The first blog : The first blog

Lankesiska styrkor blast bron om humanit�rt tilltr�de rutt i Vanni

2008-10-14T18:08:20Z

Pearaa'ru bro, som ligger p� Maangku'lam - Oddisuddaan Road, som grenar ut fr�n A9, den f�rbindelse som anv�nds av World Food Program (WFP) humanit�r konvoj till Vanni under f�rsta veckan i oktober har f�rst�rts av Lankesiska styrkor i gemensamma attacker genomf�rts sedan s�ndag. Under tiden, regnet har b�rjat falla i t�ttbefolkade omr�den i Vanni p� tisdagen. M�nga av flyktingarna lever under tr�den var tvungna att s�ka skydd i byggnader, tempel, kyrkor och med kringliggande hus.

De internt f�rdrivna f�rv�ntade Det humanit�ra Konvoj i fredags.

P� s�ndag, en Sri Lanka Army DPU laget f�rs�kte f�rst�ra den 15 meter bred och 10 meter djup bro, som ligger i 9:e Mile Post fr�n Maangku'lam. Sri Lankas flygvapen bombar ocks� utf�ras bombningarna p� bryggan, handikappande fordon transport �ver bron.

Pearaa'ru kanaler vatten fr�n Vavuniyaa att Ira'naimadu Tank.

Den andra tillfartsv�g, som l�per thruough Neadungkea'ni fr�n Pu'liyanku'lam i Vavuniyaa mot Mullaiththeevu har riktats av DPU f�r en l�ng tid.

SLA fotografier bosatta i Trincomalee f�rort

2008-10-14T18:07:07Z

Hemmah�rande i Orr: s Hill, en f�rort till Trincomalee stad med huvudsakligen tamiler, �r fotograferade av Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Ledam�terna i varje familj h�ller p� att fotograferas som en grupp f�r att s�kerst�lla att inga fr�mlingar leva med dem, SLA tj�nstem�n sagt. Trincomalee Brigad h�gkvarteret i SLA ligger i slutet av Orr's Hill inf�r Trincomalee Hamn.

SLA och polisens agerande ofta cordon och s�k verksamhet i Orr's Hill omr�de d�r flera regionala ministrarna i den �stra provinsen �r ocks� bosatta i regeringen kvartalen.

Inv�nare har blivit varnade av lankesiska styrkor inte att underh�lla utomst�ende eller fr�mlingar i sitt hus.

Moder, son kidnappades i Ampaa'rai

2008-08-22T18:49:20Z

Moder, son kidnappades i Ampaa'rai

Oidentifierade m�n opererar fr�n en vit van med v�ld in i ett hem som ligger vid sjukhuset v�g, Kalmunai inom Ampaa'rai-Kalmunai polisen division, Ampaa'rai distriktet och bortf�rdes en mor och hennes son sitter f�r GCE Advanced Level Unders�kning fr�n sina hem onsdag tidig morgon 1 : 30 am, enligt en rapport l�mnas in till Kalmunai polisen.

Offren har identifierats som Mrs Navaratnam Manchula, 40 och hennes son Navaratnam Kalaivanan, 18.

En polis kontrollera post ligger 75 meter fr�n offrens hem samtidigt som det finns en paramilit�r kontor bel�gna i n�rheten Paalavaddavaa'n omr�de.

Kalmunai polisen genomf�r unders�kningar.

"Kollektiv bestraffning" av tamiler

2008-08-22T18:47:19Z

"Kollektiv bestraffning" av tamiler

N�r m�nskliga r�ttigheter �r grovt kr�nkt eller brott mot m�nskligheten som begicks, civiliserade l�nder, v�rdera m�nniskoliv, vidta �tg�rder mot den felande staten. But when genocide is carried out, the UN is bound to act based on the 1948 UN convention on Genocide. Men n�r folkmord sker, FN �r skyldig att agera baserat p� 1948 �rs FN-konvention om folkmord.

