Sentence to Tissainayagam extra-judicial: HR lawyer

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009, 23:42 GMT]
The sentence of 20-year rigorous imprisonment to J.S. Tissanayagam on Monday mark a sad day for journalists and those who believe in the ’freedom of expression’ all over the world, says Deputy Chairperson of Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), K Sivapalan, an Atterney-at-Law from Trincomalee, in whose opinion this is an extra-judicial way to punish people. ”The provisions of the PTA are not in conformity with the International Criminal Law especially the ’confession’ being admitted in evidence agaist the accused and with regard to the burden of proof.UNHRC requested the GoSL to repeal or amend many of the provisions which were not in conformity. However this was not followed by them on the basis that it was an erosion of the sovereignty of Sri Lanka,” Mr. Sivapalan, now exiled in Norway, said.
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4 Tamil civilians arrested in Katunayake HSZ

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009, 14:13 GMT]
Four Tamil civilians arrested by the police while staying with their relatives and friends in Katunayake, a High Security Zone (HSZ) in Colombo district Saturday night are still being detained in the Katunayake police station and interrogated by the Terrorism Intelligence Department (TID). All the four are natives of north and east, sources said.
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Vanni IDPs in camps seek HRCSL help to locate missing relative

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009, 14:09 GMT]
Vavuniyaa regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) receives twenty-five to thirty written complaints daily by post from internally displaced inmates held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa, according to an HRCSL official. The official further said IDPs held in camps or members of public who are expecting the services of his institution regarding locating missing relatives in the final stages of the war could write to HRCSL office located along Railway Station Road in Vavuniyaa or by telephone. The telephone number is 024-2222029.
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Attacks on JVP offices continue in southern province

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009, 14:01 GMT]
Second political office of the Sinhala Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in Hungama Police area of the Matara district in southern province was attacked by a group of supporters of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Sunday night since the nominations for the Southern Provincial Council closed on Friday, JVP party spokesman said.
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Sri Lankan court imprisons Tamil journalist for 20 years

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009, 06:03 GMT]
J.S. Tissainayagam, a senior journalist and Sunday Times columnist, was sentenced to twenty-year rigorous imprisonment by Colombo High Court judge Deepali Wijesundara on Monday. Mr. Tissanayagam has been indicted under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER), and was charged on three counts including printing and distributing the publication North Eastern Herald Monthly magazine.
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Tamil youth shot, injured in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2009, 17:23 GMT]
An unidentified gang of men shot and injured Saturday a Tamil youth in Tambuluvil in Ampaa’rai district, according to a complaint lodged by his relatives with Akkaraipattu police.
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Video, leaked memo bedevil Moon's climate visit to Norway

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2009, 13:23 GMT]
International Development Minister Erik Solheim told Norway's Aftenposten Wednesday that he will discuss the details of the gruesome video showing Sri Lanka soldiers executing naked, bound men, during Ban Ki Moon's Norway visit this week. Meanwhile, the visit occurs while 'The Economist' gave Mr. Moon a failed grade in his UN performance (30%), and a leaked memo by Norway’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Mona Juul, accused Moon for being a "passive observer when thousands lost lives and were driven from their homes [in Sri Lanka]," in her mid term assessment of Ban’s tenure.
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Liam Fox meets Mahinda Rajapakse, Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2009, 11:35 GMT]
The government of United Kingdom (UK) is seriously involved in finding a political solution to the legitimate aspirations of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the early resettlement of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced as well as ensuring a better future for them, Mr. Liam Fox, British Conservative Party parliamentarian, is reported to have told President Mahinda Rajapakse when he met the latter on Saturday.
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Journalist Tissanayagam case judgement on Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2009, 11:27 GMT]
The Colombo High Court judge Ms. Deepali Wijesundara is to deliver the judgement on Monday August 31 on the case against senior journalist J. S. Tissanayagam who was indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER), legal sources in Colombo said. Tissainayagam was charged on three counts including printing and distributing the publication North Eastern Monthly magazine and the offences were stated to have been committed during the period between June 1, 2006 and June 1, 2007. He has been detained for 425 days since March 06 2008.
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Sinhala journalist abducted in white van; later released

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2009, 11:16 GMT]
Unknown persons arriving in a white van abducted P. Ekaneligoda, a journalist who worked as Features Editor of Siyarata, official organ of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and LankaeNews website, in Makumbura in Homagama police division in Colombo district on Thursday night, sources in Colombo said. He was subsequently released the next day.
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Health Ministry neglects regional hospitals in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2009, 05:04 GMT]
“No new appointments of medical staffers for the thirty-seven regional hospitals in Jaffna district have been made in the past twenty years,” Jaffna District Director of Public Health Service (DPHS), Dr. R. Ketheeswaran said. Only 50% of the medical staffers needed in Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH), which is administered by the Ministry of Health, have been appointed in the past, the Director said.
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SC directs AG to expedite inquiry into Tamil detainees in prison

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 17:01 GMT]
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Friday directed the Attorney General to prepare an emergency plan to expedite the inquiry of the hundreds of Tamils now being detained in prisons without any inquiry under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations(ER) in consultation with the Justice Ministry Secretary. “It is unjust to keep them indefinitely in remand. As a result of this delay the number of fundamental rights violation petitions challenging the detention without inquiry is on the increase hampering the smooth functioning of the judiciary,” said Chief Justice Asoka de Silva.
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Ruling party gang attacks JVP members

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 16:49 GMT]
A group of supporters of ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ran amok Friday night and assaulted some members of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) who were parading after the closure of nominations for the Southern Provincial Council Friday. Seven JVP members were injured in the attack. The JVP office in Tissamaharagama was also attacked by the ruling party mob the same night, police sources said.
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Colombo suspends releasing Trinco internees from Menik farm

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 15:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka authorities, without prior notice and without citing any reason, have suspended Saturday, a planned release of a group of 600 persons out of about 3,000 internally displaced persons who are residents of Trincomalee district and fled from Vanni and currently being interned in military supervised Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa to their own villages, civil sources in Vavuniyaa told media. More than 300,000 Tamil civilians are currently being held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa.
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SLA blocks spouse from collecting Welikada victim's body

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 11:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Saturday denied permission to Mrs Devendran Saro, the wife of a Welikada prisoner who died in questionable circumstances inside the maximum security prison in Boralle last week, to travel to Colombo to collect her husband's body, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The second Tamil prisoner who died under the same circumstances is yet to be identified.
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IDPs from the islets of Jaffna allowed to resettle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 06:20 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Veala’nai, Allaippiddi and Ma’nkumpaan in the islets of Jaffna displaced due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives in 2006 and presently staying in Jaffna town had to wait for a long time at Duraippah Stadium Thursday as Basil Rajapakse, Senior Advisor to the President, failed to turn up as scheduled to participate in the event of resettling the IDPs in their own villages, sources in Jaffna said. Local government officials later sent the IDPs to their villages in buses.
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British Conservative party MP Liam Fox visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 05:44 GMT]
Liam Fox, British Conservative Party shadow Defence Secretary accompanied by his advisor W. Adams, visited Jaffna Friday where he met the representatives of civil and religious societies at Jaffna Bishop House around 2:15 p.m. “A just political solution to Tamils’ problems should be the first concern and not development,” the representatives told the visiting emissary, sources in Jaffna said. Liam Fox later met Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh at Jaffna Secretariat. The representative who met Liam Fox said that he showed a keen interest in finding out the true situation of the Tamils, the sources added.
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Southern Provincial Council polls to be held 10 October

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 04:54 GMT]
Southern Provincial Council elections will be held on October 10 this year, the Department of Elections announced Friday. Ten political parties including ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), main opposition United National Party (UNP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and five independent groups handed in their nominations for the Southern Provincial Council elections Thursday.
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Claymore mines recovered in Angulana

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 04:52 GMT]
Police claimed to have recovered two claymore mines in Angulana, Moratuwa Friday morning. The mines were located hidden in a bare land. The bomb disposal squad rushed to the site and defused the two mines. However, civil sources in Angulana said the alleged detection of two claymore mines in Angulana had been a ruse to divert the attention of the people of Angulana who are furious over the killing of two Sinhala youths by the police personnel manning the Angulana police station at that time.
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Tamil youth shot, injured identified as an IDP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 04:44 GMT]
The Tamil civilian shot and injured on Wednesday night in Ka’luwaangkear’ni in Batticaloa district has been identified as 27-year-old Nadarajah Baskaran who returned from Vavuniyaa internment camp for resettlement in his native village.
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Romesh Jayasinghe appointed as Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Secretary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 04:40 GMT]
Mr. Romesh Jayasinghe, a senior Foreign Service Officer who is currently the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in New Delhi has been appointed by the President as the new Foreign Secretary with effect from October 1, 2009. Mr. Jayasinghe will succeed Dr. Palitha Kohona, the current Foreign Secretary who has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.
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Sri Lanka thanks India for strengthening its Navy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 2009, 04:36 GMT]
SLNS 'Sayurala', an Off Shore Patrol Vessel (OPV) was commissioned at the Sri Lanka Navy Dockyard, Trincomalee Friday morning by Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse. He thanked the Government of India for facilitating the acquisition of an Off Shore Patrol Vessel (OPV) “Vigraha” for the Sri Lankan Navy. Mr. Gothabaya Rajapakse handed over the Commissioning Warrant to the Commanding Officer of the Vessel Captain SA Weerasinghe, media reports said.
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Horrendous video images indicate violation of International Law - UN expert

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 August 2009, 22:23 GMT]
Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, commenting on the video clip aired in British Channel-4 TV, allegedly showing Sri Lankan troops executing prisoners, stressed the need for an investigation, AFP reported. The images, which Alston described as "horrendous," indicate a serious violation of international law if found to be authentic, AFP reported Alston as saying. The video showed victims stripped naked and their hands crossed and tied behind their backs, when they were executed.
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British High Commissioner visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 August 2009, 17:24 GMT]
British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Dr. Peter Hayes, visited Jaffna Thursday on an invitation by Basil Rajapakse, Senior Advisor to the President and his brother, to visit the bridge being built at Changuppiddi-Kearatheevu causeway on A32 land route to Jaffna with British Government’s aid. After visiting the building site the High Commissioner participated in an event along with Basil Rajapakse, Minister Douglas Devananda and Northern Province Governor, G. A. Chandrasiri, where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities officially handed over 1100 acres of paddy land in Thenmaraadchi back to the farmers for cultivation, sources in Jaffna said.
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Jaffna Tamil youth abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 August 2009, 16:39 GMT]
Unidentified persons abducted a Tamil youth from Achchuveali in Jaffna in Colombo on 23 August around 5:00 p.m in front of the lodge he was staying in, according to the complaint lodged by his mother to Human Rights Commission (HRC) office in Jaffna. The youth had been expelled from Malaysia where he had sought refuge in 2006, her mother said in her complaint.
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2 Tamil political prisoners killed in Welikada

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 August 2009, 14:42 GMT]
Two Tamil political prisoners have died under 'questionable circumstances' inside the Sri Lankan Central Prision at Welikada in Borallea this week, civil sources in Colombo revealed on Friday. One of the prisoner's wife, a native of Vaddukkoaddai, was informed by Jaffna police that her husband, 30-year-old Sinnaiah Devendran, had died three days ago while he was under going treatment at prison hospital.
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4 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo city

