புதன், 25 ஜனவரி, 2012

Award winning film-maker presents documentary on exiled Sinhala, Tamil journalists

Award winning film-maker presents documentary on exiled Sinhala, Tamil journalists

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 22:45 GMT]
‘Silenced Voices – Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile’, a new documentary by Norwegian film-maker Beate Arnestad, who directed and produced the award winning documentary ‘My Daughter the Terrorist’ in 2007, is to be pre-premiered in Oslo, Norway, on February 09. The screening of ‘Silenced Voices’, which is about journalists, who contributed to international exposure of the internationally abetted genocidal war without witnesses, will be followed by a debate featuring journalists Bashana Abeywardane, the former chief editor of Hiru weekly, Frances Harrison, the former BBC foreign correspondent to Sri Lanka and Sverre Tom Radøy, a Norwegian journalist. The film features Mr. Bashana Abeywardene, his wife Sharmila Logeswaram, Sonali Wickrematunge and A. Lokeesan, TamilNet wartime correspondent, who was reporting from 2005 to April 2009 from Vanni.

Silenced voices
Silenced voices
Silenced voices
Silenced voices
Beate Arnestad
Mr. Lokeesan was given safe passage to Europe with assistance from international media organisations by the efforts of the progressive Sinhalese of the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS). Lokeesan is currently documenting his experiences as a TamilNet correspondent.

The documentary about journalists from the island of Sri Lanka in exile, with focus on issues of freedom of speech and media suppression in the island, will be screened at Vika Cinema from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The event is sponsored by Norway’s The Fritt Ord Foundation and co-organized by the Human Rights Human Wrongs Documentary Film Festival.

“The film is told as a personal encounter with exiled journalists from Sri Lanka who have been “silenced” and almost killed in their home country because they exposed war crimes, corruption and massacres of civilians. They claim these crimes are being committed by the state. Sri Lanka is ranking one of the worst countries in Asia with respect to freedom of expression. In the past years, many have disappeared or are found tortured and killed. Close to 50 media workers have recently fled the country,” a media announcement by the Fritt Ord Foundation said.

Many journalists have faced and continue to face grave physical threats to life, family and property from the Sri Lankan state. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, who filed news reports for TamilNet was killed in 2000 and Sivaram Dharmeratnam (Taraki), a senior editor of TamilNet was abducted and assassinated in 2005.

The Norwegian film-maker Beate Arnestad has over twenty years of experience producing and directing content for departments at Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Her first independent and award- winning documentary was My Daughter the Terrorist filmed during the time she lived in Sri Lanka. She is also behind the documentary Telling Truths in Arusha (2010).

Chronology:

Chaos inside Welikade prison, Tamil prisoners shifted, Fonseka safe

Chaos inside Welikade prison, Tamil prisoners shifted, Fonseka safe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 12:18 GMT]
Tamil political prisoners detained in the Magazine prison in Welikada have been removed to the main prison complex for safe custody following tense situation created by suspects who are involved in drug trafficking offences, prison sources said.

Prison sources said, due to heavy resistance from the inmates, the tense situation is still prevailing in the Magazine remand prison in Welikada despite the heavy presence of the military and Special Forces.

Law enforcement authorities have been unable to move inside the prison. Inmates suspected for drug offences are suspected to be involved in the chaos that took place this afternoon. The police did not comment on whether the suspects were fired at by the police, according to Colombo media sources.

The removal of Tamil political prisoners, according to prison sources, took place Tuesday afternoon around 3 p.m.

Unidentified gang ransacks Tamil NGO office in Colombo

Unidentified gang ransacks Tamil NGO office in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 12:14 GMT]
The Colombo office of "Vi'luthu," a non-governmental organization that has been implementing development projects for the welfare of the underprivileged people in the North and East by providing free legal advice and conducting courses in journalism, was ransacked by an unidentified group of persons in the late hours of Monday or early hours of Tuesday, according to an official of the NGO.

The Colombo office is located along Torrington Avenue.

Unidentified persons had entered the office forcibly through rear entrance. The gang had thrown all files and other documents kept in the office on the floor after subjecting the documents to intensive examination.

