US emergency food aid amid WFP fears for 2011

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2010, 19:07 GMT]
The United States this week provided the UN’s World Food Program operation in Sri Lanka with $5.5 million of emergency food aid, shortly after the organisation warned of serious shortages and halved the wheat flour and sugar in rations it distributes to displaced people. The food situation remained ‘fragile’, despite improving since march 2010, and the next four months are critical , the WFP was quoted by IRIN as warning. The WFP estimates that it needs some $27 million next year to continue to provide assistance to an estimated 371,000 Tamils displaced by the armed conflict from 2008 and has warned of a “pipeline break” looming in 2011.
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Jaffna marred with killings, abductions on New Year eve

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2010, 18:19 GMT]
Armed men who entered the house of a 28-year-old youth who had displaced from Vanni to Vadamaraadchi recently shot him causing serious injuries Friday night. The victim, Nadarasa Ketheeswaran, a worker at the post office in Point Pedro, succumbed to his injuries after being transferred from Manthikai hospital to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for further treatment. The shooting took place while the victim was residing with relatives in Kudaththanai East of Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna. Meanwhile, 48-year-old Yoganathan Pushpathevi, a widow with six children was abducted Friday night by armed men who came in a white van. Her son living in Italy had visited her a few days ago, residents said.
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Youth abducted in Jaffna Thursday is a teacher

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2010, 16:30 GMT]
The youth who was abducted by ‘white van’ squad Thursday at Urumpiraay, Jaffna, has been identified as 30-year-old teacher, Shanmuganathan Vignesvaran of Vaiththeesvaraa Road of Urumpiraay West. His wife on Friday identified his slippers and bicycle at the Chunnaakam police station. The abduction took place in the same locality where Deputy Director of Education Mr. M. Sivalingam was assassinated Sunday. The hand of SL military intelligence is widely suspected in the series of terror campaign in Jaffna.
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Floods claim two lives in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2010, 02:26 GMT]
Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said two children died in two separate incidents that took place on Monday evening and Tuesday early morning in Batticaloa. 11-year-old Velautham Yogeswary at Eerazhakku'lam at Ea'raavoor Pattu-Chengkaladi DS division in Batticaloa district fell into a latrine pit and drowned in an attempt to rescue her one and a half year old brother from flood water on Monday. In the second incident at Chaaynthamaruthu in Ampaa'rai district on Tuesday a twelve year-old body died to the collapse of wall of a house. Five persons including his father and mother were injured and had been admitted in the hospital, according to DMC sources.
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Colombo fails to provide relief to Batticaloa flood victims

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2010, 01:31 GMT]
Flood victims in Batticaloa have complained that they have not received proper relief assistance for the last four days, Batticaloa District Parliamentarian P.Selvarasa told media Thursday. All the fourteen DS divisions in the Batticaloa district are under flood water and the number of affected persons has risen to 335,000.
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Youth abducted, Sri Lanka colonial commander denies knowledge

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2010, 01:07 GMT]
Unidentified persons coming in a white van abducted a youth in Urumpiraay, Jaffna, in broad daylight and in public, while he was riding a bicycle Thursday. When contacted by media over the incident, Sri Lanka’s colonial commander in Jaffna, Maj. Gen Hathurusinghe not only denied any knowledge of it, but also said that there are no chances for such abductions since the LTTE doesn’t exist now. When it was pointed out that public had witnessed the abduction and that the bicycle and slippers of the victim had been remaining on the street, the ‘Asian Nobel laureate’ General replied that the police would investigate into that matter. However, the police that picked up the evidence also denied any abduction. Meanwhile, irresponsible reporting of the happenings in Jaffna by some in the diaspora affects the credibility of even bona fide news, commented media circles in Jaffna.
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Why Sri Lanka keeps Tamil areas insecure and unstable - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2010, 15:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka is actively using paramilitary groups in a campaign of terror in Tamil areas, alongside the military’s own harassment of business and civil society activity, to “actively deny the conditions – physical security and societal stability - necessary for a fully fledged post-conflict revival,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in an online comment Thursday. Sri Lanka is opposed to societal revival in the Tamil areas [because] with economic progress and the restoration of normalcy will undoubtedly come renewed Tamil demands for political rights, including greater freedom from Colombo's rule and stronger links with the "globalised" economy and community, the Tamil Guardian argues.
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Pigs of HSZ harm crops, youth electrocuted in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2010, 15:45 GMT]
Pigs, never heard of in the densely populated Jaffna peninsula before, now breed in the thickets of Sri Lanka military occupied High Security Zone in Valikaamam and they infiltrate into neighbouring villages seriously damaging crops and causing severe economic hardship to farmers. On Thursday, a family man, 25-year-old Chandrasekaran Packiyaraja of Kadduvan West, died of electrocution on the spot when he came into contact with live wires placed by a farmer to prevent HSZ pigs.
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UN panel can only testify before LLRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2010, 12:47 GMT]
The UN panel set to advice the Secretary General Ban ki Moon on war crimes in Sri Lanka, can only testify before the LLRC set by the war crimes accused Rajapaksa government. "The U.N. panel will be given visas only to testify before the LLRC if they request, and not for any investigations [...] This is the government stance and there is no change in that. The U.N. has so far not requested visa in this regard," said the spokesman of Colombo, Keheliya Rambukwella, speaking to media in Colombo Thursday. However, informed circles said that the UN establishment, sharing mutual interests with Colombo, may make behind the scene arrangements for the UN panel to meet the LLRC outside the island to exchange notes and decide strategies.
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Floods ruin 60,000 acre paddy crops in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2010, 12:43 GMT]
Sixty thousand acres of crops have been affected in the Batticaloa district due to flood following incessant rain since last week, according to District Deputy Commissioner of Agrarian Services (DDCAS) Dr.R.Rushanthan. More than one hundred fifty thousand acres were planted with paddy crop Maha season, and the crops damaged were nearing releasing grains.
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Abductions escalate in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2010, 02:44 GMT]
Six civilians have been reported missing in Jaffna peninsula in the last four weeks, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The latest victim, Thanarathnasabapathy Nirojan, 23, a resident of Oorkavaththu'rai (Kayts) in Jaffna failed to return after leaving home on November 29 to Vavuniyaa for business activities, according to a complaint lodged with the Jaffna Secretariat of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL).
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Tamil, Sinhala detainees clash in Vavuniyaa remand prison

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2010, 02:15 GMT]
Two were injured in a clash that erupted between detainees in the Vavuniyaa remand prison Tuesday around 5:30 p.m. when Tamil detainees assaulted a Mannaar-based Christian priest and a long-time humanitarian worker, who was recently held in remand over alleged charges that he had sexually abused Tamil girls displaced due to the Vanni war. Altercation ensued as a group of Sinhala detainees rushed in defense of the priest and started assaulting their Tamil detainees with pointed weapons and blades. The alleged sexual abuse of under-aged girls are said to have taken in a Home for Destitutes run by the priest at Murungkan in Mannaar district, legal sources in Mannaar said.
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Terror campaign in Jaffna: abducted youth tortured and beheaded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2010, 21:27 GMT]
Mahendran Thiruvarudchelvam, known as Chelvam, abducted 9 days ago was tortured and beheaded as evidenced by his remains reaching Jaffna Teaching Hospital. Even though initial reports said that he had been abducted for a ransom of 8 million, his background and prevailing terror campaign in the SL-military-occupied Jaffna point to deeper motives behind his killing, human rights activists in Jaffna said. Mr. Chelvam, 28-year-old, and father of a child, was living in Vanni to the end of the war, spent some time in the internment camp and was released for resettlement. He returned to his native place Meesaalai North near Kanakan-pu'liyadi and started doing business as a vehicle dealer. The former residents of Vanni, whether they are in captivity or released, are viewed by the occupying military and paramilitary as objects for exploitation and then extermination.
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Abducted vehicle-dealer found dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2010, 16:50 GMT]
A 28-year-old Tamil male from Thenmaraadchi, Jaffna, who was abducted 9 days ago, was recovered dead from a lone area close to Kanakanpu’liyadi junction, Wednesday, initial reports from the area said. Two men, who had come to the residence of the victim, Mahendran Selvam, a vehicle dealer had took him with them last Monday evening. Thereafter, anonymous callers phoned the victim’s parents who were searching for him and demanded 8 million rupees to release Mr. Mahendran. The killing comes at a time when a terror campaign is let loose in the peninsula.
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Rajapakse fares worst in WikiLeaks damages, says Boston Globe

