Tag Archives: India
Tamil Nadu, Global Tamils should be organised in addressing US-UN failure: Boyle
Professor Francis Boyle photo courtesy: iranreview.org
Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in international law, who teaches at University of Illinois, in an interview given to the 3CR radio broadcast in Melbourne Saturday in the “Tamil manifest” program said that he sees the millions of Tamils in Tamil Naadu, its Chief Minister Jayalalitha, a unified Tamil diaspora and the young generation of Tamils as the propelling agents to force the changes necessary to bring justice to the victims of Tamil genocide by taking the Sinhala genocidaires to Court. The horrendous nature of genocide needs an international tribunal to dispense justice, and the United Nations and the U.S have failed in their obligations, Boyle said. Geopolitical compulsions have pulverized U.S. foreign policy to collude with the genocidaires, Boyle told TamilNet.
(TamilNet) Tamils in Tamil Nadu should exert pressure on New Delhi to take the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Professor Boyle said adding that “if the 50 million Tamils living in Tamil Nadu can get Prime Minister Modi to do this, I will be happy to file the charges myself; draft the papers and file the charges. But we will need Prime Minister Modi, and unfortunately he seems to be supporting the process recommended by the Human Rights Council.”
India: Ensure integrity and security of Soni Sori
Soni Sori
I express my concern over the threats against human rights defender Soni Sori, which it believes to be an attempt to prevent her from carrying out her peaceful and legitimate advocacy in defence of human rights.
William Nicholas Gomes, Global News Centre Human Rights Ambassador
(LONDON) On 1 August 2015, following a press conference which Soni Sori held at the Jagdalpur press club to discuss the unlawful murder of Mr Hemla Podiya, she was threatened by Inspector General Mr Kalluri. Helma Podiya, who lived in Nahadi village in Dantewada, was shot in the back by a police officer on 28 July 2015. While the police maintain that it was an encounter killing, during the press conference Soni Sori publicly stated that the killing was arbitrary. On 30 July 2015 she had visited Nahadi village and talked to witnesses who stated that there was no confrontation between the police and Helma Podiya, and that the killing was therefore unlawful. On the night of 28 July 2015, joint security forces consisting of 500 officers reportedly raided homes and beat villagers in Nahadi village. Hearing the commotion, Helma Podiya left home and, shortly after, was shot dead by one of the officers.
The notorious ‘white van’ surfaces on the eve of Sri Lanka’s elections
“White vanning” is a historic practice of the Sri Lanka government. Political opponents disappear after white vans are seen, the same vans often are used to deposit decapitated bodies generally near the homes of the victims.
Global News Centre
(COLOMBO The Citizen) The nascent rejuvenation of institutions since the change of government was demonstrated in an unexpected manner with the apprehension of a white van.
These vehicles have obtained a notoriety that peaked during the last years of the war with the LTTE. The circumstances under which this particular white van came to light had all the classic features that made the white van an object of fear and intimidation during the previous decade. It had false number plates. It had army personnel in it. It was being driven in a manner that caused the policemen on duty to decide to stop it, and the occupants had behaved in a sufficiently suspicious manner to prompt the police to thereafter search the vehicle. This led them to find a pistol that belonged to none of the occupants of the van.
US Senator Patrick Leahy rejects local mechanism & local news
US Senator Patrick Leahy
“It is time for the armed forces to return land.” - US Senator Patrick Leahy
Visvanathan for Global News Centre
(CHENNAI) “A domestic mechanism to deal with issues of accountability in Sri Lanka will not be sufficient,” said a US Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, stressing the importance of accountability for potential war crimes. Impunity for serious crimes has been the norm in Sri Lanka.
Tamils still face genocidal agendas says TNA MP
The TNA MP was speaking at a local civil society event organised by a Jaffna University Student Kokilraj and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) Kilinochchi youth leader Suren.
Global News Centre
(TAMIL GUARDIAN) Tamils are still having to deal with the ‘genocidal agendas’ said the Tamil National Alliance MP R Sritharan at a local civil society event in Kilinochchi last week.
Highlighting a prevalence of drug sales in the region, Mr Sritharan said, “it (the government) has planted poisonous seeds in the community. As a consequence the community is continuing to face cultural calamity.”
Jayalalithaa acquitted: relentless defender of Eelam rights back in the saddle
Hear ye, hear ye, the incredible and formidable Jayalalithaa, the relentless defender of Eelam rights is back in the saddle. She will be sworn in again on Sunday May 17 2015 as Chief Minister of Tamilnadu.
