கிளிநொச்சி கொலை குறித்து கனடா முழுமையான      விசாரணை கோருகிறது

கிளிநொச்சியில் கடந்த வாரம் ஒரு கனடிய பிரஜை கொலை செய்யப்பட்டமை
குறித்து இலங்கை முழுமையான விசாரணை நடத்த வேண்டும் என தாம் எதிர்பார்ப்பதாக கனடா கூறியுள்ளது.

මහේන්ද්‍රරාජා මරණය අභිරහසක්

කැනේඩියානු පුරවැසියෙක් වන අන්තෝනිපිල්ලෙයි මහේන්ද්‍රරාජා, සාහසිකයන් පිරිසක් විසින් කිලිනොච්චි අසල ප්‍රදේශයකදී මරා දැමුණු බවට සැක පළ වී තිබේ.

11 May 2012

Canada urges Sri Lanka police to probe murder

Canada says it expects Sri Lanka to make a full investigation of the murder of a Canadian citizen in northern Sri Lanka last week.

Anthonypillai Mahendrarajah had reportedly started building a house on family land when he was killed

 Reports say Anthonypillai Mahendrarajah, of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, was killed when he went to reclaim property lost during the war.
His properties were said to be in Kilinochchi, the town that became the headquarters for Tamil Tiger rebels.
Sri Lanka's army defeated separatist rebels in 2009 after 26 years of war.
The Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bruce Levy, told the BBC that Mr Mahendrarajah was apparently murdered by a group of men just outside Kilinochchi. 

For years the Tamil Tiger headquarters, the town is now heavily guarded by the military.

Mr Levy said he had sent a formal note to the government saying a full investigation of last week's killing was needed and Canada would be tracking its progress.

Building a house

Media reports and sources in northern Sri Lanka said villagers reported seeing men in balaclavas attack Mr Mahendrarajah. He had struggled with his killers and his genitals were mutilated.

He is said to have been the wealthy owner of shops in Kilinochchi who fled and settled in Canada during the war years. His properties were taken over by the Tamil Tigers and are reportedly now in the hands of a Sri Lankan supermarket chain and other businesses.

He had returned to the country to reclaim his land and had started building a house on it when he was killed.

Some reports say he had got into arguments with the military on the issue and the pro-Tiger website, TamilNet, said his movements had been monitored by military intelligence.

The police spokesman declined to comment much but told the BBC four teams of investigators had been deployed but no-one had yet been arrested.

This week the Sri Lankan government said it would welcome and accept refugees wanting to return from overseas but incidents like this are likely to put many off.

Top SL military hand alleged in killing Canadian Tamil in Vanni

 [TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 May 2012, 05:34 GMT]

Circumstantial evidences point to the hands of top level Sri Lanka military in the brutal killing of a Canadian Eezham Tamil who came to Vanni to claim his properties appropriated by the occupying military, news sources in Vanni revealed to TamilNet. The victim owned 8 commercially valuable buildings in line in Ki’linochchi town that were appropriated by the Sinhala military to be given in turn to a Colombo-based chain store that now dominates food business in the north. Through the occupying military, presidential sibling and SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has appropriated nearly 250 such commercially valuable properties in Ki’linochchi for his agenda of plunder and structural genocide of Eezham Tamils. The Canadian Tamil lost his life struggling with a genocidal mechanism installed by many world establishments including that of his own adopted country. Full story >>

GTF pays tribute to Comrade Roy at state funeral - S Africa
 

     10 May 2012
President Jacob Zuma greets Mr Surendiran

"The reward he sought, as he has always said, is not recognition, nor status, nor titles, nor money but that the coming generation – who never even knew him – enjoys a better life, thanks to his courageous work. And I also want to pay my personal tribute, to his work and his leadership in achieving, by his determined action, what many thought was impossible - to internationalise, the Tamil Question."

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) joined President Jacob Zuba, ministers and senior government officials of South Africa to pay tribute to the late activist and minister, Roy Padayachie, at his state funeral in Durban on Wednesday.