A NGO officer claimed Rs.15,000 kept in office was missing. All documents were left behind.

NGO authority had lodged a complaint with the Cinnamon Garden Police.

The NGO has been publishing several magazines for the teaching community including Ahavilzhi in Tamil and some magazines for parents, sources said.

Kalam risks his image in salvaging New Delhi in Tamil Nadu

Kalam risks his image in salvaging New Delhi in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 07:04 GMT]
While India’s former president Abdul Kalam has real work to do in addressing his own Establishment in New Delhi what brought him to genocidal Colombo and its India-partnered colony in the North and East of the island, wonders genocide-affected Eezham Tamils. Mr. Kalam may not be worried about criticism against him, as his interview to The Hindu has shown. But the general public is worried about India’s projected ‘sane’ faces getting more and more discredited, paving way for people distrusting any face that come from India in future, comments an academic in Jaffna. Kalam and India know that the deception will not work with Eezham Tamils but the mission is more aimed at engineering opinion in Tamil Nadu for the ‘Asian Model’ the Indian imperialism is experimenting in partnership with Rajapaksa, the academic further said.

Further comments from the academic in Jaffna follow:

“Mr. Kalam is going to Sri Lanka to participate in the launch of the ‘Trilingual Initiative,' an ambitious programme of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa that seeks to encourage Sri Lankans to learn all three languages spoken in the multi-ethnic country — Tamil, Sinhalese and English,” reported The Hindu on Saturday.

The so-called Trilingual Initiative without conceding the territoriality of the nation of Eezham Tamils, who are militarily subjugated and colonized in their land, is an indirect way achieving the ‘Sinhala Only’ of 1958.

Dr APJ Abdul  Kalam
Dr. Kalam preaches the virtues of learning in mother tongue. But how the genocidal Sri Lankan state is capable of changing the mother tongue itself in two or three generations could very well be seen in the case of the Katpiddi-Puththa’lam-Chilaapam-Neerkozhumpu region of the Western and North Western provinces.

Colombo’s LLRC report has fixed 2020 as the year to complete the structural genocide of Eezham Tamils as a nation, through the deceptive ‘Trilingual Initiative’ and Dr. Kalam has come to ‘inaugurate’ it.

In the interview to The Hindu, Kalam dodged the crucial question about Sri Lanka accommodating the political and cultural interests of Tamils by vaguely talking about wellbeing, individuality and happiness of every citizen.

But, inaugurating Rajapaksa’s ‘National Action Plan’ in Colombo on Saturday, Kalam came out with poetry, specifying his dream: “Oh, Sri Lanka, Oh youth of Sri Lanka, If God is for us, who can be against.”

Does he mean that the wish of God was for upholding Sri Lanka by committing genocide of a nation? If so, that nation does not need that God either.

“War is never a lasting solution for any problem,” Kalam told The Hindu. Where have he and his ilk gone when 140, 000 Tamils went unaccounted for in the India-partnered war?

* * *


In Colombo, Kalam was talking about the ‘birth of Ahimsa’ in the empire of Asoka, 2300 years ago – a favourite glorification of ancient imperialism by the elite of the New Delhi establishment to set illusions of their imperialism and its expansionism today. Asoka’s ‘Ahimsa’ that regretted in his inscriptions for the death and maiming of hundreds of thousands in the Kalinga War never gave back the country of the Kalingas to the Kalingas.

Immediately after the Eezham War, we had seen another Mauryan Empire specialist and ‘sane’ academic Romila Thapar from New Delhi, coming and preaching on ‘reconciliation’.

In his speech in Colombo, Kalam didn’t fail to bring in Mahatma Gandhi and his Ahimsa. Gandhi’s Ahimsa was coupled with Non-Cooperation model of struggle against imperialist oppressors. But Kalam in Jaffna was advising the youth to cooperate with the ‘development’ of genocidal Sri Lanka sponsored by Indian imperialism.

Kalam admired South African model of tolerance after its liberation from apartheid. But when there was apartheid in South Africa it was not tolerated by the international community, including India. Why now Kalam’s India makes genocide a paradigm for its ‘Asian Model’?

