SL military threatens Tamil Catholic priests in Jaffna, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 November 2013, 19:38 GMT]
The intelligence operatives of the occupying Sri Lankan military have threatened Tamil Catholic priests in Mannaar and Jaffna, who have been active in exposing the genocide of Eezham Tamils by the Sri Lankan State. The threats against the priests in escalated following the visit by UN Human Rights Commissioner for Human Rights and have topped after British PM visited North on 15 November. The Catholic priests were active in exposing the recent genocidal experiment of birth control carried out by the Sri Lankan authorities and the priests joined the peaceful march by the kith and kin of the missing persons when they wanted to berate their plight to the visiting British PM and the foreign journalists who accompanied him to Jaffna.

The parish priest of Urumpiraay, Fr Jude Nixon being attacked by SL police in front of Jaffna Public Library on 15 November.

The priests have complained to their respective Bishops on the threats coming from different corners of the Sri Lankan military system.

In the meantime, the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, called on Pope Francis at Vatican on Wednesday and handed over a letter to Pope Francis inviting him to the island on behalf of his brother. This is the second time within four months Rajapaksa siblings are campaigning Pope to visit the island.

Rev. Fr. E. Sebamalai in Mannaar, writing an appeal on behalf of the Citizens' Committee in Mannaar, on Friday said: “Even the people affected in various forms expressing their grievances, objections or protests in the internationally accepted democratic way and peaceful resistance are not tolerated in this country.”

Fr. Sebamalai also noted that the Police in Jaffna had manhandled Catholic priests who were with the people at a peaceful rally in front of Jaffna Public Library on 15 November.

However, the visiting PM didn't meet the grieving relatives of the missing persons in Jaffna despite the British mission officials were being fully aware of the peaceful gathering waiting outside the Public Library.



The Catholic priests and rights activists like Jude Bashil Sosai (Sunesh), who has now been subjected to the death threat by the SL military intelligence operatives in Mannaar, played a key role in bringing the families closer to the visiting Channel-4 journalists who were being waylaid by a camouflaged protest organised by the SL police and SL military intelligence operatives in civil who had blocked the road with their truck, shielding the visiting journalists from spotting the Tamil demonstrators.

Parish Priest of Thevanpiddi Fr Neru and Mannaar District Coordinator of National Fisheries Society Organization, Mr Jude Bashil Sosai (Sunesh) at the forefront of the demonstration in Jaffna on November 15.

Angered by the efforts of Mr Sunesh and the Catholic priests present with the protestors, the SL military has stepped up its threats.

In the East, Jesuit Priest Fr Veeresan Yogeswaran, who is one of the leading human rights activists, was at the receiving end of the SL government's ire after his meeting with Ms Navi Pillay during her visit to the East in August.

Ms Navy Pillay was told that what was going on in the island was a genocide against Eezham Tamils.

However, the Human Rights High Commissioner, in her intention to project the crime of genocide as a crime of bad governance on the part of the Sri Lankan State, came with an open lie to the press in Colombo stating that no one used the word genocide during her visit to North and East.

SLFP, EPDP operatives threaten TNA candidates, voters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 September 2013, 23:41 GMT]

A group of operatives affiliated with a Sri Lankan minister attempted to assault Doctor G Gunaseelan, who is an elected member of the new Northern Provincial Council representing Tamil National Alliance in Mannaar Sunday evening around 5:00 p.m. A clash ensued between his supporters and Colombo’s UPFA ‘supporters’ while they crossed the main road to reach their village of Thoaddave’li after visiting Thaazhvup-paadu villagers. Meanwhile, there were widespread reports in the islets off Jaffna that EPDP operatives, visiting village to village, were harassing the TNA supporters.

In the Mannaar incident, two of the TNA supporters who were with Gunaseelan were injured and were admitted to the hospital.

Gunaseelan’s vehicle was damaged in the clash, which has taken place at Thaaraapuram, news sources in Mannaar said.

