Video – Tamil News Network

Heroes Day in London highlights global significance of Tamil struggle

TamilNet — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 22:01:00 +0000

Conveying a spirit of struggle taking the Tamil Eelam liberation movement as inspiration, speakers at the Maaveerar Naa’l (Tamil Eelam Heroes Day) event in London highlighted the global significance of the Tamils’ struggle. The powers who collaborated with genocidal Sri Lanka, who take a position of genocide-denial, who deny the nationhood and self-determination of the Eezham Tamils, who banned and still push for the ban of the LTTE – these are the issues that Tamils need to challenge, not just as an ethical responsibility, but also to set a paradigm-setting example for other nations without states, opined Tamil activist Lathan Suntharalingam who spoke at the event. Solidarity speakers at the event also conveyed a similar opinion as regards the nature of the Tamils’ struggle.

While some believe in unprincipled negotiation with powers with arguments like ‘politics is the art of the possible’ or ‘politics is the art of the compromise’, the struggle of the Tamils has to stand outside these established deviation paradigms, asserted Suntharalingam.

If politics is the arts of the possible, struggle is the art of making the impossible, possible, Lathan Sunharalingam said. Tamils should remember that it is struggle that should stand above politics, he added.

“Tamils should lead the way to build global solidarity among the nations without states and provide leadership in this regard. The LTTE legacy of leading an uncompromising struggle for the sovereignty of our people should give us the source and inspiration to work towards such political project in the truest international sense,” he further said.

“A common platform for the national causes of the various oppressed nations will also elucidate the true universal nature of the struggle for national liberation.”

Tamil Eelam Heroes Day attended by British Eezham Tamils at ExCel Hall on Thursday

Suntharalingam also emphasized on the need for a coordinated action among global Tamils – the Tamils of Tamil Eelam, Tamil Nadu and the diaspora – to advance the goals of the Tamil civilization as a whole.

Dr. Andy Higginbottom, associate professor in politics and human rights at Kingston University, argued that the genocide of the Tamils is ongoing and it is made possible by an unholy alliance of the powers that control the UN and the Sinhala state. He also said that a regime change or an empty ‘human rights’ investigation will not help.

“We have to find the international solidarity of oppressed and exploited nations and peoples to counter the international conspiracy of oppressor states,” he said.

Erdelan Baran, from the Kurdish National Congress (KNK) Foreign Affairs division, noting how Turkey and ISIS are playing a genocidal role with respect to the Kurds in Kobane, drew parallels with the imperialist complicity in the genocide of the Tamils. Demanding the International Community to investigate genocide of the Tamils, he called for the removal of LTTE and PKK from terrorist list in the UK.

[Full Coverage]

SL presidential race brings violence between EPDP, TNA in Jaffna

TamilNet — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 09:25:00 +0000

A District Development Council (DDC) meeting, which was co-chaired by Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chief Minister C.V Wigneswaran and SL Minister Douglas Devananda, ended in violence at Jaffna District Secretariat on Tuesday, when the EPDP paramilitary leader Mr Devananda faced objections from the NPC councillors of the TNA for turning the DDC meeting a venue for Rajapaksa’s election propaganda. The paramilitary goons of the EPDP began to assault the TNA representatives who objected the conduct of the EPDP leader at the meeting. EPDP goons assaulted five TNA members, including NPC Ministers Aingaranesan and Sathiyalingam. The EPDP has also claimed that five of its personnel had sustained injuries in the violent episode.

Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, who addressed the press after the clash said the assault was a pre-determined deliberate move on the part of the EPDP which had brought in certain personalities with the intention of causing trouble at the meeting.

The EPDP leader who has been backing the SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa was reading a four page political address criticising the TNA and the NPC.

The EPDP has also been using the DDC meetings in Ki’linochchi district to wage a propaganda assault on the TNA.

The Sri Lankan government security personnel were providing security to the EPDP, Mr Wigneswaran said. The TNA members were not provided such protection at the DCC meeting, he said.

