Collective trauma inflicted on Tamil nation is part of structural genocide’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2014, 08:47 GMT]
In a presentation at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) on 8 August, independent journalist and human rights activist Nirmanusan Balasundaram, talking about “visible and latent factors” of decades of oppression of the Eezham Tamil nation by the Sri Lankan state, explained how collective trauma inflicted on the Tamil nation is a part of structural genocide. Further talking about how militarization, demographic changes in the Tamil homeland, and abuse of Tamil women by occupying Sri Lankan forces were part of that process, he argued that “it is vital for major stakeholders of conflict to identify and address causes of psychological and collective trauma of the Tamil people.”

Nirmanusan Balasundaram addresses the APA in Washington DC

The APA is a prestigious institute which is the largest association of psychologists in the world, based in Washington DC, USA.

Their Annual Convention this year was held from 7-10 August at the Walter E. Washington convention centre.

Mr. Balasundaram presented under the theme of “Absence of Violence Is Negative Peace - Psychology Setting the Trend Toward Positive Peace-Justice” in a panel on 8 August.

The exiled Eezham Tamil journalist gave the audience a brief introduction to the Tamil nation’s struggle for “freedom, identity, survival and wellbeing”.

Talking about the history of the Tamils’ struggle, both through non-violent and armed means, and the progressively intensifying brutal manner in which the Sri Lankan state responded to it, noting how food, medicine and rape were used as weapons of war, he highlighted the results of these measures on the Tamil nation.

Talking about “visible and latent factors” of violence inflicted on the Tamil nation including physical and psychological pain, moral and material destruction, dehumanization, assault on the dignity of the Tamil community, the destruction of positive psychology, and breaking of morale, he said that among the Tamil survivors, “imbalanced psychology was a result of collective trauma”

Mr. Balasundaram spoke about how militarization, demographic changes in the Tamil homeland, and abuse of Tamil women by occupying Sri Lankan forces were part of a process of structural genocide.

He also talked about how it was inadequate to talk about a genuine reconciliation within the current system which prevented even the basic rights of the Tamil nation to collectively remember and mourn for their dead.

“Hence, it is vital for major stakeholders of conflict to identify and address causes of psychological and collective trauma of the Tamil people,” he said at his presentation at the convention.

Speaking to TamilNet about his presentation, Mr. Balasundaram said “The intention and effects of all of these factors covered is genocide of the Tamil nation. Concerned international actors should pay attention to address the root causes of the conflict, and when it comes to the question of justice, they must recognize and politically address the genocide if at all there is to be genuine reconciliation in the island.”

***

Diaspora observers said that it was also important for academics and activists to address in international venues the complicity of USA and India in the genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation and to highlight the responsibility that these powers have in providing reparation to the Tamils by means of a just political solution.

As has been evident from the manner in which the Sri Lanka state has behaved with the Tamils in the occupied Tamil homeland, ‘Sri Lankan reconciliation’ is only a cover for genocide. It is precisely this model that the Establishments of Washington and New Delhi have been promoting so far.

The Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka has published a brochure titled “India and Sri Lanka: A Partnership that Transcends Time”, which boasts about Indian contribution to “rehabilitation” in the “post-conflict period”. India under Modi is appearing no different than the previous regime in going overboard to appease Sri Lanka.

Likewise, the US, and its human rights branches, count the trees about individual rights violations or minority rights, and obfuscate the questions of genocide and remedial sovereignty to the Eezham Tamil nation.

More than the Tamils themselves, these two powers know the greatest details about the genocide perpetrated and are also well aware of its repercussions in the occupied Tamil homeland.

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Alcohol becomes genocide weapon deployed by occupying Sinhala State

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2014, 05:13 GMT]
Thriving alcohol business ‘licensed’ by genocidal Sri Lanka in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, especially after the end of the LTTE-run civil administration, is conceived as a potential ‘counterinsurgency’ and structural genocide weapon, besides sucking money of a war-torn people, commented social activists in Batticaloa district. Responding to an incident that took place in the district this week, in which a poor, female-headed family, brewing country liquor was shot by raiding Sinhala police of a State that promotes its alcohol business, the social activists were coming out with the larger dimensions of the alcohol crisis in the district.

On a monthly average, 414 million rupees are being spent by the Eezham Tamils in the district to buy alcoholic drinks from 60 pubs that operate with SL government license to sell alcoholic drinks.

There are 29 bars in Ma’nmunai North division alone, according to Ms Selvi Manohar, who is the chairperson of the Rural Development Society of Women in that division.

The women rights groups have recently reacted against the unusual number of licenced pubs that are allowed operate in the district.

While the official allocation for pub licenses in the entire Eastern Province are limited to a total of 84, how could the SL authorities provide licences to 60 pubs in one district alone and that too only among the Eezham Tamils, the activists further question.

6,700,000 bottles of Lion Lager, the high selling beer, is sold every month in Batticaloa district.

Excluding the Muslim families in the district, there are 115,555 family units in the district. The average spending on alcohol is around 3,580 rupees per family among the Eezham Tamils, the women rights groups say. They have been demanding the SL authorities to close down the pubs situated near schools, temples, main junctions and in the residential areas.

While the average poverty rate in the entire island is reportedly around 8.5 per cent, the poverty rate prevailing in the Batticaloa district stands at a shocking 21.6 per cent.

Along with poverty, the number of young students committing suicide is also on the increase in the district.

