Colombo’s claims of diaspora dialogue challenged in the diaspora

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 October 2012, 13:45 GMT]
None of the Tamil diaspora bodies that have democratic or institutional mandate of Eezham Tamils have opted to engage in talks with the Sri Lankan government, which continues to negate the nationhood and right to self-determination of Eezham Tamils, said Dr Panchakulasingam Kandiah, the president of the democratically elected Norwegian Council of Eezham Tamils and a director in the board of the Global Tamil Forum. He was responding to a question by TamilNet on Saturday, on the statement of Sri Lanka's cabinet spokesperson and minister Keheliya Rambukwela telling that Colombo was “making headway in its dialogue with the Tamil Diaspora”. The ‘dialogue’ will be held in Colombo shortly under the direct patronage of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa, media reports from Colombo said.
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Eezham Tamils in Canada launch petition campaign demanding referendum

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 October 2012, 09:32 GMT]
On October 12 the National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) organized the launch of a petition campaign directed towards the United Nations to conduct a referendum amongst Eezham Tamils originating from the North-East of the island to determine their political aspirations. Launched at the Scarborough Civic Centre in Toronto, the event saw participation from community members, elected officials and human rights activists. Most notable was the endorsement for the campaign by the Member for Provincial Parliament, Glen Murray endorsing the campaign through a letter addressed to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
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Tamil politicians, activists protest against SL military attacks on civic leaders in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 October 2012, 01:20 GMT]
Tamil politicians and civil activists on Wednesday protested condemning the brutal attack Sunday on Paramsothy Vasanthakumar, the elected chairman of Nalloor Piratheasa Chapai (PS). Vasanthakumar was on his way to prepare a legal suit after lodging a formal complaint against the illegal SL military occupation of 5 acres of land belonging to the civic body when he was attacked. The attackers, alleged to be the operatives of the SL military intelligence, had followed Mr Vasanthakumar in motorbikes, assaulted him using sharp iron rods at Kokkuvil and forcibly removed the legal documents on the SL military occupied land together with a sum of money. The protestors on Wednesday openly blamed the SL military intelligence in Jaffna for carrying out a systematic campaign of terror, targeting elected civic leaders in the peninsula.
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UK Tamil tortured in Colombo, returned after payment of ransom to CID

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 October 2012, 07:46 GMT]
Sivasubramaniam Jeevan, an Eezham Tamil youth citizen of UK living in Scotland, who was on a visit to the island of Sri Lanka on 3 October, was detained by the notorious Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Colombo from the day he landed to 9 October, and was allegedly tortured under suspicion of “LTTE links”, after taking away his passport and other documents. He was released last Tuesday after managing a payment of a sum of 1.5 million rupees, plus 325 pounds, as ransom money to the CID. Speaking to TamilNet from his residence in Scotland, 33 year old Jeevan, who is now undergoing psychological treatment owing to the trauma of interrogation, said that the CID officers tortured him by beating him, verbally abusing him, and threatening to kill him. He was also interrogated on diaspora activities in the UK, he said.
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Colombo appropriates Trinco fish market from civic body

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 October 2012, 19:47 GMT]
Centuries old public fish market of the Trincomalee Urban Council, which was recently renovated with the consent of the Trincomalee Urban Council (UC), is to be appropriated by the Fisheries ministry of Colombo government. Susantha Punchinilame, the deputy minister of fisheries and a UPFA parliamentarian from Trincomalee district has made the announcement at the Trincomalee District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) meeting held this week. Mr.K.Selvarajah, the chairman of the Trincomalee UC, who attended the DCC meeting vehemently protested against the appropriation and said the UC would not agree for the takeover of the fish market by the central government. The market belongs to the Trinco UC and it was renovated with the permission of the council, he added.
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‘Sri Lanka model of COIN sets a dangerous precedent for humanity’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 October 2012, 18:26 GMT]
After the International Community of Establishments working in tandem with a genocide-intending Sri Lankan state oversaw a brutal military solution over the armed struggle of the Eezham Tamils in May 2009, the ‘Sri Lanka model’ of dealing with insurgencies is now being incorporated into the science of Counterinsurgency (COIN), opines RM Karthick, observing what dangerous ramifications this could have for struggling peoples worldwide in an article published on Sanhati, an Indian online journal, on Wednesday. Outlining internal and external factors in shaping the conflict, using the politico-military analysis of the late TamilNet senior editor ‘Taraki’ Sivaram, the author explains how internationally coordinated measures against the LTTE and the genocidal intent of Sinhala nationalists led to Mu’l’livaaykkaal and the systemic repression of the Eezham Tamils in their homeland that followed.
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Sinhalese occupy grazing lands of Tamil cattle breeders in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 22:56 GMT]
Tamil cattle breeders face threat and intimidation from the occupying Sri Lanka Army to use their grazing grounds in Periya Maathava'nai and Mayilaththa-madu areas situated in Koara'laip-pattu South DS division of Batticaloa district. Eezham Tamils are being chased away from the area with their cattle by the occupying Sri Lanka Army that only allows the Sinhala cattle breeders to enter the grazing lands. A group of Tamil cattle breeders led by K.Thurairajasingham, a former Batticaloa district parliamentarian who is an elected member to the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC), went to the site on October 4 to see the ground situation. They were told by the occupying Sri Lanka Army camped in the area that more than one hundred Sinhalese had been settled down in the area and are preparing for the Maha paddy cultivation.
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Genocide needs investigation but separation contextually unwise: Alan Keenan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 October 2012, 21:43 GMT]
Calls for investigation on what has happened and is happening now in Sri Lanka from genocide angle need to be looked into, said ICG’s Sri Lanka Project Director, Dr Alan Keenan, in an interview to TamilNet on Friday. “If you want to call it an investigation, it needs to be looked into. I am fully supportive of it being looked into,” he said 3 years after the war and the Dublin Tribunal calling for such an investigation in Jan 2010. The ICG had earlier targeted the diaspora for the genocide argument that it aims achieving Tamil Eelam. To questions on ICG negating independence to Tamils, while supporting it for others, he said that independence [even] as an ultimate goal is unwise to the current context of Tamils, while “balance of merits” favours it in other contexts. When pressed to explain the contextual difference, he hinted at the chance of further violence coming from the Sinhalese.
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Jaffna civil society concerned about Sri Lanka using UN teams

