People of Keappaa-pulavu demand Gotabhaya to hand over their lands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2014, 17:41 GMT]
Appropriating 2,500 acres of lands belonging to Eezham Tamils in Keappaa-pulavu near Nanthik-kadal lagoon in Mullaiththeevu district, and transforming the area into a Sinhala Military Zone, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the SL presidential sibling and the defence secretary of Sri Lanka attempted to cut an image on Thursday as if he was returning the lands back to the people by freeing 100 acres to 29 families at the border towards Sooriyapuram, where the uprooted people have been forcefully ‘resettled’. 223 families, who have been refused access to their lands, made a bold move of handing over an appeal to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa demanding their lands back.
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SL military accelerates forced ‘resettlement’ permanently seizing lands from Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2014, 06:16 GMT]
Despite the continuous refusal from the people, the occupying Sri Lanka Army is forcefully settling Tamil people from Keappaapulavu by constructing 121 ‘sample’ houses at a jungle locality called Sooriyapuram. The houses are to be handed over in a military function scheduled to be attended by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the SL presidential sibling and defence secretary of the occupying State, who has also instructed its military Establishment to get rid of the complaints from uprooted people from Valikaamam North in Jaffna district by forcing them to accept ‘alternative’ housing schemes being offered at quarry lands in Kaangkeasan-thu'rai after permanently seizing their fertile lands from them in 24 village divisions. Also, people from Champoor in Moothoor East in Trincomalee district, currently staying in the so-called welfare camps are being harassed to accept forced resettlement.
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SL military rule stepped up in North, wartime restrictions re-introduced

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 March 2014, 19:44 GMT]
Clamping down on civilian life in the North, the occupying Sri Lankan military has re-introduced pass system for fishermen in the North to access their seas, putting up check posts on the roads, dawn to dusk search operations and military patrols of armed soldiers in the Northern province, especially targeting coastal areas. In the meantime, the occupying Sri Lankan military has ‘arrested’ at least 44 Eelam Tamils between 07 March and 27 March, news sources in Jaffna said. Most of them have been arrested in abduction style. The iron fist control on the civilian life seeks to silence all activism and threatens the witnesses who have been prepared to witness against the genocidal crimes by the Sri Lankan State, rights activists in Jaffna told TamilNet. Civilian movement was at standstill during the nights as if a curfew has been clamped down at several locations of the peninsula.
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New Delhi imperialism’s show of ‘culture’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 March 2014, 05:15 GMT]
The full moon day that falls in the traditional solar month of March–April is a major festival day for Saivaite Eezham Tamils as well as Tamils in Tamil Nadu. Known as Pangkuni Uththaram, it marks the grand finale of the annual festival, including the car festival, of all the Siva temples. The folk of Tamil Nadu and the Up-Country Tamils of Tamil Nadu origin in the island celebrate it as Kaaman festival, marking Siva reducing Kaaman (cupid) into ashes. It is a major festival for the Up-Country Tamils. But this year, the New Delhi Establishment’s Consulate General in Jaffna, brought in a ‘cultural’ concept altogether new to Tamils in the island, by introducing Holi and smearing colours on that day.
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OHCHR investigation sabotaged by several quarters

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 March 2014, 10:16 GMT]
“An intrusive investigation has so far not yielded genuine reconciliation, and a life of dignity and self-respect for people anywhere. Sri Lanka can’t be any different,” said The Hindu in an editorial on Saturday, shedding crocodile tears for the dignity and self respect of Eezham Tamils and joining the forces that are determined to sabotage even a weak international investigation at the outset. The freedom of the investigation on the ground has already been ditched by the US withdrawing the demilitarisation part of the resolution, and the international weight as well as the result yielding capacity of the investigation has considerably been wrecked by New Delhi abstaining from the voting and openly declaring against the investigation, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.
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Tamil civil society disappointed with UNHRC resolution, New Delhi's stand