Tamil activists concerned in the welfare of the Eezham Tamils in future should come forward to create social movements at grass root level to counter the destructive trend in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, the activists told TamilNet on Wednesday.

When the LTTE-run civil administration was ended in the Batticaloa district in 2007, it was projected as ‘liberation’ of people from ‘international terrorism’.

The USA and India were in the forefront in welcoming the Sinhala military occupation of the region. The then US ambassador, Robert Blake was one of the first to run to the district. Currently India is actively engaged in the region.

All the process ultimately ends in psychologically breaking a people, depriving them of their land and power, degrading them to poverty level and making them alcoholics – this is what called ‘genocide and development,’ the actual practice of the ‘culture and development’ theory hatched in the universities of the imperialist Establishments, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.

Chronology:

14.08.14  Alcohol becomes genocide weapon deployed by occupy..

12.08.14  SL police opens fire on Tamil villagers in Battica..

Vadamaraadchi East villagers capture SL Navy trooper for rape attempt

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 August 2014, 21:21 GMT]
The villagers of Vinaayakapuram at Vettilaik-kea’ni of Vadamaraadchi East in Jaffna captured a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) sailor, who had entered into the house of a former LTTE member and attempted to sexually abuse his wife in the early hours of Wednesday. The neighbours, who were alerted by the shouting of the woman around 1:00 a.m. rushed to the spot and captured the Sinhala-speaking man after chasing him for a while. The villages severely assaulted the culprit before handing him over to the SL Police with the demand of immediate remand. The villagers also provided the photograph of the captured SLN soldier to the media as the SL Navy was harassing them to get the man released without going to the courts.

The SL Navy has been protecting the identity of rapist troopers, who abused young Tamil children at Kaarai-nakar in Jaffna recently.

The SL Navy trooper captured by the residents of Vinayaakapuram in Vettilaikkea'ni in the early hours of Wednesday

The villagers at Vettilaik-kea’ni were therefore not prepared to simply hand over the culprit back to the SL military or to the SL police without ensuring the establishment of his identity and a legal remand in front of a judge.

The villagers, who said they had no faith in the Sri Lankan justice system, also urged media to publish the photos of the suspect.

The SL Navy assaulted the villagers for attacking their soldier. However, the villagers managed to hand over the captured SLN man to the SL police from Pazhai at the presence of civil witnesses.

The suspect was identified at Ki’inochchi District & Magistrate’s Court and he has been remanded till 27 August.

The occupying SL soldiers enter into the houses and abuse the women when their husbands and brothers have gone to the seas for fishing during the night time in Vadamaraadchi East.

Tamil councillors from the Northern Provincial Council, K. Sivajilingam and S. Sugirthan have visited the village on Wednesday as the villagers were being threatened by the occupying SL Navy.

Some of the photos provided by the residents are being released by TamilNet blacking out the eyes of the suspect in the facial photographs.

Chronology:

13.08.14  Vadamaraadchi East villagers capture SL Navy troop..

25.07.14  Women groups protest against SL Navy rape of Tamil..

24.07.14  JMO report reveals child gang rape by Sinhala navy..

18.07.14  Genocidal SL military threatens family of child ra..

04.01.13  Missing woman found slain, dumped inside well near..

03.01.13  EPDP accuses occupying SL military for inaction on..

Police protection has lost its meaning: Mannaar Bishop

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 August 2014, 08:26 GMT]
“The reality in this country is that the criminal himself is the judge. This practice has almost become the rule of law. There is no democratic rule. The independency of the justice system is compromised. The judiciary is under the control of the Sri Lankan government. At this junction, what can we do? We can only explain [to the world] that the families of missing persons cannot expect any justice from the culprits themselves,” said Mannaar Bishop Rt Rev Rayappu Jospeh. The Bishop was responding to a question on the attitude displayed by the SL government, which has been citing the police as the protecting agency, especially in the wake of a request by the foreign missions to ensure the safety of the relatives of the missing persons, who attended a meeting, which was disrupted by a mob led by extremist Buddhist monks at a church in Maradana in Colombo on 04 August.



“Delivering justice is now the duty of those [outside the system], who should be taking care of it,” Mannaar Bishop said adding: “We can only expose the reality that the human rights will not be protected by those who violate them.”

“Do you think that the police would have blocked the mob, had there been a police protection obtained in advance by the organisers,” Mannaar Bishop asked.

“The police would have simply been standing and watching the episode to unfold. That kind of protection has lost its meaning,” the Bishop said.

“I do not know whether there was any direct involvement of the government or any minister behind the disruptive mob in the particular incident. But, Buddhist monks were behind It,” he said adding that the SL government was however party to the crime as it was not acting against the extremist monks who were disrupting the event.

“The Buddhist monk thinks that he stands above the police and was giving instructions to the police,” Bishop Rayappu Bishop said questioning whether Colombo government was in a position to take action against the Buddhist monk involved in the incident. “Will the government be prepared to arrest the Buddhist monk, put him behind the bar and question him,” he asked.

The US Deputy Head of Mission, Michael Honigstein, diplomats from the European Union (Britain, France) and Switzerland were present at the meeting when the incident took place.

Following the episode, the US Embassy in Colombo issued a statement noting that “the initial reaction of the local police to this disruption appeared to be in support of the mob’s efforts to shut down the meeting,” The statement urged the Colombo government “to take all possible steps to ensure the safety of families who had travelled from the North to attend this meeting, both in Colombo and upon their return home.”