An EPDP operative deployed in assault against the TNA at the DDC meeting in Jaffna

TamilNet: 16.12.14 SL presidential race brings violence between EPDP, TNA in Jaffna

Landslide exposes land-related deprivation of Up-Country Tamils

TamilNet — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 16:53:53 +0000

The SL military is interfering in the assistance and resettlement of the Up-Country Tamil landslide victims in Meeriya-bedda in the same manner it interferes in the resettlement of Tamils in the North and East. The military is everywhere monitoring everyone visiting the affected. The victims have been demanding proper responses to their questions on where and how the resettlement housing and livelihood plans would be implemented, before moving into a longer-term temporary settlement inside an abandoned station factory. SL military, doctors and nurses, claiming to assist the the Tamil victims are all Sinhala-speakers. The military and language are used as means of oppression. A Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist approach is oppressing minorities in the Up-Country, said Rev Fr Fontgallan of the Leo Marga Ashram in Bandarawela.

After 2009, two military bases were established in Talawakelle and Badulla where Up-Country Tamils live in significant numbers.

It is said that the military would be constructing the resettlement houses for the landslide-victims.

Rev. Fr. Santhiapillai Guy de Fontgalland is the founder of Leo Marga Ashram (LMA), an alternative development-oriented action group based in Bandarawela. A few days ago, TamilNet interviewed him on the situation of landslide-affected victims of Meeriya-bedda in Badulla district.

Guy de Fontgalland, who has authored more than a dozen books, most of them on the plight of deprived communities in the Up-Country, is of the opinion that the people are facing unsaid hunger. As a result of the deterioration and other multiple factors, they would eventually face famine. He listed a number of factors such as the majoritarian oppression, dictatorial rule, corruption and inflation in cost of living.

* * *

Since the British times, it has become a practice of building the so-called “Lines” or “Kaamburaa” [from the word Camera] rooms in low-lying lands in the Up-Country, he said.

In Meeriya-bedda too, the lines of rooms, where the people had been settled, were situated in a dale between two mountains. He described the catastrophe that occurred on the fateful day of October 29, 2014, as a Tsunami to the villagers. A 300-feet section of the highest mountain in the area had slide onto the settlement, causing the disaster.

When new lands were identified for resettlement at another low-lying locality, the people started to complain. The military presence is silencing the people from mobilising to articulate their needs, Guy de Fontgalland told TamilNet.

The victims expect at least 10 perches of land for residential and 20 perches for agricultural and farming purposes per family. But, nobody, be it the government, trade unionists or politicians seem to care about listening to the needs of the victims.

* * *

There is an organisation with a 11-member-board, the Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT), which comprises of five members from the regional plantation companies, four members from the Sri Lankan government and two trade union representatives. It is this body, which is going to ultimately decide the fate, where the resettlement housing should be established.

In the past, the PHDT– constructed houses were not complete enough for the people to resettle. In most cases, the people themselves had to invest their own resources to complete the housing. In addition, the people have to bear the expenses for water and electricity.

To a normal village, the SL government takes responsibility to bring electricity to their village. But, for a plantation settlement, the people have to bear the expenses to bring electricity to their settlement.

The people were forced to take up loans for which they have to pay interest at the rate of 16% per year. In addition, those qualify for housing should have worked in the estate for 5 years and that they should be below the age of 45.

There is also a political purpose behind the announcement that PHDT will be constructing the resettlement houses for Meeriaya-bedda victims. It is also connected to the snap presidential elections, according to Fr Fontgalland.

In the previous budget, placed in December 2013, it was claimed that the government would be constructing 50,000 rooms or “kaamburaas” as multi-floored blocks. The people are opposed to the construction of multi-floored line rooms.

* * *

In Meeriya-bedda too, there was a talk of constructing blocks. But, Fontgalland thinks that single houses would be built for Meeriyabedda victims. But, what he senses as the major problems are the lack of surveying and no one listening to the real needs of the people who have been dependent on their self-sustained livelihood so far.

