Jaffna Mayor accused of abuse of authority

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 17:15 GMT]
Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) opposition and public organizations including Jaffna Traders Union (JTU) have raised strong protests against ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Jaffna Mayor Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam for abuse of authority, particularly in erecting a Buddha statue on Jaffna Main Street and in attempts to hand over the Jaffna Public Library canteen to Sinhalese caretakers from South, sources in Jaffna said. The Thursday meeting of JMC had to be called off as arguments against the erection of Buddha statue ended in chaos, the sources added.
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Jaffna Civil organizations accuse Colombo financial institutions of exploitation

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 16:46 GMT]
Civil organizations and Non-governmental organizations in Jaffna peninsula raised accusations against financial institutions in South rushing to open their offices with the motive of exploiting the wealth of peninsula residents as Sri Lanka Central Bank Governor, Ajith Nivard Cabral, a close friend of President Mahinda Rajapakse ceremoniously opened Friday the offices of ‘The Financial Co. Ltd’ and ‘Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers (Pvt) Ltd, in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The organizations further said that Sinhalese persons have been brought to work in the Southern firm, denying job opportunities to young men and women in Jaffna peninsula.
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JU Student Union calls for concerted action against social crimes in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 16:21 GMT]
“We call upon all Tamil political parties, school communities and public organizations including Non-governmental organizations in Jaffna peninsula to jointly raise their voices against the continuing violent crimes of abduction and killing for ransom, sexual abuse of women, robbery, extortion and violence targeting particularly university undergrads and school students,” Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) said in a message to local media Friday. “We have already lost many fellow students and we request all parents to safeguard their children,” JUSU further appealed in the message. JUSU also called for greater caution and awareness of the gravity of the situation.
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2 EPDP men alleged of attempting to issue death threats to Chaavakachcheari magistrate

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 15:33 GMT]
Chaavakachcheari Magistrate, P. J. Pirabakar Friday directed Chaavakachcheari police to investigate into an allegation against Jaffna Deputy Mayor Thurairajah Ilango alias Regan and Allexander Soosaimuthu alias Charles, Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) organizer for Thenmaraadchi, for engaging in activities aimed at issuing death threats to Magistrate Pirbakar or in attempts to kill him, sources in Chaavakaccheari said. Soosaimuthu was the EPDP contestant in the parliamentary elections. The allegation was made to Chaavakachcheari magistrate court in a letter where the residents of Paa’ndiyan Thaazhvu had informed that the above mentioned EPDP persons were seen to move about with weapons in the area for three days since Tuesday where magistrate Pirabakar lives in Paa’ndiyan Thaazhvu, with the motive to issue death threat or to kill him, the sources added.
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Chinese corporate worker arrested for rape in Nuraichchoalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 06:09 GMT]
A 36 years old Chinese electrician of China’s Coal Power Plant at Nuraichchoalai in Puththa’lam district was arrested for allegedly raping a 14 years old school girl, according to media reports Thursday. Munthal (Mundalama) police arrested the suspect. The incident, according to police spokesperson, took place in a lorry parked near Munthal water tank.
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SLA reimposes road checks in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 04:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have reimposed sudden checking of persons and vehicles at the junctions of main roads in Jaffna peninsula which had been suspended prior to President Election, sources in Jaffna said. SLA officials in a report to local media Wednesday claimed that checking is being reintroduced in the context of escalating incidents of abduction for ransom, killings and robberies in the peninsula. Meanwhile, peninsula residents and civil society organizations said that this very criminal violence had taken place unchecked before the suspension of road checks by the SLA and the police. Working according to a hidden scheme SLA has reimposed the road checks as the first step in bringing the entire peninsula under its total grip, they further said.
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Indian Visa Application Centre to be opened in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 14:06 GMT]
Contrary to the Sri Lanka government propaganda of opening a branch of the Indian High Commission Colombo office in Jaffna, a private firm will be opening an office at Brown Road in Jaffna 5 May which will receive visa applications to India and send them for processing in the Indian High Commission for Sri Lanka in Colombo and deliver the passports to the applicants after processing, sources in Jaffna said. Mr. Ashok K. Kantha, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka is expected to open the said Visa Application Centre in Jaffna 5 May at 3:00 p.m, the sources added.
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DNA to oppose extension of state of emergency

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 13:00 GMT]
The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tuesday decided to oppose the extension of the State of Emergency when the government tables a motion seeking it for another month 4 May in parliament, sources in Colombo said. DNA parliamentary group met Tuesday with General Sarath Fonseka in the chair at the parliamentary complex and discussed the strategy that is to be adopted in parliament by the DNA when its meets next week.
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Jaffna Mayor allows star hotel in historical sacred site in Nalloor

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 06:07 GMT]
Amidst strong protests raised by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, Saiva and cultural organizations in Jaffna peninsula against the proposed construction of a star hotel in the land where the palace of last Tamil King of Jaffna Kingdom Sangkilian had stood and in the sacred vicinity of historically famous Nalloor Kanthasuvami temple, ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Jaffna Mayor, Ms. Yogewary Patkunam has decided to permit construction of the said star hotel, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, UPFA Minister Douglas Devananda, in a recent press meet in Colombo had said that he had advised the Mayor on this issue and that he has taken action to stop the hotel being built on the sacred site, the sources added.
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Jaffna MP accuses EPDP of illegal sand excavation in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 05:38 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian, E. Saravanbhavan publicly raised accusation against Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), a constituent party of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), for having appropriated exclusive rights to excavate sand for building construction in Ma’nattkaadu in Vadamaraadchi East using illegal means making millions of rupees, in a press report, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, EPDP Minister Dougals Devananda, in response to Saravanabhavan’s accusation, said that the EPDP firm engaged in sand excavation is registered in Sri Lanka parliament and the increase in the demand for sand is due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) permitting only a limited number of lorries to transport sand from Ma’nattkaadu SLA High Security Zone (HSZ), in a media report, the sources added.
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CPJ makes ominous prediction to media freedom in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 02:48 GMT]
Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator for media-watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in the organization's website that while there is "a lull of sorts in outright attacks on the media as the Rajapaksa government takes stock of where it stands," the recent appointment of former Labor Minister Mervyn Silva as Sri Lanka's deputy minister of media and information is "an indicator of what might come next for the media." CPJ noted that in December 2007 after Mr Silva showed up with a group of men at a TVstation to complain that the station has not covered one of his speeches, "[f]ive staff members reported being stabbed, beaten, or slashed with razor blades by unidentified men."
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Jaffna undergrads held as prisoners, charges IUSF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 12:07 GMT]
The Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) Wednesday charged that more than 150 students of the Jaffna University are still being held in rehabilitation centers and are being prevented from attending classes in the University campus. IUSF made the statement on return to Colombo after a fact-finding visit to universities in Jaffna and Batticaloa, and prepared a report of the plight of students.
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5 more cabinet ministers to be appointed this week

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 11:55 GMT]
Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leader Arumugan Thondaman and three others are to be sworn in as Cabinet Ministers after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa returns from Bhutan this week, government sources said Wednesday.
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Blake meets Rajapaksa, Jayaratne vows to defeat international pressure

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 11:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka's new prime minister D. M. Jayaratne Wednesday morning urged all political parties irrespective of 'caste, creed and race,' to unite in defeating international pressure being exerted on the Sri Lankan state. The move comes a day after US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs Robert Blake had met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Bhutan.
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Indian corporate to build high-rise buildings, apartments, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 10:12 GMT]
An Indian engineering corporate L&T Infrastructure Development Projects is keen in road projects, high-rise buildings, apartments and hotels and power generation in Jaffna, and is looking for trade partners according to Vishal Mathur, its Chief Operating Officer. The high-rise buildings and apartments are for whom, wonder the people of Jaffna. According to Mathur, tourism would boom in Jaffna and there would be a demand for them.
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Diaspora paramount in voicing aspirations of Tamils: The Age

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 10:04 GMT]
Amid Sri Lankas' legal constitution that classifies Tamils as “Second class citizens” and “continuing problems of ethnic marginalisation and persecution”, the Tamil Diaspora feel they “need to press for and represent Tamil claims, because Tamils in Sri Lanka have lost their voice, and have no representation following the defeat of the LTTE” said an article in the Age on Friday, a day after results of Australia’s historic Tamil referendum were announced showing “unanimous support for the proposal for an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka”.
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Dengue Control Week to be launched in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 08:59 GMT]
The `Dengue Control Week' is to be launched in the country from May 3 to 9 to warn the public of possible outbreak with the onset of monsoonal rains, according to Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry press release. The number of dengue deaths reported this year from January to April is seventy-five and over twelve thousand dengue cases reported island wide, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry Epidemiology Unit, Director Dr. (Ms) Paba Palihawadana said.
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New parliament to debate extension motion of Emergency on May 4

