சனி, 18 பிப்ரவரி, 2012

Marriage of T.Eezhamalar with V.Balasi

செந்தமிழ்க்காவலர் சி.இலக்குவனார் இல்லத் திருமணவிழா அழைப்பிதழ்

eelamalar (3) செந்தமிழ்க்காவலர் சி.இலக்குவனார் அவர்களின் பெயர்த்தி திருவள்ளுவன் ஈழமலர் – வா.பாலாசி திருமண விழா தி.பி 2043 மாசி 7 ஆம் நாள் ( 19.02.2012) அன்று சென்னை மயிலாப்பூரில் நடைபெறவுள்ளது.







 

செந்தமிழ்க்காவலர் சி.இலக்குவனார் இல்ல திருமணவிழா அழைப்பிதழ்

eelamalar (3) செந்தமிழ்க்காவலர் சி.இலக்குவனார் அவர்களின் பெயர்த்தி திருவள்ளுவன் ஈழமலர் – வா.பாலாசி திருமண விழா தி.பி 2043 மாசி 7 ஆம் நாள் ( 19.02.2012) அன்று சென்னை மயிலாப்பூரில் நடைபெறவுள்ளது.





EU refrains from welcoming LLRC, calls for UN Commission

EU refrains from welcoming LLRC, calls for UN Commission

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2012, 03:04 GMT]
The European Parliament on Thursday, among its resolution specifying its position on UN Human Rights Council's 19th session to be convened in Geneva this month, resolved on Sri Lanka that it “[s]tresses the need to further support efforts to strengthen the accountability process in Sri Lanka and continue to call for the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry into all crimes committed, as recommended by the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka; invites the Sri Lankan Government to send an invitation to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.” The maneuverings of Sri Lanka supporters to replace the call for UN commission with a note welcoming LLRC were defeated by the members of Labour and Left parties (GUE and S&D).

The Sri Lanka-backers, who were mainly from the right wing and right center parties, which included the major group in the parliment, European People's Party (EPP) and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) have pressed for an amendment to do away with the call for international investigation and to welcome Sri Lanka's LLRC.

The following is the amendment texts presented by EPP and ECR:

“Calls for support efforts to strengthen the accountability process in Sri Lanka to be furthered, as recommended by the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, and welcomes the Sri Lankan Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Committee’s recent report; calls on the Sri Lankan Government rapidly to implement the report’s recommendations, and in particular to address concerns regarding human rights violations;”

It was however defeated.

Richard Howitt of the S&D Group and Paul Murphy of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL) Group played significant role in defeating the amendment, informed sources said.

The EU position significantly differs from the stand of the USA that has dropped the call for international investigation and instead welcomes the LLRC.

However, the stand that would be taken by the UK may go contrary to the EU resolution, as different signals come from the British Foreign Office, the informed sources further said.

While thanking the progressive shade of members in the EU Parliament for the resolution, the Eezham Tamils are concerned that their core issues as a nation facing structural genocide are yet to find reference in the supranational body of EU parliament or in other international forums.

Self-denial of heritage in Maldives sends message to Establishments

Self-denial of heritage in Maldives sends message to Establishments

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2012, 23:49 GMT]
A group of Maldivians who stormed into the National Museum at Male on the day Mr. Mohamed Nasheed resigned from the office of president, destroyed artefacts of pre-Islamic heritage on display. The whole pre-Islamic history is gone and the loss to the nation’s archaeological legacy can never be recouped, The Economic Times said Tuesday, citing Maldivian officials. Most of the artefacts, including statues smashed, belong to Maldivian Buddhism dating between c. 6 – 12 century CE. The vandals destroyed not only the religious heritage but also the literacy heritage as well, because many of the 30 odd coral-stone artefacts destroyed were inscribed with the earliest written records of the country. While media is busy on comparison with Afghanistan, the question arises why the situation deteriorated in Nasheed’s time, when the heritage had found no qualms during Gayoom’s long rule.

Pre-Islamic heritage on display before the destruction
Pre-Islamic heritage on display before the destruction [Courtesy: National Museum, Maldives]


All political parties in the Maldives, including the Islamic party Adhaalath that is opposed to Nasheed’s ‘anti-Islamic’ policies, have condemned the destruction of heritage displayed in the museum.

However, many among the political and social circles in the Maldives point to certain recent proceedings, resulting from Nasheed’s ‘unholy’ alliance with Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa and with the powers hovering around the country in greed and competition, for the spurt of perversion and enragement in the ultra-religious camp.

The direct inspiration for laying hands on the museum display comes from Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa installing a lion statue at Addu atoll in southern Maldives during the SAARC summit and people of the religiously sensitive atoll destroying it within the same week, declaring it as un-Islamic.

For reasons wondered at by many even in the ruling circles of the Maldives, Nasheed bracketed him with Rajapaksa from the very beginning of his rule, by endorsing the genocidal war in Vanni and by over-stretching him in shielding the Rajapaksa regime in the international human rights platforms. Business, military and personal reasons are said to be behind the alliance of Nasheed and his ministers of defence and foreign affairs with the Rajapaksa regime. Nasheed has now sent his family for safety in Colombo.

Even though the Maldivian Buddhist heritage belonged to its own genre, manifesting from the maritime traditions of Mahayana and especially the Vajrayana School coupled with local beliefs, an image has been created by Colombo-based colonial Orientalists and later by Sinhala academics that Buddhism had gone to Maldives from Sri Lanka.

Maldivians in general were made to naively believe that Buddhist heritage found in their country came from the Sinhalese. The sense of belongingness to heritage was thus largely missing.

No wonder, the Sri Lanka connections of Nasheed and the power-operations cum political culture emanating through Colombo reminding the colonial times when Maldives was a protectorate of British Ceylon, made a section in the Maldives to show the anger against Nasheed and the forces behind him on the ‘Buddhist’ heritage in the museum.

Pallava Grantha inscription
One of the artefacts had the earliest written record of Maldives in Pallava-Grantha script of c. 6th Century CE [Image Courtesy - National Museum, Maldives]


Meanwhile, an untimely stand taken by the West in pressurising Nasheed’s government to do away with the 100 per cent Islamic status of Maldives in the constitution became counterproductive, making a section to simmer with anger, commented a veteran politician in the country.

At the moment, Saudi Arabia and the Maldives are the only countries that have such a proclamation in the constitution.

But the Maldivians are a tolerant people in culture and practice, compared to many countries that have verbally declared ‘multiculturalism.’ Unnecessary pressure, especially coming from the West, precipitated issues, the politician said.

The US government’s secret negotiation with Nasheed to accommodate Muslim prisoners from Guantanamo in Maldives was an added issue, said a parliamentarian. Nasheed’s agreement to the proposal was cancelled only when China intervened and gave just 10 minutes time for Nasheed to decide against it, the parliamentarian further said.

According to a former Maldivian diplomat, the US Asst. Secretary of State Robert Blake had led Nasheed’s government into many of the pitfalls.

Israel was recently accommodated in Maldives to do ‘agricultural development’ in one of the islands.

Nasheed’s government that was depending on the West for the ‘democratic’ transition three years back had to yield into exploitative demands as payback, against the sentiments of the people and spirit of democracy, is a general opinion in the country.

But much of the public anger in recent times is expressed against India, especially after an Indian corporate with New Delhi’s backing taking over the International Airport of Male on lease. The Indian corporate, GMR, was proposing 25 US dollar airport tax, besides snatching away the alcohol business from local people. The corporate angered the public when its spokesperson arrogantly said that they would not take away the airport along with them to India.

China was equally in the fray, proposing the monopoly of electricity supply to the capital and the airport. China recently opened an embassy in Male, to time with the SAARC summit, and Chinese tourists are systematically encouraged to fill in the resorts of Maldives suffering from the recession in the West.

However, public opinion in the capital is not as hostile to China as it is towards India. China is professional in its dealings, the elite in the country feel. The anger towards the New Delhi Establishment reflects in harassment faced by Indian working population in the country. The Indian High Commission in Male displays a notice on its walls asking its people not to go out wearing jewellery.

Destroyed images
The destroyed images had inscriptions in the old Maldivian script called Eveylaa Akuru. Most of these inscriptions were neither deciphered nor published. [Courtesy: National Museum, Maldives]


A large resort in Maldives like The Sun Island used to accommodate around 900 foreign guests on any given day. Another 900 people, mostly foreigners work in the resort. More than a hundred islands, big and small that have become resorts in the country, have demography of this nature. Besides, many more thousands of foreigners work in the capital and in the other inhabited islands. Considering the native population of the country, which is around 350,000, about another half of this number are foreigners who stay in the country on any given day.

There are several reasons for the discontentment among the people of Maldives. Most important of them is the national wealth not reaching the people in an equal way. Many feel that outsiders or a few in the country swindle the national wealth. The recent economic crisis, fall in tourism and devaluation of currency have triggered off a number of livelihood problems in the economically fragile country.

Religion was always a way of expressing discontentment against regimes in Maldives. It was also a way of asserting to identity when threat is perceived from outside or when materialism threatens culture.

