Veteran journalist Sivanayagam passes away

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 12:42 GMT]
Veteran journalist S. Sivanayagam whose contributions were part of the history of the liberation struggle of Eezham Tamils, passed away on Monday in Colombo at the age of 80. The funeral will take place on Thursday. Joining The Daily News in 1953, he became the founder editor of Saturday Review started in Jaffna in 1982. The weekly that made a name in the early stages of the Tamil militant struggle had an abrupt end with the 1983 pogrom. He was later in charge of the Tamil Information Centre in Chennai. In 1990, he was editing a new journal Tamil Nation. Following the assassination of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, he was arrested without any charges, harassed, insulted and was ill treated by the Indian intelligence. He left India in 1993 to get asylum in France. He was also residing in London. Ailing from bone cancer, a few years ago he went back to Colombo and was remaining silent.
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SLA suspends resettlement in Valikaamam North HSZ villages

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 10:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Sunday suspended the resettlement of displaced people of three village (GN) divisions including I'lavaalai and Viththakapuram after the civil authorities ceremonialy launched resettlement of 970 families in Valikaamam North sector of Jaffna district on Saturday with a pooja at Nakuleasvaram temple, attended by EPDP leader and minister Douglas Devananda and Tamil National Alliance MPs. The military officials have said there were crucial security establishments with minefields on the way to the villages. As a result, the much awaited resettlement has again been postponed, this time for 'another month'. Meanwhile, informed sources said that the whole episode of resettlement was hurriedly staged at Keerimalai temple to coincide with the visit by Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna to Jaffna last week.
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Vanni schools face closure due to torrential rain, negligence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 09:03 GMT]
Education department sources have warned that schools in Vanni are facing closure due to continuous torrential rain. Majority of schools including in Ki'linochchi, Mullaiththeevu, Mannaar, and Vadamaraachchi East have been functioning in temporary shelters. Classrooms have been under water due to rain. Members of several families have also sought refuge in temporary shelters put up in schools as their houses are also under water. Hence education authorities have asked students not to come to schools which are located in rain affected areas.
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Vaazhaichcheanai parents, students protest against TMVP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 08:57 GMT]
Students and parents of Vaazhaichcheanai in Batticaloa district Monday protested against the decision by Piratheasa Chapai (PS) chairman S. Jeevagathas to close down private tuition centres in the area. This was the first time residents of Vaazhaichchenai held such demonstration against the TMVP, which is led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pilliayan who is also the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC).
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Wikileaks show US probing UN's position on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 03:32 GMT]
While the text message content of leaked cabes from US embassies throughout the world to the US State Department is yet to become public, British Daily Guardian published secret cables sent to US diplomats two months after the Sri Lanka war was over, where US was probing the UN's position on appointing a special envoy for Sri Lanka. Wikilieaks is expected to reveal contents of 3325 cables from US Embassy in Colombo, ranking within the first 10 countries from where largest number of cables were sent. US also queried its diplomats' on views of the UN member states' view of strengthening measures to prevent egregious crimes including genocide.
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Icy reception for Rajapaksa at Heathrow

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 22:36 GMT]
More than five hundred Tamils gathered at London’s Heathrow airport to protest as Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa landed from Colombo. As Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL509 carrying Mr. Rajapaksa, who is on a private visit, landed at about 9:50 p.m. UK time, protestors braved Britain’s unusually cold weather to call attention to his government’s war crimes. Meanwhile, a senior Norwegian expert on the conflict in Sri Lanka advised Tamil activists to concentrate on country-level legal moves, rather than waiting for any global or governmental actors to take the lead. Tamils should forge alliances with legal, alternative, and human rights groups to fight the legal battle, the expert told Norwegian Country Council representatives, who welcomed the British demonstration.
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SL High Court to decide on using Fonseka video on white flag case

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 17:57 GMT]
The three member bench of the Colombo High Court Monday said that it would decide on Wednesday whether the edited video speech of Sarath Fonseka, the former commander of the Sri Lanka Army, produced by the Attorney General could be accepted as evidence against him in a case in which he is indicted with causing disrepute to the government by a giving an interview to the Sunday leader, English weekly. Sarath Fonseka in that interview had alleged that the Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had instructed the Major General Shavendra Silva not to spare any LTTE member who came holding white flags, but to shoot them all dead.
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SL parliament adopts 2nd reading of 2011 Budget

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 17:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Monday evening adopted the second reading of the Budget for the year 2011 by a majority of 104 votes. 150 parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the budget. 46 parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted against. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians abstained from voting.
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Rajapaksa leaves for London

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 17:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa left for London Monday evening in a special flight 509. He is scheduled to address the Oxford Union on December 2nd at the invitation of the Oxford Union and the Sri Lanka Society of Oxford University, the Government Information Department said. Times of India on 05 November reported that Rajapaksa cancelled his trip to UK fearing arrest for war crimes. However, Rajapaksa's office responded by saying that the visit was not cancelled, but postponed till December.
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TNA to abstain from voting on 2nd reading of Sri Lankan budget

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 13:13 GMT]
Rajapaksa's government, which proclaims that it's priority is resettlement of displaced Tamil people, has not translated the words into deeds in its budget for 2011, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said in a press statement Monday. The TNA statement further noted that the allocation made for defence expenditure has continued to increase year by year even after the conclusion of the war and said that the TNA members have unanimously decided not to participate in the voting on second reading of budget on Monday. The TNA said its position was that Colombo should negotiate with the TNA, which is the elected representatives of the Tamils.
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Colombo covers up bank robbery by Sinhala gang in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 10:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan police authorities are trying to cover up an attempted bank robbery by a three-member Sinhala robbers at Chaavakachcheari branch of the state-owned National Savings Bank Sunday morning. While Police in Chaavakachcheari said they had arrested one of the the robbers, a Sinhala man from South, based on surveilance camera monitoring and were searching for the other two robbers in his team, the police in Colombo at a press conference twisted the facts by saying that the arrested robber was from Ki'linochchi.
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300,000 mines cleared in north, east-SLA claims

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2010, 22:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Sunday claimed that more than three hundred thousand mines have been cleared and destroyed in a land area of 1863 square kilometers so far in the North and East. More than 1300 soldiers have been deployed for demining activities using mechanical and manual methods, Military Spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawala said
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Sri Lanka experiences power failure

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2010, 22:32 GMT]
The electricity supply was cut off in many parts of the country Sunday from three in the afternoon for several hours due to tripping of Kotmale and Biyagama transmission following thunder shower and lightning, Ceylon Electricity Board sources said. The power was restored section by section till evening. There was no permanent damage to the main supply system, Vidya Amarapala, CEB Chairman said.
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This is a struggle for all of us: Vikramabahu tells Heroes Day congregation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2010, 12:57 GMT]
Tamils were killed by successive Sinhala chauvinistic governments and at last but not the least by the Mahinda regime. Not only Tamils but also thousands of Sinhala youth who were sent for aggression in the Tamil homeland and attack Tamils died in an alien land. The misery created among the Sinhalese will also show its reaction in future. This is a struggle for all of us. Yes, we have gone through defeat. Now we have to get up and fight to overthrow this chauvinistic military regime to have democracy in the land, said Dr. Vikramabahu Karunaratne, Secretary of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), who was a star speaker at the Maaveerar (Heroes) Day gathering in London, Saturday. The event attended by more than 50, 000 diaspora Tamils paid homage to the heroes who laid down their lives fighting for the liberation of Tamil Eelam.
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600 foreigners deported from Sri Lanka since January this year

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2010, 12:25 GMT]
More than six hundred foreigners, most of them are of Indian nationality have been deported in this year from January to November for having entered the country on tourist visa but working in various capacity. In the last three months since August about three hundred foreigners have been deported, according to Sri Lanka’s Immigration and Emigration Department.
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Sinhalese appointed to government departments in Batticaloa, Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2010, 12:20 GMT]
All Ceylon Government Public Servants Association (ACGPSA) has requested the President Mahinda Rajapakse to stop appointing Sinhalese from other parts of the country to fill vacancies in Divisional Secretariats and other government departments in the districts of Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai with immediate effect. ACGPSA President S.Loganathan said that he has sent a memorandum to Rajapakse to this effect.
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50,000 gather in London to remember Tamil Eelam Heroes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 19:14 GMT]
Around 50,000 Eezham Tamils congregated on Saturday in London to pay homage to the Maaveerar (heroes) who laid down their lives in fighting for the liberation of Tamil Eelam. Similar gatherings proportionate to the population of Eezham Tamil diaspora were noticed in the other European capitals. 9,000 congregated in one of 8 localities in France and 9,000 at Fribourg in Switzerland, where local organisers noticed a new vigour of uprising. Meanwhile, the BBC in London cut a pathetic figure by featuring a report of a BBC Tamil Service staff, titled “Why Sri Lankan Tamils won’t remember war dead this year”. The BBC Tamil Service in recent years has become a mouthpiece of war crimes accused Colombo and the establishment abetting it from New Delhi, observers said. The subversive game is played by manipulating the unjustified continuation of the tag of ‘terrorism’ in UK, they further said.
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Pakistan President Zardari arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 14:47 GMT]
Pakistan President, Asif Ali Zardari, arrived Saturday evening in Colombo on a three day official visit, and was received by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), diplomatic sources in Colombo said. Ali Zardari will interact with Members of the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Association and address a Business Forum comprising businessmen and corporate leaders during his state visit, according to the same sources.
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Welfare centers sheltering Champoor IDPs under rain water

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 12:31 GMT]
Some one thousand two hundred and sixty two displaced Tamil families sheltered in four welfare centers in Moothoor division in Trincomalee district are undergoing untold hardships due to torrential rain. The temporary sheds in the welfare centers have been inundated with rain water. The inmates find difficult to sleep, cook food and latrines are under water preventing them to answer call of nature. Health authorities have expressed fear of out break of dengue and other diseases among IDPs if no preventive measures are taken.
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Strong winds, heavy rain in North, East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 12:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Meteorological Department has issued a warning of strong winds and heavy rain in the northern and eastern provinces and Gulf of Mannaar in the country later Friday night. People have been advised to take extra caution against lightning as the wet weather continues owing to an atmospheric disturbance in the region.
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Japan provides US$15m grant for Sri Lanka road construction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 12:18 GMT]
Japanese officials signed a 1.2 billion Japanese Yen, approx. LKR 1.6 billion, grant agreement to reconstruct five bridges in the Eastern Province, at the Ministry of Finance on 25 November 2010, Sri Lanka media reported Thursday. Under the grant agreement, four bridges between Padiyathalawa and Ea'raavoor on the A5 in Maha Oya and Ea'raavoorpaththu DS Divisions, and the panichchangkea'ni bridge and causeway on the A15 (Trincomalee-Batticaloa Road) will be reconstructed.
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Indian FM harps on failed 13th Amendment in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 09:16 GMT]
Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who ceremoniously opened an Indian Mission near Kantharmadam junction in Jaffna, failed to deliver any positive message to Eezham Tamils on India's position in resolving the national question. Mr. S.M. Krishna harped on the failed 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution, a model Tamils have rejected as inadequate in guaranteeing their rights and he also failed to touch the territorial integrity of the North-Eastern Province which was de-merged by Rajapaksa government that disregarded the earlier arrangement that has been in practice for several years following the Indo Lanka Accord.
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SLA in Vadamaraadchi East pilfer properties of uprooted people