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 08:57 GMT]
The newly formed United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government is to table a motion seeking the extension of the State of Emergency for another month when the parliament meets on May 4. Mr. D. M. Jayaratne, the new Prime Minister, will move the motion as his first official duty amid reports in political circles that the new government is contemplating to relax the imposition of emergency regulations in some areas, parliamentary sources said.
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Jaffna Civil organizations accuse Colombo financial institutions of exploitation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 04:45 GMT]
Private and government banks rushing to Jaffna peninsula to open their branches and the opening of the fifth branch of Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in Jaffna town Tuesday, in the name of development are but schemes aimed at exploiting the funds of peninsula residents, civil organizations in Jaffna said. They further accused the above financial institutions of employing only Sinhalese persons from South at all levels while denying job opportunities to the Tamil young men and women in the peninsula.
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Australia's young lawyers to document Sri Lanka's war-crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 01:39 GMT]
While calls for independent investigations into Sri Lanka's war crimes continue to mount, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's appointment of advisory panel on Sri Lanka's war-crimes shows no progress, ABC Radio Australia reported that Australian Young Lawyers Group in New South Wales is joining forces with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to take witness statements and prepare evidence on the conduct of Sri Lanka's Security Forces, and the Polical and Military Command for future war crimes tribunals on Sri Lanka.
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Sinhalese language prioritized in the North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 19:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka government are accused of prioritizing Sinhalese language in the name and information boards in the predominantly Tamil areas in the North, by public organizations in Jaffna peninsula. Tamil language which had occupied the first place in the name boards and government information boards in the North has been brought down to second place by SLA and government, the organizations said. This introduction of Sinhalese as the first language in the North though appears as intended to cater for the Sinhalese people pouring into Jaffna peninsula as tourists the real motive is to impose Sinhala as the main language in the Tamil areas, they added.
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Men claiming to be SLA intelligence personnel abduct, sexually abuse young woman in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 17:39 GMT]
Four men claiming to be Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence personnel abducted Sunday a young woman at Kalikai junction in Vadamarradchi and sexually abused her at a deserted place in the area. The men later strangled her and abandoned her taking away her jewelry and other possessions. Local residents who happened to see her Monday morning admitted her to the hospital. Point Pedro police took into custody two men on the information the woman gave and detained them in Jaffna prison through Point Pedro magistrate Court, sources in Point Pedro said. Meanwhile, SLA Commander, Major. Gen. Mahintha Kathurasinghe told media that there are no abductions, killings, sexual abuse of women and robbery in Jaffna peninsula asking the public to inform him if any such incident takes place, the sources added.
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Missing Sinhala journalist under unlawful custody, wife files HC application

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 10:17 GMT]
The missing journalist Prageeth Ekniligoa of Lanka E-News since January 24 is being held under unlawful custody or detention with the knowledge of police officers, stated in a Habeas Corpus application filed by his wife Mrs. K.M.S.P.Ekniligoda and his two children S.S.Bandara Ekniligoda and H.D.Sooriya Ekniligoda in the Court of Appeal. The Petitioners have cited DIG Nandana Manasinghe of the CID, OIC of the Homagama Police, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mahinda Balasuriya.
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British candidate calls Tamils victims of genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 02:45 GMT]
Dr Rachel Joyce, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Harrow West, UK, in a statement circulated to her constituents, said she believes that since Sri Lanka's independence "the acts perpetrated the Government of Sri Lanka on Tamils including the burning down of Jaffna library...disappearance of Tamil individuals...and the use of concentration-style camps for internally displaced Tamils should be classed as Genocide." Dr Joyce further made a campaign promise to "work with the Tamils to get the acts perpetrated on the Tamils classed legally as a genocide so that the UN Convention can be used to address the problems."
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Journalist Roopan’s remains cremated in Araali

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 17:51 GMT]
Hundreds of people and media persons paid their last respects to the remains of Selvaratnam Roopan also known as ‘Sakthi Thasan’ and the sub-editor of Yarl Thinakural who passed away Sunday evening at Jaffna Teaching hospital at the age of thirty-two. The remains were taken in procession by the mourners to Poonaavoadai Hindu crematorium grounds in Vaddukkoadai. Vice-chancellor emeritus of Jaffna University, Prof. Pon. Balsuntharampillai, was among the many hundreds who paid their last respects to Roopan’s remains.
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Thanthai Chelva remembered on his 33rd anniversary

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 17:44 GMT]
The 33rd death anniversary of the late Tamil leader and the founder of Federal Party (Ilangkai Thamil Arasu Kadchi - ITAK), Samuel James Velupillai Chelvanayagam (SJV) was observed in the North and East with hundreds of ITAK supporters along with ITAK parliamentarians attending the memorial events in Jaffna, Vavuniyaa and Trincomalee. ITAK parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah in Jaffna and ITAK leader and parliamentarian R. Sampanthan in Trincomalee took part in the events.
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Sajith Premadasa expected to take over UNP leadership

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 15:54 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) is in the process of electing a new leadership to take the party forward from the present plight after facing defeats in every election held in the island since the UNP government was dismissed by the then SL president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004. 42-year-old Sajith Premadasa, the son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, is expected to take over the leadership of the UNP, political sources said quoting Gayantha Karunatilake, Galle district UNP parliamentarian.
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Rajapaksa tipped to head G-15

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 14:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be taking over the presidency of the Group of Fifteen (G-15) from the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the forthcoming two-day summit in Tehran on 17 May, media in Colombo reported Sunday. Mr. Rajapaksa, who visited Tehran twice during his first tenure, had received extensive credit facility from Iran, enabling Colombo to sustain its foreign exchange at the height of the war.
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Colombo Stock Exchange to open branch in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 17:44 GMT]
A branch of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) will be opened in Jaffna soon as a response increased demand by the peninsula business community, Udayasiri Kariyawasam, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission told media Sunday.
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Journalist Roopan passes away in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 17:42 GMT]
Selvaratnam Roopan, sub-editor of Tamil daily ‘Yarl Thinakural’ and a journalist who dedicated his entire life to his vocation and in creating political awareness and responsibility among the residents of Jaffna peninsula, passed away Sunday evening at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, due to undiagnosed illness. 32-year-old Roopan had been in the forefront in rescuing thousands of people caught in the clashes in Ma’ndaitheevu in the islets of Jaffna in 2006 and in admitting the injured among them in the hospitals in Jaffna. Roopan rendered great service by writing articles in Yarl Thinakural creating political awareness among the people of Jaffna peninsula under his pseudonym ‘Sakthi Thaasan’. Media organizations including North Ceylon Journalists Association have issued messages of condolence on the premature death of Roopan.
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Rajapakse to brief Manmohan Singh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 16:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse will brief the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the measures taken by Sri Lanka government to improve the conditions following the end of the three decade old war. The briefing would take place during the sidelines of SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Thimpu, capital of Bhutan this week, according to a statement by the Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Minister G.L.Peiris to Colombo media Sunday.
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Suspects in Navaali abduction to be charged under PTA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 07:59 GMT]
Jaffna police will frame charges against the three suspects who had abducted two family men from Navaali in Jaffna for ransom claiming that they were from the Intelligence Wing of Sri Lanka Army (SLA). The charges are to be made in Mallaakam magistrate court under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER), according to police sources. Preliminary investigations reveal the suspects’ involvement in earlier abductions, killings, robbery and sexual abuse in Jaffna peninsula after the opening of A9 road, the sources said. Meanwhile, the claim that they were of the SLA Intelligence Wing has raised suspicion among the peninsula residents of collaboration of the suspects with SLA Intelligence Unit and the paramilitary groups employed by it.
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Indian Railway engineers, technicians arrive at Medawachchiya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 07:25 GMT]
A group consisting of Indian Railway Department engineers and technicians has arrived in the North to commence work on the reconstruction of the railway tracks and railway stations from Oamanthai to Kaangkeasanthu’rai (KKS), a project which India earlier announced as aid to Sri Lanka, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The Indian engineers and technicians presently located in Medawachchiya and Vavuniyaa have begun to work in stages. Meanwhile, an Indian firm has already started to construct the railway tracks between Vavuniyaa and Thalai Mannaar, the sources added.
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Lawyers, media persons attacked in Chennai High Court premises

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 07:07 GMT]
Condemning the inaction by Tamil Nadu government for not executing Chennai High Court orders to dismiss Tamil Nadu police officers who had attacked lawyers in the high court in an earlier instance, Tamil Nadu lawyers launched a black flag protest when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi arrived in Chennai High Court Sunday to unveil the statue of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, sources in Chennai said. Chief Minister’s Dravida Munetra Kazhakam (DMK) men who arrived at the scene brutally attacked the protesting lawyers and media persons besides smashing their video cameras and equipments, the protesting lawyers alleged.
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Rajapakse to attend Bhutan SAARC summit

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 April 2010, 15:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse is to leave for Thimpu, capital of Bhutan Monday to attend the sixteenth South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit. The SL delegation includes the new Foreign Minister G.L.Peiris and Foreign Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe, according to political sources in Colombo. The SAARC summit is scheduled to be held from April 28 and 29.
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Police administration in North continues in ‘Sinhala Only’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 April 2010, 05:14 GMT]
Police administration in police stations and in courts in the North and East continue only in Sinhalese language causing immense difficulties to public as their complaints and statements are recorded in Sinhalese, a language not known to them, sources in Jaffna said. Despite the repeated insistence by magistrates in the North police administration is still carried out in Sinhalese language as the police officers being Sinhalese are not proficient in Tamil language to record complaints or statements in the language of the people. Six moths ago, Mahinda Rajapakse government had made great publicity of appointing Tamils in the police stations in the North and had held interviews to select candidates for training but nothing has come out of it, sources in Jaffna said.
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Liberation Tigers’ Ira’naimadu runway used exclusively by Indian Air Force

