Relay race for genocide sanctified as ‘Good Governance’ by USA: Jude Lal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 September 2015, 00:01 GMT]
The SLFP/UPFA, UNP, JHU and the JVP have all claimed their share in the genocidal ‘military victory’ against the Tamils. The Sinhala liberal intelligentsia describes the trend as a ‘relay race’, where each Sinhala political leader had taken turns in contributing to the victory, says Professor Jude Lal of Trinity College, Dublin, in an interview to TamilNet on Tuesday. “There is an inherent racism within the so-called project of good governance, which is based on a victor’s mentality. The agenda of the ‘good governance’ did not arise from the Sinhala society. It was part of the US-sponsored UN resolution and a facade to cover up crimes committed against the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state,” the exiled Sinhala academic says adding that the political power of the ‘Sinhala Supremacist State’ is at its peak at the moment.
Full story >>

Families of enforced disappeared Tamils decry domestic investigations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2015, 15:38 GMT]
Around 1,200 people from all the 8 districts of North-East came together at an emotional gathering on Sunday at the De La Salle Brothers School in Mannaar, remembering the enforced disappeared persons in the country of Eezham Tamils. On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, the families of enforced disappeared demanded independent international investigations and categorically rejected the domestic and so-called hybrid mechanisms that are currently being advocated by the USA. In the meantime, leading lawyers from Mannaar told TamilNet on Sunday that international investigations were necessary on the mass graves at the killing fields of Mannaar. On Friday, an abandoned well allegedly used by the SL military to dump slain Tamils was located 40 meters close to Maanthai Junction near Thirukkeatheesvaram temple.
Full story >>

Domestic process will be tantamount to “victor's justice”: TNPF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2015, 20:25 GMT]
Citing its consistent warnings to Tamils about the use of their struggle by geo-political contestations, the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) in a statement on Saturday said that it insists on an international criminal justice process since any domestic process will be tantamount to “victor's justice”. The TNPF also said that the ‘devolution paradigm’ [so far imposed by Washington and New Delhi, and recently re-iterated in hoodwink by Ranil Wickramasinghe], would not work to the context of the island. Rejecting ‘Sri Lankan’ nation-state, the TNPF argued for Tamils and Sinhalese coming together as nations of Self-Determination in a bi-national State in the island. It is up to the Muslims and Up Country Tamils whether they wish to assert to their right to self-determination with consciousness or not, the policy statement further said.
Full story >>

‘Global War’ to wage genocide, ‘domestic mechanism’ to confirm structural genocide

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2015, 17:49 GMT]
The USA that designed the ‘International Community’ genocidal onslaught on the national question of Eezham Tamils in the name of Global War on Terror (GWOT) and the agent State in Colombo that conducted it on the ground will move in collaboration in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in September for a ‘domestic mechanism’ of investigation, which is sure to confirm and institutionalise the on-going structural genocide in the island. The announcement in this regard, immediately following the parliamentary elections, confirms the crux of the agenda for which electoral politics was engineered in the island, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics. Eezham Tamils, who have wasted their time, energy and money on a deceptive political course, designed by the ultimate culprits, should at least now think of a different paradigm of polity, the activists further said.
Full story >>

SLM Hanifa urges Tamil-speaking politicians to transcend parochial localism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2015, 10:05 GMT]
Veteran writer SLM Hanifa has warned Tamils and Muslims of the sinister motives of the incumbent UNP-SLFP regime and the exploitative global politics of the Powers. Urging the Tamil-speaking Muslims and Tamils to shed past old wounds towards building unity between all Tamil speakers, also including the Upcountry Tamils, in order to defend the larger interests of their communities, the former NEPC councillor from Batticaloa condemned the opportunistic parliamentary orientations of the Muslim politicians, who have hitherto brought political confusion among the Muslim masses through their actions that have only strengthened the Sinhala-dominated coalitions. "Like the caste system is exploited for seeking votes in Tamil Nadu, locality-oriented parochialism has emerged as a destructive factor in the electoral politics in the island, which is exploited by the UNP and the SLFP,” Mr Hanifa said.
Full story >>

