STF camps re-emerge in East citing ‘grease devil’ episode

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 August 2011, 18:03 GMT]
Dismantled camps of the elite commando unit of the Sri Lankan forces, the Special Task Force (STF), are being re-established in same private residential buildings earlier vacated by the STF in the Ampaa'rai district. The lands returned to legal owners are being re-occupied by the STF. Camps have been already established at Thirukkoayil, Akkaraip-pattu, Kaarai-theevu, Kalmunai and Kaagnchirang-kudaa.
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Canada's TYO hosts landmark Ki'liththaddu tournament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 August 2011, 02:58 GMT]
Tamil youth teams from across Canada assembled in Toronto on Sunday, August 28th, 2011 to play Ki'liththaddu, recognized as one of the national games of Tamileelam. The tournament where teams vied to win Tamileelam Heritage Trophy was a TYO-Canada’s initiative, and was organized to promote and preserve Tamil identity, tournament organizers said. The game originated from the agricultural roots of Eelam Tamils is played by people of all ages in Tamileelam.
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Wikileaks: Captive Tamil doctors "coached" to recant casualty figures

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 August 2011, 03:41 GMT]
Two WikiLeaks cables from U.S. Embassy in Colombo, released to the public last week said that four Tamil doctors who worked with the injured civilians during the last months of the war, and who recanted the casualty figures at a Sri Lanka Government organized press conference, had told the US Embassy officials that "they were heavily coached for the press conference [by Colombo], given specific lines to say, and even practiced with several members of the local media beforehand. They said they had not lied when giving their original statements during the war."
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BTF reps visited India over Sri Lanka war crimes probe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 August 2011, 13:36 GMT]
Representatives of the British Tamil Forum (BTF) travelled recently to India to raise awareness of the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and to build support for an independent international investigation into the mass killings of Tamil civilians in the closing months of the island’s war, the organisation said in a statement this weekend. Taking up an invitation extended to the BTF by India’s main opposition Bhathiya Janatha Party (BJP) during a meeting in London, a delegation travelled to Delhi and several Indian states, including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, to meet several key political leaders and senior political advisors, as well as representatives of human rights organisations, religious and media organisations, the statement said.
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Body of male washed ashore in Analai-theevu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 August 2011, 13:15 GMT]
Unidentified and highly decomposed body of a male, estimated to be between ages 30 and 35 was found at the beach in Analai-theevu Saturday by fishermen, sources in the Jaffna islet said. Local residents said that in the last few years bodies of Indian fishermen have been washed ashore in several islet beaches.
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Decades-old skeletons unearthed in former SL Navy camp in Delft

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 August 2011, 10:10 GMT]
More than seven human skeleton remains were unearthed by a team of medical officials in Nedunth-theevu (Delft) island on Friday in a land belonging to Assistant Government Agent's office. The skeletons are believed to be 20 - 30 years old. Earlier, the Sri Lanka Navy had stationed in the premises for several years.
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Delhi protest proclaims Eezham Tamil Right to Self-Determination

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 August 2011, 18:00 GMT]
Rajya Sabha MP Baishnab Charan Parida of Biju Janta Dal, the ruling political party of the State of Orissa, on Friday expressed his party's strong support to Tamil Right to Self-Determination at a rally organized by leftist youths of the Communist Party of India in front of the Indian Parliament. Meanwhile, R. Thirumalai, from Tamil Nadu, state secretary of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), declared that no one has the moral right to dictate the form of political solution, and that the victims of genocide, the Tamils in the island, should alone decide their political destiny by exercising the absolute right to Self-Determination without any pre-conditions.
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SL military assault vigilant committee members in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 August 2011, 03:56 GMT]
Youths who provide security to their villages as members of vigilant committees against the movement of suspected ‘grease devils” are summoned to Sri Lanka Amy camps in Batticaloa district and severely assaulted by intelligence men of the Sri Lanka Police, according to affected youths. The fate of two such youths summoned to army camp at Mu'rakkoddaagn-cheanai in Batticaloa district two days ago is not known, according to village residents.
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Sri Lanka must remove PTA, international pressure working - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 August 2011, 03:50 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government must follow up its repeal of the state of emergency by removing repressive legislation such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Amnesty International said Friday. Whilst welcoming Sri Lanka’s pledge to lift draconian emergency regulations, Amnesty said “the Sri Lankan government still uses repressive measures such as the PTA, which allows authorities to hold detainees arbitrarily and for long periods without trial, including in places that are not officially acknowledged as detention facilities.” The human rights group pointed out that “Police and security forces in Sri Lanka routinely ignore international regulations and procedures intended to protect the rights of individuals who have been arrested.”
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HRCSL refuses to register complaints against ‘grease devil’ attacks