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 21:10 GMT]
The runway constructed by Liberation Tigers of Tami Eezham (LTTE) in Ira’naimadu in Ki’linochchi has been handed over to the exclusive use of Indian Air Force (IAF), according to sources close to a section of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel who have expressed their disapproval of this course of action by Sri Lanka government. The area in which this runway is located in Ira’naimadu falls within the High Security Zone (HSZ) and is strictly out of bounds for low ranking SLA personnel, the sources added. IAF officers fly routinely between Tamil Nadu and Ira’naimadu besides training SLAF personnel at I’ra’naimadu, the sources said.
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Thirty nine deputy ministers take oaths

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 11:09 GMT]
Thirty nine deputy ministers also were sworn in Friday afternoon. They are still not allocated ministries. Among them are Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan and M.L.A.M.Hisbullah.
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Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Affairs Minister is G.L.Peiris

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 11:04 GMT]
The new Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka is Mr.G.L.Peiris and Basil Rajapakse has been appointed as Economic Development Minister. Traditional Industry and Small Entrepreneur Development Ministry goes to Douglas Devananda. Thirty seven member cabinet took oaths before the President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday afternoon at Presidential Secretariat. The two new faces in the cabinet are Basil Rajapakse and Wimal Weerawanse. Basil Rajapakse is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Wimal Weerwanse is the leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF), a breakway group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). All others served in the outgoing cabinet.
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Senior ex-LTTE cadres under pressure to confess

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 09:46 GMT]
Colombo Establishment has subjected hundreds of senior Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres in its custody to confess to alleged accusations of war crimes, promising that a general amnesty would be granted sooner to those who confess, informed legal sources in Colombo told TamilNet Friday. The move, backed by Indian advice, comes as the Rajapaksa government secured majority of seats in Sri Lankan parliament. Concerned legal sources urged Diaspora Tamils to take meaningful action in arranging legal assistance to the victims through independent and reliable sources without allowing Indian or Colombo backed legal practitioners to victimise the detained cadres.
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16 political prisoners in Jaffna prison begin hunger strike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2010, 14:41 GMT]
Sixteen political prisoners held in Jaffna prison began a hunger strike Thursday in protest against the order issued by Department of Attorney General to move them to High Courts in the South including Anuradapura High Court for trials, sources in Jaffna said. The sixteen political prisoners on hunger strike have either been arrested or had surrendered themselves and charged by the government for various alleged political offences. The protestors demand their trial to be conducted in Jaffna and not to send them to the High Courts in the South.
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3 in protective custody of Jaffna prison released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2010, 14:12 GMT]
Chaavakachcheari magistrate Thursday ordered three persons including a young woman who had sought protection to their lives due to death threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) during the war period and placed in the protective custody of Jaffna prison, to be released, sources in Chavakachcheari said. The three had been in Jaffna prison for the last three years and the two men of these were handed over to their parents Thursday by the court. The magistrate directed the young woman, a native of Batticaloa, to be placed with the Salvation Army in Kaithadi refugee camps until her parents come and take her home safely.
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3 suspects in recent abduction for ransom arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2010, 13:51 GMT]
Three men from South staying in a house in Chu’ndikku’li area in Jaffna were taken into custody by Jaffna police Thursday on suspicion of involvement in the recent abductions for ransom and killings in Jaffna peninsula on a secret tipoff given by neighbours, sources in Jaffna said. A motor mechanic and an electrician from Navaali abducted Wednesday for ransom were found locked in the said house by the police and were handed over to their families Thursday. The police also discovered blood stains in the house and suspect that the elderly man recovered dead in Kachcheariyadi Wednesday may have been killed in the same house and later dumped in another house in the neighbourhood.
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Chamal Rajapakse new Speaker, Fonseka attends parliament

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2010, 08:18 GMT]
The first session of the seventh parliament elected in the April 8 general election was inaugurated Thursday with all new parliamentarians were sworn in the morning. Eldest brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Mr. Chamal Rajapaksa was elected new Speaker of the parliament. Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka was brought to the parliament under tight security from the Sri Lanka Navy Headquarters where he is being detained since his arrest on February 8.
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99.4 percent vote for Tamil Eelam in Australia

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2010, 05:07 GMT]
99.4 percent of those who cast votes in the Tamil referendum across Australia last weekend said “yes” to the formation of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the contiguous north and east of the island of Sri Lanka. The results were announced Thursday at a press conference held at NSW State Parliament in front of state and national media. 8,272 out of the registered, numbering around 10,000, participated in the polls. The number of eligible Eezham Tamil voters in Australia is estimated to be around 15,000. The formation of Tamil Eelam was assented by 8,154. The negative votes were 51 and 67 were invalid.
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Veteran SLFPer Jayaratne, 15th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2010, 03:52 GMT]
Mr. D. M. Jayaratne, a senior member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), a constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance was sworn in as the fifteenth Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Wednesday evening at Temple Trees. He took oaths before President Mahinda Rajapakse. He held the post of Plantations Minister in the outgoing cabinet.
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Elderly man abducted, killed in Jaffna, 9-year-old girl killed in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 16:01 GMT]
Jaffna police recovered Wednesday the body of an elderly man who had gone missing 15 April from his house at Kachcheariyadi in Jaffna. Police suspect that he had been abducted and later killed to rob the gold jewelry he wore and the cash he had in his possession. Meanwhile, robbers who entered a house in Thirunaavatku’lam Sivan Koayiladi in Vavuniyaa Tuesday night stabbed a nine-year-old girl to death and seriously injured her mother before robbing the cash and jewelry, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Law and order have deteriorated in the North where incidents of old people and women staying alone being killed for the purpose of robbery have increased at an alarming rate, sources in Jaffna said.
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Fonseka can attend parliament: Gotabhaya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 13:22 GMT]
The Secretary General of the Sri Lanka’s parliament Wednesday received a letter from Gotabhaya, the Sri Lankan defence secretary, stating that General (retd) Sarath Fonseka can attend parliament and take oaths as parliamentarian.
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Chennai High Court calls for clarification on deportation of Pirapaharan’s mother

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 12:20 GMT]
Chennai High Court judge who took up Wednesday for inquiry the petition filed by Mr. M. Karupan, a senior lawyer and human rights activist, citing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. M. Karunanidhi and the Indian Central Government as respondents for having sent back Mrs. Velupillai Parvathi, mother of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Mr. V Pirapaharan, to Malaysia without allowing her to land in Chennai airport, ordered Mr. Karunanidhi and the Indian Central Government to submit a report on why Mrs. Velupillai Parvathi was sent back, before next Monday, legal sources in Chennai said.
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National list MPs nominated: UPFA-17, UNP-09, DNA-02, and ITAK-01

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 11:46 GMT]
The names of twenty nine national list parliamentarians have been gazetted by the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections Wednesday. The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has nominated seventeen parliamentarians, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) nine parliamentarians, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) two parliamentarians and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) one parliamentarian from their national lists.
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UPFA 144, UNP 60, ITAK 14, DNA 7 constitute new Sri Lankan parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 07:56 GMT]
Sri Lankan Elections Secretariat gazetted the names of newly elected members to the seventh parliament which is to meet on Thursday. According to the final results released, the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has won 144 seats including 17 places in the national list. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) bagged 60 seats including nine national list MPs. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) won 14 seats including one place in the national list. The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) won seven seats including two places in the national list.
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2 men abducted for ransom in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 07:49 GMT]
Unidentified persons arriving in a vehicle forcibly took away two family men on their way to Jaffna town on a motor cycle Tuesday and later rang the family members of the two men and demanded five million rupees for one of them and three million rupees for the other as ransom, their family members said in their complaint to Vaddukkoadai police. Each time the abductors had called for ransom using different hand phones.
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Attempt to abduct boy in Jaffna foiled

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 17:12 GMT]
A 13-year-old student, of a family of uprooted persons from Valikaamam, staying in Paarvathi refugee camp in Maanipaay managed to escape from his abductors Tuesday when they tried to take him forcibly in a van by crying aloud for help and screaming, sources in Jaffna said. An unknown person on bicycle had requested the boy to take him to an address and taken him to the van waiting to take the boy away. The boy, in his statement to the police, said that he saw two boys lying with hands and feet bound inside the van when the abductors tried to force him inside. Maanipaay police, however, did not entertain the complaint made by his parents and their fellow refugees, the sources added.
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UPFA wins 2, UNP 1, ITAK 1 in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:57 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Election Department Tuesday night released the final official results of the Trincomalee electoral district. The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) polled 59,784 votes, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) polled 39,691 votes and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) polled 33,268 votes.
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Senior LTTE cadres held to be produced in High Court for trial

