957 uprooted Tamil families in Ampaa'rai district still remain in shelters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 November 2011, 15:47 GMT]
Contrary to the claims by Colombo government and its paramilitary run subservient Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) that all uprooted Tamils have been resettled in Ampaa'rai district, 957 uprooted families from four Tamil villages in Thirukkoayil DS division of Ampaa'rai district in the East still remain in shelters amid claims, according to Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian Mr.C.Yogeswaran. The MP visited the four villages, , Thangkavealaayutha-puram, Kagnchikudichchaa'ru, Kaagnchirangkudaa and Chaakaamam, last weekend to collect information about the Tamil families that have been struggling without resettlement.
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LLRC accused of disclosing list of Tamil witnesses to CID

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 November 2011, 15:26 GMT]
Tamil witnessess who gave evidence at the sittings of the Sri Lanka’s Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and whose evidence was taken under the oath of secrecy have now been singled out for interrogation by the Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, sources in Colombo said. The LLRC, in contravention to the agreement with the witnesses, has allegedly disclosed the witness details to law enforcement authorities, placing lives of witnesses in danger, as revealed by the summons issued by the CID to 45-year old Ratnam Poongoothai, to appear before the CID in Colombo, legal sources said.
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University students in Jaffna still face death threat from SLA intelligence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 November 2011, 18:57 GMT]
Representatives of the Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) are continuously being threatened with death and intimidation by the Sri Lanka Army intelligence operatives. Some members of the JUSU on Tuesday narrowly escaped from the hands of the SLA intelligence division personnel when they were returning from Puththoor in Ki'linochchi district after making arrangements for holding free special classes for G.C.E.O/L students of Vanni who are to sit for the forthcoming examinations scheduled to commence in the first week of December.
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Sri Lanka massacre, 5 times Srebrenica, 80 times My Lai, says German paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 November 2011, 11:55 GMT]
Referring to the Channel-4 documentary Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, journalists, Dirk Maxeiner and Michael Miersch, in an opinion column that appeared in German newspaper Die Welt said that the massacre of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka by the State military is five times the killings from Srebrenica genocide, and 80 times the numbers killed in the Mai Lai massacre. "Colombo successfully covered up the killings by sending away the UN observers on the grounds that the State will not be able to ensure their safety, and then began the mass murder," Die Welt said on 03 November.
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Norway ‘LLRC’ distributes blame, washes hands of victims after ‘victory’

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 November 2011, 11:11 GMT]
A report on Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka, “Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian Peace Efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2009” was released in Oslo on Friday. Whether pawns of peace or ploys for genocide, Norway’s report distributed blame among all the actors. A deficiency the report finds in Norway was not its grave failure to warn the world about peace turning into genocide, but that Norway should have escaped from the scene at an earlier stage. The report admits that the peace process has only enhanced obstacles to peace now. But, even after the process facilitating internationally abetted genocide, the report subconsciously sees “victory” in the war and it now harps on “primacy of domestic politics,” to imply ways for solutions. Norway washes hands of its responsibilities to victims and the report now seeks lessons to learn for ’peacebuilding’ elsewhere.
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TNA loses the best opportunity to be forthright: Tamil Nadu reader

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2011, 05:50 GMT]
“You are leaving us confused back here in Tamil Nadu,” especially when we “do not see India doing the right thing in Sri Lanka,” says a TamilNet reader in Chennai in sending a feedback responding to TNA leader Sampanthan’s current political stand. “The best opportunity to be forthright was lost by him,” the reader said in the feedback Tuesday. “An unclear goal and actions will not lead anyone anywhere. The kind of statements that Mr Sampanthan makes is making it difficult even for supporters of Eelam in Tamil Nadu to take a stand. No matter what you do, i.e., even if you act to please the power, New Delhi does not care. It is better to catch it by its collar and put it to shame. The result will only be the same. It would be in our best interest to look after our interests ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to look after us, the reader further said.
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Remember that powers need Tamils too: Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 November 2011, 12:58 GMT]
Just as Eezham Tamils need international recognition for their cause, the powers that make moves in the island for a world order also need Tamils. What the Tamil politicians should keep in mind is that there is no reason for them to compromise on the fundamentals of the cause upheld by the people, said Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam of the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) in writing to Colombo-based Tamil Daily, Thinakkural, Sunday. In the changing current context, even if one of the competing powers take up the national question of Eezham Tamils as means for its leverage, the others can’t refuse it but have to follow suit. Tamil leadership shouldn’t miss the opportunity by abandoning the cause to pre-emptive tactics of any single power and thus excluding other international possibilities, he further said.
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Thamizhar Changkamam draws sold-out crowd, celebrates Tamil culture