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 August 2009, 04:36 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos arrested Wednesday night four Tamil youths from Upcountry employed in shops in Colombo Fort and Pettah in a search conducted Wednesday night, sources in Colombo said. The youths were arrested on the streets in Fort and Pettah.
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CEB cancels leave, trade unions go ahead with strike

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 August 2009, 04:23 GMT]
Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) announced Thursday that all leave to employees has been cancelled with immediate effect. This decision has been taken in view of the proposed strike by CEB trade unions on Friday demanding a salary increase, CEB spokesman said.
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Switzerland ‘deplores’ block on Tamils’ movement, donates essential drugs

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 August 2009, 01:05 GMT]
Announcing its third donation of essential drugs of the Tamils confined in Sri Lanka’s militarised camps, Switzerland Thursday “deplore[d] the continued lack of freedom of movement” for those in the camps and appealed for Colombo to cooperate with the international community and allow humanitarian actors access to the people “rapidly and without hindrance.” Although the press release by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) referred to the people held in the barbwire ringed camps as "Sri Lankan civilians," they are in fact all Tamils - comprising the population of the northern Vanni region.
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Civil officers’ quarters in Vavuniyaa attacked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 15:08 GMT]
Unidentified persons attacked official quarters of several government and NGO officers located in Vavuniyaa Wednesday around 11:00 p.m. They threw stones at these official residences, according to complaints lodged with Vavuniyaa Police immediately after the attack.
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UK main opposition: “serious concerns” about Sri Lanka camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 12:46 GMT]
As British Tamil groups prepared to launch a campaign to raise public awareness of Sri Lanka’s concentration camps, the UK’s main opposition Conservative Party joined the chorus of international protests about the “continued confinement” of hundreds of thousands of Tamils. Calling for “full and unrestricted access” for international humanitarian actors, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague stressed the importance of the Sri Lankan government living up to its commitment to allow the people to return to their homes by the end of the year. Tamil expatriates in UK will on Thursday – the “100th Day behind barbed wire” - launch an awareness campaign titled “Unlock the Concentration Camps in Sri Lanka.”
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Canadian Tamils demonstrate against China’s support to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 11:27 GMT]
Several hundred Canadian Tamils gathered outside the Chinese Consulate in Toronto, Wednesday, August 26, 2009 to protest against China’s financial, economic, and diplomatic support of the Sri Lankan government. Many Tamils attending the protest have their relatives or friends in the Sri Lanka military supervised internment camps in Vavuniyaa where more than 300,000 Tamil civilians.
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HRW: UN must investigate Sri Lanka atrocities

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 11:16 GMT]
In the wake of a mobile-phone footage of Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound, blindfolded, and naked prisoners, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has again called on the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to create an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate atrocities during Sri Lanka’s war against the Tamil Tigers. “Ban should stop relying on the [Sri Lankan] president's promises [to the UN] of domestic action and make it clear that an international commission is needed if the victims of Sri Lanka's bloody war are to find justice," Steve Crawshaw, UN director at HRW said in a statement Wednesday.
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900 million rupees allocated for constructing NPC secretariat in Maangku'lam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 11:01 GMT]
The Cabinet of United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by President Mahinda Rajapakse Wednesday approved 1525 million rupees to establish the Secretariat of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in Maangku’lam in Ki’linochchi district. The allocation is also to be utilized to repair destroyed or damaged local government offices in the cleared areas.
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Tamil youth abducted in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 10:45 GMT]
A gang of unidentified persons arriving in a three-wheeler abducted a Tamil youth from his house Monday night in Maampuri in Puththa'lam district, according to a complaint lodged by his wife with Puththa'lam police Tuesday evening.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 10:31 GMT]
A Tamil civilian from Ukku’laangkulam in Vavuniyaa is reported missing since Tuesday after having left home on his motorbike to obtain a pass to travel to Jaffna from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Public Relation Office located in Vavuniyaa town, according to complaints lodged by his wife Sellamahal Gowrishankar to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Vavuniyaa office and the police.
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Thenmaraadchi farmers to be allowed to resume cultivation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 06:45 GMT]
An event, where the farmers of Thenmaraadchi who had been refused permission to cultivate their lands in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thenmarraadchi for nearly ten years are to be allowed to resume cultivation Thursday, has been announced by Sri Lanka government. Meanwhile, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Allaippiddi who had fled their village due to SLA artillery attacks in August 2006 and now living in Jaffna town have been asked to be present at Duraippah Stadium Thursday to participate in an event where action will be taken to resettle them, according to another announcement. Basil Rajapakse, parliamentarian and Senior Advisor to the President, Northern Province Governor, G. A. Chandrasiri and Minister of Social Services, Douglas Devananda, will be present at both events, the announcements said.
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Hatton National Bank donates computers to Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 05:57 GMT]
Executive Director of Hatton National Bank (HNB), R. Thiyagarajah, officially handed over Wednesday a set of computers to Jaffna Public Library Chief Librarian, S. Thanabalasingham and Deputy Commissioner of Jaffna Municipal Council, K. Rajadurai for the benefit of school leavers in Jaffna peninsula. Meanwhile, a new branch of HNB was opened Wednesday in Point Pedro by R. Thiyagarajah. Senior Regional Manager of North East for HNB, A. V. Beeadle, was present at the opening ceremony, sources in Jaffna said.
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Camp children at risk of sexual abuse, trafficking - NGO

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 00:38 GMT]
Noting the specific risks faced by children amongst the hundreds of thousands of people confined in Sri Lanka’s militarized concentration camps, ChildFund Australia on Wednesday launched a fundraising appeal to protect the youngsters. "Children who have been orphaned or separated from their families are particularly vulnerable, facing an increased risk of malnutrition, disease, sexual exploitation, abduction and trafficking," ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence said. The money raised by ChildFund Australia's Sri Lanka appeal will be used, among other things, to provide children with “survival skills”, the NGO said: “Children will be taught survival and safety skills to help protect themselves from sexual abuse, violence and life-threatening diseases.”
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SL government says no salary increase; trade unions prepare for strike

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 16:24 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka said Tuesday that it would immediately suspend salary increase to State sector and semi-government workers. “The decision is taken due to massive war expenditure and difficulties caused largely by global economic crisis,” Power and Energy Minister, Mr. John Seneviratne, disclosed the government decision at a hurriedly summoned press conference.
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600 Hindu, Catholic priests allowed to leave internment camps in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 16:04 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka Wednesday freed around 600 Hindu and Catholic priests who were held in internment camps in Vavuniyaa. They had fled Vanni when Sri Lanka Army launched its military operation against LTTE in Vanni region. A total of 571 Hindu priests, six Catholic priests and two nuns were allowed out while 220 nuns are still held in the camps.
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STF shoot 2 Tamils dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 14:08 GMT]
The Special Task Force (STF) of the Sri Lanka Police Tuesday night shot dead two Tamils along Thuraineelavanai lagoon in Batticaloa district.
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Opposition MPs denied access to Vavuniyaa IDP camps due to political motives

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 11:45 GMT]
“Government denies permission to opposition parliamentarians to visit the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Vavuniyaaa IDP camps as it intends to forcibly get their 175,000 votes in the future Presidential and Parliamentary elections,” members of Human Rights Committee of Sri Lanka opposition parliamentarians said in a press conference held Wednesday morning in Colombo. “Our committee will complain against the government on this issue to the International Committee of Parliamentarians,” they further said.
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Colombo Police arrest 3 upcountry Tamil youths

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 10:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police arrested three Tamil youths in the Colombo suburb of Minuwangoda Wednesday morning in a search operation, sources from Colombo said. The youths are being detained in the Negombo Police station, according to relatives of the youths.
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SLA war crimes eerily similar to Srebrenica Scorpions' terror, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 00:27 GMT]
Summary executions violate Common Article 3 to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, to which Sri Lanka is a contracting Party, prohibiting in subsection I(d) "... the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court...." Violations of the Geneva Conventions are war crimes, said Professor Francis Boyle, after watching the video on the cold-blooded extra-judicial killings carried out by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, published by a German-based group 'Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS)' Tuesday.
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Video shows style of extra-judicial killings in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 August 2009, 20:34 GMT]
A video clip received from Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) evidences the way extra-judicial killings are executed in the island. The video captured in January show the behaviour of Sri Lanka’s soldiers during the war that is claimed ‘humanitarian operation’ to rescue the Tamils, JDS reported Tuesday. The conversations of the killers are in Sinhala. “From the casual nature of the conversations and from the fact that it is taking place in an open area in broad daylight – it can be surmised that these are not ordinary acts by rogue elements carried out without the permission from the top leadership. The soldiers egging each other on, the insulting jokes and the laughter show that there is a consensus that these cold blooded killings should take place,” JDS further reported.
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NE fishermen asked to use radar reflector equipments in crafts in nights

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 August 2009, 19:28 GMT]
Fishermen who use traditional crafts such as catamaran, and other boats have been instructed by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) to install radar select or radar reflect equipments during night fishing. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has come forward to allocate funds for the purchase of such equipments by the Department of Fisheries.
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Special search operations conducted in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 August 2009, 19:24 GMT]
Wellawatte, where Tamils are living in majority in Colombo was subjected to search operations from morning till evening Tuesday following reports that the police had seized suicide kits and explosives from a place. Special Task Force (STF) personnel were deployed in every nook and corner of Wellawatte.
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Jaffna fishermen not allowed to fish without radar reflectors

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 August 2009, 05:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Jaffna has barred around 2,750 fishermen to fish during night time in their seas without installing radar reflectors on their boats and catamarans, according to S. Tharmalingam, the Deputy Director of Fisheries and Sea Resources in Jaffna. Meanwhile, the Non-government Organization, IMO, has come forward to purchase 2,750 radar reflectors for the fishermen, Tharmalingam said.
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JTC students’ boycott of lectures continues

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 August 2009, 05:11 GMT]
The boycott of lectures launched by the students of Jaffna Technical College (JTC) 18 August in protest against alleged malpractices by the JTC principal continues up to Monday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Intelligence Unit had arrested some representatives of the student union alleging that they were supporters of Liberation Tigers but had released them due to students’ agitation after detaining the arrested students for a night, the sources added.
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Boyle: India a moral failure, Colombo's monstrosity matched only by Nazis

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 August 2009, 00:51 GMT]
"India’s support to Rajapakse Government is an atrocious crime. Tamils are undergoing unspeakable hardship, and the monstrosity is only matched by the Nazis terror on Jews. The world had simply closed its eyes....Failure to ensure safety to Sri Lanka Tamils is a moral disgrace to India and a stain in India's illustrious history," said Francis Boyle, expert in International Law and Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, during an interview with Tamil Nadu magazine, Dalit Murasu.
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Court fixes inquiry into petition by opposition parties to visit IDP camps in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 August 2009, 17:23 GMT]
The Supreme Court Monday fixed the inquiry for September 29 into the petition filed by the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) seeking the court to order the government to allow opposition parliamentarians to visit “internment camps” located in Vavuniyaa where hundreds of thousands of Vanni internally displaced people are detained against their wish.
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4 Vanni doctors released on conditional bail

