US legal noose tightening around Fonseka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 October 2009, 22:02 GMT]
The audacious visit to the United States by Major General Sarath Fonseka soon after an incriminating US State Department report over war crimes, appears to have landed the Major in a legal bind with US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to a report in the Sunday Times. While the DHS has requested a "voluntary meeting," Fonseka's legal counsels are yet to determine if US has the authority to trump Fonseka's assumed diplomatic immunity and can force him to testify, or if Fonseka's immunity would grant him the option to refuse to testify and return to Sri Lanka.
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Chomsky: West's self-interest reduces R2P to "noble rhetoric"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 October 2009, 20:13 GMT]
During an invited lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of London University, Noam Chomsky, one of the world's well known intellectual and professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT, said on Sri Lanka, that although there's "a lot of noble rhetoric about Responsibility to Protect (R2P), there is no particular Western advantage in protecting people who are being slaughtered, and are being thrown into concentration camps. Somehow these didn't make it in the noble rhetoric," and added Sri Lanka was a "horror story, especially towards the end."
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Absurd logic of seeking ‘moderates’ amid a genocide - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 October 2009, 15:20 GMT]
While many international actors are coming to realise that the problem in Sri Lanka is in fact rooted in the character of the Sinhala-dominated state, the London-based policy nexus which theorised, argued for, and solicited international consensus around Colombo’s military slaughter is still insisting that their strategy was essentially right, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. “These handmaidens of Sri Lanka’s bloodbath will be proven disastrously wrong again. But not before the Tamils endure much more suffering and further bloodletting.”
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Spectator video captures SL Police, SLA kill mentally ill Tamil youth

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 October 2009, 12:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police and Sri Lanka Army soldiers beat a mentally ill Tamil youth and forced the youth to drown near the sea near Bambalapitya, Colombo, railway station Thursday. The youth was identified as Balavarnam Sivakumar, 26, of Ratmalana, according to media reports in Colombo, which belatedly listed the youth's identity. "The entire country [Sri Lanka] watched in horror, as a group of heavily built men attacked the mentally unstable [Tamil] youth with wooden poles while he pleaded for mercy, when it was telecast on several news bulletins on Thursday night," Daily Mirror said.
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IDPs brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 October 2009, 06:26 GMT]
The number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa brought to Jaffna since 5 August, claiming that they will be resettled, has exceeded 41,000, sources in Jaffna said. The IDPs from Vanni district among the people brought have to stay in camps if they do not have any relatives to take charge of them, the sources added.
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SLA imposes new restriction on travel from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 2009, 18:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administration in Jaffna has ordered that people who had traveled to Jaffna from Colombo and other outstations can return only by the same conveyance they had used to come to Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. As it is extremely difficult to get seats on the buses plying through A9 road between Vavuniyaa and Jaffna people are forced to travel by plane or ship paying exorbitant prices. Meanwhile, civil society sources in Jaffna accused that this new restriction has been introduced by high officials of SLA and government as a tactic to make money as commission from air travel agencies.
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British MPs call for suspension of GSP+, Sri Lanka's removal from Commonwealth

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 2009, 05:30 GMT]
Several British Members of Parliament participated in a debate on Sri Lanka's internment camps, Wednesday 28 October for nearly 3 hours starting from 2:30 p.m. Many MPs cited the inhumane conditions under which more than 250,000 Tamil civilians are being kept in military supervised internment camps in Sri Lanka and called for the termination of GSP+ trade benefits and suspension of Sri Lanka from British Commonwealth. Joan Ryan, the Labour MP for Enfield North and a vice chair of the Labor party, initiated the debate. Full video is attached below.
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Cambridge Amnesty calls for release of 250,000 Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 2009, 03:13 GMT]
Local Amnesty International (AI) members, at a demonstration in Cambridge Market Square on October 26th, called for the UK government to increase international pressure on Sri Lanka to release the more than 250,000 Tamil detainees from the refugee-turned-detention camps. Richard Howitt, MEP for the East of England, also spoke in support of the Campaign and local MP David Howarth came along to sign the petition, web media in Cambridge reported.
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Vanni medical student in Jaffna commits suicide due to mental stress

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 2009, 18:49 GMT]
Jaffna University students paid homage Thursday to their fellow final year medical student from Ki’linochchi in Vanni who is suspected to have his taken his life Wednesday due to mental stress, sources in Jaffna said. Vignarajah Gowribalan, 26, who had been staying in a house in Aanaikkoadai in Jaffna, has been undergoing severe mental agony, being separated from his family detained in one of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, Gowribalan’s fellow students said.
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Amnesty, CPJ, RSF call for probe into Channel-4 video death threats

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 2009, 11:28 GMT]
New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Amnesty International, and Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), three premier watchdogs on media freedom, independently called Sri Lanka to investigate into the death threats received by two senior editors of Sri Lanka's Sunday Leader for the editors' coverage of the Channel-4 broadcast video which showed armed Sri Lankan soldiers allegedly executing Tamil prisoners stripped naked and hands tied behind their backs. “The air of impunity surrounding violence against the media is having a chilling effect on journalists,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.
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Grade 5 results of Vanni IDP students not yet released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Department of Examinations is yet to release the results of Vanni Internally Displaced students who sat the Grade 5 scholarship examination in the internment camps located in Vavuniyaa. The results of the examination for students in other parts of the country were officially released on October 29. But 5,200 IDP students are yet to receive the results, according to a complaint by the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) to the Commissioner of Examinations.
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TNA members boycott initial ceremonies of first JMC session

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 17:48 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members of Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) who kept away from the initial ceremonies which preceded the inauguration of the first session of JMC Wednesday said that the vain ceremonies held by the ruling United People’s Front Alliance (UPFA) and allied political parties as propaganda is deplorable while the Vanni IDPs are suffering in the internment camps. “We will not allow exploitation of JMC and its activities for propaganda purposes of political parties, the leader of TNA opposition in JMC, Mudiyappu Remedias said.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 11:24 GMT]
Police intelligence unit located in Mannaar Tuesday night arrested a Tamil person in Ezhuthoor in Mannaar district on receipt of information that he had been a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eezham (LTTE) intelligence division, Police Spokesman Nimal Mediwake told media Wednesday.
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More IDPs transferred to transit camp in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 11:11 GMT]
147 members of 52 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) families from Menikfarm internment camp in Vavuniyaa district were transferred to a transit camp located in Illupaikku’lam in Mannaar district before being resettled in their villages, from which they were forcibly vacated due to military operation by Sri Lanka Army (SLA). They would be screened by the army intelligence unit and would be allowed to leave the transit centre for their villages for resettlement, civil authority sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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Vanni IDPs in Jaffna not allowed to go to Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 04:17 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Vanni origin detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camp in Raamaavil in Thenmaraadchi have to stay in the camp if there are no relatives in Jaffna to take them over, according to Jaffna Secretariat sources. Though the government campaigns that Vanni IDPs will be resettled in their own villages, in reality they are not allowed to return to their homes, NGOs in Jaffna said.
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Muslim police inspector arrested for assisting LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 03:47 GMT]
A team of the Special Task Force (STF) arrested a Muslim police inspector for allegedly assisting the LTTE in earlier days to bring its cadres to reach their targets of attacks, said the Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Colombo Additional Magistrate’s Court Monday when the suspect, Police Inspector Dawood Mohamed Aimeer, was produced.
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60 transferred IDPs arrested from transit centres in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 16:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Intelligence personnel have been 'screening' the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were being transferred in recent days from Vavuniyaa internment camps to transit centres in Trincomalee and have arrested 60 IDPs for interrogation and 'rehabilitation'.
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Tamil protection movement launches Four Directions March in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 13:13 GMT]
Ilangkai Thamizhar Paathukaappu Iyakkam (ITPI) led by Pazha. Nedumaaran and consisting of PMK leader Dr. Ramadoss, MDMK leader Vaiko, CPI leaders in Tamil Nadu, R. Nallakannu and C. Mahendran are engaged in launching awareness marches from the four corners of Tamil Nadu highlighting the plight of Eelam Tamils and demanding the immediate release of more than 250,000 Tamils detained in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in the north of Sri Lanka.
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Sri Lanka editors receive death threats for Channel-4 video comments

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 03:26 GMT]
Sunday Leader, a weekend broadsheet in Sri Lanka, said in the latest edition that two of the paper's editors, Frederica Jansz, and Munza Mushtaq, received Thursday "hand written death threats by post." The threats relate to Sunday Leader news stories on the authenticity of the August Channel-4 video which showed armed Sri Lankan soldiers executing Tamil prisoners stripped naked and hands tied behind their backs. "This newspaper has consistently in the entire 15 years of its existence come under attack. We have been burnt, bombed, sealed, harassed and threatened, culminating in January this year with the brutal killing of Lasantha Wickrematunge," the paper said.
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2 SLA, civilian killed, Pillayan's vehicle meets with accident

