Sinhala colonization to wedge North and East stepped up after NPC elections

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 October 2013, 20:53 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military is being hurriedly deployed in clearing 2,000 acres of agricultural lands of Eezham Tamils in Kokkuth-thoduvaay in Karaithu'raippattu division of Mullaiththeevu district, after the conclusion of the Northern Provincial Council elections. Even though the uprooted people were allowed to resettle in Kokkuth-thoduvaay in 2011, their paddy fields had not been returned to them and they continue to suffer for their survival without livelihood assistance. Now, the Tamil villagers are shocked to learn that their paddy fields are being taken away to carve out a Sinhala colony in the middle of their village where they have been struggling to start their livelihood after 30 years of displacement.
Full story >>

CHOGM to draw attention to Briton's murder, girl-friend's rape

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 October 2013, 02:26 GMT]
The high-profile case of Khuram Shaikh, a 32-year-old Red Cross worker from Rochdale, UK, who was killed in 2011, and the sexual harassment followed by gang-rape of Shaikh's Russian-girlfriend, have cast a shadow over the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo in November, the Guardian reported. CHOGM is due to be chaired by Prince Charles and attended by the British Prime Minister David Cameron. Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper's office announced that Harper will be boycotting the meeting protesting the "intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities, reported disappearances, and allegations of extra-judicial killings," and Canada accused Indian Diplomat Sharma as acting as a stooge to Colombo.
Full story >>

9 NPC members of EPRLF, TELO, PLOTE to take oath in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 October 2013, 20:57 GMT]
“We are not going to let a [Colombo-centric] group in the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) to take a different political course than what had been promised to the people during the elections, especially with regards to our demand of international investigations and the delivery of a political solution in a unified North-East as a single unit ensuring Tamils sovereignty,” said former TNA parliamentarian from TELO, MK Sivajilingam on Saturday. EPRLF's Suresh Premachandran, a TNA MP and PLOTE leader Tharmalingam Sitharthan, a former MP were also addressing the journalists in Jaffna. Meanwhile, Suresh Premachandran said that the NPC members who didn’t take oath on Friday will take their oath on Monday in Mullaiththeevu. “We have been part of the TNA for a long time and we will not be weakening the unity because of the newcomers,” he further said.
Full story >>

People's mandate projected differently by TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 October 2013, 20:15 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian S. Sritharan from Ki'linochchi delivered an emotional speech in Jaffna on Friday during the oath-taking ceremony of the members of the NPC. The address, also containing satire messages directed at the Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran, reminded the CM and his fellow NPC members on the aspiration of Eezham Tamils and what the real mandate the TNA had promised to its people at the grassroots level during the election campaign, while TNA parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan and national list parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran were interpreting the mandate according to their manuscript produced without involving the majority of the TNA politicians or the candidates.
Full story >>

New Delhi poses new challenge to Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 October 2013, 18:57 GMT]
NPC Chief Minister Mr C.V. Wigneswaran has to be profusely thanked and appreciated by Tamils for his honesty in conceding that he is not a natural leader of Eezham Tamils representing their aspirations, but a planted one by New Delhi to implement the 13th Amendment. Wigneswaran’s revelation and his efforts to muffle voices in Tamil Nadu and in the diaspora have to be understood in the background of what M.K. Narayanan had told the TNA in May 2009 that, “we know better what is good for Tamils.” New Delhi simulating a leadership for the political surrender of the Tamil cause poses new challenge to Tamils all over the world, writes an activist for alternative politics in Jaffna.
Full story >>

NPC members take oath in Jaffna after honouring fallen Tamil Heroes

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 October 2013, 06:57 GMT]
Twenty members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) elected to the Northern Provincial Council took oaths in Jaffna after visiting the memorial site of SJV Chelvanayakam and after observing honour to fallen Tamil Heroes (Maaveerar) and the people perished in the war, at Jaffna Veerasingham Hall Friday 9:00 a.m. EPRLF-leader Suresh Premachandran and five of the six EPRLF's elected members, TELO's M.K.Sivajilingam and an elected TELO member, PLOTE leader Tharmalingam Siththarthan and one elected PLOTE member were absent at the event. Ms Ananthi Sasitharan was present marking her independency between the ITAK and the portfolio-seekers. The ceremonial event took place without any celebrations and the members declined to wear traditional garlands at the function.
Full story >>