TNA should clarify ‘consensus’ on domestic investigation

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 August 2015, 15:24 GMT]
While interviewing Mr Ranil Wikremesinghe for The Hindu on Monday, Indian media’s veteran antagonist of Eezham Tamil independence, ‘Sri Lanka Ratna’ Ram, came out with a question like guidance: “And on the human rights issues, there is a demand for an international investigation. But clearly there is a consensus in Sri Lanka that the investigation should be domestic.” The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) should clarify to Tamils whether it is part of this ‘consensus’, since genocidal Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister recognizes it in the interview as one of the three key players. Any silence of TNA in this matter should prompt Tamils to lose no time in mobilising their polity to face the drama that is going to be enacted in Geneva next month by the Indo-US playwrights, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics.
Full story >>

TNA secures 16 of 29 SL parliamentary seats in North-East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 August 2015, 05:50 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has secured 5 seats in the Jaffna electoral district, 4 seats in Vanni, 3 seats in Batticaloa, 1 in Trincomalee, 1 in Ampaa'rai and two seats for nominated parliamentarians according to the latest figures. In Jaffna, S. Sritharan, Mavai Senathirajah, M.A. Sumanthiran, T. Sitharthan and E. Saravanapavan have secured their seats after repeated counting of preferential votes on Tuesday while Suresh Premachandran lost his parliamentary seat. In the meantime, United National Party (UNP) led by Ranil Wickramasinghe is set to form the SL government in the South, despite a tough race with Mahinda Rajapaksa's UPFA. The UNP was leading the electoral districts in the South, particularly where Tamils and Muslims live in considerable numbers. UNP has got 106 seats in the SL parliament followed by the UPFA (95), TNA (16), JVP (06), EPPD (01) and SLMC (01).
Full story >>

Time for Indian media to investigate what went wrong with New Delhi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2015, 23:30 GMT]
Four decades ago, overpowering the US outlook, New Delhi successfully materialised the liberation and independence of Bangladesh from the colony-like rule of Pakistan. But within a couple of years the USA managed to hijack Bangladesh into military rule and to become non-friendly to India. New Delhi did quite the opposite to Eezham Tamils. It was the crucial strategic partner to the US-led coalition that enacted the first ever gang-genocide in the region to uphold a congenitally genocidal State. New Delhi emerged as the main protector of Rajapaksa after the war. Yet, if Indian journalists like P K Balachandran, long operating in Colombo, could now link Rajapaksa with emerging shades of Eezham Tamil nationalism, and they find only anti-Indian sentiments in them, then there must be something constantly wrong with New Delhi, which the Indian media should investigate.
Full story >>

Genocide in arsenal of imperial conquests worse than nuclear weapons

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 August 2015, 23:45 GMT]
The easiest and quickest way found by imperialisms in their conquests of today is deployment of the weapon of genocide by taking the side of genocidal ‘majorities’ in the so-called States created by the designs of predecessor imperialisms. The paradigm-setting case in recent times is the plight of the nation of Eezham Tamils and how the Washington-led ‘coalition’, New Delhi and Beijing behaved and are behaving. The paradigm is now applied to the case of Kurds entangled in the West's mobilisation of Turkey and Iran against the Arabs, and in the comparative treatment of the national questions in the colonially created ‘Sri Lanka’ and Myanmar. While a nuclear deal with Iran steals the show, a worse security threat to humanity, i.e., genocide in the arsenal of imperialisms, goes conveniently unnoticed or un-investigated, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics.
Full story >>