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 03:05 GMT]
A civilian and two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed Tuesday morning around 4:30 a.m. in Kurunegala district where a vehicle of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the chief minister of Eastern province and a paramilitary leader, met with an accident, Police said.
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930 Jaffna IDP families brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 October 2009, 12:23 GMT]
2,950 persons of 930 families from Jaffna held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps arrived in Jaffna Sunday through A9 road and all of them are being lodged in I’nuvil Maththiya Mahaviththiyaalaym and Neerveali Aththiar Hindu College, sources in Jaffna said. Steps are being taken to bring around 20,000 persons of Jaffna origin held in Vavuniyaa internment camps to Jaffna in the next few days, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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Rights group opposes GSP+ benefits to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 October 2009, 12:12 GMT]
Edward Mortimer, chair of the Advisory Council for Sri Lanka Peace and Justice Campaign, a rights group, in a letter to Financial Times responding to an earlier article on GSP+ says: "[G]overnment has until now held more than 250,000 civilians in insanitary internment camps, currently threatened with monsoon flooding, while an unknown number of alleged combatants are held elsewhere, out of sight of the media, Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies. Wartime promises that Tamil grievances would be peacefully redressed once hostilities were ended have not been fulfilled. Instead an atmosphere of racist triumphalism has been encouraged."
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Vanni IDPs continued to be detained in Jaffna district camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 October 2009, 12:04 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Mullaiththeevu and Ki’linochchi districts in Vanni now held in the detention camps in Mirusuvil, Kodikaamam Naavaladi and Kaithadi will be continued to be held in the same camps, according to Minister Douglas Devananda, who Sunday visited the three camps. Though the government says that it is going to resettle Vanni IDPs in their own villages, in reality they are continued to be held in the camps, NGO sources in Jaffna said.
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5 Tamils including two women arrested in East, West

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 October 2009, 11:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police arrested five Tamils including two women in three separate incidents Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the East and West of the country. Two persons including a third year undergraduate of South Eastern University were taken into custody on Friday in Kalmunai in the East. T. Vinorathan of Thambiluvil was taken into custody along with a woman suspected to be a cadre of LTTE, identified as Inthirarasa Pavarita, 26, at Aalayadiveampu in Ampaa’rai district. Undergrad, Vinorathan was assisting the LTTE woman cadre, police spokesman SSP Nimal Mediwake said.
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Sri Lankan Flag to be hoisted in Jaffna Fort

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 October 2009, 04:42 GMT]
Son of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapakse, who is presently staying in Jaffna along with the 250 youths he brought from the South will be officially hoisting the Sri Lanka Lion Flag Sunday in Jaffna Fort, sources in Jaffna said. In 1996 when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupied Jaffna, the then Deputy Defence Minister, Anurathe Rathwathe had ceremoniously hoisted the Sri Lankan Flag in the esplanade in front of Jaffna Fort. Tamils protested vehemently when Sinhala parties adopted the lion flag as the national flag soon after British left the island. Opposition to the flag, since then, has been part of the Tamil national movement.
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SLA refuses permission to Jaffna civilians in Vavuniyaa camps to return home

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 October 2009, 04:24 GMT]
More than 300 families from Jaffna district, now detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, who had applied to return to their original places are held back as Jaffna SLA high command has refused clearance to them, sources in Vavuniya said. The clearance is denied as they are under suspicion and considered a threat to security, SLA authorities claimed.
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US rescinds invitation to Fonseka to attend Hawaii event

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 October 2009, 03:39 GMT]
The US government has withdrawn the invitation earlier extended to Major General Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and currently holding the post of Chief of Defence Staff, to attend a farewill event to US Pacific Command (PACOM) Commander Admiral Timothy J.Keating at PACOM headquarters in Hawaii, Colombo’s English weekly, the Sunday Times reported in its political column quoting diplomatic sources.
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Sarath Fonseka’s stand on relations with Tamils, Muslims should be made public – Mano Ganeshan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 18:32 GMT]
“The persons who try to bring in former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Sarath Fonseka as a prospective presidential candidate should first publicize his stand on his relations with the Tamils and Muslims of the country,” Mano Gnaeshan, Colombo district parliamentarian and the leader of Democratic Peoples’ Front (DPF) told media in Colombo after a discussion held with Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the opposition and United National Party Friday evening, sources in Colombo said.. “We will not write ‘blank cheques’ in favour of any major political party candidate in the Presidential election,” he said. “We do not have any personal hard feelings either towards President Mahinda Rajapakse or Sarath Fonseka; whatever difference of opinion that exists is purely political,” he further said.
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Stop settling Sinhalese in Tamil, Muslim owned land - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 17:21 GMT]
Rajavarothaiam Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), speaking on an adjournment submitted by him in Sri Lanka's parliament Friday, said that "encroachment of lands belonging to Tamils and Muslims and State has been on going in the eastern province on large scale with the support of government, and amid intimidation of minority communities by government security forces, and this should be stopped immediately," parliamentary sources in Colombo said.
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Obama lights White House Diya to celebrate Deepavali

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 12:55 GMT]
President Obama celebrated Deepavali by inviting a Hindu priest to light the WhiteHouse Diya (lamp, deepam), and after an inspiring speech to the Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), said we "begin this work in the week leading up to the holiday of Deepavali, the festival of lights, when members of some of the world's greatest faiths celebrate the triumph of good over evil." The celebrations took place end of last week.
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Tamils hold “Will Break the Obstacles!” rally in Berlin

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 08:44 GMT]
Tamil Diaspora in Germany gathered Thursday in Berlin to stage a protest march in an effort to draw the attention of the international community to the pathetic plight of Tamils interned in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps. Two youths, representing students in Tamil Nadu, T. Sreenivasa Rao and Iraa. Gnanasekaran, on their journey in Europe to take part in the UN conference on Global Warming Awareness in Denmark on 7 December, took part in the march and rally. They have made it their duty to raise their voices for the interned Tamils, in all the countries they pass through, sources in Berlin said.
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Mercy Mission relief goods released by SL government nearing expiry dates

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 07:58 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka which had turned away the Mercy Mission ship, ‘Captain Ali’, loaded with relief items donated by expatriate Tamils in Europe to help Tamils caught up in the war in Vanni in June has now, after purposely delaying for nearly five months, released 27 containers of the total 88 to the ICRC in Colombo Thursday, sources in Colombo said. Subsequently, the entire cargo was released and ICRC had to obtain a certificate from the Sri Lanka Standards Institute as most of the goods were nearing expiry dates, the sources added.
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5 Tamils arrested in Vavuniyaa, Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 04:52 GMT]
Five Tamils including two women were taken into custody by the police in two separate incidents Friday morning. In the first incident, four Tamils including a woman were arrested in Vavuniyaa by the Police Special Investigations Division. In the second incident a team of the Special Task Force (STF) of Police took into custody a Tamil woman in Ampaa’rai, according to police spokesman Nimal Mediwake.
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Army colonel, wife arrested for plotting to kill Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 04:04 GMT]
Five suspects, including an Army Colonel, held under detention orders for their alleged involvement in plotting to assassinate President Mahinda Rajapakse, were handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Friday for further investigations on the orders of Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate Ruchira Weliwatte. The court made the order on an application by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD).
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Court remands EPDP cadre in robbery case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 04:00 GMT]
Colombo Additional Magistrate, Mr.Ruchira Weliwatte, Friday ordered remand till October 29 to a member of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), legal sources said. The suspect, Sellathurai Mathialagan, was produced in court on a complaint that he was alleged to have grabbed a handbag from a woman passerby while riding a motorbike, court sources said.
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UN proposes Goldstone-type mission to investigate Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 01:45 GMT]
Following the release of U.S. State Department's report that detailed alleged war-crimes committed by Sri Lanka's protagonists towards the end of war, conducted under Colombo imposed blackout, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said Friday that an inquiry similar to one that looked into fighting in Gaza may be needed to determine if war crimes were committed in Sri Lanka in the final weeks of the war. Brad Adams of HRW had earlier said "[g]iven Sri Lanka's complete failure to investigate possible war crimes, the only hope for justice is an independent, international investigation." Sri Lanka rejected the report as "unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence."
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Rights organizations urge Japan to break its silence on SL rights abuses

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2009, 17:16 GMT]
Six Japanese and international human rights organizations in a joint letter to Japan’s Foreign Minister Katsuya Okadanew called upon Japan’s new administration to publicly press the Sri Lankan government to end the illegal detention of approximately 250,000 Tamil civilian, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). “Japan is an excellent position to make its influence felt with Sri Lanka. The new government needs to make clear that it expects Sri Lanka to free the people locked up in the camps and pursue justice for the victims of the war years”, Tokyo director at HRW, Kanae Doi, said.
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SLA conducts Perahera in Jaffna city