SL Policemen have been deployed at Thaarapuram following the clash.

Occupying Sri Lanka Army threatens Tamil protesters

Occupying Sri Lanka Army threatens Tamil protesters in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 August 2013, 12:13 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army on Sunday threatened the Tamil residents of Maangkaadu and Kurukka'l-madam from participating in the protest march organized by the Tamil National Alliance against desecration of Saiva koayils. Troops of the occupying Sri Lanka Army visited every household and threatened the inmates not participate in protest march.

If the villagers attended the protest, they would face the same fate as that of the Sinhala residents of Welweriya in the Gampaha district where a student was shot dead by the SL military when the protestors ignored the ‘instructions’ of the ‘security forces’, the Sinhala military has warned the villagers in Batticaloa, residents said.

“The intimidation and threat carried out by the army against protestors made us to think that desecration of Saiva temples in Tamil villages in the Eastern province had been carried out by the Sri Lankan army and police“, TNA politician Mr. Selvarasa responded while addressing the participants of the protest.   He added that the TNA had held the protest march not against the police and the army but against the persons who carried out the desecration.

SLA threatens Mannaar farmers not to protest against discrimination

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 February 2013, 06:51 GMT]
The demonstration and fasting campaign organized by farmers organizations in Mannaar district earlier this week to protest against the discrimination by the SL government in Colombo in providing relief to affected farmers following the recent floods, was put off due to the threat issued by the intelligence Unit of the occupying Sri Lanka Army that those participating would be dealt severely under the ‘Sri Lankan Law’. Due to the threat and intimidation exerted by the SL intelligence, the demonstration was now put off for February 26, the organisers said.

The demonstration was to take place on Monday at Uyilang-ku'lam in Mannaar district according to a decision arrived at a meeting held at Uyilang-ku'lam District Agricultural Training Centre on 9th February.

Several hundred farmers in Mannaar district are finding it difficult to repay their cultivation loans. They are also unable to redeem their jewellery pawned in banks.

While all the assistances are provided to Sinhala farmers in South by the SL government, nothing has been provided to Tamil farmers in North, they say.

As a last resort they submitted a memorandum to the SL Government Agent that they have decided to hold a fasting campaign on Monday 18 demanding that they also should be provided with necessary relief.

Chronology:

22.02.13  SLA threatens Mannaar farmers not to protest again..

13.02.13  Colombo discriminates Tamil farmers in disaster re..

SL Commander threatens VC-led team visiting Palaali

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2012, 07:46 GMT]
Following the refusal of the Deans of the University of Jaffna to meet the SL commander of the occupying forces at Palaalai military base on Wednesday, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna on Friday morning led a team of some academics and the parents of the four detained student leaders to meet the SL commander at Palaali. The SL Commander Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe threatened the visiting team that if they insist on the release of the detained students for the re-opening of the University, then there will be no chance of the students getting released. He ignored the pleading and crying parents of the students, who attempted to prostrate before him.

He ridiculed about two of the detained students, Tharshananth, the secretary of the Jaffna University Student Union and Solomon a student activist, as ‘Brigadiers’ of the diaspora forces. He named three persons in the diaspora, Rudrakumaran, Nediyavan and Vinayagam, whom he imagined or wanted to project as driving forces behind the Jaffna University students.

The Jaffna University students ‘dream’ that Pirapaharan would come and lead their struggle, Hathurusinghe told the visiting team.

Responding, an academic Dr Satkunarajah, who accompanied the Vice Chancellor Prof Vasanthi Arasaratnam to the meeting, came hard on Huthurusinghe.

Dr Satkunarajah told Hathurusinghe that it was such an attitude of the SL forces against the Jaffna University students right from early 1980s that escalated the crisis to its later stages. Whether the SL commander is re-enacting it now, he asked.

The meeting of the VC-led team going to Palaali took place at the orders of the SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, informed sources said. Only selected media persons were allowed to cover the meeting.