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:43 GMT]
Around 2,000 senior cadres and combatants of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eezham (LTTE) held in custody are to be soon produced in High Court for trial with the sole aim to find them guilty of war crimes and subject them to long-term imprisonment, according to legal circles in Colombo. Meanwhile, persons of an organization called Home for Human Rights (HHR) are already at work to exploit the above situation and fleece money from Tamil Diaspora in foreign countries and International Humanitarian Organizations on the pretext of arranging lawyers to appear on behalf of the Tigers during the said trial, human rights activist lawyers in Colombo said.
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Indian aid to resettled Vanni civilians left undistributed along A9 road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:06 GMT]
Materials to construct shelters given as aid by India meant for the resettled families in Vanni have not been fully distributed to them and are left unattended along A9 road due to noncooperation of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Vanni and their refusal to grant permission for distribution, sources close to Ki’linochchi Secretariat said. SLA authorities purposely delay and obstruct distribution of these materials with the aim to give them to Sinhalese families to be colonized in places including Kokkaavil and Maangku’lam in Vanni, according to some Tamil National Alliance (TNA) newly elected representatives. The distribution of the materials had not been carried out by the government officials due to noncooperation by SLA authorities in Vanni.
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Young woman abducted, sexually abused in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 15:32 GMT]
Two young men in Chu’n’naakam area in Valikaamam abducted Monday a young woman who had come from an internment camp in Vavuniyaa to visit her uncle in Chu’n’naakam and sexually abused her, sources in Jaffna said. The woman had managed to escape Tuesday morning from where she was held in the night and told what had happened to her to local people. The local people with the help of the hand phone which the young men had taken from the woman caught the two men and gave them a severe beating, the sources said.
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Court Martial proceeding against Fonseka put off for May 4

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 14:14 GMT]
The second Court Martial inquiry that commenced on Monday against General Sarath Fonseka was put off for May 4. The Court Martial proceedings resumed Tuesday. In this case General Fonseka has been charged regarding fraudulent acts in tender procedure in procuring arms to the Sri Lanka Army when he was the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, according to Major General Prasad Samarasinghe to media.
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SLA blocks Hindus performing rituals in Keerimalai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 10:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have obstructed Hindus performing religious rituals to their ancestors in the temple pond as well as dissolving the ashes of their cremated relatives in Keerimalai seas around the historically famous Nakuleasvaram temple claiming that Keerimalai has been declared as a tourist spot and no one should pollute the springs and sea therein, sources in Jaffna said. This infringement on religious rights which had been observed by the Hindus for ages has angered the Hindu organizations in the peninsula, the sources added. Keerimalai is one of the major tourist attractions in Jaffna peninsula and SLA has imposed this restriction in order to please the Sinhalese tourists who continue to pour in their thousands after the opening of A9 road, representatives of the organizations said.
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Fonseka likely to attend inaugural session of new parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 09:25 GMT]
General Sarath Fonseka is likely to attend the opening session of the seventh parliament that is fixed for April 22. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse has been asked by the Acting Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Kitulgoda to take necessary steps to allow General Fonseka to attend parliament.
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Kumpurupiddi re-poll in progress, no incident reported

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 09:23 GMT]
Re-poll in a polling station located in a school in Kumpurupiddi, a Tamil village located in the north of Trincomalee town, began Tuesday morning. Villagers were seen in queue before the polling station. One third of 977 registered voters exercised their franchise till 11:30 a.m in the morning.
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Second Court Martial against General Fonseka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 03:49 GMT]
The second Court Martial hearing against General Sarath Fonseka commenced Monday amidst uncertainty whether he would be allowed to attend the inaugural session of the new parliament that is to meet on Thursday. General Sarath Fonseka appeared before the second Court Martial which heard charges against him, including procuring arms for the Sri Lanka Army in contravention of standard procedures.
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Rajapakse invites Wickremesinghe for talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 03:45 GMT]
President Mahinda Rajapakse and Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Monday morning held a one-to-one discussion at Temple Trees. The talks between them centered on several issues related to the inaugural event of the first session of the seventh parliament. The new parliament is scheduled to meet on April 22 to elect a Speaker. One of the issues discussed by the two leaders is the nomination of Chamal Rajapakse, eldest brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, for the post of Speaker without contest, media sources claimed.
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Australian Tamil referendum attracts media, provokes Colombo's envoy

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 23:35 GMT]
More than 10,000 registered to cast their votes in the referendum across Australia last weekend, on the creation of independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, reported SBS Australia, citing organisers. However, the success of mass participation provoked Colombo's envoy to retaliate that "the Tamils who are in Sri Lanka at the moment are perfectly happy to go on with the present system. It is only the Diaspora who are trying to force this thing on the people in Sri Lanka”. But, it won the support of John Dowd, the president of the International Commission of Jurists in Australia, SBS said, citing him saying that the referendum highlighted the aspirations as well as the plight of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. "Australians need to be reminded that there is a common obligation to these people who for centuries or indeed millennia have led their own lives there," John Dowd further said.
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Muslim family man killed in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 16:17 GMT]
Unknown persons had stabbed to death a Muslim family man Sunday night in Aa’ndiyaa Pu’liyangku’lam in Cheddiku’lam area in Vauniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The man is suspected to have been abducted before being killed. The killing of a Muslim person has created tension among the residents of Vavuniyaa.
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Advani demands report from Congress government on Pirapaharan’s mother refused entry into India

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 15:11 GMT]
Former leader of the opposition and the current leader of Barathiya Janatha Party (BJP), Mr. L. K. Advani, blamed the Congress led government of India to have brought shame on India on international level by not allowing 80-year-old Mrs. Velupillai Parvathi, the mother of Liberation Tiger Leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, to enter India for medical treatment, in the Indian Lok Sabah Monday. He further demanded the central government to release a report on this matter immediately, sources in Delhi said.
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Indonesia, Australia relocate Tamil refugees to isolated detention centres

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 13:59 GMT]
Indonesian authorities on Monday relocated more than 100 Tamil refugees in Merak, who have been refusing to leave their boat, to an undisclosed location, believed to be an Australian-funded detention centre on the Riau islands, near Singapore. Informed Tamil sources said that the refugees were being moved without any promise and that attempts to legal aid by the community was refused access during the process. Meanwhile, the Australian government, which had frozen asylum applications from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan a few days ago, on Sunday said it was reopening Curtin, an isolated detention centre in the sparsely populated far north of Western Australia, 1,800 km north of Perth to move the refugees from Christmas Island.
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Uproar in TN State Assembly over India’s refusal to allow Pirapaharan’s mother to land in Chennai

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 10:04 GMT]
Protesting against India’s refusal to allow LTTE Leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan’s mother Mrs. Velupillai Parvathi to land in Chennai airport for medical treatment in Tamil Nadu Friday night, major opposition parties in Tamil Nadu State Assembly moved a special attention-calling motion Monday, sources in Chennai said. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. M. Karunanithi, in response to the motion said that he knew nothing about the incident and came to know about in the papers the following morning. Heated arguments ensued the response creating uproar in the House. Consequently, the major opposition parties including Patali Makkal Kadchi, Indian Communist Party, Marxist Communist Party and Makkal Dravida Munetra Kazham staged a walkout. Jeyalalitha’s Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhakam party which had not initially participated in the moving of the motion joined in the walkout.
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Wellawatte police blamed for long-term neglect in investigating disappearance

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 09:29 GMT]
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Monday blamed Wellawatte Police in Colombo for not having taken any action during the two-year period since a young Tamil student was allegedly arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). "No information has been given to his family and his whereabouts are entirely unknown. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has also been aware of the case since 2008," the AHRC said in a press statement. "This long-term neglect to investigate a disappearance is a clear breach of domestic and international law and questions the accountability and professionalism of CID officers in the country," the AHRC has charged.
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Tamil Nadu police arrest protestors against Namal Rajapkase’s arrival in Chennai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 18:13 GMT]
Tamil Nadu police arrested ten persons Sunday among hundreds of people who had gathered at Chennai airport to protest against the arrival of Namal Rajapakse, the son of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse, passing via Chennai International Airport to watch the cricket match between the Chennai and Punjab teams, sources in Chennai said. Meanwhile, a group of fifty Sri Lankan police officers led by Superintendent of Police, L. R. Wijeyasinghe, who are to follow a three month course in security services for Very Important Persons (VIPs) in a training centre in Haryana state, arrived in Delhi Sunday, sources in Delhi said.
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JNU convention condemns Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 14:15 GMT]
"[C]onditions in Sri Lanka cannot improve unless the Tamils are given a respectful place in society as equal citizens. Unfortunately, that is not happening,” said Rajinder Sachar former Chief Justice on Delhi High Court in a conference on Sri Lanka's war crimes held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Thursday, a summary report of the convention issued by the organizers said. The convention concluded with passing a resolution condemning "the genocidal war crimes perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government on the Tamils," and demanding that the war criminals in the Sri Lankan government be brought to justice, Tamils who have been forcefully detained in camps be released and settled in their native homes, an immediate end to colonization, and suspension of military aid by India.
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Indian High Commission to open an office in Jaffna to handle visa application

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 10:40 GMT]
High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka, Ashok K. Kantha, said Sunday that India will not open a branch of its Colombo embassy in Jaffna but only an office to handle visa applications, at the opening ceremony of Jaffna International Trade Fair in Jaffna Central College and Vembadi Girls’ College premises in Jaffna where he participated as the chief guest, sources in Jaffna said. He said that the said visa office will be opened on 5th May and added that cordial relationship between India and Sri Lanka prevails now and that India will strive to continue to develop the relationship, the sources added. Meanwhile, traders in Jaffna said that the government is holding the trade fair with the aim to extend the market for the goods of Southern traders in Jaffna peninsula.
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TNA welcomes Sri Lanka’s stand on Palestine issue, hopes same to be followed in Tamil traditional homeland