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 August 2011, 15:19 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) refuses to entertain complaints against the harassment by alleged Sri Lankan armed forces personnel posing as “greased devils” in Batticaloa district. Instead the HRCSL asks the complainants to lodge same with the emergency service unit of the Sri Lanka Police, according to affected persons in the district.
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SLA-assaulted Tamil civilian dies in Puththa'lam hospital

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 August 2011, 15:07 GMT]
A 33-year-old Tamil civilian, suffering from heart ailment died last Sunday at hospital after being assaulted by Sri Lanka Army soldiers in Narakkalli village in Puththa'lam, medical sources told TamilNet. The victim, Mr. P. Sivakumar, was the first one to alert the villagers of suspected ‘grease devils’ believed to be Sinhala soldiers.
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Colombo proposes to lift emergency but continue PTA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 August 2011, 18:36 GMT]
Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday proposed to lift emergency rule in the island, but said that the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) would continue. Even though Colombo’s supporters and media campaign were showcasing it as a significant development to rehabilitation of ‘democracy’ in the island, this doesn’t make much difference to Tamils, considering the extent of militarisation and Sinhalicisation of state in the island, political observers said. Colombo’s media brief denied that the decision was due to pressure from India or other outside forces. But, analysts said that the move was calculated to save Rajapaksa regime from a number of international situations. On Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister said that India would wait to take a stand on war crimes until the UN report comes to a UN forum. Meanwhile the US Asst Secretary of State plans visiting Colombo next week.
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Sinhala villagers assault Indian nationals in Hatton

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 August 2011, 16:33 GMT]
Two Indian nationals working as an Engineer and Consultant in an Indian funded hospital project in Hatton were assaulted by Sinhala villagers at Ambagamuwa in Ginigathena in the Central Province on Wednesday 7.00 pm. The attack took place when the driver of the car they were travelling, a Muslim, went away to a nearby tea kiosk to break fast. Both injured persons were admitted to Glegan Base hospital in Dickoya. The excuse for the attack is said to be that the villagers suspected the victims as ‘grease devils’. But it was revealed in a number of instances in recent days that Sri Lanka’s military and intelligence personnel were involved in the ‘grease devil’ attacks that target Tamils and Muslims in the island.
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AIADMK, opposition walkout after Krishna’s statement in Rajya Sabha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 August 2011, 12:33 GMT]
Both the main political parties of Tamil Nadu, AIADMK and DMK, as well as most of the opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha of the Indian parliament walked out on Thursday, disappointed by the statement made by the Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna on Sri Lanka. On the issue of war crimes, Krishna said that India would wait for the tabling of the UN panel report in a UN forum to take a stand on the issue. This is because, “questions still remain” on the report, he said. On the killings of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lanka’s Navy, the Foreign Minister of the power aspiring for permanent representation in the UN Security Council said: “We have limitations in acting on the fishermen issue. If you have more details give it to me and I will investigate.”
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Mannaar Court remands “grease devil” Navy sailor