Canada says Indian diplomat acting as Sri Lanka's stooge

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 October 2013, 01:39 GMT]
Following Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper's public announcement of his boycotting Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka after accusing Colombo of "intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities, reported disappearances, and allegations of extra-judicial killings," Hugh Segal, Canada's special envoy to the Commonwealth, launched a direct assault on the authority of Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma accusing him of "acting as a shill [a stooge] for the Sri Lankan leadership, defending their every mistake," the British broadsheet the Guardian reported Tuesday.
Full story >>

Indian FM in Jaffna talks of ‘tri-lingual, united, sovereign, devolved and connected’ Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 October 2013, 17:12 GMT]
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who visited Jaffna on Tuesday, ceremonially opened two houses of the controversial ‘50,000 House Project’, by visiting Thanthai Chelvapuram village at Thellippazhai in Valikaamam North, after landing in Palaali, meeting SL military officials and paying tribute to slain Indian soldiers in the war 23 years ago. Mr Khurshid then proceeded to lunch with the war-crimes accused Sri Lankan colonial governor in North and thereafter met the Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council. Salman Khurshid, addressing the beneficiaries of financial asssistance and the journalists at Tilko hotel was talking of devolved Sri Lanka under the 13 Amendment, for a happy, prosperous and tri-lingual Sri Lanka which is sovereign and united and connected with India.
Full story >>

TNA members boycotted oath-taking, Wigneswaran-trio effigy burnt in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 October 2013, 11:44 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) supporters in Mullaiththeevu on Tuesday have burnt the effigy of NPC Chief Minister Mr CV Wigneswaran who took his oath before genocidal Colombo’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday. New Delhi Establishment’s External Affairs Minister Mr. Salman Kurshid had already arrived in Colombo when Wigneswaran was taking oath to function under the 13th Amendment. Immediately after the ceremony, the visiting New Delhi minister received leading TNA personalities in Colombo itself on Monday evening and congratulated them. The effigies of TNA leaders Mr R. Sampanthan and Mr M.A Sumanthiran were also burnt along with that of Wigneswaran on Tuesday. Except four, all the elected TNA representatives in the NPC as well as in the SL parliament, had boycotted the oath-taking ceremony.
Full story >>

"Rajapaksa, a serial abuser of human rights"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 October 2013, 00:35 GMT]
Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has concluded that Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is a serial abuser of human rights and is refusing to be photographed getting out of a car and shaking hands with him, Canada's CBC News said Monday. The Prime Minister, while citing "intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities, reported disappearances, and allegations of extra-judicial killings," in accusing Rajapakse of gross rights violations, also took a swipe at the Commonwealth accusing the organization as "the great, lumbering remnant of the British empire [that] has betrayed its values by letting Sri Lanka off the hook, and by allowing it to host the summit at all," CBC reported.
Full story >>

Tamil Nadu Police detains fast-unto-death activist Thiyagu

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 October 2013, 13:12 GMT]
Hundreds of Tamil Nadu Police personnel were deployed at Va'l'luvar-koaddam in Chennai Monday around 2:00 p.m. where Thoazhar Thiyagu was conducting fast-unto-death campaign with 9 demands addressed to the Central Government of India. After carrying out a medical check-up, the Police has relocated the fast-unto-death activist from the venue of Va'l'lvuvar-koaddam and admitted him at Royapettah General Hospital around 2:30 p.m. However, Mr Thiyagu has vowed to continue his fast-unto-death under police detention and urged the Tamil activists and students to step up the struggle against India's participation in the CHOGM meet scheduled to take place in Colombo. Following the relocation of the activist, Nandanam Arts College students launched a sit-in protest with the 9-points demand put forward by Thoazhar Thiyagu, the latest reports from Chennai said.
Full story >>

Fast-unto-death activist demands New Delhi to respect TN Assembly, boycott CHOGM

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 October 2013, 05:03 GMT]
Putting forward 9 concrete demands, Thoazhar (Comrade) Thiyagu, a veteran Tamil activist from Tamil Nadu, has been on a fast-unto-death campaign since October 01st at Va'l'luvar-koaddam in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. As his campaign entered 6th day on Monday, Thoazhar Thiyagu is determined to take forward the struggle, despite doctors warn him about deteriorating health. The genocidal Sri Lankan State should be suspended from the Commonwealth, the venue for the upcoming CHOGM meet should be shifted away from Sri Lanka and the Indian leaders should not take part if Colombo is to host the meet, are among the top demands of the 9-point list. Prominent activists and leaders of movements and parties have been expressing solidarity with Thoazhar Thiyagu and are accompanying him in observing the fasting campaign.
Full story >>