By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah Colombo Telegraph
(COLOMBO) We are on course Ladies and Gentlemen, the “Lady’ is back “victorious” and “stronger” than ever.
Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah
I wrote about, “Jayalalithaa’s Incredible Tenacity“, in an article in the Colombo Telegraph and many relished the thought of me eating humble pie when she was convicted of, what the charge described as amassing “disproportionate assets.”
And later, I didn’t call her “The Formidable Jayalalithaa – Unrivalled Leader Of The Tamils“, for nothing!
NPC Chief Minister hands over Genocide Resolution to UN Special Rapporteur
The Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Justice C.V. Wigneswaran has handed over the NPC resolution on Tamil genocide to the visiting UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, who met him in Jaffna on Wednesday. Almost all the representatives including the Chief Minister, Bishop of Mannaar and the representatives of the Tamil Civil Society Forum have categorically denounced any effort by the UN to sanctify domestic investigations, informed sources said. Mr Pablo de Greiff declined to respond to questions by the journalists. The UN Special Rapporteur has also urged the Chief Minister not to release the details of their discussions to journalists, informed NPC sources told TamilNet.
(TamilNet) Informed sources further told TamilNet that the UN Special Rapporteur was advocating for an internal mechanism during his visit. He was urging more time and space to be given to the new regime in Colombo. However, the Tamil representatives have explained in detail on the failure of all successive regimes in Colombo in delivering internal mechanisms capable of addressing the crimes committed by the SL State itself and its armed forces in the past.
Vykom: strategic nonviolent action against untouchability
Mahatma Gandhi image courtesy: websiteboyz.com
The Vykom struggle was designed by Gandhi to eliminate untouchability by ‘converting’ the high caste Hindus ‘by sheer force of character and suffering’.
Robert J. Burrowes Global News Centre
(TASMANIA) Why does nonviolent action work? And how good was Mohandas K. Gandhi as a nonviolent strategist? If you want high quality evidence in your search for answers to these two questions then I encourage you to read Professor Mary E. King’s latest book on the struggle against untouchability, unapproachability and unseeability in the south Indian village of Vykom during the 1920s. See ‘Gandhian Nonviolent Struggle and Untouchability in South India: The 1924–25 Vykom Satyagraha and the Mechanisms of Change’ http://www.oup.co.in/product/academic-general/sociology/111/gandhian-nonviolent-struggle-untouchability-south-india-192425-vykom-satyagraha-mechanisms-change/9780199452668
History is not always considered instructive and yet the major achievements, and failures, of nonviolent activists throughout the twentieth and now twenty-first centuries can be better understood if we understand what happened at Vykom.
Tamil protest at Geneva demands UN investigations on Tamil genocide
More than 4,000 Diaspora Tamils across Europe gathered at Palais des Nations, in front of the United Nations office in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday demanding international investigations on Tamil genocide and UN monitored plebiscite on Tamil Eelam. Activists from different solidarity groups participated in the protest, which received attention from various media organisations. The protest also witnessed active participation of Eezham Tamils recently exiled from their homeland and a new group of second generation activists from Switzerland.
Global News Centre
(TAMILNET) Tamils from France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and the UK took part in the protest which condemned the deferral of the OISL report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Former police spokesman in Sri Lanka: ‘I fled the country due to death threats’
Former Police spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody (Pic by Jude Denzil Pathiraja)
Ready to expose those behind ‘white vans’
(COLOMBO) Former Police spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody (Pic by Jude Denzil Pathiraja)
Former Police spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody, who returned from Australia after one year and seven months yesterday told the media that he had been forced to flee the country as there were death threats to him and his family members from the former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
Global News Centre Human Rights Ambassador asks Modi to ensure that Teesta Setalvad guaranteed right to a fair trial
Teesta Setalvad
I express my concern at the risk of detention faced by Teesta Setalvad. I believe that the accusations against the human rights defender are directly linked to her peaceful and legitimate work in the defence of human rights, in particular in combating impunity in the context of communal violence.
William Gomes Global News Centre Human Rights Ambassador
(LONDON) Teesta Setalvad is a journalist and founder of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and Sabrang Trust. CJP was established in April 2002, in the immediate aftermath of the communal violence of the Gujarat riots, to provide legal aid to the survivors of the riots. On 13 February 2015, the Indian Supreme Court ordered a stay on the arrest of Ms Teesta Setalvad and her spouse, Mr Javad Anand, until 19 February 2015. Setalvad, along with her spouse and three other individuals, are under investigation for allegedly embezzling funds intended for the construction of a memorial to the victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