Meanwhile, the SL Police spokesman in Colombo was telling media that the four Jaffna University students are not detained, but have volunteered to go through a ‘rehabilitation’ programme by the SL military.

Chronology:

21.12.12  SL Commander threatens VC-led team visiting Palaal..

20.12.12  Deans foil SL military attempt to direct Jaffna Un..

16.12.12  Kurdish grassroot federation in Germany shows soli..

15.12.12  Chain of protests in London against repression of ..

14.12.12  Sri Lanka Defence coerces parents or fabricates st..

13.12.12  SLA summons 4 girl students, house-by-house intimi..

11.12.12  SL military ‘rehabilitation’ for detained Universi..

10.12.12  Colombo hatches new strategies in genocidal war, s..

09.12.12  TID interrogators fabricate accusation against 14 ..

08.12.12  SL “Terrorist” division abducts 18-year-old studen..

08.12.12  Shame on Norway for being silent on Sri Lanka: Red..

08.12.12  Release arrested Tamil students immediately: Paul ..

08.12.12  Canadian youth mobilises global community in showi..

07.12.12  Jaffna University teachers remind SL President abo..

06.12.12  SL police directs Medical Dean to hand over studen..

06.12.12  Sri Lanka intensifies terror campaign against Tami..

05.12.12  Suresh calls upon diaspora youth to respond to Jaf..

04.12.12  Jaffna demonstration backing students demands IC a..

03.12.12  SL military threatens senior faculty members of Ja..

02.12.12  EPC TNA councilor condemns attack on University st..

01.12.12  Paramilitary allegedly backed by India effects arr..

30.11.12  Canadian organizations condemn attack on students ..

29.11.12  SLA attack on Tamil students is ‘additional’ issue..

29.11.12  TNA parliamentarian, university students question ..

28.11.12  Peaceful student protest attacked by SL military i..

28.11.12  Ladies’ hostel lights Common Flame, bells stun SL ..

SL military threatens senior faculty members of Jaffna University

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2012, 09:42 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka individually approached the Deans and former Deans of all the faculties of the University of Jaffna to threaten them not to take up the issue of the students arrested following the Heroes Day observations, news sources in Jaffna said. Parallely, the military also went in search of a student leader at Thiruvaiyaa'ru in Ki'linochchi last night. The University remains vacated as student leaders are forced into hiding. A protest demonstration by the Medical Faculty of the university scheduled for Monday was cancelled, as the Administration of the university advised against it, citing ‘secret negotiations’ taking place between the university and the occupying military at the Palaali base. However, the University of Jaffna Teachers Association is firm that all the arrested students have to be released without charges, the news sources further said.

In any case, whether by prosecuting the students or by releasing them, the occupying Sri Lanka wishes to achieve the purpose of silencing all future democratic struggles coming from the university, commented a new generation political activist in Jaffna.

Unless the genocidal state is countered in an appropriate way by the world, the state would endlessly continue with this kind of activities, the activist said.

The university students waging a democratic struggle had clearly expressed their faith in non-violent means and their faith in the so-called International Community. But we have seen how the predicament of the students was either just ‘secondary’ or an opportunity for collaborative oppression for the International Community of Establishments (ICE). We also watch how the international media’s Colombo-centric reporting reminds us of the war times. Unless the struggle is effectively taken up by a global civil society against the erring ICE, genocidal states are going to mushroom in the world, the new generation political activist said.

The Heroes Day observation is in fact a slap on the face to the policies followed by the erring ICE. The ICE would in fact be happy to see such struggles silenced. They had already implied what respect they would give for peaceful democratic voices when hundreds of thousand Eezham Tamils came to streets during the genocidal war, the activist cited.