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 09:44 GMT]
“The permanent UN representative of Sri Lanka Bandula Jayasekara’s statement that an atmosphere to bring peace in Palestine could only be created by the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory it occupies is welcomed by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which expects Sri Lanka to follow the same principle in withdrawing its armed forces from the historical and traditional homeland of the Tamils of North and East to create peace in Sri Lanka,” Suresh Premachandran said in a press report on behalf of TNA. “We hope that the Sri Lanka government will not preach one thing in the UN and practice another at home,” the report further said.
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Teenage girl stabbed to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 08:45 GMT]
Unidentified persons entering a house Saturday night in Aththiadi in Achchuveali stabbed to death a 15-year-old girl student who happened to be alone in the house. Motive of the killing is suspected to be robbery. This is the fourth incident where women staying alone in their homes being killed within one month in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, a student of Jaffna College who had accompanied students of Changkaanai Saivapprakaasa Viththiyaalayam on an educational tour to the South drowned dead while bathing in Paraakkirama Samuthiram in Polonnaruwa.
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Court Martial to decide Fonseka's attendance to parliament

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 17:30 GMT]
The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Friday said that an attempt is being made by the Government of Sri Lanka to prevent General Sarath Fonseka from attending the parliament by getting a conviction against him at the Court Martial hearing fixed for April 19, three days ahead of the inaugural event of the new parliament which is scheduled to meet on April 22, media sources reported quoting JVP former parliamentarian Anurakumara Dissanayake.
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Ex-speaker Lokkubandara likely to be appointed cabinet minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 17:24 GMT]
Former Speaker W. M. J. Lokkubandara is likely to be appointed a minister in the new cabinet which is expected to be announced on Wednesday by President Mahinda Rajapakse. A new face is to be elected to the post of Speaker on the first day when the new parliament meets on Thursday, political circles in Colombo said.
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Rajapakse to declare open new parliament on April 22

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 17:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapakse is to officially declare open the first session of the seventh parliament Thursday (April 22) morning. The Secretary General of Sri Lanka's parliament, Dhammika Kitulgoda, has notified that the parliament will meet at 8:45 a.m. All newly elected members should be present at 8:30 a.m. The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has already won 117 seats in the 225-member Parliament, while the United National Front (UNF) led by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) obtained 46 seats, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) 12 seats and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led Democratic National Alliance (DNA) 5 seats. Twenty-nine members would be appointed through the National List on the votes each political party polled island wide.
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Former SLRC employee in Vanni complains of death threat to HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 10:12 GMT]
An employee of Sri Lanka Red Cross who had served in Vanni during the last stages of war and now living in Ma’nkumpaan in the islets of Jaffna has lodged a complaint with Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office of intimidation and death threats by armed men alleged to be ruling party ally Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) persons who operate with Sri Lanka Intelligence division. The armed men come to his place in the nights and intimidate him with threats of abduction and death, the employee said in his complaint.
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India refuses landing to Pirapaharan's mother

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 22:35 GMT]
Mrs. Vallipuram Parvathi, the ailing mother of LTTE leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, was refused landing by Indian immigration officials at Chennai airport Friday night around 11:30 p.m., media sources in Tamil Nadu said. Mrs. Parvathi, travelling from Malaysia, was seeking medical treatment in India. She was sent back to Malaysia in the same flight. Tamil Nadu leaders Nedumaran and Vaiko were at the airport and they were later joined by the members of the VCK party of Thirumavalavan. According to media sources citing immigration officials, Mrs. Parvathi is considered by India as a threat to law and order situation in the country. Members of I'lanthamizhar Iyakkam (Young Tamils Movement) led by Mr. Arunbarathy and Director Ram continued staying at the airport at the time of this report, demanding explanation from responsible officials.
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JMC evicts Sinhalese pavement traders in Nalloor

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 21:28 GMT]
Due to pressure from Jaffna Traders’ Union (JTU) and civil society organizations in Jaffna peninsula Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) administration has begun evicting the Sinhalese pavement traders who had illegally set up stalls in the surroundings of historically famous Nalloor Kanthasuvami Koayil, sources in Jaffna said. Some of the above Sinhalese traders along with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers had on 22 March demolished the memorial pillar of Lt. Col. Thileepan located behind Nalloor temple and this had enraged the residents of Jaffna peninsula who had accused JMC authorities for not evicting the illegal pavement traders from the streets around the temple.
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Indian Navy launches coast guard interceptor vessel in Rameswaram

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 21:25 GMT]
Indian Navy Commandant D. S. Saini, Commanding Officer, Coast Guard Station, Mandapam said that the arrival of C-146, an advanced interceptor vessel of Coast Guard, will help to engage in monitoring the movement of suspected vessels or persons round-the-clock, as it has modern facilities for night patrol, in an event in Rameaswarm Friday attended by key Indian Coast Guard officers, sources in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu said. The launching of this patrol vessel is observed to be an action taken to strenghthen Coast Guard activities along the coast off Rameswaram in the context of alleged presence of foreign elements including Chinese Navy in the northern seas of Sri Lanka, the sources added.
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USA wishes joint celebrations, engages in joint operations

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 15:20 GMT]
The US embassy in Colombo carried a statement Monday from Secretary Clinton, greeting ‘Sinhala and Tamil New Year,’ and saying that this year, for the first time in decades, Sri Lankans from all parts of the island can celebrate together in a peaceful and united country. This is an opportunity for ‘Sri Lankans’ living inside and outside of the country to renew bonds and the US is eager to support them in this journey, the statement said. On Friday the US embassy announced joint operations of the US and Sri Lankan militaries in ‘humanitarian exercises’ in Trincomalee. “The joint exercise helped members from our two militaries to exchange best practices on how to address complex humanitarian challenges,” said Defence Attache of the US embassy.
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Media owner's election participation invokes reactions in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 09:06 GMT]
Criticism has emerged from various quarters in Jaffna, including the senior activists of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), against the way the TNA conducted its campaign promoting industrialist Eswarapatham Saravanapavan, a senior UNP member and the general manger of two leading newspapers, Jaffna based Uthayan and Colombo based Chudaro'li. Meanwhile, the chief editor of the newspaper has complained to his management that he is considering to renounce his editorship as criticisms are levelled against him for his stand in the last parliamentary election.
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TNA parliamentary group meeting scheduled in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 07:14 GMT]
The first parliamentary group meeting of the Tamil National Alliance is to be held on Sunday in Trincomalee. Thirteen parliamentarians elected from the five districts in North and East on the Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) ticket and the only national list parliamentarian will attend the first group meeting, Mr. R.Sampanthan, a senior leader of the TNA.
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Mano Ganesan complains on violence in Nawalapitiya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2010, 18:59 GMT]
Mano Ganesan, the leader of the Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) and a candidate of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Thursday complained that government party supporters have unleashed terror against his supporters in Nawalapitiya in the Kandy district where political parties and independent groups have stepped up their campaign for the re-poll that scheduled to be held on April 20.
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Britain’s Conservative party wishes Tamils on New Year

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2010, 18:54 GMT]
Wishing British Tamils on the occasion of the traditional Tamil New Year, the main opposition Conservative party, in a statement by its leader, David Cameron, welcomed the contribution the Diaspora has made to the United Kingdom and hailed its values of family, community, enterprise and responsibility.
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SLA constructs big bases in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2010, 11:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Vanni without allowing the uprooted civilians from resettling in their homes is busy engaged in constructing big bases in strategic areas in Vanni, sources in Vanni said. Meanwhile, the small numbers of civilians permitted to resettle in some areas in Vanni are subjected to harassment by SLA. Armed group of men forcibly enter their houses in the nights where there are young women, the sources further said. SLA soldiers do not permit the civilians to move freely in the nights. Even during day time they are forced to carry their Sri Lankan National Identity Cards.
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400 STF personnel deployed in Nawalapitiya to ensure re-poll

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2010, 04:34 GMT]
Four hundred personnel of the elite Special Task Force (STF) of the Sri Lanka Police have been deployed in Nawalapitiya electorate in the Kandy district in the central province to quell any disturbances and election malpractice while the re-poll is held on April 20 in thirty four polling stations.
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Post-election related violence continues in South, one killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 12:18 GMT]
A supporter of ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) was killed Tuesday night at Anamaduwa (Aanaimadu) in Puththa'lam district in the north western province. The victim identified as a 19-year-old youth was killed by supporters of a defeated candidate from the same party, police said.
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New Year celebrations dull in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 07:00 GMT]
The Tamil New Year was observed in a low key in the North as well as in the East of the country. The Vanni uprooted civilians held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps, not allowed to resettle in their own places despite countless promises and dates announced by the government, had other unfulfilled basic needs in their minds than the arrival of the New Year, according to sources in Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, Sinhalese Buddhists from the South attended in unprecedented numbers in the religious ceremonies held in Nainaatheevu Naakavikaarai, Aariyaku’lam Naakavikaarai and the newly built Buddhist Vikaarai in Ki’linochchi, sources in Jaffna said.
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Electioneering allowed in Kumpu'ruppiddi, Nawalapitiya re-polls