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2010, 12:56 GMT]
Boston Globe in an editorial opinion piece Wednesday called for a "legitimate UN investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka," after making the following observations: "[A]mbassador’s [Butenis's] candor illuminates a recurring contradiction between the moral imperatives of human rights and the cold logic of diplomacy. Videos and survivor accounts strongly suggest that hundreds, if not thousands, of Tamils were stripped naked, had their hands bound behind their backs, and were murdered during the final weeks of the government’s war against the Tigers. Yet for reasons of state, neighboring powers India and China show no interest in documenting and punishing such crimes.
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Tsunami remembrance day held in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2010, 01:12 GMT]
The sixth year anniversary of the tsunami remembrance event was held in different parts of Jaffna district, including Vadamaraadchi and Vadamaraadchi east independent of the Colombo-centric organized celebrations, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Uduththu'rai burial grounds in Vadamaraadchi east contained majority of tsunami burials, and grieving relatives held an emotional ceremony organized by the Uduththu'rai Fisheries Union at that site.
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Wickremesinghe on two-day visit to India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2010, 23:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Opposition Leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe left for India on the 27th of December, and has planned to stay there for two days, the Sinhala daily Lankadeepa said. Wickremesinghe met with members of trade unions and the business community in Sri Lanka before he left for India, according to the paper.
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Jumbo cabinet expands with eight additional deputy ministers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2010, 22:10 GMT]
Eight more parliamentarians from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) are expected to be sworn in as deputy ministers on January 6th by the Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse, according to political sources in Colombo. Six of the new appointees have crossed over from the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and two are from the ruling party.
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‘Sri Lankan forces planned education officer’s assassination in Jaffna’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2010, 21:56 GMT]
Sri Lankan forces occupying Jaffna planned the assassination of the Deputy Director of Education for Valikaamam, Mr. Markandu Sivalingam, on Sunday night, media sources in Jaffna said. “We cannot keep quiet seeing such murders. If we do so, tomorrow even we will not remain. We have to mobilise ourselves very urgently,” said Rev. Fr. Jesudas, the principal of St. Hendry’s College, I’lavaalai, speaking at the funeral of Mr. Sivalingam at Maruthanaamadam, Tuesday. It was attended by large number of students, teachers, principals and the public. But neither SL military officials, nor the officials of the provincial administration attended the funeral. On the day of his assassination there was the ‘disaster management’ gala attended by SL prime minister forcing students to ‘sing’ Sinhala anthem.
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NLF leader complains to HRCSL on attack at airport

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2010, 14:15 GMT]
Dr.Wickremabahu Karunaratne, Leader of the New Left Front (NLF), Tuesday registered a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (SLRCL) regarding the attack on him and his party supporters at the Katunayake International Airport (KIA) during the first week of December on his arrival of London, human rights sources in Colombo said.
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Subsidized fertilizer denied to Batticaloa farmers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2010, 12:59 GMT]
Batticaloa district farming societies have complained that fertilizer allocated under the subsidy scheme through more than fourteen Agrarian Services Centers (AGC) has not been distributed to paddy cultivators even after the farmers have paid money in advance. No other AGC has taken money in advance for the distribution of fertilizer under subsidy scheme says farmers’ societies.
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GSP+ setback triggers ambitious garment export pronouncements

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2010, 03:44 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government said it has plans to increase the total export of garments to US $4 billion by the year 2015, the state owned Dinamina newspaper said. The article comes at a time when the industry is suffering from the setback from GSP + concession termination for Sri Lanka by the European Union due to Sri Lanka's failure to EU set human rights standards.
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SLA Commander presides Education Department building opening ceremony

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2010, 00:03 GMT]
Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Maj. Gen. Chandrasiri ceremonially opened the new Education Department building in Kaarainagar Monday in the presence of EPDP member of parliament, Chandrakumar and other officials of the Education Department, sources in Jaffna said. The opening ceremony which was to be held earlier with Jaffna MP from the United National Party (UNP), Ms Vijayakala Maheswaran, as the Chief Guest, was abruptly cancelled earlier after the Jaffna Commander was informed that EPDP Minister in the ruling government, Douglas Devananda, was not invited to the earlier ceremony.
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Zonal Deputy Director of Education shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2010, 09:03 GMT]
Armed men who arrived in a motorbike shot and killed 52-year-old Markandu Sivalingam, the deputy director of Education, Valikaamam Zone, Sunday night at his residence in Urumpiraay in Jaffna, sending shock waves across the education sector in Jaffna. The killing of a peaceful educationalist, who recently took up the post after serving at Koappaay Teachers Training College for a long time, has taken place when Sri Lankan military had maximum deployment in Jaffna as the SL Prime Minister was visiting the city on the occasion of a Tsunami remembrance event, forcing the Tamil students to sing Sri Lankan anthem in Sinhala. Mr. Sivalingam was shot at his chest around 10:30 p.m., Koappaay police said.
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Floods worsen woes of Champoor uprooted in transit camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2010, 03:18 GMT]
Continuous rain for the last one week has disrupted the normal life in several parts of the Trincomalee district, especially the refugees uprooted from Champoor in Moothoor East in 2006 military operations by the Sri Lanka Army and currently sheltered in temporary transit camps in Ki'liveddy, Manatcheanai and Paddiththidal, civil society sources in Trincomalee said.
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Refugee numbers escalate in flood-striken Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2010, 02:39 GMT]
Two hundred and fifteen thousand persons from 58,000 families have been affected by continuous rain in the Batticaloa district, according to Disaster Management Department (DMD) sources. Acting Coordinator of the DMD, Mr.A.M.M.Hasir, said that villages in thirteen DS divisions are under water and road that leads to Paduvaangkarai has been completely submerged in flood waters disabling all transport to the mainland.
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'Disaster management' observed with Sinhala anthem in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2010, 00:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa did not attend disaster management event (National Security Day), remembering Tsunami, took place this time in his colonial territory of Jaffna on 26th December. He was scheduled to preside over it according to earlier announcements. SL Prime Minister D.N. Jeyaratne substituted him and school students of Jaffna were ordered to ‘sing’ the SL anthem in Sinhala only for the occasion. The students clad in Tamil traditional dress, veaddi and chealai, said that they were never accustomed to sing the Sinhala anthem before, but were rigorously ‘trained’ in the last two days for it and were forced for the performance. The function, ignored by the public and participated mainly by officials, made SL minister Douglas Devananda to comment that public in future should be prepared for participation.
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Colombo's Archeology department intrudes into historic Hindu temple in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2010, 19:12 GMT]
Colombo’s Archeology Department officials, who have been frequently intruding into several century old Hindu temple of Thaanthaamalai Sri Murukan in Batticaloa, 10 days ago warned the devotees and the members of the temple management while they were attending a pooja, not to enter the shrine in future for any reason. Thereafter they took management committee members to the Ampaa’rai police station. The temple, revered by Saivaites in the East as ‘Chinna Kathirkaamam’ and the land in the extent of 25 acres that comes under Paddippazhai DS division in Batticaloa district was declared in 13 March 1959 as Saiva Sacred Area according to the decree entered by the Court of Law, temple sources said.
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A/H1N1 influenza claims nine lives in one week

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2010, 17:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Health Ministry issued a warning Saturday that the influenza A/H1N1 was spreading fast in the island with 22 deaths being reported so far including nine within the last week.
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5 persons die daily in road accidents: NCRS

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2010, 13:41 GMT]
After the war, the majority of deaths in the island take place due to road accidents, said Mano Wijeratne, President of the NCRS at a media briefing held Friday, media reports in Colombo said. At least five persons die daily from road accidents, according to the NCRS.
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35,000 persons affected by rain in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2010, 13:27 GMT]
More than thirty five thousand members of 7,200 families in eight DS divisions in Batticaloa district have been affected and over 15,000 houses are under water due to continuous torrential rain for the last six days. In the meantime, people affected by floods already, two weeks ago, complain that they have yet to receive relief and assistance from the government.
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Jewellers stage lightening strike against continued crippling of trade in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2010, 13:24 GMT]
Jewellers in Jaffna Friday closed their businesses against the arrest of three leading businessmen in their industry that took place the same day morning by a team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police from Vavuniyaa. In the melee due to the protest the Sinhala CID men chose to release two jewellers and took one trader into their custody. Jewellers in Jaffna said Vavuniyaa Police, deployed by Colombo government, was serving the hidden agenda of crippling the business activities of the Tamil traders in the peninsula to make way for the Sinhalese to capture it.
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Schools in Jaffna ordered to ‘sing’ Sinhala Only Sri Lanka anthem