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2009, 07:03 GMT]
The 51st Division of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna conducted the ‘Katrima Pooja’ perahera (Buddhist religious procession) of Naakavikaarai located in Jaffna city Thursday night led by Namal Rajapakse, the son of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had come along with 250 youths and 20 Buddhist priests from the South to participate in the perahera. Local residents, however, did not show any significant interest in the perahera conducted by the SLA.
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HRW: US report ignites call for war crimes investigations against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2009, 04:05 GMT]
The US State Department war crimes report to the Senate submitted as mandated by the explanatory statement to the US Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, detailed day-by-day account in a format similar to a "model indictment," and said the alleged incidents in the final stages of war may constitute "violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) or crimes against humanity and related harms." Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said, "[g]iven Sri Lanka's complete failure to investigate possible war crimes, the only hope for justice is an independent, international investigation," and added, "concerned governments should use the US State Department report as a clarion call for an international investigation. There are no more excuses for inaction."
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SL Police arrest 2 Tamil youths at Katunayake

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2009, 03:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took two Tamil youths of the north into custody in two separate incidents while the youths were waiting at the Katunayake International Airport to go abroad for employment, according to complaints lodged by their elatives to the police and Missing Peoples Monitoring Committee (MPMC) in Colombo. The arrested youths had valid travel documents.
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Sri Lanka dismisses allegations in US Congressional report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 2009, 12:07 GMT]
"Sri Lanka’s domestic jurisprudence provides all the necessary scope for those perceiving themselves subjected to a violation of their human rights, to obtain redress through judicial directives to the concerned authorities," a statement issued by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday saying that "the allegations against the Government of Sri Lanka in the document 'Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka', appear to be unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence."
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U.S. forfeits international responsibility to Sri Lankan state

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 2009, 10:59 GMT]
"The United States looks to the Government of Sri Lanka to identify an appropriate and credible mechanism and initiate a process for accountability," read a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo on Thursday, announcing that U.S. Department of State delivered a Congressional report Wednesday detailing the incidents that allegedly occurred during the final months of the war in Vanni that may constitute violations of international humanitarian law or crimes against humanity. While Eezham Tamils are expecting justice from international mechanisms on the genocidal war carried out by the Sri Lankan state against the Tamil nation, the U.S. statement attempts to make Colombo responsible for initiating a process for accountability within the anti-Tamil Sri Lankan system itself, commented Tamil circles blaming the statement as attempting to abet Colombo’s agenda of structural genocide.
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Vanni IDP students admitted to Ratmalana Hindu College

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 2009, 10:28 GMT]
A batch of 144 Tamil students including 81 boys and 63 girls studying in grades from seven to eleven and detained in Vavuniyaa internment camp were admitted to Ratmalana Hindu College in Colombo district Wednesday. After detention they were rehabilitated at the Poonthooddam Child Protection and Rehabilitation Centre in Vavuniyaa. They left Vavuniyaa around 6.30 a.m. Wednesday in four special buses arranged by the Sri Lanka Army.
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22nd death anniversary of IPKF killed JTH personnel held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 2009, 07:45 GMT]
The 22nd death anniversary of the 21 medical personnel including three leading doctors killed indiscriminately by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) on 21st October 1987 within Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) was held Wednesday in JTH in an emotionally charged atmosphere, sources in Jaffna said. All activities of JTH were suspended for a while when the event took place with the participation of JTH personnel and hundreds of patients. IPKF, opening fire on the medical personnel who were trying to safeguard the patients and civilians, had killed more than a hundred of them too along with the medical personnel.
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Tamil trader abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 2009, 04:43 GMT]
A gang of four unidentified armed men clad in military uniform Friday abducted a Tamil trader on his way to Colombo in his lorry, between Habarana and Minneriya, according to complaints lodged with Batticaloa police by his wife and relatives Tuesday.
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Madu SLA Brigade commander dies in road accident

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 18:57 GMT]
Colonel Duminda Amarasekara of the 611 Madu brigade of the Sri Lanka Army died in a road accident Wednesday early morning that took place in Thorayaya in Kurunegala district. The Sri Lankan Colonel had been traveling in an army cab in the direction of Dambulla when the accident had occurred.
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Batticaloa IDPs in Vavuniyaa transferred to transit camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 18:44 GMT]
The final and fifth batch of 785 members of 298 families among the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs)detained in Vavuniyaa internment camps since the fall of Vanni region to the Sri Lanka Army was sent to Batticaloa to be resettled in their own villages. They arrived in Batticaloa Sinhala Maha Vidiyalayam Wednesday morning in several buses under the escort of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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29 year old Tamil youth is under detention for 15 years in Welikada

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 17:42 GMT]
A team from a Human Rights Organization called Peoples Forum for Independence that visited the Welikada prison made a startling disclosure that they found a Tamil youth who was arrested at the age of fourteen has been under detention for fifteen years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Now the youth is 29 years old. He is among several Tamil political prisoners who have been detained under the PTA and Emergency Regulations (ER) without any inquiry and without recourse in courts, said an official of the organization to the Colombo media.
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8 years to complete development project in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 06:51 GMT]
It has taken more than eight years for the government to complete construction of an office building of Agricultural Service Department in Jaffna peninsula, NGOs sources in Jaffna pointed out. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) restrictions and lack of cooperation were the main causes for this long delay, they added on the occasion of the building being officially opened Tuesday by the Minister of Agriculture, Maithiripala Sirisena, Jaffna sources said. Minister Douglas Devananda too attended the event.
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Sri Lanka, one of worst offenders of press freedom - RSF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 04:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka was ranked 162nd of the 175 countries in the latest press freedom ranking released by the Paris based Reporters without Borders today. The Asian countries that least respected press freedom were announced as North Korea, one of the “infernal trio” at the bottom of the rankings, Burma, which still suffers from prior censorship and imprisonment, and Laos, an unchanging dictatorship where no privately-owned media are permitted, RSF said.
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Colombo censure spreads to private websites

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 03:32 GMT]
The Information Department of the Government of Sri Lanka is to blacklist and carry out round-the- clock monitoring of private websites that are "known to spread anti-government propaganda and feed incorrect information." "Counter propaganda will be launched by the government to safeguard the present environment of peace and prevent unrest among the public,” said Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeyawardene at a press briefing held Tuesday. Meanwhile, Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), ranked Sri Lanka at 162, fourteenth from the bottom of a 175-nation list, and relegated Sri Lanka to reside with the world's worst press rights offender nations.
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Rajapakse tours Trinco under heavy security

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 03:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse visited Trincomalee under heavy security, and declared open two bridges, one over a strip of sea that divides Trincomalee and Kinniya along A-15 highway that leads to Batticaloa via Veruhal, and the other over Irakkandi lagoon on Trincomalee-Nilaveli road in the north of the district, sources in Trincomalee said. Rajapakse also visited the historic Trincomalee Koneswaram Temple located on the Swami Rock inside the Fort Frederick and attended the special temple prayer.
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Time to support the Tamils, say British Conservatives

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 09:01 GMT]
Increasing involvement in British politics and reciprocal openness of the British political parties was marked by a part-televised event held in Essex Sunday where several incumbent and prospective parliamentarians from the British Conservative party reached out to their Tamil constituencies and articulated their positions on the conflict and its consequences in Sri Lanka .The event was the first one in a series planned by the recently formed British Tamil Conservative Association (BTCA). Members of Parliament from the British party were keen to stress both their sense of fairness as well as their orientation towards action over rhetoric, according to a BTCA attendee. Conservative candidate, Robert Halfon, echoed in his website, the sentiments expressed Sunday stressing the need for autonomy for the Tamils saying they deserved nothing less.
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Vavuniyaa IDPs transported to transit camps in East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 08:06 GMT]
1191 members of 385 Internally Displaced families among the hundreds of thousands detained in Vavuniyaa internment camps after the fall of Vanni region to the government forces were brought to Eastern province Sunday and Monday in two batches . They were transported to Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai in Sri Lanka Army buses, under heavy escort, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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EU Commission: Sri Lanka fails to meet Rights thresholds for GSP+

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 02:27 GMT]
"[N]ational legislation of Sri Lanka incorporating international human rights conventions, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is not being effectively implemented. In the light of these findings, the Commission will now consider whether a temporary withdrawal of some or all of Sri Lanka's GSP+ benefits is called for and make a suitable proposal to EU Member States in the Council. If such a proposal is made and subsequently adopted by the Council, it would enter into force six months after the date of adoption," the European Commission said in the notice summarizing the Commission's findings on the Sri Lanka's GSP+ status released today.
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29 Tamil youths arrested in Katunayake in two incidents