Suffering people of South Africa under the apartheid regime found solidarity when the country was boycotted in international games. The same South Africa today plays cricket with genocidal Colombo. May be because of the kind of tolerance Kalam was preaching in Colombo with citations from Thirukku’ra’l.

* * *


In Colombo, Dr. Kalam was also citing the model of European Union.

“We have an example of how European nations, who were constantly warring against each other for centuries could come together in a European Union and help each in times of economic crisis and create a win-win situation for a society which is otherwise diverse on counts of religion, language and ethnic backgrounds,” Kalam said.

Eezham Tamils are not against such a model in South Asia provided they are recognized as a nation in such an entity. But one need not tell Dr. Kalam that Indian imperialism is the foremost impediment for such a unity in South Asia. Dr. Kalam has to tell this to the New Delhi establishment and when India matures enough for such a union in South Asia, Eezham Tamils as a nation would sure be willing partners of it.

* * *


Dr. Abdul Kalam long served as a key person in the military establishment of Indian imperialism. That orientation of him looks stronger, making his philosophies and Thirukku’ra’l only superficial, as at his age and relatively independent disposition he has thought of risking his life-earned reputation even among his own people by sitting with genocidal Rajapaksa for the sake of the designs of India’s imperialism.

In a war-torn land, where the Eezham Tamils and their fighters were the worst sufferers at the hands of the militaries of Sri Lanka and India, and while the Eezham Tamils are deprived of even paying homage to their dead, Dr. Kalam was one-sided in paying tribute at the IPKF memorial on Sunday.

Kalam and MS Swaminathan at a higher level, and Natchiappans at another level, are faces from Tamil Nadu the New Delhi establishment launches to lure and engineer opinion among the elite as well as the enraged masses in Tamil Nadu.

The philosophy of the message is simple. Give the philosophy of reconciliation, tolerance, development etc., to the subjugated Tamils. Don’t bother about their sovereignty, right to self-determination, militarisation and colonisation of their country or even their self-respect. Make partnership with Colombo in grabbing land and money of the ‘conquered’ nation. Let Tamil Nadu also participate in it, is the message.

* * *


On January 9, The Hindu reported a former Indian diplomat G. Parthasarathy, close to the newspaper’s establishment (not the G.P. of the Nehru-Indira Gandhi times), talking on “economic integration” of the North and East with Tamil Nadu.

“Mr. Parthasarathy suggested setting up industrial training and engineering institutions in the North and East of Sri Lanka that would, within a generation, result in the economic integration of the markets in these areas with that of Tamil Nadu—something that Sri Lanka could be persuaded to see as not beneficial merely for Tamils but for the greater common good,” The Hindu reported.

In the present-day world where politics is invariably trumped by economics, India has to have a drastic rethinking of its policy in favour of economically empowering the Tamils in Sri Lanka as a sustainable solution for their rehabilitation, the diplomat reasoned out.

According to The Hindu, the diplomat opined that the line of thought about condemning Sri Lanka for human rights violations should be abandoned, for India may not find support from China, the Islamic World, the Asian Bloc worried about sovereignty and a wavering USA.

The excuse is farce as in all international instances India was seen leading in setting the stage for shielding genocidal Sri Lanka. It is a known secret where the responsibility for the crime of the genocide would ultimately be traced to, if there were any independent international investigation.

Politics is not invariably trumped by economics. On the contrary, any genuine economic empowerment comes from political freedom, resultant sense of belongingness and culture of the concerned people. It is only the economy of imperialism that aims at keeping politics away from people, and that is the economy the New Delhi-Colombo partnership wants to impose on Eezham Tamils.

Last week, the editor-in-chief and publisher of The Hindu and its group of publications, Mr. N. Ram officially stepped down, paving way for a group of editorial successors, groomed by Mr. Ram to continue his particular shade of political affiliation. The stand of this particular shade of politics, especially when it comes to the national liberation cause of Eezham Tamils, is well known.

Dr. Abdul Kalam has now been brought into the galaxy meant for New Delhi’s opinion-engineering process. How Tamil Nadu would respond to the developments, Eezham Tamils await to see.

