SL Police resorts to violence in grabbing lands of Tamil fishers in Batticaloa North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 October 2019, 19:14 GMT]
The livelihood of thirty resettled Tamil fisher families have been severely affected as the occupying Sinhala police have dismantled their centre for marketing and exchanging the fish produce says T. Uthayakumar, the chairperson of Challith-theevu Fisher Association. Challith-theevu is located 66 km north of Batticaloa city and comes under the administrative division of Koa'ra'laip-pattu North (Vaakarai). The occupying SL military is also staging amusement activities for their visitors from the South, and the SL Police is accompanying them, causing cultural disharmony between the communities of the occupiers and the occupied.
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Chennai Connect and Eezham Tamils reminding Tamil Nadu to assert Tamil geopolitics

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2019, 23:19 GMT]
After wrapping up his informal Summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tamil Nadu, Chinese President Xi Jinping this week paid a two-day State visit to Nepal, where he announced a strategic partnership with the landlocked country situated between India and China. While the Nepalese President and Prime Minister extended their commitment to China’s Belt & Road Initiative, Xi Jinping announced the plan for the transformation of the landlocked country into a “land-linked” country in South Asia. He was effectively pitching for a ‘Trans-Himalayan Corridor’. China launching yet another land-based economic corridor in South Asia, in addition to that of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is the latest manoeuvre of geopolitics.
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Colombo destroys dairy-farming economy of Eezham Tamils in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 October 2019, 23:50 GMT]
Former Sinhala paramilitary men have shot and killed around 1,500 of cows in the interior pasturelands of Paduvaan-karai region in Batticaloa district within the last ten months, complains Nimalan Kanthasamy, the secretary of Dairy Farmers Association in Kiraan and Chengka'ladi in Koa'ra'laip-pattu South division. In the meantime, the SL State-owned Milk Industries of Lanka Company, also known as Milco Private Limited, is buying the produce at low rates from the Tamil dairy farmers in Batticaloa. The payments also get severely delayed, he says.
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Tamil parties in North-East stipulate ‘acid test’ terms to SL presidential candidates

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2019, 23:48 GMT]
The main political parties of Eezham Tamils, which claim to uphold the principles of the concept of Tamil nationhood through the Right of Self-Determination and distinct sovereignty of Tamils to their traditional homeland, have come to an understanding of the terms to be placed as the acid-test conditions to the candidates running for the executive presidency of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka. While the parties have unitedly formed the main demands towards the presidential candidates, they have failed in two crucial aspects. Firstly, the failure to course-correct the ‘Quisling politics’ of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Secondly, the inability to stipulate the conditions and choices of Eezham Tamils if and when the actors in the South fail to meet the acid-test terms, especially before the SL Presidential elections.
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SL Governor's latest land grab poses danger to archaeological traces of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 October 2019, 22:15 GMT]
SL Governor to North Mr Suren Raghavan is attempting to alienate 115 acres of lands at Kauthaari-munai in Ma'na'niththa'lai sandbar of Poo-nakari (Pooneryn) division to a private Tamil diaspora business person from Australia before his Governor term expires. Mr Raghavan is deceptively suppressing objections from the Tamil civil sources and the grassroots activists in Ki'linochchi district, informed grassroots activists in Poonakari told TamilNet. The 25 km long sandbar, which extends towards the Jaffna Peninsula from Poonakari in the main island, is of immense natural beauty and archaeological value to the Eezham Tamils. The area is dotted with archaeological remains ranging from microlithic/megalithic times to the times of the Dutch, covered by massive sand dunes.
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Vote for Self-Determination, reject major candidates for more effective boycott

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 October 2019, 22:07 GMT]
A section of civil activists in the North-East jointly promoted the idea of fielding a common Tamil candidate in the SL Presidential Election this time. The idea looked genuine and the process went on until the last minute deadline to find a contestant. The hidden hands of India and West were trying to influence the choice of the candidate through remote control manipulations. The process didn't succeed to the disappointment of the genuinely involved as well as the indirect actors. At the same time, some Tamil sections also argued the case for a boycott of the presidential elections. However, none of them expected the manoeuvre of two former provincial councillors with independent intuition to propose a better solution to the Eezham Tamils. M.K. Shivajilingam of TELO legacy and Ananthy Sasitharan of former LTTE affiliation have nailed it this time. Now the Establishments are after them.
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Indian Coast Guard trespassed into waters off Jaffna, 18 fishers detained since 03 October

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 October 2019, 20:17 GMT]
Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu, where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to host an informal summit, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has stepped up patrol activities in the Palk Straits and the Bay of Bengal. On 03 October, the ICG has trespassed into the waters off Jaffna peninsula and detained eighteen poor Eezham Tamil fishers, who were engaged in crab fishing off Ezhuvai-theevu island in an offshore vessel with 18 feet fishing bay. The families are yet to hear from the detained fishermen who are believed to be in the custody of Tamil Nadu Police in Puzhal prison, Annalingam Annarasa, the deputy chairman of Jaffna Islets Fisheries Federation said on Tuesday. Ezhuvai-theevu is the island that is seen first when coming from the Indian coast to Kayts Harbour.
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Heinous act by HRCSL: former orphans of Chegnchoalai on the brink of losing lands