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2010, 09:59 GMT]
Implementing a decision of Rajapaksa, students in Jaffna are ordered to sing the SL anthem in Sinhala only in an event to be attended by him in Jaffna Sunday. Students of Jaffna Hindu College became the first to succumb. The move comes contrary to news in a section of press that Rajapaksa cabinet never took any decision on the anthem-issue as India and USA reportedly opposed it. A few days ago, when the Inner City Press asked for clarification on the SL cabinet decision from a UN spokesman, there was no reply. Meanwhile, Eezham Tamils should never demand the right to sing the SL anthem in Tamil, as it is contrary to the spirit of Eezham Tamil nationalism. Rather, every time they are asked to ‘sing’ the Sinhala anthem they should remember the colonial legacy of the Portuguese, Dutch and the English of the past and should be prepared for liberation struggle, said a student activist.
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SL minister threatens Mannaar UC not to restrict southern hawkers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2010, 09:26 GMT]
The Sri Lankan minister for Industry and Commerce in Rajapaksa's cabinet, Rishad Bathiyutheen has warned the Urban Council of Mannaar not to collect taxes from southern pavement hawkers who have invaded the streets of Mannaar, causing reactions from the local business community and the public. Instead, the minister who is also from Mannaar has deployed his gang to collect money from the Sinhala hawkers. The daily collection of such taxes is around two hundred thousand rupees, UC sources said.
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Split in Wimal Weerawanse led NFF

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2010, 10:51 GMT]
The National Freedom Front (NFF) a splinter group from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has reportedly expelled its national list parliamentarian Achala Jagoda from the party. The party secretary Prianjit Vitarana had refused to comment on the expulsion, but had told Colombo media that his party would not tolerate anyone who has been working against the party. His party is aligned with Mahinda Rajapaksa and is deployed by Rajapaksa brothers to showcase Sinahala extremist policies as a pressure tactic to the West, NGOs and the UN.
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Sinhala encroachment unabated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2010, 10:36 GMT]
Encroachment of lands belonging to Tamil people goes unabated in several villages in Batticaloa district despite assurances given by M.L.A.M.Hisbullah, a deputy minister for women affairs who also holds the post of chairman of the Batticaloa District Development and Coordinating Committee, and Deputy Minister for Resettlement Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan that they would take immediate action, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP P. Selvarasa charged at the District Development and Coordination (DDC) meeting, sources in Batticaloa Thursday said.
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US donates ambulances to aid SLA demining efforts

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 December 2010, 14:50 GMT]
U.S. Ambassador Butenis presented five ambulances Thursday to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Chief of Staff Major General Daya Ratnayake to assist the SLA’s humanitarian demining efforts in the North, a press release from the Colombo US Embassy said. The vehicles will ensure that demining teams have emergency medical care and transportation at all times, according the release.
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Argentina’s Videla convicted of crimes against humanity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 December 2010, 11:32 GMT]
Former Argentine military ruler Jorge Videla has been sentenced to life for crimes against humanity committed during the Argentine junta’s murderous "Dirty War" (1976-1983) against left-wing dissidents, reports said. Videla, whose conviction was for the torture and murder of 31 prisoners in 1976, was unrepentant, saying Argentine society had demanded the crackdown to prevent a Marxist revolution. He complained that "terrorists" now ran the country. As she handed down the sentence in the central Argentine city of Cordoba, judge Maria Elba Martinez said: "Videla ... is a manifestation of state terrorism."
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UNP claims 20 UPFA parliamentarians to leave government

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2010, 20:56 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) in south Wednesday claimed about twenty government parliamentarians were holding discussion with its leadership to leave the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA). UNP Badulla district parliamentarian Harin Fernando told a media briefing that the disgruntled UPFA parliamentarians, including some senior ministers, were ready to join the UNP under its new leadership.
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Veteran Tamil scholar, politician Kaa. Po. Ratnam passes away

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2010, 08:55 GMT]
Pandithar Kaarthigesar Ponnambalam Ratnam, a veteran Tamil scholar and a former parliamentarian who represented the electorates of Ki’linochchi and Kayts (Oorkaavaththu’rai) in Jaffna district on the tickets of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) and later on Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) since 1965 to 1983 passed away peacefully in his Colombo residence at the age of 96 Monday evening. His funeral is to take place Wednesday evening in Kanatte cemetery in Colombo.
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Japan helps renovate irrigation tanks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2010, 04:10 GMT]
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) handed over renovated irrigation tanks and fishing jetties to the Department of Agriculture Development (DAD) and to the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) in the Jaffna district recently. The handing over of the fishing jetties took place in the presence of Minister Douglas Devananda, whose criminal activities were recently exposed by WikiLeaks, Assistant Director-DFAR Mr. Dharmalingam, and the local Government Agent of Jaffna Ms. Imelda Sukumar, while Mr. Patrick De Ranjan, the Assistant Commissioner of DAD Jaffna chaired the handing over ceremony of the irrigation tanks.
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Forced prostitution, sex slavery with GoSL complicity – US cable

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2010, 02:39 GMT]
Forced prostitution and trafficking abroad for sex of Tamil children are amongst the organized criminal activities being undertaken with the knowledge of the Sri Lankan government by its troops and allied Tamil paramilitary groups, according to another Wikileaked US embassy cable from May 2007. The cable says these practices, which constitute war crimes, were raised “repeatedly” with Sri Lanka’s top leadership, including the President and top ministers. “The preponderance of [accounts] and the extent to which they independently corroborate each other points to a pattern of GSL complicity with paramilitary groups on multiple levels,” the then US Ambassador Robert Blake wrote.
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Mahinda doctrine deprives Tamils of irrigation in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2010, 01:44 GMT]
While the Sri Lankan state with its 'Mahinda doctrine' has revamped the 50-year-old Sinhala colonisation scheme in the Ampaa'rai and Batticaloa under a new name tag, Navodaya, calling it a 'renaissance' programme and spending 1,260 million rupees between 2008 and 2011, one of the potential irrigation source of Tamils in Batticaloa, U'rukaamam tank in Paduvaan-karai, situated 20 km north of Batticaloa city, has been completely ignored. Two third of water in the tank is going waste without any benefit to the farmers under its potential reach. Dr.R.Rushanthan, Deputy Commissioner of Agrarian Development Services has said only thirty percent of those residing in the area manage to live with at least one meal per day.
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Boycott campaign highlights Sri Lanka atrocities

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2010, 00:06 GMT]
During the first boycott held after the release by Channel-4 of an extended execution video showing extra-judicial executions and the naked body of a popular Tamil journalist with hands tied and the incriminating evidence contained in WikiLeaks cable accusing Sri Lanka' President and brothers of alleged war-crimes, the protest campaigners in several major cities in the U.S. Saturday exposed details of Sri Lanka's atrocities towards civilian Tamils to the consumers patronizing GAP and Victoria's Secrets stores which import garments made in Sri Lanka.
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Local elections to be held under old PR system

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 December 2010, 21:23 GMT]
Sri Lankan government has reportedly decided to use the present preferential representation (PR) system for the forthcoming elections to the local bodies. Citing delays and limited time to implement the proposed first-past-the-post system, being proposed by the government, Colombo government has decided to use the current system, media sources in Colombo said.
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World Bank backs Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 December 2010, 19:12 GMT]
The Managing Director of the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Saturday said she was granting Sri Lanka with an annual funding of US$465 million from 2011, increasing around 300 million of annual grants by the World Bank. Meanwhile, Political observers in Colombo described the offer by Washington-based Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was attending Central Bank of Sri Lanka's 60th anniversary celebrations, as an attempt by the West to win Colombo that has been extensively borrowing from China. The visiting World Bank director also paid a courtesy visit to the Eastern University in Batticaloa and to Thiraaymadu, a Tamil village affected by 2004 Tsunami, with Sinhala dancers from South.
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Devananda threatens Kudaththanai villagers to call off protests against sand excavation