As one of the handful of speakers requested to address the mourners and pay tribute to the late Mr Padayachie, the GTF's spokeperson, Suren Surendiran, shared his memories of Comrade Roy, who he described as a pivotal and inspirational figure to the organisation.

Addressing the mourners, Mr Surendiran said,

"let me, on your behalf, salute Comrade Roy, whom I and a large number of Tamil speaking people admire so much, for his leadership, not just in this country, but throughout the Tamil diaspora for laying the foundation for Global Tamil Forum, and for his crucial and catalytic role in bringing the liberation campaign together, with a vision to follow."

"I recall, a personal experience, when I, with other Tamil activists came to visit you at your home, with the help of comrade Roy and comrade Sisa Njekalana during the peak of the war in Sri Lanka, back in 2009…at the end of our discussions, you very warmly shook hands with me and said and I quote - “Comrade, please go and tell your fellow comrades, as revolutionaries we will always stand by you”

See here for the complete transcript of GTF's tribute address.

See video clips of address broadcast live.

See GTF tribute message at 01:01:00

The other speakers included the President Jacob Zuma, the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya a senior minister from Kenya and Mr Padayachie's brother-in-law, Mr Solly Pillay.

Widely admired, Mr Padayachie's family were inundated with letters of tributes, including from the Tamil Institute in South Africa, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Tamil Business Forum, Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris and Sri Lankan MP Sajin Vaas Gunawardane.

Known as Comrade Roy, Mr Padayachie was the Public Service and Administration Minister of South Africa.

He passed away last week whilst attending the African Peer Review Mechanism meeting in Ethiopia.

Mr Padayachie, a Tamil, was respected by activists worldwide for his tireless efforts to seek justice for those facing oppression.

Friday 11 of May 2012

MaRa’s infamous CID trails behind senior journalist C.J. Amaratunge
(Lanka-e-News, 10.May.2012, 11.59PM) The infamous secret police of MaRa regime had gone to the native town of Lankadeepa Chief Deputy Editor, C.J. Amaratunge and searched for his details, according to reports reaching Lanka e news.

The Lankadeepa famous ‘Gurudha’ political column is now written by senior media personnel Amaratunge.

The infamous CID officers have met H M S Siriwardena , the Grama niladhari of 247 division , Vanniakulam Anuradhapaura , the native place of Amaratunge . After introducing themselves as from the CID , have questioned from the Grama sevaka about the political affiliations of Amaratunge.

The grama sevaka had told them that before he became the grama sevaka of Vanniakulam , Amaratunge had left the village and was residing in Colombo, and therefore he does not know much about him. Thereafter this CID group had gone to the vicinity of Amaratunge’s parental house, and obtained all details from a neighbor.

Amaratunge has been working at the Lankadeepa office for the last 15 years, and if the CID wished to question him they could have met him and questioned in the office when he reported. Hence, it is crystal clear from this, sending the CID to Anuradhapura is to intimidate and frighten the relatives of Amaratunge , and his media.
In this connection the police and the media Minister are duty bound to make an announcement. The right of Amaratunge to perform his duties and to be with the media ought to be safeguarded. 

Incidentally , Amaratunge is the only graduate who became a media personnel after securing a BSc electrical engineering degree.

War Widows Turn to Sex Work in Sri Lanka

By Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, May 11, 2012 (IPS) - On May 18, some 800 women in Sri Lanka’s northern region will hold Hindu religious ceremonies for the welfare of thier husbands who disappeared or surrendered to the military as it moved in to mop up nearly three decades of armed Tamil separatism. 
"These women continue to live in hope even though many of those Tamil men may have died in the last days of the fighting," says Shreen Abdul Saroor, a prominent rights activist working with conflict-affected women in northern Sri Lanka.
"On the other hand, even if they do acknowledge that their men have died, they don’t want to be known as widows as that could result in them being seen in a negative light in the community," Saroor explained to IPS. "They prefer to be known as single women or as women heading households." MORE >>