Chronology:


Related Articles:
03.08.10   New Delhi academic comments in Colombo on diaspora transnati..


External Links:
Indian High Commission: Kalam: Evolution of Noble Nations What can I Give?
The Hindu: Kalam pays tributes at IPKF memorial
The Hindu: G.Parthasarathy: Rethink policy to empower Sri Lankan Tamils economically
The Hindu: Editorial succession in The Hindu group
The Hindu: On a mission to promote peace in Sri Lanka: Kalam

Colombo-backed gang threatens resettled Tamil families in Mannaar

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.

Kalam unaware of Tamil fishermen's plight

Kalam unaware of Tamil fishermen's plight

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2012, 23:56 GMT]
Jaffna District fisheries societies representatives on Monday urged the visiting former Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who was in Jaffna as part of his visit to the island, to impress upon the Indian government to facilitate the Eezham Tamil fishermen to resume their livelihood by containing the Indian poachers who destroy the nets of the local fishermen and cause serious destruction to the environment necessary for sustaining the fisheries industry. Dr. Kalam was listening to the plight of the fishermen in the peninsula as if he was totally unaware of the decades long dispute in the sea and the destruction caused to the Eezham Tamil fishermen by the intruding Indian trawlers that engage in poaching close to the coast of Jaffna peninsula. The visiting former president of India, later visited the University of Jaffna and gave a speech at a fully packed Kailasapathy auditorium.

Kalam visits Jaffna
Kalam visits Jaffna
Mr. S. Thavaratnam, the president of the Jaffna district fisheries societies led a delegation urging the former Indian president for a meeting, when the latter emerged out of the bungalow of Sri Lankan colonial military governor in North, Maj Gen (red.) GA Chandrasiri at Chu'ndikkuzhi.

Following the request made by the fisheries society representatives, Dr. Kalam invited them for a conversation inside the SL governor's bungalow.

The fisheries representatives, talking to media after their meeting said they gave detailed information in Tamil to Dr. Kalam on the plight of the Eezham Tamil fishermen.

Apart from the immediate destruction of fishing nets of the fishermen in the peninsula by the Indian trawlers that come close to the coast, where the local fishermen are dependent of traditional fishing in a limited sea due to militarization by the Sri Lankan Navy, the Indian poachers cause serious damage to their livelihood in the long run, the fisheries representatives explained to the former Indian President.

The fisheries society representatives also complained that the talks held with their counterparts in India have not given any positive results, despite several rounds of meetings held between them in the past.

The high commissioner of India in Colombo, Asok K. Kantha and SL governor Chandrasir accompanied Dr. Kalam to Jaffna University. The Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University, Ms. Vasanthy Arasaradnam, received the former Indian president at the University.

Despite knowing the farce behind the visit, there was a large crowd of students, teachers and journalists at the Kailasapathy auditorium, due to the charisma behind the name of Dr. Abdul Kalam.

Kalam has undertaken the trip to the island on the invitation of Colombo government.

Kalam visits Jaffna


Chronology:

பூமியை இன்று தாக்கும் சூரியப் புயல்:





வாஷிங்டன்: "கடந்த ஆறு ஆண்டுகளில் இல்லாத அளவிற்கு, தற்போது சூரியனின் மேல்மட்டத்தில் எழுந்துள்ள சூரிய அதிர்வலைகள் அல்லது சூரியப் புயல், இன்று பூமியைத் தாக்கும். இதனால், செயற்கைக்கோள்கள் மற்றும் சர்வதேச விண்வெளி நிலையத்தின் செயல்பாடுகள் பாதிக்கப்படலாம். பூமியில் சில பகுதிகளில் கதிர்வீச்சு நேரிடலாம்' என, விஞ்ஞானிகள் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.

