CONTINUING OPPRESSION OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA SIMILAR TO THE OPPRESSION SUFFERED UNDER APARTHEID

OPPRESSION OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA CONTINUES UNABATED While the world places its spotlight on the suffering and oppression of Palestinians in Gaza, the continuing oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka appears not to attract the same attention. Since the end of the civil war between the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil Tigers in 2009, the oppression of Tamils has continued unabated. In the final stages of the civil war, the Sri Lankan military carried out a vicious campaign and slaughtered between 70 000 to 100 000 Tamil civilians. Following this gencoide, the military has continued to colonise and occupy the traditional Tamil homelands of the North and East and daily carries out a vicious campaign of attacks, rapes and colonisation of the land of the people in order to drive out Tamils from their traditional homelands. The continuing attacks are the latest acts of oppression that the Sri Lankan Government had carried out against the Tamils over the past 60 years since independence from Britain. In the latest attacks, a group of Tamil journalists travelling to the capital city of Colombo from their capital of Jaffna were harrassed and had drugs planted into their cars. This was a vicious campaign to show that the Tamil journalists are involved in drug running. The continuing harrassment, intimidation, arrests and jailings are a reminder of the oppression that the people suffered during the apartheid era in South Africa. The UN Human Rights Commission has instituted a commission of inquiry into the "war crimes" against the Tamil people but it seems the Sri Lankan Government is not prepared to allow the commissioners to carry out their work without any obstruction and hindrance. Please read the following article by Tamil Net to get a clear picture of what the Sri Lankan Government and its soldiers are up to. (The pictures are by Tamil Net as well).

Media groups protest against SL military’s shadow war on Eezham Tamil journalists [TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2014, 14:14 GMT] Following the SL military sabotage against Tamil journalists, who were on their way to attend a workshop held in Colombo on Friday, 25 July, and against the continued threat and harassment of the involved Eezham Tamil journalists, Tamil journalists in the five districts of Northern Province came together at a protest organised by the Jaffna Press Club in Jaffna city on Thursday. Media organisations based in South also took part in the protest in Jaffna expressing their solidarity with the Eezham Tamil journalists, who are being threatened and harassed by the occupying military of the genocidal Sri Lankan State. An alleged SL military intelligence operative in military uniform had planted a cigarette box with narcotics in the vehicle of Tamil journalists when they were on their way to attend a workshop in Colombo last Friday. Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives on Tuesday issued death threats to Tamil journalists who were returning after witnessing at the courts on what had happened to them last Friday. On Tuesday, SL military intelligence operatives entered into the vehicles of the journalists in Vavuniyaa and threatened them not to confront or blame the SL military. The SL intelligence operatives also photographed the journalists. During the Court proceedings in Vavuniyaa, the SL police had no clue on how a Sri Lankan military intelligence operative in uniform accessed the vehicle. The police officer in charge of the duty at the station, has also confirmed that the planting of narcotics was possibly the work of a person in SL military uniform.

The Tamil journalists have told the courts that they could identify the SL soldier. The police officials have also admitted that there was a new person in SL military uniform at their checkpoint during that time. Both, the SL military and the SL police, are present at Oamanthai checkpoint in Vavuniyaa. The SL police officials were also telling the courts that the Judge should obtain further clarity from the SL military officer who was in charge at the checkpoint on Friday, legal sources in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet. The SL military Establishment has recently launched a shadow war against Tamil journalists receiving training by Non Governmental Organisations based in Colombo. The journalists attending media workshops have also been harassed by the SL military staging bogus protests against Tamil journalists.

The SL military Establishment has also threatened media watchdog personalities, including the convener of Free Media Movement, Sunil Jeyasekara, for extending solidarity to Tamil journalists. Thursday’s protest was the first of its kind as Tamil journalist groups from all the five districts in the North were present at the protest organized by the Jaffna Press Club (JPC) together with media groups in South. Colombo-based media groups, the Free Media Movement (FMM), South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) and Ilangkai Tamil Media Association were present at the protest expressing solidarity with the Tamil journalists.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran and S. Sritharan, Northern Provincial Council members Ananthy Sasitharan, Vinthan Kanagarathinam, Kajatheepan Balachandran, Sugirthan Chandralingam, Sivayogan Velupillai, Deputy Chairman of Valikaamam North Piratheasa Chapai (PS) Sageevan Sanmugalingam and Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) General Secretary Selvarajah Kajendren took part at the protest expressing their support to Tamil journalists. JPC Chairman Vinojith Tharmapala, SAFMA representative from Colombo Lakshman Gunasekara, FMM Convener Sunil Jeyasekara and Ilangkai Tamil Journalists Association representative ANS Thiruchelvam addressed the participants at the protest in Jaffna reading the statements issued by their organisations.