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 October 2019, 23:12 GMT]
The so-called Human Rights Commission of genocidal Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has proposed to the Divisional Secretariat office in Karaichchi in Ki'linochchi to evict the resettled former orphans of Chengchoalai who are living at the lands which were bought by the orphanage from the original landowners during the times of war. Cheng-choalai was one of the civilian orphanages operated by the LTTE run de-facto state of Tamil Eelam. It was well known for bringing up children in an exemplary way producing artists and experts within various fields. The lands were allocated to the former orphans through proper purchases during the de-facto civil administration of the LTTE. However, the grounds are now being claimed by greedy elements with vested interests and the SL Human Rights Commission in Jaffna has proposed to do away the arrangement.
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EPDP joins Jaffna protest against desecration of Neeraaviyadi temple

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 October 2019, 12:21 GMT]
Representatives of the EPDP, a paramilitary which was collaborating with the Sinhala military of genocidal Sri Lanka against the Eezham Tamils without course-correcting itself even during the height of genocidal onslaught in 2009, joined a common protest staged in Jaffna against the recent desecration of Neeraaviyadi Pi'l'laiyaar temple in Mullaiththeevu. Ex-militant Tamil parliamentarians in the TNA, which politically collaborates with the failed regime in Colombo also attended the protest. The demonstration demanded action against extremist Buddhist monks and condemned the Sinhala actors, including the SL Police extending tacit support to the ‘Buddhism foremost’ approach of the occupying SL State.
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SL military, police, traders, exert pressure on civil authorities in Mannaar to alienate lands

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 September 2019, 20:49 GMT]
The occupying SL Police in Mannaar city is under constant pressure from the civil, religious and private property owners to vacate from their premises. The SL Police is harassing the Divisional Secretariat officials to release crown lands as compensation to relocate itself. Similarly, the SL Army from Tha'l'laadi cantonment in the mainland is demanding alternative properties allocated for its use before considering the release of 21 acres of the lands it has seized from a private Tamil land-owner since 1990. In the meantime, millionaire Sinhala investors from the South want large tracts of public lands leased or sold to them to put up wind and solar plants along the coast of the Mannaar island from Oalaith-thoduvaay to Thoadda-ve'li. The officials are already struggling to find lands for thousands of uprooted families from Mannaar, including those returning from exile in Tamil Nadu.
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SL State-owned paper refuses to publish condemnation issued by Hindu Congress

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 September 2019, 13:24 GMT]
Colombo-based Attorney-at-Law, Pranavan Neelakandan, has said that the SL State (Lake House) owned English daily, the Daily News, had refused to publish a statement, which was issued by the All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) on Friday. The paper declined to publish it even as a paid publication. The statement was about the recent “degrading act of cremating the remains of a Buddhist Monk within the premises of the Holy Semmalai Neeraviyadi Pillayar Kovil in Mullaitivu.” Meanwhile, protests continued on Friday in Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa against the conduct of the monks and the SL Police at Neeraaviyadi in Mullaiththeevu earlier this week.
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UN employed former Sri Lanka Army officer alleged of killing Tamils in Madu Church

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 September 2019, 16:50 GMT]
The United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), tasked with providing security services to the UN system in delivering its programmes globally, has had a former Sri Lanka Army officer among its rank and file the security staff in the recent years. The ex-SLA officer has previously “killed Tamils in Madu church,” during the times of war, according to allegations made by New York based Inner City Press (ICP), a non-profit organization, which has critically exposed the wrongdoers within the UN system for almost 15 years. The former SL Army officer in question, Lt Col Parakrama Siriwardana, is currently the Head of Security and Emergency Unit at the China-led Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB), since May 2018.
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Lt Col Thileepan’s 32nd commemoration gains momentum across North-East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 September 2019, 17:49 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in the North and East marked the 32nd annual commemoration of the sacrifice of LTTE’s Jaffna Political Head Lt Col Thileepan (Rasiah Parthipan), who sacrificed his life in a historical dry hunger-strike in 1987, which exposed India’s interests-oriented invasion at that time. Tamil National Peoples’ Front organised a march from Vavuniyaa to Nalloor in the North mobilising the youth with significant participation of women. The Tamil National Alliance marked the event in Ki’linochchi and Batticaloa while the former NPC Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran’s Tamil Makkal Kootani commemorated the remembrance at Point Pedro. The Remembrance event at Nalloor, where Thileepan sacrificed his life, was marked as a joint remembrance event beyond group affinities.
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Tamils mobilise in Vanni exposing lopsided law enforcement of genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 September 2019, 15:06 GMT]
Tamil lawyers in North boycotted the courts on Tuesday condemning the failure of the law enforcement authorities of the unitary SL State that failed to respect the decision by the Magistrate of Mullaiththeevu Courts. Covering their mouths with black ribbons, the lawyers numbering around one hundred, gathered inside the premises of the Magistrates’ Court in Mullaiththeevu. In the meantime, the grassroots organisations including the Catholic and Saivaist dignitaries took to the street in Mullaith-theevu staging a protest march from Mullaiththeevu old hospital to the District Secretariat passing the court on their way. An overwhelming majority of those marched in the protest were young generation Tamils.
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Sinhala extremist monks assault Tamils, say Buddhism stands above Law in Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 September 2019, 18:38 GMT]
A group of violent Sinhala Buddhist monks and a mob led by Bodu Bala Sena’s Secretary Gnanasara Thero, carried the remains of the late Kolamba Medhalankara Thero to cremate the controversial monk within the premises of the Tamil Saivite temple at Neeraaviyadi in Mullaiththeevu. They were violating the court ruling that specified a separate locality to mark the ritual. “Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. Buddhism stands above the Law here,” proclaimed one of the Buddhist monks, who assaulted the Tamil lawyers and the students near the Neeraaviyadi Pi’l’ laiyaar temple at Naayaa’ru in Mullaiththeevu on Monday. The lawyers were present to convey the information. Elected Tamil politicians and the young generation of Tamil students were witnessing the lopsided behaviour of the SL military and the police, who were only defending the interests of the monks.
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SL military wants to cremate remains of controversial monk inside temple premises