The first issue is that the land allocated per family seems to be limited to 7 perches. This is not enough for the people to engage in household farming. “They can’t even plant a tree of their own. This will only force the people to abandon the settlement and seek places like the old locality. The families expect 40 perches of land together with electricity and water supply,” Fr. Fontgalland told TamilNet.

These are people who were not dependent on Estate employment. They were largely dependent on self-sustained farming. Therefore, they need compensation for their losses. They have lost three-wheelers, jewellery and virtually everything they owned. Such losses should be surveyed and compensated.

* * *

63 families have been completely affected by the disaster. The parents, who went to work, and the children who went to school that morning, survived the disaster. Initial reports had put the number of people missing at 300. But, according to final reports, 37 people went missing and 13 of them are confirmed dead following the recovery of their remains.

Landslide danger has been identified in 10 districts in the Up-Country. There are several reasons that cause the disaster and the man-made ones range from large dam constructions to logging of trees, Fontgalland said. Some scientists also add that the deepening of Hambantota port as one of the factors, he added.

“Unfortunately, the political leaders and union leaders of the Up-Country have very little concern on the welfare of the people.”

It is a shame that the people who have toiled for the economic development of the island and who brought the first foreign exchange income into the country are still not able to own a perch of their own land in Up-Country, he said.

* * *

Fr. Fontgalland has authored the following works on Up-Country Tamils: The Up country Tamils- A National Race, The Up country Tamils and Politics, Plantation women’s Rights, The Impact of Globalization on the Plantation Sector in Sri Lanka, Social Development and Poverty in the Plantation in Sri Lanka, The challenges faced by the Plantation Tamils in the 21st Century, Searching for Alternatives and Plantation community Moves for a Change.

With a vision of liberating the plantation community and a mission of creating an alternative leadership in the plantation sector through conscientisation programs aimed at a people’s movement, Fontgalland is working through Leo Marga Ashram (LMA), a non governmental and a Non-Profit organization opened to all, irrespective of ethnicity and religion.

[Full Coverage]

Wigneswaran becomes last escape route for New Delhi

TamilNet — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 09:33:00 +0000

While it increasingly becomes clear that genocide on Eezham Tamils was committed not because of ‘terrorism’ or of anything else, but just because of a stubborn stand motivated by the greed of imperialisms, especially of New Delhi that independence to Eezham Tamils would spoil their chances of eating the cake in full; and after New Delhi’s ridiculous failure of 13A with the genocidal Sinhala State for well over quarter a century, the NPC chief minister C.V. Wigneswaran now talking of federal and ‘internal’ self-determination seems to be the last trump of New Delhi to contain Tamil Nadu, slip away from indictment in genocide, but at the same time to come out with further deceptions, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in Eezham.

Further comments by Tamil activists for alternative politics:

Addressing K.G. Kannabiran Memorial Lecture in Chennai last Sunday, Wigneswaran revealed that New Delhi had agreed to the way the war ended, because of certain promises given to it by Colombo.

In his written speech he said: “The military, political and intelligence assistance given by India to Sri Lanka during the final stages of the War, were clearly based on the premise and/or promise that there would be a meaningful political solution.”

But after reading the above sentence, and off the written text, he verbally said the following: “That is why India helped. That is what the Indian government thought, that the government of Sri Lanka would help to bring about a settlement, if they helped the end of the war.”

This statement coming from a former Supreme Court Justice is crucial evidence on war crimes, genocide crime and crimes against humanity that goes against New Delhi.

The question comes whether one State could decide the fate of a nation of people in another State, by helping that State to end the war (the way the war ended in the island), just based on some ‘promises’ that served the interests of the former.

If the promise was the rotten 13A, unless New Delhi claims it a confirmed fool or that it has gone off in its head (a plea accepted in criminal procedures), it cannot escape investigation on the other ‘promises’ it received in secret protocols and has to be indicted for premeditated genocide of Eezham Tamils.

It also now becomes clear why New Delhi vehemently opposes any international investigation.