While Maldives was opening up to the outside world in a drastic way in the last 40 years, people were covering them up more and more. Long beards and buruhas (head cover of women) were rarely seen even in the remote islands of the country 25 years back. Today, very few women go out without a buruha. While adherence to religious symbols were on the escalation on one hand, drug and brothels never heard of before, appeared on the other hand.

Nasheed’s supporters accuse some West Asian countries for funding and inspiring ‘fundamentalism’ in Maldives. They also accuse such forces for creating unrest now. The story has some truth, as there were some organizations that funded poor sections of the society on condition of growing beards and wearing bruhas. Education in certain countries also had their impact.

But it is the West’s brutal war against the Islamic world that has made a big impact in the thinking in Maldives in the last couple of decades. There is a strong section of elite that sees the unjust in the powers of the world.

Gayoom was extraordinarily careful in his foreign policy. But Nasheed stepped out to identify him with powers. It would have been ideal for a country exclusively depending on tourism had it opted out of power games.

At a sensitive time of international situation, and a couple of weeks before his downfall, Nasheed’s party in Maldives unwisely challenged the political opponents, asking whether they wanted Afghanistan Islam or Maldivian Islam. Nasheed at that time was invited by Rajapaksa to preside over a military parade in Sri Lanka.

A head of Buddha in display at the national museum of Maldives
The head of Buddha that was on the display. The sculpture which was originally found with its torso in the excavations of Thoddoo in the 1960s was already destroyed and only the salvaged head was brought to the National Museum for display. [Courtesy: National Museum, Maldives]


The National Museum of Maldives was established in the 1950's and it was housed at a remaining part of the old palace of the sultans of Maldives. In Gayoom's time, the management of it came under the National Centre for Linguistic and Historical Research (NCHLR), which was also founded by him to function directly under the president’s office.

Neither the pre-Islamic heritage stored in a corner of this old museum, nor the excavations conducted by Gayoom’s government with Norwegian assistance at Nilandhoo and Kaashidhoo, revealing Buddhist monuments have never raised any qualms then, even though people in the islands sometimes had the habit of destroying whatever ‘un-Islamic’ found in their islands. The Male government, through strict instructions to the island-chiefs, was acquiring such artefacts. Whatever pre-Islamic artefacts found stored in the National Museum were obtained in that way.

During Gayoom’s time, the pre-Islamic heritage has also found a due place with illustrations in the school textbooks.

With democratic changes and Nasheed coming to power, the NCLHR was dissolved. History went to the newly created university. An institute was created for language studies and the heritage part, along with the National Museum, went under the ministry of tourism.

An impressive new museum building, presented by China, was opened just a few months back.

It was by that time objections were raised by some, against prominent display of the pre-Islamic heritage. In fact, they were displayed in the ground floor, the first hall a visitor may see.

The Economic Times cites the museum curator and an academic saying that in recent years some conservative Muslims suggested the removal of the artefacts.

“The collection was totally, totally smashed,” Economic Times, cited the curator, who added that except two or three statues, the rest were beyond restoration.

As the shards are swept and locked away, scholars and museums of a number of countries have offered help in the restoration, the curator said.

There was a time, when a bullet-ridden motorbike was kept in the national museum as a heritage of the 1988 coup. The restored pieces or even the shards themselves are a heritage to be preserved, to tell the posterity of the present times, commented an academic in Male.

Of over two thousand years of Maldivian people’s heritage, whatever little that escaped centuries of bias and were stored in the museum, may not be of much global importance or even regional importance, but they are of prime importance only to the people of the Maldives, who as a microscopic nation need them to assert to their long, unique identity and place in this world, he further commented.

A relic-casket of Vajrayana Buddhism
A relic-casket of Vajrayana Buddhism that was in the display of the National Musem bearing an inscription in Nagari script of c. 10th Century CE [Courtesy: National Museum, Maldives]


The brutality of the defence forces of Maldives today is something that was never seen before, people of the country wonder. This is an irony for a country that just three years back transformed from guided democracy to multi-party liberal democracy.

We live in times in which every uprising of people is hijacked if the people are not vigilant.

In the southern hub – maritime hub – of South Asia, people face an extraordinary situation today.

War, genocide, militarisation, displacement of people, animosities among nations, political and social turmoil – all are engineered ultimately to take politics away from people, for the benefit of new imperialism.

Extremism in the Establishments surpasses all the other extremisms.

When a people keep quiet for what happens to their neighbour, it will happen to every one of them in the region, one after the other.

While people of the Maldives should be awakened to what their government did and with whom it got aligned, when there was genocide in the neighbourhood, the nations in the immediate neighbourhood, especially in South India should carefully understand what is happening to the people of Maldives. The game is one and the same for the people of the region to understand and help each other, and to show solidarity in upholding political and social justice.

SL monument
The Rajapaksa-installed lion statue (Sri Lanka's emblem) was partly destroyed at Addu atoll in southern Maldives, within a week of its installation in November 2011 [Photo courtesy - haveeru.com]


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19.11.11   People of Maldives cut off face of ‘Sri Lanka Lion’
17.11.11   China timed SAARC summit to open embassy in Maldives
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29.10.08   Wind of Change in Maldives
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External Links:
The Economic Times: Vandals attack on the National Museum threatens archaeological treasures in Maldives

சொல்கிறார்கள்                                                                                                                                  



மாடித் தோட்டம் அமைப்பது பற்றி கூறும் சீனிவாசன்: பணி ஓய்வு பெற்ற பின், வீட்டு மாடியில் உள்ள சிறிய இடத்தைக் கொண்டு, அடுக்கு தோட்டம் போட்டேன். இதில் 40 வகை செடி, கொடிகள் வளர்க்க முடியும். புத்தகங்கள் வைக்கும் செல்ப் போன்று மாடியின் மூன்று பக்கமும், ரேக் அமைத்தேன். அதில் டப்பாக்களில் மண் நிரப்பி, நானே தயாரிக்கும் இயற்கை உரம் கலந்து செடி வைத்திருக்கிறேன். நான் அமைத்துள்ள இந்த தோட்டத்திற்கு, எந்த செடிக்கும் சிறப்பு மண் தேடவில்லை. புல் வளர்ந்துள்ள இடத்தில் இருக்கும் மண்ணை எடுத்து வந்துதான் செடி, கொடி வைத்திருக்கிறேன். செடி வைக்க மண் தொட்டி, பிளாஸ்டிக் தொட்டியெல்லாம் வாங்கணும்னா நிறைய காசும், அதோடு நிறைய இடமும் வேணும். நம் வீட்டில் உள்ள டப்பாக்கள், பாட்டில்களில் கூட சிறிய துளையிட்டு செடி வைத்து விடுவேன். இந்த செடிகளுக்காக இயற்கை உரம் தயாரிப்பதும், மிகவும் சுலபம். நம் வீட்டில் சேரும் காய்கறிக் கழிவுகள், வாடிய பூ, பயன்படுத்த முடியாத கோரைப் பாய் இப்படி அனைத்தையும் சேகரிக்க வேண்டும். இதில் பிளாஸ்டிக் கவர்களை மட்டும் தவிர்த்துவிட்டு, ஒரு பக்கெட்டில், சிறிய துளைகள் இட்டு, இவற்றை நிரப்பி ஒரு ஓரமாக வைக்க வேண்டும். மூன்று மாதம் கழித்துப் பார்த்தால், தார் நிறத்திற்கு கறுத்துப் போய் உதிரும் விதமாக, இயற்கை உரம் தயாராக இருக்கும். இதுபோன்ற உரம் தயாரித்து, மண்ணுடன் கலந்து, அதில் செடி வைத்தால், செடிகள் செழிப்பாக வளரும். இது தவிர, தேங்காய் நார், மணல் கலந்து வைத்து அது மக்கிப் போன பின் கிடைக்கும் உரத்தையும் பயன்படுத்தலாம். பூச்சிக்கடியால் செடிகளுக்குப் பாதிப்பு வருவதைத் தவிர்க்க, பூச்சி மருந்து அடிக்காமல், கோமியமும், சாணக் கரைசலும் சேர்த்து, கூடுதல் நீர் சேர்த்து வடிகட்டி அதை ஸ்பிரே செய்கிறேன். கொஞ்சம் பெரிய டப்பாக்களில் செடி வைத்தால், அதில் ஊடு பயிராக கீரையும் வளர்க்கலாம். நான் வைத்துள்ள இந்த சின்ன தோட்டத்திலிருந்தே, எங்கள் வீட்டிற்குத் தேவையான காய்கறி கீரையெல்லாம் கிடைத்துவிடும்.

