Occupying SL Army, Police jointly attack Tamil youth in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 18:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka's occupying Sinhala army and police brutally attacked a number of Tamil youth below the age of 25, who were passing by the road in Nedung-kea'ni in Mullaiththeevu district on Tuesday night. The unprovoked and random attack followed some complaints of Sinhala road workers from the South, news sources in Vanni told TamilNet. Sometimes back a similar attack took place in Vanni after a confrontation between some Sinhala visitors from the South and the local people. Such attacks by the colonial forces were to remind the Eezham Tamils in Vanni of their subjugated status, the sources further said.
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Colombo threatens Tamils in contact with visiting US delegation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 February 2012, 23:56 GMT]
Some of the eyewitnesses in Vanni, who met the visiting US delegation headed by Stephen J Rapp, the ambassador-at-Large for war crimes at the US State Department, on Thursday and Friday, have been harassed by the occupying Sri Lanka Army in Mullaith-theevu after the US delegation had left the region, sources in Mullaith-theevu told TamilNet Sunday. The SL Army has questioned a parish priest, inviting him to their camp consecutively for three days, and at least five parents who had allegedly complained about their missing sons and daughters have also been questioned by the SLA. While diplomatic circles in Colombo wonder at what the USA is up to in the island, Tamil circles are worried at pre-emption hatching in the establishments of the USA and India.
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Human skeletons recovered from well in Valikaamam North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 February 2012, 16:40 GMT]
Recently resettled civilians in Kollangk-kaladdi of Valikaamam North in Jaffna have located human skeletons inside a well while clearing it for their use, sources in Valikaamam told TamilNet Sunday. A skull was located. But, the number of the recovered skeletons indicates that some of the victims had been decapitated, before they were dumped into the well, the sources said. It is believed that the victims were civilians abducted by the Sri Lanka Army operated squads and those who went to check their properties inside the SLA occupied territory after year 1992, when the SLA seized the village of Kollang-kaladdi.
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War crimes of ‘both sides’ or war crimes of all sides: Oslo film discussion stirs thoughts

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2012, 17:01 GMT]
After a full house show of Beate Arnestad’s documentary on exiled Sinhala and Eezham Tamil journalists on Thursday in Oslo, Norwegian journalist Sverre Tom Radøy leading the discussion, prompted British journalist Frances Harrison talking on the sufferings of the civilians to elucidate on ‘war crimes of both sides’ and particularly those of the LTTE. Forced recruitment and preventing the civilians from going to the side of the Sri Lanka Army were the war crimes of the LTTE, Ms. Harrison specified. Confining the crimes to a paradigm ‘both sides’ is a tactic of the international architects of the war to circumvent their crimes and responsibility. Made to naively believe that justice would come from the very architects, the affected Tamils have failed in focussing their demand on the accountability of all sides that had committed the crimes, commented an observer to the show.
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SL Minister Devananda threatens to attack journalists of Jaffna daily

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2012, 16:45 GMT]
“I told my [paramilitary] boys to beat up these journalists. But, the boys are not paying attention. It seems I have to go in person and do it to make these journalists behave,” was the newest controversial comment by SL Minister and EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda on Thursday evening at a meeting held at Jaffna District Secretariat, where he was talking to unemployed graduates who were demanding employment. The spontaneous comment by Mr. Devananda came when SL military governor's secretary informed him of a news item that appeared in the Jaffna edition of Thinakkural exposing the diversion of funds allocated to development of schools in Vanni to the highly showcased construction of swimming pool which was declared opened by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Boyle: Appointing alleged war-criminals to UN posts, a violation of UN Charter

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 February 2012, 05:30 GMT]
While Ban Ki Moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky insisted that Ban is powerless to stop the proposed appointment of alleged war-criminal Shavendra Silva to an UN adviser position, Professor Boyle, an expert in international law, said, "U.N. Secretary-General has a Charter obligation to determine that the terms of article 101(3) have been satisfied before he appoints someone to the Staff irrespective of any alleged recommendation by the General Assembly," and therefore, "Ban to appoint a presumptive war criminal to his Staff would be ultra vires his powers under the terms of article 101(3) and thus a violation of the Charter itself."
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Westminster exhibition on Tamil genocide brings MPs to voice for international investigations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2012, 08:54 GMT]
MPs, peers from the House of Lords and a cross-party group of politicians endorsed the call for an independent, international investigation into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka, at an exhibition organized by the BTF and APPGT held Tuesday at Portcullis House, a parliamentary building in Westminster. The exhibition highlighted the protracted nature of the genocide of the Eezham Tamils through a creative use of artwork, paintings, newspaper clippings, slides and documentaries. The event was widely welcomed by those who attended, including the shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, Labour MP for Wolverhampton South-East, Pat McFadden, Lord Quirk, Father Emmanuel of Global Tamil Forum (GTF), and Lord Kennedy. "We must stop the genocide of the Tamils. The world must stop the barbarism of the Sri Lankan regimen," Robert Halfon, Conservative MP from Harlow said at the venue.
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Fein: TVPA's plain language interpretation negates Rajapakse immunity