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 August 2009, 16:15 GMT]
Three doctors and a medical superintendent, who had worked in Vanni and later arrested and grilled by the Sri Lankan authorities alleging that they made pro-LTTE statements, were released on conditional personal bail for a sum of one million rupees each Monday by the Colombo Chief Magistrate Mr. Nishantha Hapuarachchi. The doctors were ordered to appear before the Vavuniya CID every Sunday and also they have been instructed to reside in Vavuniyaa and not in any other place, legal sources said.
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Australia reluctant to call for closure of camps, release of IDPs

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 August 2009, 11:48 GMT]
While expressing serious concern about the civilian toll of the conflict, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials conveyed to a delegation of the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA) that Australia’s trade relations with Sri Lanka has been very strong from time immemorial and Australia wants to maintain this relationship, and further to nurture that, Australia is keen on seeing a united Sri Lanka. While continuing to insist that the IDP camps be administered in line with international standards, Australia is reluctant to call for a closure of these camps and release of the innocent IDPs as soon as possible, DFAT officials told the Tamil delegation last week.
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Police arrest Muslim youth in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 August 2009, 05:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka police Saturday arrested a Muslim youth at Wanathavilluwa in Puththa'lam distirict on reports that he was alleged to have provided information to LTTE during the conflict. The police said he was acting as an informant to the LTTE in past.
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731 IDP students in Vavuniyaa sit Year 5 scholarship examination

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 August 2009, 17:38 GMT]
Save the Children, a non-governmental organization (NGO), provided cardboards to internally displaced Year Five students in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa who sat for the Year 5 scholarship examination Sunday due to the non-availability of desk and tables in the centres located in the camps, educational sources said.
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Mullaiththeevu medical student refused permission to enter Jaffna University

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 August 2009, 17:27 GMT]
Sivapatham Prasath, a Tamil youth from Mullaitheivu district who gained admission to the medical faculty of the Jaffna University for the academic year 2008 but was unable to enter as he had lost his legs in an artillery shell attack in Mullaitheivu on 08.08.2008, has been detained in an internment camp in Vavuniyaa. He has been refused permission by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to leave the camp to enter the Jaffna University to join the medical faculty for the academic year 2009 which commenced last week, sources said.
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Government plans to hold Vanni IDPs in camps for longer period

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 August 2009, 17:20 GMT]
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) has instructed government authorities to set up offices in Vavuniyaa and its surrounding area to carry out the administration of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts in Vanni which had ceased to function due to the war on Vanni, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Though it is said that the above decision has been taken due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) refusal to resettle Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in their own villages in the near future, the real intention of the government is to hold the Vanni IDPs in the detention camps permanently, the sources added.
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Saiva priest, wife, child abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 August 2009, 05:21 GMT]
Unknown persons took away a Saiva priest from Jaffna, his wife and their five-year-old child on 15 August as they were coming out of Colombo Fort Railway Station, according to complaints lodged by the priest’s parents with Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna Sunday. HRC officials have referred the complaint to their head office in Colombo for action.
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Children, expectant mothers in Vavuniyaa camps affected by nutritional deficiencies

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 August 2009, 05:01 GMT]
A programme has been launched in the ‘internment camps’ in Vavuniyaa to prevent anaemia and other nutritional deficiencies among children and expectant mothers following the detection by health authorities large number of children and would be mothers affected by such deficiencies. Micronutrient vitamins, Thiamine, Ribo Flavin, Niacin, and Folic acid were administered to 2,900 expectant mothers at the Cheddikulam welfare camps. In addition, 40,000 children were provided with nutrients to prevent anaemia and other nutritional deficiencies on Thursday.
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Boyle debunks Kohona's war-crimes braggadocio

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 August 2009, 03:17 GMT]
Debunking Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary, Palitha Kohona's statement that "no winner of a war has been tried [for war crimes] before a Tribunal," Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the Illinois College of Law, said, as legal counsel for the Mothers of Srebrenica and Podrinja, he had convinced the Honorable Carla Del Ponte, the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), to indict Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for every crime in the ICTY Statute, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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Ohio court rules freezing of charity's assets unconstitutional

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 August 2009, 13:19 GMT]
Citing violatiaon of the fourth amendment that protects individuals and groups against unreasonable searches and seizures, the district court of Northern Ohio said Tuesday that the United States Department of Treasury had acted unconstitutionally three years ago when it froze the assets of KindHearts, an Ohio charity suspected of aiding terrorists, New York Times (NYT) reported.
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Australian politicians troubled by deteriorating conditions in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 August 2009, 08:54 GMT]
A group of Australian parliamentarians have expressed concern for the plight of thousands of refugees being held in Sri Lankan military run camps at a meeting with members of the Tamil youth at Parliament House on Tuesday. In a free flowing discussion covering conditions faced by displaced civilians and a lack of independent access to refugee facilities, the panel also condemned reports of intimidation directed at the Tamil Diaspora from the Sri Lankan Government, before citing the promised resettlement of the 300,000 refugees within a 6 month period as the basis for future engagement.
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Restriction on fishing will continue in Jaffna peninsula – SLN

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 August 2009, 07:19 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, quoting Northern Region Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Admiral, sent a circular to local media Friday informing that the fishing restriction imposed in areas close to SLN base in Kaangkeasanththu’rai, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zones (HSZ) and areas along the runways and flight routes of aircrafts will continue. Detailed information about the places where fishing restriction is in force, however, was not given by SLN authorities and the fishermen have to obtain the information from their local SLA and SLN authorities, the circular said.
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Sri Lanka stands up due to China support despite international pressure - Basil Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 August 2009, 06:27 GMT]
“China has extended its support to the country to stand up despite international pressures on Sri Lanka in recent times. We thank the Government of the China for its unstinted support,” Senior Presidential Advisor, Basil Rajapakse, said Thursday addressing a ceremony to mark the successful completion of the first phase of the Nuraichchoalai coal power plant. The ceremony was held according to Chinese traditions.
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Sri Lanka to train Pakistan army in Tamil land

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 August 2009, 07:20 GMT]
“We received a request from Pakistan to train their officers on our small team operations, so we have decided to open several new training schools in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya to train local and foreign military officers,” said Colombo’s new Army Chief Jagath Jayasuriya, reported, Daily Mirror, Friday. The newspaper further quoted the military chief saying that there was a big demand from foreign countries to have their forces trained by Sri Lanka. But Political observers said that it was a ploy of Colombo, Pakistan and probably some others too, to check the current presence of Indians in Vanni.
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JVP councillor detained

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 August 2009, 05:51 GMT]
A Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party member of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) who was putting up posters for the abolition of the executive presidency was detained and later released by the Borella police.
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SSP’s wife remanded

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 August 2009, 05:48 GMT]
Sharmalie Priyadradhani Perera, wife of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vass Gunawardena, was remanded till August 31st by Kaduwala Magistrate Thursday evening. She surrendered to the police in the morning and was produced in court later after being interrogated by the police.
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Global vigilance needed amid Sri Lanka’s post war rhetoric: Australian Senator

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2009, 23:57 GMT]
The ethnic issue in Sri Lanka must remain at the forefront of the global conscience amid the “very serious prospect of continued breeches of human rights” faced by over 300,000 Tamil IDP’s at the hands of the Sri Lankan Government, said Liberal party Senator Gary Humphries in address at Canberra on Tuesday. Citing allegations of abuse and continued censorship imposed by the Sri Lankan Government throughout military controlled refugee camps to dismiss claims of post war stability, senator Humphries urged the international community "to be vigilant, to watch carefully what is going on, to ask questions about how the Sri Lankan government is treating people” in order to force the Rajapakse regime to address the plight of thousands of Tamil civilians.
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White House Tamil protest draws media attention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2009, 23:39 GMT]
Commenting on the increase in number of protests after President Obama came to power, Politico.com, a site run by a Virginia-based popular American political group and edited by former Washington Post staffers, noted that the "most memorable crowd of protesters outside Obama's door [White House]" was a Tamil expatriate group which has "caught the attention of administration officials and journalists alike with its unflagging, mind numbing chants." Tamils from several states in the US and Canadian Tamils have been protesting in front of the White House for the 102nd contiguous day Thursday, urging Obama administration to take steps to safeguard Tamil civilians and to enforce a just and fair solution to the Tamil National question.
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CPA Executive Director receives death threat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2009, 15:34 GMT]
The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) said in a statement that its Executive Director Dr.Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu had received anonymous death threat written in English language and posted to his residence Thursday morning. According to the contents of the letter, Dr. Saravanamuthu will be killed because Sri Lanka stands to be deprived of the European Union’s GSP Plus benefits in October, with resultant job losses, due to information supplied by Dr. Saravanamuthu to Ms. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU’s Commissioner for External Relations.
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Relocating Moothoor east IDPs continues

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2009, 11:54 GMT]
The sixth group of internally displaced families from Moothoor east Tamil villages who had sought refuge in Batticaloa district since the military operation launched by the Sri Lanka in April 2006 were sent back Thursday morning by seven buses via Verukal to Ki’liveddi. They are again given temporary shelter in a welfare centre in Ki’liveddi as they are not allowed to resettle in their traditional villages in Moothoor east which are located in the SLA declared high security zone after its military operation, sources in Batticaloa said.
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SSP’s wife arrested in abduction, assault incident

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2009, 11:46 GMT]
The wife of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vass Gunawardena has been arrested and is now being interrogated by police at the police headquarters over the recent assault on an IT student, Police spokesman SSP Ranjit Gunasekara told media Thursday. She is expected to be produced in court later in the evening. She had gone into hiding when a special police team rushed to her house to arrest her Wednesday.
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Sri Lanka maintains military spending, recruits 50,000 more troops

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2009, 11:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka will keep up record defence spending despite its recent victory over the Tamil Tigers, Defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse told AFP Tuesday, as the Sri Lankan Army announced plans to recruit 50,000 more soldiers shortly. Sri Lanka raised its defence budget to a record 1.6 billion dollars this year, and finally defeated the LTTE in May after months of intense battles in which 20,000 Tamil civilians were massacred by government shelling. 6,000 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in last three months of the war, Gotabhaya also said.
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Displaced Muslims from Jaffna to be resettled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2009, 05:25 GMT]
Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Service, Risath Bathiyutheen, who is on a visit to Jaffna met Jaffna Government Agent (GA) Wednesday and discussed possibilities of resettling displaced Muslims in their original places, sources in Jaffna said. The minister has also called for a report from the GA on renovating Omaniya College in Jaffna where a small number of Muslim students attend classes.
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US: Tamils ‘confined against their will’ in Sri Lanka camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 August 2009, 01:49 GMT]
The United States’ top official dealing with humanitarian crisis reiterated Wednesday the Obama administration’s demand that Tamil civilians held in Sri Lanka’s militarised camps be allowed to leave freely. “Our position is that people who are displaced should be agents of their own destiny,” Eric P. Schwartz, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, said. Responding to reporters’ asking about his comments during a visit to Sri Lanka, Mr. Schwartz clarified: “I don’t think there’s anything ambiguous about “confinement against their will.”
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Wife identifies remains as of her husband in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 18:04 GMT]
Batticaloa Police Wednesday morning unearthed human remains of male person with bullet in its head from a pit which is located in a land that belongs to the National Water Supply and Drainage Board at Kalladi in Batticaloa in the presence of Batticaloa Magistrate Mr. V. Ramakamalan Wednesday morning. Judicial Medical Officer of Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital Dr. Ajit Jayasinghe was present at the site when the exhumation took place.
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SLA, police ban rally in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 17:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and Police Wednesday banned the demonstration and rally organized by the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) in Mannaar demanding the immediate resettlement of internally displaced families detained in camps in Vavuniyaa, lifting all restrictions on travelling and entering hospitals in Vavuniyaa and Mannaar and to find a political solution for the conflict and the removal of restriction on fishing and farming.
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Thousands attend Nalloor Thear festival