centenary of Dravidian Movement

திராவிட இயக்க நூற்றாண்டு விழா: சிறப்பாகக் கொண்டாட வேண்டும்: கருணாநிதி

First Published : 18 Feb 2012 12:28:44 AM IST


சென்னை, பிப். 17: திராவிட இயக்கத்தின் நூற்றாண்டு விழாவை சனிக்கிழமை (பிப்ரவரி 18) முதல் ஆண்டு முழுவதும் திமுகவினர் சிறப்பாகக் கொண்டாட வேண்டும் என்று அக்கட்சியின் தலைவர் கருணாநிதி வேண்டுகோள் விடுத்துள்ளார்.இது குறித்து வெள்ளிக்கிழமை அவர் வெளியிட்ட அறிக்கை: சென்னை நகரில் பணியாற்றிய பிராமணர் அல்லாத சிலர் தாங்கள் புறக்கணிக்கப்படுவதை உணர்ந்து ஒன்றுபட்டு செயல்படுவதற்காக 1912-ம் ஆண்டு மெட்ராஸ் யுனைட்டெட் லீக் என்ற அமைப்பினை உருவாக்கினர். இந்த அமைப்புக்கு வழிகாட்டியாக இருந்த டாக்டர் நடேசனார் தான் திராவிட இயக்கத்தின் நிறுவனர். அரசு பதவிகளில் இருந்த சரவணப் பிள்ளை, ஜி. வீராசாமி நாயுடு, துரைசாமி முதலியார், எஸ். நாராயணசாமி ஆகியோர் "மெட்ராஸ் யுனைட்டெட் லீக்' உருவாகப் பாடுபட்டனர். முதல் முதலில் அவர்கள் மேற்கொண்ட சமுதாயப் பணி கல்வியாகும். மாலையில் ஓய்வு நேரத்தை இதற்காக செலவிட்டனர். பல்கலைக்கழகப் பட்டம் பெறும் பிராமணர் அல்லாத இளம் பட்டதாரிகளுக்கு வரவேற்பு விழாக்களை நடத்தினர்.1913-ம் ஆண்டு இந்த அமைப்பின் முதலாம் ஆண்டு நிறைவு விழா டாக்டர் நடேசனார் மருத்துவமனையில் உள்ள தோட்டத்தில் நடைபெற்றது. அந்த விóழாவில்தான் அமைப்பின் பெயர் "திராவிடர் சங்கம்' என மாற்றப்பட்டது.1914-ம் ஆண்டு திருவல்லிக்கேணி உயர்நிலைப் பள்ளி ஒன்றில் திராவிடர் சங்கத்தின் முதலாம் ஆண்டு நிறைவு விழாவும், பிராமணர் அல்லாத பட்டதாரிகளுக்கு வரவேற்பு விழாவும் நடைபெற்றது. நீதிபதி கிருஷ்ணன், டி.எம். நாயர் ஆகியோர் உரையாற்றினர். இதுபோன்ற திராவிடர் இயக்கத்தின் வரலாற்றை திராவிட இயக்க வரலாறு என்ற நூலில் முன்னாள் மத்திய அமைச்சர் முரசொலிமாறன் எழுதியுள்ளார். இதிலிருந்து டாக்டர் நடேசனார் தொடங்கிய திராவிடர் சங்கம்தான் இன்று வளர்ந்துள்ள மொழி உணர்வு, பகுத்தறிவு உணர்வு, சமூக நீதி ஆகியவற்றுக்கு அடித்தளம் என்பதை அறிந்து கொள்ளலாம். எனவே திராவிட இயக்கத்தின் நூற்றாண்டு விழாவை திமுக சார்பில் சனிக்கிழமை (பிப்ரவ்ரி 18) முதல் ஆண்டு முழுவதும் திராவிடர்களாகிய நாம் அனைவரும் கொண்டாட வேண்டும்.திராவிட இயக்கத்தை வளர்த்த பெரியவர்களின் பெருமைகளை நூற்றாண்டு விழா நிகழ்ச்சிகளில் நாம் பேச வேண்டும். திராவிட இயக்கத்தின் நூற்றாண்டு விழா தமிழன் ஒவ்வொருவருக்கும் பெருமை சேர்க்கும் விழா, தன்மான உரிமைத் திருவிழா என்பதை மனதில் கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்று கருணாநிதி கேட்டுக் கொண்டுள்ளார்.

தமிழின் பெருமை - கம்போடியாவில்!

நன்றி: செயா தொலைகாட்சி, கேள்வி நேரம் நிகழ்ச்சி.

உலகின் பெரிய வழிபாட்டுத்தலம் எது என்பது உங்களுக்குத் தெரியுமா ? அதை யார் கட்டினார்கள் என்பது தெரியுமா ?


இது வரை நம் தமிழர்களின் சாதனைகள் பற்றி நான் தெரிவித்திருந்த தகவல்களிலேயே மிக சிறந்த ஒன்று இது! இந்த அதிசயத்தைப் நம் மக்களுடன் பகிர்ந்துக்கொள்ள நான் பெருமையடைகிறேன். ஆம்  உலகிலேயே மிகப்பெரிய வழிப்பாட்டு தளம் "கம்போடியா" நாட்டில் நம் கலைத்திறமையை உலகிற்கே காட்டிய "அங்கோர் வாட்" கோயில்.

இரண்டாம் "சூர்யவர்மன்" இந்த இடத்தை கைப்பற்றியவுடன் இந்த பிரம்மாண்ட கோயிலை இங்கு கட்டினான். இந்த இடம் தான் அவனின் தலை நகரமாக செயப்பட்டது. ஒரு பெருமையான விஷயம் சொல்லாட்டுமா?, வைணவத் தளமான இந்த கோயிலானது தான் இன்று வரை உலகில் கட்டப்பட்ட வழிபாட்டுத்தலங்களிலேயே பெரியது!!

இந்த கோயிலை ஒரு கலை பொக்கிஷம் என்றே கூறலாம், திரும்பிய திசை எல்லாம் சிற்பங்களை வடித்துள்ளனர். இந்த கோயிலின் ஒரு பக்க சுற்று சுவரே 3.6 கிலோமீட்டர்கள் !!! அப்படி என்றால் இந்த கோயில் எவ்வளவு பிரம்மாண்டமாக கட்டபட்டிருக்கும் என்பதை கொஞ்சம் கற்பனை செய்து பாருங்கள்.( மீண்டும் ஒரு முறை ), இதன் சுற்றி சுவர் மட்டுமே 3.6 கிலோமீட்டர்கள் !!!


இந்த கோயிலின் ஆரம்பக்கட்ட வடிவமைக்கும் பணிகளானது பனிரெண்டாம் நூற்றாண்டின் முதலாம் பாதியில் தொடங்கியது. இருபத்தி ஏழு வருடங்கள் இந்த இடத்தை ஆண்ட "சூர்யவர்மன்" இறக்கும் சில ஆண்டுகள் முன்பு இதன் வேலைகள் நிறைவடைந்தது .இதன் பின்னர் ஆறாம் "ஜெயவர்மன்" கைக்கு மாறியது .பின்னர் இந்த கோயில் கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாக "புத்த" வழிபாடு தளமாக மாற்றப்பட்டு. இன்று வரை இது புத்த வழிபாட்டுதளமாகவே செயல் பட்டு வருகின்றது!.

பதினாறாம் நூறாண்டிற்கு பிறகு இந்த கட்டிடம் சிறிது சிறிதாக புறக்கணிக்கப்பட்டது , அடர்ந்த காட்டுக்குள் இது கட்டப்படதனால் இது யார் கண்ணிற்கும் படாமல் சிதலமடயத்தொடங்கியது.பின்னர் 1586 ஆம் ஆண்டு  "António da Madalena" என்ற போர்சுகீசிய துறவியின் கண்ணில் பட்டது, அதை அவர் "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of." என்று கூறியுள்ளார்.

பின்னர் Henri Mouhot என்ற பிரெஞ்சு எழுத்தாளர் தன் புத்கத்தில் இந்த கோயிலின் சிறப்பை வெயிட்டவுடன் தான் இதன் புகழ் உலகம் முழுக்கும் பரவத்தொடங்கியது. அவர் அந்த புத்தகத்தில் One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged என்று குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்!! பின்னர் இங்கு ஆய்வு பணிகளை மேற்கொண்ட பிறகு தான் இது நாம் கட்டியது என்று தெரியவந்தது!!

இன்றைக்கு இருக்ககூடிய தொழில்நுட்பத்தை பயன்படுத்தி கட்டினால் கூட, இப்போதைக்கு இது போன்ற ஒரு கட்டிடம் கட்ட 300 ஆண்டுகள் ஆகும் என ஒரு பொறியாளர் கூறி உள்ளார்.ஆனால் எந்த தொழில் நுட்பமும் இல்லாத அந்த காலத்தில் வெறும் 40 ஆண்டுகளில் இது கட்டிமுடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது இதில் இன்னொரு சிறப்பு "கம்போடிய நாட்டு தேசியக்கொடியில் நம் தமிழர்கள் கட்டிய இந்த கோயில் தான் "தேசிய சின்னமாக"ஆட்சிப் பொறுப்பு பொறிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது!.

