New Tamil-Muslim equation engineered for Colombo-centric agenda

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2015, 23:37 GMT]
Negotiations are under way for bringing in a new alliance among the political forces of Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims in the North and East that are orientated for collaboration with the Washington - New Delhi - Sinhala State agenda, reconfirming the Colombo-centric genocidal State, informed sources told TamilNet. This follows the electoral engineering in the island in which Tamils victimised in the US-designed war ending in genocide and Muslims internationally at loggerheads with the US views of imperialism were brought together to vote for a regime change that has put the USA at the helm of affairs. The follow-up ‘ground operations’ now take place in the North and East provincial councils and the first victim is likely to be the EPDP, which would be losing its opposition leadership in the NPC to Rishard Badurdeen's All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC), the sources further said.
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Pope Francis at Madu: ‘Our Lady remained always with you’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2015, 21:55 GMT]
Pope Francis on Wednesday paid a pilgrimage to Madu shrine, which is the famous pilgrim centre of Tamil Catholics, where even the Sinhalese Catholics of the western coast, who were Tamils a century ago, flock in for festivals. “No Sri Lankan can forget the tragic events associated with this very place, or the sad day when the venerable statue of Mary, dating to the arrival of the earliest Christians in Sri Lanka, was taken away from her shrine. But Our Lady remained always with you. She is the mother of every home, of every wounded family, of all who are seeking to return to a peaceful existence,” the Pope said. Tamils who came in large numbers from all parts of the island appreciated his call for wartime ‘truth’ in future peace making. The Tamils also welcomed his call for harmony without forsaking the identity of the peoples, whether ethnic or religious.
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New SL regime fails to give policy-based assurance on de-militarisation: TNA circles

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2015, 10:33 GMT]
Informed sources close to the hierarchy of the Tamil National Allaince (TNA) told TamilNet Wednesday that the newly elected Executive President of Sri Lanka, Maithiripala Sirisena, has failed to give a positive response to the request placed by the TNA to look at the issue of the de-militarisation of North and East as matter of a principled decision, marking a policy change. Mr Sirisena has reportedly told the TNA that the Sri Lankan military being stationed in strategic locations was largely based on the ‘national security’ concern and has justified the militarisation of public lands. Mr Maithiripala Siriesena, like his predecessors, is projecting the major issue as ‘isolated incidents of disputes’, which need to be addressed by the two separate committees, the disappointed TNA circles told TamilNet.
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Resettlement meaningless without guarantee against structural genocide in East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2015, 23:22 GMT]
Governments may come and go, but the State of Sri Lanka gets strengthened in its genocidal project whether there is war, peace or talk of ‘change’, comment the resettled women of Mu'raa-oadai village, situated 5 km south of Vaazhaich-cheanai town in Batticaloa district. 400 houses have been destroyed. Two temples are damaged. Almost all the resettled families are women-headed households, poorest of the poor. The women of the village say: “It is only when we have permanent security from future genocide, we can breath the air of freedom.” The SL military has vacated last year from the village. But, a Buddhist statue and a ‘sacred’ Bo tree are still threatening the villagers who are haunted by the mere existence of the symbols of structural genocide.
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Ananthy urges Pope to see genocide, get answers from local, international players

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2015, 13:59 GMT]
As Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the island from Tuesday to Thursday, NPC Councillor Ms Ananthy Sasitharan, urged him to grasp the underlying factor of the conflict in the island, i.e. genocide and sought his help in getting answers from the government in Colombo and the international players, including the UN, the Co-chairs and India. “I hope Your Holiness is aware that there is an ideology behind the genocidal process,” she wrote in a letter addressed to the Pope on Saturday. She was citing a key case of Fr Francis Joseph towards the end of the war in perceiving the dimensions and said: “The Catholic Church, having witnesses among the people, has a moral duty to safeguard the people from the protracted crime of genocide.”
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Sinhala elite succeeds proving Rajapaksa a liability for genocidal State