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 11:50 GMT]
The Thear (Chariot) festival of the historic Nalloor Kandasamy Temple in Jaffna town was held Wednesday morning with thousands of devotees from all over the island and participating, turning Jaffna into a virtual spiritual town, sources attending the festival said. With 300,000 fellow Tamils incarcerated in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa, and constrained by the curfews the Jaffna citizens still have to endure daily, the festival had added significance to the Saiva population in the NorthEast, although the number of participants were fewer than the previous years, civil sources in Jaffna said.
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Review fears Sri Lanka used British weapons on Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 10:39 GMT]
Fears that British weapons were used against civilians in Sri Lanka’s war against the Tamil Tigers have prompted calls for a review of the arms trade, British newspapers said. Four British Parliamentary committees have issued a joint report arguing that all existing licences to Sri Lanka should be investigated. Singling out Sri Lanka, Roger Berry, chairman of the Committees on Arms Export Controls, said that arms exports to countries which had only recently ceased hostilities should be monitored because of the high risk that fighting would resume. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the UK Foreign Office told the Daily Telegraph newspaper a review of Sri Lanka was underway, adding: "the Government shares the Committees' concerns regarding military exports fuelling conflict in countries such as Sri Lanka.”
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United States provides $6 million to support de-mining in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 09:21 GMT]
U.S. Department of State is contributing $6 million to be shared by four non-governmental organisations, Danish De-Mining Group (DDG), Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD), Halo Trust and MAG (Mines Advisory Group) for de-mining activities to increase their demining capacity and expand their work over the next twelve months in the Northern Province, according to a press statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. The U.S. military, through U.S. Pacific Command, will provide equipment and training to the Sri Lanka Army for humanitarian demining in the Northern Province, the statement further said.
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SSP’s wife gone into hiding

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 05:52 GMT]
A special police team deployed to arrest the wife of Vass Gunawardena, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in connection with an alleged assault incident, reported that she had gone missing since Tuesday evening. Police spokesman SSP Ranjit Gunasekara said that the police team had visited her house and found that the suspect had left home, and that her whereabouts were unknown. She is the mother of Ravindu Gunawardene, the prime suspect in alleged assault on an IT student Nipuna Ramanayake.
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General Fonseka says more troops needed to ensure peace in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 05:44 GMT]
General Sarath Fonseka, Chief of Defence Staff, said that resettlement of internally displaced people from Vanni now housed in temporary camps in Vavuniyaa will not be carried out haphazardly as dictated by some interested parties. He said so when he called on the prelate of Malwatte Most Venerable Tibbotuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera and on the prelate of Asgiriya Most Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thera Monday to mark the third month of ‘liberating’ the country from LTTE.
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8 Tamil youths arrested in Anurdhapura, Polonnaruwa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 05:34 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) took into custody Tuesday morning eight Tamil youths in a search conducted in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa areas. The arrested youths are from upcountry who had come to these areas in search of employment, the youths’ relatives said. Police authorities in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, however, said that no arrestees are being detained in their police stations.
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SSP’s wife to be arrested, discharged son from hospital remanded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 17:14 GMT]
A special police team has been deployed to arrest the wife of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vass Gunawardene and she is to be produced before a Magistrate Tuesday at any time in connection with the alleged assault of a SLIT student, police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara told media Tuesday. The Director of Kalubowila Hospital Dr. Anil Jayasinghe told media that Ravindu, son of SSP Vass Gunawardene and the chief suspect in the alleged assault of the student has been discharged from the hospital and was taken to remand prison.
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Floods threaten Tamils in Sri Lanka’s detention camps - HRW

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 10:31 GMT]
Floods and disease are threatening the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of Tamils detained enmasse in violation of international by the Sri Lankan government, HRW said Tuesday. The floods have caused emergency latrines to flood or collapse, causing sewage to flood several areas of the camps, heightening the risk of outbreaks of contagious diseases. The camps are located in places that are known to flood during the onsetting monsoon season.
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US Tamil boycott campaign targets Victoria Secret, Macy's

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 01:46 GMT]
U.S. Tamil expatriate groups in New York as part of their continuing campaign urging U.S.companies to avoid trade with Sri Lanka, targetted Victoria Secret, the lingerie giant with $5.6b net sales in 2008, and the retail giant Macy's which had $26.3b sales in Fiscal Year 2007, Saturday 15th August in Manhattan at 34th street and Broadway junction, between 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.
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Tamil Nadu government erases the word 'Eezham'

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 23:08 GMT]
Tamil Nadu Police was seen pasting white papers on the word 'Eezham' and on the picture of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan, figured in the banners and posters of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Kadchi (VCK) organised uprising in Chennai attended by more than 100,000 people Monday. The VCK's annual uprising day, conducted on the birthday of its leader Thol Thirumavalavan, has chosen the theme 'Ezhum Thamizh Eezham' for this year. The phrase can either mean the 'rising Tamil Eelam' or 'Tamil Eelam will rise'. The word 'Eezham' is the earliest reference to today's island of Sri Lanka, found in Tamil literature and inscriptions of pre-Christian centuries.
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JVP to launch campaign against continuing executive presidency system

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 20:05 GMT]
Sinhala nationalist Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Monday announced that it would launch a campaign to obstruct the holding of presidential election without first abolishing the executive presidency. JVP leader Somawanse Amarasinghe made the announcement at a press briefing held Monday in Colombo. JVP was one time ally of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance and now a critic from the opposition.
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UN refutes claim by GOSL for flooding Vavuniyaa camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 19:54 GMT]
United Nations (UN) Resident Representative in Sri Lanka, Mr. Neil Buhne, Monday said it is the government’s responsibility to look into the damage of drainage systems and sewage in the camps for the internally displaced people in Vavuniyaa. These camps are described by humanitarian organizations and activists as ‘internment camps’ where hundreds of thousands of Vanni displaced people are detained against their wish behind barbed wire fences.
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Human remains unearthed in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 19:29 GMT]
Mannaar police recovered the remains of a person Monday from a pit in Mannaar Bazar area on information given by the labourers engaged in the construction of a drain in the areea. The remains were sent to the government analyst department for examination, the police said.
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11 police personnel remanded in assault case: SSP'son in hospital

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 17:09 GMT]
Kaduwala Magistrate Monday ordered remand for eleven police personnel who are allegedly involved in assaulting an IT student till August 31.However the main suspect, son of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Vas Gunawardene was not produced in court along with other eleven suspects including three inspectors, one police sergeant and seven constables. But the court was told that the son of SSP had got himself admitted to the Kalubowila hospital claiming that he was ill.
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Indian Tamil traders arrested in Batticaloa to be deported

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 17:07 GMT]
Seven South Indian Tamil traders were fined each two thousand rupees Monday by the Batticaloa Magistrate V.Ramakamalan and were discharged with a warning that they should not engage in illegal business with tourist visa. They were taken into custody by the Batticaloa Police from a lodge in Batticaloa on receipt of information that they had been operating illegal business in Batticaloa while staying with tourist visa.
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EPC Chief Minister, ministers demand removal of Governor

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 06:37 GMT]
The wrangling between the elected administration of the Eastern Provincial Council and the Provincial Governor is reported to have reached its climax with Chief Minister Mr. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan and four other provincial ministers reportedly sending a petition to President Mahinda Rajapakse demanding the removal of Governor Mohan Wijewickrema and replacing him with a person supportive of power devolution, according to reports in Colombo media Monday.
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Human remains recovered in abandoned land in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 August 2009, 18:08 GMT]
Kaaththaankudi police Saturday evening unearthed a fertilizer bag with human remains from an abandoned land located opposite the office of the Department of Irrigation in Kalladi in Batticaloa district. A group of boys while playing in the land had seen some thing buried in the land and immediately brought the matter to the notice of the police.
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Decomposed bodies of two youths found in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 August 2009, 17:55 GMT]
Biyagama police Sunday morning recovered decomposed bodies of two men, aged between 20 and 35 in Sapugaskanda, Biyagama, Gampaha in the western province. According to the police the bodies of the two victims were partially eaten by insects. The police believe they died at least four days ago.
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2 suspects arrested in Kalmunai SSP's murder

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 August 2009, 17:43 GMT]
The Special Task Force (STF) of Kalmunai Police Saturday took into custody two persons, a Tamil and a Muslim, over the killing of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), S. H. Jamaldeen.

The killing took place 5 April 2009 when Jamaldeen was returning home on his motorbike from Maruthamunai after attending evening prayers in mosque.
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Creeping Talibanization in Sri Lanka - Prof. David

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 August 2009, 10:13 GMT]
Noting several trends in Sri Lanka point to "early steps in [reaching for] totality of power," Prof Kumar David in a column in the weekend edition of "The Island" asserts that the cultural control exercised by the current Rajapakse regime are no different to those of "the Mullahs of Teheran and the iconoclastic Taliban fundamentalists." Prof. David summarizes the views of six lawyers expressed at a Lawyers’ Press Conference organised by the Platform for Freedom (PfF) early August where one notes that the scene is set for ever expanding authoritarianism as Sri Lanka's President flagrantly violates the "supreme law, the public [is] apathetic and the judiciary [is] powerless," and another points to the holding of 300,000 people "against their will, in defiance of local and international law" as "obscene infringement of the constitution."
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Bodies of 2 Up-Country Tamil women found in canal in Colombo HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 19:40 GMT]
Bodies of two females of young age were found Saturday morning in a canal along Bauddhaloka Mawatte in Colombo. The area is located in the high security zone. A special police team rushed to the site on receipt of information and began investigation into the deaths of the women and to identify the victims.
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Landmine recovered from Badulla stadium

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 09:40 GMT]
Badulla police recovered a powerful landmine weighing 15 kg from Badulla Football Stadium in the Uva province Thursday night. A senior official of Badulla Police said they carried out a search operation in the area on information from a 'terrorist' already in custody and recovered the landmine.
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Internment camps in Vavuniyaa under flood water

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 08:25 GMT]
Additional troops have been called into the Manik Farm area in Vavuniyaa to prevent inmates in the IDP camps creating unrest or move from the camps following heavy rains which have inundated parts of the camps on Friday. Heavy rains have been continuing for the last two days in the area where the internment camps of Vanni civilians are situated, causing severe hardships to the inmates of the camps. The worst affected camps are the Zone II camps where the water has entered the tents forcing people to remain standing, a local NGO official in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka fleeces kith and kin of IDPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 06:52 GMT]
Family members and kinsfolk of IDPs in the internment camps had remitted 100 million rupees in the past two months, according to I.D. Weerasena, Deputy General Manager of Bank of Ceylon, reported Sri Lankan state owned Daily News, Saturday. In the past four to five months, 500 million rupees had been deposited by the IDPs, said Mr. Weerasena, whose state-controlled bank had opened banking units with online and ATM facilities in the internment camps and deals with 21,000 new account holders.
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SSP’s son to be arrested in student abduction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 04:55 GMT]
Kaduwela Magistrate Mr. Manilal Prasanna De Silva Thursday ordered police to arrest Ravindu Gunawardena, the son of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Vas Gunawardene, the head of Colombo Crimes Division (CCD), and impounded Ravindu’s passport. Ravindu Gunawardena, the main suspect, is alleged to have abducted and assaulted Nipuna Ramanayake, a fellow student of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), Malambe, last week.
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6 police personnel remanded in Angulana killings