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 August 2011, 11:11 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Navy soldier caught by members of the public inside the Paddith-thoaddam Catholic Convent in Mannaar on Tuesday around 8 p.m. with a T-56 rifle and 120 live bullets was ordered remand till September by the Mannaar District Judge Ms K.Jeevaranee, legal sources in Mannaar said. The suspect has been identified as R.M.K.Prasath Bandara, a soldier of the SLN camp in Mannaar. Residents handed over the suspect to the Mannaar Police in the presence of Fr. Victor Jose.
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New Delhi meet of Tamil parties ends without consensus

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 18:55 GMT]
The two-days meet of Eezham Tamil political parties held in New Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday on the initiative of Congress Party parliamentarian Sudharshana Natchiappan ended without consensus, participants told TamilNet. The main issue was that those who didn’t want to disappoint the Congress agenda didn’t want to resolve on the status of Eezham Tamils as a nation and that the nation has the right to self determination in the island. Instead, some of them wanted to concentrate on measures of protection and on accepting whatever that is given. The TNA wanted to avoid specific wordings and demands on issues of fundamental nature in order to stage-manage a New Delhi sponsored consensus of Tamil political parties.
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3 Sinhala ‘intruders’ reported missing in Muslim town in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 16:09 GMT]
A combined search operation has been launched by the Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Police to trace three Sinhalese persons who are reported to be missing in Muslim dominated Kaathankudy in Batticaloa district during disturbances over the ‘grease devil’ scare. The disappearance of three persons suspected to be ‘grease devils’ is alleged to have taken place in Paalamunai village Friday night when they fled and sought refuge in a police station located in Karbala village. Thereafter SL police personnel and SLA soldiers had rushed to the area and attacked youths who were passing through Beach Road and Goodwin Junction and also damaged houses, shops, and vehicles.
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SLN, STF arrest 15 Muslims in Kalpiddi, Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2011, 16:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy and Special Task Force personnel launched an attack on civilians irrespective of their sex in Kalpiddi in Puththa'lam district Tuesday morning and arrested over fifteen Muslims. The SLA and STF had forced the closure of all shops in Kalpiddi thereafter. Relatives of the arrested persons are in dark over their kith and kin taken into custody by the Sri Lankan forces. The arrested persons including daily paid workers, fishermen, and traders are said to be detained in Munthal Police Station.
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SLA terror unleashed in Jaffna after public unmasks ‘grease devils’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2011, 07:52 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka Army entered into houses at Naavaan-thu’rai in Jaffna city Monday night, dragged out hundreds of youth and children and tortured them in their camps during the night, following public in Naavanthu’rai on Monday identifying the ‘grease devils’ as SLA soldiers. Many houses were destroyed and plundered by the SL soldiers. On Monday when five ‘grease devils’ entered into a house at Naavaanthu’rai and when the public chased them, the intruders escaped by entering into a nearby SL Army camp. Identifying the intruders as SLA soldiers, the public waged a protest in front of the camp demanding the arrest of the intruders by SL police. The angry public pelted stones at the camp. The SL Army in a planned revenge terrorised the residents during the night.
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Tamil Eelam flag joins Borussia Dortmund’s parade at Westfalenstadion

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2011, 00:58 GMT]
The national flags of Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka were amongst forty paraded Saturday in Germany’s biggest stadium, the Westfalenstadion, before a football match between champions Borussia Dortmund and FC Nuremberg. Borussia Dortmund, one of Germany’s most successful football clubs, organised the parade of flags representing the nationalities of its players and supporters to demonstrate the diversity of its fan-base, and to protest a planned demonstration in the city on September 3 by right-wing groups. Over 30,000 people watched the parade, and 78,000 spectators watched the subsequent match which Borussia Dortmund won (2:0), fans said.
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SLA destroys traces of Pirapaharan's house in VVT