இதை பற்றி எழுத சொன்னால் இந்த நாள் முழுவதும் இதன் சிறப்புகளை வரிசை படுத்திக்கொண்டே இருக்கலாம், கடைசியாக ஒன்று இந்த 2012 வரை கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள தொழில்நுட்பம் வாய்ந்த ஒரு கேமராவில் கூட இன்று வரை இதன் முழு கட்டிடத்தையும் படம் பிடிக்க முடியவில்லை!! வானத்தில் 1000 அடிக்கு மேல் விமானத்த்ல் இருந்து எடுத்தால் மட்டுமே இதன் முழு கட்டிடமும் பதிவாகின்றது!! இவ்வளவு சிறப்பு வாய்ந்த இந்த இடத்தை பற்றி எத்தனை பேருக்கு தெரியும் என்பது தெரியவில்லை! குறிப்பாக இது நம் தமிழ் மன்னன் கட்டினான் என்பது எத்தனை தமிழர்களுக்கு தெரியும் என்பதும் கேள்விக்குறியே!!

இன்றும் தாய்லாந்தில் மன்னர், ஆட்சிப் பொறுப்பு ஏற்பதற்கு முன் நமது திருப்பாவையை தாம் பாராயணம் செய்து பின்னர் பதவி ஏற்பதுதான் வழக்கத்தில் உள்ளது.

வெள்ளி, 17 பிப்ரவரி, 2012

Salute to parvathy ammal


Sumanthiran comes forward to save Rajapaksa from international investigations

Sumanthiran comes forward to save Rajapaksa from international investigations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2012, 01:47 GMT]
A few days left to the UNHRC sessions in Geneva, the Colombo-based nominated parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mr. M.A. Sumanthiran, has come out with a statement to BBC Sinhala Service on Tuesday, bailing out the regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa. “TNA backs a domestic process to implement the LLRC recommendations. We should ask for an international probe only after a failure of that,” Sumanthiran said. “It is a step-by-step process. It will take time. They took 30 years in Cambodia,” the BBC further cited the MP, who welcomed the ‘US pressure’ on the SL government. Meanwhile, the visiting US Under Secretary General of State, Maria Otero, told reporters in Colombo on Monday that the US will support a resolution at the UNHRC providing an opportunity for Sri Lanka to implement the LLRC recommendations.

The US position publicly declared now tally with what some US officials told the civil groups in Jaffna a few days ago.

The stands of a revisionist section in the TNA leadership and that of Selvarasa Pathmathan (KP) finally come to a meeting point in facilitating escape avenues to the genocidal regime of Rajapaksa, without any answers to the political fundamentals of the struggle of Eezham Tamils, thanks to the manoeuvrings of India and the USA that were in complicity with the regime in the conduct of the war, political observers in the island said.

Coming out with open deception on the plight of former members and cadres of the LTTE, the TNA leader R. Sampanthan on Wednesday praised Colombo's ‘rehabilitation’ of them as excellent.

“We are glad that a large number of young men and women have been rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. The rehabilitation programme has gone on very well,” Mr. Sampanthan was cited as saying by the Daily Mirror.

The US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Blake, long associated with the war and its aftermath, accompanied Maria Otero to Colombo.

The Press Trust of India (PTI) cited Blake saying that the USA will back a resolution ‘against’ Sri Lanka to implement the LLRC recommendations to advance reconciliation and to address the accountability, human rights and democracy concerns.

However, the proposal of the USA is not much different from the stand taken earlier by India, China and Russia in the international forums.

Media campaigns talking of Indo-US pressure and Rajapaksa government cracking down are a farce to deceive the Tamils, the political observers commented.

The proposed US move in the UNHRC in Geneva neither addresses due justice for the crimes of the genocidal war nor does justice to the post-war plight of Eezham Tamils. ‘Reconciliation’, step-by-step accountability, the deception of individual human rights and ‘democracy’ are not the issues of priority for Eezham Tamils compared to land-grab, colonisation, militarisation, denial of the right to self-determination and the denial of the right to develop themselves, faced by Eezham Tamils as a nation in the island. What international forum is going to address these issues is their question.

Pre-emption, hijack and precaution against Eezham Tamils coming out with any mass agitation to check the political hoodwink are being carried out in full swing in various ways from ministries to the activities of foundations in many countries in the West, diaspora Tamil circles pointed out.

Meanwhile, TNA parliamentarian Sumanthiran's statement is an open rebuttal to the unanimous resolution of the Tamil Nadu State Assembly and to the struggling spirit of the people of Tamil Nadu supporting the cause of the Eezham Tamils, the political observers in the island further said.

Coming out with a detailed analysis, the TNA had earlier rejected the LLRC report.

Mahinda Rajapaksa and the forces that were in complicity with him have again achieved their ‘victory’ even before the commencement of the UNHRC sessions in Geneva.

Such victories become repeatedly possible for the unjust, due to a failure in the identification of the adversaries, lack of strategy and lack of coordinated political action on the part of the Tamils, was the feeling in the diaspora Tamil circles, who lament at not finding political leaders but only agents.

Related Articles:
15.02.12   Build capacity when regime tries to take away all capacity: ..
14.02.12   Australian Tamils critical of Rudd's response to LLRC report
11.02.12   War crimes of ‘both sides’ or war crimes of all sides: Oslo ..
30.01.12   USA pressurises civil society to accept genocide and to live..


External Links:
dfa.gov.za: South African Government position on the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) in Sri Lanka
BBC Sinhala: Sri Lanka divided after the war, says cabinet minister
Daily Mirror: TNA hails govt. on rehab of combatants

Buddhist monk on Sinhalicisation project in Batticaloa causes ethnic disharmony

Buddhist monk on Sinhalicisation project in Batticaloa causes ethnic disharmony

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 February 2012, 23:55 GMT]
Venerable Ambitiya Sumanarathna Thera, the head of the Buddhist temple in Batticaloa, who conducted a fast-unto-death campaign in the year 2010 demanding Colombo to post Sinhala officers to all government departments in the predominantly Tamil-speaking district, has been waging a new fast-unto-death campaign from Tuesday this week. The new campaign is targeted against Tamils, who have been demanding resettlement in their occupied lands by documenting their land deeds. The monk, putting forward a false claim that officials in Batticaloa were issuing false land deeds to Tamils, claimed that the lands belonged to Sinhalese. He ended the fast-unto-death campaign after Colombo's paramilitary operative and a deputy minister in Rajpaksa's cabinet, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, met the prelate and promised to forward his appeal to SL President on Wednesday.

Following the 2010 campaign by the monk of the Mangala Raja Maha Vihara in Batticaloa, Sinhala officials have been deployed in almost all the key government institutions of the district.

The monk had demanded Sinhala officiers to be appointed to the Courts, District Secretariat, and Divisional Secretariats in 2010 and had called of his hunger strike in that instant on the promise by the Colombo government to implement his demands in due course.

Since then top-level Sinhala officers are appointed to the Eastern University and to all government institutions. Minor grade employees from south are also being posted to the district.

The monk launched the new campaign following the request of SL authorities in Colombo, Tamil officials in the district alleged.

The prelate is widely considered as a mouthpiece of the Colombo government in Batticaloa, making unjust demands to the authorities and creating dissension among communities. He has also been projecting “Mahinda Chindana” of the SL president in the district.

Chronology:

Abductions on rise in Colombo

Abductions on rise in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 February 2012, 22:48 GMT]
An abduction was reported in front of the Court complex on Monday and a body of a male was dumped and burnt near SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's private residence in Boteju Mawatha in Colombo 05 on Tuesday while the fate of a leading Tamil businessman who was abducted on Saturday still remained in the hands of the abductors who have claimed 100 million rupees ransom from his family.

On Tuesday morning around 9.30 a.m. unknown persons who arrived in a white van dumped a male body and burnt it in front of SL President's private residence.

Earlier on Monday, an abduction was reported as the victim of the incident was walking out of Court complex. His whereabouts are still unknown.

On Saturday, around 7 armed men who came in a white van abducted the Tamil businessman Ramasamy Prabhakaran.

Hong Kong-based rights watchdog, Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), on Wednesday issued the following statement with details on the abduction of Mr. Ramasamy Prabhakaran:

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a man who was tortured and illegally detained for 28 months was abducted before the Supreme Court could hear his Fundamental Rights application. The AHRC has in the past documented similar cases wherein police officials were directly involved in abducting and murdering torture victims to deliberately prevent them from testifying before court.

CASE DETAILS:

At 3:30pm on 11 February, 2012, Mr. Ramasamy Prabakaran was forcibly abducted in the presence of his wife, Shiromi and their daughter, near their home in Canal Bank Road, Wellawatte. Prabakaran, who owns Panama Traders, an electronic shop in Majestic City Complex, is a Tamil of Indian origin.

The Supreme Court was to hear his Fundamental Rights application on February 13. Please read our comments via our Open Letter to the Attorney General.