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 October 2012, 23:29 GMT]
Many UN teams are visiting the island of Sri Lanka in connection with the reviews of UNHRC in November 2012 and March 2013. The civil society in Jaffna is concerned that the UN team visits are encouraged to serve the agenda of the Colombo government, said civil society activist and Jaffna University academic in law, Mr Guruparan Kumaravadivel to media in Jaffna on Monday. The visits are not transparent, as they have not revealed the Terms of Reference and restrictions to their visits, and most of the time, they end up visiting SL government officials and people who do not come up with independent views. The whole exercise raises questions on UN deliberations in the island and “the UN definitely has not learnt lessons,” Mr Guruparan further said.
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Academics question ICE deceit after Solheim's speech at London book launch

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 October 2012, 22:01 GMT]
Reacting to arguments put forth by the panel of discussants at the London book launch event of Frances Harrison's 'Still Counting the Dead' on Friday, especially to the opinions of Norwegian politician and peace-broker Erik Solheim, Indian academic Radha D'Souza and UK-based academic Amanda Latimer, criticized the politics of deceit the International Community of Establishments (ICE) was playing with the Tamils. In exclusive videos to TamilNet, both Dr. D'Souza and Ms. Latimer came down hard on the Western Establishments and those working with vested interests for spreading misinformation to the Tamil diaspora about the liberation struggle of the Eezham Tamils.
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Southern workers sexually harass Tamil women in East

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 October 2012, 23:13 GMT]
Some of the workers from South who are brought down to Eastern province by the Colombo government, which employs them in road construction and electricity supply ‘development’ work in the Eastern province, engage in sexual abuse of Tamil women, civil sources in Batticaloa say citing two cases this week alone. At Vaazhaichcheanai, a 38-year-old mother of five, A Sinnappillai, was killed after sexual abuse by at least two Sinhala men and the body of the victim was found dumped in a pit upside down. At Vellaave'li, a man from Matara, caught by the villagers after he attempted to sexually harass a 17-year-old Tamil girl on Thursday, was allowed to go unpunished by the Sinhala policemen.
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TamilNet columnist in Asia Pacific passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 October 2012, 10:48 GMT]
TamilNet columnist in the diaspora, writing as Economic and Political Analyst in the Asia Pacific, passed away this week at the age of 73. Retired from the service of an apex world infrastructure of the Establishments, including a tenure that brought him awards from Vietnam, he had first hand experience on the 1 per cent of the world oppressing the 99 per cent. Oppressed nations and peoples coming together to change the world order was the pivotal theme of his writings. His commitment to the Tamil Eelam cause was based on his ideology that completion of the national liberation or recognition of the Right of Self-determination of the 6000 odd nations without state is an indispensable preliminary for the Socialist World Order. TamilNet’s inability to reveal his identity even at his demise reflects the nature of oppression Eezham Tamils face today.
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‘Surrendering a struggle’: Biafran lessons to Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 October 2012, 15:56 GMT]
In an article published in The Guardian on Tuesday, famed novelist Chinua Achebe, who hails from the Igbo community in Nigeria, opines that decades after Nigeria’s genocidal war on the short-lived state of Biafra, the Igbo people still face monumental problems under Nigerian rule. The Nigerian-Biafran war ended after the internationally aided Nigerian offensives on the Igbo people, which resulted in the death of around 2 million, compelled the leaders of the armed resistance for Biafra to capitulate. Whether the Solheim clique in the Western establishments who now claim that they could have saved civilian lives by facilitating the ‘surrender’ of the LTTE leadership in 2009 had the same intentions for the Eezham Tamil nation, ask Tamil political activists.
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Creating historical fiction on Mu'l'livaaykkaal massacre