Chronology:

13.08.14  Police protection has lost its meaning: Mannaar Bi..

05.08.14  Monks-led mob disrupts Tamil victims’ meet in Colo..

31.07.14  Media groups protest against SL military’s shadow ..

26.07.14  SL military steps up harassment on Tamil journalis..

07.07.14  SL military issues threatening circular to NGOs as..

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10.08.14   Mannaar Bishop rejects GoSL’s Presidential commission on mis..

SL Police, intelligence officers threaten relatives of missing persons in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 August 2014, 07:23 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police Constables and Intelligence operatives of the occupying SL military in Mannaar have threatened and harassed the relatives and families of missing persons, who wanted to appear in front of the SL Presidential Commission on Missing Persons (SLPC) which held its hearings between 08 and 11 August in Mannaar. The chairman of Mannaar Citizens Committee, Rev Fr Immanuel Sebamalai, told TamilNet that SL military intelligence officers had even gone to the extent of telling the people that there will be no use in appearing in front of the SLPC.

230 witnesses were supposed to present themselves from three DS divisions of Mannaar West, Mannaar and Madu. But, only 155 people managed witnessed, Fr Sebamalai told TamilNet.

No sittings were held for the witnesses from Musali and Naanaaddaan DS divisions.

The Citizens Committee has registered 260 cases of missing persons in Mannaar, according to the chairman of the Citizens Committee in Mannaar.

When the Citizens Committee took up the issue of the threats from police and intelligence officers with the Commission, the president of the SLPC was seeking details of the police officers to take action against them, the chairman of the Citizens Committee further said. He met the SLPC chairman after the conclusion of the hearings at Madu DS Secretariat on Monday.

SL police opens fire on Tamil villagers in Batticaloa, two women wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2014, 20:25 GMT]
Two Tamil women were admitted to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital Tuesday night with gunshot injuries after SL policemen, who went in civil to ransack illicit brewers had opened fire on the villagers at Panai-a'ruppaan, located 15 km west of Kokkaddich-choalai. Two Sinhalese policemen and two Tamil men were also rushed to hospital with assault injuries. Only 25 families live in the remote village of Panai-a’ruppaan. Some of these female-headed families have been running illicit ‘kasippu’ breweries after they had lost their husbands and their livelihood. They were not involved in such activity under the LTTE-run civil administration, civil sources in Kokkaddich-choalai told TamilNet on Wednesday. The episode on Tuesday was only a tip of the iceberg, they said.

On Tuesday, 8 Sri Lankan police personnel in civil, including two women constables, had gone to the village around 6:00 p.m. to arrest a woman alleging her for running a illicit brewery.

A son of the woman was opposing the arrest by the police accusing that the police personnel were not in their uniform. The SL police team severely assaulted him. Following the episode, the women in the neighbourhood got together and chased the police team away. In the violent episode, two women were shot and injured. Two policemen and two Tamil males sustained assault injuries. SL military and police troops were rushed to the village.

The angry villagers had also set fire to the vehicle of the police team, which was chased away.

The injured Tamil women were identified as 52-year-old Valliyamma and 24-year-old Sarojini Arumguam by the medical sources at the hospital.

The two Sinhala police constables, who sustained assault-injuries were identified as Weerasinghe (60217) and Wickramasinghe (43029).

The illicit breweries were perceived as a problem only in a business context by the Sri Lankan police and not as a social problem, women rights groups in the district accuse.

The SL policemen and the occupying military that encourage the operation of the pubs in the district, act on behalf of the complaints from the pub owners, the Tamil activists say.

Chronology:

14.08.14  Alcohol becomes genocide weapon deployed by occupy..

12.08.14  SL police opens fire on Tamil villagers in Battica..

Indian housing scheme in Trincomalee ignores uprooted Champoor Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2014, 14:08 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military in Trincomalee has blocked the representatives of uprooted Eezham Tamils from Champoor from presenting their appeal in person to the Indian High Commissioner Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, who visited Moothoor East last Friday to lay the foundation stone for the housing scheme for the war affected people from the three villages of Koonith-theevu, Navaratnapuram and Choodaik-kudaa. The uprooted Tamils, still living in four so-called welfare camps at Paddith-thidal, Ma’nat-cheanai, Ki’liveddi and Kaddai-pa’richchaan, who were blocked from the handing over their appeal have sent a letter to the Indian High Commissioner detailing their suffering for the past 9 years.

The 825 families from Champoor East and Champoor West GS divisions have been completely neglected by the occupying Sri Lankan State.

“You would have noticed out lands in abandoned state on your way to Koonith-theevu. Our lands have been seized from us under the pretext of building a coal power plant. But, there is no connection between the seized lands and the coal power plant. In fact, our lands have been seized for the purpose of transforming our ancient village into a Sri Lankan Navy cantonment. Please exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to release our village back to us with our houses, temples and schools. Also be kind to allocate houses for us under the Indian Housing Scheme,” the letter states.

The inauguration of the project comes two years after it was initially announced.

1,000 houses were to be constructed for the war affected people in Trincomalee district according to the initial announcement. But, this number has been increased to 1,500, informed sources said.

In the meantime, the beneficiaries of the houses complain that the allocation of money for each house was at 550,000 rupees when the scheme was initially announced. Now the prices for the construction material have gone up and a proper housing would be difficult to achieve under the previous allocation, they say.