It is reported that the abductors, armed with assault rifles and shotguns, hid in the immediate vicinity of their home before they abducted Prabakaran. They took him into their 'white van' which was waiting nearby before they hurriedly left towards the direction of Dehiwela. The abduction happened in open view of the public; however, none of those who had seen the abduction and plea of the victim's wife had come to help. The reluctance and fear of the people to intervene is due, no doubt, to the widely held belief that these white van abductions are actually perpetrated by the security forces themselves. Prabakaran's wife, Shiromi, noted the registration number of the white van and immediately reported it to the Wellawatte Police. However, she was told that, "the number plates were false and the vehicle could not be traced".

The AHRC is of the opinion that the abduction of Prabakaran was deliberately done to prevent any possibilities of remedies by way of preventing him from testifying to the Supreme Court.

In the past, two torture victims were also assassinated. They are Gerald Perera, who was killed a few days before he was to give evidence before the Negombo High Court and Sugath Nishantha Fernando, who was also murdered as he was pursuing a Fundamental Rights application following the torture he and his family endured at the hands of the police.

Like Perera and Fernando, Prabakaran was had also been illegally arrested, detained and tortured from May 2009 before he was released in September 2011 due to lack of evidence and all charges against him were dropped. He was accused of being an LTTE member. In the police custody, he was interrogated, assaulted and tortured by senior police officers.

After his release, Prabakaran filed a fundamental rights application at the Supreme Court alleging "unlawful arrest and detention". The Supreme Court was to hear his application after it granted leave to proceed. In addition to his fundamental rights petition, he also filed a separate motion asking the court to order the police to unseal the premises of his business, on which the police had continuously kept sealed despite his acquittal by the court from the charges filed on him.

In the fundamental rights petition, Prabakaran's counsels, Romesh de Silva P.C. and K.S. Rathnavel, named Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaas Gunawardena, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Anura Senanayake, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), and the Attorney General (AG), and eight others as respondents. After his release, in March 2011 Prabakaran wrote to the Secretariat of the Committee against Torture asking for their intervention and giving details on how he was arrested, detained and tortured. The full text is below: 6767 Magazine Prison

Chronology:

change will come through education only :கல்வியால் மட்டுமே மாற்றம் வரும்:

சொல்கிறார்கள்                                                                                                                            



வறுமையில் உள்ள குழந்தைகளுக்கு, கல்வி உதவி செய்யும், "நம்மவர்கள்' அமைப்பின் உறுப்பினர் ஜான் ராஜா: வறுமையான சூழலில் வளர்ந்தாலும், படித்து, இன்று நல்ல நிலையில் இருக்கிறேன். ஏழ்மையில் உள்ள மாணவர்கள் படிக்க, உதவ வேண்டும் என்பது தான் ஆசை. ஆனால், இதை நண்பர்களிடம் கூறினால், என்ன சொல்வார்கள் என்று தயங்கினேன். என் நண்பர்கள் பலரும், இதே எண்ணத்தில் இருப்பது, பிறகு தான் தெரிந்தது. முதலில், 10 பேர் சேர்ந்து, ஆளுக்கு 100 ரூபாய் வீதம், ஆயிரம் ரூபாயில் அரசுப் பள்ளி மாணவர்கள் சிலருக்கு, நோட்டு புத்தகங்கள் வாங்கித் தந்தோம். மன நிறைவான அந்த நாள், உற்சாகத்தையும், நிம்மதியையும் தந்தது. எங்களின் இந்தப் பணியை, சிலர் வெளிப்படையாகவே ஏளனம் செய்தனர். அதை, நாங்கள் பொருட்படுத்தவில்லை. இன்று, பல நிறுவனங்களில் பணிபுரியும், 86 பேர் நம்மவர்களில் உறுப்பினர்களாக உள்ளனர். இங்கு, நான் உட்பட யாருக்கும் எந்தப் பதவியும் இல்லை. வட சென்னைப் பகுதியில், நன்றாகப் படிக்குகல்வியால் மட்டுமே மாற்றம் வரும்: வறுமையில் உள்ள குழந்தைகளுக்கு, கல்வி உதவி செய்யும், "நம்மவர்கள்' அமைப்பின் உறுப்பினர் ஜான் ராஜா: வறுமையான சூழலில் வளர்ந்தாலும், படித்து, இன்று நல்ல நிலையில் இருக்கிறேன். ஏழ்மையில் உள்ள மாணவர்கள் படிக்க, உதவ வேண்டும் என்பது தான் ஆசை. ஆனால், இதை நண்பர்களிடம் கூறினால், என்ன சொல்வார்கள் என்று தயங்கினேன். என் நண்பர்கள் பலரும், இதே எண்ணத்தில் இருப்பது, பிறகு தான் தெரிந்தது. முதலில், 10 பேர் சேர்ந்து, ஆளுக்கு 100 ரூபாய் வீதம், ஆயிரம் ரூபாயில் அரசுப் பள்ளி மாணவர்கள் சிலருக்கு, நோட்டு புத்தகங்கள் வாங்கித் தந்தோம். மன நிறைவான அந்த நாள், உற்சாகத்தையும், நிம்மதியையும் தந்தது. எங்களின் இந்தப் பணியை, சிலர் வெளிப்படையாகவே ஏளனம் செய்தனர். அதை, நாங்கள் பொருட்படுத்தவில்லை. இன்று, பல நிறுவனங்களில் பணிபுரியும், 86 பேர் நம்மவர்களில் உறுப்பினர்களாக உள்ளனர். இங்கு, நான் உட்பட யாருக்கும் எந்தப் பதவியும் இல்லை. வட சென்னைப் பகுதியில், நன்றாகப் படிக்கும் ஏழ்மை நிலையில் உள்ள,15 மாணவர்களைத் தேர்வு செய்துள்ளோம். அவர்கள் என்ன படிக்க விரும்பினாலும், அதற்கான முழுச் செலவையும், எங்கள் அமைப்பு ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளும். உதவி தேவைப்படும் மாணவர்கள் யார் வேண்டுமானாலும், எங்களுக்குத் தகவல் தரலாம். தகவல் கிடைத்ததும், மாணவர்கள் படிக்கும் பள்ளிக்கும், அவர்களின் வீட்டிற்கும் நேரடியாகச் சென்று, விவரங்களைச் சேகரித்து, உதவி பெறத் தகுதியான மாணவர் என்றால், உடனே, தேவையானவற்றை செய்வோம். எங்களின் அமைப்பைப் பற்றி அறிந்த வெளிநாட்டு நண்பர்கள் பலர், உதவ முன்வந்துள்ளனர். இதையெல்லாம் விட, எங்கள் பெற்றோர் எங்களுக்கு உறுதுணையாக உள்ளனர். கல்வியால் மட்டுமே, சமூக மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்த முடியும் என்பதில், உறுதியாக உள்ளோம். அதனால், கல்வியை அடிப்படையாக வைத்தே, எங்கள் செயல்பாடுகள் இருக்கும். கற்றறிந்த சமூகத்தை உருவாக்குவதே, எங்களின் லட்சியம்.ம் ஏழ்மை நிலையில் உள்ள,15 மாணவர்களைத் தேர்வு செய்துள்ளோம். அவர்கள் என்ன படிக்க விரும்பினாலும், அதற்கான முழுச் செலவையும், எங்கள் அமைப்பு ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளும். உதவி தேவைப்படும் மாணவர்கள் யார் வேண்டுமானாலும், எங்களுக்குத் தகவல் தரலாம். தகவல் கிடைத்ததும், மாணவர்கள் படிக்கும் பள்ளிக்கும், அவர்களின் வீட்டிற்கும் நேரடியாகச் சென்று, விவரங்களைச் சேகரித்து, உதவி பெறத் தகுதியான மாணவர் என்றால், உடனே, தேவையானவற்றை செய்வோம். எங்களின் அமைப்பைப் பற்றி அறிந்த வெளிநாட்டு நண்பர்கள் பலர், உதவ முன்வந்துள்ளனர். இதையெல்லாம் விட, எங்கள் பெற்றோர் எங்களுக்கு உறுதுணையாக உள்ளனர். கல்வியால் மட்டுமே, சமூக மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்த முடியும் என்பதில், உறுதியாக உள்ளோம். அதனால், கல்வியை அடிப்படையாக வைத்தே, எங்கள் செயல்பாடுகள் இருக்கும். கற்றறிந்த சமூகத்தை உருவாக்குவதே, எங்களின் லட்சியம்.

upper side of the ramanathasaamy temple


வியாழன், 16 பிப்ரவரி, 2012

Build capacity when regime tries to take away all capacity: Prof Gene Sharp

Build capacity when regime tries to take away all capacity: Prof Gene Sharp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 February 2012, 17:26 GMT]
In an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Friday in Oslo, Dr. Gene Sharp, Emeritus Professor of Political Science of the University of Massachusetts, provided some insights on non-violent strategies to be pursued by nations against states and powers that deny them their legitimate rights. “They have to build up some capacity for strength when the regime is trying to take away all capacity for strength from the oppressed people,” he said, adding, “We need to have a wise strategy – not something where you express anger but which achieves smaller victories and finally a big victory.” However, the leading theoretician of non-violent struggle who was not specifically addressing on any of the current struggles, conceded that “The situations are very different for different people of different countries.”