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 October 2012, 02:32 GMT]
Dr. Julian Vigo, an American academic currently living in the U.K., who authored a report based on eye-witness accounts from twelve United Nations humanitarian workers who were working on the ground during the last phases of war in Sri Lanka that ended in May 2009, in an interview to TamilNet, apportions blame to the United Nations organs operating in Sri Lanka at the time of the massacre at the killing fields of Mu'l'livaaykkal, and says, "I am interested in how historical fictions (if we are to take the media as the recorder of history) are created around the issue of Sri Lanka's dead and the way that international organizations eschew responsibility for their role in the 40,000 dead while finger pointing to Colombo."
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Opening brief filed in US war-crimes appeal against Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 October 2012, 04:20 GMT]
Brief for the three Tamil Plaintiffs-Appellants in the case, Kasippillai Manoharan versus Percy Mahendra Rajpakse, the current sitting Head of Sri Lanka, was filed on Tuesday at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, plaintiffs' attorney, Bruce Fein said. The legal issue raised was whether the words "an individual" in the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA), Congress subjected to civil liability for complicity in the universal crimes of torture or extra judicial killings under color of foreign law to implement the Convention Against Torture and to advance promoting human rights abroad include the sitting head of states (Mahinda Rajapakse) sued in their individual capacities, the legal brief of the plaintiffs said.
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NESoHR book on Tamil massacres prior to 2009 published in German

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 October 2012, 23:21 GMT]
A compilation of large-scale massacres from 1956 to 2008, brought out by the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), has been translated to German. The book, “Damit wir nicht vergessen” will be launched at Frankfurt Book Fair this month. The publication has an important historical dimension as it presents the massacres prior to 2009 genocidal onslaught in a historical dimension, says Emeritus Professor Peter Schalk in Uppsala, Sweden, sending an introductory note to TamilNet. “In a shortened time perspective those violations of human rights [in 2009] may appears as an occasional and random deviation of a particular Government of Sri Lanka or as committed by individual offenders. We have good reasons to assume that this massacre by the government represents a planned cultural and physical genocide over a long time,” he further says adding that a Chinese translation is desirable.
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Mass graves surface along bunkers in Mu'l'livaaykkaal

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 October 2012, 22:21 GMT]
An official who recently visited the outskirts of Mu'l'livaaykkaal with the soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army told TamilNet this week that he had personally witnessed skeletal remains of hundreds of slain people surfacing along the few kilometers long, L-shaped bunker, running from Vadduvaakal to northwards along the land of the genocidal onslaught. A vast area is still not cleared and is strictly prohibited from access to anyone except SL military officials. “There are booby traps and UXOs. Rotten automatic rifles and RPG ammunitions are lying around in the area. When I walked across a bunker, I was able to sense that it was a bunker of mass slaughter. As the bodies buried underneath have rotten, the soil was going under as we walked across,” he said. Meanwhile, some other mass graves show the use of chemicals that have burnt even the bones to become ashes, journalists report.
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DDoS attacks on TamilNet foiled

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 September 2012, 22:47 GMT]
Following persistent Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks on TamilNet in late February that coincided with the UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, the site was once again intensively attacked this week by sources originating from various countries. Most of the co-ordinated attacks on 26 September originated from India, Malaysia, Israel and Germany. The attacks have also come from Thailand, Georgia, Brazil and Pakistan. This time, the cyber attacks on TamilNet coincided with its exclusive coverage exposing resettlement farce in Vanni, while Colombo and its abettors in the International Community of Establishments and in the international organisations, were projecting the closure of the IDP camp in Vavuniyaa as marking the successful completion of resettlement, ostensibly for the bailout of Colombo and continuation of the deceptive LLRC roadmap.
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‘Systemic rape of Tamil women is genocidal attack on psyche of Tamils’: Grenada feminist

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 September 2012, 15:22 GMT]
Arguing that systematic abuse of Tamil women, especially ex-LTTE women cadres, by the Sri Lankan state’s forces “must be viewed as the convergence of state power, colonialism, sexism, racism, classism and imperialism”, Kimalee Philip, a Canada based feminist hailing from Grenada, contends in a commentary sent to TamilNet that rape of Tamil women constitutes a significant attack on the collective psyche of Tamil women and the Eezham Tamil people as such. Ms Philip, who was responding to the recently published TamilNet analytical feature on the genocide-intended sexual violence inflicted on ex-LTTE women cadres by Sri Lankan military and police, further argues that the Sri Lankan state condones and commands the continued dehumanization of Tamil bodies, minds and communities so as to deter Tamil women asserting their agency and freedom.
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Ki’linochchi rises up against resettlement farce and SL military occupation

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 September 2012, 10:22 GMT]
More than 50% of the participants, who took part in a protest held opposite the District Secretariat of Ki'linochchi district on Thursday, were parents of missing persons, allegedly abducted or arrested and held incomunicado by the occupying Sri Lankan military. The protestors who carried the photos of their missing kith and kin, put forward three main demands to the SL State and to the United Nations Human Rights Council, to end Sinhala colonisation in the Tamil homeland, to ensure freedom of movement to the civilians to resettle in their own houses and to reveal the whereabouts of their loved ones. The protest, organised by the Tamil National Alliance, saw the participation of Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) and Democratic Peoples Front (DPF).
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