Chronology:

12.08.14  Indian housing scheme in Trincomalee ignores uproo..

03.05.14  Uprooted Champoor Tamils in Trincomalee: ‘Tell the..

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Colombo schemes Sinhala colony at Saiva Shrine of Kanniyaa Hot Wells

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2014, 13:36 GMT]
After illegally occupying the Hot Wells, a Saiva sacred site in the traditional Tamil village of Kanniyaa in the Uppu-ve’li division of the Trincomalee district, and after constructing a Buddhist Shrine at the locality, the genocidal State of Sri Lanka is now ‘developing’ a new road to connect the traditional Hindu shrine with a remote Sinhala settlement, abandoning the already existing road that links the village wtih Jaffna – Anuradhapura Road. The Colombo government is also scheming a large Sinhala colonization project along the new road in thousands of acres of public lands in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, informed Tamil civil sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet.

The new road will also make the traveling difficult for the Tamil residents as they will have to travel 4 kilo meters to access their facilities at Oottu, compared to the old 1 km route to reach the same locality, the sources further said.

The new road is being named as Santhapura Road, carrying the name of the Sinhala village situated at 5th Mile Post on Colombo - Trincomalee Road. The Tamil residents of Kanniyaa will have to travel through the Sinhala village to reach Oottu in future, the sources added.

Seven springs, each with varying temperature, are situated close to each other at Kanniya. The local people believe that the hot wells have healing powers.

The local Saiva myths associate the place with pre-Buddhist times of the King Ravana of the Ramayana epic.

For centuries, the Hindu population of the region used to come to this site to perform rituals to the deceased and ancestors like the Hindus in India go to Gaya and Varanasi.

A Saiva temple for Pi’l’laiyaar situated at the site and the associated mutt (resting place for pilgrims) were destroyed during anti-Tamil pogroms.

The Buddhist shrine, which has been recently built at the precincts of Kanniya Hot Wells in a a fifteen-acre land has been has a signboard giving the name of the place of worship as ‘Unuthiya Lin Rajamaha Viharaya’, meaning the ‘Royal Great Temple of the Hotwater Wells’.

The term ‘Viharaya’ used in the board implies that a Buddhist Sangha (monastery) has been established there.

Kurds display self-reliance and unity in the midst of world apathy

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 August 2014, 08:53 GMT]
During the course of the siege and following the takeover of the City of Sinjar in Southern Kurdistan by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), coordinated policies of eradicating the Yazidi and the Kurdish population were unleashed, forcing a mass exodus of people from the city of 300000 towards the inhospitable mountains adjoining the city. However, Kurdish forces from other parts of Kurdistan have displayed a historic and phenomenal cooperation in coordinating the Kurdish national resistance. On 4th August, the PKK issued a statement on its website “All Kurds in the north, east, south and west must rise up against the attack on Kurds in Sinjar.” On Friday, Kurdish diaspora from all these regions demonstrated in Oslo, condemning ISIS brutalities and the silence of the International Community.

The PKK has been engaged in a three decade war of national liberation against the Turkish state. The latter is also accused of having trained and aided the ISIS and other Islamists in Syria such as the Al-Nusra front that are also renowned for their anti Kurd-atrocities in the ongoing Syrian war.

Meanwhile seasoned Kurdish fighters from Rojava (Western Kurdistan) belonging to the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the PYD have crossed the borders to assist their kin across the border, the Peshmerga fighters in fighting of the Islamists. The PYG was as recent as last month, involved in fierce battles with the ISIS in the province of Kobane in Rojava. They have now been involved alongside the Pesmerga in battling the ISIS alongside their shared border. YPG spokesman Polat Can said in a statement “ISIS wants to attacks Zuma and Sengal (Sinjar) with a large force to separate it from Zaxo. We are here to prevent that. We have erased the borders between us. We moved to the south with great force in order to protect our brothers in the south from ISIS gangs”.

Reports also confirms that the armed wing of the PKK, the People’s Defense Force (HPG) have also been involved in fierce battles alongside the YPG and KRG in fighting the ISIS.

On Friday, reflecting the call from PKK and furthering the historic cooperation in the homeland, Kurdish people hailing from all the four regions of the traditional Kurdish homeland gathered in Oslo to hold a protest march calling the international community to halt the ongoing genocide committed by the ISIS against the Kurds and Yezidis in South Kurdistan.

The protestors, also waving the various flags of Kurdistan and their liberation fighters, demanded the recognition and establishment of an independent Kurdistan.

The previous tension between the Rojava Kurdistan movement and the KRG seemed to have been sidelined or even mended as Kurds both in the homelands and in the diaspora converged in a display of national unity as they resisted the genocidal onslaught coordinated by the ISIS with the backing of several establishments in the region, observers said.

More than 500 people had gathered in central Oslo, holding flags of the PYD and Rojava, the flag of Southern Kurdistan and the KRG, the flag of PKK and HPG as well as flags carrying the portrait of the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. The protestors marched up till the Norwegian parliament and in front of it the Kurdish activists sung songs of liberation, slogans and speeches hailing the Peshmerga and the Kurdish armed resistance.

Kurdish activists at the protest expressing solidarity to the Tamil cause told TamilNet that a stronger global cooperation between the Kurdish and Tamil activists is needed as international solidarity today is sadly reserved for only a few and leaves a range of oppressed nations and their political struggles in the dark.

Likewise, Tamil observers of the protest also remarked that the unity, cooperation and solidarity expressed between the Kurds are strategic lessons to Tamils who like the Kurds constitute an oppressed transnational people.