சூரியனின் மேற்புறத்தில் பல்வேறு வேதியியல் மாற்றங்களால், கதிர்கள் பெருமளவில் கொந்தளித்து, அலைகளை வீசுவது, சூரிய அதிர்வலைகள் அல்லது சூரியப் புயல் எனப்படுகிறது. கடந்த சில ஆண்டுகளாகவே சூரியனின் மேற்புறம் அமைதியாகவே இருந்து வருகிறது. இந்நிலையில், கடந்த 22ம் தேதி, சூரியனின் மேற்புறத்தில் இருந்து புறப்பட்ட சூரிய அதிர்வலை, ஒரு மணி நேரத்தில் பூமியைத் தாக்கியது. தற்போது, அதைவிட சக்தி வாய்ந்த சூரிய அதிர்வலை, இன்று, பூமியைத் தாக்கும் என, "நாசா' தெரிவித்துள்ளது. இந்த தாக்குதல், மூன்று விதத்தில் நிகழும். முதலில் மின்காந்தத் தூண்டல் கதிர்வீச்சும், இரண்டாவதாக, புரோட்டான்கள் நிறைந்த அதிர்வலையால் கதிர்வீச்சும், மூன்றாவதாக, சூரியனின் கரோனா என்ற மேற்புறத்தில் இருந்து எழும் பிளாஸ்மா கதிர்வீச்சும் அடுத்தடுத்து பூமியை நோக்கி வரும். இந்த கதிர்வீச்சுகளினால், பூமியின் மேற்புறத்தில் சுற்றிக் கொண்டிருக்கும் செயற்கைக்கோள்கள், சர்வதேச விண்வெளி நிலையம், சற்று பாதிக்கப்படலாம். பூமியின் சில பகுதிகளில் மின்சாரத் தொகுப்பு நிலையங்கள் பாதிக்கப்படலாம். எனினும், கடந்த 1989ல் நிகழ்ந்த சூரிய அதிர்வலையைப் போல் அல்லாமல், இந்த முறை சற்று குறைவாகவே இருக்கும் எனவும், அது பூமியின் வடதுருவத்தில் தான் அதி களவில் பாதிப்பை ஏற்படுத்தும் எனவும் எதிர்பார்க்கப்படுகிறது.

Kalam! Please stay in Ilankai or go to delhi

தங்கள் மொழியும் இனமும் நாடும் விடுதலை அடைய வேண்டும் எனக்கனவு கண்ட தமிழர்களை அழித்தவர்களுடன் இணைந்து நிற்கும் கலாம் என்ன கனவு காணச் சொல்கிறார். அரைத்த மாவை அரைப்பதால் இனிப்புகழ்  பெற முடியாது. மீளாப் பழியிலிருந்தும் தப்பிக்க முடியாது. இனி அவர் இலங்கையிலோ தில்லியிலோ குடியிருக்கலாம். உலகத் தமிழர்கள் அவர்களைப் புறக்கணிப்போம். கண்டனத்துடன் இலக்குவனார் திருவள்ளுவன் / தமிழே விழி! தமிழா விழி! எழுத்தைக் காப்போம்! மொழியைக் காப்போம்! இனத்தைக் காப்போம்! /



முதலில் யாழ்ப்பாண பல்கலைக்கழகத்துக்கு சென்று மாணவர்களிடையே உரையாற்றிய கலாம், இளைஞர்களுக்கு கனவு என்பது மிக முக்கியமானதொரு கடமையாகும், அந்த கனவு தூக்கத்தில் வருவதல்ல உங்களை தூங்கவிடாது செய்வதே கனவு. கனவு காணுங்கள், அந்த கனவுகளை நனவாக்குவதற்கு உச்சக்கட்ட முயற்சியும் செய்யுங்கள், அதன் மூலம் உங்கள் குடும்பத்திற்கும், சமூகத்திற்கும், நாட்டிற்கும், பொறுப்புள்ள மனிதர்களாக உருமாறுங்கள்.