Detta h�nde i Bosnien, Rwanda, Sierra Leone och Sudan.Radovan Karadzic, den bosniska ordf�rande under 1992-1993 krig, k�mpade f�r att ta Sarajevo och koppla det till Serbien .. Vatten och makt br�ts och m�nniskor levde p� knappa mat. Bomber och granater regnade Sarajevo dagligen. Tillsammans med hans milit�ra bef�lhavare Ratko Mladic, Karadzic st�r nu inf�r avgifter f�r folkmord under Sarjevo bel�gring.

Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lankas president, utk�mpar ett krig f�r att ta �ver Kilinochchi och Mullaithivu och l�nkar till Colombo. Medical, br�nsle och livsmedel till de omr�den som �r avskurna. Regeringens ombud f�r omr�det flyttas ut.

Minst 12000 familjer, fr�mst med kvinnor och barn har kvar; og�rna l�mnar bakom de sjuka, blinda, leml�stade och handikappade. Their animals are left without food. Political �vertygelse tamiler att uppn� egen regel.

Det �r v�l �nd� "kollektiv bestraffning" av GOSL f�r de politiska �vertygelse tamiler att uppn� egen regel. Det �r en krigsf�rbrytelse. Var och en av de 12000 �r en Kollektivt straffas Person (CPP) .. FN och det internationella samfundet b�r erk�nna dem som s�dana. Termen IDP inte tydligt betecknar som de verkligen �r.

De serber visade bosniska som objekt mindre �n m�nskliga och det g�r den singalesiska visa Tamils.Therefore, upp detta stadium, varje handling av bel�gringen av Kilinochchi stinker exakt likadana bel�gringen av Sarajevo. Denenda som �terst�r �r f�r GOSL f�r regn bomber , Granater och skal i Kilinochchi dagligen d�dar tamilska civila och f�rst�ra deras egendom. Med det Mahinda Rajapakse och Sarath Fonseka skulle mer �n ber�ttigad att m�ta anklagelserna om folkmord i Haag. Och Sri Lanka och singalesiska skulle vara disgraced och f�r�dmjukade internationellt gillar Serbien och de serber.

Mahinda Rajapakse startade kriget som "kriget mot terrorismen".

Men bombningarna och skjutit av sina v�pnade styrkor har d�dat m�nga civila, f�rst�rt deras egendom och f�rdrivna m�nga. Nu har kriget �ndrats till staten Terror p� tamilska civila, kollektiv bestraffning och folkmord. Men han kallar kriget "kriget mot terrorn" f�r att t�cka upp hans folkmord handlingar och lura world. FN och det internationella samfundet �r normalt l�ngsam att handla om folkmord. Problemet �r att det tar l�ng tid f�r v�st att identifiera och namnge den. Ordf�randena i USA stoppades kort att kalla det mord som folkmord n�r den startade 1990 i Bosnien, under 1994 i Rwanda och i 2004 i Darfur.

V�st b�r sluta agera som dem som bara spela historia folkmord. Ist�llet b�r de l�ra sig f�rebygga sjukdomen genom att ta tid och p� l�mpliga �tg�rder enligt 1948 �rs FN-konvention om folkmord.

�kning av sexuellt v�ld bland f�rdrivna personer: Amnesty International

2008-08-22T18:44:44Z

Bortsett fr�n en allvarlig brist p� mat och husrum, avsaknaden av adekvat privatliv f�r kvinnor och flickor har lett till en �kning av rapporter om sexuellt och k�nsrelaterat v�ld bland hundratusentals f�rdrivna m�nniskor i Wanni, Amnesty International (AI) sa ig�r.

I ett uttalande AI upprepade att den lankesiska milit�ren och den motst�ende LTTE s�tter tiotusentals f�rdrivna civila i riskzonen eftersom striderna i Wanni. St�rre problem eftersom situationen f�rv�rras, �r att det finns f� tillf�rlitliga uppgifter fr�n marken, som journalister �r begr�nsade av rapporter inom omr�det. AI said. B�da sidor konsekvent mots�ger varandra, AI sagt.