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 September 2019, 23:21 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military is preparing to stage the cremation of the late Kolamba Medhalankara Thero, who was causing ethnic tensions through the controversial project of Sinhala-Buddhicisation at Neeraaviyadi in the ancient Tamil village of Chemmalai in Naayaa'ru, Mullaiththeevu. The project was launched in 2009 by a genocidaire commander of the SL Army, Major General (retd) Jagath Dias and the late Anunayake of the Seruwila Saranakiththi Kalyani Sect, Seruwila Saranakiththi Thero, who was promoting Sinhala colonization along the border of North and East until his demise in May 2016. Kolamba Medhalankara Thero has passed away due to cancer, and the SL Army and SL Navy want to cremate him on Sunday at the premises of the Pi'l'laiyaar temple where he was violently installing a Buddha statue earlier this year.
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US geopolitics prioritises engagement with genocidal Myanmar above accountability

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 September 2019, 23:29 GMT]
The US Establishment’s carrot and stick approach has resulted in selecting the genocidal military of Myanmar in the US-ASEAN joint naval exercise held recently in the international waters of Southeast Asia. The move comes just a few weeks after the USA banned Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief, his deputy and two brigadier generals from travelling to the USA over the crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslims. A UN fact-finding mission, which was led by Marzuki Darusman, released a report on Monday this week stating that 600,000 Rohingya remaining inside Myanmar face systematic persecution and continue to live under the threat of genocide. The Darusman-led mission also said it has a confidential list of over 100 names, including Myanmar officials, suspected of being involved in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, in addition to six generals it named publicly a year ago.
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SL Police, STF refuse Tamil devotees accessing Kachchatkodi hill-top for worship

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 September 2019, 21:08 GMT]
Tamil villagers from Kachchatkodi-Swami-malai village, which is located 18 km southwest of Batticaloa, complain that the SL Police and the Sinhala Special Task Force (STF) commandos discriminate them from worshipping their village deity of Murukan represented at the hill-top in the form of a ‘divine javelin’ (Saiva Veal). The occupying Sinhala police and commandos are also blocking them from conducting rituals for Naaka-thampiraan deity at the foothills. The STF is providing security to the Sinhala monks who have established a Theravada Buddhist temple. The hill-top with ancient Buddhist remains from the times of Tamil Nagas have been Sinhalicised and projected as Sinhala heritage in the island, the Tamil residents complain.
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Colombo rushes ahead with exploitative expansion of salterns in North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 September 2019, 23:50 GMT]
The occupying Colombo’s unitary state mechanism is alienating large tracts of lands, both officially and unofficially, for commercial actors from the South of the island. Tamil agents, including one paramilitary organiser of Karuna Group, are being used as the proxies to showcase that the SL State is ‘ethnically impartial’ in the allocations, informed Tamil servants at the Ki'linochchi District Secretariat said. They suspect the involvement of SL military corporatism in the schemes. In the meantime, Chairman of Karaichchi Divisional Council (PS), A. Velamalikithan, when contacted by TamilNet, described the extent of illegal construction work that has already commenced without securing the required permissions from the elected Council and the Divisional Secretariats concerned.
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India should change sterile attitude, IC must stop naming Tamil fighters as terrorists: Wigneswaran

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 September 2019, 23:03 GMT]
“There are no terrorists among us. Only those affected by State terrorism are among us. We ask the powers that be not to couple the names of our people with those who have been identified as fundamentalist religious terrorists. Our youth and others fought for a noble cause – the independence of their people. It is as a reaction to State terrorism that our youth resorted to arms,” declared Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, the former chief minister of the North at the massive rally held in Jaffna on Sunday. Wigneswaran demanded India to change its ‘hitherto sterile attitude’ towards a more robust and judicious one. He urged the Sinhala and Muslim people to recognise the Tamils right to Self-Determination. The rally in Jaffna drew between 3,000 and 6,000 people and was a success despite the weather conditions and the rifts caused by various political actors including the SL Governor to the North.
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