“Not only was that promise made to India, on more than one occasion, but it was also the solemn undertaking issued to the international community of nations as represented by the Secretary General of the UN,” Wigneswaran further said, citing the UN Secretary General in May 2009 referring to Rajapakse’s resolve to implement 13A.

The UN Secretary General is specifically answerable whether the 13A was worth the genocide.

This is why the ‘international community’ and the UN are not prepared to take up investigation on the genocide or on-going genocide, but harp on LLRC and 13A.

Standing on Indian soil, the NPC chief minister has categorically declared the unworkability of the Indian designed 13A – kudos for that. This is the second time an Indian-installed chief minister has said that, but now there is no LTTE to blame for the failure.

* * *

But Wigneswaran talking of federal constitution and self-determination within ‘united Sri Lanka’ is another impracticability and prolongation of misery. It is folly to expect them working under a congenitally genocidal State that is not willing to implement even the 13A.

Federal works only when there is mutual consensus and willingness. It will not work because outsiders want it. Who knows, federal may come eventually and spontaneously. But first there should be separation –Separation for Unity. The international actors, especially New Delhi has to be categorically told of the fundamentally wrong and failed premise that has been taken for a long time, and enough is enough.

However, Wigneswaran could be excused for his limitations. He was open about the consequences of even the limited ones he has said. But there is no excuse for New Delhi or other international actors who might use the limitations set on him for further deceptions.

Wigneswaran was also talking about directing Tamil voters in the forthcoming ‘presidential’ elections of Colombo.

* * *

With a seemingly naïve praise, Wigneswaran was introduced to the gathering at Chennai that it was his choice that his first foreign visit as CM should be non-governmental, i.e., not invited by any government. But it seems that he was made to come out with the political choice of visiting Chennai, when Ms Jayalalithaa who had been demanding genocide investigation, referendum etc., was not in office.

Wigneswaran was invited to deliver the Memorial Lecture by People’s Union for Civil Liberties. Prof Saraswathy in solidarity with the US-based TGTE introduced him to the gathering. A former constitutional court justice of South Africa also addressed the event. The Asian College of Journalism, closely connected to Mr. N. Ram and The Hindu, was actively involved in the event.

M.A. Sumanthiran and Maavai Senathiraja also have come for the address and the following day there was a closed-door meeting of select invitees.

PDF: Full text of Wigneswaran’s Kannabiran Memorial Lecture

[Full Coverage]

‘Solidarity of oppressed nations needed to defeat global system of oppression’

TamilNet — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 10:17:29 +0000

“The system that oppresses us is global. The system that oppresses us is united and in solidarity with each other. So we need to be in solidarity with each other against the same system that oppresses us. The Tamil national liberation struggle is a case in point. Your enemies are our enemies”, said Kurdish activist Memed Aksoy, urging for greater solidarity among oppressed nations. In an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Sunday, Mr. Aksoy, who is also a filmmaker and writer, talking about the current situation in Kobane, the nature of the ISIS and its supporters, the duplicity of Turkey, the PKK’s commitment to the peace process, and the changing policies of the West towards the Kurds, gave a concise picture of the Kurdish resistance and the local and global challenges it faces.

Global Day for Kobane observed at Trafalgar Square in London

Terming the ISIS as “the international hitmen of finance capital”, Mr. Aksoy said that states like Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were backing that organization.

“Turkey has played a negative role, almost a terroristic role on an international and historical scale in providing logistic support, military support, financial support and political support for ISIS and the mentality and ideology that ISIS is trying to spread across the region,” he said.

Explaining that Turkey hosted most reactionary elements of the ‘Free Syrian Army’ in Ankara for the past three years, he said Turkey was one of the key allies in the attempts to topple the Assad regime and they did not differentiate between any of the components of the FSA.

ISIS has been attacking the Rojava revolution for the past two years. But since certain international powers have no use for them anymore, they have changed their tactics towards the ISIS.