Organisationen tillade att det har mottagit rapporter att regeringen h�ller dem som har kunnat l�mna LTTE-kontrollerade omr�den i tillf�lliga bost�der som ofta fungerar som de facto h�kten. "Vittnen fr�n Kalimoddai l�gret i Mannar-distriktet ber�ttade om organisationen att fler �n 200 familjer som h�lls det kan inte st�nga l�gret av n�gon anledning (f�rutom att g� i skolan) utan att f� ett pass fr�n regeringarna s�kerhetsstyrkorna," AI uttalande sagt.

Vidare sade trots att det f�rdrivna skall kunna r�ra sig via humanit�ra korridorer till s�krare omr�den d�r de kan f� n�dv�ndig hj�lp och bist�nd, �r de i sj�lva verket anv�nds som en buffert mellan de tv� motsatta krafterna. "Regeringen har l�mnat f�rs�kringar om att de kommer att �ppna tre s�kra korridorer och f�r n�rvarande regeringen underl�tta humanit�ra bist�ndet genom Omanthai kontrollpunkt. Detta st�d �r i desperat behov men humanit�ra organisationer verksamma i omr�det har uttryckt allvarliga farh�gor om att om konflikten forts�tter f�rdrivna civila kommer att st�llas inf�r st�rre sv�righeter, "AI sagt.

F�rskjutningen av civila �kat dramatiskt i juli, med 14.000 nya familjer blivit heml�sa. Fr�n och med den 7 aug regeringens siffror visar att det totala antalet f�rdrivna personer �r mellan 150000 och 160000

EPDP person skjutits ihj�l i Kaaththaankudi

2008-08-15T15:02:15Z

En ok�nda man skjutit och d�dat fredag runt 11:45 am en person som tillh�r Tamil Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) medan han s�ljer "Thinamurasu" dagstidning framf�r Manchchanththoduvaay Technical College i Kaaththaankudi polisens sektion i Batticaloa-distriktet, k�llor i Batticaloa sagt.

Den EPDP paramilit�ra medlem d�dades identifierades som 28-�ring Arumugam Varadarajah.

Kaaththaankudi polisen �terkr�vas offrets kropp och l�mnas den �ver till Batticaloa Teaching Hospital b�rhus.

Polis unders�ker i d�dandet.

EPDP personer som s�ljer tidningen i Vaazhaichcheanai, Chengkaladi och Batticaloa stad omr�den har p�st�tt attackeras, kidnappades och d�dades av personal fr�n TMVP, de viktigaste paramilit�r grupp i Batticaloa.

h�gsta i civila d�dsfall, f�rsvinnanden, s�ger NESoHR

2008-08-06T11:26:02Z

Sammanlagt 38 civila d�dades, 42 f�rsvann i juli, med Jaffna st�r f�r det st�rsta antalet mord (14), Colombo registrerar flest f�rsvinnanden (12), sade en rapport som sl�pptes man fr�n nord�stra sekretariat f�r m�nskliga r�ttigheter (NESoHR), en Kilinochchi-baserade r�ttigheter grupp.

Rapporten sade att de humanit�ra organen i Vanni k�mpar f�r att klara sk�ter den storskaliga f�rdrivningen av civilbefolkningen p�g�r, som blockader som Sri Lankas regering f�r att f�ra i relief leveranser f�rv�rrat problemen med att hantera pl�tsliga �kning i antal.

M�nga studenter tar GCE (A / L) unders�kningar som fortfarande lever under tr�d, bet�nkandet sagt.

Kilinochchi District upplever brist p� medicinska f�rn�denheter inklusive astma och diabetes l�kemedel, kirurgisk sprit, gauge rullar och bandage, bet�nkandet sagt. N�rings mat f�r gravida, ammande m�drar och f�rskolan, barn �r ocks� upplever brist i rapporten l�ggas.