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 04:48 GMT]
Mount Lavinia Chief Magistrate Harsha Settunge Thursday night ordered remand for five police officers including the Officer–in-Charge (OIC) of the Angulana Police Post until the 26th of August over the death of two youths from Angulana who were in police custody, Police Spokesman SSP Ranjit Gunasekara said.
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7 Tamilnadu traders arrested in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 17:53 GMT]
Batticaloa Police Thursday night took into custody seven residents of Chennai in Tamilnadu from a lodge in Batticaloa town for conducting business illegally with only a tourist visa. The arrested individuals had been engaged in selling saris and clothes to the people of the town for several years.
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Bill banning community reference in party name unconstitutional, say Tamil parties

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 17:43 GMT]
If the amendments to the election bill are passed as gazetted, "no political party which has a name signifying any religion or ethnic or other community will be entitled to be treated as a recognized political party," and the "concept of outlawing names of religions or other groups or communities from the name of political parties is inconsistent with the constitutional standards that may be gleaned from several articles of the Constitution," said Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi 9itaK) and All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in a petition filed in Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Wednesday, legal sources in Colombo said.
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US stresses ‘political reconciliation’ with Tamils for peace in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 17:38 GMT]
The US State Department met Tuesday with US-based Tamil Diaspora groups to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the prospects for “political reconciliation” in Sri Lanka, a government press release said. US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake and Chargé d'Affaires in the US embassy in Colombo, James Moore (participating by video link) held discussions with representatives of sixteen Tamil groups. The US officials had welcomed the opportunity to discuss the Tamils' concerns and perspectives and had "underscored the importance of political reconciliation," the US statement said. The US government has meanwhile stressed to the Sri Lanka government that "to achieve a lasting peace, it must promote justice and political reconciliation for all parties" the statement also said.
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JTC students to launch boycott against principal

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 15:51 GMT]
Jaffna Technical College (JTC) students Friday announced that they are to boycott classes protesting against JTC principal alleging him of misappropriation of college funds and using JTC as the office of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), a constituent in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, sources in Jaffna said. JTC students had met Minister Douglas Devananda with their demands and the minister has promised to look into their demands, a press release by the media coordinator of Social Services Ministry informed.
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Sinhala SP arrested for aiding LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 08:09 GMT]
A special team of the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police Wednesday night took Police superintendent Lakshman Cooray of Gampaha Division into custody over alleged involvement in LTTE activities. He served as the SP in Jaffna police division till he was transferred to Gampaha recently, police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara told media Thursday.
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12 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 05:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody 12 Tamil youths in a search conducted in the suburbs of Colombo on information received from the Intelligence Department that a suicide bomber has infiltrated into Colombo, sources in Colombo said. The arrested youths are said to be from North, East and the Upcountry.
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NP governor announces lift of SLA restrictions in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 17:29 GMT]
Former Northern Province (NP) Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander and present governor of NP, G. A. Chandrasiri, who had been the author of several SLA restrictions in Jaffna peninsula during his tenure in Jaffna, announced Thursday that he would take steps to lift several SLA restrictions that have been imposed in Jaffna peninsula for the last thirteen years, sources in Jaffna said. The governor who met the key officers of SLA, Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and police in Jaffna Public Library Wednesday, visited Vadamaraadchi and Thenmaraadchi Thursday accompanied by Minister Douglas Devananda, the sources added.
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Kuala Lumpur congratulates Colombo, donates US $ 100,000

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 17:17 GMT]
Malaysian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, Rosli Ismail congratulated Colombo for defeating ‘LTTE terrorism’ and described it as a “big achievement” while handing over his government’s donation of US $ 100,000 for the welfare of internally displaced ‘Sri Lankans’ affected by the conflict, according to a press release of Colombo’s foreign ministry, Thursday. Eezham Tamil IDPs in the internment camps alone number 300,000. Speaking on the occasion, Colombo’s foreign minister, Rohitha Bogollagama noted that Malaysia is one of the largest investors in Sri Lanka and has been consistently supportive of Sri Lanka’s efforts, “especially in the fight against terrorism.”
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Government to withdraw controversial Electoral Reforms Bill

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 16:55 GMT]
The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reforms Wednesday decided to completely withdraw the draft bill outlawing political parties that signify a race or a religion and to table a new draft bill in the parliament. The decision was taken at the PSC meeting held the same day at the parliamentary complex after Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) filed fundamental right violation petitions separately challenging proposed Electoral Reforms Amendment Bill tabled in the parliament last week, political sources said.
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Another batch of Vanni IDPs in Jaffna to be released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 15:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has announced that it will release the second batch of Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detainment camps in Jaffna district soon, sources in Jaffna said. The first batch of Vanni IDPs released with much publicity by Basil Rajapakse and Minister Douglas Devananda recently in Duraiappa Stadium are left without any help from the government or any other organization, local NGOs said.
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Arrested youths shot dead, dumped on railway track in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 12:47 GMT]
Residents of Angulana police area at Moratuwa found two dead bodies of youths with gunshot injuries Thursday morning. The victims were taken into custody by Angulana police Wednesday night. For more than two months, the Sri Lankan Police has shot and killed more than 90 suspects, who were taken into custody over various allegations and the relatives of many of the victims have alleged fabricating false charges.
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Tamil businessman arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 06:27 GMT]
Galkissa Police took a Tamil businessman into custody in a flat located along Hampton Lane in Wellawatte Monday. The police said they recovered army uniforms from his room in the flat.
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Tamil homeland to get integrated in Indo-Lanka power grid

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 19:24 GMT]
India is to sign the Joint Venture agreement and Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Government of Sri Lanka this month to accelerate the "much delayed" two strategic power projects- 1,000 MW Champoor Coal Power Plant in Trincomalee and under the sea power cable link to India, "heralding an era for cross-border energy trade" in the near future according to media reports from Colombo quoting top official of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). The official further said that "in a dramatic development this week India has intimated to the GOSL its intention to accelerate these projects". The Indian High Commission in Colombo has recently gifted 117 million rupees to the Sri Lankan military to 'rehabilitate' Palaali military airbase following reports of Kaankeasanthu’rai (KKS) harbour will be given to India.
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EPDP member demands Jaffna Mayor post

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 18:45 GMT]
The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) candidate, who got more preferential votes than Ms. P. Yogeswari who had been proposed to the post of Jaffna Mayor by Minister Douglas Devananda, is said to demand being appointed as the Mayor, sources in Jaffna said. Apputhurai Manuel Mangaleswaran alias Nesapriyan, the member in question, had obtained 1394 preferential votes while Yogeswari had only polled 1250 preferential votes attaining fifth rank, the sources added.
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Fishing ban in Jaffna continues despite promises

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 18:18 GMT]
Fisheries Societies in Jaffna peninsula told Northern Province governor, former SLA Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri Wednesday that despite government announcement that the fishing ban in Jaffna peninsula had been completely lifted, in reality the ban continues, sources in Jaffna said. The governor, participating in the District Development Coordinating Committee, faced accusations raised against the fishing ban, the sources added.
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TNA nominates Chairman of Vavuniyaa UC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 17:36 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has nominated Mr. S. N. G. Nathan for the post of Chairman of the Vavuniyaa Urban Council. General Secretary of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK) and TNA parliamentarian Maavai Senathirajah said that he would inform the Elections Commissioner the decision in writing Thursday. ITAK, a constituent of the TNA, bagged five seats in the recently held election to the Vavuniyaa UC.
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FR petitions filed against Bill banning parties signify race, religion

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 17:26 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Wednesday filed Fundamental Right Violation petitions separately in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka challenging the Parliamentary Elections Amendment Bill on the grounds that its provisions violate the fundamental rights of the people, legal sources said. The Bill that was presented in Parliament last week seeks to ban political parties that signify names of a race or religion. The Bill also seeks to deregister parties which have failed to contest parliamentary elections twice consecutively.
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SLA travel ‘pass’ system to continue in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 16:34 GMT]
The system of obtaining ‘pass’ to travel out of Jaffna peninsula from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administrative office will not be lifted, Northern Province Governor, Major. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, said in a discussion held with key SLA officers in Jaffna Secretariat Wednesday, sources in Jaffna said. There was high expectation of the pass system being lifted among peninsula residents following the promises made by government ministers during Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election campaign.
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Underworld criminals given final warning to surrender

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 06:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police has given final warning to underworld criminals to surrender immediately with their arms. "Without waiting for another deadline, they should surrender themselves at the nearest police station," police media spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara said.
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Muslim militant leader shot dead in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 06:04 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot and killed a Muslim person Tuesday night around 7:30 p.m in his house in Ea’raavoor in Batticaloa district. He is suspected to be the leader of an unidentified armed group operating in the eastern province, according to Batticaloa police.
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Patkunam Yogeswary appointed Mayor of JMC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 17:29 GMT]
Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) in Jaffna said in a press release Tuesday that Ms. Patkunam Yogeswary has been appointed as the Mayor of Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC), and its senior member Thurairajah Illango, alias Regan, as Deputy Mayor by Social Service Minister Douglas Devananda. Civil society sources in Jaffna, however, said Ms. Yogeswary was appointed Mayor though Thurairajah Illango had polled more preferential votes than Ms. Yogeswary, mainly to due to pressure from Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), one of the coalition member party in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
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Reconcile with Tamils or risk terrorism - US

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 16:40 GMT]
The top US diplomat for South Asia says Sri Lanka's refusal to share power with the Tamils following the end of a bloody 25-year civil war in May could lead to renewed violence. US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake also said that Sri Lanka should allow more freedom of movement for the nearly 300,000 Tamils displaced by the war and confined to government camps. However, the hardline government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa questioned the US official’s right “to speak on behalf of the Tamils.” The US has been providing emergency assistance to the displaced, but longer term reconstruction assistance depends on Sri Lanka’s progress in resettlement, Mr. Blake said.
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SLA blocks IDPs permanent resettlement citing Moothoor HSZ security

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 16:23 GMT]
A group of 63 Tamil families consisting of 244 members, internally displaced from their traditional villages in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district and sheltered in temporary camps located in Paalameenmeadu in Batticaloa for the last three years, were transported Tuesday in eleven buses via Verugal River to temporary shelters in Ki'liveddi welfare centre. They will remain here until an alternative site is found for them to be resettled permanently as their own traditional Tamil villages have been brought under high security zone (HSZ) following the military operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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1187 students in internment camps sit for GCE A/L examination

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 14:59 GMT]
1187 students including a visually impaired student detained in internment camps with nearly 300,000 people displaced from Vanni region have been sitting for the G.C.E.Advanced Level-2009 examinations which commenced Tuesday. District education officials said that about 166 students are identified by Sri Lanka military as ex-combatants.
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Student reported missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 14:43 GMT]
A twenty-one-year old student from Suthumalai North in Maanippaay is reported missing since 6 August from his house according to a complaint registered with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Tuesday by his mother.
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Tamils confined against their will – US