Mr. Aksoy noted how world powers ignored the Kurdish struggle against ISIS for over two years but started taking notice only after the fall of Mosul, Iraq in 2014. When the ISIS began its assault on Kobane, the world turned a blind eye for the first 35 days.

“It is only when Kobane did not fall and Kurds around the world started uprising, in UK, in Europe, all over the world, that America had to intervene.”

Talking about how America after much dilly-dallying finally began to support the Kurds, he also said that the biggest obstacle to this support came from Turkey.

Commenting on the ban on the PKK, he said that the removal of the ban would greatly assist the peace process in Turkey.

“The terrorist ban will only lead to more criminalization and more fighting between Turkey and the Kurdish people and the PKK.”

He added that while the PKK has taken several steps to support the peace process, Turkey was unwilling to resolve the issue in a just manner.

Responding to a question on the prospects of solidarity among nations-without-states, he said “The system that oppresses us is global. The system that oppresses us is united and in solidarity with each other. So we need to be in solidarity with each other against the same system that oppresses us. The Tamil national liberation struggle is a case in point. Your enemies are our enemies.”

He concluded that now was the time for a greater solidarity between Kurds and Tamils.

* * *

Thousands of protestors in major cities across the Western world took out rallies on 1 November, which was marked as a Global Day for Kobane, to convey their support to the Kurdish resistance in Rojava, and to condemn ISIS brutalities.

Despite explicit repression, thousands of protestors took to the streets in Istanbul and Diyarbakir in Turkey to convey their solidarity with the Kurds fighting the Islamists in Kobane.

The protests in London were held at Trafalgar Square, which was packed with activists upholding Kurdish flags and flags of the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Several of the speakers at the London event called for a lifting of the ban on the PKK and for the immediate release of Abdullah Ocalan who has been in solitary confinement in a Turkish prison for the past 15 years.

Tamil, Indian leftist, Baloch, Turkish and Iranian leftists, and British activists conveyed their solidarity with the struggle of the Kurds at Trafalgar Square.

Speaking at the event, Karthick RM, research scholar in Political Theory at the University of Essex, emphasised on the importance of the success of the Kurdish struggle for peace and justice in the middle-east. Stating that Kobane is “the most important revolution of this century”, he said that Tamils in Tamil Nadu and across the world stood in solidarity with the Kurds.

Appealing for solidarity among oppressed nations, he said that “A genocide is not possible by just one actor. A genocide is made possible by several actors working together.” Giving the example of Sri Lanka, he argued that just as how international complicity allowed the Sinhala state to execute the genocide in Tamil Eelam, the complicity of certain local and global powers gives ISIS its strength.

Tamil, Bengali and Norwegian activists also participated in the Kurdish protests in Bergen. Despite the heavy rain, the activists gathered in Bergen centrum to stand in solidarity with the YPG/YPJ fighting against the ISIS in Kobane.

Speaking at the event in Bergen, Athithan Jayapalan, Eezham Tamil social anthropology academic, spoke on the significance of the Kurdish spirit of resistance throughout history and the current historical importance of the struggle in Rojava and Kobane. He conveyed the solidarity of the oppressed Eezham Tamil nation to the resistance of the Kurds, and mentioned that the LTTE and PKK had a relation of mutual respect and solidarity.

“When we were subjected to the darkest chapter in our national history, in 2009 May, when over 146,000 Tamils were slaughtered by the Sri Lankan state, we did also stand alone. But the Kurdish people felt our pains; Many Kurdish comrades expressed deep sorrow yet encouraged us to keep the struggle alive.”

“The Rojava revolution has given us faith that sovereign people movements and national liberation struggles will triumph eventually despite the oppressors’ superior power,” he said.

[Full Coverage]

Tamil Nadu CM urged to form foreign policy on Eelam Tamils

TamilNet — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 08:06:52 +0000

The Government of Tamil Nadu should come forward to take a lead in the future in representing the aspirations of Eelam Tamils in the world arena in demanding justice for the genocide committed against the Eelam Tamils, Ananthy Sasitharan, a councillor from the Northern Provincial Council, has said in an interview to TamilNet Palaka’ni during her visit to Europe in September, when she made a submission in person to the OHCHR investigation on Sri Lanka. “We urge the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to have a foreign policy with regards to Eelam Tamils,” the councillor from the Northern Provincial Council said.

“There is a sense of big animosity prevailing between the Government of India and the Eelam Tamils. Our people on the ground feel that the Indian government, which armed various Tamil groups in the beginning and created divisions among them, was also behind the total annihilation that took place in Mullaiththeevu in 2009. Look at how the Sri Lankan Government has been repeatedly and openly thanking the Indian Government for its role during the war. Knowing the Indian position, the TNA leaders who met the new Indian PM seem to have avoided taking up the issue of Indian stand on OISL investigations,” Ananthy Sasistharan, who visited Europe in September told TamilNet.

“The Tamil National Alliance issued statements in newspapers asking the people to submit their evidences to OISL. But, I am not aware of TNA’s role in organising people to submit their evidences,” the TNA councillor further said alluding that TNA leadership has not utilized its real support on the ground to mobilise people to make their submissions to the OISL.

“But, Tamil Nadu has a crucial role to play in demanding justice for the genocide committed on Eelam Tamils. We are thankful to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State [Ms Jayalalithaa] for the resolutions passed by the State Assembly in the past. The Tamil Nadu CM should come forward to take forward a foreign policy representing the Eelam Tamils and the Tamils in Tamil Nadu.,” Ms Ananthy Sasitharan said.

“I submitted my eyewitness report to UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts in 2011 with an expectation of justice for the genocide affected Tamil people. But, we were disappointed as their report blamed both the parties equally,” she said.

“There were several reasons for that outcome. One of the reasons was the lack of reporting skills among the victims in delivering their submissions. The victims on the ground didn’t have adequate know-how and means to convey their message to the PoE,” the TNA councillor said.

“At the same time, the Sri Lankan government, knowing what the PoE was requesting, executed a manipulative move by creating several e-mail accounts and flooding the offices of the UN with false and exaggerated submissions that unjustly blamed the Tamil side.”

“Now, especially when the OISL is conducting its investigations, is even blocked from visiting the island, and amidst the intensified threats and harassments, there is a serious lack of activism among the victims”, Ms Sasitharan further said in her interview.

“I will be witnessing in front of the OISL in person also this time. It is important to convey the true nature of the genocidal violence, which was committed upon us in Vanni. We should place our submissions and the set our records right even though there is a risk that even this OISL investigation could fail the victims by not recognising the real crime of genocide. As a people subjected to a protracted genocide, we need to demand investigations on genocide through presenting our cases in the right context,” Ms Sasitharan said.

Not only the direct witnesses, all those who knew what was going on, should file their submissions, Ananthy Sasitharan said.

[Full Coverage]

Media groups protest against SL military’s shadow war on Eezham Tamil journalists

TamilNet — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 07:37:57 +0000

Following the SL military sabotage against Tamil journalists, who were on their way to attend a workshop held in Colombo on Friday, 25 July, and against the continued threat and harassment of the involved Eezham Tamil journalists, Tamil journalists in the five districts of Northern Province came together at a protest organised by the Jaffna Press Club in Jaffna city on Thursday. Media organisations based in South also took part in the protest in Jaffna expressing their solidarity with the Eezham Tamil journalists, who are being threatened and harassed by the occupying military of the genocidal Sri Lankan State.

An alleged SL military intelligence operative in military uniform had planted a cigarette box with narcotics in the vehicle of Tamil journalists when they were on their way to attend a workshop in Colombo last Friday.

Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives on Tuesday issued death threats to Tamil journalists who were returning after witnessing at the courts on what had happened to them last Friday.

On Tuesday, SL military intelligence operatives entered into the vehicles of the journalists in Vavuniyaa and threatened them not to confront or blame the SL military. The SL intelligence operatives also photographed the journalists.

During the Court proceedings in Vavuniyaa, the SL police had no clue on how a Sri Lankan military intelligence operative in uniform accessed the vehicle. The police officer in charge of the duty at the station, has also confirmed that the planting of narcotics was possibly the work of a person in SL military uniform.

The Tamil journalists have told the courts that they could identify the SL soldier. The police officials have also admitted that there was a new person in SL military uniform at their checkpoint during that time. Both, the SL military and the SL police, are present at Oamanthai checkpoint in Vavuniyaa.

The SL police officials were also telling the courts that the Judge should obtain further clarity from the SL military officer who was in charge at the checkpoint on Friday, legal sources in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet.

The SL military Establishment has recently launched a shadow war against Tamil journalists receiving training by Non Governmental Organisations based in Colombo. The journalists attending media workshops have also been harassed by the SL military staging bogus protests against Tamil journalists.

The SL military Establishment has also threatened media watchdog personalities, including the convener of Free Media Movement, Sunil Jeyasekara, for extending solidarity to Tamil journalists.

Thursday’s protest was the first of its kind as Tamil journalist groups from all the five districts in the North were present at the protest organized by the Jaffna Press Club (JPC) together with media groups in South.

Colombo-based media groups, the Free Media Movement (FMM), South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) and Ilangkai Tamil Media Association were present at the protest expressing solidarity with the Tamil journalists.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran and S. Sritharan, Northern Provincial Council members Ananthy Sasitharan, Vinthan Kanagarathinam, Kajatheepan Balachandran, Sugirthan Chandralingam, Sivayogan Velupillai, Deputy Chairman of Valikaamam North Piratheasa Chapai (PS) Sageevan Sanmugalingam and Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) General Secretary Selvarajah Kajendren took part at the protest expressing their support to Tamil journalists.

JPC Chairman Vinojith Tharmapala, SAFMA representative from Colombo Lakshman Gunasekara, FMM Convener Sunil Jeyasekara and Ilangkai Tamil Journalists Association representative ANS Thiruchelvam addressed the participants at the protest in Jaffna reading the statements issued by their organisations.

[Full Coverage]

Women groups protest against SL Navy rape of Tamil children at Kaarainakar

TamilNet — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 10:30:39 +0000

A group of people representing the women groups in Jaffna staged a protest in front of the High Court in Jaffna on Friday demanding the legal system to punish the culprits behind the brutal rape of children in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The protestors had sealed their mouths with black bands to register the gagged condition under SL military occupation. In the meantime, SL navy and army intelligence operatives harassed two female reporters who went to Juvenile Magistrate’s Court at Kurunakar to report the news of another identification parade where two alleged culprits of the SL Navy from Kaarainakar base were supposed to be present.

The SL intelligence operatives seized the cameras from the reporters and deleted the photos. Following the episode, fellow journalists who arrived at the spot confronted the military personnel and the SL police that no body have the right to delete the photos taken by journalists without a court decision.

The SL military has stepped up harassments against Tamil journalists in an effort to silence the reporting of widespread rape by the SL military.

[Full Coverage]

Protesting mother exposes occupying SL military’s false propaganda

TamilNet — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:44:33 +0000

“The SL military never bought my lands. They said I need to provide details to obtain land. Then I was forced to sign a paper in Sinhala at the police station. The SL military moved into my land and has now sent notice to seize the lands permanently from me,” said a Tamil mother who protested against the land surveyors who came to her land situated along the A9 Road, at Mirusuvil in Thenmaraadchi of the Jaffna district. While the protest was going on a group of SL military intelligence operatives entered the house of a Tamil councillor, who was supporting the protesting family, threatened his wife at gunpoint and caused damage to his property. Rasiah Theivendrampillai, the councillor from the divisional council in the area, said military personnel who entered his house, while he was at the protest, burnt his bankbooks and land deeds and threatened his family.

Alleged SL military operatives entered the hut of Tamil councillor from Thenmaraadchchi Mr Rasiah Theivendrampillai and set fire to his land deeds and bankbook

The notice issued by the SL State Surveyor demanding Mrs Maheswary Thambirasa to identify the borders of 40 acre land on 22 July 2014

The protest was launched as S.R. Sivendrakalanithy, a land surveyor, had come to the locality after issuing a legal notice to survey the 40 acre of land that belongs to Mrs Maheswary.
Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and Selvarajah Kajendren of the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) and TNA Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Minister of Agriculture, P Aingaranesan, were present at the protest site with the Tamil councillors from the divisional civic body in Thenmaraadchi.
The occupying SL military had illegally seized the land from Mrs Maheswary Thambirasa, the mother of seven in Thenmaraadchci of Jaffna district last year and proceeded with relocating the Brigade Headquarters of the notorious 52 Division, which was situated at Vara’ni earlier.
The relocation was executed with a hidden agenda of expanding the base into a permanent military cantonment at at Aasaippi’l’lai-yeattam in Mirusuvil.
SL presidential sibling and defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who declared the new base open on 08 January 2014 was claiming that the new base was established at a purchased land.

TNPF leader Gaje ndrakumar Ponnambalam talking to Mrs Maheswary Thambirasa

Mrs Thambirasa had bought 53 acres of land in 1969. Later, she donated 3 acre slot for the purpose of establishing a cremation ground and divided the remaining lands among her 7 children and keept 15 acres in her name, she told the reporters who went to witness the protest on Tuesday.
Prior to the SL military seizure of her lands, Mrs Thambirasa was taken to a SL police station and the Sinhala policemen there threatened her to put her signature on a paper written in Sinhala language, which she didn’t understand, the crying mother told media.
The Brigade headquarters for 52 Division was established at the locality in January 2014 after several months of prolonged propaganda that the SL military was relocating the camp from Vara’ni in order to free the lands to civilian owners at the former location.

Bankbook and land deeds, the only valuable documents at the hut of Tamil councillor, have been burnt outside his temporary hut in Thenmaraadchi

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Struggle against genocidal military land-grab intensifies in Jaffna

TamilNet — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 07:55:32 +0000

Survey department officials who were accompanied by the Sri Lankan police to survey lands of Eezham Tamils for permanent seizure by the occupying SL military at Achchuveali, situated in Valikaamam East of Jaffna district, were forced to withdraw after their vehicle was blockaded by the Tamil land owners with the support of Tamil political and civil activists in a successful protest for second time within a few days on Monday. The SL military, which has occupied the lands belonging to the Multi Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS) and 9 families for two decades since the SL military captured Jaffna peninsula from Eezham Tamils in 1995, is now trying to establish a cantonment for the 5th Infantry Regiment on Rasa Road close to Achchuveali town.

On 06 June, a Sri Lankan military spokesman in Colombo was telling media that the owners of these lands were living in ‘different locations’ and that these lands were being taken over through legal means.

“In fact, the people were forced to leave their residential and agricultural lands due to the military harassment that prevailed in the area. They have been waiting for the SL military to vacate from their lands in order to resettle in their lands and resume their livelihood,” said Tamil councillor Sanmugalingam Shageevan who is the deputy chairman of the divisional council of Valikaamam North.

The locality with a notorious torture camp of the SL military was being silently expanded in recent times into a cantonment.

On Monday the protesters blocked the vehicle of the land surveyors who had come to the locality with Sinhala policemen.

Tamil councillors and grassroots activists from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) were present at the protest site.

PDF: Notice received by 9 families on land surveying for permanent SL military land grab

Waging a false propaganda that it was reducing military deployment, the occupying SL military has been stepping up measures to permanently seize the lands for the expansion of military bases and cantonments in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils.

While New Delhi, Washington and Beijing, locked in a geopolitical game in the Indian Ocean are having military-to-military relationship with the Sinhala military, the global Tamil community including the 70-million strong State of Tamil Nadu, not only views the SL military as a genocidal occupying force, but also as a ‘Lascarine’ military being groomed by the world powers.

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