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 December 2010, 18:08 GMT]
EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, a minister in Rajapaksa's cabinet, along with Sri Lankan military and Police officers in Jaffna, on Sunday threatened the villagers of Koddoadai in Vadamaraadchi East with drastic action if they continued to protest against illegal sand excavation undertaken by Maheswary Foundation, a business outfit run by his paramilitary group. Civil organizations in Kudaththanai, fearing erosion by sea water of their coastal areas have been protesting against the excavation of sand from their areas.
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SLFP-organised protest against diaspora fails in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 December 2010, 14:27 GMT]
Only fifteen persons, one of them a female, participated in a token fast held in Jaffna central bus stand Sunday morning. The protest fast was organised by the SLFP condemning Tamil Diaspora for opposing the recent visit of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse to London. However, the fast that started around 8 a.m. was called off by noon due to the poor response from the public.
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Police confirm arrest of two Tamil youths in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 December 2010, 17:22 GMT]
Batticaloa Police said the two brothers, Perinparasa Thavaseelan, 20, and Perinparasa Thirukeswaran, 38, taken into custody by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on Saturday afternoon around 12:30 pm on an allegation that they had hidden weapons in their land at Ma'nippuram-Katpaanaikulam in Aayithimalai Police Division are now detained in Earaa’voor Police Station. Thavaseelan was arrested while he was staying in his house and his brother Thirukeswaran while returning home after handing over milk to the Ilupaiyadichchenai milk collecting centre the same day at Keluthimadu village.
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Yogeswary obstructs Sherine’s human rights workshop in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 December 2010, 11:21 GMT]
The Jaffna Mayor Mrs. Yogeswary Patkunam, allegedly receiving ‘instructions’ from some ruling circles, cancelled permission to use the Jaffna Public Library auditorium by a human rights group called Home for Human Rights run by Sherine Xavier to conduct a workshop Saturday. The booking made for the auditorium on December 3 was cancelled in the last minute on Friday. Some academics of the Jaffna University and visitors from the south, altogether numbering more than 100, were scheduled to participate in the workshop on human rights violations after the Vanni war. While the Colombo-based Home for Human Rights is said to be liaising with a power that was a party to the war crimes, the Jaffna Mayor is said to have acted on the instructions of a minister who perceives local political mobilisation sponsored by that power a threat to him.
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Imelda, Daya Master, felicitate Asian ‘peace laureate’ Hathurusinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 December 2010, 01:51 GMT]
The commander of Sri Lanka’s colonial military in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, was felicitated by SL government circles in Jaffna, Thursday, for the Guci Peace Prize given to him in Philippines, which according to SL military web sites, ‘Asian equivalent of Nobel Peace Prize’. Mrs. Imelda Sugumar, the SL Government Agent of Jaffna was the chief guest for the felicitation that was coordinated by Daya Master, former LTTE spokesperson and now executive director of a paramilitary-backed television supporting Colombo. In a press meet the previous day, Hathurusinghe accused former LTTE members conniving with SLA as responsible for the robberies and other atrocities committed on people in Jaffna. While felicitating Hathurusinghe, Imelda attacked the editors of diaspora media for their bias and said that SL government and its military only help people in Jaffna.
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SLA 'arrests' two Tamil youths in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2010, 18:51 GMT]
Two Tamil youths, both residents of Katpaanaik-ku'lam in Aayiththiyamalai police division in Paduvaankarai area in Batticaloa district were taken into custody Friday by about ten persons in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) uniform who arrived in army jeep and three motor bicycles.
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Local Government elections scheduled for March

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2010, 18:46 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka has decided to hold the Local Government election in March 2011, according to the pro-Government Sinhala daily Lankadeepa newspaper. The government has taken a decision to dissolve the local government bodies in January next year and hold elections in March, Lankadeepa added.
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Tamil applicants discriminated in civil service: Inter-religious group in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2010, 15:01 GMT]
Only one of 29 new recruits appointed to Tamil-speaking divisional secretariats was a Tamil person from the region, complained Ampaa'rai District Inter-Religious Federation in a statement issued this week warning ethnic discrimination in government appointments in Ampaa'rai. The group warned that appointing Sinhalese to fill the vacancies in government departments and offices in Tamil areas would complicate the already strained relations.
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Sivakeetha requests Election Commissioner to fill abducted member’s post

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2010, 14:36 GMT]
The mayor of Batticaloa Municipal Council Sivakeetha Pirapaharan has written to the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections to fill the vacancy created following the abduction of a councillor, Prakasam Sahayamani, who was also a member of a paramilitary faction led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the chief minister of Eastern Province.
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Self-employed Tamil reported missing in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2010, 14:26 GMT]
A 24-year-old self-employed Tamil in Vavuniyaa, Tharmaraj Tharmendra, who used to travel to the towns of Mannaar, Vavuniyaa, Trincomalee and Colombo, selling products, has been reported missing since September 06, 2010, according to his relatives who were seeking help from those who have been in touch with the victim in various towns.
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Mannaar Muslims brought back from Puththa'lam stranded without facilities

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2010, 14:19 GMT]
900 displaced Muslim families brought down to Mannaar by Rishad Bathiyutheen, a minister in Rajapaksa's cabinet, are stranded without proper assistance or basic facilities in their villages in Mannaar for the past three days, the Muslim IDPs complain. Many of the IDPs brought to Thaaraapuram chose to return to Puththa’lam as there have been no preparations, but only promises extended to them by the minister, who is locked in a campaign against U. L. Muthaliph Farook, who is scheduled to fill the vacancy of late parliamentarian Noordeen Mashoor ahead of local elections expected in the early part of 2011.
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Tamil boy in Batticaloa wounded in gunfire by Sinhala policemen on meat hunting

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2010, 11:40 GMT]
A 13-year-old Tamil boy who was playing near Karaveddi playground on Tuesday was hit by gunfire by Sinhala policemen who were on meat hunting 5 km west of Batticaloa town. Policemen on hunting have been firing indiscriminately on animals in the area causing panic among the civilians who live in the hamlets. The injured boy, Baskaran Vijayakumar, a 9th grade student at Naavatkaadu Naamaka'l Viththiyaalayam, has been admitted at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. Policemen targeting pigs in the jungle area use automatic rifles and fire several rounds, the civilians in the area complain adding that the residents in the densely populated areas have been hit by gunfire also on earlier occasions.
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Canadian Tamil submission to UN focuses on international investigation

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 December 2010, 14:54 GMT]
From Nuremburg to Rwanda, precedents have been set to indict those who were individually responsible for war crimes. The precedent of individual accountability is a guiding principle in upholding international law, says the war crimes submission of the National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) to the UN advisory panel on Sri Lanka. 26 organizations and parliamentarians, ranging from trade unions and university students associations to Conservative, Liberal and New Democratic parliamentarians, including the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, Jack Layton, have endorsed the NCCT submission. The submission, extensively dealing with intentional targeting of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan state and arguing for an international inquiry, pointed out that there would be no lasting peace without justice.
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Fox cancels trip amid Sri Lanka War Crimes accusations

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 December 2010, 02:03 GMT]
Liam Fox, the British defence secretary whose friendship with Sri Lanka's President has been in the news during Rajapakse's visit to the UK early this month, was tonight forced to abandon a private visit to Sri Lanka this weekend after a row with William Hague, who feared that Fox would upset Britain's carefully balanced approach to Colombo, UK Guardian reported.
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WikiLeaks: Gotabaya sanctioned extra-judicial killings by Paramilitaries

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 December 2010, 01:08 GMT]
A WikiLeaks cable, dated 18th May 2007 from US embassy in Colombo, accuses Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse of giving orders to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commanders in Jaffna not to interfere with Tamil paramilitaries who are "doing "work" that the military cannot do because of international scrutiny. The work referred to in the cable includes extra-judicial killings, extortion, abduction and prostitution by the Tamil paramilitary groups EPDP and Karuna Group. Both groups are led by Ministers in the present ruling Government in Sri Lanka.
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Chief priest fired at by SLA gun succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 December 2010, 20:15 GMT]
The chief priest of Changkaanai Murukamoorthy temple, Nithiyananda Sharma, 56, fatally fired at in a robbery in the temple last week, died in the hospital Wednesday. The gun used in the firing belongs to the SLA, admits SLA military commander for Jaffna, Maj. General Mahinda Hathurusinghe. Briefing media in Jaffna, he said that two former LTTE members working closely with the SLA were responsible for the firing. But independent sources in Jaffna said that the two accused belong to the military intelligence of SLA. There were three who were involved in the firing cum robbery incident, according to witnesses.
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Tamil woman reported missing in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 December 2010, 14:35 GMT]
Jeyaseelan Praveena, 27, of Kuruma'nkaadu in Vavuniyaa district has been reported missing since Tuesday morning. Praveena who was employed as a management assistant in the Vavuniyaa District Secretariat, left for work on Tuesday morning but her mother was informed by the Secretariat officials that her daughter had not reported for work till 9.30 am the same day, according to the complaint lodged with the Vavuniyaa Police by her mother, Mahendrarani Jeyaseelan.
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SLA blocks use of Vadamaraadchi East road publicized as open

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 December 2010, 14:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continues to block civilians from using the Point Pedro-Maruthangkea'ni Road that passes through Naakarkoayil in Vadamaraadchi East even after publicizing that the said road was to be open for public. A journalist who works for the Jaffna Tamil daily "Valampuri" has complained to the Jaffna Human Rights Commission that he was stopped at the SLA checkpoint at the Maruthangkea'ni bridge and was turned back without being allowed to proceed to his native village of Chempiyanpattu, civil sources in Jaffna said.
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Timely protest saves church land from police occupation in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 December 2010, 13:34 GMT]
A demonstration by the Peasaalai church and residents Wednesday morning forced the Sri Lankan police to abandon its attempt to seize the land and construct a police station on the land that belongs to St.Lady of Victory Church in Pesalai in Mannaar district. Large number of people including Parish Priests and Vicar of the church participated in the demonstration that was held for one and a half hours from 7:00 a.m.
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Tamil media group, parliamentarian condemn attack on Batticaloa journalist