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2014, 12:10 GMT]
While expressing appreciation for those countries that voted for the resolution and expressing their disappointment on the conduct of India at the UNHRC, Mannaar Bishop Rt Rev Rayappu Joseph and Jaffna University law academic Kumaravadivel Guruparan, in a statement issued on behalf of the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) on Thursday, expressed their deep regret that the resolution does not provide for the establishment of a robust mechanism of international investigations in the form of an International Commission of Inquiry.
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China-Russia bloc disappoints humanity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2014, 18:39 GMT]
Whether armed or democratic, leaving Eezham Tamils to face struggle against genocide after tilting balance against them is the policy of the world Establishments, and that is evident in the latest resolution passed on Thursday at the UNHRC too. The resolution, without calling for removal of the occupying genocidal military, without recognizing the genocide and without recognizing the nation of Eezham Tamils, has called for a weak war crimes investigation, after binding the UNHRC with ‘united land’ of the genocidal State and the 13th amendment of its unitary constitution. But the stand repeatedly taken by China-Russia bloc and the ‘dog in the manger’ response of New Delhi, even at such a weak resolution, disappoint sensible humanity, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics.
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UNHRC passes resolution on Sri Lanka seeking another UN report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2014, 16:48 GMT]
The resolution on Sri Lanka framed by the United States and the UK with the backing of 36 other Member States of the United Nations, passed with 23 of 47 Member States of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voting for the resolution, 12 voting against and 12 abstaining. The resolution has failed to call for a full fledged independent international investigations and to propose an international mechanism to put an end to the ongoing genocide against the nation of Eelam Tamils. India and Japan have abstained from voting. Pakistan and Maldives voted against and South Korea voted for the US proposed resolution.
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SL military detains 28 Tamils in 2 weeks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2014, 11:00 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military, launching house-to-house search in the North and East has targeted former LTTE members, has detained at least 28 Tamils within the last two weeks. The Sinhala military, unfolding a concocted scene of regrouping of the LTTE, initially ‘abducted’ two persons in Pazhai on charges of distributing leaflets and later arrested a mother and daughter on 13th March in Tharumapuram in Ki'linochchi. Several arbitrary ‘arrests’ have been made since then. While pro-Sri Lankan groups were projecting so-called 'LTTE terrorism’ as the key issue in Geneva as a smokescreen to deviate the global focus, the SL military intelligence operatives have been deployed in an unprecedented terror operation after 2009, as a tactic to support their ‘Geneva strategy’, Tamil rights activists in Ki'linochchi said.
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TNPF: Only a UN Special Tribunal can deliver justice to Sri Lanka's genocidal criminality

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 19:39 GMT]
During the General Debate on the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner's report on Sri Lanka, 26th Wednesday, the President of Tamil National People's Front [TNPF], Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, while concurring with the People's Tribunal that there is on-going genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, said that "the remedy for violations at the level of gravity that occurred ultimately, cannot be anything short of a judicial process through the ICC [International Criminal Court] or an Ad Hoc special tribunal," adding, "[a]nything less would undermine the concept of international justice and the application of humanitarian law." Selvarajah Kajendran, General Secretary, TNPF, and Visvalingam Manivannan, National Organiser, TNPF, also spoke on the other weaknesses in the UN resolution.
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UN resolution neither prevents nor punishes GoSL genocide, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 03:18 GMT]
While noting that "“investigation” by the UNHCR is better than nothing—with all due and sincere respect for the UNHCR," Professor Boyle, an expert in international law, said, dissemination of that “investigation” will be subject to the control of the UN Human Rights Council for political reasons and the dissemination of that UNHCR “investigation” will be dragged out for as long as possible by the Human Rights Council, thus enabling the GOSL to continue its campaign of ongoing genocide against the Tamils despite the requirement of article 1 of the Genocide Convention that every UN Human Rights Council state member is obligated both “to prevent and to punish” the GOSL genocide against the Tamils," Boyle said.
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Activists from homeland, diaspora address UNHRC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 March 2014, 15:34 GMT]
The Deputy Chairman of Valikaamam North Piratheasa Chapai (PS) and the president of Vali North Displaced Peoples Rehabilitation Organisation, S. Shageevan spoke at UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday demanding global focus on the ideology-driven genocide against Tamil people in the North and East of the island. In the meantime, Tamil diaspora activist Krisna Saravanamuttu from the National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) addressing the Council on the same session said that Tamil people are enduring a slow, but relentless, genocide. “The Tamil struggle today is about the survival of our people against genocide by the Sri Lankan state to destroy our sovereign national existence in the island’s NorthEast,” Krisna Saravanamuttu said.
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Guruparan addresses de-Tamilization, dichotomization in Geneva narrative

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 March 2014, 04:44 GMT]
“Unless we take a critical stance in terms of what is happening in Geneva and unless we move away from the approach that all roads lead to Geneva in terms of how Tamil problems are going to be looked at, we are not going to identify the alternatives,” Tamil civil society activist and Jaffna University law academic Kumaravadivel Guruparan said while discussing whether the resolution to be tabled in Geneva is part of solution or problem. On the question, if not for this resolution what is the alternative, he said: “If we approach the resolution critically and people are made to understand what the resolution is about, at least the space of identifying the alternative will come about. It is that creation of that space for looking for alternatives that I am arguing for. That will come about only by taking stock a realistic, pragmatic and honest take over this resolution.”
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UNHRC resolution with weak mandate will not help Tamils, says Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 March 2014, 23:58 GMT]
Noting that the Resolution tabled at the UNHRC Geneva meeting falls short in establishing a required accountability mechanism through a UN-controlled transitional administration that has the capacity to create an environment to gather evidence of what happened during the war, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the president of the Tamil National People’s Front, said in a press meet held in Geneva on Friday that the weak mandate of the resolution will not only fail to bring about positive changes to Tamil people on the ground, but will also encourage the Sri Lankan government to continue to carry out the sort of actions that they have been carrying out.
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UK long blighted cause of Eezham Tamils, contributed to genocide