‘மெட்ராசு’ திரைப்படத்தைப் புறக்கணிப்போம்! - தமிழ்க் காப்புக் கழகம்

‘மெட்ராசு’ திரைப்படத்தைப் புறக்கணிப்போம்! - தமிழ்க் காப்புக் கழகம் அறிக்கை!

வியாழன், 14 ஆக. 2014 (13:16 IST)

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தமிழக உணர்விற்கு எதிரான ‘மெட்ராசு’ திரைப்படத்தைப் புறக்கணிப்போம் எனத் தமிழ்க் காப்புக் கழகத் தலைவர் இலக்குவனார் திருவள்ளுவன் தெரிவித்துள்ளார். இது குறித்து அவர் பின்வருமாறு தெரிவித்துள்ளார்:

 

தமிழ் மக்களுக்காக உருவாக்கப்படும் தமிழ்த்திரைப்படங்களின் பெயர்கள் தமிழில் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்பது முறையான வேண்டுகோளே! ஆனால், திரைத் துறையினர் பலரும் இதற்கு மாறாகப் பிற மொழிகளில் தமிழ்ப் படங்களுக்குப் பெயர் சூட்டி வருகின்றனர்.

 

அடித்தளம், அரண்மனை, உ, உயிருக்கு உயிராக, எதிர்நீச்சல், களவாடிய பொழுதுகள், கோச்சடையான், கோவலனின் காதலி, சித்திரை திங்கள், சுற்றுலா, திருப்புகழ், நினைவில் நின்றவள், நெடுஞ்சாலை, நேர் எதிர், புலிவால், மாதவனும் மலர்விழியும்,  மாலை நேரப் பூக்கள், முறியடி, முன் அந்திச் சாரல், விடியல், விரட்டு, வெற்றி கொண்டான்  எனத் தமிழ்ப் பெயர் சூட்டுவோர் ஒருபுறம் பெருகி வருவது மகிழ்ச்சிக்குரியது. அதே நேரம் ‘மத கச ராசா’ போன்று தமிழை மறந்து பெயர் சூட்டுவோர்கள் மறுபுறம் இருக்கின்றனர். தமிழில் பெயரில்லாத திரைப்படங்களைத் தமிழக மக்கள் தொடர்ந்து புறக்கணிக்க வேண்டும். இப்பட வரிசையில் ‘மெட்ராசு’ என வரும் திரைப்படம் தமிழக மக்களின் உணர்விற்கு எதிரானதாகும்.

 

1995 இல் ‘பம்பாய்’, ‘மும்பை’ எனப் பெயர் மாற்றம் செய்யப்பட்டதுபோல் தமிழில் ‘சென்னை’ என அழைக்கப்படும் மாநகரம் எல்லா மொழிகளிலும் ‘சென்னை’ என்றே அழைக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்ற தமிழக மக்கள் உணர்வுகளை மதித்து  ‘மெட்ராசு’ என அழைக்காமல் எல்லா மொழிகளிலுமே ‘சென்னை’ என அழைக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என 1996 இல்அறிவிக்கப்பட்டது. ‘கல்கத்தா’, ‘கொல்கத்தா’ என்றும்  ‘பாண்டிச்சேரி’, ‘புதுச்சேரி’  என்றும் ‘ஒரிசா’, ‘ஒடிசா’ என்றும் பெயர் மாற்றம் செய்யப்பெற்றன.

 

பிற மாநில மக்கள் தங்கள்  நகரப் பெயர்களை மாற்றப்பட்ட பெயர்களிலேயே அழைத்தும் குறித்தும் வருகின்றனர். தமிழ்நாட்டில் இன்னும் சிலர் ‘மெட்ராசு’ என்பதை மறக்காமல் உள்ளனர். இன்றைய தலைமுறையினர் அறியாத ‘மெட்ராசு’ என்னும் பெயரைத் திணிக்கவும் உள்ளத்தில் பதிக்கவும் சதி செய்வதுபோல் திரைப்படம் ஒன்றிற்கு 'மெட்ராசு' எனப் பெயர் சூட்டப்பட்டுள்ளது. தமிழக மக்கள் உணர்வைப் புறக்கணிக்கும் இச்செயல் மிகவும் கண்டிக்கத்தக்கது.

 

உரிய திரைப்பட அமைப்பினர் தங்கள்  பெயரைத் தமிழில் சென்னை என்று குறிப்பிட வேண்டுகின்றோம். படம் முடிவுற்ற நிலையிலும் இயக்குநர் இராசு மதுரவன் நம் வேண்டுகோளை ஏற்று, ‘மைக்செட்பாண்டி’ என்னும் படத்தின் பெயரைப்  ‘பாண்டி ஒலி பெருக்கி நிலையம்’ என மாற்றினார். எனவே மனம் இருந்தால் வழியுண்டு. அவ்வாறில்லாமல் ‘மெட்ராசு’ என்னும் பெயரிலேயே இப்படம் வெளிவருமானால் இப்படத்தை அடியோடு புறக்கணிக்குமாறு தமிழக மக்களை வேண்டுகின்றோம்.

 

தமிழ்ப் பெயரில்லாத படங்களுக்கு எச்சலுகையும் விருதும் அளிக்க வேண்டா எனத்  தமிழக அரசையும் வேண்டுகின்றோம்.