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 14:04 GMT]
The United States, which has provided aid to the camps and is ready to offer more to help the displaced Tamils go home, was dismayed so many were being held against their will, Eric Schwartz, US assistant secretary at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said. Sri Lanka’s claim that they plan to settle 75,000 of the 280,000 Tamil civilians now held in military run camps before the end of August was “encouraging news," but Colombo should move faster, he told Reuters Friday.
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Tamil civilian arrested at KIA still under detention

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 07:28 GMT]
A Tamil civilian attached to Mannaar Education Office who was taken into custody by police at Katunayake International Airport (KIA) in Colombo is held under detention by Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) since 28 June, according to complaints by his wife to Colombo police and human rights organizations. She said her husband was taken into custody by the police saying that he was to attend a meeting organized by Seeman, a film director in South India in Chennai.
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Sri Lanka is laying foundations for renewed war – paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 02:56 GMT]
“Sri Lanka's conflict is anything but over. On the contrary, it has clearly entered another period of gestation,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper warned in its latest editorial. “Unless the international community acts decisively to end Sinhala oppression of the Tamil people and ensures a robust political solution that guarantees the equality of the two nations, there will be neither 'reconciliation' nor peace. Instead, the violent tyranny of the state will lead inevitably to violent resistance anew,” the paper, published last week, said.
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Sri Lanka on way back to Tamil rebellion - FT

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 00:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka is careering back to where it was when the conflict began, with Tamil grievances being ignored amid a triumphalist wave of Sinhalese chauvinism, the Financial Times warned in its editorial Tuesday. Rather than share power with the Tamils, US and British officials fear the Sinhala state is seeking to scatter them, the paper said. “Unless the Sinhala majority shows magnanimity and gives the Tamils control over their lives, their cause will surely reignite from the embers of this war,” the paper said.
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Amnesty wants Sri Lanka camps unlocked, war crimes probes

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 August 2009, 17:02 GMT]
Amnesty International Monday called for “the immediate release of 285,000 innocent Tamil civilians - including an estimated 50,000 children - being held in cramped and squalid camps” by Sri Lanka’s hard-line government. Amnesty called on the United Nations, Sri Lanka’s donors and rest of the international community to monitor the camps, push for unimpeded access for aid agencies, rights monitors and journalists and to take initial steps towards on international inquiry into war crimes. Amnesty noted that in Menik Farm – the most presentable of the camps - the equivalent of the population of the town of Bournemouth live, eat and sleep in an area size of Wembley Stadium.
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U.S. youths launch campaign against Microsoft Investment in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 August 2009, 15:51 GMT]
Noting MSNBC's coverage of the conditions within the military supervised internment camps in Vavuniyaa, which said that "no one is allowed to leave the camps and few are permitted entrance," and that the camps are "at best...at the edge of all kinds of internal principles...but more likely...illegal," the U.S. based activist youth group, PEARL, urged Microsoft to reconsider investments in Sri Lanka, saying, "[t]he human rights community and Tamils all over the world are deeply concerned about the ultimate use of funds given to government of Sri Lanka. While technology transfer is important, blanket support should not be given to governments who do not respect the rule of law and basic human rights. We urge you to hear the cries of voiceless Tamils, and avoid doing business with regimes as egregious as Sri Lanka's."
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Britain should push for international probe into Sri Lanka war crimes – Parliament committee

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 August 2009, 12:45 GMT]
Britain should press for the setting up of an international war crimes inquiry into the conduct of the war in Sri Lanka, the UK parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has said. Noting that the Foreign Office’s (FCO) designation of Sri Lanka as a ‘country of concern’ for human rights was “amply justified” the Committee said Britain should use the leverage at its disposal to end the “prevalent culture of impunity” regarding rights abuses in Sri Lanka. Noting that the international committee has “both a right and a responsibility” to investigate places where major abuses have taken place, the Committee also encouraged Britain to “work to strengthen international support for the ICC, and for the principle of bringing to justice those who commit war crimes or crimes against humanity.”
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7 bodies of Tamil Nadu fishermen washed ashore in Jaffna identified

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 16:07 GMT]
Relatives of the seven Tamil Nadu fishermen whose bodies had been washed ashore in the islets of Jaffna last week identified the bodies Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. They identified the bodies as the fishermen who had gone missing from Raameasvaram and Thanushkoadi in Tamil Nadu.
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Tamil voters nullify SL Government’s expectation - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 15:28 GMT]
“Tamil National Alliance (TNA) winning Vavuniyaa Urban Council (VUC) election and Tamils refraining from voting in large numbers in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election prove that Sri Lanka Government was not able to achieve the success it planned for and expected. We wish to thank the Tamils for voting for Ilankai Thamizh Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) even amidst intimidation and frustration and despair caused by the war,” TNA said in a press release signed by Jaffna District TNA parliamentarian, Mavai Senathirajah, Sunday.
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Jaffna craftsmen sculptured Ther debuts in Washington festival

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 09:45 GMT]
Several hundred saiva devotees from different parts of the U.S. Saturday attended the Washington Murugan Temple chariot festival held annually to coincide with the festival at the Nalloor Kandaswamy Temple in Jaffna. A new chariot funded by Sri Lanka's Tamil expatriates in New York, built in Colombo by Jaffna craftsmen, shipped to the U.S., and assembled locally, made the maiden-run Friday in preparation for the Saturday ceremony. Cognizant of the hardships suffered by relatives and friends inside internment camps, devotees kept the festivities outside the temple at a low-profile, attending devotees said.
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2 Tamils arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 09:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took two Tamil civilians into custody in Colombo Thursday night in two separate incidents. One was arrested in Katunayake International Airport (KIA) area and the other along D. R. Wijewardene Mawatte in Colombo town, media spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara told media.
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Outbreak of skin disease reported in Vavuniyaa IDP camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 09:23 GMT]
The outbreak of skin diseases among hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people from Vanni detained in several camps in Vavuniyaa has been reported. “They mostly complain of continuous itchy skin. They say the itching only starts when they wash. This may be due to the different levels of minerals found in the water that could cause irritation,” a medical officer who spoke on conditions of anonymity told Colombo media.
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Remdiyas gets highest number of preferential votes in JMC election

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 07:50 GMT]
Mudiyappu Remediyas, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) backed chief candidate of Ilankai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) scored 4223 votes, the highest number of preferential votes, in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election held Saturday while ITAK second candidate, Ms. Anthonypillai Mariamma, got 1678 votes. United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) chief candidate failed to secure a seat while V. Anandasangaree contesting in Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) ticket secured one seat obtaining 424 votes.
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Elections jeopardize democracy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 00:46 GMT]
With only 20 percent turn out in the municipal elections, the clear verdict of the Eezham Tamils is no confidence in the Sri Lankan state and its institutions, said Tamil circles, commenting further that genocidal war and democratic elections mean the same for Colombo. They were citing the manner in which the elections were conducted denying entry to outside witnesses, while 40 percent of the voters not present, 50 percent of polling cards not delivered, Colombo-sponsored forgery of ID cards accused, people coerced and even the Tamil outfit with the government was forced to drop its identity. Whether war and elections against Tamils mean the same to the international community too is the question now coming from the Tamil circles which pointed out that the armed forces occupying the peninsula were more than double in number than the people voted in the elections.
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UPFA takes Jaffna in 20% voter turnout, ITAK wins Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 21:37 GMT]
With international media reporting that Jaffna voters have rejected the Municipal council elections with less than 20% turnout, the ruling UPFA won 10,602 votes obtaining 10 seats with 2 additional bonus seats, and Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) took 8 seats after polling 8008 votes. In the Vavuniyaa Urban Council elections, ITAK secured 5 seats with Democratic Peoples Liberation Front (DPLF) obtaing 3 seats, UPFA 2 seats, and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress 1 seat.
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TNA leads in postal vote count in JMC election

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 15:16 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has polled 147 postal votes in the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election held Saturday while the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) polled 140 votes, according to unofficial Jaffna Secretariat sources. Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) led by V. Anandasangaree got 30 votes while United National Party (UNP) received 6 votes and Independent candidate Manickasothy polled 3 votes in the postal vote count, the sources said.
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Around 18,26% votes cast in JMC election

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 13:04 GMT]
Only around 18,26 % percent of eligible voters had cast their votes in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election held Saturday, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. These votes are the ones cast in the 70 polling centres in Jaffna district leaving out those cast in the polling centres located out of Jaffna. Only nearly 200 votes had been cast in many polling booths where 1300 voters were registered to vote. Comparatively, the voting percentage was higher in the coastal areas. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Suresh Premachandran, quoting police sources, said that ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) supporters had tried to enter some polling booths showing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) identity documents instead of the officially accepted seven kinds of documents including National Identity Card (NIC) and passport.
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EPDP men injured in police attack during JMC election

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 11:43 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA), quoting police sources in Jaffna, said that Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) supporters who tried to forcibly enter a polling booth to vote in a school in Nayanmaarkaddu were injured in a clash when the police took action to stop them. Meanwhile, election officials said that 17.5 % to 18% of the total eligible votes may have been cast at the close of voting at 4:00 p.m and added that the accurate figures will only be available one hour after the ballot boxes are brought to Jaffna Secretariat.
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18% votes cast in JMC election by 3:30 p.m

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 10:51 GMT]
With only half an hour remaining to the end of voting in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, only 20% of the total of 1,00,417 eligible votes have been cast at 3:30 p.m Saturday, election officials said. The 18% votes cast are from the 70 polling centres located in Jaffna district. Only less than 60,000 polling cards had been issued to the rightful recipients prior to the election. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has raised accusations of wide spread election malpractice particularly along the costal areas in Jaffna town.
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Polling begins in Jaffna MC, Vavuniyaa UC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 07:29 GMT]
Polling began Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m to twenty three members of the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) and eleven members to the Vavuniyaa Urban Council (VUC) in the Northern Province and will close at 4:00 p.m. Results are expected to be announced at midnight. “We have deployed more than one thousand two hundred police personnel at all polling stations in the JMC and VUC. Mobile police patrolling is also being done in the two local bodies, “said Mr. Nimal Lewke, Deputy Inspector General of Police, for the northern province at a media briefing in Vavuniyaa.
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UPFA alleged of malpractice in JMC election

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 07:20 GMT]
Independent Groups contesting Jaffna Municipal Council Election alleged ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) supporters of engaging in malpractice as voters began casting their votes from Saturday 7:00 a.m, sources in Jaffna said. UPFA supporters were seen persuading the voters going to the polling centres offering them polling cards printed in the form of small handbills with the betel symbol of the UPFA, the sources added.
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Supreme Court to inquire FR petition by IDP family against illegal detention

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 04:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Thursday granted leave to proceed with the fundamental rights violation petition filed on behalf of members of one family who are detained in an Internally Displaced Persons’ Camp (IDP Camp) in Vavuniya against their wishes, and listed the case for hearing on November 12, legal sources in Colombo said. The bench comprised Justices Nihal Gamini Amaratunge and Chandra Ekanayake. The petition alleged infringement of plaintiffs' fundamental rights to equality, equal protection of the law, as well as their right to the freedom of movement and of choosing their residence within Sri Lanka.
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2 Tamil civilians arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 04:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took two Tamil civilians from a house located along Arethusa lane in Wellawatte Thursday, and claimed that they seized two suicide jackets, a micro pistol, and five hand grenades during the search of the house.
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Custody of Pathmanathan raises questions about recognition to state terrorism