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 October 2009, 11:26 GMT]
Twenty nine Tamil youths were taken into custody by the State Intelligence Unit of the Sri Lanka Police at Katunayake International Airport in two separate incidents Thursday and Friday, sources in Colombo said. The arrested youths are now detained in the Katunayake Police and are being interrogated.
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Another batch of IDPs from Vavuniyaa brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 October 2009, 07:47 GMT]
Around 2068 persons of 699 families from Jaffna peninsula were brought to Jaffna Sunday from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa. Though nearly 20,000 IDPs have been brought to Jaffna until now none from Themaraadchi or Vadamaraadchi are among them. There are about 10,000 persons of Jaffna origin still being detained in Vavuniyaa camps and they will be sent to Jaffna before 15 November, according to SLA Vanni Commander, Major. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne.
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Muslim driver abducted by men in white van in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 October 2009, 07:45 GMT]
A group of unidentified men in a white van introducing themselves as police personnel forcibly took away the driver of a three-wheeler Friday evening in Dematagoda in Colombo police division, according complaints lodged with Maradana Police and Deputy Minister, V. Radhakrishnan by his relatives.
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Mine explosion injures fisherman in Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 October 2009, 07:40 GMT]
A mine in Jaffna lagoon in Kaakkaitheevu exploded Sunday seriously injuring a fisherman fishing in Kannatheevu, a place where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities have allowed fishing. Fellow fishermen rescued the victim who is now under treatment in the Intensive Care Unit in Jaffna Teaching Hospital, sources from Jaffna said.
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30,000 Tamils march in London over Sri Lanka's internment camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 20:37 GMT]
More than 30,000 British Tamils marched to draw attention to the Sri Lankan government's continued incarceration of over 280,000 Tamils in military supervised camps despite earlier pledges to release within 180 days from the end of war in May. Protesters, young and old, carried banners and chanted slogans expressing that 150 days have passed with no concrete steps taken to resettle the Tamils held in the “concentration camps" in Vavuniyaa.
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15 IDPs abducted from transit camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 15:50 GMT]
Fifteen Internally Displaced Tamil men were abducted by a group of unidentified persons clad in army uniform Saturday evening from the transit camp located in the complex of Eachchilampathu Sri Shenpaga Maha Vidiyalayam in Seruvila division in Trincomalee district. Abducted IDPs are married and in the age group 25-45, according to complaints filed with the police and the civil authority by abductees relatives, civil sources in Trincomalee said.
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Jaffna judges, magistrates, lawyers can travel via A9 road with SLA permission

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 09:25 GMT]
Minister of Justice and Law Reforms, Milinda Moragoda, said that the judges, magistrate and lawyers in Jaffna peninsula can travel through A9 road to Vavuniya obtaining permission from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander in Palaali military base in response to a request extended when he met the magistrates, judges and lawyers of Jafna in the Legal building complex in Jaffna town Friday, sources in Jaffna said. People in Jaffna peninsula can travel through A9 road only after getting the ‘travelling pass’ from their local SLA civil authorities.
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Singapore Foreign Minister visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 09:07 GMT]
Foreign Minister of Singapore, Mr. George Yeo, paid a visit to Jaffna peninsula Saturday where he went to the Internally Displaced Person (IDPs) held in Koappaay Teachers’ Training College buildings accompanied by Northern Province Governor and former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander G. A. Chandrasiri, Minister Douglas Devananda and Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, sources in Jaffna said. The Governor extended a request to the visiting Singapore Defence Minister to help develop computer technology education and related activities in the North, the sources added.
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Forensic analysis confirms execution-video authentic, says US-group

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 02:25 GMT]
A notarized report of preliminary findings from a US-based forensic company that took nearly three weeks to analyze the Channel-4 broadcast video allegedly showing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers extra-judicially executing Tamil captives stripped naked and hands tied behind their back, said "[t]he video and audio of the events depicted in the Video, were continuous without any evidence of start/stops, insertions, deletions, over recordings, editing or tampering of any kind." US pressure group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) which sponsored the study, placed an embargo on revealing the details of the forensic company, until the final report is complete early November.
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Politically active Tamil diaspora youths under British spotlight

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 19:11 GMT]
Taking a look into the new political activism of the current generation of diaspora Tamil youths, Financial Times, a premier British Daily, said the "ending [of the war] in Sri Lanka was also a beginning," and many youths experienced a political awakening after devoting a lot of time to the protests and some missing a year of their college. "As one generation of the Tamil diaspora sees its struggle for Eelam, an independent homeland, end in failure, their sons and daughters, who have spent their formative years in the west, are taking up the struggle. But they will fight it on their terms, using their strengths, fomenting a BlackBerry revolution," the paper said.
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Tamil internment, a manifestation of Sinhala state racism - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 16:04 GMT]
"Despite the manifest outrage of international human rights groups like HRW and Amnesty International, relief agencies and several Western states, Sri Lanka defiantly continues to brutalize the [Tamil] detainees [locking them up in barbed wire militarized camps]. Whilst various international actors attempt to goad, cajole and compel Sri Lanka to let the civilians go, few have examined the reasons for their incarceration. As far as the Tamils are concerned, it is obvious: this is the latest manifestation of the Sinhala state racism," the British paper Tamil Guardian said in the latest weekend edition.
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Armed robber kills one, injures one in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 15:24 GMT]
An armed man clad in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) uniform opened fire at a group of Tamil villagers who confronted the man when he attempted to rob a house in the Ellappar Maruthankulam in Vavuniyaa district Friday night around 9:00 p.m. One villager was killed and another one was seriously injured in the incident. The armed man fled from the scene with the loot of one hundred thousand rupees in cash and twenty six sovereigns of jewellery, sources said.
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Sri Lanka releases arrested pro-JVP newspaper editor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 15:11 GMT]
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police Saturday evening arrested Mr. Chandana Sirimalwatte, the editor of “Lanka,” a Sinhala language weekly newspaper, over a news item regarding the alleged rift between the Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Major General Sarath Fonseka. Latest reports from Colombo say that the editor was released around 11:00 p.m. Saturday after nearly five hours of interrogation.
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UNP parliamentarian says his life is under threat

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 15:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Mr. Palitha Ranga Bandara informed the Speaker Friday that "cadres of an armed political group based in eastern province have been sent to Colombo to harm him. A gang of masked men in motor bikes have been already following me wherever I go," Mr. Bandara, who represents Puttalam district in the West coast of Sri Lanka stated in a letter addressed to the Speaker Mr.W.M.J. Lokkubandara.
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Sri Lanka refuses visas to two Canadian MPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 04:48 GMT]
Patrick Brown, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrie, and Paul Calandra Conservative MP for Oakridges Markham have been denied visas by the Sri Lankan Consulate in Toronto to visit the internment camps in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka, where more than 300,000 Tamil refugees are being held against their wishes in military supervised camps, sources in Canada said. Mr Brown in an interview with a Canadian Tamil TV said that although the Consulate has "clearly said no" to his visit he is prepared to try again. The MP added that he is "incredibly suspicious" of the Government and that he believes "what every one is saying, that there are breaches of human rights, breaches of international obligations, and deplorable conditions...and I think it is true."
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Tamil political prisoners appeal to minister demanding release

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 03:02 GMT]
Tamil political prisoners held in several prisons in the south for years without inquiry and without any recourse in courts under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER) have started handing over individual appeals to the Justice Minister, Milinda Morogoda, demanding their release or to take legal action if there is evidence against them.
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US should help launch international investigations into Sri Lanka killings - HRW

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 23:10 GMT]
Pointing out that "Sri Lanka's nervousness about its international standing has not yet triggered any significant improvement on human rights matters, and there is no indication that the government is genuinely rethinking its policies," Dr Anna Neistat, Human Rights Watch (HRW), in an article written for a Washington-based think tank, said that Washington while "pushing publicly and privately for the release of the displaced," should insist on accountability for the crimes by using its "influence at the UN to help launch an international independent investigation into violations of humanitarian law."
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Fonseka reporting triggers TID raid on JVP paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 20:16 GMT]
Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) of the Sri Lankan Police raided Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna's (JVP) newspaper office "Lanka" Friday around 9:30 p.m. following an article by the paper on alleged rift between Rajapaksa administration and General Sarath Fonseka.
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Colombo set to lose GSP plus

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 18:20 GMT]
The European Union has found Sri Lanka in breach of International Human Rights laws, implying that Colombo does not fulfil the basic human rights conditions of GSP plus, according to an exclusive update by Reuters Friday night. It is likely that Sri Lanka would lose concessions worth over $100 million for its top exports to Europe, the report said citing EU sources. The findings of the investigations by the EU are expected to be published Monday.
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War-affected areas to be explored for new avenues of U.S., Sri Lanka economy

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 17:34 GMT]
Assistant United States Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, Michael Delaney, who on Thursday led the U.S. delegation in the seventh council meeting of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), a bilateral agreement reached between the USA and Sri Lanka in July 2002, following the Ceasefire Agreement, has said that both the countries have now identified new areas of cooperation, adding that the purpose of the meeting was to "foster economic development and generate jobs, particularly in the war-affected areas."
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SLA obstructs journalists meeting IDPs brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 09:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Jaffna did not allow media in Jaffna to meet and interview the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa SLA internment camps Friday. The officials who had warned the IDPs of severe consequences should they meet or say anything to media persons said that they have been directed by the Ministry of Defence not to allow the media to meet the IGPs. Meanwhile the fate of two female undergrads who were among 28 women undergrads brought from Vavuniyaa internment camps to Jaffna, is not known, according to University officials in Jaffna. The two undergrads were taken for interrogation by the SLA from Kaithadi detention camp. The others have been handed over to Jaffna University administration.
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SL Police arrests Tamil man in Uppuve'li