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 08:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers occupying Vadamaraadchi East continue to pilfer the roof and timber components of the houses from which the uprooted families fled during SLA offensives, the recently resettled families in Vadamaraadchi said. Though the families had fled, most of their houses in the areas from Naakarkoayil to Saalai had remained undamaged as there was no war fought in the said area. SLA soldiers since then had pilfered the components of the houses abandoned to construct their sentry posts and camps along the coast and roads. Now, SLA soldiers refuse to return the properties of the uprooted families who have been resettled in Vadamaraadchi East, the families said.
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SLA conducts searches in Mannaar to obstruct Heroes’ Day observations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 07:34 GMT]
Armed Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and police jointly launched search operations in important places in Manaar Friday from 6:00 p.m to midnight with the aim to prevent anyone from paying homage to the Heroes who laid down their lives in the struggle for liberation, sources in Mannaar said. The soldiers and the policemen stopped people going along the roads and checked their belongings to find any leaflets related to Heroes’ Day or things used to light lamps in memory of the heroes. There is no information available about anyone arrested during the searches.
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Jaffna paper office encircled by thugs

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 22:12 GMT]
A group of 10 to 15 men wearing black masks have encircled the Jaffna office of Thinakkural located at Kasthooriyaar Road Friday midnight. The newspaper officers who contacted their Colombo office have told the management to take immediate steps to ensure their safety as the presence of the gang posed a direct threat to the media workers at the office and attached press of the Jaffna edition of Thinakkural daily.
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Swiss Tamil youths launch 'Thamizhan' Energy Drink

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 21:34 GMT]
Two Tamil youths in Switzerland on 26 November 2010 launched an Energy Drink named 'Thamizhan' and announced that the income generated through the sales of the product of their private firm would be fully invested to form and sustain a foundation-managed fund that would strengthen the democratic interests of the Eezham Tamil cause, the owners told TamilNet Friday.
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SLA deploys soldiers in LTTE leader's village

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 20:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army on Friday deployed hundreds of soldiers in Valveddiththu'rai (VVT), the birth place of LTTE leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, to stop anyone publicly celebrating his birthday. Road patrols and searches too were conducted in Valveddiththu’rai forcing people to stay indoors.
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Rains flood low-lying areas in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 19:27 GMT]
Jaffna peninsula is experiencing persisting rains since Wednesday and the most affected are the families from Vanni resettled in low-lying areas lodged in tin sheds and tarpaulin covered huts, sources in Jaffna said. The uprooted families who had lived in temporary makeshift structures in the camps suffer the same life even after being resettled. Jaffna Fort, Kurunakar, Pommaive’li and Kaakkaitheevu in Jaffna town are some of the places where residences and other buildings are submerged in floods.
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SLA warns temples in Jaffna not to toll bells on Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 18:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has instructed the temple authorities in Valikaamam not to toll the temple bells Saturday. The army thinks that it will be a way of people paying their homage to the Heroes who laid down their lives in the struggle for liberation, sources in Jaffna said. The temple authorities were instructed to drape the bells with cloth if the bells cannot be removed from their positions. Last year, on Heroes’ Day, people who were oppressed from observing the Day remembering their fallen kith and kin tolled bells in the temples in the evening defying the restrictions of the SLA.
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Sri Lanka will reject any political settlement with Tamils - editorial

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 12:27 GMT]
“If [India's External Affairs Minister S M] Krishna is intending to take up the issue of a political settlement during his visit to Sri Lanka, he will get short shrift in Colombo. President Mahinda Rajapakse has already made his response clear in an interview with The Hindu newspaper this week: there will be no such thing,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper said in its editorial this week. “It is in this way that a long-standing contradiction between the Sinhala establishment and the international community, which had been masked by Indian and Western hostility to the Tamil armed struggle, is now coming clearly to the fore.”
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'Rajapakse not needed in Nepal'

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 12:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is increasingly styling himself at home as latter-day manifestation of ancient Sinhala rulers, also considers himself a ‘regional’ leader, as his foreign minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris puts it. However, the Nepali government doesn’t seem to think so - this week it rubbished Prof. Peiris’ claim the Himalayan state had sought President Rajapakse’s help in resolving the political imbroglio there.
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UN post confers no absolute immunity from war crimes prosecution

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 00:04 GMT]
Under the terms of the United Nations Charter, UN Officials only have “functional” immunity, immunity ratione materiae which confers immunities on those performing acts of state (duties). War crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are not incidental to the duties of a UN accredited diplomat, and therefore, Shavendra Silva, Sri Lanka's official at the UN in New York, can be prosecuted under the 18 USC 2441 of US criminal code for allegedly committing war crimes outside the US. Legal sources also said that the UN Headquarters Agreement on UN officials' Privileges and Immunities concluded with respect to the UN Charter arguably confers functional immunity only as well.
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Jaffna dailies threatened not to cover Heroes’ Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 18:26 GMT]
Two helmeted armed men arriving on motor cycles Thursday night to the offices of two Tamil dailies published in Jaffna issued letters threatening them not to publish any news about Heroes’ Day that falls on Saturday, media sources in Jaffna said. The letter warned that the offices of dailies which fail to pay heed to the warning will be burnt.
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Number of Cabinet ministers in SL government rises to 61, deputies 34

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 17:38 GMT]
The number of Cabinet rank ministers in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has risen to sixty one with the appointment of one more minister and the number of deputy ministers to thirty-four with the appointment of three more. Milroy Fernando, former Resettlement Minister Thursday took oaths as the Minister for Social Welfare increasing the number of senior ministers to eleven.
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Indian External Affairs Minister Krishna arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 17:36 GMT]
Indian External Affairs Minister Mr. S. M. Krishna arrived in Sri Lanka on a three day visit Thursday evening by a special plane from New Delhi. He is accompanied by a delegation of twenty members. He was received at the Katunayake International Airport by his counterpart in Sri Lanka Mr.G.L.Peiris. Mr. Krishna is scheduled to meet a delegation of the Tamil Parties Forum on Sunday morning around 9:00 a.m and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation around 10:00 a.m the same day in Colombo.
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Missing Tamil trader found dead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 13:37 GMT]
The body of a Tamil trader Kanapathy Gunaratnam, 52, who was reported missing since Wednesday morning was recovered in Wellawatte Thursday morning, according to initial reports from the Wellawatte Police. The trader was a resident of Alwis Town in Wattala, a suburb in Colombo.
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New Secretaries appointed to ‘Mahinda Chintana’ government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 12:24 GMT]
55 Secretaries, the highest civil servants of the ministries appointed Tuesday by the President of the Colombo government Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, were advised by him to discharge their duties properly according to the ‘Mahinda Chintana’, reports Daily Mirror. Structuring the ministries in his second term of office, Mr. Rajapasksa handed over new appointment letters to the secretaries of the various ministries. The Mahinda Chintana list of Secretaries has one Tamil and one Muslim among the 55. The lone Tamil secretary is appointed to the Ministry of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development for which Mr. Douglas Devananda is the minister.
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Leaflets calling people to observe Heroes’ Day distributed in Jaffna University

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 11:52 GMT]
Unidentified men arriving on motorcycles Thursday morning entered Jaffna University premises and distributed leaflets calling the people of Jaffna peninsula to observe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Maaveerar (Great Heroes) Day on Saturday. The men had quickly left the campus to the chagrin of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna who assume that Jaffna University and its surroundings are under their tight control, sources in Jaffna said. Wall posters calling people to observe the Heroes’ Day are found pasted on the walls in the environments of Jaffna University. The leaflets and the posters had a photograph of the LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan which shows him paying his respects to the Great Heroes who had sacrificed their lives to the cause of Tamil Eelam, the sources added.
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SLA holds leader of protestors under house arrest in Karaichchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 10:33 GMT]
More than ten Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arriving Thursday around 11:00 a.m at the house of the President of Oottuppulam Rural Development Society (RDS), who led the protest demonstration Wednesday demanding the cancellation of the sudden transfer of Karaichchi Divisional Secretary on the instructions of SLA authorities, continue to hold him under house arrest surrounding his house, sources in Ki’linochchi said. The president who is held under house arrest was to lead a hunger strike in front of Ki’linochchi Government Agent’s office Thursday along with nine other RDS presidents and a large number of civilians until the transfer order issued to the Divisional Secretary was cancelled.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Wattala

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 09:31 GMT]
A fifty two year-old Tamil civilian has been reported missing since Wednesday morning, according to a complaint by his relatives in the Wattala Police station. Wattala is in the suburbs of Colombo.
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SDC hands over completed building to Education Department in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 16:20 GMT]
Officials from the Switzerland Embassy in Colombo rushed to Jaffna Tuesday to open a school building built by Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) in Ma’ravanpulavu in Thenmaraadchi avoiding the standing instruction by Sri Lanka government to all Government and Non-government Organizations to invite its ministers and military officials to any public or ceremonial event held by them, sources in Jaffna said. The building was handed over to the Jaffna Education Department by the visiting Swiss Embassy officials. Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, SL minister Douglas Devananda and his party parliamentarian Athavan are alleged of compelling the NGOs and voluntary organizations to invite them as chief guests to the opening of the development projects completed by them.
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Washington Post questions ethics in Indian media

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 11:51 GMT]
“Do you have in mind a clear political solution, even if you have not revealed the specifics?” Mr. N. Ram of The Hindu who was awarded ‘Sri Lanka Ratna’ gave the lead to Mahinda Rajapaksa in a recent interview. The Hindu, lobbying for Colombo, later titled the news “I have a political solution in mind: President Rajapaksa.” The Sri Lanka president in fact sounded vicious when he said “We defeated terrorists, not freedom fighters…What we refused to give Prabakaran, we won’t give to others,” and even on provincial elections he said “We can’t have elections under the 1981 Census,” indicating what schemes are hatching in his mind. Meanwhile, Indian journalists are accused of secretly helping politicians, businesses, said the lead of an article in Washington Post, Monday, in the context of a multibillion-dollar scandal causing the resignation of a DMK minister in the New Delhi Establishment.
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Public protest against SLA interference in civil administration in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 11:44 GMT]
Welfare associations and public organizations in Karaichchi in Ki’linochchi district gathered in protest Wednesday morning in front of Ki’linochchi Government Agent’s office demanding immediate cancellation of the sudden transfer of Karaichchi Divisional Secretary, Ms. Sivakumar, issued on the request of local Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials, sources in Ki’linochchi said. Ms. Sivakumar had not cooperated with the SLA officials in their efforts to evacuate the resettled families in lands in Karaichchi which the SLA authorities want to claim for SLA and Sinhala colonization, the sources said. She had been transferred within two hours of her refusal to comply with the evacuation plans of the SLA officials, the sources added.
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Opposition Councilors accuse JMC administration of embezzlement, corruption