P� jakt efter v�ra r�tter

2008-08-05T13:39:39Z

Den tamilska Youth Organization of Canada, i samarbete med kanadensiska Tamil Congress och The Academy of Tamil Arts and Technology, h�ll en ungdoms-konferens med titeln "P� jakt efter v�ra r�tter" vid University of Toronto i Scarborough i juli 27. Konferensen var en del av en serie h�ndelser ih�g Svarta juli upplopp av 1983."H�ndelsen var ett s�tt f�r v�ra ungdomar att vara b�ttre informerade och utbildade om" FNdagen "av den tamilska gemenskapen," TYO sagt.Den inledningstalare ing�r Dr Yamuna Sangarasivam, Dr Joseph Chandrakanthan, och Dr Ellyn Shandler, som alla delade sina erfarenheter och kunskap om f�re och post1983 upploppen att m�rkas liv tamiler s� djupt ..Den TYO, med st�d av Toronto baserad advokat Harini Sivalingam ocks� underl�ttat en

workshop med titeln "Att hantera negativa bild av tamilska kanadensiska ungdomsfr�gor," som behandlas aktuella fr�gor som tamilska ungdomar och den allm�nna tamilska grupper ansikte med media s�v�l som inom utbildning och r�ttsv�sendet. Dagen avslutades med Beate Arnestad: s dokument�r med titeln "Min dotter terroristen" som mottogs v�l av de unga. Konferensen kom till en slutsats med de tre partner kommitt�er och betona vikten av ungdomars engagemang och deltagande i den kanadensiska och den tamilska grupper .

Tamil Youth Organization i Nya Zeeland g�r gr�nt

2008-08-05T13:27:22Z

Tamil Youth Organization Nya Zeeland (TYO-NZ) gick gr�n p� s�ndag 13 juli, plantera n�gra tr�d i Auckland som en del av ett mentorskap program f�r unga tamilska barn.Ungdom fr�n TYONZ tog barn fr�n Poonga Tamil gemenskapen Utbildning p� en tr�dplantering. Den tr�dplantering m�tet var en uppf�ljning p� enrad mentorskap sessioner med TYONZ runt de olika tamilska skolor i Auckland omr�de.M�nga unga tamiler, d�ribland vissa Tamil samfundets medlemmar, planteras �ver 400 tr�d i en inf�dd bush omr�det kring Auckland Zoo. Deltagarna �kade sin kunskap om den inhemska tr�d, vilt och vikten av att bibeh�lla Nya Zeeland 's ren, gr�n milj�.TYONZ s�ger sig hoppas kunna k�ra mer mentorskap program under hela �ret f�r att ge unga tamiler goda f�rebilder och positiva resultat att se fram emot. Och att integrera dem i den Nya Zeeland levnadss�tt och samtidigt uppr�tth�lla sin Tamil arv och kultur.

5 Civilians killed in shelling after LTTE raid

2008-06-01T00:03:28Z

Five civilians, including children and a couple, were killed and 13 persons were wounded when shells hit the coastal villages Kurunakar, Kozhumpuththu'rai, Paasaiyoor and the areas close to Jaffna Fort, Thuraiappa Stadium and the Sri Lanka Telecommunication building in the early hours of Thursday, following the LTTE raid at Chi'ruththeevu islet close to Jaffna.

Two children, boys of age 14 and 13, and a mother were killed in Paasaiyoor. Father and another brother were wounded.

In Kurunakar, Joseph Francis, 54, and his wife Joseph Francis Sagayarani, 53, were killed on the spot when shells hit their house. Their children were wounded in the attack, according to initial reports. Their house was located near Kurunakar water tank.

13 civilians have been admitted in Jaffna hospital following the shelling duel.

Residents in the coastal areas reported shelling since 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

Iconic of the times

2008-04-24T17:37:47Z

The international rules of war decree that warring parties have an obligation to protect religious sites. However, in the context of the Sri Lanka�s majoritarian drive, non-Buddhist sites have in fact been the targets and objectives of military campaigns.

Last week, as shells fired by Sri Lanka Army guns only a few miles away exploded within the Madhu Church�s complex, the resident priests followed the Bishop of Mannar�s instructions and removed the revered statue to a safer location deeper within Vanni.

For the first time in over 300 years the presiding icon of Sri Lanka�s oldest Catholic site of pilgrimage has fled before an invading army, along with her serving priests and nuns. The last time was in 1670 when the Catholic Church fled persecution by the Protestant Dutch into the Vanni jungles.

As Bishop Raiyappu Joseph lamented, �Our lady of Madhu becomes refugee in her own land�.