War-affected Tamils in North resolve to boycott SL Parliamentary Election

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2015, 23:47 GMT]
The representatives of uprooted Eezham Tamils from the former ‘High Security Zone’ in Valikaamam have stated that they are going to boycott the elections. In the meantime, the main organisation representing the kith and kin of the missing persons in North has condemned the North-based political parties and alliances as well as the South-based parties, for subjecting the plight of the war-affected victims to the ‘use and throw’ politics. SL President Maithiripala Sirisena who visited Jaffna a week ago and SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe who visited Jaffna on Friday have failed to deliver anything concrete, the representatives of both the missing persons associations and the uprooted people from Valikaamam told TamilNet on Saturday.
Full story >>

TNA sabotages Tamils proving will for genocide investigation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 July 2015, 13:49 GMT]
Despite the mounting pressure on the planted Colombo-centric polity controlling the affairs of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the alliance has once again sabotaged Eezham Tamils' call for international investigations on genocide. The General Election Manifesto produced by R Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran undermines the unanimous and democratically established position of the elected members of its own alliance in the Northern and Eastern provincial councils on the question of genocide. TNA's manifesto is also non-descript with regards to its demand to the SL State on expected constitutional framework, political solution and the question of accountability, deploying self-contradictory and ambiguous terminology.
Full story >>

Swaminathan blames SL military for failure in releasing lands, resettlement

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2015, 23:22 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister of Resettlement and Reconstruction Mr D.M. Swaminathan, who visited Jaffna on Monday publicly admitted that his ministry was been unable to release lands and provide for resettlement of the uprooted people from Valikaamam North as it had been promised by himself earlier. The SL military has not been cooperating as required in the release of lands as promised, the powerless Colombo-based Tamil minister said passing the blame from political leaders to the occupying military establishment. The visiting UNP minister was addressing the elected representatives, civil officers and the organisations representing the uprooted Tamils from Valikaamam North at two places, in Thelliappazhai and at the Jaffna District Secretariat.
Full story >>

‘LLRC’ Palihakkara promotes pompous ceremony for genocidal ‘War Heroes’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2015, 23:20 GMT]
The office of the SL Governor to North, HMGS Palihakkara, who was one of the eight panellists earlier appointed by former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the so-called Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), was an an official co-organiser to the pompous ceremony organised together with Ranaviru Seva Authority (RSA) of the occupying Sinhala military in Jaffna on Wednesday. ‘LLRC’ Palihakkara himself was the chief guest of the ceremony organised in remembrance of the ‘fallen war heroes of three forces and the Police’. Mr Palihakkara has forced a section of Tamil public servants in the North to accompany him to the military ceremony. Tamil journalists in Jaffna have boycotted the event. The NPC councillors said they were not informed of public servants associated with the NPC being taken to the event.
Full story >>

Mu’l’livaaykkaal Genocide Day marked in occupied Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2015, 06:39 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan State has deployed more than 600 Sinhala riot control policemen Sunday evening at Mu’l’livaaykkaal in Mullaiththeevu, where Eezham Tamils were intentionally corralled in 2009 in a calculated and deliberate attempt to destroy as many Tamils as possible. The Northern Provincial Council, which passed a key resolution in February this year demanding the OISL UN mechanism in Geneva to investigate the claim of genocide, has invited all the Tamil parliamentarians and councillors from the province to attend the remembrance event at Mu’l’livaaykkaal East on Monday. However, students of Jaffna University, the Tamil National Peoples Front, civil society and religious dignitaries are proceeding with collective memorial meetings at several locations in the NorthEast on May 18.
Full story >>

TNPF rejects ‘domestic investigations’ upheld by USA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2015, 21:49 GMT]
The fact that the United States and the US Secretary of State John Kerry would consider the post January 08th 2015 situation in Sri Lanka, with the new government favourable, is understandable. But, for him to suggest that there is a favourable condition for the Tamils, is stretching too far, said Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) Leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, responding to a question from TamilNet on the subject on Tuesday. Pointing out that the new regime is not only maintaining the status quo of the occupying military, which is primarily being accused in the crimes, but both the major parties in the South have claimed complete allegiance to the military and have in fact vouched that the military would be protected, the former parliamentarian said.
Full story >>

