified. Arnold has been allegedly abducted and subjected to investigations by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lankan Police in Colombo, informed circles in Jaffna said.
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