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 08:18 GMT]
A Tamil man was arrested in Uppuve'li in Trincomalee district and detained by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) Thursday. The Sri Lankan Police stationed in Uppuve'li said the suspect was taken into custody on receipt of information that he had maintained close links with the LTTE.
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SL Police arrests 2 Tamils in Negombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 05:46 GMT]
Negombo Police Wednesday said they arrested two Tamils following information obtained from a Tamil person in the custody of the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan Police.
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Colombo ducking international investigations on civilian killings - UN Rights Chief

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 04:30 GMT]
United Nations Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay, speaking at a press conference in Brussels Wednesday criticized the Sri Lanka Government for not responding “to our many requests for an international investigation of what we say is widespread acts of killing of civilians," and that she had pointed out that "they [Sri Lanka Government] have in the past attempted to hold national investigations of very serious acts of killings that occurred of NGO and humanitarian workers and these investigations were dropped," the Washington D.C-based Examiner reported.
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Colombo squandaring chance for reconciliation - Economist

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 03:34 GMT]
Noting that, while the improving economy and successful recent elections may increase Colombo's reluctance to deal with the Tamil internment issue in expeditious manner, the Economist in its latest edition said, "[t]he damage being done to Sri Lanka’s international image, however, may last longer. The Tamil diaspora will keep alive the calls for investigation of alleged war-crimes by both sides in the climactic campaign. And the EU has to decide whether to withdraw Sri Lanka’s special trade privileges on human-rights grounds. If, as seems likely, it does, the country’s garment exporters will suffer great damage, and employment will consequently be hit," and added that "the government, its reputation already tarnished by the manner of its final victory, risks squandering the richest prize that victory offers: the chance for national reconciliation."
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States financing Tamil internment, UN, complicit in Crimes against Humanity - Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 02:36 GMT]
United Nations Organization and other Western States financing the nazi-style concentration camps, where nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians are held against their wishes under Sri Lanka military supervision, are complicit in Sri Lanka's genocide against Tamils, and also complicit in these crimes against humanity, said Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet Thursday.
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Tamil refugees in Indonesian port begin hunger strike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 23:37 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers caught by Indonesian authorities while trying to reach Christmas Island, Australia, and brought to the port city of Merak in western Java, have gone on a hunger strike, reports from Australian media said. “The group's spokesman, Alex, said all 222 men and women on board the cargo boat would refuse food until a Western country, such as Australia, promised to resettle them,” WAtoday an Australian online newspaper reported, and the site quoted the spokesperson as saying, "[w]e want a resolution from any foreign country that says they are willing to take us." The 31 Tamil children on board would not join the hunger strike, reports added.
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Postal bags sent in passenger buses from Jaffna to Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 17:54 GMT]
After a long time postal bags from Jaffna were sent in Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) passenger buses to Vavuniyaa through A9 road after being inspected by Sri Lanka Army (SLN) and police in the check post located in Jaffna Sinhalese Maha Viththiyaalyam precinct, sources in Jaffna said. The postal bags transported with SLA and police guards will be handed over to postal authorities in Vavuniyaa who will send them to other places in the country, the sources added
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Tree falls on internment camp, seriously injuring 3 IDPs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 15:31 GMT]
Three inmates of one family detained in the Cheddiku'lam internment camp in Vavuniyaa were seriously injured when a huge branch of a tree fell on their hut Tuesday evening following heavy shower. Tension prevails in the camps as the inmates fear flooding during the imminent monsoon season.
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Stop transferring IDPs from Vavuniyaa to camps in other areas - Bishop urges govt.

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 07:38 GMT]
Rev. Duleep de Chickera, Anglican Bishop of Colombo has urged the Government that if IDPs said to be released from Vavuniyaa are in fact being transferred to camps in different regions, this is misleading and must stop. Reports of the lack of co-ordination amongst State Authorities are disappointing, and all those responsible for implementing this decision should be required to ensure co-ordination, compassion and speed.
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Government merely relocating IDPs instead of resettling them

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 07:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka government is actively engaged in merely relocating Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from one internment camp to other camps instead of resettling them in their own places, IDP Welfare Organizations in Jaffna raised concern. The government, in an attempt to ward off pressure from International Community to speedily resettle the IDPs in their original villages, is putting up an appearance of resettling IDPs and it is suspected it is intentionally dragging its feet in resettling the residents of Vanni in their villages, they further said.
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150 IDP families to be resettled in Trinco villages after screening

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 16:09 GMT]
One hundred and fifty members of forty-nine IDP families detained in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa were brought by state buses to Trincomalee Saturday and are lodged in Aalangkea’ni Vinaayakar Maha Vithithhiyaalayam in Ki’n’niyaa Divisional Secretary division. Civil authorities say that they would be resettled in their villages Thampalakaamam, Kii’n’niyaa and Kantha’laay, in Trincomalee district after being screened by government armed forces to find whether they were involved in terrorist activities in past.
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Sinhalese to be settled in Muslim village in Ampaa'rai district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 12:37 GMT]
The General Secretary of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and parliamentarian M. T. Hassan has requested Ampaa'rai Government Agent to stop appropriation of lands in the Muslim village in Kuduvil by Sri Lanka Wild Life Department, sources in Ampaa'rai said. He further said that Muslim people in the area view this act as a step taken by the government to settle Sinhalese in the lands appropriated.
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IDPs brought to the islets of Jaffna starve

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 06:01 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, extended an urgent call to local and International Non-government Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna to provide food for the IDPs brought to the islets of Jaffna from Vavuniyaa internment camps, now detained in Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) special camps and other places in the islets of Jaffna. The dry food rations given to the IDPs under World Food Programme (WFP) are insufficient to meet the needs as no food is provided by the government to them, the GA said in an urgent meeting held with the representatives of NGOs in Jaffna Secretariat, Tuesday.
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Miliband cosmetically presents catalogue of failures

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 01:18 GMT]
British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband on Tuesday presented a written statement to the House of Commons on the 'developments' in the island of Sri Lanka since his last visit in April in response to his concerns on minimising humanitarian impact, strengthening of the rule of law to address human rights and on setting out a political process to address the grievances of 'minorities'. Tamil circles find nothing worthy has been achieved in the last six months but the cosmetic presentation of the catalogue of failures by Mr. Miliband raises concern in them whether the British government is up for appeasement with the aggressive elements in the island.
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SLA forcibly takes 99 IDPs from Pulmoaddai to Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 15:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forcibly took away ninety-nine internally displaced men between the age of 40 and 50 detained in camps located in Pulmoaddai to Vavuniyaa internment camp in eight vehicles without prior notice. SLA soldiers arrived at Pulmoaddai camp Friday night around 8:00 p.m and through public address system called out the names of ninety-nine IDPs. They were bundled into the vehicles when they came out of the camp in response to the call. They are all heads of families. They are now held in Ne’luku’lam camp in Vavuniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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Tamil family man’s corpse found in Kandy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 10:40 GMT]
Kandy police recovered the body of a Tamil family man with knife wounds Monday morning in Aluwathgoda in Kandy on information from the residents of the area. Evidence found with the body indicates that the victim is a Tamil family man, Kandy police sources said.
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No signs of resettlement of IDPs in KKS

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 07:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government has announced its intention of opening Kaangkeasanthu’rai (KKS) Road for public in view of the reopening of KKS cement factory located in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ). Mere opening of KKS road is meaningless while more than 100,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) evacuated from their residences 20 years ago are still languishing in camps and in relatives’ houses without being resettled, IDP Welfare Organizations in Jaffna said.
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3 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 17:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and police took into custody Monday morning three Tamil youths in a joint search conducted in Eddiyawathe in Mattakuliya, a suburb of Colombo city. One of the youths was arrested as he was travelling in No. 155 public transport bus which was bound to Galkisse. The other two youths were taken into custody in the search conducted in Eddiyawathe junction.
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IDPs in Pulmoaddai camps suffer without enough water

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 16:52 GMT]
Hundreds of Vanni internally displaced families held in two camps in Pulmoaddai in Trincomalee district are undergoing untold hardships due to acute shortage of drinking water. Until last week each camp was supplied with two hundred thousand liters of water for drinking and other purposes. Now the quantity has been reduced to fifty thousand liters.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Chilaapam