 

இவ்வாறு தமிழ்க்காப்புக்கழகத் தலைவர் இலக்குவனார் திருவள்ளுவன் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

 

நன்றி : வெப்துனியா

Mannaar Bishop rejects GoSL’s Presidential commission on missing persons

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2014, 18:21 GMT]
Rejecting an offer to make presentations before the GoSL’s Presidential commission on missing persons, Mannaar Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph said “Over the years many commissions such as yours have been set up and there is absolutely no shred of evidence that they have tackled impunity. Most, if not all of these commissions have provided only to be eye washers for the then Governments in power.” In a letter sent on Sunday addressed to the Chairman and Commissioners of this setup, he further expressed his concern that “the recent expansion of your mandate and the appointment of international experts to oversee the work of the commission without any clear terms of reference has been deliberately done to undermine the work of the UN OHCHR's inquiry into Sri Lanka which commenced recently.”

SL Presidential Commission on Missing Persons visits Bishop of Mannaar Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph

The full text of Rev Fr Rayappu Joseph’s letter follows:

The Chairman and Commissioners, Presidential Commission on Missing Persons.

Dear Commissioners,

Submission Regarding My position with regard to appearing before the above Commission in Mannar

• Mannaar Bishop's position on appearing before PCMP

I am thankful for your very kind visit to me and for your personal invitation to testify before the commission during it's sittings to be held in Mannar between the 8th and 11th of August 2014.

I am writing to inform you that having considered the following I have decided not to make representations before your commission. I have over the years grown to be weary of domestic mechanisms in resolving serious injustices that Tamil people have faced over the period of the war, prior to it and after it's conclusion. Over the years many commissions such as yours have been set up and there is absolutely no shred of evidence that they have tackled impunity. Most, if not all of these commissions have provided only to be eye washers for the then Governments in power. As Ms. Navaneetham Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted in her report to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2014, the problem in Sri Lanka is one of lack of political will to end impunity. Despite knowing this acutely for many years now, I personally appeared before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and gave evidence. The Government has not acted seriously on any of the issues on which the Tamil people including myself gave evidence. Given this experience I find it impossible to draw myself to appear before your commission. May I add this that the Commission's name itself - "Commission on Missing Persons"- appears to me to indicate a denial on the part of those who created this commission that the issue is one relating to enforced disappearances and not merely about 'missing persons'.

I am aware that many Tamils, throughout the North and East who have lost their kith and kin have come before your commission and narrated their grievances. The only reason why they come before the commission is not because they believe that your commission will help locate their loved ones, but because they have nothing to lose in doing so. Hence they go and air their grievances wherever they can, whilst well knowing that no consequences are likely to follow. This is the terrible plight of the Tamil people in this country. I have also been informed that the Commision in its various sittings in the North and East, unfortunately, has been more interested in knowing about their economic well-being, rather than engaging in a serious effort at locating the disappeared. There are also credible reports that the Government has launched a programme to encourage families of the disappeared to obtain death certificates, which has been happening parallel to your commission's sittings throughout the North and East. I am also concerned that the recent expansion of your mandate and the appointment of international experts to oversee the work of the commission without any clear terms of reference has been deliberately done to undermine the work of the UN OHCHR's inquiry into Sri Lanka which commenced recently. Without serious commitment to truth and justice there can never be Reconciliation and Peace will ever remain a mirage.

Please permit me to present to you my last submission with my covering letter sent to His Excellency the President on his own invitation sent through His Eminence Malcom Cardinal Ranjit, Archbishop of Colombo. This was made on the 21st, August, 2012. It explains 14 grievances with my expectations spelt out in the form of suggestions.

Consequent to this, two meetings were held with me regarding this matter by the Hon Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr G.L Pieris and the President's Secretary Mr Lalith Weeratunga in the presence of the Cardinal Archbishop of Colombo. At both these meetings they failed even to have a look at even one of the grievances raised by me in spite of my repeated insistence. A third meeting was promised by them to be held along with those state-personnel with experience and expertise with regard to the grievances proposed and this meeting never saw the light of day as that was the end of this exercise and now two years have passed allowing us only to gasp in the air. For the above reasons I regret that I am not in a position to appear before your commission with any hope of a retrieve. The following is the said submission:

(Submission attached)

SL TID detains another Tamil student of Sabaragamuwa university

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2014, 10:23 GMT]
The Tamil student, who was arrested last Tuesday by the SL Terrorist Investigation Division (TID), has been released as protests by Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim students of the Sabaragamuwa University gained momentum on Friday. However, another Tamil student of the same university has been arrested and subjected to interrogation at the notorious 4th Floor in Colombo. The students of the Sabaragamuwa University have termed the harassment of Tamil students as State Terrorism in their protest. Sutharsan from Mukamalaai, Ki’linochchi, was arrested while he was recovering from an injury.

Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim students protest against the arrest of Nirojan on Friday at the Sabaragamuwa University

The Sinhala student leaders at the Sabaragamuwa University interpret the terror unleashed on Eezham Tamil students from Vanni attending the Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages as a sabotage by the SL State apparatus to incite racial hatred among Sinhala students against the Tamils to divert the focus of Sinhala students away from other political issues in South.

“Mahinda Rajapaksa thinks that the political awareness among the Sinhala students is counter-productive to their future interest. His future interest is getting his son crowned as president forever. To divert the students away from the burning issues, a systematic programme of inciting hatred against Tamils is being deployed in the South. His regime is trying to repeat what the other regimes did in the past whenever their grip on power was threatened,” told a Sinhala student leader when questioned to explain what he meant as State Terrorism.

