New Buddhist shrine built at Trinco Saiva sacred site

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 April 2013, 22:47 GMT]
A Buddhist shrine has been built at the precincts of Kanniya Hot Wells a Saiva sacred site in a traditional Tamil village in Trincomalee district. A fifteen-acre land has been appropriated by the SL Government Agent Major General (retd.) Ranjith de Silva on the instruction of Colombo. The Buddhist shrine has a signboard giving the name of the place of worship as ‘Unuthiya Lin Rajamaha Viharaya’, meaning the ‘Royal Great Temple of the Hotwater Wells’. The term ‘Viharaya’ used in the board implies that a Buddhist Sangha (monastery) has been established there. The local Saiva myths associate the place with pre-Buddhist times of the King Ravana of the Ramayana epic. For centuries, the Hindu population of the region used to come to this site to perform rituals to the deceased and ancestors like the Hindus in India go to Gaya and Varanasi.
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China's vice minister of intelligence finds Jaffna a place to visit

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 April 2013, 23:41 GMT]
Following US, UK, Indian, Japanese, Australian and Canadian diplomats, a vice minister at China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) too finds Jaffna a ‘must to be visited’ place, political observers in Jaffna commented on the visit of the Chinese Vice Minister Zhou Qing, on Wednesday. The Chinese deputy minister's visit was marked by intense security arrangement to him by the occupying genocidal military of Sri Lanka. China's assistance to the Sinhala military in building permanent cantonments and camps in the country of Eezham Tamils is well known. The MSS is China's primary agency for internal and external intelligence.
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Prof Gamlath passes away

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 April 2013, 21:57 GMT]
Veteran Professor of Sinhala, Dr Sucharitha Gamlath passed away at the age of 79 in Colombo on Saturday and the funeral took place on Monday. Prof Gamlath was righteously anti-Establishment throughout his career and for nearly 15 years, the governments in Colombo kept him unemployed, which he faced heroically without compromising on his principles and convictions. To the end he steadfastly stood for the Tamil right to self-determination in the island of Sri Lanka. He was the first Professor of Sinhala at the University of Jaffna, appointed in 1975 (then the Jaffna Campus of the University of Sri Lanka) and his penalisation by the JR Jayawardane government took place in 1980 while he was serving at the University of Jaffna. TamilNet pays tribute to the scholar of a rare genre and expresses condolences to bereaving family members, friends and comrades.
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SL military machinates caste, anti-diaspora violence in Jaffna villages

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 April 2013, 07:39 GMT]
An SL Military intelligence backed attack that took place in a Marriage Hall at Aavarangkaal in Puththoor, Jaffna, on last Wednesday and Thursday, shows to what extent the occupying Sinhala military has determined to engineer caste and anti-diaspora violence in select rural areas of Jaffna Peninsula to ultimately make Eezham Tamils weakened as a nation in the island, news sources in Jaffna said. The Marriage Hall that was preparing for a marriage function and its manager who is a retired Village Officer, were brutally attacked by a gang of youth organized by the occupying Sinhala military and its collaborators in Jaffna. The reason for the attack is said to be a publication coming from the diaspora in the UK that was stocked at the Marriage Hall for release. The publication was interpreted as a talk on caste and false accusation against SL military.
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Maa-eliya, Patti-eliya, Pul-eliya, Kala-eliya

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 April 2013, 06:26 GMT]
The big open space or plain
The open land to graze cattle
The open grassland
The open space serving as threshing floor

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ICC's focus on Africa examined

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 March 2013, 14:04 GMT]
Defining the International Criminal Court (ICC) in glowing terms, Kofi Annan said 15 years ago, after the Rome Statute was drafted in Rome, “Until now, when powerful men committed crimes against humanity, they knew that so long as they remained powerful, no earthly court could judge them." But, American University professor David Bosco asks, "[a]fter more than a decade, all eight investigations the court has opened have been in Africa. All the individuals indicted by the court — more than two dozen — have been African. Annan’s proclamation notwithstanding, some very powerful people in other parts of the world have avoided investigation," and mentions Sri Lanka as one of the countries that escapes ICC scrutiny, in the latest Sunday edition of the Washington Post.
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TNA MP cautions on PC elections harped on by Geneva resolution