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 December 2010, 07:00 GMT]
Independent East Media Forum, a Tamil media group in the East, condemned the attack on Tamil journalist Manikapody Sasikumar, the correspondent of Thinakkural paper in Batticaloa by a group of unidentified persons. The attack cannot be considered as an act against an individual but on the whole media community in the district. The law enforcement authority should bring the culprits behind the attack to courts, the IEMF further said in its statement. Meanwhile, Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian P.Ariyanethran also condemned the attack on Mr. Sasikumar.
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Southern traders reaching Mannaar reveal organised activity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 21:20 GMT]
Pavement traders and hawkers occupying the streets of Mannaar amidst the objections from the local Tamil-speaking business owners on Wednesday revealed that they were being sent by a group of agents operating in the south when they were confronted by the secretary of the Urban Council of Mannaar with complaints from Mannaar traders.
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SLA, Police launch search operations in Mannaar city

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 20:17 GMT]
Armed policemen and Sri Lanka Army soldiers were deployed within the limits of town council of Mannaar in search operations inspecting the passengers in buses and the pedestrians who hit the roads Wednesday evening between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
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Buddhist monk in Batticaloa said encroaching into Muslim school land

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 20:14 GMT]
The Buddhist of the Vaazhaichcheanai Buddha Jayanthi Vihara last week demolished 80 meter long boundary wall that divided the Vihara's land from the adjacent Pi'rai-thu'rai-chenai Ahar Viththiyaalayam and annexed the playground of the Muslim school with Buddhist Vihara's land, blamed M.S.M.Subairdeen, the principal of the school in a writ application filed in Vaazhaichcheani Court last Wednesday. Meanwhile, Eastern Provincial Council member Java Hirshali accused the police for assisting the Vihara in erecting a fence annexing the school property with Vihara.
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Southern street vendors invade Mannaar city, local businessmen complain

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 15:18 GMT]
More than 250 Sinhala street vendors from south have occupied both the sides of the Muttave'li and Muslim street near the Mannaar townhall during the last 7 days illegally competing with the local businesses, complained the Tamil-speaking shop owners to the town concil authorities on Tuesday.
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Two suspects escape from prison custody in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 14:27 GMT]
Mannaar Police have launched a search operation to arrest two suspects who had escaped from their custody while they were being taken along with four others to Vavuniyaa prison for further remand in connection with robbery and possession of dangerous weapons Mannaar Police arrested six persons on 27.06.2010 on charges with possession dangerous weapons and robbery.
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STF resumes search operations in Ka'luvanchchikkudi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 12:24 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) of the Sri Lanka Police has resumed its search operation in Ka'luvaagnchikkudi, a village located 20 km off south of Batticaloa.
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Colombo directs closure of Northern UN, ICRC offices

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 11:45 GMT]
Following directives from Sri Lanka Government authorities to close the branch offices of the United Nation agencies and the International Committtee of Red Cross (ICRC) in the North, these agencies are reducing the number of staff, civil society sources in Jaffna said. UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP, and WFP offices are said to be affected by the directive from Colombo. A number of offices of the said organizations in Vanni area have already ceased operations. Meanwhile, British Members of Parliament raised concerns on the closure of the ICRC offices in Jaffna.
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Colombo cripples traders in Jaffna to bring in Sinhala trade

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 December 2010, 22:20 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka is alleged to have been involved in crippling the business activities of the Tamil traders in Jaffna peninsula to make way for the Sinhalese to capture it, Jaffna traders who have been subjected to harassment by officers from Criminal Investigation Department of Colombo Police.
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SLA intelligence ‘leaks’ stories about robberies in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 December 2010, 22:08 GMT]
In an attempt to pass the blame and entrap the released LTTE cadres now living in Jaffna, the Sri Lanka Army intelligence has started ‘leaking’ stories linking the former LTTE cadres with the escalating robberies in the peninsula, media sources in Jaffna said. Among the two arrested by the police related to the firing incident at Changkaanai last week, one was an LTTE cadre escaped surrender, says the SLA. But the Maanippaay police investigating the incident denied any such information. It is said that one of the arrested had a T56 rifle and was responsible for the firing. How was he able to freely move with that gun and fire a volley of shots in an area completely controlled by the SLA, is the question raised by the public. The escalating robberies mostly take place in the areas of Kaithadi, Uduppiddi, Kodikaamam, Chunnaakam and Changkaanai, where the SLA presence is heavy.
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SLA chases away uprooted families in Ki'linochchi suburb

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 December 2010, 07:24 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has chased away a group of uprooted Tamil families when they went to temporarily reside in their own buildings in Ponnakar village, located 1.5 km in the Karaichchi DS division in Ki'linochchi district, after their temporary huts provided in low-lying lands were submerged in the floods earlier this month. They were told by the SLA to find other places than their own buildings even if it was for a temporary period of time till they were able to return to their huts. Ponnakar village is located 1.5 k.m south of Kil'linochchi town.
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War crimes ignored in East, focus urged on ‘killings’ at Eastern University

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 December 2010, 07:09 GMT]
While the war raged in Vanni war front, Sri Lanka Army deployed paramilitary operatives with close link to Rajapaksa quarters in Colombo, killing a female hostel warden and two female Tamil students from Vanni at the Eastern University in February and March 2009, journalists from Batticaloa said citing information from ex-paramilitary personnel and naming a key operative in Vaazhaichcheanai in Batticaloa with close links to Rajapaksa's cabinet as the man who carried out the orders from the top. In the meantime, a 54-year-old man from Paa'ndiruppu linked to Iniyapaarathi, the most feared operative of Karuna group, was found dead Friday hanging inside a building used by the group earlier.
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Sajith Premadasa vows to take UNP on victory path

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 December 2010, 20:30 GMT]
The son of the late president of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa, addressing the UNP's convention held Sunday at the party headquarters Sri Kotha, has vowed that the UNP would "capture" the power from Rajapaksa family with the support of the masses. Sajith Premadasa is an elected parliamentarian from Hambantota district, the native place of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Meanwhile UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe said the party would give way to a new young set of leaders.
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JDS: State sponsored brutality against opposition

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 December 2010, 14:43 GMT]
Noting that "State sponsored violence against dissenting voices in Sri Lanka" is on the increase, Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), an exciled group of Sri Lankan journalists, said in a press release issued Sunday that JDS unreservedly condemned attacks on journalists who "went to cover the arrival of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) General Secretary, Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne, from the United Kingdom," and called upon "all forces both within Sri Lanka and abroad who cherish freedom and democracy to do what they can to stop this extremely dangerous trend that threatens democracy."
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Tamil journalist attacked in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 December 2010, 18:53 GMT]
An unidentified three person gang attacked a Tamil journalist Manikkapody Sasikumar, 35, in Batticaloa district, Sunday night around 7.30 p.m., causing severe injuries on his hands and head, according to reports reaching Colombo media. Sasikumar was admitted to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital for treatment.
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SLA tightens security in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 December 2010, 15:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is employing new measures in the last several days to increase security in Jaffna, civil sources in Jaffna said. SLA has increased search operations during nights and has increased checking of motor vehicles including motor bikes. Passengers traveling in night buses are being subjected to delays as they searched in the proximity of four or five SLA camps. In addition, reports from Jaffna say SLA soldiers are constructing new earth bunds in the previously declared High Security Zones (HSZ) raising fears among families awaiting resettlement that return to their ancestral homes are going to be further delayed.
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More than 100,000 persons affected by rain in the North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 December 2010, 13:39 GMT]
More than hundred thousand people were affected by rain in Jaffna, Mannaar, Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu district, according to civil society sources in the Northern province. Menik Farm camp used as an internment camp to hold Tamil civilians, is surrounded by flood. More than 20,000 remaining refugees have been struggling with toilets submerged in flood. Dengue and malaria are spreading rapidly, according to medical sources.
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SL First Lady’s Xmas in Jaffna cancelled