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 06:48 GMT]
Eight opposition councilors of Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) led by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) councilor, M. Remediyas have jointly released a media report Tuesday accusing the JMC administration run by ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of embezzlement and corruption. The councilors have also sent a detailed report of the misadministration of JMC by its Mayor, Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam and Deputy Mayor in collaboration with Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda, to the Governor of Northern Province. The councilors pointed out in their report that the JMC administrators continue to reject whatever proposals submitted by the opposition councilors.
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Indian High Commissioner visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 15:18 GMT]
The Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Mr. Asok K. Kantha is on a sudden visit to Jaffna where he is engaged in preparations to receive Indian Minister of External Affairs Mr. S. M. Krishna who is expected to visit Jaffna peninsula on 27 Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. The Indian minister will be taking part in the event of resettling families in the outskirt villages of the Sri Lanka Army (SLZ) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North that is to be presided by Sri Lanka Minister, Basil Rajapaksa, the sources added. Mr. S. M. Krishna will be opening an office of the Indian High Commission to Sri Lanka in Jaffna during his visit.
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SLA active in grabbing strategic lands in North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 14:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Ki’linochchi have threatened 18 Tamil families in Irathinapuram where they were each given 5 acres of land to live in 1994 by Sri Lanka government for which they have the documents proving ownership. SLA now claims that a Sinhala school had been located in the said area and therefore the land belongs to the government. SLA further says that it wants the land to be used as cattle grazing ground, the families said. Similarly, SLA officials in the Achchuveali camp have claimed areas in Puththoor and Vaatharavaththai in Valikaamam East saying that a Sinhala school called Panjaseeva and a Buddhist temple had been functioning in the said area. A military establishment and Sinhala colony at strategic Vaatharavaththai will check free movement of Tamils among the sectors of Valikaamam, Vadamaraadchi and Thenmaraadchi regions of the Jaffna peninsula.
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Ex-Liberation Tiger combatant student in Jaffna University attempts suicide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 07:25 GMT]
A first year Arts Faculty student in Jaffna University, a released ex-Liberation Tiger combatant from Vanni, tried to commit suicide Monday by taking overdose of tablets, sources in Jaffna. Meanwhile, the parents of a former Liberation Tiger combatant who had been rehabilitated after arrest and later released to join his family complained 18 November to Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office that their son is continually threatened by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit officers and men when he appears to sign at the SLA Intelligence Unit camp as instructed. The 23-year-old student who attempted suicide is admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital where the Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University, Professor. N. Shanmuagalingan visited him.
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Rajapaksa’s Ampaa’rai coordinator gets suspended jail sentence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 06:57 GMT]
Kalmunai High Court Judge Ms. Chandramani Visuvalingam Monday imposed a sentence of two years rigorous imprisonment that is suspended for a period of ten years on Kanthasamy Nishanthan alias Inniyabarathi, Ampaa’rai District coordinator for the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he pleaded guilty to the charge of threatening with death a former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian of the Ampaarai district Chandiranehru Chandrakanthan on 11.06.2007 at Thirukkoayil.
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CHR urges LLRC to ensure free, secure environment in Trincomalee, Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 06:54 GMT]
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) – Sri Lanka in a statement has requested the LLRC to ensure a free and secure environment where people can give evidence without fearing future persecution in its up-coming sessions in Trincomalee and Mannaar. Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is to conduct its sittings in Trincomalee on December 17, 18 and 19. The LLRC would record the evidence from relatives of affected persons in the Trincomalee district due to abduction, disappeared in round up by military and killing by security forces between the year 2001 and 2009, LLRC sources said. CHR has issued the statement as a press release Sunday.
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Genetics and etymology go contrary to myths

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 06:38 GMT]
Kadugannawa, the Sinhala name of a key mountain pass in the Kandy district of the island of Sri Lanka comes from Dravidian etymology and is related to Kadu-ka’navaay in Tamil, reveals an etymological column in TamilNet. Meanwhile, genetic studies based on DNA conducted on Sinhala expatriates by a British medical institute 10 years ago showed that the Sinhalese predominantly carry M20, the Dravidian marker in them, says Subramaniyam Visahan who recently came out with an outline publication on the peopling of the island of Sri Lanka. Myths that obscure objective history about the peopling of the island could have been shattered had Colombo joined the DNA mapping programme, the Human Genome Project, said the UK-based writer, who formerly worked for the British National Archives.
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Wall Street Journal skeptical about Sri Lanka promises

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 19:58 GMT]
Commenting on Sri Lanka’s new budget unveiled Monday, the Wall Street Journal echoed international investors’ skepticism, saying “implementing reforms is more important than announcing them.” Warning that “given its recent track record Colombo should expect investors to sit on the sidelines until the government shows it's serious about reform,” the paper singled out for criticism President Mahinda Rajapakse’s approach to business, noting his bragging about the state’s renationalisation successes. The paper also expressed other concerns: “Local businesses report an increasing trend toward crony capitalism. Corruption is endemic, and hostility to the private sector rife in the bureaucracy and among elected politicians.” The concern of WSJ was rather ‘investment reforms’ and not the fuming situation arising out of an unresolved national question.
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Paintings depicting horror of war on Vanni exhibited in Bergen

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 14:50 GMT]
The Tamil students of Bergen University held an exhibition at the Bergen University Student Centre paintings by Tamil Nadu Artist Kuzhanthaivelu Pugazhenthi titled ‘The Faces of War’ Friday and Saturday, depicting the horror suffered by Eezham Tamils in its Fourth War and the heroic sacrifice and valour of Liberation Tigers, sources in Oslo said. The exhibition drew a large number of Norwegian students on the first day while the students of Bergen Tamil School viewed them on the next day.
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SLMC officially crosses over to government

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 12:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) officially crossed over to the government side during parliamentary sessions when it met Monday. Rauff Hakim, leader of the SLMC crossed over with his seven fellow parliamentarians. Hakim was sworn in as Minister of Justice and SLMC Chairman Basheer Segu Dawood as the Deputy Minister of Co-operative and Internal Trade Monday morning. All SLMC parliamentarians were seen seated with the government parliamentarians when President Mahinda Rajapaksa presented his 2011 Budget in the capacity of Finance Minister.
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Jaffna district Fishermen Societies to boycott meeting with Tamil Nadu counterparts

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 10:49 GMT]
The representatives of Jaffna District Fishermen Societies said Monday that they will boycott the meeting with the representatives of Tamil Nadu Fishermen Societies that is to be chaired by Sri Lanka Minister of Fisheries in Colombo as they had not been officially invited to the above meeting. They further said that they had visited Tamil Nadu in August where they met fishermen society representatives and learnt first hand of their problems but the visiting Tamil Nadu Fishermen Society representatives are not prepared to meet the fishermen in the North. Moreover, Sri Lanka government is trying to create a picture that they are disputes prevailing between the fishermen in the North and Tamil Nadu fishermen with the motive to play down the issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen being attacked by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers on the Northern seas, they said.
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Rajapaksa appoints 59 member-cabinet

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 10:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa Monday morning administered oaths to a fifty-nine member cabinet at the Presidential Secretariat. Nine senior ministers and forty-nine ministers are in the new cabinet. D. M. Jayaratne has been re-appointed as the Prime Minister.
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Tamil Nadu fishermen society delegation to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 05:45 GMT]
A delegation of representatives of fishermen societies in Raameasvaram and Tamil Nadu are expected to visit Sri Lanka shortly to conduct talks with the related authorities in Colombo on issues affecting the fishermen of both Tamil Nadu and Northern fishermen, fisheries society representatives in Jaffna said. Many decisions taken by both fishermen society representatives in the talks held in Tamil Nadu in August remain unexecuted due to non-cooperation by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), the sources added.
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SLA victimizes released ex-Liberation Tiger combatants in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 05:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers and intelligence wing men threaten the owners of the shops and other places which had given employment to the ex-Liberation Tiger combatants released after arrest and rehabilitation not to employ them, sources in Jaffna said. Many of them, intimidated by SLA are sending away the ex-Tiger combatants who have no other means to earn their living. Meanwhile, the families which had come from Vanni and settled in Jaffna peninsula complain that they are under the strict observation of the SLA. The young men and women who had been employed in civil sector of the Liberation Tigers too are victimized in this manner by the SLA and its intelligence wing men, the sources added.
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New York media alerts UN posting of 'War Criminal'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 18:47 GMT]
"A suspected war criminal who allegedly played a key role in the slaughter of 40,000 civilians in Sri Lanka has landed a cushy job at the United Nations -- with full diplomatic immunity," said New York Post in the Sunday Edition, adding "Human-rights groups are outraged that Shavendra Silva, 46, a top ex-military commander, was named Sri Lanka's deputy permanent UN representative in August, after which he moved to New York." Innercity Press, referring to NY Post's story, pointed out to ICP's August 25th report where ICP asked the UN spokesperson that if the alleged killings by Mr Silva during the final stages of the war was true, whether the UN Secretary General has the discretion to reject Mr Silva. ICP said the question is no longer a hypothetical and that Ban Ki Moon did nothing.
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Rajapaksa to present 2011 budget in parliament Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 14:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Finance Minister is to present the 2011 Budget Monday afternoon in the parliament. Financial ministry sources said the new budget proposals would be a development oriented one that provides relief to the people. The total expenditure for 2011 is estimated to be over 1.08 trillion rupees.
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Sri Lanka’s new cabinet to be sworn in Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 14:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka's new Cabinet is to be sworn in Monday at 10:00 a.m. Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to administer oaths to new ministers and deputy ministers in the Presidential Secretariat, according to Presidential Media Unit. D. M. Jayaratne is to continue as the Prime Minister. The number of cabinet rank ministers is to rise to fifty, according to political sources.
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Colombo orders Red Cross to leave North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 13:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government ordered the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to cease operations in the Northern Province at the earliest without giving a specific deadline, ICRC informational officials told the local media, Sunday Times reported. Colombo gave no reason for the order that was given early this week, according to ICRC official Ms. Wijeratne.
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Family man injured in explosion in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 08:49 GMT]
An unidentified device exploded Friday in Thenmaraadchi injuring a family man who was collecting firewood in his village Ketpali, sources in Jaffna said. Though Sri Lanka government claims to have cleared most of Jaffna peninsula of landmines persons continue to be injured and killed caught in blasts. The device is suspected to be an unexploded shell head fired during the war lying hidden.
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Colombo censors Tamil Nadu magazines, articles

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 08:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka government continues to censor articles related to the Eezham Tamil national cause or the State terrorism in Sri Lanka appearing in magazines, books and other written literature coming into the island from foreign countries, particularly the Tamil Nadu state of India. Both Tamil and English works are subjected to the censorship. An article written by the news reporter of Anantha Vikadan, a Tamil weekly magazine published in Tamil Nadu, in its last issue had been torn off from all the imported copies and the title of the article on the cover rendered illegible.
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Sarath Fonseka discharged from prison hospital

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 07:42 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the leader of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), was discharged from the prison hospital and sent back to his cell at the Welikada Prison Saturday afternoon, according to Commissioner of Prisons Major General. V.R. Silva. He was suddenly taken ill after he returned from the inquiry in the Colombo High Court in a case in which he was charged for causing disrepute to the government by giving an interview to the Sunday Leader, English weekly published from Colombo. He was then immediately transferred to prison hospital.
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CID launches investigation into JVP-Lebanon Hisbulla connection

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 07:36 GMT]
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police is said to be investigating to find out whether the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has any connection with militant Hisbulla Organization based in Lebanon following the arrest and deportation of a Lebanese couple on Saturday, sources in Colombo said. Mohamed Hottait, the Vice President of the Union of Democratic Lebanon Youth (UDLY) and his wife were arrested in Kandy on Friday on a report that they attended an anti-government rally organized by the JVP.
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Family man reported missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 November 2010, 16:32 GMT]
A young family man from Karaveddi in Vadamaraadchi is reported since 5 November after leaving home to see the ‘Theepaava’li’ celebration events conducted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Duraiappa Stadium in Jaffna town, according to complaints made by his wife to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office and the police. He had failed to return home even after fifteen days, sources in Jaffna said.
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Tamil couple in motorbike killed in head-on collision with SLA vehicle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 November 2010, 10:47 GMT]
A husband and wife, residents of Chettly Street, Nallur in Jaffna district died in a road accident that took place Friday evening on their way in a motor bicycle to Murukandy Pillayar Temple located along A9 highway fulfill a vow in a head-on crash with a vehicle of the Sri Lanka Army. The couple was identified as Pounrajah Selvaraja, 52, and his wife Naguleswary, 48. The accident took place at Inthupuram in Murukandy area.
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Sri Lanka deports Lebanese couple