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 March 2013, 15:05 GMT]
“We are a distinct Nation with historic records in this soil, proving our evolution [as a Nation]. The Sinhala Nation destroyed us. A nation was destroyed by another nation here. But, the international community has handed us over to those who destroyed us to investigate the crimes against us; we have been handed over to those who fired upon us; to those who fired shells on us; to those who fired phosphorus bombs against us; to those who fired cluster munitions on us. How can you expect justice from this country [of the Sinhala Nation],” asked Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivagnanam Sritharan, in a press meet in Jaffna on Wednesday. “Therefore, an intervention by the international community is a must and an urgent one,” failing which the existence of the Tamil nation in the island would be wiped out from the maps of the world, he further said.
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SL military launches intelligence operations to monitor Muslim youth of Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 March 2013, 13:43 GMT]
While the Sinhala Buddhist organizations, with alleged backing from certain sections of Colombo government, have stepped up attacks on places of worships of the Muslims in the South and a hate campaign against Halal meet is being whipped up, the Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives in Mannaar district have started to ‘observe’ Muslim youth under a military operation termed as ‘preventive measures’. The SL police sources in Mannaar said Muslim youth who might contemplate on armed resistance against the Sinhala extremist elements in South are being monitored in recent days, both day and night.
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Marakkalaha-watta

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 March 2013, 06:48 GMT]
The grove or garden of a navigator
The grove or garden of a Muslim
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Tamil Nadu Assembly resolves for UN referendum on separate Eelam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 March 2013, 10:03 GMT]
In a historic move, the Tamil Nadu State Assembly on Wednesday, unanimously passed a resolution for bringing in arrangements at the level of the UN Security Council to conduct a referendum among Eezham Tamils in the island as well as in the diaspora on the question of Separate Eelam. In addition, the resolution passed at the Tamil Nadu Assembly demanded the Government of India to stop calling Sri Lanka a friendly country. The resolution also included the earlier demands ie., Independent International Investigations on Genocide and War Crimes as well as imposition of economic sanctions on Sri Lanka. The resolution, unanimously passed, was moved by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa.
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Sinhala military takes over UN demining following Geneva resolution

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 March 2013, 07:10 GMT]
One of the immediate results of the US-resolution at Geneva “welcoming and acknowledging the progress” of genocidal Sri Lanka in various avenues, including in demining the country of Tamils, is the UN entirely handing over demining and supervision of demining to the occupying Sinhala military. This will pave way for the genocidal SL military to make money, Sinhalicize even demining and to come out with excuses for years in handing back lands, news sources in Jaffna said. The last international organisation involved in demining the country of Eezham Tamils and has an office in Jaffna, i.e., a UN outfit of Tamil staff that was supervising, monitoring and issuing certificates on demining, will be closed down in June. The work will be handed over to the SL military and its Sinhala staff.
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Tamils should resist being taken into current western agenda: N Malathy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2013, 12:36 GMT]
Tamils should be wary of the intentions of the Western Establishments that are pricking Sri Lanka with this or that war crimes evidence released year after year. They hold possession of a lot more hard evidence of Sri Lankan atrocities, but still do not address the question of genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation, opines N. Malathy, arguing that, “the best option for the Tamils world all over is to use the insights they have gained in recent years and refuse to be taken into the Western fold. Tamils should firmly stand their ground about the genocide of Eelam Tamils and the necessity of the creation of independent Tamil Eelam.” In an article to TamilNet, Dr. Malathy, a key member of the NESoHR and the author of ‘A Fleeting Moment in my County’, gives a concise outline of how the West was playing the human rights card to bring both Sri Lanka and the Eezham Tamils into its fold.
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Colombo's land appropriation to be accelerated in North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2013, 00:09 GMT]
Aiming to alienate lands from the people of North and East and to enable the colonial governors and SL government agents to abet an accelerated land appropriation, circumventing even the legal challenges posed by Tamil activists and NGOs, the Sri Lankan Minister of Lands and Land Development, Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, has set forth parameters for a land programme with the participation of the Sri Lankan military in the North this month. But, the projection given to the world during the Geneva session was that the SL State was establishing two offices in Jaffna and Ki'linochchi, to hand over thousands of acres of lands back to civilians. When questioned where these lands are situated and under which GS areas they come in, the minister or the military commander had no specific answer to provide, news sources in Ki'linochchi and Jaffna said.
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‘US resolution annihilates aspiration of Eezham Tamils’: Tamil Nadu writer

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 March 2013, 00:43 GMT]
Criticizing the pro-LLRC US resolution passed at Geneva, Tamil Nadu based writer, activist and poet, Meena Kandasamy argues that “Carrying out the diktats of such a document will only annihilate the genuine aspirations and right to self-determination of the Eelam Tamils” basing her argument on the fact that the LLRC categorically denies the existence of a Tamil homeland in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka. Criticizing both the US and India for abetting the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation, she further states “Justice in this unipolar world revolves around the UN and the imperialist powers that it serves. Even though the Eelam Tamils have historical sovereignty and earned sovereignty, if they believe that separation alone can guarantee them safety, their last recourse to save themselves from complete extermination is to stake a claim to remedial sovereignty before the UN.”
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New US Secretary of State responsible for Geneva injustice: Boyle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 March 2013, 15:15 GMT]
The New US Secretary of State John Kerry, who assumed office on 1 Feb 2013, was the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in 2009 that brought out a report advising the USA to help Sri Lanka’s military without insisting on political solutions. Finding a clear link between the 2009 Kerry Report and Kerry’s State Department, US Professor of Law, Francis A Boyle said, "The callous and callow Kerry Report came right after the GOSL genocidal massacre of about 100,000 Tamils in Vanni, recommending that the United States government abandon all principles and instead aid and abet the continued GOSL repression and persecution of the Tamils. That is precisely the policy we now see in operation with Kerry as U.S. Secretary of State. This latest UNHRC Resolution sponsored by Kerry’s State Department and acting pursuant to his instructions proves it. Kerry should be fired," said Boyle.
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95 Tamil girls ‘alter’ the image, says 300,000 strong Sinhala military