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 09:37 GMT]
Trincomalee District Elections Department is to deploy fifty government officials to hold the re-poll in Kumpu'ruppiddi, a traditional Tamil village located north of Trincomalee town along Trincomalee –Pulmoaddai highway.
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New Sri Lankan cabinet to be sworn in on April 21

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 09:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has been working on the formation of his new cabinet limited between 35-40 ministers with equal number of deputy ministers, scheduled to be sworn in on April 21, the day before the new parliament is to commence its sitting. A decision has already been taken to re-appoint Ratnasiri Wickremanayake as the Prime Minister to pacify other contenders for the post, political sources said.
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April 8 general election not free and fair: Monitoring Group CaFFe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 09:27 GMT]
The Sri Lankan parliamentary election held on April 8 was not free and fair as the government flagrantly violated the poll law because the rule and law did not prevail, an election monitoring group, the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFe) has said. The Director of CaFFe Keerthi Tennakoon has told media that while ruling party candidates violated every clause in the Elections Act, the Police and Elections Commissioner simply looked on.
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Sri Lanka Boycott campaign buoyed by British MP's endorsement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 00:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka boycott campaigners staged co-ordinated rallies in US and UK cities Saturday and were enthused by the endorsement to their campaign by the British Member of Parliament, Siobhain McDonagh, who in her publicized video and urged consumers to step up pressure on the Sri Lanka Government by sustained economic boycott, US organizer of the boycott, Dr Ellyn Shander said. Boycott rallies were held in several cities in the U.S. and in U.K. "The campaigns in the future are likely to take the form of globally co-ordinated events to increase the effectiveness and to elicit wider publicity," Shander said.
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SLA blocks public visiting Pirapaharan’s house in VVT, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 April 2010, 18:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna deny permission to public visiting the house at Aaladi, Valveddiththu’rai (VVT) in Vadamaraadchi where the Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Velupillai Pirapaharan was born and raised. It has become an important tourist attraction for the people from South and foreign tourists who pour into Jaffna peninsula after the opening of A9 road, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, SLA authorities have set in course the secret destruction of the remains of LTTE leader's house, civil society organizations in Valveddiththu’rai said.
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Teen-age girl recovered dead from well in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 April 2010, 15:35 GMT]
The body of a 17-year-old girl student of Jaffna Hindu Ladies’ College was recovered from a well near her home in Chemma’ni in Nalloor Monday. She had gone missing Saturday night. Meanwhile, the woman whose body was found in I’lavaalai Sunday had been sexually assaulted before being killed, according I’lavaalai police. Mysterious killings and persons going missing have increased in Jaffna peninsula in recent times causing its residents to be gripped in fear and anxiety, sources in Jaffna said.
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New party to be launched in Tamil Nadu with Leaping Tiger as its flag

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 April 2010, 05:26 GMT]
Popular Film Director and Tamil activist S. Seeman has introduced Tiger flag for a new political party "Naam Tamilar" (We are Tamils) Saturday, claiming that the establishment of Tamil Eelam should be the moral goal of Tamils in Tamil Nadu as the leaders of the Indian Union and Tamil Nadu State had betrayed Eezham Tamils. Mr. Seeman has called for a major rally towards Mathurai on 18 May 2010, one year after the military subjugation of Eezham Tamils, marking the day as Black Day of Tamils and has announced that the new party would be inaugurated on that day. The event of introducing the flag took place at Thilagar Thidal of Thanjavur, the historic capital of the Cholas, whose emblem was Tiger.
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Swiss Tamil woman recovered dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 April 2010, 06:29 GMT]
The body of a woman from Switzerland was found hung with electric wire Sunday behind Thiru Ma’rai Kalaa Mantram located behind the Periya Church in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Police are investigating into whether she had committed suicide or had been hung after being killed by someone else. The victim had accompanied her husband, a native Kurunakar in Jaffna, living in Switzerland, in a visit to Jaffna some days ago. Her husband said that she was mentally ill and had committed suicide, the sources added.
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Lawyer Sumanthiran to be appointed MP in TNA national list

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 April 2010, 05:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) circles in Jaffna confirmed Saturday that N. A. Sumanthiran, a prominent attorney-at–law, is to be proposed as the Member of Parliament in its national list. Former lecturer of Jaffna University, Prof. Sittampalam had been earlier proposed to this place but the change has been made according to the wish of the newly elected TNA candidates from North and East, sources in Jaffna said.
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Sinhalese pavement shop burnt down in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 April 2010, 05:04 GMT]
Unidentified persons Saturday night set fire to an illegal pavement shop set up buy Sinhalese traders from South in Naachchimaar Koayiladi in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Friday night a local shop in this area had been burnt down. Conflicts and disputes between local traders and the Southern Sinhalese and Muslim traders who continue to pour into Jaffna after the opening of A9 road are on the increase with each day and Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) is reluctant to evict these traders who encroach the streets of Jaffna, the sources added.
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Wickramasinghe to remain as leader of UNP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 16:21 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) said Saturday that it suffered setback in the general election as voters had lost confidence on the electoral and present political system and not due to lack of faith in its leadership. Ranil Wickrmasinghe said he would continue to remain as the leader of the party, responding to critics who have called for restructuring of the party following the defeat in the general elections held Thursday.
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Re-poll in Kumpuruppiddi village

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 16:19 GMT]
A re-poll is to be held in Kumpuruppiddi polling station in the Trincomalee electorate on April 20 following the cancellation of polling held on April 8. Kumpuruppiddi is a Tamil village located north of Trincomalee town along Trincomalee-Pulmoaddai highway.
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EPDP men accused of intimidating SLFP organizers in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 10:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) candidates of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) who contested Jaffna electorate allied with Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) led by former Minister Douglas Devananda accused EPDP men for intimidating them when they were coming out of Jaffna Secretariat after the vote count, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the four defeated SLFP candidates, being the organizers of the party in Jaffna district, have been instructed to stay in the peninsula and to continue to work for the party by Basil Rajapakse, the senior advisor to President Rajapakse and his brother. EPDP authorities fear that these four persons as SLFP organizers will be functioning as representatives of the government which would negatively affect their power.
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Justice Stevens to retire from US Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 03:44 GMT]
90-year old John Paul Stevens, the longest serving member and anchor of the liberal wing of the United States Supreme Court, has announced that he is to retire, giving President Obama a second chance to recalibrate the ideological mix of the Supreme Court, legal sources in Washington said. "He has enriched the lives of everyone at the court through his intellect, independence, and warm grace," Chief Justice John Roberts said in a written statement.
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TNA MP: Low turnout reflects Tamils losing faith in political system

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 01:34 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson Suresh Premachandran has been quoted by The Island as saying that the very low turnout of Tamils in North and East in the 7th parliamentary elections of Sri Lanka signalled that the Tamil voters were losing faith in the political system. The TNA MP from Jaffna further said that the majority of Tamils who participated in the elections had endorsed the TNA manifesto for the resolution of the conflict and speedy re-settlement of the uprooted civilians.
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SL Foreign Minister loses election

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2010, 23:58 GMT]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, who was recently blamed for abusing his position by seeking a UN advisor job for his son has failed to secure parliamentary seat by preferential votes in the elections held on Thursday, media reports in Colombo said. SL Justice Minister Milinda Moragoda has also failed to secure a seat, the reports further said. Mr. Bogollagama has demanded a recount.
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HR activist in Australia condemns freezing asylumn to Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2010, 23:24 GMT]
The Australian Government has introduced a suspension of the processing of new asylum applications from Sri Lanka. The suspension has been made as a result of the "evolving circumstances" said a joint media release from the Australian Ministers for Immigration and Citizenship, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs on Friday. Meanwhile, Julian Burnside, an Australian barrister and a human rights advocate, has condemned the move in an article published in The Age, stating that Tamils from Sri Lanka are fleeing because they face genocide in Sri Lanka.
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Overwhelming Tamil majority rejects elections under Sri Lankan State

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2010, 11:04 GMT]
A record number of candidates, numbering more than 1800 contested for the parliamentary seats in the North and East, but Eezham Tamils responded to it by a record low in participation. The turnout was only 18 percent in the North. Even after including the displaced it is only 23%. The clear verdict of Eezham Tamils, said in the most profound democratic way under circumstances possible, is that they have no confidence in democracy under Sri Lankan State. Another interesting observation is that in the entire Jaffna district, the leading Tamil National Alliance (TNA) totally polled just 65,119, only as much as the 64,256 votes cast in favour of Vaddukkoaddai Resolution by the diaspora in UK alone. The silent but vast majority of Eezham Tamils at home demand new genre of political organisation and leadership is the message of Thursday's polls.
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Clashes reported in the wake of election all over the country