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 November 2010, 10:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Immigration and Emigration Department Saturday morning deported the Lebanese Democratic Youth Union Leader, Mohamed Hottait, and his wife on a charge of participating in a protest rally organized by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) against the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government in Kandy. The couple had been a tour in Sri Lanka.
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Sinhala persons from other districts appointed as minor employees in Batticaloa – MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 November 2010, 06:57 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian P. Selvarasa has sent a letter to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa protesting against the appointment of 17 Sinhala persons from other districts as minor employees in the government departments and in divisional secretariats in Batticaloa district. Meanwhile, Ven. Ampitiya Sumanaratne Thero, the chief monk of the Mangalaramaya in Batticaloa fasted unto death in August demanding Sri Lanka government to appoint Sinhala officers to the government departments in Batticaloa and to appoint a Sinhala person as the SLFP organizer for Batticaloa district besides demanding first preference to Sinhala people and Buddhist temples in Batticaloa district. He gave up the fast on assurances made by SL government that his demands will be met.
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Ramanathan Trust endows land to Upcountry Tamil tenets in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 17:39 GMT]
In a significant move Friday, the president of Sir. P. Ramananthan Trust, former senior professor S.K. Sitrampalam, donated the lands of the Trust in Ki'linochchi to 60 families of Upcountry Tamils who were long-term tenets of those lands. The families uprooted in the recent war were unable to claim housing aid supposed to come through an Indian aid programme in the absence of ownership-documents of the lands, which they were inhabiting for a long time. The Ramanathan Trust was owning 330 acres of productive farmland in Ki'linochchi, which was settled by the Upcountry Tamils for several decades.
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SLA intensifies surveillance on ‘outsiders’ visiting Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 17:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Vanni have instructed all schools and other such public institutions and organizations in their areas to inform them in advance if any political persons, representatives of volunteer organizations and Non-government Organizations (NGOs) from outside Vanni visiting their places. On such occasions SLA being informed beforehand sends its men to watch and record the proceedings of the meetings and events conducted or attended by the above ‘outsiders’, according to complaints made by some school heads in Vanni to a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian.
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TNA parliamentarians to study present political situation

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 16:40 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group is to meet Saturday and Sunday in its party office in Colombo to study the latest development in regard to finding a political solution and to the problems now faced by Tamil people in the North and East after the war. Meanwhile, the leader of the TNA and Trincomalee district parliamentarian R .Sampanthan has sent a congratulatory message to Mahinda Rajapaksa who was sworn in as Sri Lanka President for second term on Friday morning.
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TNA opposes move to appoint a Sinhala Vice-chancellor to Eastern University

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 15:57 GMT]
Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian C. Yogeswaran in a letter to Sri Lanka Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake has brought to his notice that steps are being taken to appoint a Sinhala person to the post of the Vice-chancellor of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka replacing the Tamil Vice-chancellor. Tamil academics in the East are perturbed over the alleged move by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka to appoint a Sinhala person as the Vice-chancellor of the Eastern University that is located in Vantharumoolai in Batticaloa district.
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Chinese special envoy visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 15:39 GMT]
The Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, Sang Guowei is in Sri Lanka to participate in the swearing–in-ceremony of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the second term of office, as the special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Sang Guowei participated in the inaugural event of the new harbour in Magampura in Hambantota Thursday.
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British Tamil journalist arrested in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 13:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka State Intelligence officers arrested a London based Tamil journalist Wednesday at the Colombo Airport, while the journalist was on his way to visit his family, Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a dissident exciled journalist group that first released the Channel-4 execution video said in an urgent alert.
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China urged to respect Tamil place names

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 09:13 GMT]
The thermal power plant China builds in the Puththa’lam district is located at a Tamil village called Nuraichchoalai that simply means the grove of Nurai fruit trees (Nephelium longanum). But a corrupted and Sinhalicised form Norocholai is the one followed by Chinese official records. Even the media in India, including the media in Tamil Nadu, mutilate the name joining with Sinhalese and Chinese. Norocholai has no meaning in Sinhala or Tamil. Sri Lanka comes out with a new set of colonial names for places in the land of Tamil nation. China and India, which have cared to bring back the names of their cities such as Beijing and Mumbai from the colonial renderings Peking and Bombay should be sensitive enough for the sentiments of Eezham Tamils, urged a Tamil academic in Colombo.
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Wickramabahu to meet Diaspora Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 08:39 GMT]
Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne, the leader of New Left Front and General Secretary of New Sama Samaja party, would be meeting diaspora Tamils in UK, British Tamil Forum (BTF) officials told TamilNet Friday. The meeting, scheduled to take place on 25 November in South Harrow, comes at a time when forces operating against solidarity among progressive leftist forces, were engaged in spreading false propaganda, Tamil political circles in UK said.
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SL Police arrest TMVP operative in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 07:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka police Intelligence officers arrested Sunday an important operative of Tamil Makkal Viduthali Pulikal (TMVP) a political-cum-paramilitary party led by Eastern Province Chief Minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, in Ka’ruvaakkea’ni in Batticaloa. He was arrested for involvement in the theft of a van on information given by Vadivel Ravichandran, the Vice Chairman of the Vaazhaichcheanai Pradeshiya Saba in Batticaloa who was arrested and detained in October by police in Nuwara Eliya district, sources in Batticaloa said.
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UN must produce a Congo-type war crimes report on Sri Lanka, says Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 05:12 GMT]
Reviewing the recently released 550-page United Nations Report of the Mapping Exercise Documenting the Most Serious Violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Committed Within the Territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an article in the American Society of International Law (ASIL) said, "[t]he report detailing killings, rapes, destruction, and other violent attacks is alarming, not least because similar crimes continue to be committed in the DRC, where impunity still reigns large." Professor Boyle of Illinois College of Law, an expert in international law, commenting on the UN report said, "Tamils worldwide must demand the same “UN Mapping Report” of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the Government of Sri Lanka against the Tamils."
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UK billboard announces Tamil Eelam National Remembrance Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 04:26 GMT]
As part of the global Tamil Eelam community’s events to mark National Remembrance Day on November 27, expatriate Tamils in London have sponsored a public billboard. The Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO), an activist group comprising Tamil students and young professionals, coordinated the effort. “We wanted to express the significance of this day for Eelam Tamils, when all of us across the globe are united in remembering the sacrifices made so that the Tamil people could one day live in peace and dignity in their own homeland,” Nisha Mariyathas, TYO spokesperson told TamilNet.
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SC determines amendment bills consistent with SL constitution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 17:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Supreme Court has determined that the two bills, Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Bill and the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill presented in parliament last month on local government electoral reforms are consistent with the Sri Lanka constitution, the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa announced Tuesday in parliament.
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Released ex-Liberation Tiger combatants intimidated by SLA in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 16:01 GMT]
The parents of a former Liberation Tiger combatant who had been rehabilitated after arrest and later released to join his family complained Thursday to Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office that their son is continually threatened by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit officers and men when he appears to sign at the SLA Intelligence Unit camp as instructed. Amidst many accusations that the former Liberation combatants released after rehabilitation are intimidated and at times attacked in the SLA Intelligence Wing camps in Achchezhu and Oorezhu in Jaffna, this complaint has been made against the SLA men to the HRC publicly, sources in Jaffna said.
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Rural dispensaries in Batticaloa district closed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 08:34 GMT]
Rural dispensaries in Thiraaymadu, Paalameenmadu, Naavatkudaa, Vavu'natheevu, Koaddaimunai, Maiyilaveddavaanan and Unnichchai in the Batticaloa district have been closed due to acute shortage of physical resources. Some of them are located in the resettled villages, Unnichchai, Mailavedduwan and Vavu'natheevu, Vaakarai, Karadiyanaa'ru and Maavadichchenai rural hospitals in the district are also likely to be closed due to lack of physical resources, medical sources said.
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Ranil Wickremasinghe leaves to India

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 08:31 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Wednesday morning on a three-day visit to India. He arrived in Chennai, capital of Tamilnadu state during his first leg of the tour. He is expected to meet Tamilnadu political leaders during his stay in Chennai.
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‘Quiet diplomacy’ does not work with Sri Lanka – Tissainayagam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 03:01 GMT]
Economic aid should be linked to press freedom in Sri Lanka, veteran Tamil journalist J. S. Tissainayagam, who was released from government custody by international pressure earlier this year, said Wednesday. In his first interview since his release, Mr. Tissainayagam rejected arguments that ‘quiet diplomacy’ would achieve better conduct from President Mahinda Rajapakse regime, and said “the more pressure that is put publicly, the more the government is willing to act”. He linked his own release directly to the government’s then efforts to retain the EU’s GSP+ trade concessions. Tissainayagam is currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University Journalism School in Boston.
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Swiss Tamil council arranges safe custody for war crimes evidence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 November 2010, 22:53 GMT]
The Swiss branch of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV), a human rights organisation that speaks up for voiceless peoples and communities, has come forward to act as an independent custodian of evidence material and in working out submissions on behalf of individuals and organisations, who need assistance in making submissions to the UN Panel, Tharsika Pakeerathan, the president of Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils (SCET), told TamilNet Wednesday. The GfbV will begin by conducting interviews on 28 November, 2010 in Bern, aiming for submission to UN Panel before 15 December.
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Fonseka admitted to prison hospital

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 November 2010, 12:19 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and currently serving a prison sentence of thirty months was admitted to Welikada prison hospital Tuesday night on his return from attending the “white flag” case against him in the High Court. Commissioner General of Prisons Major General (retired) V.R.de Silva told media sources that medical officers had confirmed that Fonseka was suffering from an illness.
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Tamil journalist attacked in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 November 2010, 10:17 GMT]
Unidentified gang of eight persons severely assaulted a Tamil journalist Lenin Raja, 28 in Wattala area in Colombo when he was returning home after duty at Vetri FM electronic media operating from Colombo Tuesday night around 11:00 p.m. Lenin Rajah rushed with the injuries to Wattala Police Station made a complaint in this regard.
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Saudi academic questions Nafeek's death sentence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 November 2010, 03:53 GMT]
Raising questions on the treatment afforded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) justice system to the Sri Lankan maid, Rizana Nafeek, accused of choking to death an infant while under her care, a King Saud University academic appealed to the "judicial Authorities concerned to reconsider this matter sympathetically" and to remove the death sentence. "She has come from Mutur in East Sri Lanka, where majority are Tamil people. She belongs to the Muslim minority which were caught in the midst of the Tamil’s civil war against the state. She comes from a family who has suffered for over 3 decades due to terrorism," the academic who works in the History Department said in the appeal.
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SLA accused of imposing restrictions on resettlement in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 16:07 GMT]
The Welfare Associations for the uprooted families from Valikaamam accused Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities for imposing undue restrictions on the people in Thellippazhai Divisional Secretariat area. Jaffna Government Agent (GA) Ms. Imelda Sukumar, instructed by the SLA authorities has asked the families of the above area to again register their particulars on 19 November though they had submitted the necessary particulars earlier, the associations said. Besides, the Non-government Organizations that are to assist the families to be resettled are also asked to submit applications through the GA. The families are not going to be resettled in the SLA occupied High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam but in the No-man-zone on the edge of the HSZ, the associations pointed out.
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Supreme Court directs Appeal Court to cease inquiry into Fonseka’s application

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 15:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Tuesday directed the Court of Appeal to cease the inquiry into the Writ Application by Sarath Fonseka over his parliamentary seat till it determines whether the Court Martial comes within the phrase ‘any court’ as defined in Article 89/d of the Constitution. The ruling was given by five member bench of the Supreme Court when it took the application of the Court of Appeal seeking a clarification whether the Court Martial that sentenced Sarath Fonseka is considered a court or not. The bench comprises Chief Justice Asoka de Silva, Justices Dr. Shirani A. Bandaranaike, Nimal Gamini Ameratunga, Saleem Marsoof and K. Sripavan.
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SL government begins income tax collection in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 11:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka government’s Income Tax Department officials have begun collecting income tax from the traders in Mannaar after twenty years, sources in Mannaar said. The officials arriving from Colombo made searches in more than 60 traders’ business places as well as in their houses in A’n’naa Nakar areas in Mannaar on 11 November and collected income tax from them. The traders who had experienced great losses due to war in the past twenty years had to pay sums ranging from 150,000 to 250,000 rupees, the sources added.
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UNP to hold annual convention on December 12

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 10:44 GMT]
The annual convention of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) will be held on December 12. The decision to the effect was taken at the UNP Working Committee meeting which was held Sunday, according to party General Secretary Tissa Attanayake. The new party constitution was unanimously approved by the Working Committee and the report compiled by the Working Committee on the new constitution will be presented at the Annual Convention, Attanayake said.
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Major General Shavendra Silva gives evidence in “white flag” case