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2015, 05:24 GMT]
Sections of Sinhala elite have succeeded in removing Mahinda Rajapaksa as a liability for the continuation of the genocidal Sinhala State and its monopoly over the island, Tamil political observers commented on the outcome of the ‘presidential’ election for the Establishment in Colombo. According to latest reports on Friday morning, Mahinda Rajapaksa left the charge of his official residence in Colombo to the current opposition leader Ranil Wikramasinghe, who in turn is expected to invite the winning candidate Maithripala Srisena to become the next president. Rajapaksa was open in his campaign that the choice between the two main candidates was a choice between China and the USA. India had a tacit understanding with the USA, political observers said.
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SL military divided over voting in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2015, 08:06 GMT]
Despite the tension about possible violence in Tamil areas by the occupying Sinhala military and its paramilitary, all arrangements necessary for brisk polling have completed in the two provinces, according to Sri Lankan Government Agents in the North and East. Voters were seen at many polling stations in queue. In the meantime, Sri Lankan military intelligence had stepped up disinformation campaign to divert the voting to another ‘Sirisena’ contesting the elections under the symbol of flag. While a section of the occupying military was hijacking the boycott call, thinking that it will be in favourable of Mahinda Rajapaksa, there were also SL soldiers encouraging the public to vote for the common opposition candidate Maithiripala Sirisena.
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‘Regime change’ drive reinvigorated Sinhala extremism: Tamil trade unionist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2015, 19:26 GMT]
Sinhala extremist racist politics has again proved itself as being the driving force of the Sinhala politics in the South as demonstrated by the mainstream camps of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithiripala Sirisena in the run up to the presidential elections, said President of All Ceylon General Employees Union, S. Loganathan, a Tamil trade unionist who is based in Ampaa'rai in the Eastern Province. Explaining the problems of Tamils in the Ampaa'rai district in detail, the long-time trade unionist, now in the process of forming a new party, also blamed the Tamil National Alliance for its failure at the grassroots level in addressing the plight of oppressed Tamils.
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Tamil will expressed only by distancing from racist election: Jude Lal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2015, 07:13 GMT]
Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithiripala Sirisena cannot be seen as the greater evil and the lesser evil respectively, says Professor Jude Lal of Trinity College, Dublin, in an interview to TamilNet on Wednesday. The democratic rights of the Tamils and the democratic rights of the Sinhalese are not the same as the so-called Sinhala pro-democracy campaign claims, the director of Centre for Post-Conflict Justice at Trinity College argues, underlining the fact that the promise of democracy by the so-called Sinhala pro-democracy campaigners has totally and radically different meanings for the Tamils and the Sinhalese: It means good governance for the Sinhalese and continuation and furtherance of subjugation for the Tamils, he says. The TNA is being used by USA, UK and India to reinforce Sinhala hegemony in the name of democracy, Jude Lal told TamilNet.
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Leaders should enlighten gullible masses, not hide behind them: Thiyagu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2015, 11:42 GMT]
Those among the Tamils of Tamil Eelam, who expect change in their favour from a future Maithiripala regime are going to be deceived as the sections of Tamils in Tamil Nadu, who were gullible enough to expect change from Modi and got deceived, said veteran activist Thoazhar Thiyagu from Tamil Nadu, responding to the write-ups that originated from disillusioned sections among the Tamil-speaking writers, who have been posting their views to blog sites and email discussion groups defending the position of TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan, TNA's National List parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran and ITAK Leader Mavai Senathiraja. Mr Thiyagu questioned why Mr Sampanthan, who was talking about the 17th Amendment and the18th Amendment, was not able to demand the withdrawal of the detrimental 6th Amendment to the unitary constitution of Sri Lanka.
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Ananthy's house stoned in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2015, 08:18 GMT]
Unknown attackers stoned the house of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) councillor in the Northern Province, Ms Ananthy Sasitharan, in the early hours of Tuesday, threatening the NPC councillor and her three children while they were sleeping at their residence located at Vadakkamparai in Chuzhipuram in Valikaamam West, Jaffna. Ms Ananthy and her children narrowly escaped from a stone that went through the window inside the house. The attack comes after Ms Sasitharan warned a local media, DAN TV, which backs Colombo regime, that she would be filing legal suit against misusing her name in their advertisement.
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Maithiripala denies devolution agreement with Tamils, Muslims

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 January 2015, 12:41 GMT]
“We are firm in our stand that there is no place for Tamil Eelam demand and the Sri Lanka Army would not be withdrawn from the Northern Province,” said Common Presidential Candidate Maithiripala Sirisena on Monday. The statement comes after Mr Maithiripala has received unconditional backing from the TNA Parliamentary Group Leader Sampanthan and TNA's National List Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran. “My government will safeguard the unity and the territorial integrity of the country,” Mr. Sirisena added stating that he had not signed any agreement on devolution with Tamil and Muslim parties that are backing him.
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Tamils of struggle polity need not worry who becomes SL president

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2015, 18:28 GMT]
While SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa is almost open in telling that electing the next president is choosing between China and the USA, senior Tamil grassroot leaders and activists in the island are of the opinion that Eezham Tamils put in a situation of struggle polity need not worry who succeeds as president. “Tamils should not participate in this election. Whether the future of Tamils is linked to the Sinhalese or not has to be decided by the Sinhalese. [...] The TNA leaders in their decision [of supporting Mr Sirisena] failed in guiding the Tamils in the right way,” said senior ITAK Central Committee member and former UN consultant Ma'ravan-pulavu K. Sachithananthan, speaking to media in Jaffna on Saturday. The former Jaffna University academic was addressing along with Ananthy Sasitharan of the NPC and ITAK Youth Wing Leader VS Sivakaran.
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Mavai threatens Ananthy for BBC interview on election stand