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 16:47 GMT]
A team of the State Intelligence Service Sunday arrested a Tamil civilian, a resident of Chilaapam in the northwestern province. Chilaapam police said he was taken into custody on information that he had been assigned by Liberation Tigers to gather information around the Colombo port area.
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Public demonstration in Chennai in support of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 08:12 GMT]
More than a thousand people from various parts of Tamil Nadu gathered in front of Munro Statue in Anna Salai in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Sunday around 11:00 a.m and marched in a procession to the Government Guest House in Cheppaakam, demanding the UN to hold a referendum among the Eezham Tamils to know whether they want a separate state and to free at once all the Eezham Tamils detained behind barbed wire in the internment camps in Sri Lanka, sources Chennai said. Protection Committee for Tamils (PCT) organized the demonstration and later in the evening held a conference in T-Nakar in Chennai where resolutions related to the demands were passed, the sources added.
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SLA denies permission to Thirumavalavan to meet public in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 07:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna turned down the request of Thol. Thirumavalavan, Tamil Nadu Parliamentarian and leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Kadchi (VCK) Party, to meet the public in Jaffna when the delegation of Tamil Nadu MPs was taken to Jaffna Public Library for a meeting Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna University Students expressed their strong protest against India for having let down the Eezham Tamils and for deceiving them continually, when the MPs met students in Jaffna University Sunday, the sources added.
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Ad hominem attack on Clinton draws US's ire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 15:34 GMT]
Following Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka's statement during a live radio interview Wednesday that "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to have forgotten the Monica [Lewinsky] episode and should focus on her own backyard instead of making allegations of women being abused in other countries," Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Jaliya Wickremasuriya, was "summoned to the Department of State to be told of the US Government’s displeasure," Sri Lanka's weekly broadsheet, Sunday Times, reported.
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Tamil family man reported missing in Chammaanthu’rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 12:05 GMT]
A group of men in police uniforms and in civil clothes took away Friday night a Tamil family man in Veerachcholai in Chammanthu’rai area in Ampaa’rai district, according to complaints lodged with Chammaanthu’rai and Veerachcholai police Stations by his relatives Saturday.
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Police arrests Tamil youth in Negombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 02:21 GMT]
Negombo police Saturday arrested a Tamil youth while he was staying in his residence alleging that the youth is a senior cadre of the LTTE and had arrived in Negombo a year ago. The arrested youth is being detained by the State Intelligence Unit and being interrogated, police said.
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Release 250,000 Tamils from illegal detention immediately, HRW tells Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 20:40 GMT]
Pointing out that "[d]eteriorating conditions, including a shortage of water since October 5, 2009, combined with the prospect of flooding during the imminent monsoon season, have led to rising tensions among camp residents and clashes with the military," New York based rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), called on international donors Japan, the United States and European Union member states "to send a clear message to the Government of Sri Lanka that continued detention of the displaced will have serious consequences for Sri Lanka's relationship with the international community."
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SLN holds IDPs as prisoners in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 17:49 GMT]
Nearly five thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to the islets of Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps are being held by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) within newly constructed internment camps without allowing them to go out of the camps or to meet their relatives, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, some of the IDPs handed over to their relatives and held in abandoned houses too are not permitted by the SLN to leave their places or to meet their relatives, NGO representatives in Jaffna said.
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Colombo cancels TamilNadu MPs visit to east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 15:33 GMT]
The visit of a group of parliamentarians of Tamilnadu in India to the eastern province was cancelled Saturday last minute, according to media reports from Colombo. The TN group arrived in Colombo Saturday morning, and was scheduled to visit Batticaloa and especially the resettled village Vaaharai the same day.
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Sinhalese Buddhist priest appointed as archaeological curator for Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 12:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed Rev. Warapitiya Rahula Thero as the curator for archaeological artifacts in Jaffna peninsula in an attempt to fabricate evidence to show the Sinhalese masses and the outer world that traces of Buddhism in Jaffna peninsula are exclusively Sinhalese, sources in Jaffna said. Rev. Rahula Thero will be working from an office that is to be soon built in the ‘Old Park’ located next to Jaffna Secretariat. Jaffna Museum which had lain neglected for more than 30 years and looted during successive Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives on the peninsula is to be relocated to the new archaeological department in Old Park where Rev. Rahula Thero will go into action following in the footsteps of the successive Sinhalese regimes which have tried to rewrite the history of Sri Lanka in favour of Sinhalese Buddhists, the sources added.
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Tension grips Tamil business community in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 11:54 GMT]
Tension has gripped the Tamil business community in Colombo and its suburbs after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers called on them to register their assets with the local authorities. The soldiers had called on the community with a printed form which has to be filled with every miniature detail from the type of enterprise, to assets such as vehicles, etc, members of the family, relatives and employees. The Tamil business community is perturbed over this new regulation since they have already registered themselves with the relevant police divisions.
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Tamil Nadu MPs delegation to see IDP internment camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 11:45 GMT]
Eight Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu, from the ruling Congress Party and its supporting political parties Dravida Munetra Kazhakam (DMK) and Viduthalai Chiruththaikal (VCK) are expected to arrive in Colombo Sunday and from there they will be taken to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa where the Vannin IDPs are detained, sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, opposition parties in Tamil Nadu and India including Communist Party have expressed their strong protest for not having included any MP from the opposition or prominent leaders who had stood up for Eezham Tamils for many years. Sri Lanka government intends to take this delegation on a ‘guided tour’ to ‘selected spots’ in an effort to hide the true conditions under which the IDPs are suffering, representatives of IDP welfare organizations said.
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SLA collects particulars only from Tamil traders in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 09:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been distributing forms in Sinhalese language only to Tamil traders in the city of Colombo since Thursday calling for particulars for the purpose of special registration, according to an urgent letter sent by Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan to Prime Minister, R. Wickremanayake, requesting him to instruct SLA to explain as to why such details are being collected from Tamil traders only, sources in Colombo said.
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2 Tamils, a Muslim arrested in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 15:47 GMT]
Chilaw Police took three youths, two Tamils and a Muslim, in a surprise cordon and search operation, conducted in the Tamil suburbs of Chilaw town Wednesday night around 10:00 a.m. The arrested youths are detained in Chilaw police station for interrogation as they failed to prove their identity.
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Disabled IDP youth gains admission to Jaffna medical faculty

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 12:46 GMT]
An Internally Displaced Tamil youth who lost both legs during the final battle launched by Sri Lanka Army against Liberation Tigers in Vanni region and held in Vavuniyaa internment camp had gained admission to the medical faculty of the Jaffna University. He has been admitted to the medical faculty and is attending lectures, according to Vice-chancellor Professor N. Shanmugalingam.
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Legal action against Tamil MPs calculated, partial – Defence Attorney

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 12:44 GMT]
”There are many who had addressed ‘Pongu Thamizh’ events held in various places in Sri Lanka then, now functioning as government ministers, deputy ministers and leaders of political parties. But cases are filed only on four Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians accusing they had addressed ‘Pongu Thamizh’ rallies in countries like Germany and Australia in 2006 with the intention of partitioning Sri Lanka. Therefore this is a case of calculated and partial act,” argued K. V. Thavarajah, Senior Attorney-at–law, appearing on behalf of TNA parliamentarians, S. Jeyanandamoorthy, P. Ariyanethiran, Selvarajah Gajendran and K. Sivajilingam, in Colombo Chief Magistrate Court, Tuesday, with Magistrate Nishantha Happu Araachi on the bench.
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Eastern Province CM unable to stop Sinhalese colonization – Ariyanenthiran

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 08:41 GMT]
Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA), P. Ariyanenthiran who was able to visit his constituency after three years Friday said that Sinhalese families from the South have been colonized in Choaliyaamadu village in Paddiruppu Regional Secretariat division in Batticaloa district. He told media that the Chief Minister of Eastern Province, though a Tamil, cannot stop traditional home lands of Tamils being colonized with Sinhalese families.
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Netherlands Ambassador to Sri Lanka visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 21:19 GMT]
Netherlands Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Leoni Cuelenare and an official, Gerrit Noordam from the Embassy were in Jaffna Wednesday where they held detailed discussion on matters related to the rehabilitation of Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, Director of Planning, Pratheepan and high SLA officers took part in the discussion.
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2 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 17:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody Thursday early morning two Tamil youths in Moratuwa, in the suburbs of Colombo, who were returning to Colombo from Kathirkaamam, in a search conducted in the streets in Moratuwa, the relatives of the youths said.
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Emergency extended in Sri Lanka for another month