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 10:39 GMT]
Major General Shavendra Silva, now posted as Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative in the United Nations Monda, gave evidence before a three-member bench of the Colombo High Court in a case in which the former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Sarath Fonseka has been charged for causing disrepute to the government by an alleged interview to the English weekly Sunday Leader. Sarath Fonseka is reported to have alleged in that interview that the Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had ordered Major General Shavendra Silva to shoot all LTTE cadres dead who come forward to surrender holding white flags.
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CaFFE, CHR condemn intimidation at LLRC session in Kayts Island

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 10:35 GMT]
The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), and Centre for Human Rights - Sri Lanka (CHR) in a statement issued Monday condemned the alleged systematic intimidation of those who wanted to make submissions at the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) sessions at Kayts Island in Jaffna district on Sunday.
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ENDLF wants another IPKF to implement 13th Amendment

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 21:11 GMT]
In an ‘extraordinary meeting’ convened in Bangalore, Saturday and Sunday, Eezham National Democratic Front (ENDLF), a paramilitary group based in India, passed a resolution urging India to send a ‘new peace making force’ to fulfil the promise made by Rajiv Gandhi on the North-East Provincial Council. If India can’t help it should constitute a higher level international committee of countries that accommodated the refugees to bring in justice, the resolution further said. ENDLF, mainly having former members of PLOTE and led by Paranthan Rajan, is a pro-Indian militant outfit created by the Indian intelligence agencies to defend the Indian agenda in the late 1980s. The ENDLF sacrificed 1700 of its cadres pinning faith on the promise made by Rajiv Gandhi, the resolution said.
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Woman’s skeleton found in Naakarkoayil SLA base area

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 15:26 GMT]
The de-mining team engaged in surveying the area near Naakarkoayil Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base in Vadamaraadchi found the skeletal remains beneath a bush suspected to be of a young woman identified by the inner garments found near the skeleton, Point Pedro police said. Though Sri Lanka government had wanted to renovate the Point Pedro-Maruthangkea’ni main road that goes through Naakarkoayil, local SLA authorities had closed the road saying that the area was infested with landmines. The SLA higher officials in Palaali, however, had all of a sudden given permission for de-mining in the said area.
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Thousands of Tamil, Muslim, Sinhala youths held in secret camps – JVP leader

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 13:27 GMT]
Somawanse Amarasinghe, leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), told media in Jaffna Monday that thousands of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala youths are held in the secret camps operated by Sri Lanka government. “If Mahinda Rajapaksa considers himself as the head of a responsible government he must disclose the names of the youths detained in its secret detention centers,” he said immediately after the JVP-backed protest demonstration that was forcibly dispersed by Sri Lankan military operatives, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, another JVP key person Ramalingam Chandrasekaran said Sri Lanka police forcibly sent back more than 50 students of Rajarata University from the South who had come in hired buses to participate in the protest demonstration. The police had stopped them at Ariyaalai and took them to Elephant Pass and sent them back, Chandrasekaran said.
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JVP abandons press meet in Jaffna due to death threats

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 11:36 GMT]
Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) group led by parliamentarian Sunil Handunneththi who were attacked by unidentified operatives in Jaffna Sunday evening abandoned the press meet that was to be held Monday around 1:00. p.m in Uthayan Lodge in Nalloor due to death threats to the proprietors of the lodge, Sunil Handunneththi told the reporters who had been invited, before leaving the lodge with his companions.
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Sri Lankan military operatives disperse JVP-backed protestors in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 11:05 GMT]
Hundreds of helpless parents and relatives of missing persons in Jaffna, who took part in a hastily organised protest by the extremist JVP were attacked by Sri Lankan military-backed operatives Monday within 30 minutes of the commencement of the protest. The attackers threw eggs and tomatoes on JVP leaders Somawanse Amarasinghe, Tilvin Silva, Sunil Handuneththi and Jaffa district organiser of the outfit Lalith Kumar, forcing the JVP leaders to flee from the protest site which was heavily guarded by Sri Lankan police and monitored by military officers.
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Man posing as SLA Major arrested in Ki’linochchi for extortion

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 10:57 GMT]
Ki’linochchi police arrested Sunday a man posing as a Major in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and three men led by him. He had taken 150,000 rupees from each parent of the LTTE cadres now held in the custody of the SLA, promising that he would get them released, police sources said. The gang led by the man posing as army major had claimed that they could get their children released when about 300 LTTE cadres would be brought to Ka'n'nakipuram Central College in Ki’linochchi Sunday morning, the police said.
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Chinese companies begin road extension work in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 05:45 GMT]
China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group, China Aero Technological Engineering Group and China Hydro Corporation, the three Chinese companies that have undertaken the road development projects in the North of Sri Lanka funded by China, began their projects in Jaffna Sunday. Namal Rajapaksa, son of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa and MP for Hambantotoa, inaugurated the projects in Jaffna peninsula accompanied by SL ministers G. L. Pieris, Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar and parliamentarian Ranga, sources in Jaffna said. The team of SL ministers and parliamentarians had inaugurated similar road development work in Vanni Saturday.
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Assassinated TNA parliamentarian Raviraj remembered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 05:15 GMT]
Hundreds of people participated in the fourth anniversary memorial event of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj held Sunday around 3:30 p.m in Va’ra’ni in Thenmaraadchi. Professor Kathasamy, Dean of the Science Faculty in Jaffna University and a close friend of Raviraj, delivered the memorial speech while former TNA parliamentarians, Selvarajah Gajendran and Ms. Pathmini Sithamparanathan offered flowers and paid tribute to Raviraj, sources in Thenmaraadchi said. Raviraj had been conferred with the title Maamanithar (Great Human being) by Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
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American Power in Indian ocean, a book review

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 18:24 GMT]
Greater Indian Ocean, from the Horn of Africa to Indonesia, "may comprise a map as iconic to the new century as Europe was to the last one" and "demographically and strategically be a hub of the twenty-first century world." This makes the Indian Ocean "the essential place to contemplate the future of U.S. power," says Robert D. Kaplan, an influential US writer of foreign policy, in a recent book, Monsoon:The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power, a review of which appeared in the weekend edition of Washington Post.
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Paramilitary-employed Daya master says ex Tiger members unable to secure jobs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 17:23 GMT]
“All the former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants detained should be released under general amnesty and steps should be taken to reunite them with their families enabling them to lead a normal life,” V. Thayanithy, who was once an employed media coordinator of the movement, said while 'witnessing' at a session before Mahinda Rajapaksa's 'Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission' (LLRC) in Oorkaavattu’rai St. Henry’s Church, in the islets of Jaffna on Sunday. 'Employers are reluctant to give jobs to the rehabilitated and released former LTTE combatants. They are unable to lead a normal life and they should be assisted to rejoin the society, Mr. Thayanithy said.
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Unidentified operatives attack JVP engaged in wooing Tamil support in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 15:02 GMT]
A gang of ten men arriving on five motor cycles to the residence of former Tamil parliamentarian, Pathmini Sithamparanathan Sunday around 6:30 p.m, assaulted the visiting Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party members, causing serious injuries to the group members including parliamentarian Sunil Handunneththi, who were engaged in talks with Ms. Pathmini Sithamparanathan. The injured were rushed to Jaffna Teaching Hospital. The extremist anti-Tamil JVP, which is now locked in waging a campaign against Rajapaksa family-rule in South, is attempting to woo Tamil support in Jaffna by highlighting the plight of the disappeared Tamils arrested by Rajapaksa's military. The attack by unidentified operatives on JVP has taken place a few hours after Namal Rajapaksa visited Jaffna to attend an opening ceremony.
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SLN, EPDP intimidate LLRC witnesses in Jaffna islets

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 10:57 GMT]
Members of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Intelligence Unit and of the Eealam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Sunday intimidated many potential witnesses who were planning to appear before the Lesson Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) during its sessions in the SLN controlled islets of Jaffna, persons present at the sessions said. Some government officials too are alleged to have assisted the intimidators. A press reporter who had filmed a man intimidating one of complainants had threatened the reporter with death and when this was brought to the attention of the head of LLRC with the assistance of the officials of American and Norway officials present at the site, the man was arrested by the police who recorded his statement and let him free, the sources added.
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Highways 'development' projects with Chinese aid in North to be inaugurated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 09:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan government has announced that inauguration ceremonies are to be held Sunday and Monday in the North where foundation stones for various road development projects will be laid by a group of Sri Lanka ministers and deputy ministers including Basil Rajapaksa, Douglas Devananda and Namal Rajapaksa. Three Chinese firms have taken charge of the highway development projects and their engineers and technicians have already arrived in Jaffna and the work in the projects is to be done exclusively by Chinese work force, sources in Jaffna said.
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US, Norwegian Embassy officials observe LLRC proceedings in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 07:05 GMT]
In the context of international media agencies being not permitted to enter Jaffna, officials of the Embassies of America and Norway in Sri Lanka are in Jaffna observing the proceedings of the Lesson Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in Jaffna peninsula at various places. The complaints made to LLRC by many parents about the disappearance of their daughters after arrest by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vanni and Oamanthai during the last days of the war are directly observed with interest and recorded by the officials of American and Norway Embassies, the sources added. In the meantime, three leading Human Rights groups have slammed LLRC accusing Colombo's commission of failing to “meet basic international standards for independent and impartial inquiries.”
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Colombo's commissions have failed to do any good to victimized persons: HR activist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 06:13 GMT]
“Various commissions and committees appointed by alternating Sri Lanka governments have stopped with issuing reports and their reports have been slighted by all the governments,” the President of the Association for the Protection of Disappeared persons arrested by Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna peninsula, N. Vijayakumar said Saturday witnessing before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) session in Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi. LLRC is authorized to record statements related only to the past ten years but this period should be extended to cover the last thirty years, he said. The president of LLRC in response said that LLRC had already made this request in its interim report submitted to the SL government.
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North, East already established as Tamils’ Homeland – Prof. K. Sitrampalam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 06:08 GMT]
“Banda-Chelva pact and Indo-Sri Lanka pact were based on the acceptance of North and East as the homeland of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. This concept should be first accepted and a constitutional reform based on it be brought to find a lasting solution for the ethnic issue,” Prof. S.K. Sitrampalam said Friday giving witness before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) in Jaffna Secretariat.
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Batticaloa MC members assaulted by Chief Minister’s men

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 06:03 GMT]
A group of men led by Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan assaulted two members of Batticaloa Municipal Council (BMC) Friday during a meeting held at the residence of Batticaloa Mayor Ms. Sivakeertha Prapakaran, sources in Batticaloa said. K. Arumailingam representing Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and R. Pirpakaran, the General Secretary of EROS, were the members assaulted with batons. They are admitted to Batticaloa hospital with serious injuries.
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Demand US to provide war crimes evidence to UN Panel, urges Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2010, 20:45 GMT]
Pointing to the recent news stories on UN Sri Lanka Advisory Panel's willingness to review incriminating photographic evidence of graphic scenes with dead bodies blindfolded, hands bound and shot through the head, exposing alleged war crimes of Sri Lanka soldiers, Professor Boyle of University of Illinois, College of Law, said: "there is some precedent here in what happened to Milosevic. The Americans have all the intelligence the Tamils need. Tamil activists have to figure out a strategy to get the US Government to act."
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Colombo reinstates visa to Al Jazeera TV crew

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2010, 18:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday instructed the Immigration and Emigration Department to issue visas to a media group of Al-Jazeera television to cover his swearing-in event for a second term on November 19, Colombo electronic media reported quoting Presidential Secretariat sources.
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Former LTTE cadres’ wives bear witness before LLRC in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2010, 14:02 GMT]
The wife of Vijithan, a key person in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political wing, told the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) Friday in Changkaraththai in Vaddukoaddai that her husband and her brother were taken away after they surrendered themselves to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Vadduvaakal in Mullaiththeevu and that she had not had any information about her husband since then. Vijithan Arivumathi added that her brother who was released later had seen her husband surrendering to SLA at Vadduvaakal.
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UN Advisory Panel to include Sri Lanka's war crime photos?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2010, 05:56 GMT]
Amid recent exposure of photographs showing graphic scenes, with dead bodies blindfolded, hands bound and shot through the head which provide prima facie evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lanka Security Forces, United Nations spokesperson, Farhan Haq, told Inner City Press (ICP) that the panel will determine if the photos can be used as evidentiary material for the panel's investigation.
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Sri Lanka fallen under dangerous authoritarianism, says Rae