In that way, the statue has become iconic of the entire Tamil people. Repeated Sri Lankan offensives and incessant human rights abuses over a quarter century of conflict, over a million people, almost one in three Tamils have been either internally displaced or made refugees.

Last week�s relocation of �Our lady of Madhu� is emblematic of the conflict itself.

The targeting of the revered Madhu site is just the latest act in the Sinhala-Buddhist state�s persecution and marginalisation of the island�s other religions. Tamil-speaking Hindus, Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, and more recently, the Muslim people have been the targets of the state�s hegemonic project.

Of course, even Sinhala Christians also face persecution, with church burnings, violence against Christian NGOs and even the repeated tabling of so-called �anti-conversion� legislation in Parliament (last time the United States reportedly intervened to stop such laws being passed).

However, Sinhala Christians have not been caught up in the state�s ethno-majoritarian onslaught in the Northeast and have not suffered the deprivations of bombardment, starvation and mass killings that the people of that region have.

This is not the first time the Madhu church has been bombarded by the military: in 1999, as the Army fled before a Tamil Tiger offensive, retreating Sri Lankan tanks fired into the church complex, killing over thirty Tamil refugees.

The international rules of war decree that warring parties have an obligation to protect religious sites.

However, in the context of the state�s drive to establish an ethnocracy, non-Buddhist religious sites have in fact been the targets and objectives of military campaigns.

The Sri Lankan state has, for example, militarised most of the major Hindu temples of the Northeast, constructing �High Security Zones� around them and separating worshippers, except on tightly regimented occasions by razor wire and machine guns.

Even, the present fighting in Madhu stems to a great extent from the present ultra-nationalist administration�s desire to raise the Lion flag over the venerated shrine, so as to sustain its standing amongst the majority Sinhala-Buddhists who swept President Mahinda Rajapakse to power two years ago.

The Rajapakse administration has made no effort to conceal its contempt for non-Buddhists. Consider the assassination of Tamil Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham by government-backed paramilitaries, literally at the Batticaloa church�s alter in the middle of Christmas Mass in 2005. Then there was the �disappearance� in 2006 of Father Brown in Jaffna and the shooting dead by soldiers of another Jaffna priest that year (even he, like so many innocent Tamils, had a grenade planted on him by his killers).

From the beginning of the armed conflict, Tamil churches and temples have been readily targeted by the Sinhala military (as US military academic Brian Blodgett puts it, the production of Sri Lanka�s �ethnically pure� military began in 1962).

Even during the �liberal� President Chandrika Kumaratunga�s �War for Peace� the Navaly church had several bombs dropped on it: almost a hundred people were killed in the airstrike in July 1995.

The Catholic Church has been rooted for centuries in the coastal areas of the Tamil north; particularly with the arrival in Mannar of St Francis Xavier of Portugal, circa 1645.

While militant Buddhism (as currently formulated in Sri Lanka unlike the pacifist Buddhisms practiced in the rest of Asia) - must necessarily clash with the Christian Church on ideological lines, there is another reason why the Church of the Northeast must come into confrontation with the Sinhala state.

The Church of Our Lady of Madhu, like many other places of worship across the Northeast have given shelter to waves of refugees throughout the conflict. The Mannar site has been one of the longest-functioning sanctuaries during the war.

In a war characterised by the state engaged in collective punishment through mass displacement, starvation by embargo and �scorched earth� offensives (as conducted once again in the Eastern province during 2006-7), the Northeastern Church has sought to alleviate the very suffering and deprivation the state seeks to inflict.

And in terms of a majoritarian state trying to crush the Tamils and their struggle for liberation, the Church�s ideological stances on key issues, including social justice and collective rights, brings it inevitably into confrontation with the Sinhala state.

The Social mandate of the Catholic Church is enunciated quite clearly in the Vatican publication, �Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church� which was summarised by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter, Tertio Millennio Adveniente (the Third Millenium).

The Social Doctrine deals comprehensively with the social issues of our time, with chapters entitled, �The Right to work�, �The Rights of Workers�, �Private Initiative and Business Initiative�, �Foundation and Purpose of the Political Community�, �The International Community� among others.

Perhaps the most illuminating in the context of the Tamil struggle are the chapters entitled �Political Authority� and �Human Rights�.