At a makeshift school in northern Sri Lanka. 
Credit:Feizal Samath/IPS
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Contributions of Sivaram remembered at Memorial Seminar in London

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 May 2012, 02:41 GMT]
Commemorating the life, thoughts and contributions of ‘Taraki’ Sivaram Dharmeratnam, and inviting diverse views on the same, the Sivaram Memorial Seminar conducted in London on Sunday brought together Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim, British and Tamil Nadu journalists, academics and activists to discuss the intellectual legacy of the late senior editor of TamilNet. Referring to personal interactions with Sivaram, his ideological influences, his life as journalist and activist, his political and strategic analysis, the speakers interacted with the audience that included members of different shades of diaspora organizations, mainstream media and solidarity groups. The tightly packed programme included a closed door screening of award winning film-maker Beate Arnestad’s documentary ‘Silenced Voices’ to the seminar attendees. 
  Exiled Sinhala journalist Rohita Bashana Abeywardene addressing the gathering 

Anandhi Sooriyapragasam

Nirmanusan Balasundaram

Vino Kanpathipillai

Ithayachandran

S.J. Fatimaharan

Gopi Ratnam

Sasithar Maheswaran

B.A. Cader

RM Karthick

Dr. Andrew Higginbottom

Beate Arnestad

"'Silenced voices' poignantly portrayed the sufferings of the people concerned. One couldn’t help but admire the courage of the journalists portrayed in the documentary, and the producer in taking so many risks to bring out the truth to the world and exposing the crimes of the Sri Lankan state,” Anandhi Sooriyaprakasam, senior journalist formerly of BBC Tamil Service commented. 

The event has brought Tamil and Sinhala journalists for the first time after May 2009 for an open discussion and interaction, another senior journalist said.

The broad assortment of views expressed in the event should start a trend of a healthy debate towards building a popular consensus on the Tamil national question within the diaspora, the journalist further said. 

Recently, Sivaram’s writings on the Eezham Tamils’ struggle were recounted at the Press Freedom Day event held last Thursday in Jaffna, organized by the Nimalarajan Memorial Foundation, a well attended event that comprised of politicians of the TNA and the TNPF, and journalists of Free Media Movement from the South. 

At the event in London, a panel discussion moderated by independent journalist and human rights activist Nirmanusan Balasundaram, debated on the theme ‘Nerukkadikku'l u'l'lathaa Thamizhth theasiyam?’, (Is Tamil nationalism in a crisis?) based on an article written by Sivaram in 2004. 

During the panel debate, B.A. Cader, a Muslim activist and political commentator stressed that the need of the hour was to form alliance for a united front and that the diaspora and the homeland should work in cohesion to achieve objective goals. 

Columnist Ithayachandran, giving an economic analysis, spoke about the present state of the Gross Domestic Product in Sri Lanka, the treasury and finance commission, and how the diaspora can use the situation to put pressure on various fronts on the GoSL. 

While political commentator S.J. Fatimaharan talked on how an international conspiracy was responsible for the setbacks in the Tamil Eelam liberation struggle, Gopi Ratnam, editor of Oru Paper, observed how in aftermath of Mu'l'livaaykkaal genocide, some sections of the international community are planning to use the TNA as a tool to achieve their own interests. 

Sasithar Maheswaran, a youth activist from UK, emphasised that at this stage the diaspora should not compromise on the fundamentals of the struggle.

The event also comprised of individual presentations, with the presenters using their interpretations of Sivaram’s ideas, to understand the Tamils’ struggle, the role of international forces, the role of media, aspects of counterinsurgency and genocide. 

Exiled Tamil journalist from the island, Nirmanusan Balasundaram, through his personal experiences with Sivaram, talked about how the senior journalist’s life was an inspiration and a message for media persons in general, Tamil journalists in particular. 

Vino Kanapathipillai of the Tamil Guardian spoke of the need to understand the developments in International relations and shifting balance of forces and engage with powers accordingly, while remaining firm on the national demands.