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 December 2010, 23:58 GMT]
As most of the local priests and Christians in Jaffna were not interested in participation, the programme of Mahinda Rajapakasa’s wife Shiranthi Rajapakasa presiding over an Xmas fete in Jaffna as its chief guest was cancelled. However, Buddhist monks, Sinhalese visitors and some Muslim religious leaders who were brought from the south for this purpose, along with military personnel in Jaffna, celebrated Christmas at the Methodist Church in Jaffna on Saturday. Since Shiranthi Rajapaksa didn't come Mrs. Imelda Sugumar, the Government Agent of Jaffna, joining religious representatives, released ‘peace doves’ on the occasion.
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Gunmen open fire at Hindu chief priest, sons in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 December 2010, 18:17 GMT]
The Chief Priest of Murukamoorththi Temple in Changkaanai of Valikaamam and his two sons were fatally injured Saturday evening when unknown gunmen, who attempted to rob the temple, opened fire on them. 56-year-old Niththiyantha Sharma, the chief priest and 32-year-old Sivananda Sharma and 27-year-old Jegananda Sharma, were rushed to Jaffna Teaching Hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, medical sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, civilian movement has been heavily restricted in Changkaanai by the Sri Lankan military that has rounded up the area, residents said. Journalists are denied access to the area. Recently, a temple musician playing Naathasvaram at a temple in A'laveddi in Valikaamam was also fired at by gunmen.
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US Senators call for Independent International Investigations

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2010, 23:16 GMT]
Seventeen United States Senators, in a letter sent to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urged her to "call for an independent international investigation into the allegations of gross human rights violations that occurred during the country's 25-year civil war." Coinciding with the week following release of WikiLeaks cable which revealed the Colombo-based US diplomats' view that "responsibility for many alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka," the letter follows the August letter sent by 58 members of Congress urging the Obama administration to push for an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes that occurred during Sri Lanka's civil war.
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Wounds from Oxford fiasco linger

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2010, 15:49 GMT]
Cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, in a media interview conducted in Sinhala, pointed to the "weakness and inability of the British government to correctly evaluate the situation," and added that "[n]either the Thames Valley Police nor the British government could get away from the blame for their failure to give adequate security to President Rajapaksa and to his entourage by saying it was a personal trip." The Minister said the LTTE had been listed as a terrorist organization in that country and all activities carried out by the LTTE and its sympathizers had been banned, Daily Mirror reported.
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Colombo denies North Korean arms purchase

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2010, 14:57 GMT]
Following a report in the New York Times of the alleged Sri Lanka's purchases of rocket launchers from North Korea in the Spring of 2009 despite protests by American Diplomats, a senior Sri Lanka official involved in procurement of arms told local media that "there hadn’t been any transactions with NK [North Korea] for a long time." The official added that Sri Lanka "never purchased any arms, ammunition and equipment from North Korea during the war against the LTTE," according to the Island, a pro-Government Colombo daily. NYT wrote that "American diplomats have confronted foreign governments about shadowy front companies, secretive banks and shippers around the globe," saying information was obtained from recently released WikiLeaks cables.
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FMM condemns attack on journalists

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2010, 14:21 GMT]
Free Media Movement (FMM), a Colombo-based media watchdog, in a press release isssued this Thursday, condemned the attack on two journalists by a "group of BIA [Bandaranaike International Airport] employees, allegedly under [Sri Lanka] government orders while covering an attack on Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne, leader of the New Left Front, and his supporters. Dr. Karunaratne was returning from a visit to the United Kingdom where he delivered several lectures. His speeches were earlier criticised by ruling party members as 'traitorous,'" FMM said. FMM described the attack as a serious threat to media freedom in Sri Lanka.
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Sri Lanka extends State of Emergency

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2010, 01:15 GMT]
The Sri Lanka’s parliament Wednesday evening adopted a motion to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of 130 votes. 145 parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the motion. Fifteen parliamentarians from the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) voted against the motion.
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15,000 new cancer victims every year, says Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2010, 00:10 GMT]
About fifteen thousand persons are identified as cancer patients in Sri Lanka every year. Twenty four percent of them are women between the ages 25 and 45, and are affected by breast cancer, Sri Lanka Health Ministry sources said. Most of women are unaware of the dangers of breast cancer, sources added.
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Philippines awards peace prize to SLA, joins Colombo boycotting Nobel ceremony

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2010, 15:40 GMT]
Philippines on Thursday decided to boycott the Nobel peace prize award ceremony in Oslo Friday. Sri Lanka will also boycott the ceremony that awards the peace prize to Liu Xiaobo, who in his struggle for political reforms in China was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment last year. Meanwhile, during the Heroes Day week of Eezham Tamils, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe of the war crimes accused military of Sri Lanka was awarded Gusi International Peace Prize in a ceremony held at the Philippine International Convention Centre, Manila, on 24 November. Colombo’s military website run in Jaffna said on 27 November that the award given to Hathurusinghe was the “Asian equivalent to the Nobel Prize”.
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Opposition's War Crimes charge triggers inter-party squabble

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2010, 04:15 GMT]
Leader of the House and a Minister in Sri Lanka's parliament, Nimal Siripala de Silva, challenged opposition Parliamentarian Karu Jayasuriya to submit evidence to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) on the alleged human rights violations and war crimes committed by Sri Lanka soldiers, Sinhala daily Lankadeepa said.
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Astonishingly powerful, rare category of War Crime evidence, says Legal expert

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2010, 02:42 GMT]
"On the question of whether there should be an inquiry, this is astonishingly powerful evidence of a type I've only seen in a handful of times – there's some footage from Yugoslavia about mass killings – and this is up there. It's within a very, very rare category of evidence where killings are actually captured on tape and the idea that there can be a debate about whether there should be an investigation in the face of evidence like this is very surprising. So this evidence should lead to only one conclusion which plainly is there needs to be a full investigation and there needs to be prosecution of the people responsible," a leading war crimes lawyer Julian Knowles of Matrix Chambers told Channel-4 after watching the video obtained by Channel-4 on the extra-judicial execution of Tamils by Sri Lanka soldiers.
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Dual citizen Kohona falls under ICC jurisdiction on War Crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 December 2010, 05:34 GMT]
Moreno OCampo, the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), during a press briefing for the 9th session of Assemblyof Parties for the Rome Statute said, "if there becomes clarity that nationals of state parties committed crimes, that could be an option [for ICC action]." Clearly, in O'Campo's view Sri Lanka's Dr Palitha Kohona, a Sri Lanka citizen holding dual nationality in Australia, might fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC, as Australia is a party to the governing Rome Statute of the ICC.
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Sri Lanka Supreme Court to decide on legality of Court Martial

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 December 2010, 02:52 GMT]
The Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Monday put off its determination for Thursday about the legality of the Court Martial under the Article 89D (d) of the Constitution on the Writ Application filed by the former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Sarath Fonseka filed in the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal sought a determination from the Supreme Court in this regard sequel to a Writ Application filed by the petitioner Fonseka seeking it to issue an interim order enabling him to sit and vote in the parliament and to exercise his powers and privileges and immunities as a member of parliament, legal sources in Colombo said.
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NLF leader Karunaratna's supporters assaulted at airport

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 December 2010, 01:51 GMT]
Supporters of Dr.Wickremabahu Karunaretna, leader of the New Left Front (NLF), Tuesday, who went to receive him at the Katunayake International Airport (KIA) on his return after a visit to London, were assaulted by aviation authority officials and a gang said to be sent by a deputy minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, according to complaint lodged by Dr.Wickremabahu Karunaretna, NLF sources in Colombo said.
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Colombo says making inquiries on WikiLeaks reports

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 December 2010, 06:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka's foreign ministry, in the wake of the revelations by WikiLeaks of the U.S. diplomats accusing Sri Lanka's President and brothers of war-crimes, and of conducting an investigation that fails to meet international standards, said in the State run Dinamina Tuesday that the Ministry has launched its own "independent inquiries into the reports." Deputy Foreign Minister, Neomal Perera, did not elaborate on what additional details the Ministry was attempting to obtain beyond what's available in WikiLeaks website.
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Torrential rain adds to woes of Batticaloa resettled families

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 December 2010, 03:37 GMT]
Continued torrential rain in Paduvaangkarai area in Batticaloa district has badly affected the resettled Tamil families, civil sources in Batticaloa said. Several villages in Vellaave'li, Ko'raalaipaththu South, Ea'raavoorpaththu, Chengkaladi, Ko'raalaipaththu North and South E'ruvilpaththu are under water, causing closure of schools and affecting the administration of government departments. Public transport to these villages from Batticaloa has also been affected as roads are submerged in water. Batticaloa District Meteorological Department Official K. Sooriyakumar said 90.6 mm rain fall was recorded within 24 hours.
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Colombo plans to close UN offices in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 December 2010, 13:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government has directed the United Nations officials to close the UNICEF, UNHCR offices in Ki'linochchi district in the North, and Trincomalee in the East before the end of this year, and to move the administrative functions to offices located outside NorthEast, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The sources fear that Colombo's action is part of its longer term strategy to rid of all NGO offices in the NorthEast.
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LLRC concludes inquiry in Trincomalee without visiting Champoor