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2011, 00:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Mondah night deployed a large number of troops at Aaladi in Valveddiththu'rai, surrounding the already demolished house, where Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Lieration Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was born and raised. The soldiers who came in armoured vehicles were engaged throughout the night in destroying the remaining structures of the already demolished house.
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SLA ‘grease devils’ caught red-handed by villagers in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 23:36 GMT]
A Sinhala soldier, posing as ‘grease devil’, entered a house Monday night at Aalangkaddai in Vathiri of Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna, was caught by the villagers. The man, when confronted by the residents, claimed that he belonged to Sri Lanka Army intelligence. At the same time, occupying SLA soldiers who came to the site in a white-coloured van rescued the intelligence man and took him to their camp, firing warning shots and dispersing the protesting villagers. However, the residents gathered outside the military camp and demanded the SLA handed over to the SL Police in front of them. The soldiers at the camp opened fire to disperse the crowd. In the meantime, two villagers were wounded in a similar confrontation at Naavanthu'rai, near the city of Jaffna.
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SLA, STF militarise Puththa'lam following unrest

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 13:07 GMT]
Hundreds of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and elite commandos of the notorious Special Task Force (STF) personnel have been deployed in Puththa'lam following the clashes between the residents and the SL Police on Sunday. The SLA has come to the town with military tanks and armoured vehicles. SLA and STF personnel are manning every 5 meter of the road, the residents said. The residents say the that two armed intruders, who caused injuries to a dog entering the premises of a house in Ma'nal-theevu, 3 km north of Puththa'lam and shot at the Muslim youth who confronted them, were Sinhala policemen.
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Tamils in Mannaar confront SL Navy 'grease devil' at Peasaalai

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 12:34 GMT]
Tamil civilians of Peasaalai, 15 km northwest of Mannaar city, Sunday evening confronted an alleged 'grease devil' attacker around 7:30 p.m. When the attacker was chased by the civilians, the suspect ran into the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) camp at Peasaalai. The villagers who rang the bells of the churches and temples in the area gathered outside the Sri Lanka Navy camp demanding the SLN to handover the suspect to the police and file a case against him. The protesters wanted the process be transparent and demanded to carry on the process in their presence. Violent reactions ensued as the SLN personnel at the camp refused to handover the suspect and chose to opened fire confronting the protesters.
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SLA establishes 224th Brigade in Ki'n'niyaa after ‘grease devil’ episode

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 11:38 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has established its 224 Brigade in Ki'n'niyaa town where ninety nine percent of the population are Tamil-speaking Muslims. The deployment of Sri Lankan military at Ki'n'niyaa, the most densely populated town in the Trincomalee district, comes in the wake of protests held by Muslim residents of the area against the arrest of twenty four Muslim civilians over an attempted ‘grease devil’ attack by an alleged Sri Lanka Navy man last week. The new SLA Brigade consists two battalions with 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers, informed sources in the East told TamilNet Monday.
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TNA thinks of ‘alternative ways’

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 04:34 GMT]
“For six months we continued with talks, engaging the Government of Sri Lanka. But, there was no constructive outcome. The Tamil National Alliance cannot just keep continuing without any results, just for the sake of ‘engaging’ and ‘continuing’ the talks giving room for Sri Lanka to project an impression to the outside world that it is engaging in a constructive dialogue with Tamils,” said R. Sampanthan, the parliamentary leader of the TNA on Saturday in Jaffna, delivering a key speech at the ceremony for TNA's civic council members taking oath in Tamil. While criticising the SL state for not being constructive, Mr. Sampanthan declared for the first time that the TNA was pondering on ‘alternative ways’, which he didn't specify. But, a Vanni parliamentarian of the TNA declared that the Alliance should build up from the grassroots a powerful base of civil struggle.
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SL Army begins registering Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 03:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers have been engaged in registering Tamil youths of both sexes who are staying Colombo with their relatives and friends and lodges in Colombo city and its suburbs. This has caused fear among Tamils living in the South. But the SLA says that this ethnic and selective registration is a ‘routine affair’ and not an especially implemented assignment, a new kind of explanation aimed at escaping criticism. In Mayoorapathi area in Wellawatte, the SLA personnel even photographed members of each family residing there, civil sources in Colombo said. The sudden registration of Tamils residing in Wellawatte has caused fear that the Rajapaksa government is contemplating to acquire several flats now being occupied by Tamil civilians.
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‘Grease devil’ scare, confrontations trigger displacement from Vavuniyaa villages