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2010, 00:39 GMT]
"Sri Lanka has now fallen into a dangerous authoritarianism with the Rajapaksa brothers and their government fully in control. They can point to elections as the source of their legitimacy, but the evidence of a politicized judiciary, widespread corruption, and a deeply repressed and partisan media is a troubling reflection of a political agenda that is leaning far away from the respect for rights and diversity that lies at the heart of the democratic idea," writes Mr Rae, former Ontario Premier, in a book published in 2010, excertps from which appeared in Canada's National Post. Rae also faults Prabhakaran for developing a "militant cult of personality and exclusionary nationalism" which "set the country on a course of conflict that proved irreversible."
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Al Jazeera staff denied visa over Sri Lanka war crimes broadcast

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2010, 20:29 GMT]
Three journalists from Al Jazeera, the international news network headquartered in Qatar, were denied visa to enter Sri Lanka, after the station broadcast photographs that provided additional prima facie evidence of widespread war crimes committed by Sri Lanka security forces during the final stages of war with Liberation Tigers, media reports from Colombo said.
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Jaffna fishermen complain against SLA restrictions before LLRC

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2010, 12:25 GMT]
Representatives of Maathakal Fishermen Society complained Friday to the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) against the closure of the fishing jetties in Valikaamam North High Security Zone (HSZ) of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the continuing restrictions to fish using the only jetty in the area, in A’laveddi Mahajana Hall Friday. Witnessing before LLRC, the representative from Maathakal pointed to the LLRC that Sri Lanka government that had urgently executed the verdict of the Supreme Court to demerge the North and East had failed to execute the Supreme Court verdict to allow resettlement in Valikaamam North HSZ though the two verdicts were given on the same day.
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STF arrests 5 Tamils in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2010, 06:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka police Special Task Force (STF) arrested Thursday around 3:00 a.m five Tamils including a male teacher, two family men and two youths in Peasaalai in Mannaar district, sources in Mannaar said. STF commanders who arrived in a white van dressed in civil clothes took the arrestees to the Prevention of Terrorism office in Vavuniyaa after handing over receipts for the arrests to the family members. They were brought back to Mannaar between 4:30 p.m and 6:00 p.m and a search was conducted in their houses in which their documents and other properties were confiscated by the police, the family members of the arrestees said. They had seen assault injuries on the arrestees, they said.
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Witnesses before LLRC accuse SLA for disappearances in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2010, 06:04 GMT]
All the persons who witnessed before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) in Ariyaalai and Neerveali in Jaffna Thursday accused Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) Intelligence Unit and soldiers for taking away their family members who had disappeared without trace after arrest, sources in Jaffna said. Hundreds of mothers, fathers and wives of the disappeared persons witnessed before the LLRC in Neerveali where the session continued even after midnight Thursday. The wife of Rangasamy Mahintharaj alias Reka who is said to be the former head of the Medical Wing of the LTTE too witnessed before the Committee in Neerveali, the sources added. Many witnessed directly while others submitted statements and appeals to the LLRC which is to continue sittings Friday and Saturday in Jaffna peninsula.
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Major General Shavindra Silva to give evidence in “white flag” case

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2010, 04:51 GMT]
Colombo High Court Thursday issued notice on Major General Shavendra Silva to appear in court on November 15 to give evidence in the case in which the former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army has been charged for causing disrepute to the government by an alleged interview to the English weekly Sunday Leader. Sarath Fonseka is reported to have alleged in that interview that the Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse had ordered Major General Shavendra Silva to shoot all LTTE cadres dead who come forward to surrender holding white flags.
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SL Parliament sittings postponed due to floods

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2010, 04:49 GMT]
The Sri Lankan parliament is to meet next Tuesday as its first floor of the complex is submerged in flood water due to torrential rains. Speaker Chamal Rajapakse announced the postponement of the parliament sitting after he convened the parliament for five minutes by entering parliament complex in a boat.
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Australian Court rules refugee processing violates "procedural fairness"

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2010, 03:06 GMT]
High Court of Australia, in a landmark ruling said that the Australian Government's attempt to keep "unlawful non-citizens" in prolonged detention in Christmas Island while the refugee status was being processed under the Migration Act of 1958, was not proper as the detention had "direct impact on the rights and interests of the plaintiffs to freedom from detention at the behest of the Executive," and ordered the Commonwealth and the Immigration Minister to pay plaintiffs' costs. The plaintiffs' were two Sri Lankan Tamils who were refused refugee status and decided to challenge the legality of Australia's offshore refugee processing system in Christmas Island.
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Tamil editor blames Colombo of deceiving uprooted civilians in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 18:14 GMT]
A leading journalist and the news editor of Thinakkural Tamil daily published in Jaffna, M. Vamadevan accused the Sri Lankan governments in power during the last 20 years of deceiving the uprooted people from Valikaamam North Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zones (HSZs) saying that resettlement is not possible as they are infested with land mines, witnessing before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) Thursday in Jaffna. Promises had been given to the uprooted families that they will be soon permitted to resettle in their own places at various instances by various Sri Lanka ministers and government officials but nothing has been done to resettle them, Vamadevan told LLRC.
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Youth shot, injured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 15:27 GMT]
A youth from A’laveddi in Jaffna was admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital with gun shot injuries on his hands and stomach Thursday. He had been first rushed to Thellippahai government hospital but was transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for further treatment, sources in Jaffna said.
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LTTE senior official's wife witnesses on SLA war crime

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 15:07 GMT]
“I have not seen my husband Yogarathinam Jogi who was taken away by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vadduvaakal in Mullaiththeevu on 18th May 2009 after surrendering himself expecting general amnesty as announced by SLA that day over loud speaker,” the wife of Yogaratnam Yogi, a senior member of the LTTE said bearing witness before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) Thursday around 3:30 p.m in Ariyaalai Saraswathy Community Centre. In response to a question by Rajapaksa's LLRC panel Ms. Jeyavathy Jogi, who confirmed that her husband was Mr. Yogi, further said that she saw her husband being taken away along with 50 others including poet Puthuvai Irtathinathurai and Lawrence Thilakar who had surrendered themselves to SLA. “My husband surrendered himself to SLA believing that he will be given amnesty as assured by the SLA announcement,” Ms. Jeyavathy said.
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SLA, police chase away Tamil families from their lands in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 12:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and policemen chased away hundreds of men and women uprooted from their housing scheme in Naavatkuzhi in Jaffna when they tried to erect sheds in their lands Thursday morning, sources in Jaffna said. These Tamil families had been living in this housing scheme since 1992 until they were uprooted in the SLA offensives. Meanwhile, the number of Sinhala families from South brought to this area Tuesday night has risen to 70 while more Sinhala families continue to arrive with building materials and action is taken to distribute them the unoccupied houses in 300 Housing Scheme in Naavatkuzhi, the sources added. The Tamil families fearing that their lands being encroached by the invading Sinhala families had tried to establish themselves in their lands Thursday morning.
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Colombo submerged in flood due to heavy rain

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 11:23 GMT]
Several parts of Colombo city were submerged in flood water due to heavy rain fall that started Wednesday night and expected to persist even after Thursday, according to the Met Department. Thursday 08:00 a.m Met Department had recorded 435 mm of rainfall in Colombo. The worst effected area in the highest rainfall recorded thus so far was in 1992 at 493 mm. The site where the Sri Lanka Parliamentary complex is located in Sri Jayewardenepura is also under flood water.
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Appeal Court reserves order on Fonseka’s application

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 08:44 GMT]
The Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal Wednesday reserved its order on the Writ Application filed by Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army seeking interim relief to enable him to attend parliament to vote on November 18, the day before the incumbent Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse takes oaths for the second term. The three-member bench of the Court of Appeal comprised Justices R. L. Ranjit Silva, A. W. A. Salam and Upali Abeyaratne heard the submission of the petitioner and the Attorney General Wednesday.
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CID summons Jaffna Traders representatives to Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 05:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has summoned the representatives of Jaffna Traders Association (JTA) to Colombo to record their statements and the representatives who left to Colombo expressed fear that may have to face interrogation by CID in Colombo. Meanwhile, another leading Tamil businessman in Jaffna has been arrested by CID alleged of funding Liberation Tigers in the past, sources in Jaffna said. SLA is engaged in rounding up the prominent Tamil traders claiming that it has evidence of their involvement with LTTE found in the statements of the traders in their detention, the sources added. The real motive behind this move is to cripple the prominent Tamil traders in Jaffna to eliminate them competing with the Sinhala traders who continue to invade Jaffna since the opening of A9 land route, JTA circles said.
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Imelda says she discussed Ceasefire with Gotabhaya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 05:19 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) Imelda Sukumar said Wednesday in a meeting in Jaffna Secretariat that Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa had consented to a ceasefire when she had held talks with him in Colombo during the August 2008 SARRC Conference but Liberation Tigers had rejected the offer missing the opportunity to create a peaceful atmosphere. Commenting on Jaffna GA's latest statement, political circles in Jaffna said that Sri Lankan government servants and humanitarian workers or former LTTE members now in Colombo's captivity could speak nothing but the version of the government.
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Al Jazeera spotlights Sri Lanka's alleged War Crimes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 00:43 GMT]
Al Jazeera, the international news network headquartered in Qatar, published photographs Wednesday "showing graphic scenes, with dead bodies blindfolded, hands bound [and] shot through the head," that appear to provide further believable evidence of alleged massacre of Tamils during final stages of Sri Lanka's civil war. One of the photos shows a line of bodies, including what is believed to be the body of the son of Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the news network said.
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24th Anniversary of the massacre of 320 Tamils in Batticaloa remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 16:32 GMT]
The massacre of 320 innocent Tamils of Pullumalai in Batticaloa district on 10.11.1986 by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sinhala thugs was remembered Wednesday by the people of Batticaloa district. The SLA soldiers and the Sinhala thugs who brutally massacred the 320 Tamils were not arrested during the United National Party (UNP) government then and the present United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) too has failed to take action on them or to pay compensation for the affected or find the disappeared persons, sources in Batticaloa said. Complaints made by the victims’ family members to Sri Lanka President’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) recently in Chengkaladi Secretariat were not registered, the sources added.
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32 Sinhala families allowed to settled in Naavatkuzhi in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 13:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka government authorities hurriedly took 32 Sinhala families claiming resettlement in Jaffna Tuesday night to the housing scheme in Naavatkuzhi area where they were allowed to erect temporary dwellings in lands claimed as government property, sources Jaffna said. The Tamils who inhabit these areas since ancient times say the said lands belong to them. The Tamil families living in the housing scheme expressed fear that the Sinhala families may encroach into their houses in the future, as they are provided with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police protection.
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SLA, police protection to Jaffna GA Imelda Sukumar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 11:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Defence Ministry has ordered protection to Ms. Imelda Sukumar, Jaffna Government Agent (GA) in response to complaint made by her to the ministry of continuous threat to her life through phone calls, sources in Jaffna said. Her residence in the Old Park in front of Jaffna Government Secretariat is being guarded by SLA from Wednesday morning while her office is provided with police protection, the sources added.
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SL government to screen NGOs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 05:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government is to launch an island wide registration of non-government, organizations (NGO) operating in the country, Sri Lanka Minister Dinesh Gunawardene said in parliament Tuesday. He made this statement in response to a question by government parliamentarian Rajiva Wijesinghe.
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A/HINI influenza spreads in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 05:12 GMT]
The Epidemiology Unit of the Sri Lanka’s Health Ministry Tuesday confirmed that 35 patients infected with influenza A/H1N1 have been identified in the island. 23 of them have been identified in Colombo district.
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Emergency extended for another month in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 05:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Tuesday adopted the motion tabled by the Prime Minister seeking the approval to extend the state of emergency for another month by a majority of one hundred and fourteen votes. One hundred and twenty-five members of parliament of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the motions.
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AGA alleged of collecting money to trace missing persons