செவ்வாய், 24 ஜனவரி, 2012

கன்னட மண்ணில் தமிழுக்குப் பல்கலைக்கழக இருக்கை கிடைக்குமா? கருநாடகத் தமிழர்கள் ஏக்கம்

நல்ல வேண்டுகோள். ஆனால், நாட்டு வரலாறு அறியாமல் எழுதப்பட்டுள்ளது. தமிழ் மண்ணாக இருந்த நிலப்பகுதிதான் மொழிக்கலப்பால் பிறக் கலப்பும் ஏற்பட்டுக் கன்னடமண்ணாக மாறியது. எனவே, ௧௦ ஆம் நூறறாண்டு முதல் தமிழர்கள் வாழ்ந்து வருகிறார்கள் என்பது தவறான செய்தி. ஆங்கிலேயர்கள் ஆட்சியில் கூட, பெங்களூர்,மைசூர், கோலார் முதலான பல பகுதிகளில் தமிழர்களே பெருமபான்மையராக இருந்துள்ளார்கள் என்பதையும் குறிக்க வேண்டும்.
செம்மொழித் திட்டத்தின் கீழ் எல்லாப் பகுதிகளிலும் தமிழ் கற்பிக்கப்பட வழிவகை செய்யலாமே! தினமணி எழுப்பும்  தமிழோசை உரியவர்கள் செவிகளிலும் விழும்; தக்க நடவடிக்கை எடுப்பார்கள் என எதிர்பார்ப்போம்!அன்புடன் இலக்குவனார் திருவள்ளுவன் / தமிழே விழி! தமிழா விழி! எழுத்தைக் காப்போம்! மொழியைக் காப்போம்! இனத்தைக் காப்போம்! /
 
கன்னட மண்ணில் தமிழுக்குப் பல்கலைக்கழக இருக்கை கிடைக்குமா? 
கருநாடகத் தமிழர்கள் ஏக்கம்

First Published : 24 Jan 2012 01:29:32 AM IST


பெங்களூர்: கன்னட மண்ணில் தமிழுக்கு பல்கலைக்கழக இருக்கை கிடைக்குமா என்று கர்நாடக தமிழர்கள் ஏங்கி வருகின்றனர்.  திரைகடலோடியும் திரவியம் தேடு என்ற முதுமொழிக்குத் தக்கவர்களாக உலகம் முழுவதும் பரந்து வாழும் இனத்தவர் தமிழர்கள். இதற்கு கர்நாடகமும் விதிவிலக்கல்ல.  தென் கர்நாடகத்தின் பெங்களூர் நகரம், பெங்களூர் ஊரகம், ராமநகரம், மைசூர், கோலார், ஹாசன், மண்டியா, சாமராஜ்நகர், வட கர்நாடகத்தின் ஷிமோகா, பெல்லாரி, ஹூப்ளி போன்ற மாவட்டங்களில் 10-ம் நூற்றாண்டு முதல் தமிழர்கள் வாழ்ந்து வருகிறார்கள்.  காலங்காலமாக கர்நாடகத்தில் பிறந்து வாழ்ந்திருந்தாலும், தமிழையும், அதன் பெருமையையும் என்றைக்கும் மறவாமல் இதயமுற்றத்திலும், இல்லமுற்றத்திலும் உயிர்ப்புடன் அடைகாப்பவர்கள் தமிழர்கள்.  பெங்களூர், கோலார் மாவட்டங்களில் தமிழர்களின் ஆதிக்கமும், தமிழின் வீச்சும் பரவலாகக் காணப்பட்டது. காலவெள்ளத்தில் இதில் வீழ்ச்சி தென்பட்டாலும், எழுச்சி குறையவில்லை என்பதற்கு தமிழர்கள் இன்னும் வீடுகளில் தமிழ் பேசுவதே சாட்சி.  கர்நாடக தமிழர்கள் அண்மைக் காலமாக எதிர்கொண்டுள்ள கேள்வி, அடுத்த தலைமுறைக்கு தமிழைக் கொண்டு சேர்ப்பது எப்படி என்பதுதான். இதற்கு ஒரே பதில் தமிழ்மொழியை ஒருமொழிப்பாடமாக கற்பிப்பதுதான்.  ஆரம்பப்பள்ளி முதல் பல்கலைக்கழகம் வரை தமிழே இல்லாத பட்சத்தில் இது எப்படி சாத்தியமாகும். இதற்குத் தீர்வாக கல்லூரிகள் மற்றும் பல்கலைக்கழகங்களில் தமிழ்த்துறை நிறுவ வேண்டுமென்று பெங்களூர் தமிழ்ச்சங்கம் உள்ளிட்ட தமிழ் அமைப்புகள் நீண்ட காலமாக கோரி வருகின்றன.  சில கல்லூரிகளில் தமிழ்த்துறைகள் செயல்பட்டாலும், முதுகலைப்பட்டம் படிக்க, ஆராய்ச்சி மேற்கொள்ள வழியில்லாததால் பள்ளி, கல்லூரிகளில் தமிழ் படிக்க ஆர்வம் கொண்டவர்கள் குறைந்து வருகிறார்கள்.  தமிழர்களுக்கு குறைவில்லை என்றாலும், தமிழுக்கு இடமில்லாதபோது தமிழ் எப்படி தழைக்கும் என்று கேள்வி எழுப்புகிறார் பெயர் குறிப்பிட விரும்பாத தமிழ்ப் பேராசிரியர் ஒருவர்.  தமிழக அரசு நிதியுதவி செய்தால் தமிழ்த்துறை தொடங்குவதில் எங்களுக்கு ஆட்சேபணை இல்லை என்று கர்நாடக அரசு தெரிவித்துள்ளது. பெங்களூர் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் தமிழ்த்துறை தொடங்கினால் ஆண்டுக்கு ரூ.40 லட்சம் செலவாகும் என்று மதிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதை தமிழக அரசு ஏற்றுக் கொண்டால் பெங்களூர் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் தமிழ்த்துறை தொடங்குவதில் தடையிருக்காது என்கிறார்.  பெங்களூர் தமிழ்ச்சங்கத் தலைவர் மீனாட்சிசுந்தரம் கூறுகையில், பெங்களூர் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் தமிழ்த்துறை தொடங்க வேண்டுமென்பது எங்கள் நீண்ட நாளைய கோரிக்கை. கர்நாடக தமிழர்கள் நலனைக் கருத்தில் கொண்டு பெங்களூர் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் தமிழ்த்துறை தொடங்க தமிழகத்தில் புதிதாக பொறுப்பேற்றுள்ள அதிமுக ஆட்சியில் வழி பிறக்கும் என்று நம்புகிறோம் என்றார்.  பெங்களூர் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் தமிழ்த்துறை தொடங்கினால், அது பல நூற்றாண்டுகளாக நீண்டு கொண்டிருக்கும் தமிழர்-கன்னடர் உறவில் புதிய மைல் கல்லாக அமையும். இதற்கு தமிழக அரசு மனது வைக்க வேண்டுமே என்று ஏங்குகிறார்கள் கர்நாடகத் தமிழர்கள்.