The SL military apparatus was behind a brutal attack on a Tamil student and the anonymous posters against the Tamil students from North, the student representative further said.

Chronology:

10.08.14  SL TID detains another Tamil student of Sabaragamu..

08.08.14  Eezham Tamil student subjected to abduction-styled.

British officials held secretive Belfast meeting with Sri Lanka after Mu'l'livaaykkaal

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2014, 00:02 GMT]
UK government lawyers are claiming there are no minutes available from a controversial meeting held between British officials and a Sri Lankan military adviser at Belfast's Policing Board HQ one month after the genocidal onsluaght on Vanni in 2009. The revelation comes after a year-long legal battle to get full disclosure from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to a Freedom of Information request. The British government withdrew its national security exemptions just days before the matter was to due to be decided by a judge at the Information Tribunal. The Belfast meeting related to the deployment of two senior Northern Ireland police officers to Sri Lanka as “critical friends” of the regime during the final stages of the genocidal onslaught in 2009.

Britain has voted for a UN investigation into war crimes allegedly carried out by Sri Lankan forces during precisely this period. David Cameron has said that 'Sri Lankans' “need to know the truth about what happened during those terrible years of the civil war so that they can move forward.”

The Freedom of Information request asked for documents from a meeting between Catherine Weiss, a Foreign Office civil servant, and Sanjaya Colonne, an adviser to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence, that was held in the chairman's office of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on 18 June 2009.

The UN estimates that at least 70,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of conflict while UN expert Yasmin Sooka has said that over 100000 Tamils might have been killed in that period. Hundreds of thousands of survivors were then interned in barbed wire camps.

The FCO claims the only information it holds regarding the Belfast meeting is a single sentence, briefing Catherine Weiss in advance to agree further assistance from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to Sri Lanka.

No minutes from the actual meeting are available, suggesting it was held off-the-record. The PSNI officers continued to work with Sri Lanka. The PSNI project had started in February 2009, at a time when hospitals were being bombed by the Sri Lankan military.

One of the PSNI officers involved, Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland, visited Iraq in 2007 and co-authored a report that urged the creation of Belfast-style “peace walls” in Baghdad to reduce sectarian violence. McCausland invited a US marine corps unit to Belfast, prior to deploying to Iraq's Anbar province, so it could learn how the PSNI took the lead security role when working with the army.

The PSNI is Britain's most militarised police force. Officers drive armoured jeeps and routinely use batons rounds and water cannon to deal with riots. Both PSNI officers who visited Sri Lanka in 2009 had extensive experience of counter terrorism and public order.

Yasmine Ahmed from Rights Watch UK told the Guardian on Friday, “The British public has a right to know the nature and extent of UK government cooperation with and support to the Sri Lankan Government during a period of brutal violence and severe human rights abuses against the Tamil population. Any information about this meeting must be disclosed so that the public can be assured of the nature of the involvement of UK police forces. It is inconceivable that no records were kept of the contents of this meeting and we call on the Government to disclose such information.”

Related Articles:
10.07.14   British State complicity in genocide of Eezham Tamils explor..
15.10.13   UK deployed 2 top police officials to assist SL Police in 20..


External Links:

The Guardian:

PSNI organised meeting with Sri Lanka military adviser after Tamil massacre

SL military steps up threats, harassment of Tamil councillors in North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2014, 10:58 GMT]
The so-called white vans and motorbikes without number plates operated by the SL military intelligence have been deployed to monitor the movement of Tamil councillors in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in recent days, complain several members of the NPC. A prominent councillor, Ms Ananthy Sasitharan, recently lodged a complaint with Vadduk-koaddai Police complaining that white van and motorbike squads were chasing her round the clock, monitoring all her movements. In the name of investigating the complaint, the police went ahead with engineering false evidence that there were no reports of white van or motorbike squads in the area where she resides, TNA sources told TamilNet. The SL Defence Ministry was behind the recent withdrawal of police protection that was provided to some of NPC members, according to NPC Chairman CVK Sivagnanam.

If the NPC had Police powers, it could have directed the police to provide security to councillors. But, it has to depend on Colombo to secure police protection to threatened NPC members, Mr Sivagnanam told media in Jaffna.

Following a written request to Deputy Inspector Generals of Police in Jaffna and Vavuniyaa by the NPC administration in April this year, the SL Police provided security personnel to three NPC Councillors, including Ms Ananthy Sasitharan, who were facing security threats.

After two months, the SL police protection was suddenly withdrawn. When the NPC members asked for clarification, the SL police told them that they needed clearance from the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry to provide security to the NPC members.

The Tamil councillos complained about the sudden withdrawal of police protection in a sitting of the NPC.

Mr. C.V.K. Sivagnanam, the chairman of the NPC sent a letter to SL president Mahinda Rajapkasa on 06 June noting the withdrawal by the SL police citing SL Defence Ministry and urging to reinstall police protection to the Tamil councillors. The letter also requested police protection to other councillors who had reported harassments and threat in the meantime. But, there was no proper response. Only a confirmation letter was sent stating that the request was received by the secretariat of the SL President.

Just before the visit to the North and East by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2013 August, the SL government announced an ‘eyewash’ measure stating that it separated the police from the Ministry of Defence under new ‘Ministry of Law’.