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 01:22 GMT]
Following reports of attempted violent attacks targeting Tamil-speaking women and robberies by armed Sinhala personnel, allegedly belonging to Sri Lankan police and military, the Tamil and Muslim people in the remote villages with dispersed settlements in Vavuniyaa district have displaced in large numbers and sought asylum in buildings in densely populated areas. Tamil residents from the Poovarasang-ku'lam and Muslim residents from Pampaimadu have confronted Sinhalese men belonging to ‘home guards’ and the Sri Lankan Police personnel who have attempted to rescue the captured intruders from the protesting villagers.
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Angry protesters kill SL Policeman, Puththa'lam tense

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 August 2011, 18:42 GMT]
A Sinhala policeman returning from duty was attacked and killed by Muslim protesters in Puththa'lam town Sunday night, initial reports from the area said. The protesters had rallied at Puththa'lam town, from the mosque of Jumma Masjid to the main roundabout, after the residents of Ma'naltheevu, a village 3 km north of Puththa'lam on Puththa'lam - Mannaar Road, confronted alleged ‘grease devil’ attackers, attacking the intruders and two SL policemen. The latest series of attacks by so-called grease devils are targeting remote and border villages, especially the Muslim villages and Up-Country Tamil areas where the Sri Lankan military is attempting to expand its military grip, political circles in Puththa'lam and Vavuniyaa told TamilNet.
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‘Grease devil’ scare forces female nurse trainees to vacate hospital

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 August 2011, 14:25 GMT]
The “grease devil” scare has driven all the inmates numbering 180 from the Nurses Training Institute of the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. They have been staying in their residences elsewhere in the Batticaloa town for safety. In another incident that took place Saturday afternoon, two men who came in a bicycle stopped a woman who was going to a nearby shop and attacked her. The attackers vanished from the area to the nearby military camp as the attacked woman started to shout seeking help, sources said.
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Colombo goes on all-out offensive against UN report as UNHRC disaster looms

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 10:19 GMT]
At a time when the United States is awaiting a response from Colombo for its call for an “interactive dialogue” on the wide-spread credible allegations war crimes, before the UNHRC meets for its 18th sessions next month, Mahinda Rajapaksa government has said the UN Expert Panel Report is “not admissible at UNHRC” and warned that it could produce “dangerous results if entertained”.
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Colombo Sinhalicises Tamil villages in Trincomalee through State-aided colonisation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 10:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Housing, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities has started allocating houses for Sinhalese who are to be brought from the south under SL State-aided housing schemes constructed in traditional Tamil villages in the North and East. This became evident recently when the ministry allocated twenty four of thirty houses to Sinhalese, four for Muslims and two for Tamils in a traditional Tamil village Puththukudiyiruppu located in Tamil speaking Thampalakaamam Divisional Secretariat division of Trincomalee district.
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SLA increases its control in Ki'n'niyaa town after ‘grease devil’ episode

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 09:50 GMT]
Ki'n'niya with a population of over one hundred thousand people, ninety nine percent of them are Muslims has been reeling under the repression of the Sri Lankan armed forces since they successfully got the release of civilians arrested by the Sri Lanka Army last week over the ‘grease devil’ scare. Hundreds of people held hostage the District Government Agent Ranjith de Silva and SLA Commander of East, Maj. Gen. Boniface Perera, inside the Ki'n'niyaa Divisional Secretariat building till they obtained the release of 24 civilians.
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Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields screened in New Zealand parliament