Screening a hitherto unreleased video clip of Sivaram, and referring to email exchanges of Sivaram within the TamilNet editorial board, K. Jeyachandran from TamilNet explained how an ‘ideological divide’ was injected into the diaspora through a counterinsurgency-driven ‘peace project’. 

Karthick RM from Tamil Nadu, currently a research scholar at the University of Essex, elaborated on how establishments used NGOs and discourses on ‘human rights’, ‘development’, ‘peace’ etc., as abstract terms to dilute the national question of the Eezham Tamils as part of a containment agenda in the post-Mu'l'livaaykaal scenario.

Dr. Andrew Higginbottom, lecturer in Politics and Human Rights at Kingston University, brought parallels between the state repression on social movements in Colombia and repression on the national liberation struggle in the Tamil homeland, and drew on Sivaram to argue for a broad international solidarity to secure justice for the Eezham Tamils. 

Bashana Abeywardane, from the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, made a presentation highlighting the Sri Lankan government’s intention to commit genocide in its counterinsurgency operations, while masquerading as a ‘war on terror’. 

Mr Abeywardane stated that the victimization of the Tamils by the GoSL was intentional and not collateral, and that terrorizing the Tamil population was used as a tool to achieve Sri Lanka’s military victory. 

The exiled Sinhala journalist’s presentation elaborating the nuances of the military strategy and genocide committed by the Sri Lankan state got a standing ovation from the overwhelmingly Tamil audience.

The event was jointly organized by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), Int ernational Association of Tamil Journalists (ITAJ), and TamilNet.

  Panel discussion 

A section of the audience

 

SRI LANKA: The Police Torture Epidemic in Sri Lanka -- a documentary

In this film several victims talk about their experience of torture by the Sri Lankan police and the continuing ordeals they suffer, psychologically and socially due to this torture. All of them state that their arrests were baseless and that after their arrest the police tortured them even before asking any questions at all. Torture has been used as a means of trying to collect evidence in cases which the police have failed to investigate and solve.

Directed filed and edited by Josefina Bergsten; translated by Harshi Perera and Nilantha Illangamuwa; sound editing by Mark Chappell of Fork Media. The film was produced by Pictures by the Wayside and sponsored by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong and the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture (RCT Denmark) -- length 21 minutes.

In this film several victims talk about their experience of torture by the Sri Lankan police and the continuing ordeals they suffer, psychologically and socially due to this torture. All of them state that their arrests were baseless and that after their arrest the police tortured them even before asking any questions at all. Torture has been used as a means of trying to collect evidence in cases which the police have failed to investigate and solve.

• S

Who is this Sajin De Vaas Gunawardena?

Friday 11 of May 2012
(Lanka-e-News- 10.May.2012, 6.30PM) Sajin was working at various places after his O/L s and in end 90 s he got hold of a foreigner and convinced him to start a small business to manufacture gum tapes. Ultimately, the foreigner had set up the business and handed over Sajin to run it. He has just busted up the business and the foreigner was running behind him to recover his money. In order to escape from him, he joined Ranil's election campaign in 2001 and he was travelling in Ranil's famous bus. After got elected Ranil did not give him any job knowing his capacity and integrity.

Then he went to Dubai and got a Job at Trico Dubai helmed by Gamini Kannangara. In 2002 Gamini invited Mahinda Rajapaksa then chief Opp whip for his New Year celebrations as the Chief guest. While he was there, Sajin has got hold of him and looked after him well. As a result Mahinda has requested him to come to Sri Lanka and support him. 

In return flight he came to Sri Lanka and started work at Mahinda's office even without any proper appointment. By that time he has refreshed his contacts with UNP and got their support to Mahinda. 

In 2003 he bought a old Volvo as his first car for Rs. 400,000 by giving some cheques to the owner. When the cheques got returned the owner has threatened Sajin and he got escaped after intervention of Mr. Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

Once Mahinda Rajapaksa became Prime Minister in 2004, he appointed Sajin as GM of Maga Neguma. By that time he had married for 3 times and divorced.