Para 157 notes that �The Magisterium points out that international law �rests upon the principle of equal respect for States, for each people's right to self-determination and for their free cooperation in view of the higher common good of humanity�.[327] Peace is founded not only on respect for human rights but also on respect for the rights of peoples, in particular the right to independence.[328]�

A nation has a �fundamental right to existence�, to �its own language and culture, through which a people expresses and promotes ... its fundamental spiritual �sovereignty�', to �shape its life according to its own traditions, excluding, of course, every abuse of basic human rights and in particular the oppression of minorities�,

Para 504 of the Social Doctrine says: �The right to use force for purposes of legitimate defence is associated with the duty to protect and help innocent victims who are not able to defend themselves from acts of aggression.�

Consequently, the persecution of the Church by an authoritarian, ethno-majoritarian state, engaged in a systematic and broad-fronted onslaught against non-Sinhala-Buddhist communities should come as no surprise.

Of course, while the Catholic tradition, rooted in the Vatican and the living presence of the Pope, is itself under no threat due to the war in Sri Lanka, the Saivite Siddhanta tradition of Jaffna�s Hindus is unique, rooted in the ancient Tamil city and, under the onslaught of the majoritarian state, very much at risk of extinction.

And, as it turns, out the tradition migrated, to be preserved independently of the political fortunes of the Tamil state of Eelam, its home for millennia.

In contrast to Catholicism, there is no single organised Hindu authority: there are only an independent set of historic temples which follow the Saivite tradition.

The acknowledged religious leader of the Northeastern Hindus is Jaffna�s Yoga Swami, whose Saiva Siddhanta sect claims its spiritual lineage from an unbroken 2000-year old line of preceptors originating in the Himalayas.

Even as the Tamil refugees fled to the West in the eighties and nineties, the leading preceptor of Jaffna�s Hindu tradition had already laid the foundation to move the spiritual centre of the Saivite tradition to the West, their new home: in 1970 Yoga Swami, presciently as it turns out, ordained as his successor, a 22 year old American (known as Subramuniya Swami), instructing him explicitly to take his faith abroad and found a Saiva Siddhanta. It was established in Hawaii soon after.

This decision arose out of the Saivite Hindus� very different approach to temples, spirituality and death. The Hindus believe that the temple is the connector between the material world and the spiritual world of their gods, a connection being maintained through meditation and the rituals of Puja.

For the faith to stay alive, the connection must be maintained unbroken at some location in the world, it matters not where. And in the temple of Siva in Hawaii founded by Subramuniya Swami, the priests have chanted prayers in Tamil and Sanskrit in an unbroken timeline since 1973, for 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

Subramuniya Swami�s choice of America as a refuge for the Saivite tradition is no accident for as he points out: �Our constitution guarantees religious freedom.�

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan ethno-majoritarian state sees its war against non-Sinhala-Buddhists challengers as a campaign �In defence of the Dharma� as Tessa Bartholomeuz�s detailed study of the state�s military practices is titled.

However, Sri Lanka�s conflict is not a strictly a �religious war�.

The LTTE, which spearheads the Tamils� struggle for self-determination, is a secular organisation. It is not fighting to protect Hinduism or any other religion per se. Rather it is fighting to establish the secular state of Tamil Eelam in which all religions will be treated equally � unlike in Sri Lanka where Buddhism has �a first and foremost place� as the Constitution itself makes clear.

Indeed, the Tamils have long separated state and religion, from at least the Sangam era, as is clear from the copious literature of the era, including the Thirukkural.

The Tamils of the Sangam age (ca. 200 BCE to 200 CE) practiced three main religions - Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Scholars find the society tolerant towards all religions, with the monarchs themselves openly encouraged religious discussions, protecting the temples and monasteries of all sects and religions, irrespective of the doctrines they themselves believed in.

Today, as the international community continues to insist on a political solution to Sri Lanka�s conflict, they do so with a misunderstanding of the logic inherent in the state�s efforts to militarily crush the Tamil struggle for liberation.

The international analysis of Sri Lanka as a flawed democracy trying to defeat terrorism while attempting to build a liberal state stems from the international actors� own hopes for this goal.