Indian EA minister to lunch with SL governor, meet CM designate in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 October 2013, 14:30 GMT]
New Delhi Establishment’s External Affairs Minister, Mr Salman Kurshid will be on an official visit to Jaffna on Tuesday. He will have a lunch meeting with the SL Governor in Jaffna and a ‘bilateral’ meeting with the Chief Minister of North, said a press note by Suresh K Menon of the Consulate General of India in Jaffna. New Delhi’s High Commissioner in Colombo, Mr Yashwardhan Sinha and senior officials of the MEA will accompany the minister. The programme is scheduled to end with the New Delhi minister meeting Indian journalists in a hotel room in Jaffna.
Full story >>

SL govt service in East means officialising genocidal land grab

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 October 2013, 23:53 GMT]
The occupying Colombo government has forced the Tamil divisional secretaries in Trincomalee district to comply with its genocidal land grab and Sinhalicisation schemes if they are to retain their jobs, informed civil sources in Trincomalee said. The latest victim to such pressure is the divisional secretary of Trincomalee Town and Gravets division, the sources said alleging that the divisional secretary Ms Sasithevi Jalatheepan has been instructed to identify lands without deeds and to allocate those lands to the occupying Sri Lankan military to set up new camps.
Full story >>

Inguru-watta

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 October 2013, 21:15 GMT]
The ginger garden
Full story >>

Legendary Vietnamese General passes away at 102

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 October 2013, 15:58 GMT]
General Vo Nguyen Giap, whose legendary military victories against the occupying armies of France and the USA facilitated the independence and integrity of Vietnam, passed away on Friday evening at the age of 102. Born on 25 August 1911, the former history teacher, who taught a lesson to world imperialism in the second half of 20th century, was a self-taught soldier. General Giap’s book was translated into Tamil by the LTTE in the early 1980s.
Full story >>

Sinhala - Muslim student clash hospitalises 20 in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 October 2013, 06:01 GMT]
20 students, including 6 girls, were admitted for medical treatment at Chammaan-thu’rai hospital and SL police in Chammaan-thu’rai detained 41 students, following a clash between Sinhala and Muslim students at the Faculty of Applied Sciences in the South Eastern University in Ampaa’rai district on Thursday. Sinhala students opposing the election of a Muslim as leader in the student union elections held last month, resulted in the clash, informed sources said. The University administration phrased the incident as a clash between two groups of 2nd and 3rd year students and that the faculty would remain closed until further notice. The University is situated at Oluvil in Ampaa’rai district.
Full story >>

TNA should learn from history: Poonkuzhali Nedumaran

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 October 2013, 23:38 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) should learn from history, and from the experience of their predecessors, on what should NOT be done, writes Tamil Nadu political activist Poonkuzhali Nedumaran in a feature sent to TamilNet this week. She cited the history of TNA’s predecessor TULF failing in upholding the responsibility it was vested with by the people in 1977, compromising with District Councils and how that triggered the Tamil youth to lose confidence in parliamentary methods. The NPC election results mean communication of a will than participation in governance. With the Eezham Tamils rejecting the polity and rule of the State in Colombo, the TNA must understand the responsibility vested with them by the people, she further said.
Full story >>

Miriswæl-paatha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 October 2013, 22:34 GMT]
The descending land or lower land of pepper creepers
Full story >>

Question raised on truth of Navi Pillay statement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 October 2013, 00:59 GMT]
UN Human Rights chief Ms Navanetham Pillay, in a press interview in Colombo towards the end of her recent visit to the island, has said that no one she had met in the island used the word genocide. TamilNet comes to know that there were specific instances in which responsible civil society members meeting her had told her about genocide in the island, using the very word genocide in English. Ms Navi Pillay held her civil society meetings under ‘Chatham House’ rules. In Vanni she told people that they could whisper in her ear. Has she misused such conditions to suppress what had actually been told to her, in order to shield an imperial design that accommodates genocide by the Agent State? Why should she hide the fact that the island Tamils in deed spoke to her on genocide, asks the civil society in the island.
Full story >>