Since he wanted to get married for 4th time he wanted to own a house. He has got to know Mr. Daya Gamage through a friend and given a road to construct through Maga Neguma. In return Daya bought him a house in Malabe. In addition he has taken more than Rs 30 Mil from Daya in order to spend for various things of the then Prime Minister. But finally Daya has got to know that he used this money for his personal benefits. Other than this he has done various under hand dealings in importing construction machines etc and earned lots of money.

Once Mahinda Rajapaksa became President Sajin first became the Co ordinating Secretary and got hold of Indian Investor who came here to start Air Tel. Chairman of Air Tel who has later told that he gave Sajin USD 4 Million for this deal. With that he bought a massive house in Singapore.

Later he also became CEO of Famous Mihin Lanka. Within his time Mihin lost more than USD 30 mil and with that he became the proud owner of 2 Air planes and a Helicopter under COSMOS Airlines. He has supposed to leased these out to Sri Lankan Air Lines. It's also known that COSMOS is putting up a 250 room hotel in Hambantota.
In 2010 he was given the chance to contest in elections and became a MP. Today, he is the unofficial foreign Minister. It's very pathetic to see that these type of people becoming politicians to rule our country. Today, he is in all intellectual delegations with all foreign leaders. 

We should as Sri Lankans ashamed of our Leaders for making these people our rulers. He is suppose to be the highest earned man under this Government but until today he has no investigation on Bribery
or corruption.
Where are we heading SRI LANKA?

Friday, May 11, 2012

Pedophile Buddhist Sanghanayaka Of Great Britain And The Sri Lankan Media

By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya

The former “Venerable” Pahalegama Somaratana, The monk with Mahinda Rajapaksa and The Thames Buddhist Vihara

He was “Venerable” Chief Sanghanayaka Thera of Great Britain and chief incumbent of the Thames Buddhist Vihara and also Parivenadhipathi of the Vidyaravinda Pirivena, Pahalagama, Gampaha and Chief Lekakhadhikari of the Sri Kalyani Samagi Dharma Maha Sangha Sabha. From the 1st of May he is just a Somaratna.

What happened  

It is worth to look at what has happened to him. Here is a brief account of the story. In May 2010, Child Abuse Investigation Command officers in the United Kingdom began an investigation into allegations of sexual assault and rape against the chief incumbent of Thames Buddhist Vihara Ven. Pahalegama Somaratana.
On Tuesday, September 14, 2010 a (then) 64-year-old monk was arrested on suspicion of an indecent assault and rape. The monk had tried to sell the temple and escape the country, but some of the management board members of the temple had opposed the move. The monk still tried to escape. But he was questioned at Heathrow police station and later bailed pending further enquiries.     
 Full Story>>>

Extremists out to deepen schisms

Qadijah Irshad (Colombo Courier) / 11 May 2012

Almost three weeks after the vandalisation of a mosque in the Dambulla district by a 2,000 odd mob led by some Buddhist clergy, a Buddhist organisation called the Buddhist Protection Foundation held a protest march and a campaign on Monday 
in Kalutara demanding 
the removal of the in Dambulla.

Addressing media, the Executive Director of the Foundation Priest Puliyadde Sudhamma Thero said that the protest was just “a beginning of a series of protests against the Muslim mosque in Dambulla.”

The Dambulla mosque issue raises the ugly question of Buddhist chauvinism in the country. Viewing the incident in a larger context, one would identify the Dambulla fiasco as more than a Muslim issue.  It has consequences for all the communities — the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim. It also has impact on Sri Lanka’s attempt at reconcilliation among communities after the war.