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 March 2013, 14:09 GMT]
The 300,000-strong genocidal Sinhala military of Sri Lanka on Thursday took ‘pride’ in recruiting for the first time 95 Tamil girls for ‘office’ work and said that it is an evidence for the military not discriminating on ethnicity. Out of 150 Tamil girls who were originally forced to enter Sri Lanka’s military, 55 managed to escape. During the ‘training,’ around 20 driven to the stage of hysteria were admitted in hospital. The Tamil psychiatry doctor who came forward to their help himself was branded as mentally challenged. He is imprisoned and yet to be released. On the passing out parade day, four of the girls fainted, while their kith and kin were helplessly watching. Promises were made for one million rupees housing aid and 44 girls received Indian-made scooters, but parents complained that their daughters, held against their will, are not allowed to visit homes.
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Time to wage next stage of struggle

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 March 2013, 07:13 GMT]
The Eezham Tamil grassroot may have to bring in new leadership that has faith in people’s power; that has the ability to mobilise people’s power; that gets its power from the people and that invites the ‘diplomats’ to come to it rather than going to them. Never forget that non-cooperation is an effective way of democratic struggle, especially in struggles facing imperialism. With confidence coming from the Tamil Nadu upsurge to embark on a new genre of struggle, Eezham Tamils should know converting the solidarity into a joint people’s power rather than detracting it or hijacking it. The Tamil Nadu upsurge cannot be silenced like the defeatists silencing the diaspora uprising. New Delhi and Washington may brush aside the upsurge by adamantly passing an empty resolution. But the effects of the upsurge are already showing and it depends on how the struggle is going to be led further.
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TN upsurge transcending establishments inspires NZ Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 March 2013, 01:12 GMT]
In a demonstration held in Auckland in New Zealand on Wednesday, the demonstrators profusely thanked the students of Tamils Nadu for internationally highlighting the genocide issue of Eezham Tamils at a most wanted time and for taking the issue beyond the party politics of India in convincing the world that creation of Tamil Eelam is the only solution. “Our struggle begins here and a hard road is ahead,” said one of the speakers at the demonstration, participated by professionals, university students and a large number of women. New Zealand Tamils were one of the first to openly caution the entire diaspora last month itself on the dangers portended by the ‘doing nothing’ approach of the USA towards the question of Eezham Tamils.
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PKK leader declares ceasefire with Turkey, calls for peaceful solution

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 March 2013, 01:02 GMT]
Abdullah Ocalan, PKK founder-leader, has given a call for a ceasefire and for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish national question through democratic means. In a statement from Ocalan read out by Kurdish legislators in Diyarbakir, Turkey on Thursday, coinciding with the celebrations of the Kurdish New Year festival Newroz, he said "let the arms silence, opinions and politics speak", further adding that “this is not an end, this is a beginning. It is not the end of our struggle, it is the start of a new sort of struggle.” Urging the Kurdish armed units to withdraw to Turkish borders, he called on people of “Armenian, Turkic, Assyrian, Arabic and other backgrounds to see the light of freedom and equality as much as Kurdish people do.” He was also of the opinion that a future solution for the Kurds should not be based on “conquest, denial, forced assimilation and annihilation”.
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Diaspora youth join Tamil Nadu students in protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 March 2013, 03:46 GMT]
In a demonstration of solidarity with the demands of the Tamil Nadu students’ uprising, Eezham Tamil diaspora youth across several western countries have come out in protest against the pro-LLRC US resolution tabled at Geneva and pushing for a just political solution for the Eezham Tamil nation facing genocidal oppression in its occupied homeland. The protesters were unanimous in rejecting any resolution that binds the Eezham Tamil nation to unitary Sri Lanka. A copy of the US resolution was also burnt in Toronto, where solidarity groups had also participated in protests. While student protests occurred in London, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Toronto, Copenhagen and Oslo on Wednesday, a hunger strike was initiated by students in Sydney on Thursday, and further protests are scheduled in the coming days in major cities in western countries.
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