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 March 2014, 13:36 GMT]
“The UK’s permanent representative at the United Nations, a man called Sir John Sawers, who was at that time the permanent representative to the UN, stopped any Security Council discussion about the crisis in Sri Lanka in February 2009. This was the exact point, as we know very well from the Petrie Report that the UN officers were raising massive alerts inside the organisation about the impending massacre. It was the UK that stopped the Security Council from discussing those reports openly, so it wasn’t just an internal institutional failure of the UN, it was a deliberate policy of the UK government,” said British criminology academic Dr Andy Higginbottom, addressing a media meet in Geneva on Friday. He elucidated on how the UK was long blighting the cause of Eezham Tamils.
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Risking even their lives, Tamils demand international investigations: Mannaar Bishop

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 March 2014, 06:47 GMT]
The rulers of the Sri Lankan State are not prepared to come to light; they continue with their activities in darkness. They are capable of telling bigger lies than Satan’s biggest lies, said Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, the Catholic Bishop of Mannaar, taking part at a peaceful rally in Mannaar on Friday. Even the investigations that are about to commence with international monitoring, as it is being proposed now, are not adequate, he said. “We don’t need it. The Sri Lankan State is capable of guiding even that process under the darkness. The Sri Lankan government is capable in twisting everything through its propaganda orchestration. We also know what happened to the doctors who came from the war zone. As far we as we are concerned, there should only be an international investigation that could bring justice,” the Bishop said.
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Key sabotage in US draft lies in withdrawal of demilitarisation

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2014, 16:00 GMT]
The US draft resolution that will be tabled at the UNHCR, initially talking of demilitarisation and then deleting it, amounts to encouragement of Sinhala militarisation in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, and the results are already showing in the SL military activities, said Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island. The removal of demilitarisation is done with the particular intention of nullifying even the weak investigative mechanism of the OHCHR brought out in the draft, as witnesses will have no freedom to facilitate a genuine investigation in a genocidal-militarised environment, the activists said.
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Fear psychosis grips Vanni as SL military clamps down on Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2014, 08:08 GMT]
The occupying SL military system, emboldened by the extension of one more year to continue its iron fist manoeuvrings to continue to engineer demographic, cultural and structural genocide on the nation of Eelam Tamils, has used 2014 March sessions in Geneva to project an enemy in its imagination, bringing again untold miseries for the thousands of families that have been affected by the genocidal onslaught in 2009. On Wednesday and Thursday, the districts of Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu witnessed military round up operations as never before in recent years after the war. Several villagers were brought to open grounds, filtered one-by-one, arrests made and threats issued by Sinhala soldiers who are made to believe by Colombo that former LTTE members were regrouping to wage another armed struggle. A fear psychosis has gripped the people of Vanni.
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Geneva press conference to discuss nature of US resolution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2014, 20:24 GMT]
Civil society activists and Tamil politicians from the homeland join together with Diaspora activists and exiled journalists to look into the question whether the US draft resolution being framed at the Human Rights Council would be a part of the solution or part of the problem in bringing a solution to the 60-year-old genocide of Eezham Tamils in their homeland on Friday at a side event in Geneva addressing a press conference at Geneva Press Club on Friday, Professor R. Sri Ranjan from the University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Canada, told TamilNet on Thursday. The event would explore the multiple aspects of the resolution and whether UNHRC as a body failed in its mandate to protect a persecuted people who face a most brutal form of genocidal oppression in their homeland. The press conference will also be webcast at 11:00 a.m. CET.
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Colombo malicious in twisting Ananthi's Geneva speech

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 March 2014, 16:01 GMT]
Responding to Sri Lankan delegation's accusation on her address at Geneva, Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member Ananthi Sasitharan on Wednesday defended her statements in Geneva saying that she didn't violate any protocol of the Provincial Council system or that of the Sri Lankan State. “In fact, I went to Geneva following the democratic decision by the NPC,” she said. Also, the Sri Lankan delegation was malicious in projecting that she was using the term “Tamil Eelam”. Ms Ananthi said she was only using the term “Eelam Tamils,” which is the cultural identity of the Tamils in the island. I don't want to go into the discussion of the term that they have twisted is lawful or not. But, I was only using the term “Eelam Tamils” and the full text of my speeches will be made available by the UN Human Rights Council if anyone want to verify it, she further said.
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