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 August 2009, 23:35 GMT]
The manner in which Selvarasa Pathmanathan was 'arrested' and ended up in the custody of the Sri Lankan state that is widely accused of war crimes, genocide and state terrorism, raises serious concerns about the world outlook to political justice, Tamil circles said. Mr. Pathmanathan who denounced violence was engaged in re-organising the LTTE and in consenting the formation of a transnational body for the Eezham Tamils. Meanwhile, acknowledging Pathmanathan’s custody, Colombo’s minister and spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwela said Friday: “There was some false hopes that after the LTTE was crushed that movement could be revived with Pathmanathan. But we have proved that we have the capability of getting to them from wherever they emerge.”
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Headless male corpse washed ashore in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 August 2009, 16:30 GMT]
Oorkaavattu’rai police recovered Friday a headless male body in a highly decomposed state in Veala’nai, in the islets of Jaffna, being informed by fishermen going to the seas. Though bodies of Raameasvaram fishermen had been washed ashore recently in the islets of Jaffna, the body recovered Friday seemed not to belong to that group, the police who handed over the remains to Jaffna Teaching Hospital Friday evening, said.
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Massive election fraud imminent, says ITAK

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 August 2009, 14:53 GMT]
Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) in a letter addressed to the Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections complained that 'a party' contesting Jaffna Municipal Council Elections Saturday is printing forged National Identity Cards (NICs) to commit impersonations to illegally obtain additional votes in its favor. Mavai Senathirajah, General Secretary of ITAK, in the letter appealed to the Commissioner to allow polling agents to verify the authenticity of voters to prevent fraudulent voting.
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Final arrangements for JMC election completed

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 August 2009, 10:48 GMT]
The final arrangements to conduct Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election have been completed, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. The arrangements included the transport of ballot boxes to the seventy poling booths with police escort and appointing Polling Centre Officers and their assistants. Police have taken in charge of the pooling booths which are guarded by Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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2 Sinhala undergrads remanded in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 August 2009, 10:21 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate, Nishantha Kappurarachchi, Thursday ordered remand for two Colombo University undergraduates till August 12 on charges of writing anti-government slogans on a school parapet wall in Cinnamon Gardens. The suspect-students Upul Premaratne and Gehan Seneviratne were arrested writing the anti-government slogans on a parapet wall of St. Bridget’s Convent in Colombo on Wednesday, according to police allegation.
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40% of eligible voters live out of Jaffna Municipal Council

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 August 2009, 05:17 GMT]
Postal department sources in Jaffna said that 40,390 polling cards of the 100,417 eligible voters in the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election to be held Saturday are kept in Jaffna Post Office not delivered to the rightful recipients. A total of 51,182 polling cards have been delivered directly to persons in the last nine days by postal employees going house to house, the sources further said.
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Only UNP can solve the problems of the Tamils – Dr. Jayalath Jayawardne

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2009, 18:27 GMT]
“The present government will never offer a solution for the problems of the Tamils; only the United National Party (UNP) will solve their problems,” Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene, the Deputy Secretary of UNP, said in a press conference held Thursday in Delka hotel in Jaffna. “The government does not allow the opposition MPs to see the Vanni IDPs in the camps when it permits people to visit even prisoners in jails; this is gross injustice of the government which has betrayed the Tamils,” he further said.
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SL parliament extends Emergency for another month

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2009, 16:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Thursday adopted a motion to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of sixty four votes. Seventy one Parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted for the motion. Seven Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians voted against the motion.
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50 percent polling cards not delivered to Jaffna MC Voters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2009, 08:54 GMT]
About fifty percent of the polling cards sent by the Jaffna District Election Department have not been delivered till Wednesday to the recipients and are kept in the general post office waiting for the owners to come and collect by proving their identity. Voters have been asked to obtain their polling cards from the post office till 3 p.m. on August 8, on the polling day, Jaffna District Returning Officer and Government Agent Mr. K. Ganesh said a t a press briefing about the forthcoming election to the Jaffna Municipal Council.
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China's help sought to stop ethnic cleansing of Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2009, 05:12 GMT]
A large group of American Tamils from the New York region held a protest rally outside the Chinese Mission to the United Nations in New York Monday. The protesters appealed to China use its influence with the Sri Lankan government to end the ethnic cleansing of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and to release the nearly 300,000 Tamils detained indefinitely in the military supervised internment camps. The purpose of the protest is to keep the international community's eyes trained on Tamil concerns about abuses being committed against their relatives, neighbors and friends in Sri Lanka, protesters at the rally said.
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1000-mile trek by Canadian students reaches half way mark

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2009, 01:52 GMT]
Three Canadian college students, who started a 1000-mile trek from Chicago to Washington D.C. on the 26th of June to raise awareness of the general American population to the several thousand Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lanka military during the first two weeks of May, and the 300,000 Tamil civilians held in Sri Lanka military supervised internment camps, have now nearly reached the half-way mark. "The men arrived in Dayton Monday morning after starting their trip in Chicago. By the time the trip is done, the men will have walked more than a thousand miles," the Dayton Television station WDTN reported.
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Details emerge on Tamil media workers killed in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2009, 00:52 GMT]
TamilNet recently compiled details on Tamil journalists and media workers confirmed killed during the height of war in Vanni, between March and May. The list is not exhaustive. These media persons, committed to the human cause and engaged in the noble task of bringing out information to the people inside and to the world outside, have laid down their lives in achieving what the international media shamefully couldn't accomplish. TamilNet will be serialising compilations on the losses of other humanitarian workers too in due course.
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3112 Vanni IDPs in Jaffna camps released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 August 2009, 14:46 GMT]
3112 persons belonging to 1057 families brought from Vanni and held in the six detainment centres in Jaffna district were released and allowed to go with their relatives Wednesday in an event which the government conducted as an election campaign stunt in Duraiyappa Sports Stadium in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. The IDPs, brought to the venue from 3:00 a.m from their camps, had to wait in the broiling sun until 3:30 p.m as Basil Rajapakse, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse and his advisor, arrived at Jaffna only after 2:30 p.m to take part in the event, the sources added.
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TNA conducts election procession in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 August 2009, 14:41 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, contestants in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election and supporters marched in a procession Tuesday around 10:00 a.m which started from Suresh Premachandran’s office on Hospital Road in Jaffna and ended at Jaffna Co-operative Society Hall. TNA leader and Trincomalee district MP, R. Sampanthan and TNA parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah, S. Thurairatnasingam, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Solomon Cyril, Pathmini Sithamparanathan and Suresh Premachandran marched in the procession, sources in Jaffna said.
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861 students held in SLA camps to sit for GCE A/L exam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 August 2009, 07:55 GMT]
Eight hundred and sixty one Tamil students now being held in the internment camps of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are to sit for the forthcoming G.C.E. Advanced Level examination which is to commence on August 11 and conclude on September 5. They are among the 2,420,091 students sitting for the examination all over the country.
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SLASA appeals for the immediate release of Ki’linochchi GA, Vethanayagan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 19:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association (SLASA), while strongly condemning the arrest of Ki’linochchi Government Agent (GA), S. Vethanayagan, by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials on 30 July 2009, extended a public appeal to the authorities concerned to release him immediately, sources in Colombo said.
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130 IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps to be resettled in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 19:05 GMT]
One hundred and thirty Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa are to brought to Jaffna Wednesday to be resettled in places in Jaffna that are out of SLA High Security Zones (HSZ) and in Vadamaraadchi East except Maruthangkea’ni Assistant Government Agent (AGA) division, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, informed in a press meet held in Jaffna Secretariat Tuesday. The GA also told the media that he has nothing to do with the forms distributed by persons in Jaffna to apply for resettlement in Jaffna.
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Southern PC dissolved, election in October

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 16:24 GMT]
The Southern Provincial Council has been dissolved with effect from midnight Monday yesterday. Governor of the Southern Provincial Council Ms. Kumari Balasooriya dissolved the Council using the powers vested in her and the relevant gazette had been sent to the Government Printer at the time this edition went to press.
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EPDP men violate human rights – ITAK chief candidate Remediyas

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 14:16 GMT]
“Minister Douglas Devananda’s men are intimidating the fishermen in Jaffna that the ban on fishing will be imposed again if they vote for Ilankai Thamizh Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election and this is an obvious violation of human rights,” Mudiyappu Remediyas, the principal candidate of ITAK, said in the press conference held Tuesday in ITAK office in Jaffna.
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TNA outlines political formula

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 13:13 GMT]
Based on Self-Determination, distinct and comprehensive autonomy to the historical homeland of Eelam Tamils is the political solution envisaged by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to the ethnic conflict in the island of Sri Lanka, said veteran Tamil politician and TNA Parilamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan, while addressing the press in Jaffna Tuesday. Mr. Sampanthan, who said that a draft proposal of the TNA will be released soon, was optimistic of India's support. This is the first time the TNA is coming out with its own political formula to resolve the ethnic conflict.
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15-25 births daily in Vavuniyaa ‘internment camps’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 05:31 GMT]
More than 2,500 pregnant mothers are detained in Vavuniyaa camps along with hundreds of thousands of Vanni displaced civilians. Around fifteen to twenty five births take place each day. 350 births had taken place in the Vavuniyaa general hospital last month, July, according to a survey conducted by the health authorities in collaboration with the WHO and the UNICEF.
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TNA candidates, supporters attacked by government party men in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 05:26 GMT]
A group of supporters led by the leader of a government party contesting the election in the Vavuniyaa Urban Council attacked two candidates of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and their supporters while they were engaged in electioneering at Kuruma'nve’li area in Vavuniyaa Monday evening in two separate incidents, according to complaints lodged with Vavuniyaa Police and the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV).
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Hundreds of Tamils interrogated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 05:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka police and military launched a large scale search Monday from 4:00 a.m til 10:00 a.m in the suburbs of Colombo where Tamils live in large numbers interrogating hundreds of Tamils, sources in Colombo said. The search was conducted on a tip off, Wellawathe police said.
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HRW calls for international inquiry into ACF-17 massacre

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 01:31 GMT]
Quoting James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) that "[f]or three years since the ACF massacre, the Rajapaksa government has put on an elaborate song and dance to bedazzle the international community into believing justice is being done," HRW in a news release issued Monday added, "the Sri Lankan government's gross mishandling of the investigation into the execution-style slaying of 17 aid workers in the northeastern town of Mutur three years ago demonstrates the need for an international commission of inquiry."
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Reporters barred from Jaffna, Vavuniyaa during elections

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 01:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka will not allow reporters into Vavuniyaa and Jaffna to cover the local government elections to be held there on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. “The government did not give a reason for banning reporters, but it cites security reasons for denying entry to any outsider,” AP reported. The towns are accessible with Defence ministry permission and “even residents can't leave without permission,” AP report said. Meanwhile, an elections watchdog, PAFFREL (People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections) said there seemed to be little public interest in the polls as people were preoccupied with the plight of their relatives in government’s military-run internment camps.
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Temple robbed in Jaffna during SLA curfew