However the evidence to challenge this analysis is copious and ubiquitous, should international actors choose to look.

For example, why did Buddhism, despite very few of the minorities practicing it, come to be enshrined in the Constitution as having a �first and foremost� place?

How did an interpretation of history which sees the Tamils as interlopers crushed and disciplined by Sinhala kings who were both valiant and devout Buddhists, come to become standard text in schools?

Why are temples and churches attacked with abandon by the military whilst Buddhist temples and statues are rapidly erected in areas conquered by the military?

Why are the Sri Lanka Army�s regiments (remember Sri Lanka is supposed to be a multi-ethnic state and polity) named after Sinhala kings said to have conquered the Tamils in the past?

Why, amid the supposedly secular nature of the state, are Buddhist rituals daily practices of the military and, for that matter, the official functions of state?

All the island�s inhabitants know precisely why. The answer lies at the heart of the Sri Lankan state and nation building project as conceived by the Sinhala-Buddhists.

Thus, terrorism for the Sri Lankan state is essentially resistance to Sinhala-Buddhist hegemony.

That is why journalists, academics, civil society activists and, yes, priests who challenge the state�s majoritarian practices are condemned as supporters of terrorism and become targets for murderous violence. (It is also why even the senior UN official Sir John Holmes could be denounced by the Sri Lankan government as a terrorist, without much consternation or embarrassment amongst the Sinhalese).

Until the international community takes a close look at the logic informing the practices of the Sri Lankan state and Sinhala politics, the conflict will remain inexplicable at best and �senseless violence� at worst.

More importantly, until the international community is prepared to confront and smash the Sinhala-Buddhist project, there will be no peace in Sri Lanka.

The Tamils are not going to accept a subordinate place in a Sinhala chauvinist order that has accorded itself a privileged position as overlords of the island.

Not even if every non-Buddhist place of worship in the Northeast is razed to the ground.

Tamil MP K. Sivanesan som blev m�rdat i ett minneangrepp

2008-03-10T00:49:15Z

Tamil Youth Organization (Sverige) f�rd�mer starkt mordet p� "Tamil National Alliance"
Jaffna distrikt parlamentariker. K. Sivanesan som blev m�rdat i ett minneangrepp idag
f�rmiddag.

Den brutala h�ndelsen som Sri Lankesisk "Deep penetration unit" stod bakom.

H�ndelsen intr�ffades mellan Puliyankulam och Mankulam p� norra delar av Sri Lanka
runt kl.13.20 lokal tid.

K.Sivanesan har varit medlem i "Tamil National Alliance" (TNA) sedan �r 2004 och
har vid flera anledning varit i Norge p� officiellt bes�k, d�r han har f�rt samtalar
med norska diplomater ang�ende den f�rv�rrade situationen p� Sri Lanka. Sivanesan som
folkvalt parlamentariker har aldrig

Det har varit stor sorg f�r tamilska folket f�r att K.Sivanesan �r den fj�rde
parlamentariker fr�n TNA som har blivit m�rdat under President Mahinda Rajapaksa's
styre. I den senaste tiden har Sivanesan st�tt h�rt p� sin krav om att alla medlemmar
av TNA skal f� tilldelat s�kerhet efter

Tamilska ungdomsf�rbundet
Tamil Youth Organization (Sweden)
E-post: TYOSweden@gmail.com
Hemsida: www.tyosweden.se

Tamil victims in Sri Lanka

2008-02-29T08:53:33Z

The Washington Times, 24 02 2008

Sri Lankan Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke cites a few Sri Lankan court cases to create the illusion that justice prevails in Sri Lanka ('Tamil homeland fantasy,' Commentary, Sunday). Noticeably, cases like that of Kirishanthy Kumarasamy are absent from Mr. Goonetilleke's list. Kirishanthy was an 11th-grade Tamil schoolgirl who was abducted by the Sri Lankan State Army, gang-raped and buried in one of the many Tamil mass graves. Kirishanthy's mother, brother and a neighbor who subsequently went looking for Kirishanthy also ended up in mass graves. ... The Tamil struggle for independence is not driven by ideologies, nor it is about re-establishing past glories. On the contrary, it is about survival. Whether the ambassador admits it or not, there is ample evidence why the Tamils cannot continue to coexist with the Sinhalese. No one in his right mind could expect Tamils to remain sitting ducks at the mercy of the Sri Lankan state. Secession was the last resort for Tamils and the reasons only become stronger by the day.