Eezham Tamils waged a democratic struggle for 30 years. They waged an armed struggle for another 30 years. Now they again wage a democratic struggle. But sabotage, disrespect and hijack of democratic and peaceful struggles come from the very establishments that advocate for democratic struggle. What the Eezham Tamils could do if we are not prepared to listen, arrogantly ask the agenda pundits of the ICE. It is this challenge that has to be primarily addressed by creatively identifying and applying effective democratic means with the help of the diaspora, Tamil Nadu and above all, a mobilised global civil society, the new generation political activist in Jaffna further said.

Chronology:

03.12.12  SL military threatens senior faculty members of Ja..

02.12.12  EPC TNA councilor condemns attack on University st..

01.12.12  Paramilitary allegedly backed by India effects arr..

30.11.12  Canadian organizations condemn attack on students ..

29.11.12  SLA attack on Tamil students is ‘additional’ issue..

29.11.12  TNA parliamentarian, university students question ..

28.11.12  Peaceful student protest attacked by SL military i..

28.11.12  Ladies’ hostel lights Common Flame, bells stun SL ..

Basil Rajapaksa's men threaten Tamil-speaking voters: Sampanthan, Hakeem

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2012, 15:31 GMT]
More than one thousand men sent under the instruction of SL Presidential sibling and Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse have been engaged in intimidating Tamils and Muslims in the three districts of the eastern province namely Ampaarai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee that they would face serious consequences if they fail to vote for the ruling United Peoples Freedom Party in the forthcoming election to the Eastern Provincial Council that is scheduled to be held on Saturday, September 8 , according to complaints lodged with the Commissioner General of Elections by the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R.Sampanthan and Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, who is also the Justice Minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet. Basil Rajapakse is also a minister in same cabinet.

Gangs of persons dispatched by Minister Basil Rajapakse are said to be Samurdhi officers known as ‘social service officers’ of the occupying Sri Lanka government.

They are reportedly roaming in villages in the three district wearing blue color shirts, visiting every household along with local candidates of the ruling UPFA warning the voters belong to two communities Tamil and Muslim that if they fail to vote that they have to repent after the poll.

Mr Sampanthan and Mr Hakeem have also requested the Commissioner General of Elections to take immediate steps by stopping unruly elements creating terror and to ensure peaceful free and fair election in the eastern province.

Chronology:

02.09.12  Basil Rajapaksa's men threaten Tamil-speaking vote..

31.08.12  Basil Rajapaksa dispatches 1000-member squad to Tr..

Uprooted Tamils live with UXO threat, UN agencies silent on demographic ‘conquest’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 May 2012, 04:30 GMT]
Uprooted Eezham Tamils from the coastal villages of Mullaiththeevu district, denied resettlement in their own lands and forced to ‘resettle’ in Koampaavil resettlement-scheme, away from the radars of international media and human rights activists, have been abandoned without proper humanitarian assistance. Meanwhile, the families, clearing lands have been confronted with unexploded ordnance in the area that has been declared by UN agencies as clear of landmines. Last Sunday, 37-year-old Manoranjitham Asokkumar, a mother of three children, sustained serious injuries while clearing her plot of land. Local humanitarian workers, who gave photographs to TamilNet, alleged that the UN agencies had failed to even highlight the plight of the civilians who face the threat of landmines in the area, which the agencies have earlier verified as clear of landmines.

The latest victim who sustained serious injuries was identified as Manoranjitham Asokkumar, a mother of three, who was living at 4th division, near Arasadip-pi'l'laiyaar temple The hurried ‘resettlement’ was carried out by the Colombo government to showcase that it was closing down the barbed-wire camps of incarceration in Cheddiku'lam in Vavuniyaa.

Civilians who were uprooted from the key villages of Mu'l'livaaykkaal, Valaignar-madam, Puthumaaththa'lan and Puthukkudiyiruppu were given lands in Koampaavil and were forcefully ‘resettled’ against their wishes.

The Sri Lankan state through its military-run administration of civil affairs in Vanni has been depriving the uprooted Tamils from resettling along the coastal stretch of Mullaiththeevu.