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 17:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Thursday adopted a motion to extend the State of Emergency by another month with a majority of seventy votes. Eighty-two parliamentarians from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the National Freedom Front (NFF), the rebel group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted in favor of the motion. Twelve Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who were present at that time voted against the motion. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) abstained from voting. Parliamentarians of the JVP were not present in the House at that time of voting. The State of Emergency is being extended by the parliament monthly since August, 2005.
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Acute health problems among children in Vavuniyaa IDP internment camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 14:23 GMT]
Twenty-five percent of children in IDP camps in Vavuniya suffer from acute malnutrition while 40 percent of them are anaemic, according to a report on Nutrition Among Post Conflict Displaced Children in Vavuniya. The report further says that 41.9% of the children have diahorreal diseases and 17.2% are low weight babies.
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Mass graves fear prevents Colombo from seeking demining help - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 11:35 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka government fears that, if the international community gets involved in the de-mining, they may stumble on to mass graves of Tamil victims killed during the last stages of fighting between the Sri Lanka military and the Tamil Tigers," said Parliamentary Group Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampathan, on Thursday accusing the Sri Lankan government of refusing to accept foreign assistance towards the de-mining parliamentary sources in Colombo said.
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Tamils facing “cultural annihaliation” by SL Government: Australian Politician

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 05:10 GMT]
“It may be argued that the Tamil people have a legitimate right to self-determination but what is essential now is that we must see an end to the oppressive and discriminatory policies of the victorious Sri Lankan Government” urged Greens MLC Ian Cohen in an address to the Australian Parliament on September 24th. Highlighting the “potential humanitarian catastrophe” faced by almost 300,000 refugees who “despite their desire and capacity to return home they are being held prisoner”, Cohen described the Governments treatment of Tamils as “a litany of injustice, cultural annihilation and human rights atrocities”. Meanwhile, a Tamil NGO official in Vavuniyaa, while welcoming the interest of Australian politicians, said they should also come forward to "first address the question of double standards, employed by their government, between issues such as East Timor and Eezham.”
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4 Tamil youths arrested in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 03:47 GMT]
Police and Special Task Force (STF) commandos took into custody Tuesday night four Tamil youths in a joint search conducted in the streets of Thirukkoayil in Ampaa’rai district, the relatives of the youths said.
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Colombo has plans to colonize North with Buddhist Sinhalese – Suresh Premachandran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 17:06 GMT]
The government of Sri Lanka is actively engaged in colonizing Ki’linochchi, Mullaiththeevu and Jaffna district with Sinhalese Buddhists in order to crush the demand for Eelam in the traditional homelands of the Tamils in the North, Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian, said in a press meet held Monday in his Jaffna office. He further accused the government for not accepting help from International Community in de-mining Vanni as it does not want the persons from foreign countries to see the mass graves of civilians killed by its armed forces in the Vanni during the war. The MP also said that though the government says that it had resettled 40,000 IDPs from Vavuniyaa internment camps, 95% of them have been again detained in new internment camps in their respective home districts under the direct control of Sri Lankan forces.
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Tamil youth arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 15:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested a Tamil youth travelling in a government transport bus Tuesday morning at Ediyawathe in Colombo in a joint search conducted from 7:00 a.m until 11:00 a.m, sources in Colombo said. The arrested youth is detained in Kotahena police station.
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UNHCR helps stranded pregnant IDPs to leave Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 15:28 GMT]
Officials of the UNHCR Monday sent a batch of 124 pregnant IDPs with their relatives to Jaffna. They had been staying in the wedding hall of the Vavuniyaa Sivan Koayil from September 29 since the refusal of permission by the Sri Lanka stating that they were not issued with proper clearance by the civil authority.
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250,000 Tamils in dire humanitarian need, says British Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 04:56 GMT]
Mike Foster, a British international development minister, said after visiting Menik farm, the internment camp where Sri Lanka holds more than a quarter of million displaced Tamils, that the internees "are in dire humanitarian need of being allowed out of internment camps which face flash floods in Sri Lanka's monsoons," the British paper Guardian reported. "Although conditions have improved the tents are basically disintegrating. With the monsoons we will have sewage floating around – water-borne diseases will be rife," the paper said quoting Foster.
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CID arrests 3 Tamil youths at Medawachchiya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 October 2009, 19:24 GMT]
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sri Lanka has arrested three Tamil youths, two of them on Sunday and the third on Monday at Medawachchiya check point while they were on their way to Colombo from Vavuniyaa, according to their relatives.
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India, Sri Lanka joint naval exercise begins

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 October 2009, 13:15 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) will conduct a joint sea training exercise with Indian Navy ships in the Western sea coast from October 6 to October 8, Colombo media sources said quoting SLN spokesman Captain D.P.K. Dassanayake.
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Boat people, no security risk - Australian Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 October 2009, 12:25 GMT]
Australian Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor has "rejected claims some Sri Lankan boat people detained on Christmas Island are former Tamil Tigers who could pose a security risk," Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) reported Tuesday. The Minister was responding to Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia, Senaka Walgampaya's allegations that "former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels are among recent illegal boat arrivals," the newspaper said.
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Thai worker allegedly raped by SLA soldier

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 October 2009, 08:23 GMT]
A Thailand female garment instructor working for a multi national garment factory in Warakapola in Kegalle district was allegedly raped by a Sri lankan Army (SLA) soldier and a another person inside her official residence at Thulhiriya last Thursday night, police said.
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2000 IDPs in Menik Farm camp identified with special needs

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2009, 16:21 GMT]
Around two thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) detained in Zone 3 camp in Menik Farm alone in Vavuniyaa have been identified with special needs. Among them are children, women and others who have lost limbs, eye sight, and hearing in the war. Some children born with deformity have also been identified in Zone 3 camp, civil authorities in Vavuniyaa said.
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Civilian killed during curfew hours in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2009, 09:17 GMT]
Unidentified men entered the house of a civilian Friday night during Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed curfew hours in Raamaavil in Kodikaamam and killed him by cutting his throat, Kodikaamam police who recovered the victim’s body and handed it over to Jaffna Teaching Hospital said. The killing took place close to the SLA detention centre in Raamaavil where IDPs are held.
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IDP pregnant mothers stranded in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2009, 04:02 GMT]
124 internally displaced families including several pregnant mothers who were allowed to leave Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa to go to their places in Jaffna on September 29 are stranded in Vavuniyaa town without Sri Lanka Army (SLA) clearance to proceed to Jaffna. These IDPs were brought down from Menik Farm on September 29 and dropped at Vavuniyaa bus stand the same day midnight, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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Bank officer released, wife under detention

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2009, 03:58 GMT]
The wife of a Tamil State bank officer Mr. V. Gnanorathan is still being held in detention by the State Intelligence Unit of the Sri Lanka Army. Gnanorathan was released Saturday. Wellawatte police arrested both a few days ago from their residence in Wellawatte on information received following the arrest of medical specialist Dr. Maheswaran Umakanth serving in Vavuniyaa general hospital.
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EP Education Ministry administered by Sinhalese officers - CTU

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2009, 03:48 GMT]
Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) pointed out in a memorandum sent to the President Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday that the development of education in the Eastern Province where Tamil speaking people are in majority is in the hands of three Sinhalese officers who hold the three top posts in EP provincial education ministry. The provincial minister of education is also a Sinhalese, CTU said.
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JMC mayor, deputy to take oath before President

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 October 2009, 16:32 GMT]
Eealm People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) sources in Jaffna said that the successful candidates of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) proposed to hold office as Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) will take the oath 12 October in front of Sri Lanka President, Mahinda Rajapakse at his official residence, Temple Trees, in Colombo. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members of JMC had already taken the oath while the UPFA members will be taking the oath in front of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor after 12 October, the sources added.
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IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps cannot settle in Jaffna without SLA clearance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 October 2009, 16:06 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Jaffna held in Vavuniyaa camps, on their release from the camps, cannot get back to Jaffna without obtaining the ‘clearance’ of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna, according to Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh. 30 expectant mothers and their families released from Vavuniyaa camps are from Jaffna and their particulars have been submitted to the SLA authorities in Jaffna, he further said. However, he did not say anything about their fate if SLA refuses permission for them to be brought to Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.
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UNP leaders attacked in Deniyaya by ruling party supporters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 October 2009, 09:04 GMT]
Supporters of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) led by its parliamentarians Mr.Tissa Attanayake , the general secretary of the party and Mr. Ravi Karunanayake, including media personnel were attacked in Deniyaya Sunday morning while they were on their way to inspect the alleged Presidential palace under construction in the area.
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Each IDP family in Vavuniyaa camp gets only 15 liter water daily – JVP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 October 2009, 08:57 GMT]
The Monitoring Centre of the Vanni IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps said Saturday that it had received 723 complaints so far relating to food, clothes, and health and toilets facilities. The monitoring centre is set up by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The convener of the centre Mr.Wijitha Herat, JVP parliamentarian, said fifteen liters of water are supplied to each family per day to meet all needs.
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Duplicitous Colombo bereft of excuses on holding internees - ICG