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2015, 14:10 GMT]
Popularly elected NPC Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan was taken to medical care at fainted state on Friday morning after she was threatened over the phone by ITAK leader and TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah to resign from the ITAK and the TNA. The controversial threat comes following an interview to the BBC Tamil Service by Ms Ananthy on Thursday. In the interview, Ms Ananthy went on stating that she would be either abstaining from the voting or nullifying her vote as no Tamil with self-respect would be voting for any of the two mainstream candidates in the SL presidential race. Ignoring the opposition from the grassroots, the Establishment-centric hierarchy of the TNA last week decided to support the common opposition candidate Maithiripala Sirisena.
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9th Anniversary of STF killing of Trincomalee students

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2015, 00:01 GMT]
Dr Kasippillai Manoharan and four other families will be commemorating the nineth anniversary of the murder of their sons extra-judicially executed by the Special Task force (STF) of the Sri Lanka Government on the 2nd January 2006. The high school students, all then nearly 20-years old, were spending an afternoon at a seafront in Trincomalee when the allegedly planned crime took place. Dr Manoharan told TamilNet that the STF officers Kapila Jayasekera and Vas Perera, part of the STF contingent sent to Trincomalee on the orders of the Defence Secretary and President's sibling, Gothabaya Rajapakse, and Udawatte Weerakody, a naval officer, were the key players in the planning and execution of the murders.
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UPFA deploys ‘Jihad’ operatives to harass Tamils in Mannaar to vote for Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2015, 23:26 GMT]
Two village (GS) areas in Mannaar, surrounding the public ground of the Urban Council, where the visiting Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to stage his election campaign activities on Wednesday, have been rounded up by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos, SL military soldiers and policemen since New Year eve. Government workers belonging to construction, road development and electricity departments are forced to work round the clock to finalise the stage for Rajapaksa. People from Chaavat-kaddu and Chinna-kaddu villages complain that normalcy has been disturbed and they were unable to observe New Year celebrations. The people have also been subjected to harassment by the operatives of SLFP ‘Blue Brigade’ that has occupied the city.
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Gotabhaya monitors Devananda's allegiance to Kumaratunga

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2015, 11:09 GMT]
While welcoming the incumbent SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to North and challenging the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in District Development Committee meetings with a pro-Colombo stance, SL minister and EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, has also assured his personal allegiance to former SL President Chandrika Kumaratunga, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet. Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives under the direct command of SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa have been questioning the close associates of Mr Devananda for his lack of interest in putting up Rajapaksa posters ahead of Rajapaksa's scheduled visit to Jaffna.
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TNA loses civic council to UPFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2014, 22:22 GMT]
Four members of Pachchilaip-pa'l'li civic council, elected on TULF ticket, have defected to the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of genocidal Sri Lanka on Wednesday, a day after TNA's Parliamentary Group leader R. Sampanthan urged Tamils to vote for the common opposition candidate in the South. In the meantime, the occupying SL military intelligence officers, who are loyal to SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa and UPFA politicians are trying to woo the support of leading TNA civic members in other civic councils in North by paying large sums of money to them, news sources in Jaffna told TamilNet.
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Sampanthan announces decision to back Sirisena in SL presidential elections

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2014, 09:25 GMT]
Despite strong opposition from various sections of Eezham Tamils against giving explicit support to any of the two main contestants in the upcoming Sri Lankan presidential elections, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan has decided to support the Opposition Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena. Mr Sampanthan announced the stance of the TNA Tuesday morning at a media briefing held at Hotel Jananaki in Colombo. Mr Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran have been blamed for striking a clandestine deal with Chandrika Kumaratunga on backing Maithiripala Sirisena.
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SLMC demanded Muslim coastal district in Ampaa'rai: UPFA minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2014, 19:07 GMT]
SL Minister Hakeem wanted the Sri Lankan government to agree to carve out a coastal Muslim district from the present Ampaa'rai district, including Kalmunai, Chammaanthu'rai and Poththuuvil, before defecting to the common opposition front, said SL Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha. Mahinda Rajapakasa was opposed to the demand as it will affect the “territorial integrity and unitary character of the country,” the SL minister said. Commenting, Tamil activists in Vanni said Tamil-speaking people and their political parties should be concerned of the territorial integrity of the North-East and oppose both the SLFP and the UNP, who have been Sinhalicising and militarising the Tamil homeland for decades.
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