Knowing very well that there would be no practical change for Eezham Tamils by this announcement under the SL unitary system and knowing also that both the SL Ministry of Law and Ministry of Defence come under one minister, who is the president himself, foreign political and diplomatic representatives welcomed the move as a positive one at that time. But, there was no change in the practice.

The SL police operates as an extended arm of the SL military system and it also shields the SL military personnel even in the cases where the culprits of the SL Navy and Army were caught by the civilians and handed over to the police following brutal rape of Tamil children such as the one reported recently in Kaarai-nakar.

The notorious commando force, STF, which is a fully equipped military unit, comes also under the SL police. It was responsible for several massacres and genocidal crimes in the East, including the well-exposed Trinco-5 case.

After the genocidal onslaught in May 2009, Colombo has been stepping up the deployment of the notorious STF commandos in all the districts in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

Corporate Watch, a non-profit research group in UK, has in recent times exposed the training provided to more than 3,500 Sri Lankan ‘policemen’ including the STF commandos including senior commanders. The British assistance was being provided while the STF was directly engaged in acts of genocide in the East as well as in Vanni. Phill Miller of Corporate Watch has brought out an extensive report on Britain's historical support provided to the SL Police system.

Related Articles:
08.08.14   Tamil man dies at hospital, SL police shields traffic crime ..
05.08.14   Monks-led mob disrupts Tamil victims’ meet in Colombo church
30.07.14   British-trained STF brings night terror back to Jaffna stree..
26.07.14   SL military steps up harassment on Tamil journalists
24.07.14   JMO report reveals child gang rape by Sinhala navy in Jaffna..
23.07.14   British writer blasts UK's unscrupulous arms-deals
10.07.14   British State complicity in genocide of Eezham Tamils explor..

Tamils show solidarity with Kurdistan, Palestine

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2014, 00:17 GMT]
In a series of protests that happened across the globe, Tamils demonstrated their solidarity with the nations of Kurdistan and Palestine. Condemning the Islamist ISIS’ brutality and ethnic cleansing against the Kurds in the Kurdish territories of Syria and Iraq and Israel’s unrelenting assault on Palestine, Tamil activists conveyed their support for independent Kurdistan and Palestine. Over the past few weeks, protests for these causes in Chennai, London, Washington, Los Angeles, Sydney, Toronto and other places saw active Tamil participation. Over 2000 activists of different organizations staged a protest in Chennai on Friday for Kurdistan and Palestine. Likewise, Tamil activists who attended a Kurdish demonstration in London on Friday highlighted the need for greater solidarity among Nations-Without-States.

More than 2,000 Tamils in Tamil Nadu State of India expressed solidarity with Eezham Tamils, Kurds and Palestinians on Friday

Protest in Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu and Eezham Tamil activists expressing solidarity with Kurds in UK

Hundreds of Kurds gathered at Downing Street, London to condemn the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) atrocities against Kurds and other groups. Stating that the ISIS campaign against the Yezidis was with genocidal intent, they criticized the world powers and media houses for turning a blind eye to these crimes.

While the Tamil activists joined the Kurds in raising slogans condemning the ISIS brutalities, the Kurdish protestors also raised slogans of “Tamil Tigers are freedom fighters.”

Speaking at the demonstration, Karthick RM, a research scholar in Political Theory at the University of Essex in UK, said that the silence and complicity of the International Community that facilitated the genocidal onslaught on the Eezham Tamils in May 2009 was being repeated with regards to the Kurds.

Condemning the world powers for their calculated silence, he also said that as struggling peoples of Nations-Without-States, there should be greater solidarity between the Tamils and Kurds.

In Chennai, over 2000 activists of more than 20 political organizations, movements and civil society groups demonstrated at Paris corner on Friday for Kurdistan and Palestine.

Earlier on 02 August, more than 20,000 people marched towards the white house in solidarity with the Palestinians. May 17 Movement represented Tamils and took part in the rally.

In the preceding weeks, protests supporting Palestine happened at Los Angeles, Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, and other places, which also saw Tamil participation.

Speaking to TamilNet from Los Angeles, Rathish Kumar, activist with the May 17 Movement, condemning the US, UN and human rights NGOs for their bias against the Tamil Eelam struggle and the Palestinian struggle, said “As someone who understands the pain and struggle that Palestine and Kurdistan are going through, May 17 Movement stands in solidarity with their struggle for their right of self determination and strongly condemn the imperialist nations and UN for their complicity in genocide.”

Protest held in Washington DC, USA

A protest in Melbourne on Saturday saw Palestinians, Tamils, West Papuans, Australians and others condemning Israel.

"As the Palestinian people in Gaza are facing a genocidal onslaught by Israel, it is the Tamils who know what it's like to be murdered while hiding in schools and churches. As survivors of the Tamil genocide in 2009, we share the pain of the Palestinians," Aran Mylvagam, Eezham Tamil youth activist working with the Tamil Refugee Council told TamilNet.

Chronology:

09.08.14  Tamils show solidarity with Kurdistan, Palestine

06.08.14  Clashes intensify between Kurds and Islamists in S..

Related Articles:
01.08.14   Israel, Sri Lanka, need collective world action

மீண்டும் தமிழ்த்தேர் உலா

மீண்டும் தமிழ்த்தேர் உலா – வானலை வளர்தமிழ் அமைப்பு

இலக்குவனார் திருவள்ளுவன்      10 ஆகத்து 2014      கருத்திற்காக..

 அகரமுதல 39