Grease devils, occupying forces, intensify terror in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 September 2011, 23:00 GMT]
The ‘grease devil’ terror, staged by Sri Lanka’s occupying forces in the country of Eezham Tamils in a systematic way, clearly shows signs of a master-minded genocide emboldened by international inaction, said political and civil activists in Jaffna, commenting on terror unleashed on Wednesday and Thursday in the Jaffna University locality and in the Kurunakar suburb of Jaffna city. The events followed the model of the attack on residents of the Naavaan-thu’rai suburb of Jaffna a few days ago. “You cannot protect your women form us, is the psychological challenge posed by the ‘grease devil’ terror to provoke Tamils and then to attack them like they attack dogs to establish the point that militarisation and genocide have to be submissively accepted, because the occupying forces are sure that the powers that ignore genocide are on their side,” commented a politician in Jaffna.
Full story >>

Canada's TYO hosts landmark Ki'liththaddu tournament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 August 2011, 02:58 GMT]
Tamil youth teams from across Canada assembled in Toronto on Sunday, August 28th, 2011 to play Ki'liththaddu, recognized as one of the national games of Tamileelam. The tournament where teams vied to win Tamileelam Heritage Trophy was a TYO-Canada’s initiative, and was organized to promote and preserve Tamil identity, tournament organizers said. The game originated from the agricultural roots of Eelam Tamils is played by people of all ages in Tamileelam.
Full story >>

Blake will draw blank if truth not recognized

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 August 2011, 01:57 GMT]
The US Asst Secretary of State Robert Blake visits Sri Lanka this week, following Indian Foreign Minister Krishna telling the Parliament that what bothered the island for the last three decades was nothing but ‘terrorism’ and the solution confines to material ‘rehabilitation’ of Tamils and political ‘build up’ of the defunct 13th Amendment. Blake spoke to diaspora groups in the US before his visit. The engagement of India and the USA with the island is meaningless if it is not based on the recognition of the truth that the issue in the island is a national question, the war waged there had chronic genocidal intentions on the part of the Sri Lankan State and the military that now occupies the country of Eezham Tamils is in actuality not a State military of international norms but a genocidal Sinhala military, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
Full story >>

All Ceylon Tamil Congress calls upon India, IC to ensure fundamentals

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 19:55 GMT]
“We are of the firm opinion that the recognition of the Tamil People in the island of Sri Lanka as a distinct Nation entitled to the Right to Self-Determination is necessary to ensure the continued existence and protection of the Tamils as a People. Only then would any negotiations with the Sri Lankan State be meaningful,” said All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in a separate statement as no consensus was reached in the meeting of Eezham Tamil political parties in New Delhi Tuesday and Wednesday. “We therefore call upon India and the International Community to recognize these rightful claims made by the Tamil Nation and emphasis such as the basis for any solution within one country,” the statement further said.
Full story >>

New Delhi meet of Tamil parties ends without consensus

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 18:55 GMT]
The two-days meet of Eezham Tamil political parties held in New Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday on the initiative of Congress Party parliamentarian Sudharshana Natchiappan ended without consensus, participants told TamilNet. The main issue was that those who didn’t want to disappoint the Congress agenda didn’t want to resolve on the status of Eezham Tamils as a nation and that the nation has the right to self determination in the island. Instead, some of them wanted to concentrate on measures of protection and on accepting whatever that is given. The TNA wanted to avoid specific wordings and demands on issues of fundamental nature in order to stage-manage a New Delhi sponsored consensus of Tamil political parties.
Full story >>

Taking Eezham Tamils for another ride: New Delhi’s preparations

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 10:33 GMT]
While a Congress politician EM Sudarshana Natchiappan convenes a meeting in New Delhi ‘inviting’ nearly 10 Tamil political parties from the island to commit to a hoodwink solution suiting New Delhi’s agenda, Dr. V. Suryanarayan, harping on Sampanthan’s repeated statements that the TNA does not subscribe to a separate state of Tamil Eelam, wrote on Saturday that the ‘minorities’ should now come together against marginalisation. Responding, an Eezham Tamil politician in the island said that with the kind of militarisation having a genocidal Army of exclusive ethnicity and with the kind of grooming it gets from the powers, the ‘minorities’ coming together alone is not going to help in anyway. Rather, the making of Tamil Eelam only could guarantee safety and self-esteem of all, including the up-country Tamils, whether inside or outside of Tamil Eelam.
Full story >>

