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TNA MP alleges ‘planned sinhalicisation’ of punaanai

TamilNet — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:03:35 +0000

Tamil National Alliance MP C Yogeswaran on Sunday demanded that immediate steps be taken to stop the aggressive and meticulously planned sinhalicisation of Punaanai East, situated 52 km northwest of Batticaloa city. During the times of the LTTE, the presence of the Tiger forces from Kudumpimalai in the South to Vaakarai in the North had thwarted the earlier attempts of sinhalicisation. In the absence of LTTE, sinhalicisation is now rapidly taking place along Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa border, where Punaanai is [...]

BJP, RSS, Shiv Sena answerable to Dasgupta policy-line

TamilNet — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:02:21 +0000

Whatever is the journalistic halo behind Swapan Dasgupta, his recent writings and utterances on the struggle of the genocide-facing nation of Eezham Tamils could have been ignored as coming from just another of the dubious ilk that writes for agendas, had he not been a member of the Rajapaksa-sponsored BJP-RSS-Shiv Sena delegation that went to Colombo and Jaffna. Now as he openly bares the line of thinking in the camp, the BJP-RSS-Shiv Sena lot aspiring for power in India, may [...]

Rising star in U.S. Justice

TamilNet — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:58:06 +0000

Mythili Raman, the newly appointed Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Justice Department and successor to Mr. Lanny Breuer, is widely acclaimed in legal circles as a trailblazer in the Justice Department. Her parents are from Vadaramaraadchi, Jaffna. Ms Raman had her undergraduate degree from Yale, and obtained a law degree from the University of Chicago.

Full text of her bio from the Department of Justice website follows:

As head of the Criminal Division, Ms. Raman oversees [...]

Tamil "Mandate" Refugees, left homeless, languish in foreign camps

TamilNet — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:54:00 +0000

Hundreds of Tamil refugees, including several hundreds who have been declared as "Mandate" refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in compliance with the UNHCR Charter and associated statutes, are languishing in camps in East Asian countries, and recently in Dubai, while Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) and the U.S., which have traditionally admitted mandate and convention refugees, are denying resettlement to many of these refugees. Australia, which [...]

Sinhala military wants ‘Kappan’ from Batticaloa Tamil farmers

TamilNet — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:57:00 +0000

Aiming at totally bankrupting the Tamil farmers of Koa’raippattu South (Kiraan) division in Batticaloa district, the occupying Sri Lankan military, which schemes Sinhalicisaton and colonisation of the pasturelands in the division, now demand 3,000 rupees per 10 cattle from the Tamil farmers. The ‘Kappan’ military of Sri Lanka has instructed the Tamil farm-owners to pay the money before 25th of this month. The extortion is taking place in the name of providing ‘housing’ to disabled Sinhala soldiers, the farmers from [...]

Tamil activist film director Manivannan passes away in Chennai

TamilNet — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:51:00 +0000

Tamil activist, film director and actor P Manivannan has passed away due to cardiac arrest at his residence on Saturday. He was 59. Mr Manivannan has directed nearly 50 films. He has also made a mark in acting Tamil cinema by playing sharp character roles having shades of comedy and political sarcasm in more than 400 films. Director Manivannan took an active role of an artist in expressing solidarity with the Tamil struggle and was instrumental in maintaining the link [...]

Paa’nama model envisaged to Sinhalicise Ukanthai in East

TamilNet — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:45:00 +0000

The SL government move to construct a Buddhist temple adjacent to the Saiva-Vedda, Murukan temple at the Ukanthai hill sanctuary is now abandoned after heavy protests by Tamils in Ampaa’rai district of Eastern Province, but Sinhalicisation of the place continues unabated following the model of another Tamil village Paa’nama, 16 km south of Ukanthai that is now dominated by Sinhalese, news sources in the East said. In front of the Ukanthai Murukan temple, in the one and a half acres [...]

Auschwitz survivor recognizes Sri Lanka genocide

TamilNet — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:40:00 +0000

Supporting Tamil activists efforts to raise the awareness of Sri Lanka’s genocide of Tamils, a noted holocaust survivor, 79-year old Eva Mozes Kor, told the activists, "Remembering is not enough, we must take all actions possible to stop, and prevent genocides such as in Sri Lanka today." Ms. Kor, who formed a close kinship with the Tamil group on the second workshop day of the "One Million Bones" rally in Washington last Sunday, is a tireless activist for prevention and [...]

Top Sri Lanka police officer held over ‘contract killing’

BBC — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:06:06 +0000

One of Sri Lanka’s most senior police officers has been arrested under terrorism laws over the murder of a businessman in Colombo.

Deputy Inspector-General Vaas Gunawardena has been given a 90-day detention order.

He is suspected of involvement in the alleged contract killing of Mohamed Shiyam in Colombo three weeks ago.

Mr Shiyam’s body was found mutilated and with gunshot wounds in a rural area near the capital.

The BBC’s Charles Haviland, in Colombo, says the authorities very rarely carry through investigations [...]

Canada youth initiate ‘Thazhumpakam’ for genocide awareness

TamilNet — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 08:58:00 +0000

”The end of May completes the first stage of a genocide memorial project called ‘Thazhumbakam’ targeted toward civil society in an effort to educate and to raise awareness about the ongoing structural genocide of the Tamil nation,” says Shagana Thangaraj, a coordinator for rights advocacy in the Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance. Thazhumbakam project by the CTYA has started in the form of a traveling mobile art exhibition that has made appearances at remembrance events, University campuses and other high traffic [...]