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 05:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police Tuesday said a government official in the rank of the post of Assistant Government Agent (AGA) is under interrogation for alleged role in collecting money from the people of northern province promising to trace their disappeared relatives in the last leg of the war in Vanni region.
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Rights groups flay LLRC, say whitewashes War Crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 04:17 GMT]
International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the three premier human rights watchdogs, today slammed Sri Lanka’s reconciliation commission (LLRC) accusing the commission of failing to “meet basic international standards for independent and impartial inquiries,” and for "proceeding against a backdrop of government failure to address impunity and continuing human rights abuses.” The Rights groups further pointedly attacked the island's legal system saying, “Sri Lanka’s government and justice system cannot and will not uphold the rule of law and respect basic rights.”
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SLA occupation of school in Poonakari affects students

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 17:38 GMT]
More than a hundred students of Vigneswara Viththiyaalayam in Poonakari in Jaffna have to walk nearly ten km to attend schools as their school is occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had converted the school as its base, Ki’linochchi Education officials said. The same situation prevails in Vanni too where many schools are occupied by SLA and the related authorities had done nothing to enable the schools to function, they added. Namal Rajapaksa, the son of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and parliamentarian had been recently visiting schools in Vanni laying foundation stones and planting trees in the schools but nothing had followed his campaign to restore the schools to normalcy, parents in Vanni said.
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SLA forced to engage soldiers in civil work in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 17:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna are forced to engage soldiers in civil work to stop them from deserting the army and because they are unable to allocate military duties for the thousands of soldiers in the North, sources in Jaffna said. Hundreds of soldiers have been deployed in renovation and cleaning work while some of them are employed in food stalls and hair dressing saloons. The soldiers, particularly those in Vanni, due to malaria and forced to be in deserted places are reluctant to serve there, a SLA officer said. Many of them have failed to return after vacation, he added. Most of the soldiers suffer from fatigue and a sense of frustration, sources in Jaffna said.
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2 Sinhala men posing as policemen arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 11:51 GMT]
Two Sinhala men posing as policemen forcibly collected thousands of rupees from the Tamil villagers in Meesaalai West in Jaffna. The men were arrested and produced by police before Chaavakachcheari magistrate Manickavasagar Ganesharajah Monday. The two men have been placed in remand prison till 15 November.
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SL government accused of abandoning war-affected women

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 11:18 GMT]
The Organization for Freedom of Women, in a press meet held Sunday in ‘Tilak’ hotel in Jaffna, accused Sri Lanka government of deceiving the war-affected women without using the international funds meant for their welfare it gets, sources in Jaffna said. It further said that the information given by Sri Lanka government on persons disappeared or gone missing after arrest is not true and that no war-affected woman, whether Sinhala or Tamil, will believe it. The president of the above organization Ms. Imuthu Attiyalgala, National Organizer, Ms. Savitri Paulraj and Executive Committee member Ms. Thanusha de Silva and Ms. Krisnan were the persons representing the organization while Ms. Nirmalanathan Mary represented the war-affected women in North.
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Sarvodaya officials in North accused of swindle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 08:47 GMT]
The farmers among the resettled families in Vanni accuse the officials of Sarvodaya for having sold them inferior quality seeds at a high price making huge profits for themselves, sources in Vanni said. The Sarvodaya officials buying black grams and other grains whole sale in Colombo market at low prices sell them in packets as quality seeds at high prices, the sources added. Meanwhile, the agricultural implements issued to the resettled people in Vanni are found to be of poor quality and unsuitable for use in Vanni, the sources said. The people of Vanni already rendered destitute by the war on Vanni are further cheated by unscrupulous men in organizations like Sarvodaya, the sources in Vanni said.
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PTF insists NGOs in North to engage only in construction of houses

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 08:19 GMT]
The Secretary of the President’s Task Force (PTF) in Sri Lanka, S. P. Divaratne, in an urgent circular to the Government Agents in the North instructed them not to entertain any new proposals of projects submitted by the Non-government Organizations (NGOs) functioning in the North but to insist on them to concentrate on housing projects in the war affected Vanni instead, sources in Jaffna said. Amidst accusations that Sri Lanka government is reluctant to accept the Indian government’s offer to build 50,000 houses in Vanni the PTF insisting on NGOs to only engage in constructing houses in Vanni is seen as a ploy to deflect India’s presence in Vanni, NGO circles in Vanni said.
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Media denied access to meeting in Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 06:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Mayor Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam and the staff of Jaffna Public Library held a meeting Monday to consider the mode of admitting tourists to visit the library following the incident where unruly Sinhala tourists from South had stormed into the library on 24 October. Media persons were not allowed to cover the meeting but sent away. Douglas Devananda had been accusing local media to have fabricated the said incident adding that the Mayor of Jaffna and the President’s Task Force had categorically stated that no such incident had taken place, sources in Jaffna said. It was decided in the meeting to allow the tourists to visit the library in limited numbers, library employees said. Prof. Pon. Balasutharampillai, former Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University and advisor to Douglas Devananda, too attended the meeting.
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Obama: India cannot ignore abusive states

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 02:24 GMT]
US President Barack Obama Monday criticised India for shying away from condemning rights abuses in repressive states, saying democracies with global aspirations should not remain silent and ignore "gross violations" in other countries. "If I can be frank, in international fora, India has often shied away from these issues," Mr. Obama said. “Speaking up for those who cannot do so for themselves is not interfering in the affairs of other countries. It is not violating the rights of sovereign nations, it is staying true to our democratic principles." However, Obama was citing only the example of Indian outlook for Burma, but overlooked the crucial example of India's collaboration with the abusive state of Sri Lanka.
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USA backs India’s permanent Security Council seat

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2010, 19:47 GMT]
US President Barack Obama Monday unequivocally endorsed India’s bid for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council. Noting that a reformed United Nations is part of the “just and sustainable international order that America seeks”, the US leader also said the Washington-Delhi relationship would be one of this century's defining partnerships, the BBC reported. The other permanent members, including China, have already indicated support for India’s bid.
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SC sends decision on Local Elections (amendment) bill to Speaker

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2010, 18:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has sent its decision on the proposed draft of the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill on its constitutionality to the Speaker of the of Parliament. The Speaker, Chamal Rajapaksa, is likely to inform the parliament on the Supreme Court decision when the parliament meets Tuesday (November 9)
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Saiva stone inscriptions in Easteren province destructed - EHAF

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2010, 18:07 GMT]
East Hindu Associations’ Federation (EHAF) has brought to the urgent attention of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne who is also the Minister of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs, the schemed destruction of several centuries old stone inscriptions recovered from Saiva temples in the Eastern Province declared as archaeological sites. EHAF has urged the Prime Minister in a memorandum submitted to him when he visited Batticaloa district, to appoint a Tamil Hindu officer in the archaeological department to study the stone inscriptions in collaboration with the Department of Hindu Cultural Affairs and to establish a museum to store these stone inscriptions in safe custody.
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Rajapaksa to present 2011 budget in parliament

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2010, 18:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the capacity of Minister of Finance is to present the 2011 budget in Parliament on 22 November. The Appropriation Bill 2011 will be debated from November 23 to December 10. The vote on the Second Reading will be on November 29, while the Committee stage begins on November 30 and ends on December 10.
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Sea submerges Vadamaraadchi East coast

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2010, 05:35 GMT]
Sea along the coastal areas of Vadamaraadchi East in Jaffna peninsula Saturday submerged the northern side of Naakar Koayil-Maruthangkea’ni road due to foul weather and persisting rain. Local fishermen had already brought their boats and fishing nets to the shore while fishermen in the peninsula did not go to sea for fishing Saturday and Sunday due to prevailing adverse weather conditions, sources in Jaffna said.
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4 suicides daily in Vanni: psycho-social consultant

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2010, 09:41 GMT]
An increase in suicides is reported in the one time war zones in the Northern Province and an average of four people attempt to commit suicide daily, according to the Sunday leader weekly in its November 07 edition quoting a psycho-social consultant from the Vanni, Dr. Thayalini Thiagarajah. “Many people in the North are still highly traumatized. People are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, depression, acute stress disorder, and other mental diseases,” she said.
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Riot in Welikada prison, 50 policemen injured

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2010, 09:34 GMT]
A group of policemen Sunday morning armed with court order made a surprise raid in the Welikada jail to search the prisoners for drugs and mobile phones. They were attacked by prisoners with stones. Prisoners did not allow the policemen accompanied by prison officials to enter their cells but pelted stones on them. At least forty-five policemen including Special Task Force personnel have been admitted to the Colombo national hospital with injuries.
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Muslim families to be resettled in Jaffna soon – Jaffna GA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2010, 06:01 GMT]
“The Muslim families evacuated from Jaffna 20 year ago will be soon resettled in their own places,” Jaffna Government Agent (GA), Ms. Imelda Sukumar said in an event held in Jaffna Osmania College Saturday. The event was organized by more than ten Muslim organizations in Jaffna in memory of the evacuation in 1990, sources in Jaffna said. Imelda Sukumar saying in the event that Sri Lanka government is correct in asserting that there is no place in Sri Lanka for any race to claim exclusive rights to it, has raised controversy among the people of Jaffna. She had previously said that there were no High Security Zones in Jaffna peninsula but only areas which have not been de-mined, a statement contrary to the truth, the sources added.
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10 new envoys present credentials to Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2010, 20:55 GMT]
Ten new envoys, including 8 ambassadors and 2 high commissioners, presented their credentials to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday. Colombo has received new envoys from Norway, Switzerland, Cyprus, Mexico, Peru, Oman, Pakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam and Mongolia. Four of the envoys are women.
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Rajapaksa extends LLRC term for another six months

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2010, 20:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has extended term of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) that is to expire at the end of November this year for another six months from 1st December, according to Lakshman Wickremasinghe, Media Advisor of the LLRC. The LLRC has already been discredited by three leading human rights agencies of the West.
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Discussions with Oman on Crude, Gas import

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2010, 20:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government Minister of Petroleum, Susil Premajayantha, held discussions with Oman Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hamed Al Ali, on import of crude oil and natural gas, state run media said. The meeting explored ways to craft a Government to Government agreement avoiding the use of an intermediary to optimize the price of oil and gas, media further said.
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PS member killed in accident in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2010, 14:50 GMT]
A member of Vaakarai Pradeshiya Saba (PS) in Batticaloa district died Friday night in a road accident as he and two others were riding motor cycles. A lorry transporting metal along Puthoor-Kathirave’li road had hit him and the others with him, sources in Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, a group of local residents of the area in which the accident occurred had set fire to the lorry that had hit the victim and the others.
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Indian High Commission offices to be opened in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 20:00 GMT]
India Foreign Affairs Minister, S. M. Krishna, who will be in Sri Lanka on 25 November on a three-day visit to participate in the Indo-Sri Lanka Economic Conference in Colombo will ceremoniously open the Jaffna offices of the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka located in Ammaan Thoaddam in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Minister S. M. Krishna is also expected to inaugurate the renovation of the railway track between Oamanthai and Kaangkeasanthu'rai at an event to be held at Oamanthai during his visit, the sources added. The government of India had taken the responsibility of renovating the above stretch of railway track.
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Rajapaksa's LLRC to continue beyond stipulated period

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 18:05 GMT]
Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse on 15th May this year would continue to record evidence from members of the public beyond the stipulated period of six months, according to its Chairman, C.R de Silva.
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Rajapaksa visit to London postponed: SL Foreign Ministry