SL Navy militarises Jaffna lagoon

SL Navy militarises Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2012, 21:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy and Army have denied resettled fishermen along a major part of Jaffna lagoon from accessing their sea from Sunday, citing training purposes of the military at a major cantonment of the occupying SL military at Allaarai on Chaavakachcheari - Kachchaay Road. The SL military has blocked the fishing boats from Koayilkudiyiruppu on Sunday giving instructions to the fishermen that the entire stretch from Chavakachcheari to Kachchaay will remain blocked until further notice, representatives of fishermen from Koayilkudiyiruppu in Chavakachcheari told TamilNet Monday. The SL military has also said that access to sea will be blocked five to ten days every month in future.

The Eezham Tamil fishermen, most of them resettled after the war and are dependent on fishing prawns, squid and crabs in the shallow waters of the lagoon, complain that they are again being deprived of their livelihood by the SL military.

During the war, the intense shelling from the Allarai base forced the fishermen to flee from their coastal villages and finally displace from the area as the fighting intensified. The fishing in the shallow waters remained blocked almost for 10 years in the past.

After the war, the SL government announced that it was opening Ki'liaali area, situated south of Kachchaay, for resettlement and more than 150 families resettled in Ki'laali after 16 years.

However, after the families moved in, the SL military started to put up barbed wires along the coastal belt barring the fishermen from entering the sea and depriving them from resuming their livelihood activities. The resettled families in Ki'laali are now considering to move away from Ki'laali, the fishermen representatives further said.

The move is viewed as part of a systematic process of colonisation of Tamil coastal areas in the North.

Chronology: