Press Freedom Day in Jaffna remembers journalists

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 May 2012, 16:26 GMT]
The journalistic contribution of Sivaram Dharmeratnam (Taraki), especially his writings on the struggle of Eezham Tamils, were remembered by several speakers at a well-attended Press Freedom Day event held in Jaffna on Thursday. The event, organised by Nimalarajan Memorial Foundation (NMF), has also brought out a publication of cartoons by Mr Pious Raja, who passed away in Jaffna after experiencing the genocidal war and incarceration in Vanni. A speaker at the event urged the NMF to compile and translate Tamil articles by late Sivaram into English and vice versa, as his writings continue to be valuable to the Tamil cause. The NMF, in an exemplary way, took up the cause of Tamil female students of Vanni in the Jaffna Univeristy, as there have been several cases of suicides among them. Poverty, trauma and psychological stress have been identified as the factors behind the tragic trend.
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2 SLA soldiers killed after exchanging gunfire in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 May 2012, 13:00 GMT]
Two Sinhala soldiers of the occupying Sri Lanka Army opened fire killing each other Friday morning in Jaffna, informed sources told TamilNet. The incident took place while the soldiers were on duty at a sentry post of the 51-2 division camp, situated close to Srithar Theatre, the office of the EPDP paramilitary on Stanley Road. In the meantime, Sri Lanka Army spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya, hiding the venue of the incident, has gone on record in Colombo saying that a soldier who was providing security to the Buddhist Naga vihara in the city has shot himself after gunning down one of his fellow soldiers. The SLA, engaged in the militarisation of the city of Jaffna, has been refusing to vacate the 51-2 division cantonment.
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Numbers of Tamils said to be a critical factor in London Mayoral elections

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 May 2012, 23:21 GMT]
As the campaign for the Mayoral elections for London reaches its final stages, there now exists a view among all mainstream parties in the United Kingdom that the time of securing outright majorities in the House of Commons through generic campaigns has elapsed and that they need to engage with ‘vote blocs’. Eezham Tamils numbering over 300,000 constitute the largest single issue vote bloc in southern England, with over 250,000 in London alone, have the ability by exercising their vote to directly determine the outcome of the Mayoral elections, 25 of the seats in the London Assembly, and tilt the balance in favour of one party or the other in another 10 seats, on 3rd May.
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Let Rajapaksa try waving Lion Flag along with KP: Ranil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 May 2012, 07:28 GMT]
UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, holding the Lion Flag of genocidal Sri Lankan state along with TNA leader R. Sampanthan in Jaffna on Tuesday, challenged SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa that he could try doing the same with Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP who is in captivity of the regime. While the need of the times is for Tamils to forge alliance with the Muslims in making an alternative State for the Tamil-speaking people in the North and East, Mr Wickramasinghe recollected Sir Ponnampalam Ramanathan bailing out the Sinhala leaders indicted by the British for a pogrom against the Muslims in 1915. Muslims to this day regard it as a treachery of Colombo-centric Tamils and Sinhalese against them.
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I'lantha'lir programme showcases struggle-oriented performance in Toronto

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 April 2012, 08:24 GMT]
Utilizing various mediums, including drama, dances, spoken word, songs, and dialogue, second generation Tamil youth in Canada conveyed the message of preserving the Eezham Tamil identity, and continuing the freedom struggle of the Eezham Tamils, at I'lantha'lir - The Artistic Revolution of Tamil Eelam’. The event performed to a packed audience on Friday at The Chinese Cultural Centre in Toronto showcased the historical evolution of the Tamil Eelam Struggle. “An outstanding play with such amazing concept, acting, dances, songs, spoken word, screenplay, dialogue, setting and flow. Our struggles, our nation building capacity, our resilience, our cries, our milestones and our vision were communicated most effectively,” said Neethan Shan, President of the New Democratic Party of Ontario and the Guest of Honor at the event.
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UK deportee killed while Tamil Nadu returnees arrested in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2012, 11:41 GMT]
A 28-year-old Tamil man, recently deported from UK was found killed in Trincomalee on 18 April, news sources in the district told TamilNet Saturday. In the meantime, in a systematic combing operation launched by the special units of Colombo's military and police establishments, up to 300 Tamil males and females have been ‘arrested’ and sent to military detention camps in Welikanda and Vavuniyaa since last Saturday. Among the victims are also people who have recently returned from Tamil Nadu and they too have now ended up in Welikanda and Vavuniyaa, the sources in Trincomalee further said.
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UN admits use of cluster bombs three years after Vanni War

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2012, 11:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka using cluster bombs, an ordnance banned by several countries in the world, in a location where the Eezham Tamil civilians were herded during the Vanni war has been confirmed by a UN agency nearly three years after the civilians were silently allowed to succumb to such weapons by the international community. A report from a UN mine removal expert of the UNDP’s mine action group in Sri Lanka admits finding unexploded cluster munitions at Puthukkudiyiruppu, Associated Press reported Thursday, adding that the ‘revelation’ is likely to increase calls for international investigations. During the war, vividly describing the use of cluster bombs and other prohibited weapons, the affected people repeatedly appealed to the world to stop the genocide. TamilNet even published photographs of cluster bomb shells with Russian markings.
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220 Tamils arrested in SLA combing in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2012, 17:53 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army and Police, backed by special teams of the ‘Terrorist Investigation Department’ from Colombo, have been entering selected houses in the villages of Trincomalee district, detaining ex-LTTE members since Saturday evening. The SL forces have detained around 220 Tamil males and females from their houses. The detained men have been taken to Welikande and the females have been taken to Poonthoaddam in Vavuniyaa, informed sources told TamilNet Wednesday. Ex-LTTE members who had left the movement more than 10 years ago have also been detained. The arrested also include returnees from Tamil Nadu and those who have been detained earlier and released for reunification with their families. While India and the West talk only about the North nowadays, the operations of genocidal Colombo in the East largely go unnoticed.
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The crime of shielding crime by powers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2012, 05:05 GMT]
Criminally belated revelations that recently come from the USA and UK on 1994 Rwanda Genocide and similar offences of 1950s in various parts of the world show the gravity of the crime committed by powers that have knowledge on international crimes committed against humanity, but sit deliberately on evidence to hush international justice. Hiding evidence is a crime in many judicial systems, but what international system is there to indict these powers, asks an Eezham Tamil human rights activist. He made an analogy of the current crime committed by the very powers and their organisations in denying the genocide of Eezham Tamils and pressurising the subjugated people not to talk of genocide, right to protection, self-determination etc., on one hand, and the behaviour of India, its imperialist political parties and sections of media, on the other.
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The court of international public opinion

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2012, 21:59 GMT]
During the last stages of the war, the Tamil diaspora did organize demonstrations in a historic way, but they were confined to Tamils and did not have the support from the rest of the international public as was the case with anti Vietnam-war protests or even in the case of recent anti Iraq-war protests, writes TamilNet Economic and Geopolitical Analyst in the Asia Pacific, stressing on the importance of mobilizing solidarity and public opinion of the Fourth World, compared to lobbying within the Establishments and filing futile court cases. As the May 17 movement has recently stated, the ICG representatives had spent 5 hours on him asking him not to raise the issues of genocide, war crimes and independence, but could not succeed, whereas certain international forces could convince our nominated politicians over a cup of coffee, he writes on the dependability of grassroot.
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Veteran Tamil activist and humanist reaches 88 in exile

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2012, 20:06 GMT]
Solomon Arulanandam David (S.A. David), popularly known as Gandhiyam David, who presided the Gandhian movement which spread simple agriculture, self-sustenance, and importance to early education as a way of life in the deprived villages of Tamil Eelam for nearly a decade from 1972, reaches 88-years Tuesday as he spends his older years among his friends in Chennai. TamilNet extends its wishes to Mr David as it recognizes his unique and selfless contribution to Northeast Tamils and the hill-country Tamils displaced by Sinhala intimidation, riots and pogroms in the 1970s and 80s. David was assisted by another humanist of the 70s, the late Dr Rajasundaram. Rajasundaram was killed in the Welikade prison massacre in 1983, whereas his friend, David, escaped, re-incarcerated in Batticaloa jail to escape again in the famous Batticaloa jail break.
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800,000 landmines remain in Thenmaraadchi FDL: DCO in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2012, 11:46 GMT]
The De-mining Coordinating Office attached to the District Secretariat of Jaffna, on Friday said that it estimated around 800,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) as remaining in the former Forward Defence Line along Naakarkoayil, Mukamaalai and Ki'laali in Thenmaraadchi. The DCO is the civil authority coordinating that the de-mining is carried out according to UN procedures and is responsible for clearing areas vacated or otherwise cleared by the SL military operated ‘Humanitarian de-mining Units’. The recent tragic incident at Ketpali, where two teenagers sustained serious injuries, has taken place at an area, which is yet to be cleared by the coordinating office, according to DCO official V. Murugadas, who also said that the people, who are interested in resettling in their lands, have lost patience and start visiting the areas without verifying the status of de-mining.
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Colombo deploys EPDP leader against Tamil Nadu, India