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 December 2010, 07:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) concluded its 3-day-sittings in Trincomalee district Sunday without visiting Champoor as scheduled. The LLRC said in its schedule programme that it would visit Champoor to assess the situation there on the second day Saturday after its session in Moothoor. But, the visit to Champoor was cancelled at last minute without giving any reason for the cancellation.
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Suspect Sri Lanka war-criminal in UN post under US media spotlight

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 December 2010, 07:42 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government has appointed a senior army officer accused of war crimes in the conflict with Tamil rebels as its deputy permanent representative to the United Nations,” Washington Times said in a lead article Sunday referring to ex-Major General Shavendra Silva who commanded one of the largest divisions in Sri Lanka Army, and was the front line commander during the final phases of the war, the blood bath in which more than 40,000 Tamil civilians were alleged to have been killed in indiscriminate bombardment.
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New evidence emerges on war crimes committed on Isaippiriyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 19:26 GMT]
The gruesome killing of 27-year-old LTTE journalist Shoba (Isaippiriyaa) is a clear case of war crime committed by Sri Lanka Army, as evidences come forth indicate. Isaippriyaa never went for any kind of military training. She was exempted by the LTTE from such training, as she was a patient of Rheumatic Heart Valvular Disease, says a medical practitioner who was working in Vanni and who has personally seen her taking Echo Cardiogram test conducted by visiting US and Australian cardiologists. Until 8 May 2009 she was working as a volunteer in the Mu’l’livaaykkaal makeshift hospital. She was taken by SLA on 23rd or 24th of May 2009, while staying in D8/ Zone 4 of the Cheddiku'lam internment camp, according to the wife of the medical practitioner, a media worker who was also interned in the camp at that time.
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Sri Lanka’s police stations get own buildings in Ki'linochchi, Maangku'lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 12:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne on Friday opened two new buildings for two key police stations in Vanni, which have been functioning the buildings of LTTE-run administration, at Maangku'lam and Ki'linochchi.
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Unidentified person found dead in Jaffna bus stand

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 12:28 GMT]
Jaffna Police Sunday morning removed an unidentified body of a 40 year old male person found dead under a passenger shelter in the Jaffna central bus stand on receipt of information from the public. The body was handed over to the mortuary of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital for identification and inquest. This discovery, following the killing of a mentally deranged Tamil youth at Puththoor junction by the Sri Lanka Army Saturday on Friday, has fuelled tension and fear in Jaffna.
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Sinhala settlers in Jaffna rob rain-affected Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 09:57 GMT]
Tamil families who had to temporarily leave their houses in low lying resettlement lands in Naavatkuzhi and returned back have found their properties robbed by settlers of a newly established Sinhala colony. According to latest reports, the number of families in the Sinhala colony in Naavatkuzhi has increased to 186 as Colombo was scheming ways to set up more Sinhala settlements in the peninsula. Resettled Tamil families also complain of theft during nights.
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UK Minister's visit to Sri Lanka postponed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 09:44 GMT]
A scheduled three day visit of British Secretary of State of Foreign and Commonwealth Office of South Asia, Mr. Alistar Burt, to Sri Lanka has been postponed amid reports of a diplomatic row between Sri Lanka and Britain, political sources in Colombo said. Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse was scheduled to speak on December 2nd at the Oxford Union and the event was cancelled for security reasons after Rajapakse and his entourage arrived in London.
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Ira'naimadu tank spills due to heavy rain

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 05:55 GMT]
Ira'naimadu irrigation tank in Ki'linochchi district, currently under control of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), has reached 28.6 inches above its spill level of 28 feet following one week continuous rain, sources in Vanni said. Due to efforts taken by the agricultural sector organizations in the district to ensure the safety of the tank, sluice gates had been opened on December 3 to release the excess water.
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Repercusssions from Oxford debacle spills over to Sri Lanka's parliament

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 03:17 GMT]
A parliamentary Select Committee is to be appointed to inquire if the opposition United National party (UNP) MP, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, had acted in contravention against the Sri Lanka's Constitution, State run daily Dinamina said. Ruling party alleged that the MP instigated the protests by Tamil activists in UK that resulted in the cancellation of Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse's speaking engagement at the Oxford Union. Both the government and even the main opposition, United National Party (UNP) agreed for the setting up of the committee.
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Musali lawyer to fill vacancy in parliament

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 00:09 GMT]
The name of Attorney-at-Law U.L. Muthaliph Farook is to be gazetted by the Commissioner of Elections to fill the vacancy created in the parliament with the demise of Noordeen Mashoor, political sources in Colombo said. The new parliamentarian is a resident of Musali in the Mannaar district and polled second highest preferential votes in the United National Party (UNP) list at the last general election held in April this year.
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"Sovereign Immunity question is a matter for U.S. Supreme Court"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2010, 23:01 GMT]
The U.S. Justice Department responding to a query by Tamils for Obama, a US-based activist organization, in August of this year, on the immunity against arrest of heads of state accused of war crimes visiting the U.S., said, "as a matter of general policy, the Office of the Solicitor General does not state or provide opinions on such matters unless such questions arise in the context of Supreme Court or other appellate litigation." The response was received during the week of controversy of the attempted arrest of suspect war criminal Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London.
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Sinhalese VC for Eastern University?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2010, 20:25 GMT]
A Sinhalese academic is likely to be appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University by the Sri Lanka Ministry of Higher Education. The Eastern Provincial Council Chief Minister and several deputy ministers in the eastern province have given consent to the appointment, according to reports emerging from education sources in Batticaloa. Meanwhile, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr.C. Yogeswaran, made an appeal in the parliament recently that the steps now being taken by the government to appoint a Sinhalese as VC should be stopped as the Eastern University is located at Vanthaa'rumoolai in the Tamil dominated district.
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Two persons per week contract AIDS in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2010, 20:22 GMT]
At least two persons are diagnosed with HIV per week in the island, media reports in Colombo said citing Dr. Ms. Sujatha Samarakoon, the AIDS Control Programme Deputy Director on the occasion of World AIDS Day.
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Suspect War Criminal flees UK, escapes arrest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2010, 03:43 GMT]
Suspect Sri Lankan war criminal, Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London, escaped arrest by his premature departure from Britain, British daily Guardian reported. "An application [for arrest warrant] was lodged at Horseferry Road magistrates court, central London, but inquiries by Scotland Yard established that he [Chagi Gallage] had left on Thursday night," the paper said. Tamil campaigners sought the arrest warrant claiming that the ex-General who was in-charge of 53 & 59 divisions committed war-crimes by intentionally shelling civilian hospitals while advancing towards Mullaiththeevu area.
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SLA guns down trauma affected male in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 12:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers on A9 Road opened fire on an uprooted Tamil along the A9 road Friday afternoon near Puththoor junction in Meesaalai. The victim was a psychologically affected male due to the war last year. The soldiers harassed him prompting the victim to attack a soldier and gunned him down, civilians in the area said.
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One did not fly over

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 04:54 GMT]
It was billed as a ‘private’ visit. But when Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse flew to Britain on Monday, the entourage he took with him included Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris, Education Minister S.B.Dissanayake and even a Provincial Council member, Nauzer Fauzi, amongst other politicians. Also came Sri Lanka Army Major General Chagi Gallage – though he was Thursday reportedly scrambling to find a flight out to escape an arrest warrant UK lawyers are building a case for. The only member of President Rajapsksa’s entourage not to get a visa to Britain, The Times newspaper reports, was Tamil paramilitary leader and ruling party Parliamentarian, Douglas Devananda.
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Sri Lanka video contains evidence of war crimes, says ICTY legal expert

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 04:01 GMT]
"This is a very disturbing video and clearly, on the face of it, shows war crimes have been committed and perhaps crimes against humanity, depending on who the group targeted was," said Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA), after reviewing the execution video broadcast by Channel-4, and added ""[t]here is no question that this video is prima facie evidence that these crimes were committed. And therefore there's a responsibility on the part of the international community to push for an investigation and prosecution."
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Rajapakse endures brickbats and snowballs in London