Full Story>>>>

The Globe and Mail    

Dangerous nationalism on the South China Sea

Friday, May 11, 2012

So here we are again. It seems like it’s once a year in Beijing that police and media assemble outside a foreign embassy, waiting for the patriotic crowds to gather and decry the nation that dares question China’s “indisputable sovereignty” over (insert name of disputed territory here)

MORE RELATED TO THIS STORY

• U.S., Philippines stage war games despite warnings from China
• High-stakes brinkmanship on South China Sea

INFOGRAPHIC

The disputed Scarborough Shoal

VIDEO

Philippines, U.S. hold controversial war games

On Friday, it was the embassy of the Philippines that drew the swarms of police and media. The disputed chunk of rock this time is what most of the world calls the Scarborough Shoal – the Chinese and Filipino governments each have their own name for it – a tiny and uninhabited outcrop more than 800 kilometres southeast of Hong Kong and 220 kilometres off the coast of the main Philippines island of Luzon in the resource-rich South China Sea.

In past years, the angry crowds have gathered in Beijing outside the Japanese embassy to shout about another disputed bunch of rocks, the islands that Japan calls Senkaku and China names Diaoyutai. A few years before that, it was the French embassy targeted, over its alleged support for Tibetan independence. Someday it will be the Vietnamese embassy over the Spratly Islands, in another part of the South China Sea.
More »

MaRa govt. playing musical chairs with northern District secretaries in its derangement

Friday 11 of May 2012
(Lanka-e-News, 10.May.2012, 11.59PM) Ms. Imelda Sukumar , the Jaffna district secretary had been transferred with immediate effect to the Presidential secretariat , and the Batticaloa district Secretary Sundaram Arumanyagam has been appointed as the Jaffna district secretary.

The Vavuniya district secretary P S M Charles has been appointed as the Batticaloa district Secretary , and the Galle additional District Secretary has been appointed as the Vavuniya district Secretary. What is most perplexing and distressing is , the MaRa regime’s incapacity to realize how a Sinhala district secretary w ho knows Sinhala only can perform his duties at Vavuniya where the majority are Tamils who know Tamil language.
At the same time the Matara district Secretary has been transferred as the Hambantota district Secretary. Following the Galle district Secretary going on pension , the Govijana development Commissioner General Ravindra Hewavitharane , has taken his place.

Man freed in NYC Tamil Tiger case

TOM HAYS | May 11, 2012 11

NEW YORK — A federal judge sentenced a U.S. citizen accused of supporting Sri Lankan rebels to time served in jail on Friday – about five years – after casting doubt on the terrorism case and calling the 20-year term sought by prosecutors excessive.

The wife and family of Sri Lankan immigrant Karunakaran Kandasamy wept as U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie announced the sentence in federal court in Brooklyn.

"This is not a garden variety terrorism case," Dearie said.

Kandasamy, 55, had pleaded guilty in 2009 to charges of conspiring to provide material aid to a terrorist organization.

A prosecutor argued Friday that as the top U.S. representative for the Tamil Tigers, he deserved the maximum 20 years for raising money for a separatist group that earned the terrorist designation by the State Department.

But Dearie said that it was a stretch to say the former cab driver had a leadership role, and that he believed that he was involved in humanitarian – not military – aid for the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.

"We do not accommodate any of support terrorism on U.S. soil. That said, we have to pull back that emblazoned banner of terrorism and look at the case specifically," Dearie said.

Lawyers for Kandasamy, 55, had argued that he had done enough time, especially since he suffers from diabetes and a host of other ailments.

"I simply want to express my remorse," Kandasamy told the judge before he was sentenced. "I was raised in a country where my family lived in constant fear. . My intent was only to help my people."

In 2009, the Tamil Tigers admitted defeat in their 25-year war with the Sri Lankan government that left more than 70,000 people dead.

The rebels, who once controlled a de facto state in the island nation's north, had been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils after decades of oppression by the Sinhalese majority. Blamed for hundreds of suicide attacks, the Tamil Tigers were shunned internationally and branded terrorists by the U.S., European Union and India.

Federal authorities in New York had sought to cut off support for the group by arresting sympathizers in their East Coast immigrant communities in 2006 and 2007 on terror support charges.

Kandasamy and others were and other tied to a covert campaign to raise and launder millions of dollars through a charity front organization. Prosecutors had accused him of personally raising millions of dollars for the Tamil Tigers, and that he went to Sri Lanka to meet with rebel commanders.