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 August 2011, 16:44 GMT]
British Channel 4’s documentary Sri Lanka: The Killing Fields was screened in the New Zealand parliament Tuesday for members of the parliament and staff of the political parties. Green Party MP Keith Locke, Labour Party MP Maryan Street and National Party MP Jackie Blue were co-sponsors of the show. The Sri Lanka High Commission and some supporters in the Sri Lankan community in New Zealand tried to stop the screening without success.
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Gotabhaya thinks giving into war crimes allegations will have no end

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 23:40 GMT]
Responding to war crimes allegations will not work, confronting them will only work, seems to be the orientation of Rajapaksa regime as implied by a comment of SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who reacted to Tuesday’s The Hindu editorial, saying "it seemed fresh charges would be levelled as soon as we responded to existing allegations". Addressing a symposium on ‘post-war’ challenges at BMICH, Colombo the SL defence secretary said that he would stand by what he had said on rejecting the rape allegations on the SL Army, citing the safe treatment of a UK national “so attractive” in the custody of the SL Army, The island reported Thursday. The Hindu in its editorial said that for this statement alone Gotabhaya should be taken to task.
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Sri Lanka to purchase 14 Mi-17 military helicopters from Russia

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 21:04 GMT]
Further bolstering its military ties with Russia and expanding its own military machine beyond its local needs, Sri Lanka has entered into yet another contract with Russia’s state-run arms enterprise, Rosoboronexport, to purchase different modifications of Mi-17 military helicopters, reports from Colombo and Moscow said. While Rajapasa-critics in Colombo said the purchase is ‘managed’ by SL Presidential sibling and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa through a so-called State-owned company, which is neither controlled by the SL Auditor General nor listed on the Stock Exchange, the Eezham Tamil circles said the military transport gunships are to be deployed in the ongoing SL militarisation of the country of Eezham Tamils.
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Abandoned Tamil schools acquired by occupying SL military

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 17:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka military occupying the country of Eezham Tamils acquires abandoned Tamil schools for converting them into military camps. Occupying military officers are busy in recent days in collecting particulars of the abandoned schools in the Vanni districts as well as in the Vadamaraadchi, Thenmaraadchi and the islands divisions of the Jaffna district. The occupying military has ordered the northern directorate of education to submit particulars of all abandoned schools to facilitate military’s increasing demand for infrastructure facilities. Using the abandoned schools, 30 new military camps are planned in the Jaffna peninsula alone. Occupying military has a particular programme to first intensely militarise and Sinhalicise the islands off the Jaffna peninsula. It makes no secret about it to the Tamils remaining in the islands.
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‘Grease Devil’ attacks aim at frightening resettlement in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 12:59 GMT]
While attacks especially on Tamil women carried out by unidentified men in camouflage called ‘Grease Devils’ terrorise Tamil civilians in the East and the hill country, such attacks particularly aim at crippling resettlement in the Vanni districts. On Wednesday evening, three men emerging from the thickets in black dress and grease on their face chased three women of Ki’linochchi 8th milepost engaged in removing landmines. Following similar incidents and attacks on women in Vanni, people resettling in their houses and lands that are dispersed as typical to the settlement pattern of Vanni are now forced to gather into clusters. Occupying SL military’s officials now ‘advice’ resettled people in Vanni to live in clusters to avoid terrorising attacks.
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SLA personnel assault UNP Provincial Councillor in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2011, 05:18 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka Army soldiers on Wednesday assaulted a 61-year-old member of the Eastern Provincial Council, Thambimuthu Aloysius Masilamany, who rushed to scene in a three-wheeler at Oo'ra'ni on receipt of information that a young woman had been assaulted. Mr. Masilamany, who represents the United National Party (UNP) in the EPC, said that the SLA soldiers at the site had attacked him even after he identified him as a member of the EPC.
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Tamil villagers clash with SL Police in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 13:56 GMT]
A man suspected to be a Sinhala policeman or soldier, who entered the house of a Tamil woman at Oo'ra'ni in Batticaloa attacked the young women Wednesday afternoon around 2:00 p.m. The intruder, using a sharp object, caused injuries to her chest and her stomach before leaving the premises. An eyewitness saw the attacker escaping into the police post located 100 meters away on Oo'ra'ni - Chelvanayakam Road. Soon after the episode, angered villages started to burn tires and put up roadblocks preventing vehicle movement along Batticaloa Trincomalee Road. The SL policemen deployed in the area attacked the protesters with wooden clubs. The SL police has also used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Tension prevails in Oo'ra'ni.
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Hambantota port commercially not viable: Sarath N Silva