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2012, 00:52 GMT]
In a forceful rebuttal to the U.S. State Department's suggestion of immunity to Sri Lanka President Rajpakse in the war-crimes charges against him in the case filed in District Court in Washington by three Tamil plaintiffs, Bruce Fein, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said, 'the sitting head of state immunity issue pivots solely on an interpretation of the words “an individual” in the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA)," "the plain language of the statute makes no exceptions irrespective of the office an individual might occupy or the circumstances of the crimes universally abhorred," but "[t]he Executive Branch insolently maintains that this Court must obey its directive to dismiss this TVPA case that rests upon universally repugnant crimes in violation of the law of nations," and " [t]o bow to that command would be to permit usurpation of the judicial power by the Executive."
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CPI moots Tamil Nadu State Assembly participation in Geneva HRC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 February 2012, 17:56 GMT]
Tamil Nadu State Assembly should press New Delhi to make arrangements for its participation in the UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva in March to present the case of war crimes against Eezham Tamils, said, Communist Party of India’s MLA for Sivagangai, Mr. S. Gunasekaran, during debate on Governor’s Address in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. He reminded the Assembly on its earlier resolution on this issue and said that a case should be filed in the International Court of Justice against SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the genocide committed on Eezham Tamils. Deprivation of political, homeland and language rights of Eezham Tamils continues in the island and they are treated like slaves without security. SL has not even spent the Indian monetary assistance meant for Eezham Tamils sufficiently, the MLA said.
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Boyle: US should publicly accuse Colombo of committing war crimes

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 January 2012, 00:40 GMT]
Pointing to the recent investigative reports in media outlets noting US may possess crucial supporting material to incriminating evidence from senior military commanders of Colombo committing war-crimes, to exposures on Wikileaks of Colombo-based US Ambassadors' reported knowledge of high level Sri Lanka officials' complicity to war crimes, and to incriminating reports from the UN and NGOs on alleged war-crimes, Professor Boyle of University of Illinois, College of Law, said, in similar circumstances Secretary of State Eagleburger accused Radovan Karadzic of committing war-crimes during the Bosnian genocide, and the Obama administration can, and should, do the same thing to political and military leaders in Colombo.
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US's dissonant positions boon to Sri Lanka's war-criminals

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2012, 00:39 GMT]
While several members of the legislative branch of the US Government are pressing for independent international investigations into Sri Lanka's war-crimes, the US executive branch, despite the presence of ardent advocates of human rights as President Obama's group of advisers, guided by Ambassador Robert Blake architected policy that has wrought havoc to Tamil justice, appears to support white-washing of war-crimes, Tamil circles in the US said. Civil society groups in Sri Lanka, which met visiting US officials recently have also reported hearing a Rajapakse-centric position from the officials, and revealed that the officials have tried to persuade the civil society to engage with the Sri Lanka Government on development and reconciliation, and thereby, to remain opposed to Tamil diaspora activities, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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Book documents pre-colonial Tamil connections of New Zealand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 January 2012, 00:27 GMT]
“Tamil Imprints in New Zealand” by 87-year-old Eezham Tamil author A.T. Arumugam, now living in New Zealand, re-documents and discusses in detail a bronze bell inscribed in Tamil in c. 14-15 century writing that was in the possession of the native Maori people of New Zealand. Originally written in 2007 in Tamil, the book has been translated into English and will be released shortly in Wellington. The publication is sure to give a sense of pride and belongingness, and would contribute to integration with identity for the Tamils of New Zealand today, commented a social worker. Meanwhile, reviewing the book, V. Sivasupramaniam, who also contributed to the translation says, “This book of fifty-two pages could provide a good incentive for historians and researchers to go further deep into the migratory pattern of this multi-cultural country.”
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Human skeletons found in SLA abandoned locality in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 January 2012, 00:45 GMT]
Skeletons of two persons, allegedly slain by the Sri Lankan military in recent times, have been recovered from an abandoned well near a bund constructed by the occupying Sri Lanka Army in I'lavaalai, Pa'ndaththeruppu situated in Valikaamam in the Jaffna district on Wednesday. Brain parts found inside one of the two skulls indicate that the victims have been slain in recent times, eyewitnesses told TamilNet. The skeletons were located when the villagers were clearing the well at a locality known as Thennanthoappu (cocount palm grove), a place recently vacated by the Sri Lanka Army.
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SL environmental plunder wipes out timber trees in Vanni, protected long by LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 January 2012, 21:30 GMT]
Sinhala plunderers from South who enter Vanni through Mannaar have been cutting valuable timber trees in large numbers and removing them to other parts of the island, people in Vanni complain. The Sri Lankan police is assisting the gangs that enter Vanni through Mannaar. The gangs are in possession of ‘permits’ from the so-called ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in Colombo, which is headed by Sinhala ultra nationalist political party leader Champika Ranawake who founded the Sihala Urumaya promoting Mahawansa mindset of anti-Tamil sentiments, comparing Tamils with Jews against an "Aryan Sinhala" supremacist philosophy. He later became the political advisor of the predominantly Buddhist monks party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), and a minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa cabinet.
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Award winning filmmaker presents documentary on exiled Sinhala, Tamil journalists