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 02:40 GMT]
Mass demonstrations in London condemning Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse as a war criminal took place Thursday evening in front of his luxury hotel and the Sri Lankan High Commission where he held a glittering reception for some of his supporters in lieu of his abortive address to the Oxford Union. Over seven thousand Tamil expatriates and others braved the snow falls inundating Britain this week to crowd Park Lane, where The Dorchester is located, to demand Sri Lankan officials be prosecuted for war crimes, while hundreds more filled the short street in front of the High Commission. President Rajapakse’s reception began with an organising mix-up that left some of his select guests waiting to be allowed into the mission, and ended with a flurry snowballs thumping into his departing police-escorted motorcade.
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War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 00:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London, plans to escape war crimes accusation in the courts of London by chartering a flight, informed circles in London said Thursday midnight. Meanwhile, if Mr. Rajapaksa's visit was a private one as claimed by him, why there were senior ministers like G.L.Peiris and military commanders in the entourage, wonder media circles in London. The escape plans of the military commander follows attempts by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) to file a war crimes case against him in London. Valid reasons are suspected behind the escape attempt of Chagi Gallage. Around 7,000 Eezham Tamils in London protested the presence of Rajapaksa entourage in London Thursday.
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British High Commission clarifies cancellation of Rajapaksa's Oxford event

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 20:07 GMT]
As a cabinet minister in Rajapaksa government called for a protest against the British Government in Colombo on Friday, the British High Commission issued a statement Thursday stating the planned address by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in London was a private event organized by the Oxford Union and the Sri Lankan High Commission in UK. The British Government was not involved in that event, it said. On Wednesday, The Times of India reported on Wednesday that Rajapaksa embarked on the trip after British government assured him diplomatic immunity.
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Weerawansa calls for protest against British High Commission

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 19:27 GMT]
Blaming the British government for 'failing' to provide 'adequate security' to the visiting Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, a minister in the Rajapaksa's cabinet Wimal Weerawansa Thursday called for a protest in front of the British High Commission in Colombo on Friday. In July 2010, minister Weerawansa staged 'devil dance' in front of the UN office in Colombo demanding the UN to dissolve the expert panel announced to investigate allegations of war crimes and human rights violations in the island. The protest against the UN turned violent and Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa went to the extent of threatening the police officers who were protecting the UN office from the violent protesters.
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Gotabhaya's ministry to act against opposition MPs supporting Tamil diaspora

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 19:12 GMT]
Sri Lankan Defense Ministry headed by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has threatened to launch 'investigations' against 'Sri Lankan' politicians who express solidarity with Tamil diaspora saying that they support 'separatism'. "Action would be taken against them on evidence found," said Lakshman Hulugalla, Director General for the Media Centre for National Security at a hurriedly arranged media briefing held Thursday.
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Leaked video shows LTTE commander Ramesh in SLA custody

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 12:36 GMT]
A video clip has surfaced on YouTube Thursday showing LTTE's Batticaloa Commander Col. Ramesh in the custody of Sri Lankan soldiers, after he reached Sri Lanka Army captured Vadduvaakal with civilians on 18 May 2009. TamilNet has been in contact with a person who witnessed Ramesh reaching Vadduvaakal unarmed on 18 May. The eyewitness, fleeing the island, also confirmed that Ramesh was identified by the SLA personnel and separated from civilians. The latest information on Ramesh is the 34 seconds video that has been leaked out on the Internet.
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Vanni parliamentarian Mashoor dies of heart attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 05:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Vanni District Parliamentarian Noordeen Mashoor died from a heart attack on Thursday morning. He reportedly died at a private hospital in Colombo, according to media sources in Colombo.
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UNP MP threatened in Sri Lanka Parliament over UK protests

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 05:20 GMT]
Tense situation is prevailing in Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday morning after the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians attempted to assault UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardena accusing him of instigating the protests in the United Kingdom against visiting Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, parliamentary sources said.
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Rajapakse, brothers responsible for alleged War Crimes in Sri Lanka, says leaked US cable

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 01:20 GMT]
In a startling setback for the war-crimes concealment agenda of Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse, and his siblings holding high level positions in Sri Lanka's defense and civilian sectors, a January 2010 cable from US Embassy in Sri Lanka, made public by Wikileaks Thursday, acknowledges that U.S. is cognizant of the fact that "responsibility for many alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka." Ambassador Butenis further reasons the lack of progress in internal investigations: "There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power."
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‘Sheer scale’ of expected protests compels Oxford Union to cancel Rajapakse event

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 19:02 GMT]
The Oxford Union Wednesday said it was cancelling Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s address planned for Thursday. "Due to the sheer scale of the expected protests, we do not feel that the talk can reasonably and safely go ahead," the organisation, an independent debating society which is not part of the University of Oxford, said. Thousands of people were expected to protest Thursday in the university town to express their outrage at the event, organised despite growing international outrage over the Rajapakse administration’s war crimes and ongoing repression. Last week Tamil societies from sixteen British universities wrote to the Oxford Union protesting the invitation. On Monday hundreds of people demonstrated at Heathrow airport as Rajapakse’s plane landed.
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Woman victim in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 12:53 GMT]
One of the women victims, stripped naked, hands tied behind back, and shot dead, as seen in the video footage that has recently reached Channel-4 has been identified as 27-year-old Shoba, with nom de plume Isaippiriyaa, who worked as media specialist with the LTTE, according to the TamilNet Vanni correspondent who recently reached a free country in the West. “I am able to learn through those who have been at Mu'l'livaaykkaal in the final days of war, that Shoba remained unarmed and did not take part in combat," the Vanni correspondent told TamilNet, adding that Shoba lost her 6-month-old baby girl, named Akal, in the last stage of the war. TamilNet refrains from publishing the cruel video, but instead publishes a video footage of Isaippiriya as a reporter from LTTE's O'liveechchu video magazine.
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Britain assured Rajapaksa diplomatic immunity: Times of India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 12:44 GMT]
The Times of India on Wednesday reported that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was visiting UK on an assurance that he has diplomatic immunity against any attempt to arrest him in UK. In the meantime a Tamil diaspora activist spearheading legal suits against Tamil genocide urged Tamil organisations and media not to give false hopes to the diaspora Tamils as if Rajapaksa's arrest was something imminent urging all concerned to concentrate on credible action on legal front.
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Explosion in Nuwara Eliya Police Station kills one, 10 policemen injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 11:30 GMT]
One person died and ten police personnel were injured when a bomb exploded inside the Nuwara Eliya Police Station Wednesday evening. The police have not yet revealed the identity of the person died. The injured policemen were rushed to Nuwara Eliya hospital.
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Australian MP calls for Independent Inquiry into Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 11:23 GMT]
"I am calling on the Australian Government to support other governments, including Britain, the United States of America and France, in writing to the United Nations declaring support for an independent inquiry into: alleged war crimes committed particularly in the last phase of the war; the treatment of more than 11,000 Tamil youth detained be in accordance with the Geneva Convention; ending planned West Bank style settlements in the Tamil homeland," said Minister of Fair Trading and Australian Member of Parliament for Strathfield, New South Wales, Ms Virginia Judge, during the parliamentary session Wednesday.
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Three vie for Jaffna University VC post

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 10:01 GMT]
The next Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University is to be named by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa from three names recommended by the Senate of the Jaffna University. Eight academics out of twelve contested for the post of VC but only the first three who polled highest number of votes were selected. Professor Ms Vasanthy Arasaratnam of the Medical Faculty received 14 votes, the incumbent VC Professor N. Shanmugalingan and Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole received 9 votes.
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Health authority warns influenza outbreak

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 09:35 GMT]
Sri Lankan Health Ministry has taken steps to control outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) epidemic in the country. 133 patients had been detected from all parts of the island since October this year.
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Amnesty urges Britain to examine Rajapakse war crimes allegations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 02:55 GMT]
After Britain’s Channel 4 News aired Tuesday further evidence of war crimes, including sexual abuse, by Sri Lanka’s military, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Professor Christof Heyns, expressed his shock and called for further investigations in light of the new footage. Amnesty International meanwhile urged Britain to investigate bringing war crimes charges against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and other Sri Lankan officials under the UK’s universal jurisdiction laws. Channel 4 says it has “received hundreds of photographs and many more shocking videos depicting summary executions and rape,” and has sent one five-minute video to the UN panel looking at Sri Lanka’s war crimes.
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Properties, temples of uprooted Tamils robbed in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 00:09 GMT]
How the number of Tamils in Valikaamam in Jaffna district has dwindled during the last 20-years due to Sri Lankan genocidal onslaught on Tamil homeland became evident when only 970 families registered for resettlement in the three villages of I'lavaalai and Viththakapuram in Valikaamam North, bordering the Sri Lanka Army declared High Security Zone, civil sources in Jaffna said. 1746 families were registered in the same area in 1990, according to the statistics by Thellippazhai divisional secretariat. The uprooted civilians, who were allowed to visit their villages last weekend and later denied of proper access-route to their villages, also complained that even the few properties that remained in their houses and temples have been robbed away after they were allowed access to the villages.
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