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 19:56 GMT]
Clashes following Thursday parliamentary election between supporters of opposing candidates are reported to be taking place in several areas of the island, according to media reports. Former minister of the ruling United People’s Freedom (UPFA), M. Aluthgama is alleged to be directly involved in the assault of a member of the Election Monitoring Committee in Navalappiddi in the upcountry where incidents of post election violence has been high. Fights between two Muslim factions in Aalayadiveampu in Batticaloa in which Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) members are alleged to be involved, are also reported.
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Lowest number of votes registered in Jaffna electoral district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 18:31 GMT]
Only 18 to 20 percent of the voters in Jaffna electoral district cast their votes in the parliamentary elections Thursday recording the lowest in island, while the voting percentage in the whole country was from 52 to 55 percent, according to Election Monitoring Agencies. Jaffna electoral district, compared to other electoral districts, recorded the lowest turn over of voters where voting percentage in Thenmaraadchi was higher than that of Vadamaraadchi while voting was very low in the islets of Jaffna, the sources said. Compared to the recent presidential election where the voting was low the voting turn out was even less in the parliamentary election in Jaffna electoral district.
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Sri Lankan voting ends amidst more polls violations, violence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 11:58 GMT]
Voting at Thursday’s Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary Elections ended on schedule at 4.00 pm local time as independent monitors placed the voter turn out to between 50 to 55 percent. Keerthi Tenakoon with the Campaign for Free and fair Elections (CaFFE) said the maximum average was around 55 per cent in almost all parts of the country including the North and East, an all-time low when compared with the 62 per cent turn out at the recently concluded Presidential Elections in January this year.
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Incidents of violence mark Election Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 10:15 GMT]
In Vavuniyaa in the North, alleged supporters of former Minister of Resettlement and ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Risard Badudeen harassed private bus owners transporting Vanni uprooted civilians in Vavuniyaa detention centres to the polling stations in Vanni district, according to Advisor to the Elections Commisioner, Bandula Kulathunge. Meanwhile, Executive Director of PAFFREL, Rohana Hettiarachchi said that the Election Day was quite violent with incidents continuing to pour in from all parts of the island.
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Low turnout of voting, people disinterested in election in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 09:43 GMT]
Around 11:00 a.m Thursday only 4.29% persons eligible to vote had cast their votes in Jaffna while after 2:00 p.m there was a slight increase. However, only 10% of the total registered voters had cast their votes in Jaffna electorate by afternoon, Jaffna Secretariat officials said. People were seen disinterested in the parliamentary election and the general atmosphere in the peninsula was peaceful without any considerable election violence, sources in Jaffna said.
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Thousands of uprooted civilians denied voting: CaFFE election monitors

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 08:46 GMT]
Many interned Tamil civilians in Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa were told by Sri Lankan election officials that they must go to Ki'linochchi Cluster Polling Station to vote, while election officials in Ki'linochchi station were instructing civilians that they must proceed to the Menik Farm Polling Station to vote, said Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) in a statement issued Thursday. "In the Killinochchi Central College Cluster Polling Centers only 362 out of 7,504 total registered voters have been able to cast their votes in the first set of 8 cluster polling stations. Furthermore, in the second set of 8 cluster polling centers only 283 out of 10,240 voters have been able to cast their votes by 12.00 noon," CaFFE statement said.
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SL parliamentary election: low turnout in morning

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 08:42 GMT]
Polling began Thursday morning to elected a 196 member parliament but a poor turnout was reported from many parts of the country, according to monitoring and observers group. The turnout was about 25 to 30 percent by about noon, monitoring sources said.
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Family man feared abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 16:37 GMT]
A family man of Soosaipi’l’laiyaar Koayiladi in Vavuniyaa, gone missing since Tuesday evening after going to the mechanic repair garage near Kanthasuvaami Koyiladi in Vavuniyaa town to have his three-wheeler repaired, is feared abducted, according to a complaint lodged by his wife with Vavuniyaa police. The abductee was released Thursday.
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Ballot boxes dispatched to polling booths in Jaffna, Ki’linochchi districts

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 11:07 GMT]
Jaffna secretariat started dispatching Wednesday morning ballot boxes and polling cards in vehicles escorted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police to the polling centres in Jaffna district and to the cluster voting centres set up in Ki’linochchi district and in the islets of Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. The ballot boxes, cards and election duty officers to Nedunththeevu were flown in a helicopter. Meanwhile, Saravanabavan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate contesting Jaffna electorate, alleged that nearly 3,000 polling cards had been snatched away by Eezham People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) men in the islets of Jaffna.
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SLA releases Vanni civilians from Thellippazhai Rehabilitation Centre, opens Clock Tower road

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 10:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) released 106 Vanni uprooted persons including young men and women held in Thellippazhai SLA Special Rehabilitation Centre (SRC) and opened Clock Tower Road in Jaffna town Wednesday in a last minute attempt to support the government in the context of Thursday parliamentary election, sources said. Jaffna SLA Commander Major Gen. Mahintha Kathurasinghe presided at the official event held at Thellippazhai SRC Thursday morning and later officially opened Clock Tower Road which had been closed by SLA for the last 15 years. Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, Jaffna University Vice-chancellor Prof. Shanmugalingan, Commanding Officer of SLA 515th Division G. A. Jayasundara participated in the event at Thellippazhai.
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ACTC candidate attacked in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 09:29 GMT]
Three unidentified persons waylaid and attacked a candidate of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) when he was returning home on his motorbike Tuesday night around 10 p.m. His house is located in Orr’s Hill, a suburb in Trincomalee town.
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UNP says Elections Commissioner unable to ensure free, fair election

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 09:26 GMT]
Sri Lankan Opposition UNP on Wednesday said that the Sri Lankan Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake was unable to ensure a free and fair general election under the existing system as he has no control over the police and state media.
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Uprooted civilians sell dry food rations on streets in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 04:46 GMT]
Uprooted civilians from Vanni in Vavuniyaa internment camps are forced to sell their dry food rations on the streets of Vavuniyaa as they are unable to fulfill their other pressing needs including milk food for their children, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Help from NGOs being unavailable they are driven to sell their dry food rations for less than half the market price to meet their other vital needs. The uprooted persons resettled in Vanni and in Jaffna district too face the same predicament, sources from Vanni and Jaffna said.
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Body of woman recovered in Araali sea in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2010, 18:21 GMT]
Vaddukkoaddai police recovered the body of a woman estimated to be in late sixties caught in the net of a fisherman fishing in Araali seas Tuesday. Araali Village Officer said that none had been reported missing from his area. Meanwhile, police suspect that the woman was killed and dumped into the sea.
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High ranking Tiger officials in SLA custody feared assassinated

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2010, 15:39 GMT]
Basil Rajapakse, senior advisor of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and his brother said Monday in Colombo that if the name of anyone not found in the list of 11,000 persons held in the rehabilitation camps for Liberation Tigers, published in government websites they could be considered no longer living, in a conference he held with the Non-government Organizations now functioning in Vanni. In response to a question raised by HUDEC Caritas representative on the situation of the persons gone missing and arrested during the final stage of the war on Vanni Basil Rajapakse referred to the list of 11,000 persons held in the rehabilitation camps but failed to mention the websites he referred to, an NGO representative who attended the conference said.
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EPDP continues to intimidate other contestants in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2010, 14:35 GMT]
Eezham People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), an ally of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in the islets of Jaffna which is under the absolute control of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), has spread a false news in its website and media that 3 local youths had been attacked with swords in Naaranthanai in Oorkaavatu’rai in the islands of Jaffna with the aim of scaring the polling agents of other contestants from appearing for duty in the islets of Jaffna on the election day, sources in Jaffna said. Sinhalese thugs from South brought to Jaffna by United National Party (UNP) had slashed the youths, according to news spread by EPDP, the sources added. However, residents of Naaranthanai denied any attack on youths in their village while Jaffna dailies did not carry any such news.
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Eezham fishermen not responsible for attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2010, 14:11 GMT]
The president of Jaffna peninsula fishermen society federation, C. Thavarathinam, said Tuesday that the Tamil fishermen from Jaffna peninsula had nothing to do with the attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen on Kachchaitheevu seas Monday night. While refuting the rumour blaming Jaffna fishermen for the attack he said that there is a strong suspicion that the Sinhalese fishermen from the South who engage in deep fishing on Northern seas in large numbers had attacked the fishermen from Tamil Nadu with the assistance of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers who are in full control of the islets of Jaffna and the seas around. Meanwhile, fishermen who were attacked said that SLN soldiers had assaulted them and cut off their nets besides confiscating their catch, sources in Raameasvaram said.
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Police forcibly remove fasting monks demanding release of Fonseka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2010, 03:44 GMT]
A group of police men in civil Monday evening forcibly removed some Buddhist monks who were fasting unto death in front of Colombo Fort demanding the release of General Sarath Fonseka. Several Buddhist monks joined the fast which commenced last Saturday.
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Election fraud feared in Jaffna electorate

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2010, 16:47 GMT]
The open participation of a high police officer in the election propaganda meeting of Minister Douglas Devananda at Nalloor Ilang Kalaingar Hall Sunday has triggered suspicion and fear that the police and Sri Lanka armed forces will support election fraud in favour of Douglas Devananda’s Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and its ally Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA shoots on persons transporting sand in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2010, 16:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers opened fire Sunday evening on three youths on a tractor transporting sand for building purposes without stopping at the SLA check post in Allaarai area in Thenmaraadchi, sources in Chavakachcheari said. The soldiers were able to take two of them into custody while the third person had run off. Kodikaamam police to whom the two persons were handed over to produced them at Chaavakachcheari magistrate court Monday. The court ordered the two youths to be placed in remand prison.
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Tamil Nadu police alleged of harassing Eezham Tamil refugees