Gene Sharp
“To plan a strategy, people used to come to us and say, tell us what to do. We don’t do that. We tell them no. Because we don’t know your situation,” Sharp said.

84-year old, Prof Gene Sharp, was in Oslo as a participant in the Human Rights Human Wrongs documentary film festival. An author of over ten influential books, his From Dictatorship to Democracy, published in 1993, is considered as a guidebook for non-violent struggles in many parts of the world, especially in the Balkans and the Middle East.



Sharp is intellectually influenced by the Indian activist M.K. Gandhi and the American thinker Henry David Thoreau. He has been termed a ‘non-violent Clausewitz’ by the mainstream media.

However, Professor Sharp has not escaped criticism. French intellectual, journalist and political activist Thierry Meyssan in 2005 alleged that Sharp and his organisation Albert Einstein Institution had been helping NATO and the CIA to train the leaders of the soft coups. Crediting Sharp with unifying the Tibetan opposition under Dalai Lama, Meyssan alleged that Sharp tried to form a “dissident group within PLO” so that Palestinian nationalists would stop “terrorism”. Professor Sharp responded in an open letter to Thierry Meyssan categorically denying the allegations in 2007.

While some of the world powers that architected the genocidal war against Eezham Tamils are now engaged in pre-emption instead of justice, and hence are anxious whether their hoodwink would lead to another armed struggle, Prof Sharp’s thoughts on non-violent struggle and step by step achievement may find criticism as ways of imperialism’s ‘counterinsurgency’ and are ineffectice against planned structural genocide in the island.

But Sharp’s interview raises some serious issues for Eezham Tamils to ask themselves, whether they have tried their full capacity in the island, in Tamil Nadu and in the diaspora for a non-violent struggle in the given context.

If people are not able to plan a non-violent strategy then they are not able to plan a violent struggle either, Sharp said in the interview.

* * *


Observing that specific contexts require different strategies, Dr. Sharp outlined three broad points:

One needs to know your opponent in depth, including the weakness of the opponent. One needs to know and understand non-violent struggle in depth. One needs to know how to think strategically “like an army officer”.

When asked whether these general points on non-violent struggle could serve as guidelines to all types of tyrannical governments, Dr. Sharp responded that “Not every non-violent struggle succeeds. If the people planning the struggle don’t know what they are doing, if the people do not have a firm base in social institutions, if the people are frightened and weak, if they have become terrorized by the regime, it is likely to fail.”

He also stressed on the need for smaller victories when a big victory seemed impossible.

Dr. Sharp was opposed to the use of violence as he considered it fundamentally not strategic as the opponent usually has vast military capacities than the oppressed people.

When TamilNet asked him about a case of a national liberation struggle of a numerically disadvantaged nation in a state where the dominant nation wields monopoly over violence, he opined that a clear understanding of the context alone can secure victory.

Dr. Sharp was also of the opinion that while the oppressor nation should also ideally wage a non-violent struggle for the rights of the oppressed nation, it cannot be expected to do the same. He placed the onus on the oppressed nation to wage the struggle. The oppressed nation is the one that could cause changes in the oppressor nation, he said.

Since his focus has by and large been on tackling dictatorships, a question was posed on how his strategy would work in the case of a nominal democracy, where an oppressor nation commits genocide, militarizes and colonizes the lands of the oppressed nation. Sharp replied that a non-violent struggle in future would be tough especially if the oppressed nation has had a history of violent resistance.

“The oppressed people need to concentrate on small steps... Build up some control over their own lives. Simple things. Raising their own food, for example. Having their own sources of energy, if possible. Maintaining their language with their young children.”

He was of the opinion that while such a people should be proud of their history, they should not eulogise the violent parts of it adding that “they have to build up some capacity for strength when the regime is trying to take away all capacity for strength from the oppressed people.”

In the occupied territory of Tamil Eelam, steady Sinhala colonization and military presence imposes its language, culture and religious symbols on the native people in an attempt to destroy their identity.

Dr. Sharp argued that in such conditions the people should not submit to learning the foreign language when it was imposed on them and small community units and families must constantly persist in preserving their language. He also highlighted the positive role religion can play in preserving a sense of community.

He also gave suggestions for the diaspora of such a people to use creative means to connect to the people in the homeland and to broadcast their condition to the world. Sharp opined that the diaspora must also educate the people in the world Establishments that help the oppressive state, of the conditions in the ground and their aims, cautioning of starting with ‘huge objectives’.

It is critical not to play in the hands of the enemy, Sharp said.

* * *


Some of the observations of Sharp are orientated to conditions in the New World, and ancient nations in the Old World threatened by an internationalized paradigm of annihilation have to think of specific strategies to suit them.

For thirty years Eezham Tamils have tried a non-violent struggle and for another thirty years they tried an armed struggle.

The State of Sri Lanka and the powers that backed it for whatever the reasons, have set a new global paradigm in the way the war has been ended.

This is totally a new situation for a national struggle to adopt a non-violent struggle. It would have been enlightening if Shrap had said something on handling the new global paradigm as such that was experimented on Eezham Tamils by all the powers of the world and the UN.

The struggle of Eezham Tamils is not anymore confined to the State of Sri Lanka or to the Sinhala nation. The struggle has to challenge the new paradigm and the powers that back it, if we identify the ‘enemies’ correctly.

The thinking groomed in the South of the island for ages is a simple formula that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese and only Tamil Nadu in India belongs to the Tamils. The ancient nation of Eezham Tamils of its own evolution and identity in the island never figures in their imagination.

Therefore, there need to be no illusion about any military solution or political solution coming from the South ultimately aiming for genocide and structural genocide.

Genocide not necessarily mean the killing of an entire people, as some try to argue against genocide in the island say and as even Prof Sharp agrues generally.

Killing even a part of a people in large numbers is genocide, according to its legal definition. What Sri Lanka did in the pogroms and military operations of more than 50 years, and ultimately at Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal, were a clear case of genocide.

They were intended for the total annihilation of Eezham Tamils as a nation of its own territory in the island, through a structural genocide to be followed– colonial, psychological, cultural and ‘development’. All remaining Eezham Tamils should eventually become Sinhalese if they want to survive in the island, is the message that repeatedly comes and is implied in the LLRC report.

Eezham Tamils cannot have a land for them, all land belongs to all, is the stand of the dominant nation intends to do away with the other.

The struggle of Eezham Tamils therefore finds no comparison with those of the blacks in the USA or in South Africa (minority in a multi-ethnic New Nation or aparthied-affected majority in a colonial-made State).

Losing their land is death-blow to the nation of Eezham Tamils.

Eezham Tamils at no stage of their struggle could afford to drop their identity as a nation, its claim of sovereignty and the right to self-determination, for the sake of ‘small victories’ or for showing to others that they don’t have ‘huge objectives’.

In fact, the primary aim of the enemies is to make Eezham Tamils forget the fundamentals. The paradigm challenge lies in the fundamentals.

It is now for the internationally-accused to reach out with alternatives if they want, and they may succeed if they are honest and sincere. But, that is not going to happen.

Prof. Sharp agrees to the extent that in cases of natoinal oppression the opressed should preserve language and religion, and resist learning an imposed language.

If preserving identity is important, in the context of Eezham Tamils they have to strictly maintain the Eezham Tamil identity and resist to the imposed ‘Sri Lankan’ identity. This could be easily done if the diaspora and Tamil Nadu are psychologically determined about it.

Meanwhile, Eezham Tamils have to count India out, if they want separation to protect them, is the position of New Delhi.

As the major player in the region, the struggle of Eezham Tamils may have to be primarily addressed against New Delhi.

The strength of Eezham Tamils at the end of the Vanni War is their moral victory that has brought Sri Lanka and all the international players to face universal accusations of crimes.

If Tamils have to opt for a non-violent struggle, the primary question that arises is that to what extent they have translated this strength into a massive mass movement of global nature in demanding ultimate political justice – not merely war crimes justice, as some try to deviate. According to the deviators, the war was not wrong, the intentions of the war was not wrong, but only the way it was conducted was wrong.

Even the Tamil Nadu State Assembly has deviated the directions of the struggle in this respect.

Eezham Tamil political circles in the diaspora still don’t think of continuing the momentum and solidarity shown by the masses during the war into a global non-violent movement, demanding liberation.

Another strength of Eezham Tamils in a non-violent struggle, that is not available to many other struggling nations, is the strength of Tamil Nadu, global Tamils and a world-wide Eezham Tamil diaspora – if Tamils could overcome dissension conspired by their enemies.

To what extent this strength has been mobilised with a coordinated political agenda is the question.

If a non-violent struggle means building capacity of strength through independent institutions, to what extent our existing political parties in the island and political or social movements in the diaspora have a vision to achieve it without falling victims to the ‘development’ agenda of the detractors of our cause.

In the given context of the nature of oppression in the island, the model of non-violent struggle discussed by Prof. Sharp should first begin in Tamil Nadu, especially against New Delhi, if any success encouraging and directing Eezham Tamils towards a healthy non-violent struggle could be expected, commented a political science analyst from Tamil Nadu.

External Links:
Voltairenet.org: The Albert Einstein Institution: non-violence according to the CIA
peacmagazine.org: 198 methods of nonviolent action
peace.ca: Gene Sharp: A Biographical Profile
aeinstein.org: The Albert Einstein Institution
BBC: Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook

Parents- Please listen! பெற்றோர்களே கவனியுங்கள்!'

சொல்கிறார்கள்


மன நல மருத்துவர் திருநாவுக்கரசு: தற் போது இளம் குற்றவாளிகள் அதிகரித்து வருகின்றனர். 13 வயது முதல், 20 வயதிற்குட்பட்டவர்கள் தான் கொலை, கொள்ளை போன்ற சம்பவங்களில் அதிகம் ஈடுபடுகின்றனர். இதுபோன்ற பிரச்னைகளுக்கு காரணம், நம் வளர்ப்பு முறையும், வாழ்க்கைச் சூழலும் தாறுமாறாக மாறிப் போய் கிடப்பதும் தான். இன்றைய படிப்பு, அறிவை வளர்ப்பதற்கு பதில், பொருளாதார ஆதாயத்தை நோக்கியதாகவே உள்ளது. தாய்மொழிப் பாடங்கள் வழியே மாணவர்களுக்கு புகுத்தப்படும் நன்னெறிகள், நீதிபோதனைகள் அனைத்தும் குறைந்து விட்டன. நற்குணங்களை வளர்த்தெடுக்கும் அம்சங்கள், மொழி இலக்கியங்களில் தான் அதிகம் விரவிக் கிடக்கின்றன. விரல் விட்டு எண்ணும் அளவிலான மாணவர்கள் கூட, இவற்றையெல்லாம் இன்று படிப்பதில்லை. அறிவியல், கணக்கு என்று இயந்திரத் தனமான பாடங்களையே தான் குழந்தையிலிருந்தே கற்றுக் கொள்கின்றனர். காரணம், நம் வற்புறுத்தல் தான். மீடியாக்களில், அதீதமாகக் காட்டப்படும் வன்முறைக் காட்சிகள், குடும்பத்தில் பெற்றோரிடம் நடக்கும் தொடர் மோதல்கள், இன்னபிற அம்சங்கள் அனைத்தும் சேர்ந்து, சிறு வயதிலேயே பெரும் குற்றங்களைச் செய்யும் அளவிற்கு மனதைத் தூண்டுகின்றன. உளவியல் ரீதியாக இதை அணுகும்போது, தொடர்ந்து ஒரே விஷயத்தை எடுத்துக் கொண்டு கொடுக்கப்படும் டார்ச்சர், இயல்பாகவே மனபாதிப்பை உண்டாக்கும். இதை மன நோய் என்று சொல்ல முடியாது; மன பாதிப்பு என்று சொல்லலாம். வழக்கமான செயல்பாடுகளிலிருந்து, ஒருவர் மாறுபாடு தெரிந்தாலே, அதைச் சரியாக கண்டுபிடித்து முறையான கவுன்சிலிங் கொடுக்க வேண்டும். மனநோய் என்பது 40, 50 வயதிற்கு மேல் தான் வரும் என்று இப்போது பலரும் நினைக்கின்றனர். ஆனால், இன்று 13 -17 வயதுள்ளவர்கள் அதிகமாக மனநோய் பாதிப்பிற்கு ஆளாகின்றனர். இதை அனைத்துப் பெற்றோரும் உணர்ந்து, குழந்தை வளர்ப்பில் அதிக கவனம் செலுத்த வேண்டும்.

புதன், 15 பிப்ரவரி, 2012

Occupying SL Army, Police jointly attack Tamil youth in Vanni

Occupying SL Army, Police jointly attack Tamil youth in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 18:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka's occupying Sinhala army and police brutally attacked a number of Tamil youth below the age of 25, who were passing by the road in Nedung-kea'ni in Mullaiththeevu district on Tuesday night. The unprovoked and random attack followed some complaints of Sinhala road workers from the South, news sources in Vanni told TamilNet. Sometimes back a similar attack took place in Vanni after a confrontation between some Sinhala visitors from the South and the local people. Such attacks by the colonial forces were to remind the Eezham Tamils in Vanni of their subjugated status, the sources further said.

The SLA soldiers stopped around 7 youths who were crossing the road. The youth were severely attacked, made naked and dumped into the nearby irrigation canal and were tortured inside the canal.

The loud wailings of the youth were heard for a long time while people confined themselves to their houses due to fear.

Finally, the SLA soldiers dragged some of the youth into the nearby scrub jungle, residents said.

The SLA and Police excused themselves to the public by saying that the youth had come to attack their camps.

Last December, a group of Sinhala men from South who came to a Tamil shop at Ira'naimadu junction in Kilinochchi, attacked the shop owner provoking the local people to retaliate.

Following the incident, the occupying military brutally attacked passing by people of the locality.

Chronology:

Australian Tamils critical of Rudd's response to LLRC report

Australian Tamils critical of Rudd's response to LLRC report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 13:15 GMT]
While the Australasian Federation of Tamil Association (AFTA) said it is disappointed to see Australia’s response to LLRC "lacks either the persuasive language or open caution to Sri Lanka for its failure to address alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights," Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) said it is "concerned that Mr Rudd has continued to call on Sri Lanka to investigate itself. The Tamil community has no confidence in the Government of Sri Lanka to conduct an independent investigation and deliver justice to the victims of the war. We cannot expect justice when an investigation is initiated by a party to the alleged crimes," ATC release said.

While the two representative organizations of the expatriate Tamils in Australia were highly critical of Rudd's response to the LLRC report, Sri Lanka's controversial ambassador to Australia praised the same report for "refusing to back calls for an independent international inquiry into his country's vicious civil war."

Australian Tamil Congress said in its release: "The LLRC's failure to acknowledge and address issues of war crimes has revealed Sri Lanka will not genuinely pursue justice for war victims. Furthermore, history has proven that internal inquiries by Sri Lankan authorities have predominantly failed. With a well entrenched culture of immunity still persisting, a truly independent investigation is only possible through an international mechanism as recommended by the UN panel of experts last year."

AFTA commented: "It is obvious that our FM has chosen to ignore the fact that the Sri Lankan President has failed not only to implement a number of simple, mere symbolic and easiest recommendations of the LLRC such as the National Anthem should be sung in both languages at national functions using the opportunity at the recently held Independence day celebrations but also has tried to hoodwink the international community by saying in his independent speech that during the 6 weeks period after the release of the report his government has been actively implementing the recommendations of the LLRC."

Expatriate Tamil circles widely believe that the reluctuance of the Western Governments, including the US and Australia, to push for an external independent investigation into the alleged war-crimes, reflect possible complicity of several countries in violating international treaties including Genocide Convention for the failure to intervene and stop the "genocide."

"Expatriate Tamils should be vigilant and understand the background to the "statements" by the international community which criticize Sri Lanka's rights violations but continue to allow Sri Lanka space to avoid an independent investigation despite the presence of plausible evidence that "international crimes" were committed in the final stages of war. Individual diplomats may also be criminally liable for "Crime against peace" for efforts to disrupt the peace process while a Ceasefire Agreement was in place and when the two antagonist parties were involved in a peace process," spokesperson for the US-based activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said.

External Links:
AU: Australia's response to Sri Lanka's LLRC Report
Age: Sri Lanka heaps praise on Kevin Rudd

White-van abductors demand 100 million ransom

White-van abductors demand 100 million ransom

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 01:41 GMT]
Speaking in broken Tamil, a man claiming to have abducted the Colombo-based Tamil businessman Ramayasamy Prabakaran on Saturday, has demanded ransom of 100 million rupees over phone call, family members have told media Monday.

Mr. Prabakaran had been earlier detained by the Sri Lankan police for 28 months without any inquiries and was released last September by an SL court that didn't find any specific charge against him.

Seeking justice and compensation from the SL authorities was possibly the reason behind his abduction, his business friends blamed.

Prabakaran, who hails from Badullla, is married to a Sinhala woman and he is a father of one.

Chronology:

EPC puts off debate on controversial ‘land grab’ bill

EPC puts off debate on controversial ‘land grab’ bill

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 01:37 GMT]
The Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) on Monday put off the debate on the proposed "Town and Country Planning Ordinance Amendment" till February 28 as majority members of the opposition raised objection to the amendment bill. This controversial amendment allows the central government to acquire any land for ‘development’ and ‘religious purposes’ without the consent of the provincial council.

The amendment has been placed before the provincial councils to obtain their approval before tabling it in parliament on a directive by the SL Supreme Court before determine its constitutionality.

The SL Supreme Court is of opinion that powers regarding land are devolved to provincial council. Hence the consent of the provincial council is needed before tabling any amendment to parliament regarding land matters.