Through military occupation, land grab, Sinhalcisation and Buddhicisation of the Tamil country, the coastal and strategic villages are being fully occupied by Colombo.

Like the Gazafication that has demographically changed the settlement patterns of the occupied Palestine, Colombo and the Sri Lankan forces are creating another Palestine in the country of Eezham Tamils while the global community is kept unaware of the protracted programme of structural genocide.

Related Articles:
26.04.12   Two children die in landmine explosion at Pazhai in Jaffna p..
21.04.12   800,000 landmines remain in Thenmaraadchi FDL: DCO in Jaffna
22.09.11   Sri Lanka relocates uprooted civilians by force in jungles t..

SL Minister Devananda threatens to attack journalists of Jaffna daily

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2012, 16:45 GMT]


“I told my [paramilitary] boys to beat up these journalists. But, the boys are not paying attention. It seems I have to go in person and do it to make these journalists behave,” was the newest controversial comment by SL Minister and EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda on Thursday evening at a meeting held at Jaffna District Secretariat, where he was talking to unemployed graduates who were demanding employment. The spontaneous comment by Mr. Devananda came when SL military governor's secretary informed him of a news item that appeared in the Jaffna edition of Thinakkural exposing the diversion of funds allocated to development of schools in Vanni to the highly showcased construction of swimming pool which was declared opened by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The threat against Tamil journalists comes following the recent comments against journalists by the visiting SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself, the journalists in Jaffna said.

L. Ilankovan, the secretary of SL Military Governor of Northern Province, gave the newsclip to Mr. Devananda who was having the meeting with unemployed graduates.

Five million rupees that had been allocated for the urgent reconstruction of schools in Vanni was diverted to the completion of the swimming pool at Jaffna Central College The swimming pool was supposed to be developed by the youth group of SL President Rajapaksa's son Namal Rajapaksa. But, the project which was marred corruption and misuse of the resources took several years and was not completed by the group.

The EPDP is earlier blamed to be involved in the slaying of Jaffna correspondent of BBC and TamilNet, Mr. Nimalarajan in year 2000.

Chronology:

09.02.12  SL Minister Devananda threatens to attack journali..

06.02.12  Tamil journalists blocked from attending Rajapaksa..

Colombo-backed gang threatens resettled Tamil families in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 02:59 GMT]
A gang of more than one hundred fifty Sinhalese who were brought to Channaar village in Mannaar district on Sunday by a government minister had threatened resettled Tamil families to leave the village immediately to give room for the majority community. The intimidation of Tamil families who have suffered in the conflict and relatives of the killed LTTE cadres had been engineered by Minister Rischard Bathiudeen and Maanthai West Divisional Secretary with the blessing of the Colombo government, according to reports emerging from the area.

The Sinhala gang had then started clearing the jungle area in Channaar with heavy equipment including bulldozers and ordered the residents to leave the village immediately, sources said.

Residents of the village and Sinhala gang thereafter had entered into a heated argument and altercation.

Immediately troops of the Sri Lanka Army and police personnel were called in to bring the situation under control. SLA soldiers had also threatened the villagers to leave the area, labeling them as illegal occupants, according to the villagers.

Villagers said the Sinhala gang had been brought to the village on the request from Muslim councilor of the Maanthai West Predesiya Sabah with the support of the Maanthai West DS who is a strong supporter of Minister Rischard Bathiuthdeen.

Some members of the Sinhala gang had gone to the village again and forced members of thirty five families to sign documents, but the villagers had allegedly refused to sign.

On receipt of complaints by the affected families Mannaar Additional Government S. Mehanathan had visited the area in the absence of the Mannaar Government Agent and observed the ground situation.

Most of the families residing in the Channaar village are relatives of members of LTTE cadres who had died in the battle and are in possession of legally valid documents that they are entitled to the said lands.