Tamil victims in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke cites a few Sri Lankan court cases to create the illusion that justice prevails in Sri Lanka ('Tamil homeland fantasy,' Commentary, Sunday). Noticeably, cases like that of Kirishanthy Kumarasamy are absent from Mr. Goonetilleke's list. Kirishanthy was an 11th-grade Tamil schoolgirl who was abducted by the Sri Lankan State Army, gang-raped and buried in one of the many Tamil mass graves. Kirishanthy's mother, brother and a neighbor who subsequently went looking for Kirishanthy also ended up in mass graves.

Mr. Goonetilleke argues that because Tamil people live and work among the Sinhalese in the south, the Tamil claim of state-sponsored oppression is a lie. What the ambassador conveniently forgets is that these risk-taking Tamils fell victim to the repeated state-sponsored pogroms of 1956, 1957, 1977 and 1983. There are Americans who risk their lives to find employment in Iraq and Afghanistan. Does this mean those American workers think Iraq and Afghanistan are better democracies than the United States? People have worked under risky conditions since the beginning of civilization. The ambassador shows how desperate he is for examples to establish his fiction of 'Sri Lankan democracy.'

In Sri Lanka, being born a Tamil is reason enough to get thrown into one of the cruelest prisons of the world — Welikada. It was in this prison, during the 1983 state-sponsored pogrom, that Tamil detainees faced the inhumane fate of having their eyes plucked out by mercenaries. Twenty-five years later, not much has changed. Yet when the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, visited Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission, the state denied the commissioner access to the prison. She was denied the opportunity even to meet freely with regular Tamil civilians. Does the ambassador believe these actions of the state are telltale signs of an enviable democracy?

The Tamil struggle for independence is not driven by ideologies, nor it is about re-establishing past glories. On the contrary, it is about survival. Whether the ambassador admits it or not, there is ample evidence why the Tamils cannot continue to coexist with the Sinhalese. No one in his right mind could expect Tamils to remain sitting ducks at the mercy of the Sri Lankan state. Secession was the last resort for Tamils and the reasons only become stronger by the day.

SATHEESH THADCHANAMOORTHY

Markham, Ontario

H�rda strider i Sri Lanka

2008-02-09T22:58:24Z

H�rda strider utk�mpas i norra Sri Lanka och b�da sidor uppger h�ga f�rlustsiffror f�r motst�ndarna.

P� l�rdagen uppgav f�rsvarsdepartementet i Colombo att 25 tamilska gerillasoldater d�dades i strider i fredags, att arm�n bara f�rlorade tv� man och att ett tidigare gerillakontrollerat omr�de hade intagits.

Den tamilska gerillan LTTE h�vdade att den d�dat 22 arm�soldater, inte lidit n�gra egna f�rluster och att den hade slagit tillbaka arm�ns anstormning.

Censur och f�rbud f�r journalister att resa till stridsomr�dena g�r det om�jligt f�r utomst�ende att bed�ma l�get i landet.

I januari sade Sri Lankas regering formellt upp det stillest�ndsavtal som i praktiken br�ts av b�da sidor mer �n ett �r tidigare. Hittills i �r har arm�n enligt f�rsvarsdepartementets uppgifter d�dat �ver 1.000 gerillamedlemmar, vilket skulle motsvara mer �n en tredjedel av hela den styrka som LTTE anses f�rfoga �ver. �nd� finns inga tecken p� n�mnv�rd minskning av gerillans stridsf�rm�ga.

Konflikten i Sri Lanka, d�r LTTE kr�ver sj�lvstyre f�r de tamilska omr�dena i norr och �ster, har p�g�tt sedan 1983 och har kr�vt tiotusentals d�dsoffer.

H�rda strider i Sri Lanka

2008-02-09T22:58:24Z