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2009, 16:44 GMT]
An armed gang plundered Thursday night a Pi’l’laiyaar Temple, during Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) imposed curfew hours, in Moo’laay area in Valikaamam, and took away gold jewellery and cash worth 20 million rupees, sources in Jaffna said. Robberies of this nature carried out during curfew hours and SLA’s persistence refusal to lift the curfew in Jaffna peninsula, claiming that robberies would increase if the curfew is lifted, has raised suspicion of SLA complicity in the robberies, among the residents of the peninsula, the sources added. Meanwhile, extortion by intimidating phone calls has resumed in Jaffna targeting rich traders, lawyers and university lecturers.
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5 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2009, 14:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody five Tamil youths in a search conducted in Ettiyawathe junction in Mattakuliya, a suburb in Colombo Monday morning, sources in Colombo said. The youths were travelling in the bus that was on its way from Mattakuliya to Galkisse when the police stopped it and searched.
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Sri Lanka tax structure to be streamlined

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2009, 05:12 GMT]
Against the backdrop of the massive IMF loan of US$ 2.6 billion the government is preparing a complete overhaul of Sri Lanka’s tax structure with the intention of streamlining and enhancing tax revenue, the presidential secretariat said.
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Measles outbreak fear in Vavuniyaa ‘internment camps’

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2009, 05:02 GMT]
More than 36,000 internally displaced (IDP) children under five years of age, held in internment camps in Vavuniyaa are to be vaccinated against measles under a special child health campaign to counter the sporadic cases of measles which have occurred in the past months and prevent risk of further outbreak, UNICEF sources said.
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Manhattan GAP becomes target to trade boycott dry-run

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2009, 01:12 GMT]
About twenty protesters stood in front of the fashionable clothing store GAP located at 34th street and Broadway intersection in Manhattan, New York, Saturday afternoon carrying placards urging U.S. shoppers to stop buying goods made in Sri Lanka. Placards claimed that Sri Lanka is one of the worst human rights violator nations in recent history, slaughtering more than 20,000 civilians in April and May 2009, according to a reputable British broadsheet, and keeping more than 300,000 Tamil civilians in military supervised internment camps as collective punishment. Protesters said, by engaging in apparel trade with Sri Lanka, GAP is funding genocidal war against the Tamil people.
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EPDP candidate attacked in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 19:19 GMT]
Unidentified persons attacked Saturday night around 11:00 p.m one of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) candidates contesting Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) and the attacked candidate is admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital, sources in Jaffna said. Some residents in Ariyaalay where the attack took place said that youths who had been deceived by the said EPDP candidate who had received money promising them jobs, had attacked him. Meanwhile, police have taken ten supporters of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) into custody and detained them for investigation.
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SLMC accuses the government of interference in JMC election

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 18:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauf Hakim accused the Government Saturday regarding the re-registration of Muslim Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) voters in Puththa’lam and using IDP camp officers in Puththa’lam district for political purposes.
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IRC goods for IDPs yet to be given Colombo port clearance - SLRCS

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 18:13 GMT]
Twenty seven containers of goods sent by the Indian Red Cross (IRC) for the internally displaced Vanni people detained in camps in Vavuniyaa continue to lie in Colombo port since 9 July and are yet to be given clearance, as documents have not been received for clearance from the Indian Red Cross, Director General of Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS), Suren Peris said Saturday.
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SL minister talks stopping SLA interference while civil administration militarised

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 17:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister of Power and Energy, Aluthananda Gamage, said in Jaffna Sunday that the interference of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna civil administration will be brought to a stop when 500 Tamil policemen selected in Jaffna district are appointed. The minister said that the newly appointed policemen will be engaged in the civil administration in Jaffna. Tamil circles responded that the promise is of no meaning when the civil administration itself is militarised in the Tamil areas with the appointment of military personnel to civil service and governorship.
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Bus service via A9 route from Jaffna to begin Sunday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 17:27 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh informed media Saturday that 200 passengers from Jaffna will be taken to Madawachi every other day. Persons travelling should obtain the ‘travel pass’ from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and they will be allowed to return to Jaffna only by producing a copy of the travel pass to the SLA in Vavuniyaa, according to GA’s announcement.
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Congressman urges Holder to review Gotabaya, Fonseka genocide indictment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 15:01 GMT]
United States Congressman G.K. Butterfield, who represents North Caronlina's first district, in a letter addressed to the U.S. Attorney General (AG), Eric Holder, referred to the model indictment submitted by the US-activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), charging Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse and former Sri Lanka Army Commander Lt.Gen. Fonseka of crimes against humanity, and urged the AG to "investigate the charges of violations of the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 and the War Crimes Act related to atrocities against the Tamils in northern Sri Lanka." The indictment details allegations of the efforts to destroy the Tamil people of northern Sri Lanka through atrocities and genocide, and chronicles more than 3,750 extrajudicial killings, approximately 30,000 Tamils suffering serious bodily injury and more than 1.3 million civilian displacements.
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Sinhala students to be admitted to Batticaloa University

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 12:40 GMT]
University Grants Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka has decided to admit Sinhala students to the East University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) from the next academic year, university administrators said. The EUSL is located in Vantharumoolai in Batticaloa with a campus in Trincomalee.
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Monk for Sri Lanka's President?

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 12:22 GMT]
The Janasetha Peramuna (JP), one of the newly formed political parties recognized by the Commissioner of Election, has decided to field a Buddhist monk as its candidate to contest the Presidential Election expected to be held in January 2010. "We will be nominating Ven. Battaramulle Seelaratana Thera, the leader and general secretary of our party, to contest the elections," said Ven. Bambarawane Dhammananda Thera, the Chairman of Janasetha Peramuna, addressing a media briefing held at the party headquarters at Talangama South, Koswatte Saturday.
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President Rajapakse will give nothing to Tamils – Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 06:49 GMT]
“Tamils should be vigilant of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse’s intentions. He says that there is no minority race in the country but only a majority race. It is clear that his intention is to assimilate the Tamil race into the Majority Sinhala race in Sri Lanka,” Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian, told TamilNet Saturday in an interview in Jaffna.
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Irish Trade Unions call for Sri Lanka war crimes investigations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 02:23 GMT]
Noting that more than quarter of a million Tamils were crammed in to an area the size of New York Central park that was repeatedly bombarded for 4 months when "the UN estimates that up to 8000 people were killed," and "other sources claim that more than 20,000 people were killed," and "[t]here are several reports about serious war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Army," David Begg, General Secretary of Irish Congress of Trade Unions with a total membership of 850,000 workers, in a letter to Ireland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin, said he agrees with "Amnesty International's call for an independent inquiry into war crimes," and added that "[t]he Irish Congress of Trade Unions hopes that the Irish government will take initiatives on the international level, and within the European Union, for such an independent inquiry."
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“Colombo no longer has any excuse for its brutal policies” - National Post

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 20:48 GMT]
In light of the 'military victory' over the LTTE, Sri Lanka must now be judged by the human-rights standards that typically govern developing countries. And by those standards, the country's recent conduct should be of great concern” said an editorial in the National Post on Friday, citing the detainment of 280,000 Tamil civilians in government camp as indicating Tamils “are destined to remain second class citizens”. Questioning the global silence over the deaths of thousands of civilians in the final stages of the war and the praise given to the Sri Lankan Government by the U.N Human Rights Council, the article observed a continued double standard by the international community, where “apparently, some humans' human rights count for more than others”.
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Ki'linochchi GA arrested under PTA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 20:42 GMT]
Ki'linochchi District Government Agent, Nagalingam Vethanayagam was abducted Thursday night by a group of persons who arrived in a vehicle at his temporary residence in Vavuniyaa. On Friday, the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) informed Mr. Vethanayagam's family that he has been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and that he has been taken to Colombo for further inquiries.
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Poonthoaddam residents complain of stench from cemetary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 19:13 GMT]
Foul smell from Vavuniyaa-Poonthooddam general cemetery due to improper mass burial of dead from Sri Lanka miltary supervised Vanni internment camps which hold more than 300,000 Tamil civilians is posing health hazard to the village residents, civil society sources in Vavuniyaa said. Corpses are buried en masse in graves, and routinely, bodies of recently dead are placed over partly decomposed bodies buried earlier.
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Ruling party supporters confiscate voting cards in Jaffna – TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 17:11 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran alleged that the ruling party contestants in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election had forcibly confiscated more than 1500 voting cards from residents in Kozhumpuththu’rai, Ariyaalai and Eachchamoaddai area in Jaffna, in a press meet held in his Jaffna office Saturday. TNA parliamentarians Gejendrakumar Ponnambalam and Solomon Cyril along with Thamizharsuk Kadchi (TK) chief candidate Mudiyappu Remedias attended the press meet.
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Seek experts’ advice before recommencing cement production in Kaangeasanththu’rai - FNGO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 09:08 GMT]
The Federation of Non-government Organizations (FNGOs) in Jaffna appealed to the government to seek the advice of experts in the field of environment pollution before embarking on opening the cement factory in Kaangeasanththu’rai in Jaffna for production. Seas erosion, excavation of lime stone and underground water are issues which should be taken into serious consideration, FNGO said. Plans are underway to hand over the cement factory to India or some other foreign country for recommencement of production, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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Commencement of bus service via A9 route from Jaffna doubtful

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 08:45 GMT]
Government announced that transport service for public between Jaffna and Colombo will commence from 1 August but the officials of Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) in Jaffna who have to provide the buses said that they had not received any instructions from their superiors in Colombo. The five buses which took 210 passengers from Jaffna on 22 July in an event inaugurated by Basil Rajapakse, the brother and advisor of President Mahinda Rajapakse are being held back in Jaffna by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), they further said.
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Hundreds of Tamils interrogated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 08:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka police and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched Friday an intensive search mostly in Fort and Bambalapitiya stopping passenger buses and other vehicles and interrogated hundreds of Tamils, sources in Colombo said. Though the search was conducted for more than three hours no official information of anyone arrested is available, they said.
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No persons can carry arms in Batticaloa from August 1- DIG

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 07:58 GMT]
No one would be allowed to carry arms in Batticaloa district except police personnel and members of the State armed forces, said the Eastern Region Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Mr. Edison Gunatilake, said. He made this announcement at a meeting held Thursday evening at Thevanayagam Hall in Batticaloa. Members of paramilitary groups, Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Padmanaba wing) and the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) and senior police and Special Task Force (STF) personnel attended the meeting along with businessmen and entrepreneurs of the district.
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31 percent voters of Jaffna Municipal Council limit displaced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 03:18 GMT]
11.6 percent of the voters eligible to cast their votes in the elections to the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) are detained in several camps for internally displaced in Jaffna district, and 20.9 percent IDPs are living elsewhere out of the district in several parts of Sri Lanka. About 71.8 percent are currently living within the JMC limit, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The election to the JMC is scheduled to be held on August 8 along with Vavuniyaa Urban Council.
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Tamil youth arrested in Katunayake airport

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 03:14 GMT]
A 22 year-old Tamil youth was arrested by the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) of the Sri Lanka Police on his arrival from South Africa at the Katunayake International Airport (KIA) on Wednesday. Currently he is being detained in the Fourth Floor of the Criminal Investigation Department for further inquiry, relatives in their complaints to human rights organizations said.
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