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 November 2011, 11:22 GMT]
The Ilankai Tamil Sangam, USA hosted a Thamizhar Changkamam (Confluence of Tamils) during its 34th Annual General Meeting in New Jersey and drew a sold-out crowd of Tamils. Visiting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs, Mr. Mavai Senathirajah and Mr. Suresh Premachandran addressed the event and noted the problems facing the Tamils in resettling in their original homes, resuming normal life and having their voices heard since the end of the war. Naam Tamilar Seeman, who was scheduled to attend the event from Tamil Nadu, was not allowed enter the country by the US border agency. In the meantime, Congressman of New Jersey, Rush Holt, who is well informed of the plight of Eelam Tamils, made an impromptu visit to the event. He was honored with pon-aadai (a Tamil custom) for his service to the Tamil community.
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TNA relays US-India paradigm for ‘nondescript’ model of solutions

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 November 2011, 07:21 GMT]
Addressing a diaspora gathering in London on Sunday, The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politicians elucidated on trying a ‘nondescript’ model of solution for the national question of Eezham Tamils. The TNA relay on the paradigm comes after conditioned for long by New Delhi and after conferring with ‘creative thinking’ in the US State Department on the models for solutions. The TNA leaders didn’t hide the fact, but said it is worth trying, as the UN, EU, India and the USA are watching and any failures could be suitably addressed. Commenting on the nondescript nature of the model, Tamil political observers said that it is ideal for imperialism to get leverage and time for ‘development’ inroads and would provide more legitimacy, time and bartering power for genocidal Colombo to complete the annihilation of Eezham Tamils as a nation, while engaging them in a prolonged day-to-day struggle.
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US, India deploy ‘entry-refusal’ weapon against Tamil solidarity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 November 2011, 23:19 GMT]
Tamil Nadu film director and leader of the Naam Thamizhar Movement that upholds the cause of Eezham Tamils, Mr. Seeman, was refused of landing permission in the USA when he went to participate in a Tamil conference organized by three US-based diaspora associations of both Tamil Nadu and Eezham Tamils. Mr. Seeman was given with a valid visa to visit the USA but was refused entry at the New York airport on Saturday. Last month, the President of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the diaspora-based umbrella organisation of Eezham Tamils, Rev. Fr. S J. Emmanuel, was refused entry at Chennai airport when he travelled from Europe, despite having valid multiple entry visa to India. Whether the USA and India, long known for the misuse of visa by the Establishments, cooperate or compete in capturing Tamil polity for their agendas is the emerging question.
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Obama’s GSP benefit to genocidal Sri Lanka effective from Saturday

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 November 2011, 20:42 GMT]
Two weeks back the US President reauthorized GSP trade benefits to Sri Lanka that will come to effect from 5 November 2011. The reauthorisation provides even retroactive benefits from 1 January 2011 so that genocidal Sri Lanka will not suffer any loses by the gap in the absence of GSP benefits this year. Last year, Sri Lanka enjoyed the benefit of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for 147 million dollars worth of goods. The US patronage is assured at a time when the diaspora Eezham Tamils in the US campaign to boycott products from genocidal Sri Lanka and the Tamils of Tamil Nadu have passed a unanimous resolution in their State assembly for war crimes investigations and economic sanctions against Sri Lanka. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha after the Assembly passed the resolution.
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Politics of the Way Ahead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 November 2011, 20:22 GMT]
The contradictions between the Establishments and Peoples are likely to be the most antagonistic in the Indian subcontinent and hence that is the region for the next major change in the World. Our alliance with Tamil Nadu is of utmost priority in this regard. It appears that India used the Vanni War without witness as a ‘Field Trial’ for its developing wars against its own Nations without State. In due course, the Indian Establishment will become the main enemy of the region and at that time coalition of Establishments supporting the Indian Establishment will be quite different to the coalition that supported genocidal Sri Lanka. With this in perspective, we should keep our eyes open to new opportunities including progressive Sinhala forces that recognize the Right of Self Determination of the Nation of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet Economic and Geopolitical Analyst in the Asia Pacific.
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Reconstructed Thanthai Chelva statue re-opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 November 2011, 13:58 GMT]
The decapitated Thanthai Chelvanayakam statue was re-erected in the memorial located in Trincomalee city and opened for public from Tuesday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. The decapitated head of Chelva was reconstructed before being re-erected, according to the Chairman of the Trincomalee Urban Council K.Selvarajah. Mr.Selvarajah, and UC Vice Chairman S.Sriskandarajah garlanded the statue first and others were allowed to pay their respects.
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Chelvanayakam statue decapitated in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2011, 00:14 GMT]
The statue of Thanthai Chelva (SJV Chelvanayakam) located near the Sivan Temple at Thirugnaanasampanthar Street in Trincomalee was decapitated on Sunday night. People who were enraged to notice the desecration on Monday morning placed a cloth on the headless statue. Local people suspect genocidal elements occupying Trincomalee for timing the act, when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) team led by Mr. R. Sampanthan, MP for Trincomalee, is on an international visit seeking solutions for the national question of Eezham Tamils. The statue is located in a recently Sinhalicised part of the Trincomalee city.
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SL Navy backs Indian poachers clashing with fishermen in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 October 2011, 15:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy Monday night engaged in giving protection to Indian trawlers that were destroying the fishing nets of local fishermen, according to S. Thavaratnam, the president of fisheries societies in Jaffna. The SLN has detained 33 fishermen from Munai in Point Pedro with their 12 boats alleging them for attacking the Indian fishermen, Mr. Thavaratnam told reporters. In the meantime, sources in Kaarai Nakar and in Point Pedro said Indian trawlers came close to the shores of Jaffna peninsula at many locations destroying the fishing nets put up by the local fishermen.
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Aaduka'lam 2011: spectacular dance performances celebrate pursuit of World Peace