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 18:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Ministry Friday said the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to London will not take place on scheduled date, amidst reports by international media that the Mr. Rajapaksa had cancelled his scheduled visit due to fears that he will be arrested for alleged war crimes.
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Ki'n'niyaa resettled Muslims protest against police brutality

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 17:52 GMT]
Hundreds of Tamil-speaking Muslims Friday held a demonstration after Jumma Prayers at Buhary junction in Ki'n'niyaa town against the destruction of huts and crops of more than thirty five resettled Muslim people in Ka'ndal-kaadu by the police. They carried placards condemning the brutality of the Police.
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Diabetic escalates among young in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 14:32 GMT]
Diabetes is on the increase in Sri Lanka among young men and women and among persons living in urban areas, according to Professor Chandrika Wijeratne. She addressed a media briefing on Friday to mark the Global Diabetes Walk 2010 at Sri Lanka Medical Association auditorium. She further said that one in ten adults over twenty years of age and one in five persons living in urban areas are affected by diabetes.
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No development in Jaffna worthy of mention – German delegation

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 05:44 GMT]
A delegation of German MPs led by Ms. Petra Ernstberger visited Jaffna accompanied by German Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jens Ploetner and Mr. Guido Baumann, officer in charge of press affairs. Mr. Guido Bauman, at the end of the visit Thursday, told local press that the delegation saw no development worthy of mention in Jaffna. He added that the main intention of the delegation was to find out how the German tax payers’ money given as donation is being used in Jaffna peninsula. Mr. Holger Ortel, Mr. Jurgen Kilmke and Dr. Birgit Reinemund were the three German other parliamentarians besides Ms. Petra Ernstberger visiting Jaffna.
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Arrested printer's mother harassed, hospitalized, says rights group

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 01:18 GMT]
Mother of arrested printer Jayampathi Bulathsinhala was harassed, and her house searched without a warrant by a group in civilian clothes and by a group in police uniform late October, an exile network of Sri Lanka journalists callling themselves Networking for Rights (NfR) said in a press release Thursday. Bulathsinhala and eight workers of 'Sarala Graphics' of Nugegoda were arrested under an order from Sri Lanka defense ministry headed by Sri lanka's President's brother Gotabhaya Rajapakse on September 7, 2010 for allegedly printing posters for the opposition UNP.
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Rajapaksa fears arrest in UK: Times of India

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 01:06 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's scheduled visit to UK has been called off by him fearing arrest in UK for his alleged war crimes under British law, the Times of India reported Friday. SL Foreign Minister G L Peiris was despatched to reconnoitre last month, the paper said, adding that certain Tamil organisations were planning to move court for Mr. Rajapaksa's arrest. Mahinda Rajapaksa is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Meanwhile, Eezham Tamil political activists allege that the war crimes in the island took place with the full blessings of the Indian Establishment.
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Wimal Weerawanse’s party office in Batticaloa burnt down

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2010, 09:37 GMT]
Unidentified persons arriving on motor bikes set fire to the office of the National Freedom Front (NFF), a constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, located along Punnaikkudaa Road in Ea’ravoor division in Batticaloa district Wednesday afternoon. NFF is a splinter group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) that is currently campaigning vigorously against the regime of Rajapaksa. JVP is alleged to be instigating university students against the government.
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Southern fishermen occupying Vadamaraadchi accused of sexual harassment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2010, 06:20 GMT]
One of the fishermen of nearly 600 Sinhala and Muslim fishermen from South brought by Sri Lanka government with the assistance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to catch sea cucumber and conch shells in Vadamaraadchi East, was thrashed by local people when he tried to sexually harass a young woman, civil sources in the region said. Intervention by SLA soldiers to save the fisherman has triggered conflict between the people and the army and tension prevails in the area. The presence and activities of the southern fishermen, protected by SLA, is viewed by the civilians of the area as causing cultural deterioration including sexual abuse of women and children of the area. The fishermen brought in by the SLA were behaving as 'winners' from the South, also causing structural and psychological genocide, the sources further said.
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SLA blocks access road to resettled areas in Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2010, 05:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Vadamaraadchi East has blocked Point Pedro-Maruthangkea’ni road, the main access road to Vadamaraadchi East where nearly 6,000 uprooted persons were resettled recently, Non-government Organizations (NGO) representatives in Jaffna said. The resettled families suffering without any help from Sri Lanka government after being allowed to resettle depend entirely on NGOs for their sustenance. The access road, opened with much publicity by SLA and Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda when the people were resettled, was later blocked for public. Government officials and NGOs, however, were allowed to use the road. But SLA has now blocked the road even to them. The NGOs are forced to suspend or abandon their assistance to the resettled families due to the closure of the main access road by SLA.
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Colombo schemes Sinhalicisation of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2010, 02:13 GMT]
Following the end of war in Vanni last year, the Colombo government has taken over three thousand acres private land in Eastern Province in seven Tamil Divisional Secretariat areas for the purpose of setting up new Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps, colonizing the traditional Tamil homeland with Sinhala people and for contracting the land to external actors for commercial exploitation, civil society circles in Batticaloa said. Some of the private lands taken over, rich with resources, are to be given on long term lease to entrepreneurs from South involving Chinese and Iranian assistance, the sources added.
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UN event in Jaffna evokes controversy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2010, 01:55 GMT]
Sri Lankan Lion flag was hoisted at the UN office of Jaffna on the occasion of UN Day this year unlike ever before and the guests of honour invited for the celebration event were Sri Lankan military officials, triggering controversy on the sudden change of practice by the UN office in Jaffna, the city which has been under the control of the Sri Lanka Army for the last 15 years. Civil society circles, expressing displeasure on attitudinal changes within the UN office in Jaffna wondered whether it was a bureaucratic practice adopted by a biased-section of UN officials or the event signalled that the apex body of global humanity has gone further in adopting a 'post-war' change in its attitude towards Eezham Tamils after failing them during the final stages of the genocidal war last year.
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Government should expedite finding political solution, Cardinal tells LLRC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2010, 18:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka's newly appointed Cardinal Most Rev. Dr. Malcolm Ranjit Wednesday appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka to speed up the process to find a political solution to the decades’ long ethnic conflict. The war is over but the fundamental issue that led to the armed struggle still exists and a sustainable political solution should be found as an only solution to the ethnic conflict, said Cardinal Dr.Malcom Ranjit testifying Wednesday before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by the Government of Sri Lanka.
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Local elections amended bill before Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2010, 14:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Tuesday granted time to the petitioners and the intervenient petitioners to file their written submissions before November 8 in regard to two Bills-Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Bill that seeks to amend the Municipal Council Ordinance, the Urban Council Ordinance and the Pradeshiya Saba Act No 15 of 1987 and the other entitled “Local Authorities Elections (Amendment Bill)” that seeks to amend the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance”.
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Three judges to decide on Fonseka attending parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2010, 06:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal President Sathya Hettige Tuesday appointed a three-member bench to hear a petition by Sarath Fonseka, the former Army Commander and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader seeking for an order allow him to participate in Sri Lanka parliament proceedings. The three- member bench comprising Judges Ranjit de Silva, A. W. A. Abdul Kalam and Upali Abeyaratne will commence inquiry into the petition Wednesday, legal sources said.
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SLA soldiers try to evict resettled Tamil families in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2010, 17:40 GMT]
A group of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members of Jaffna Municipal Council who visited Tuesday the resettled Tamil families in Vasanthapuram, Ma’niam Thoaddam area in Jaffna said that the families complained to them that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are trying to evict them saying that the area has not been cleared of landmines. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government has decided to settle the Sinhala families claiming resettlement in Jaffna on the coastal areas of Jaffna Fort and Ma’niam Thoaddam in Kozhumpuththu’rai, sources in Jaffna said. SLA claiming the area to be infested with landmines is seen as a ploy to evict the Tamil families so as to make room for the Sinhala families to settle there, the sources added.
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Tamil laborer recovered dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2010, 10:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka police in Karadiyanaa’ru in Batticaloa district recovered Monday morning the body of a building construction laborer drowned in a drain in Iluppaiyadichcheanai in their police division.
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Sinhala families to be settled in Jaffna with Chinese assistance

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2010, 05:33 GMT]
Colombo government has decided to settle the Sinhala families claiming they were IDPS and demading resettlement in Jaffna on the coastal areas of Jaffna Fort and Ma’niyam-thoaddam in Kozhumpuththu’rai, sources in Jaffna said. Parts of prefabricated houses donated by China to construct 12,000 houses in the areas from Mu'rika'ndi to Mullaiththeevu to settle Sinhala families have been brought to Jaffna to construct houses for the Sinhala families. The Sinhala families claiming resettlement are lodged in the Old Jaffna Railway Station where they had arrived in early October and are looked after by the Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna.
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Jaffna fisherman’s body washed ashore in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2010, 05:10 GMT]
Mannaar police recovered Monday the body of a fisherman washed ashore in Katipiddi in Mannaar and identified it as the body of a fisherman from Kurunakar in Jaffna. The fisherman had gone missing in the seas of Paalaitheevu where he had gone with his friends to fish Friday. Mannaar police informed Jaffna police and action is being taken to hand over the body of the fisherman to his family in Kurunakar.
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CaFFE urges proper registration of detained voters in camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 15:33 GMT]
The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) in a statement urged Sri Lanka Department of Elections to implement a proper program to register the persons above the age of eighteen now held in the detention centers in the North including Menik Farm, in the 2010 voters’ list revising process. The voter registration process in many parts of the North is in its final stages right now.
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Tamil medium candidates not selected for SLAS

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 15:30 GMT]
Not a single Tamil medium candidate who sat for the open competitive examination for the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) held in 2009 has been selected. All the selected 257 candidates are from the Sinhala medium, according to the results released on Sunday by the Sri Lanka’s Public Administration Ministry.
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Police forcibly evict Muslim resettled families in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 15:24 GMT]
A team of Sri Lanka police personnel from Trincomalee police station Sunday morning forcibly evicted thirty-five resettled Muslim families in Ka’ndalkaadu in Ki’n’niyaa Divisional Secretariat (DS) division in Trincomalee district from their dwellings and burnt their temporary huts, directed by top civil authority in Trincomalee. The vegetable plots in the premises of the resettled families were also damaged by the police team, according to complaints by affected families to civil authority in Ki’n’niyaa, sources said.
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Policemen, thugs attack Tamil Village Officer in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 07:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka policemen in civil dress attached to Ea’raavoor police with two thugs assaulted the Tamil Village Officer K. Jeganathan Saturday evening for having produced documents in Tha’lavaay police station that the lands encroached by Muslims in Tha’lavaay legally belong to Tamils, sources in Batticaloa said. They had also destroyed the said documents in possession of the Village Officer.
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Political parties in UK condemn jailing Fonseka - Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 06:30 GMT]
The Only country in the world that has unseated a person who holds the post of Member of Parliament due to the ruling of a Military Tribunal is Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party(UNP), said addressing a meeting at Bopitiya in Katugampola Saturday evening. He added that during his recent visit to Europe he was told by members of ruling and opposition parties that a Member of Parliament cannot be removed from his seat by a decision of a Court Martial and a retired person from the military cannot also be punished under the military regulations.
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NPC to be moved to Jaffna from Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 06:14 GMT]
Chief Secretary A. Sivasamy of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) located in Trincomalee has announced that the office of NPC is to be shifted to Jaffna from 1st of January 2011. NPC has placed advertisements calling for office space required for NPC in Jaffna. Earlier in July attempts made by NPC Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander of Jaffna, to move NPC to Ki’linochchi had been abandoned due to pressure from Sri Lanka government higher authorities.
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Muslims asked to pray for Nafeek

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 00:47 GMT]
Western Province Governor Alavi Moulana has appealed to the 1.5 million Muslims living in the island of Sri Lanka to conduct a special prayer to save the life of Rizana Nafeek, who has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia. He said Muslims all over the world share the common belief in prayer and submission to the will of Almighty god.
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