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2010, 04:51 GMT]
Six Eezham Tamil refugee youths arrested while stranded in mid-sea by Indian Navy and handed over to Tamil Nadu police, told reporters in Tamil Nadu that they had hired a boat to flee to Sri Lanka as they were harassed by Tamil Nadu police in the refugee camps they were lodged in. They further told the reporters they did not mind being killed in Sri Lanka than being harassed by Tamil Nadu police adding that harassment of Eezham Tamil refugees by Tamil Nadu police has escalated.
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Abductors demand ransom from family in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2010, 04:25 GMT]
The young family man from Veala’nai in the islets of Jaffna gone missing since 30 March has been abducted for a ransom of 300,000 rupees, according to a complaint lodged with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office by his family members Sunday. Unknown persons had phoned the neighbours of the family and demanded the money. Attempts to contact the callers on the number of the cell phone used had failed, according to the complaint.
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Minister's army back-up vehicle kills Eastern University lecturer

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2010, 17:08 GMT]
Ehambaram Maheswaran, 43, a senior lecturer of the Eastern University was killed Saturday morning when an army back-up vehicle of a minister knocked him down in Batticaloa in a head on collision. He succumbed to injuries on admission to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. The accident took place at Chaththurukko'ndaan, Police media spokesman said.
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Rwandan genocidaire leads middle-class life in Alabama

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2010, 12:40 GMT]
Jean Damascene Bizimana, 56, a Rwandan politician, wanted for his alleged role in the Rwandan Genocide, with a pending warrant for arrest against him by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), has been discovered leading a middle-class life as an American citizen in the small town of Opelika, Alabama, David L. Bosco, a professor at the American University, Washington D.C. reported in the weekend Washington Post. Bizimana was Rwanda's UN Ambassador at the time when the assassination of Rwanda's president unleashed a horrific three-month genocide that would ultimately kill 800,000 people.
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41 percent polling cards remain undelivered in Jaffna electorate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2010, 17:29 GMT]
Only 4, 27,164 (59%) polling cards of the total 7,21,359 polling cards of Jaffna electorate which consists of the districts of Jaffna and Ki’linochchi have been delivered to voters through post offices, Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said in a press meet held in Jaffna Secretariat Saturday. However, arrangements have been made for them to get their polling cards until 4:00 p.m on the voting day, he added. Steps have been taken to transport the uprooted Vanni voters held in Vavuniyaa detention centres from 8:00 a.m to 10:00 a.m to vote in the cluster voting booths on the election day, the GA informed on being reminded that there were allegations that the voters in the detention centres were not transported to vote in the last Presidential election.
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Counting of votes would be suspended if irregularity is noted

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2010, 15:53 GMT]
Counting of votes in the forthcoming general elections that is to be held on April 8 would be suspended if any untoward incident takes place during the process in the centres or in their premises, according to the instruction issued by the Commissioner of Elections to his District Returning Officers (DRO). The counting should resume in case of suspension, only if the Returning Officers and other authorities are fully satisfied that normalcy has been restored, the Elections Commissioner said.
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Buddhist monk begins fast unto death demanding release of Fonseka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2010, 09:06 GMT]
A Buddhist monk affiliated to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) launched a fast unto death campaign Saturday morning opposite Fort railway station in Colombo demanding early release of Retd. Gen. Sarath Fonseka who was taken into custody following the presidential election held on January 26. He was defeated by the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse in the election.
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Tortured Jaffna undergrad commits suicide

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 20:21 GMT]
26-year-old Balasingham Karunanithi, a third year student of the Faculty of Management in Jaffna University, arrested and tortured by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) when he was held in a Vavuniyaa detention camp after the war on Vanni, committed suicide in Jaffna at a house in Naachchimaar Koayiladi where he was staying, sources in Jaffna said. Karunanithi is the fourth Vanni undergraduate of Jaffna University to commit suicide due to mental derangement resulting from their detention in SLA detention centres in Vavuniyaa, the sources added. A medical faculty student and two first year girl students of Jaffna University had committed suicide after the final offensive on Vanni.
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EPDP alleged of removing wall posters of other contestants, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 12:51 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) chief candidate Ms. Vijayakala Vijayakala’s supporters in Jaffna town accused Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) for tearing off their campaign wall posters and pasting Minister Douglas Devananda’s and EPDP candidates in their places in Jaffna town and its surroundings. Other political parties including Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and All Ceylon Tamil Congress too blamed the EPDP men for removing their wall posters.
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“Winning the hearts of Sinhalese should be the main aim” – Varatharaja Perumal

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 12:36 GMT]
“All the Tamils in Sri Lanka together should strive to win the hearts of the Sinhalese,” Varatharaja Perumal, the leader of Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) said in the press meet he held Friday at the EPRLF office of Pathmanaba faction located on Hospital Road Jaffna. “If all the Tamil factions agree on a common solution for the ethnic issue India will exert its pressure on Sri Lanka to implement it,” Varatharaja Perumal said.
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Colombo UNP candidate arrested on sexual abuse complaint

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 11:49 GMT]
The Colombo Police Friday morning arrested a UNP Colombo district candidate, Susil Kindelpitiya, over a complaint lodged by a woman last night alleging sexual abuse and harassment, Police spokesman S.P Jayakody told Colombo media.
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Infighting leads to arrest of UPFA candidate

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 11:43 GMT]
The Puththalam Police Friday arrested a ruling UPFA candidate Sanath Nishantha on a complaint that he had assaulted the son of another UPFA candidate Minister Neomal. The suspect was produced in Puththalam Court and ordered remand till next Monday. The assault took place on Wednesday night, sources in Puththalam said.
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Dengue spreads in Mannar, 17 detected in Pesalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 11:41 GMT]
Dengue fever is spreading fast in Pesalai in Mannaar district, and seventeen persons have been admitted to the Mannaar general hospital, according to a medial officer of the hospital. Mannaar District Public Health Department has been taking steps to control the spread of dengue following an alert issued by the Mannar general hospital authorities.
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EPDP accused of attack on UNP supporters in Kaarainakar

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 08:15 GMT]
The Chief Candidate of United National Party (UNP), Ms. Vijayakala Maheswaran, accused Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), an ally of ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), men for attacking her supporters Wednesday night at Valanthali junction, Kaarainakar in the islets of Jaffna as they were returning after attending an election meeting at Araali. She added that her supporters were rescued from EPDP men by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) authorities to whom she had complained.
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Ruling UPFA Mayor of Jaffna reports of an attempt on her life

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2010, 19:23 GMT]
Mayor of Jaffna Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) said that she managed to escape from an attempt on her life Thursday around 1:30 a.m as she was on her way to Durraippah Stadium to check arrangements for the public meeting in which President Mahinda Rajapakse was to address the same day, in a press meet she held Thursday evening in Jaffna. Her husband, her driver and an attorney-at-law of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), an ally of ruling UPFA, were present at the press meet.
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Buddhist monk threatens Tamil farmers in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2010, 19:19 GMT]
About one hundred and forty Tamil farmers cultivating paddy in 13th unit of Maha Vi’laangku’lam, now named Mahadiulwewa after the State aided colonization since the country gained independence, were threatened by a Buddhist Monk in the area to leave their paddy lands and go elsewhere. The Buddhist Monk claims that the said paddy lands are parts of an archaeological site where an ancient Buddhist Vihare was located.
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Mahinda Rajapakse displeased with Jaffna election meeting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2010, 11:01 GMT]
Despite efforts by Minister Douglas Devananda and the candidates of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) it was possible to bring in only less than 400 persons to attend the propaganda meeting in which Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse participated Thursday in Jaffna Duraippah Stadium, sources in Jaffna said. Mahinda Rajapakse appeared disturbed and displeased on seeing a small crowd and delivered an address which failed to cover the much expected and vital issues like political solution, resettlement of uprooted families in Valikaamam North in Sri Lanka Army occupied High Security Zone (HSZ) and restoring normalcy in Jaffna peninsula.
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Douglas Devananda intimidates Yarl Thinakural editor, manager in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2010, 06:50 GMT]
Douglas Devananda, a minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet and the leader of the paramilitary-cum-political party Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), has publicly warned the editor of Yarl Thinakural K. Vamathevan and its administrative manager A. Nadarajah for having published front page news on the attack on Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) candidate Ankajan, stating that the reporting has negatively affected election propaganda for his party besides damaging his reputation. Douglas Devananda openly threatened that Vamathevan and Nadarajah will not be able to go for work Friday if they fail to apologize to him at a press meet he held for the local media in Jaffna Srithar Theatre Thursday morning. The open threat by Devananda to the lives of the news editor and the reputed manager of the Jaffna daily has created fear and panic among the media persons in Jaffna peninsula.
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SLFP candidate attacked in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2010, 05:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) candidate Ramanathan Ankajan contesting Jaffna electorate and his supporters were attacked around Wednesday midnight between Aanaipanthi and Aariyaku’lam on Jaffna-Point Pedro road by a group of armed men alleged to be of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), sources in Jaffna said. Three supporters of Ankajan are said to be abducted at gun point by the armed men who had set fire to one of the vehicles of Ankajan group. Ankajan and his supporters were engaged in making arrangements to welcome President Mahinda Rajapakse who is expected to visit Jaffna Thursday. Conflicting interests between the candidates of SLFP and EPDP who are contesting jointly in ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ticket may be the cause for the attack, the sources added. There were no army soldiers or police present at the location during the attack, the sources added.
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