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 October 2011, 04:34 GMT]
Aaduka'lam 2011, an international dance competition hosted by the Tamil Youth Network in Munich, Germany on October 22 drew spectacular performances from Diaspora teams vying for the top prize. Staged in the Theater Leo 17, one of the city’s most prestigious venues, the event was organised by the Global Tamil Youth League, and had as its theme, ‘In pursuit of Global Peace’. Interpreting this, the performances depicted how all forms of oppression, as well as hunger, poverty and greed, needed to be confronted if this aspiration is to be realised. The competition was won by a British team which also won best prize for technical execution, while teams from Switzerland and Canada won prizes for choreography and costume.
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Colombo pushes for 40,000 acres land grab for Sinhalese in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 October 2011, 15:48 GMT]
More than 40,000 acres of fertile lands that are located in border villages that come under the DS division of Koa'ralaippattu North, Vavu'natheevu, Ea'raavoorpattu, Chengkaladi, Koa'ralaippattu South and Paddippazhai in the Batticaloa district belonging to Tamil speaking people are under alienation to Sinhalese without the permission of the District Land Alienation Committee, the District Government Agent and Divisional Secretary and is undermining the Provincial Land Ordinance, says Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) member R. Thurairatnam. The EPC has not taken any action against the illegal encroachments Mr. Thurairatnam says in a memorandum to the Chief Minister of the EPC, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan.
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Confederation of civil groups formed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 October 2011, 18:01 GMT]
A confederation of people’s forums for humanitarian work was formed in Jaffna on Saturday morning, when representatives of various civil groups and civil activists met at the NGO Centre located at the Temple Road in the city. The decision to form the confederation was unanimously resolved at the meeting. President of the NGOs Consortium in Jaffna, Mr. CVK Sivagnanam and the Jaffna University Students Union President, Mr S. Thavabalasingham were elected respectively as Coordinator and Secretary of the confederation. Student union of the University of Jaffna took the initiative to convene the meeting. Such a confederation of civil groups to face human rights violations was formed in Jaffna on an earlier occasion too, when the ‘peace keeping’ force of India was occupying Jaffna.
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TNA MPs advocate for Tamils rights in U.S. capital

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 October 2011, 03:33 GMT]
Four Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Members of Parliament visiting the U.S. on an invitation by the State Department arrived Tuesday night and have completed two days of meetings at the State Department and with Congress persons including members of the Sri Lanka caucus, sources close to the MPs said. The team led by Parliamentary group leader Mr Sampanthan said that they were aware of the political significance of this unique gesture by the State Department in inviting a non-State political party and that they would use every opportunity available to articulate Tamils position to the decision makers in Washington.
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New Delhi’s anti-Tamil manoeuvrings challenged in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 October 2011, 21:19 GMT]
New Delhi’s Congress parliamentarian Dr. Sudharshana Natchiappan who was leading a team of ‘international parliamentarians’ visiting Jaffna on Thursday, was asked by news reporters, whether the visit was planned by India to bail out Colombo from war crimes accusations when a momentum is building up for international investigations of the crimes. The visit of the team brought by Natchiappan was timed for the Commonwealth Meet in Perth where war crimes of Sri Lanka and even its expulsion is a topic of discussion and was also timed for the US visit of the Tamil National alliance (TNA). The Indian Foreign Secretary on Thursday supported Colombo to be the venue for the next Commonwealth Meet and rejected the idea of Commonwealth monitoring human rights and rule of law in the member countries. After being covert for sometime, India once again openly props up genocidal Sri Lanka.
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