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 22:25 GMT]
Andrew Stroehlein, International Crisis Group's Communications Director, during his testimony to the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights on the situation in Sri Lanka Thursday, noted the poor and deteriorating conditions in the internment camps where more than 264,000 Tamils are being held by Colombo, and said, "[t]he worst kind of duplicity was seen just a few weeks ago, when the [Sri Lanka] government announced it had released 10,000 displaced persons. In fact, we know at least 3,300 people had been moved from an internment camp to another detention facility," and added, "Sri Lankan government has run out of excuses for continuing to keep these hundreds of thousands of innocent people prisoner."
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SLA soldier opens fire, Captain, soldier killed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 11:27 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) captain and a soldier succumbed to their injuries caused by a shooting that followed a quarrel among the Sri Lankan soldiers at Parappaangka'ndal in Naanaaddaan in Mannaar, Friday night.
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Tissainayagam's wife accepts Mackler award

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 07:19 GMT]
Ronnate Tissainayagam, wife of Sri Lanka jailed journalist, Jayaprakash Tissainayagam, accepted the Peter Mackler Award for courageous and ethical journalism, named for a 30-year veteran of Agence France-Presse who died last year, at a ceremony at the National Press Club Friday, AFP reported. Tissainayagam was honored by the US branch of Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders and Global Media Forum, a company founded by Mackler to train journalists and non-profit organizations to use the media as a tool for social change, AFP report added.
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Former Tamil Director on hunger strike in Magazine prison

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 05:11 GMT]
Former Director of Sri Lanka National Film Corporation (SLNFC), S. Thevasan, presently detained in Colombo Magazine Prison, is on a hunger strike from Thursday morning demanding speedy inquiry into his case and release, his fellow prisoners informed Tamil Media Friday morning.
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5 Tamil youths arrested in Negombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 05:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police and Sri Lanka Air Force personnel took into custody five Tamil youths Friday morning in a search conducted in Negombo. The arrested youths are being detained in Negombo police station, the youths’ relatives said.
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Jaffna producers lose millions of rupees due to government restriction - JCC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 04:59 GMT]
Jaffna Chamber of Commerce (JCC) representatives blamed Sri Lanka government for being partial to traders from the South to market their produces freely in Jaffna while restricting the possibilities of taking Jaffna produces to the South, in a meeting held Friday in Jaffna town with the Industries Service Bureau. Only a third of the number of lorries bringing produces from the South are allowed by the government to take Jaffna produces like onions and fish products to the South, they further pointed out.
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SLN camps in the islets worse than Vavuniyaa internment centres

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 04:10 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) hastily brought to the islets of Jaffna and held in Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) makeshift camps complained that they are detained in roofless houses without sufficient drinking water and basic facilities, sources in Jaffna said. The government which is only interested in relocating the IDPs in Vavuniyaa in the islets of Jaffna in a hurry to avoid congestion has left them in the hands of SLN without providing them any assistance, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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Eezham Tamil filmmaker’s debut reaches international film festival

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 18:46 GMT]
Vancouver International film Festival’s Canadian Images session this year opens with a Tamil film ‘1999', made by Lenin M. Sivam, an Eezham Tamil of Canada and a software architect by profession. The film, featuring violence-affected Eezham Tamils struggling to adjust their lives in Canada, is the first full-feature production of the largely self-made filmmaker. Sivam, 35, born in Jaffna and migrated to Canada in 1991, earlier produced successful short films in Tamil. His father V M L Sivam was playwright, director and actor in his home country.
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Torrential rain kills 5 in Galle

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 13:07 GMT]
Five civilians, three from the same family, were killed and two others wounded when a tree collapsed on their house in Galwadugoda in Galle Friday afternoon. The torrential rains and gusty winds are experienced in many parts of the island, especially in the Western, Southern and Central Hills.
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Protestors attack SL High Commission in New Delhi

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 12:28 GMT]
A group of Indian protesters, who were demonstrating against the Sri Lankan state Friday evening, attacked the Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi. The protesters were slanting slogans against the Rajapaksa government on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. Indian Police said around 20 protesters broke through the barrier and caused damage to some property inside the high commission. Meanwhile, activists in Tamil Nadu staged widespread protests against the Sri Lankan government and the Indian government, which they alleged abetting the genocide in Sri Lanka.
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British MP urges boycott of Sri Lanka goods

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 12:14 GMT]
Siobhain McDonagh MP, Mictham & Morden, UK, during the Labor Party conference held Thursday appealed to the delegates, and to the millions of live TV viewers, to shoulder their own commitment on the Sri Lanka issue, urging that a boycott of goods and avoiding holidays in the unsavory state would ensure their money would not “prop up that government.” During the event, the sitting government party passed a resolution condemning the treatment of Tamils in the island by that government.
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No signs of Jaffna IDPs in Vavuniyaa to be brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 11:30 GMT]
Only after bringing the entire Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the islets of Jaffna held in Vavuniyaa camps the IDPs from Vadamaraadchi East will be brought, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh said. Of around 6,000 Islet IDPs held in Vavuniyaa camps nearly 3,000 have been brought in different batches until Wednesday to the islets of Jaffna where they are again detained in camps under the control of Sri Lanka Navy, sources in Jaffna said.
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10 Tamil, Muslim civilians arrested in Chilaapam

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 10:03 GMT]
Chilaapam Police in the northwestern province Wednesday night in a cordon and search operation arrested ten persons, majority of them Tamil and Muslim civilians, and detained them in Chilaapam police station for further interrogation. The operation was conducted on a tip off that some strangers were seen in the area, police sources said.
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25 JVP offices burnt down in SPC election campaign

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 09:57 GMT]
A Janatha Vimukthi Party (JVP) propaganda office was razed to the ground in the early hours of Thursday at Wadiya in Beliatta Police area in the southern province. This was the 25th JVP office that was set ablaze in the Hambantota District during the run up to the forthcoming Southern Provincial Council elections. Beliatta Police are conducting investigations.
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Girl killed, 11 wounded, personal enmity triggers off van bomb

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 08:30 GMT]
An 11-year-old girl, Erandika Dissanayake, succumbed to her injuries and 11 others, including school children, were wounded following a bomb blast in Uduwalpola area in Kurunegala Friday around 7:45 a.m., Police said adding further that they suspect personal enmity causing the bomb blast.
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Internment, poisoning hopes of reconciliation - Economist

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 05:29 GMT]
"The fate of a quarter of a million interned Tamils is poisoning Sri Lanka’s hopes of ethnic reconciliation....So long as Tamils feel abused by a racist Sinhalese state, the conflict may resume. Economic development of their shattered regions, which the government is planning, is unlikely to change that. Hence the government’s continued war-footing—but this is in turn also reinforcing Tamil grievances," a feature in the 1st October edition of The Economist said,
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Vavuniyaa camps meant for detainees, not for IDPs - JVP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 17:51 GMT]
“It is not a refugee camp if inmates are escaping from that in large numbers. Then it should be called a detention or internment camp. IDP families have freedom to move in and out from IDP camps which are established under international norms. It is not so in Vavuniyaa camps, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian Wijitha Herat, said at a press briefing held at JVP headquarters in Battaramulla in Colombo Wednesday to discuss matters about the plight of IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps.
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Medical doctor arrested in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 13:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday night arrested a visiting physician of the general hospital in Vavuniyaa, Dr. Maheswaran Umakanth, at his official residence in Kuruma'nkaadu, according to medical sources in the town.
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5 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 04:57 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos took into custody Wednesday morning five Tamil youths in a search operation conducted in Wellawathe, Mount Lavinia and Dehiwella in the suburbs of Colombo city.
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JVP demands Tamil political prisoners to be produced in courts

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 02:43 GMT]
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tuesday issued a statement demanding the government to subject all Tamil political detainees held in Anuradhapura prison and other prisons in the country for several years to judicial inquiry or release them. Parliamentarian Ramalingam Chandrasekaran issued the statement on behalf of his party JVP.
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Jaffna prisoners call off fast on assurance by Magistrate

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 02:36 GMT]
Fifteen Tamil political prisoners in Jaffna prison Wednesday evening called off their fast-to-death campaign on the assurance given by the Jaffna Magistrate Mr.S. Anandarajah that he would take appropriate steps to settle the dispute with the prison authorities within three weeks. The detainees began their fast Tuesday evening demanding their release or to produce them in court after filing charges.
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IDP from Vavuniyaa camp arrested by Kandy Police

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 02:31 GMT]
A member of an IDP family that fled from Vanni during last leg of military operation and detained in internment camp in Vavuniyaa was arrested by a special team of the Kandy police Sunday. The police team acting on the directions of Deputy Inspector Generals of Police Gamini Navaratne and Pujitha Jayasundara rushed to Chettikulam from Kandy and took the suspected IDP into custody, Police spokesperson Nimal Mediwake told media.
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Tamil, Muslim party leaders call for end to forced detention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 02:23 GMT]
Five Tamil and Muslim party leaders in a joint communique issued Wednesday stated that "the forcible detention of hundreds of thousands of Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka in camps for Internally Displaced Persons is illegal, without basis in the Constitution and in gross violation of international human rights norms," and called for immediate action to "end to military administration and restrictions placed on civilians, and we urge the restoration of full civilian administration to facilitate return to economic and social normality."
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