Colombo-backed group attacks Muslim journalist in Batticaloa

Colombo-backed group attacks Muslim journalist in Batticaloa

 

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 01:24 GMT]
Puvi Rahumathulla, the chief editor of a weekly magazine “Vaara Uraikal” published from Kaaththaankudi in Batticaloa district was attacked by a group of persons Friday while he was distributing copies of his magazine, according to complaints lodged with the Kaaththaankudi Police.

Vaara Uraikal magazine has been critical of Mahinda Rajapakse regime, disclosing corrupt practices of SL deputy ministers of the Colombo government in the district and fraudulent activities of Kaaththaankudi Piratheasa Chapai (PS) run by pro-Rajapaksa Muslim politicians.

Rahumathulla has been harassed and intimidated by pro-government elements continuously for exposing misdeeds of the Colombo government and its henchmen in the Batticaloa district. He was assaulted in 2010 and 2011.

No media organization at island level or at provincial level has come forward to safeguard this journalist-editor Rahumathulla from the continuous attack and intimidation, sources close to him blamed.

Chronology:

heroine - photo message


photo message : poverty



"ஒரு அடியேனும் திருப்பி அடியுங்கள்!' 


பெண்களுக்கான தற்காப்புக் கலை பயிற்சியளிக்கும் கோபுடோ கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி: தமிழக அளவில் பலருக்கும் கராத்தே பயிற்சி அளிக்கிறேன். என்னிடம் பயின்ற, 16 மாணவ - மாணவியர், உலக அளவில் தங்கப் பதக்கம் பெற்றுள்ளனர். பெண்கள், தங்களை தற்காத்துக் கொள்ளும் முறைகள் பற்றி பயிற்சியளிக்கிறேன். ஒருவரின் உடலில் எளிதாக தாக்கக்கூடிய பாகங்களான கண், வாய், மூக்கு போன்ற பகுதிகளைத் தாக்கினாலே, எதிராளி எளிதில் தடுமாறி விடுவான். கைவசம் பாக்கெட் கத்தி, மிளகாய்ப் பொடி, ஸ்பிரே இல்லையென்றாலும், துப்பட்டா, டவல், குடை, சாவிக்கொத்து, மோதிரம், சில்லறைக் காசு, சுருட்டப்பட்ட மாத, வார இதழ் என்று, கையிலுள்ள பொருட்களையே ஆயுதமாகப் பயன்படுத்தலாம்; குறைந்த கால பயிற்சியே இதற்குப் போதுமானது. உதாரணமாக, ஒரு பெண் இரவு நேரத்தில், இருட்டான பகுதியில் செல்லும் போது, முன்னெச்சரிக்கையாக துப்பட்டாவில் ஒரு கல்லை முடிந்து வைத்துக் கொள்ளலாம். யாரேனும் கத்தி அல்லது ஆயுதம் கொண்டு தாக்க வந்தால், தங்கள் கையில் உள்ள குடையை, சட்டென ஆயுதமாக்க வேண்டும். எதிராளி குத்த வரும் போது, குடையால் அதைத் தடுத்து, குடையின் வளைந்த கைப்பிடிக்குள் அவன் கையைச் சிக்க வைத்துத் திருகி, கீழே இழுத்துப் போட்டு, அவன் சுதாரிப்பதற்குள் தப்பிக்கலாம். வளையலைக் கழட்டி எதிராளியின் மணிக்கட்டில் வேகமாக குத்தினால், வலி தாங்காமல், கையை விட்டுவிடுவான். எதிராளி கழுத்தை நெரித்தால், கைவிரல்களே ஆயுதம். இரண்டு விரல்களைக் கொண்டு அவன் கண்களைக் குத்தலாம். பெண்கள் பெரும்பாலும் எதிர்ப்பதில்லை என்பதாலேயே திருடர்களும், போக்கிரிகளும் தைரியமாக, துணிந்து குற்றச் செயல்களில் ஈடுபடுகின்றனர். துப்பட்டாவே துப்பாக்கி, வளையலே வாள் என்று மனதில் நினைத்து பதிலடி கொடுத்தால், நிச்சயம் நம்மை தற்காத்துக் கொள்ளலாம்!

செவ்வாய், 14 பிப்ரவரி, 2012

SLAF fighter jet crashes in North Western Province

SLAF fighter jet crashes in North Western Province

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 February 2012, 11:19 GMT]
A Russian-built MiG-27 fighter jet used by the Sri Lanka Air Force against civilian targets in the country of Eezham Tamils during the war, crashed Monday in the North Western Province. The SLAF deployed Russian built fighters to carry cluster bombs on LTTE and civilian targets in Vanni, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity throughout the war.

The SLAF said there was no casualties and that the cause of crash was ‘engine failure’.

The SLAF had deployed foreign pilots to fly its fighter jets during the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The fighter was used to train new pilots when it crashed, informed sources said.

The Russian built bomber with a "crocodile nose," containing laser rangefinder, is capable of carrying large variety of bombs, unguided rockets, and missiles.

Pakistan seeks Colombo’s help in deploying genocidal model

Pakistan seeks Colombo’s help in deploying genocidal model

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 February 2012, 11:38 GMT]
A high level team of Sri Lankan officials who visited Pakistan were actually on a mission to help Pakistan combat and crush the Baloch freedom fighters or Sarmachars demanding independence from the failing state in South Asia, said an Examiner feature by Ahmar Mustikhan on Monday. Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa was on a two-day visit to Islamabad and signed three MoUs with Pakistan. But secret talks held during the visit were on Pakistan getting Colombo’s ‘expertise’ in crushing Tamil Tigers for deployment against the Balochistan movement, and this matter should be immediately reported to the International Criminal Court, the feature further said.

The feature quoted a former Balochistan fisheries minister Kachkol Ali Advocate, talking of a protracted struggle of the Balochs, dismissing any comparison between the Tamil and Baloch movement.

But in dismissing comparison, the Oslo-based former Baloch minister only exposed his ignorance in South Asian affairs, when he said “The Baloch are the sons of the soil of Balochistan, while Tamils came from elsewhere to Sri Lanka.”

It is such poor understanding among the struggling nations about one another that helps the oppressors to easily go ahead with their agenda, commented diaspora Tamil circles, reminding the Baloch politician that Eezham Tamils are as old as the Sinhalese in making ancient nations in the island.

Meanwhile, with war expected soon with Iran, the USA is keen in securing Sri Lanka and Maldives on its side. The current US engagements aiming at pre-emption and mediation in these countries are to strengthen state militarisation for its use, said circles close to another West Asian national movement.

Wikileaks documents have earlier revealed that immediately after the Vanni War, the USA was negotiating with Colombo for the deployment of Sinhala military in Afghanistan.

திங்கள், 13 பிப்ரவரி, 2012

Tamil trader abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2012, 23:51 GMT]
A Tamil businessman of up-country origin, who owns an electronic business (Panorama Electronics) in Colombo, has been abducted Saturday around 3:30 p.m. in front of his house on Peniquick lane in Colombo 6, according to his family in Colombo. The victim, Mr. Ramasamy Prabakaran, had been earlier detained by the Sri Lankan police for 28 months without any inquiries and was released last September by the SL courts, the sources further said. Around 7 armed men, who came in vehicle, carried out the abduction.

The victim, who has been a successful businessman, recently filed a case claiming compensation from the SL authorities for having caused closure of his business for 2 years by keeping him jailed without providing any valid reason.

Prabakaran, who hails from Badullla, is married to a Sinhala woman and he is a father of one.

Seeking justice and compensation from the SL authorities was possibly the reason behind his abduction, according to Tamil businessmen, who are subjected to harassments by the Sri Lankan military establishment that claims large sums from them in order to run their businesses in Colombo.

Human skeletons recovered from well in Valikaamam North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 February 2012, 16:40 GMT]
Recently resettled civilians in Kollangk-kaladdi of Valikaamam North in Jaffna have located human skeletons inside a well while clearing it for their use, sources in Valikaamam told TamilNet Sunday. A skull was located. But, the number of the recovered skeletons indicates that some of the victims had been decapitated, before they were dumped into the well, the sources said. It is believed that the victims were civilians abducted by the Sri Lanka Army operated squads and those who went to check their properties inside the SLA occupied territory after year 1992, when the SLA seized the village of Kollang-kaladdi.

Residents of Kollangkaladdi also said there were three persons from a nearby house reported missing earlier when the area was seized by the SLA.

After discovering human skeletons in wells and toilet pits in the area, the civil organisations representing the resettling civilians have begun a systematic search for similar graves, civil sources in the area said.

Allegations have surfaced that the abducted youth from Jaffna peninsula were taken into the so-called High Security Zones and detained by the Sri Lanka Army there till they were tortured and killed.

The pattern of recovery of skeletons in areas allowed for resettlement, especially inside the buildings used by the SLA as mini-camps and in abandoned wells near the bunds of the SLA in areas recently allowed for resettlement has indicated that such killings have been widespread inside the Hight Security Zone adjacent to the Palaali military base situated in Valikaamam North in Jaffna.

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