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 22:45 GMT]
‘Silenced Voices – Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile’, a new documentary by Norwegian filmmaker Beate Arnestad, who directed and produced the award winning documentary ‘My Daughter the Terrorist’ in 2007, is to be pre-premiered in Oslo, Norway, on 09 February. The screening of ‘Silenced Voices’, which is about journalists, who contributed to international exposure of the internationally abetted genocidal war without witnesses, will be followed by a debate featuring journalists Bashana Abeywardane, the former chief editor of Hiru weekly, Frances Harrison, the former BBC foreign correspondent to Sri Lanka and Sverre Tom Radøy, a Norwegian journalist. The film features Mr. Bashana Abeywardene, his wife Sharmila Logeswaram, Sonali Wickrematunge and A. Lokeesan, TamilNet wartime correspondent, who was reporting from 2005 to April 2009 from Vanni.
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SL Navy militarises Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2012, 21:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy and Army have denied resettled fishermen along a major part of Jaffna lagoon from accessing their sea from Sunday, citing training purposes of the military at a major cantonment of the occupying SL military at Allaarai on Chaavakachcheari - Kachchaay Road. The SL military has blocked the fishing boats from Koayilkudiyiruppu on Sunday giving instructions to the fishermen that the entire stretch from Chavakachcheari to Kachchaay will remain blocked until further notice, representatives of fishermen from Koayilkudiyiruppu in Chavakachcheari told TamilNet Monday. The SL military has also said that access to sea will be blocked five to ten days every month in future.
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Buddhist viharas grab Tamil lands for Sinhalicisation in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2012, 21:28 GMT]
Hundreds of acres of lands are being alienated to Buddhist Viharas in Trincomalee district on the instruction of the Colombo government and at the request of the heads of such Viharas, civil sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet. After the war, the SL military-led administration in the district had allocated initially 2 acres per new Buddhist stupa in Tamil areas at Pulmoaddai, Ilaththik-ku'lam, Thiriyaay, Chempiyan-malai in Kuchchave'li DS division. Later, more lands are being allocated at the request of the heads of these Viharas, who aim Sinhalicisation of the Tamil areas. Informed sources said upto 400 acres have been alienated for this purpose.
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Tamil plaintiffs oppose US Government's stand on Rajapakse immunity

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2012, 01:41 GMT]
Judge Kotelly of District Court of District of Columbia, after considering the Tamil plaintiffs' motion asking the court to allow the plaintiffs to file a response to the United States suggestion of immunity to Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse, issued an order Tuesday granting permission to plaintiffs' attorney Bruce Fein to file the response on or before 3rd February, and to the United States Government to file a reply on a before 13th February. In the process, Judge Kotelly rejected defendant Rajapakse's opposition to plaintiffs request to be permitted to respond to the U.S. Government's suggestion of immunity.
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Tamil sovereignty alone can check protracted genocide: Jose Maria Sison

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2012, 13:28 GMT]
“The Eezham people have a very direct obligation of fighting for their own sovereignty against a state that presumes to have a unitary power over them,” stressed veteran Filipino left ideologue, Prof. Jose Maria Sison. In an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Sunday, Prof. Sison spoke on the questions of sovereignty of the Eezham Tamil nation, the protracted nature of genocide that Sri Lanka imposes on Tamils in their homelands, the principled position of leftists on the national question, and on the imperative to look beyond both the human rights and reconciliation paradigm. Prof. Sison, a long standing activist of the left movement in Philippines, criticised the Sri Lankan government’s military strategy as ‘barbaric’ and western governments for supporting this, and welcomed the Tamil Sovereignty Cognition declaration that aims to build solidarity among progressive forces.
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Indian FM exerts pressure on TNA, wants Sampanthan in Rajapaksa's PSC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2012, 18:11 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance has been pressurised by the visiting Indian Foreign Minister S. Krishna to take part in the SL Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), sources close to TNA told TamilNet Wednesday. At the same time, demanding the TNA to come through the PSC farse, the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's delegation that has been engaging with the TNA in fruitless talks, boycotted scheduled talks this time for the second day. Reacting to the behaviour of the Sri Lankan government, which has failed to meet the TNA as scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday, Mr. M.K. Sivajilingam, the political leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), which is a constituent party of the TNA, said Wednesday that the Tamil alliance should at least now realise that there is no point in talking about the 13 amendment, or something plus or minus to it.
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