TNA thinks of ‘alternative ways’

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 04:34 GMT]
“For six months we continued with talks, engaging the Government of Sri Lanka. But, there was no constructive outcome. The Tamil National Alliance cannot just keep continuing without any results, just for the sake of ‘engaging’ and ‘continuing’ the talks giving room for Sri Lanka to project an impression to the outside world that it is engaging in a constructive dialogue with Tamils,” said R. Sampanthan, the parliamentary leader of the TNA on Saturday in Jaffna, delivering a key speech at the ceremony for TNA's civic council members taking oath in Tamil. While criticising the SL state for not being constructive, Mr. Sampanthan declared for the first time that the TNA was pondering on ‘alternative ways’, which he didn't specify. But, a Vanni parliamentarian of the TNA declared that the Alliance should build up from the grassroots a powerful base of civil struggle.
Full story >>

Context demands Tamil-Muslim solidarity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 13:15 GMT]
“Muslims may not be a community distinct from the Tamils, but they have some special problems pertaining to their security. […] Tamil support for Muslim security and peace could open a new chapter in Tamil-Muslim relations,” says an article by A.R.M. Imtiyaz and S.R.H. Hoole, appeared in Routledge-published July issue of Journal of South Asian studies. “We argue that the Tamils’ northern leadership has been insensitive to Muslims,” the article said. Reviewing the article, a Tamil academic in the island commented that while the argument is partly true, the East was always influencing and imposing decisions in this regard. Inspiring initiatives should therefore originate from the East, evolving from its experiences, and all Tamils should support it. Based on secular and inclusive attributes of Tamil identity, progressive forces in Tamil Nadu also have a role to play, the reviewer said.
Full story >>

Colombo Sinhalicises Tamil villages in Trincomalee through State-aided colonisation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 10:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Housing, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities has started allocating houses for Sinhalese who are to be brought from the south under SL State-aided housing schemes constructed in traditional Tamil villages in the North and East. This became evident recently when the ministry allocated twenty four of thirty houses to Sinhalese, four for Muslims and two for Tamils in a traditional Tamil village Puththukudiyiruppu located in Tamil speaking Thampalakaamam Divisional Secretariat division of Trincomalee district.
Full story >>

USA to conduct joint exercise with genocidal Air Force of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 05:44 GMT]
The Pacific Air Command of the US Air Force will be conducting a joint air exercise with the Air Force of Sri Lanka, involving the bases at Ratmalana in Colombo and Ampaa’rai in the Eastern Province, media reports from Colombo said. Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Malaysian Air Force, and the Bangladesh Air Force also will participate in the exercise. The Air Force of Sri Lanka is accused of specific instances of war crimes against Eezham Tamils in the UN panel report. While talk of human rights and crimes against humanity is dubiously manipulated by some powers for their political benefits, their defence establishments and intelligence agencies are all out to promote militarism of genocidal Sri Lanka for their strategic benefits, political analysts in the island said.
Full story >>

Protest on Kuganathan assault escalates amid eyewash arrest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 August 2011, 08:56 GMT]
More than 200 media workers, politicians and activists from North and South joined hands at Jaffna Bus Station staging a protest Tuesday from 11:00 a.m. till noon against the brutal assault last month on Gnanasundaram Kuganathan, the chief news editor of Uthayan daily in Jaffna and against the prevailing suppression of freedom of expression in Jaffna. Five Colombo-based media organisations arranged the protest together with the journalists in Jaffna. On Monday, the Sri Lankan Police had claimed that they have arrested the suspect at Kalubowila Hospital in Colombo. However, the media sources in Jaffna told TamilNet Tuesday that the said person was not the real culprit.
Full story >>

Riot-hit Tamils in London rebuild amid local support

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 August 2011, 00:22 GMT]
Tamil-owned businesses amongst those damaged in three days of rioting and looting last week in several parts of London were also picking themselves up this week, cleaning and restoring damaged premises, restocking and inviting customers back. They are being assisted by sympathy and support from their local communities. Amongst the hardest hit parts of the capital on Monday night were London road in Croydon and Hackney, where Tamil businesses were amongst those destroyed. Prime Minister David Cameron, touring Croydon the day after the riots, met with police and emergency services and visited damaged shops to express his support. London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, did the same later that day. British insurers expect to pay out £100m for damage, interrupted trade and cleanup costs.
Full story >>