OISL in acid test over witness submissions on ‘Gota camp’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 April 2015, 21:30 GMT]
The revelations on the so-called Gota camp, a secret incarceration camp run by the occupying Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Trincomalee, where at least 700 former LTTE members were illegally detained for more than five years, will be an acid test to conclude whether the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) has taken the eyewitness submissions seriously, one of the survivors who got out from the notorious detention just a few days before the regime change told TamilNet on Saturday. The whereabouts of those detained at the undisclosed ‘Gota’ camp also constitute a serious question on the conduct of the ‘new’ regime in South. In the meantime, informed sources in Colombo told TamilNet that the SL military has given a figure of less than 400 former LTTE members as being alive in its custody throughout the island.
Full story >>

Liberating Champoor is fundamental to Tamils' existence in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 April 2015, 23:53 GMT]
Liberating Champoor is liberating Tamils from permanent subjugation in Trincomalee district, say the Tamil people of Moothoor East in Trincomalee. From the average Tamil families languishing in the camps to experts among Tamils coming from Moothoor East, having in-depth knowledge of their region and the politics, are unanimous in their opinion that both the Indian Coal Power Plant, for which lands are allocated 7-8 kilometres close to the residential area in Champoor and the so-called Special Economic Zone where the Sinhala rulers in Colombo are aiming for Sinhala colonisation and the SL military which is going to clear more lands close to the coastal strip for maintaining its military cantonment are going to be the main challenges of the future existence of Tamils in Moothoor East.
Full story >>

Colombo manipulates land figures in Champoor to retain lands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2015, 11:02 GMT]
Champoor region in Trincomalee district has seen displacement since 1990. But, Colombo’s officials have been instructed to use the voter’s registry of 2005 in deciding those ‘eligible’ for resettlement in Champoor. Several families were uprooted within the 15 years. Further, the people demanding resettlement are asked to hand over ownership documents. Many families have lost their documents during the times of the war due to displacements. The uprooted people who are able to document their ownership to lands within the occupied ‘Economic’ zone will receive alternative lands elsewhere is the position of the SL Governor in the East. Through such manipulations, the figures of lands belonging to people within the occupied ‘Special Economic Zone’ have been manipulated down to 138 acres, the people complain.
Full story >>

UNP wants to continue geopolitical occupation of Champoor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2015, 23:46 GMT]
Colombo's Governor to the Eastern Province, Austin Fernando, who was the SL Defence Secretary under the UNP government during the Norwegian mediated peace process, is now defending Colombo's occupation of the so-called ‘Economic’ zone in Champoor as demarcated by the Rajapaksa regime, informed Tamil National Alliance (TNA) circles in the East told TamilNet on Tuesday. Talks between the TNA and the SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe on resettling civilians in Champoor failed to produce any positive outcome. In the meantime, Mr Fernando is opposed to release the lands from the occupied ‘economic’ zone. The uprooted Tamils are being told to expect alternative lands from the SL military occupied zone, civil sources in Trincomalee said. In the meantime, a geo-political deal is being worked out involving a foreign power, informed sources told TamilNet.
Full story >>

SL military harassment continues to target ex-LTTE members in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2015, 23:11 GMT]
Former LTTE members who met the touring Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe at Ki'linochchi on Sunday told the SL premier that the occupying Sinhala military was harassing them even after the so-called regime change in Colombo. SL military intelligence operatives continue to interrogate them, they complained adding that the SL soldiers were threatening the families by frequent inspections. The wives of former LTTE members were being harassed after their husbands leave for work, Mr Wickramasinghe was told. However, the SL Prime Minister was using his trip to encourage the occupying SL military to continue the genocidal occupation of the Tamil homeland, informed sources in Jaffna and Vanni told TamilNet.
Full story >>