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 April 2012, 23:43 GMT]
Sabotaging the civic efforts to resolve the disputes between the Tamil fishermen across the Palk Strait, Mr. Douglas Devananda, a minister in the cabinet of Rajapaksa regime and an SL paramilitary leader, on Friday, vowed to take 5,000 fishermen from Jaffna in 1,000 boats to India, against the Tamil Nadu fishermen, who enter the waters off Jaffna peninsula and destroy the livelihood of the local fishermen in the peninsula. The EPDP leader also blamed India for not having completed the housing scheme on time in an effort to hijack the sentiments prevailing amongst the people against New Delhi for its abetment of Colombo's genocidal war against Eezham Tamils, fishermen representatives in Point Pedro told TamilNet Friday.
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Indian delegation disappoints civil representatives in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2012, 23:53 GMT]
Civil representatives in Mullaiththeevu on Wednesday said that they were not provided any opportunity to meet and convey the plight of resettled Tamils in the district to the visiting delegation of Indian parliamentarians led by Mrs Sushma Swaraj. The Tamil representatives belonging to several civil organisations in the district had been invited and were waiting for a long time since 10:00 a.m. to meet the delegation. But, no meeting took place. The visiting delegation was taken on a ‘guided tour’ giving priority to inaugurations and distributing gifts. The Congress group of the delegation which came late to the opening ceremony of a housing scheme was seen quarrelling with the group of parliamentarians led by Mrs Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, who had declared the scheme open, news sources in Mullaiththeevu told TamilNet.
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Eezham Tamil activist Neethan Shan elected President of NDP, Ontario

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 April 2012, 22:50 GMT]
In a landmark event in Canadian politics and among the Eezham Tamil diaspora in Canada, Neethan Shan, vice chair of the NCCT, was elected as the President of Ontario New Democratic Party. The 33 year old Eezham Tamil activist, who is also the Executive Director of the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians, won the election competing against two other candidates. "As the President of the Ontario New Democratic Party, I will continue to advocate for the rights of all marginalized communities in Ontario and maintain my focus on helping children, youth and families,” Neethan Shan told TamilNet, adding that his history of being a refugee from his occupied homeland is what led him to become involved as a community organizer in his own community and the broader Canadian community to fight for the rights of the marginalized.
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SL military's draconian ‘civil’ rule hardens further in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 April 2012, 17:58 GMT]
The village level Rural Development Societies (RDS), which have started functioning again, especially in the agricultural areas of Vanni mainland, have been subjected to harassments by the occupying SL military in recent days. On the one hand, the Sri Lankan authorities have gone on record as if they were encouraging the re-emerging RDS societies, and on the other hand, the SL military is curbing the activities of the rural development organisations. The SL military has instructed the RDS societies not to conduct any meeting without securing permission in advance from the nearby military camps. In the meantime, female members of the families of former LTTE cadres and even the temple deities face sadistic treatment from the occupying Sinhala military, say civil sources in Ki'linochchi district.
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SL military steps up harassment on resettled Tamils in Poonakari

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2012, 16:29 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military in Vanni has stepped up harassment on resettled civilians in Poonakari and in the adjoining coastal areas, news sources in Poonakari told TamilNet Thursday. Recently, Sri Lanka Navy has taken over the occupation of the strategically located coastal stretch from the SL Army and has imposed strict ‘pass’ regulations on fishing in the seas, Tamil fishermen complain. Southern intruders with the backing of occupying military are also forcing people to sell their lands following recent reports that the Colombo establishment was planning to invite China to build an airport of international standard at Poonakari to balance India’s projects centring around KKS harbour and Palaali airport in the northern coast of Jaffna Peninsula.
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GTYL Conference calls for international mechanism to secure justice for Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2012, 04:52 GMT]
The second annual conference of the Global Tamil Youth League held on 7th and 8th April in the UK passed resolutions calling for an independent, international accountability mechanism into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan state and to advocate against the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation. Emphasising that Tamil sovereignty is the only meaningful expression of self-determination for the Tamil nation in their historic homeland and the only guarantee against genocide, Krisna Saravanamuttu of the NCCT, a participant in the conference, told TamilNet "At a time when powers are trying to manipulate the diaspora to arrive at a settlement within a unitary Sri Lanka, the Tamil Sovereignty Cognition declaration provides a principled ideological and conceptual reference point for Eezham Tamil youth across the world in our struggle for national liberation."
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U.S. report: a contradicting confluence of politics, international law

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2012, 08:02 GMT]
In the recently released factual supplement on the violations of international law in Sri Lanka's conflict, the US State Department Office of Global Criminal Justice (GCJ) exposes the defects in the investigations into the crimes reported by the Sri Lanka's President appointed LLRC and the deviations in the LLRC report with reference to the report by the UN's Panel of Experts (PoE). However, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), an activist group in the US, expressing concern for the damaging impact of the report to Tamil justice, said, "the deficiency in the fundamental framework of reference articulated in the key sections of "accountability" and the "legal framework" will seriously undermine justice for the victims who were subjected to the 'crime of the 21st century' where the Sri Lanka state stands accused of killing more than 40,000 Tamil civilians."
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Kohona under AFP spotlight over war-crime charges

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 April 2012, 00:11 GMT]
Australian Federal Police (AFP) have said that they will evaluate a document submitted by the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA) charging Palitha Kohona, an Australian citizen and currently Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, over alleged war-crimes. AFP said in a letter AFTA that the referral was from the Minister for Justice, Jason Clare as a result of a correspondence to Michele Rowland, MP by AFTA.
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