21st anniversary of Veeramunai massacre of Tamils commemorated

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2011, 10:44 GMT]
Twenty first death anniversary of 55 Tamils including men, women and children by Muslim home guards on 12 August 1990 at Veeramunai, a traditional Tamil village in Ampaa'rai district in eastern province, was commemorated Friday. Relatives of massacred Tamils Friday evening attended prayers held at Veeramunai Sinthayaathirai Pi'l'laiyaar Koavil and attended commemoration event held at mausoleum constructed opposite the Koavil.
Full story >>

EPRLF Thurairatnam condemns Tamil ministers for failing to confront Sinhalacisation in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 August 2011, 15:34 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa is actively engaged in destroying historic places of worship and illegally acquiring lands belonging to Eezham Tamils and it is a pity to note some Tamil collaborators with ministerial positions in Rajapaksa government have no backbone in opposing the landgrab and the Sinhalicisation, said R.Thurairatnam, Eastern Provincial Councillor and the organizer of EPRLF (Varathar Wing) in Batticaloa district in a statement to media this week.
Full story >>

Ratnajeevan Hoole ‘flees’ Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 August 2011, 05:53 GMT]
Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole, the unsuccessful candidate for the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jaffna supported by a section of pro-Rajapaksa elements, had to flee Jaffna as well as the island in the wake of a criminal case filed by SL minister Douglas Devananda in the Kayts court, news sources in Jaffna said adding that Prof Hoole is on his way back to the USA via UK. Even though Hoole accuses Devananda for his miseries, informed circles are of the opinion that the issue is much deeper, associated to international power polity. Hoole, known for re-invoking the colonial idiom of confrontation between Protestant Churches and native revival movements as his ‘sociological’ approach, gets the rare distinction of not getting the trust of both Pirapaharan and Rajapaksa, despite his opportunistic approaches or denunciations, the news sources said.
Full story >>

S.M. Krishna and his suo motu statement

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 August 2011, 01:09 GMT]
The Suo Motu statement of Indian foreign minister SM Krishna on Sri Lanka in the Indian parliament has led him into a controversy of filing a defamation case against the Press Trust of India (PTI), because the latter reported him reading the statement ‘absent minded’. The minister "appeared absent-minded and had to be prodded to make a statement," PTI reported. On Krishna’s response through a defamation case the PTI said on Friday: "This is perhaps the first time a minister has threatened a news organisation with... action for reporting [House] proceedings despite the Parliamentary Proceedings [Protection of Publication] Act." Meanwhile, Krishna’s statement was meant to mislead the parliament and to hoodwink Tamil Nadu, writes, a leading legal practitioner and human rights activist of Trincomalee.
Full story >>

Colombo rejects TNA’s ultimatum on non-existing devolution plan

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2011, 11:54 GMT]
Rejecting outright the demands of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a typical Sinhala hegemonic manner, the militaristic government of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday said that the demands set out in the TNA’s ultimatum for future talks have reflected the attitude of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Full story >>

TNA gives two weeks ultimatum to Colombo’s ‘devolution’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 August 2011, 21:12 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance in a press statement Thursday has said that it gives two weeks ultimatum to Rajapaksa government to come out with ‘devolution’ details on the structure of governance, the division of subjects and functions between centre and the devolved units and on fiscal and financial powers, to decide on carrying forward any future dialogue. As no response has been forthcoming for several months from Colombo’s side, no meaningful or purposeful discussion could be had on the discussion papers tendered by the TNA, said the statement released from the office of TNA’s nominated parliamentarian, Mr. MA Sumanthiran.
Full story >>

Colombo transfers Admin functions of East Tamil areas to Sinhala districts

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 August 2011, 11:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has been implementing a scheme to transfer administrative functions of Tamil districts in Eastern Province to the adjoining Sinhalese districts. As a first step the government has transferred the financial administration of Batticaloa District Coconut Development Board to Polonnaruwa located in the North Central Province. The government should immediately stop this transfer, said Mr.P. Selvarasa, Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian.
Full story >>

IFJ outraged by brutal attack on senior journalist in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 August 2011, 05:02 GMT]
Uthayan newspaper's editorial policy in backing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) appears to be the direct provocation for the near lethal attack on its senior news editor in Jaffna on July 29, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a statement issued on Tuesday. "The IFJ is shocked at the viciousness of the attack on Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan, which extends a long sequence of targeted attacks on Uthayan," the statement further said listing attacks on Uthayan in recent years.
Full story >>