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 06:38 GMT]
"We have built a mega port in Hambantota, but it is not commercially viable yet," the Reuters reported Wednesday quoting former SL Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva at a JVP organised meeting in Colombo on Tuesday. “From the top to bottom, corruption has become a systemic issue... Foreign investors will be discouraged from investing here if this goes on,” Mr. Silva has said. "The anti-corruption law is ineffective. The anti-graft commission can investigate only if they receive a compliant and if the complaint is wrong, the complainant will be given an up to 10 year jail term," the former SL chief justice has said.
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Arrest of anti-corruption activist potent of toppling Congress government

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 August 2011, 09:40 GMT]
People in several cities across India went to streets on Tuesday protesting the arrest of Anna Hazare (Kissan Baburao Hazare), social activist from Maharashtra leading anti-corruption struggle in India. Like the struggle of Jayaprakash Narain bringing down the Congress regime in 1977, Hazare’s struggle and the way the Indian establishment handles it have the potentiality of bringing down Sonia’s Congress Party in the next polls, media circles in India said. 74-year-old Hazare was arrested Tuesday to pre-empt the hunger strike he was planning in New Delhi against large-scale corruption at the national level. The public unrest triggered off may take the focus away from the parliamentary discussion on genocidal corruption of Congress regime in Sri Lanka, scheduled to Tuesday, media sources further said.
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Occupying Navy brings in Sinhala fishermen to Pungkudutheevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 August 2011, 12:24 GMT]
In a daring attempt of colonisation, genocidal Sri Lanka’s Navy occupying the islands off Jaffna brought in hundreds of Sinhala fishermen Sunday to settle in Pugkudutheevu island and to engage in fishing. Leaders of the protesting local Tamil fishermen association were taken to the SL Navy camp in the island and were served with death threats. The Sinhala fishermen came with all preparations to make settlements in the island and to engage in the lucrative business of catching sea cucumbers that are of export value. Their activities are now stalled following protests. Punkudutheevu, an island off Jaffna close to the Tamil Nadu coast has a recently built extensive base of the Sri Lanka Navy. Sinhala militarisation and colonisation of the land of Eezham Tamils enjoy blessings of the New Delhi government.
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Residents protest against abusive SLA at Thikiliveddai, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 August 2011, 11:17 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka Army soldiers have assaulted protesting residents of Thikiliveddai village situated in Ea'raavoor division of Batticaloa district, on Saturday night. The assault followed the villagers protesting SLA attack on a resident, 35-year-old Ilayathamby Pulendran, a father of two. Thikiliveddai villagers are long oppressed and abused by the occupying SLA. Last year, when three SLA soldiers sexually abused a 9-year-old girl of the village, deputy minister in Rajapaksa regime and paramilitary leader Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan suppressed protests. The villagers now demand removal of the abusive SLA camp from their village. Meanwhile, public protests after SLA atrocities are reported widely from the Eastern Province in the recent days.
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Oppressive Sri Lanka benefited from Ban Ki-moon’s lax hand: The Guardian

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 August 2011, 11:11 GMT]
Coming hard on the United Nations and its incumbent administration for neglecting the very founding principles of the UN and thus allowing its slow decay, a renowned UK-based independent daily, The Guardian said in its editorial on Sunday that the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s “lax hand” has benefited oppressive Sri Lankan government.
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Ki'n'niyaa Muslims attack SLN camp over “grease devil” scare

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 August 2011, 10:32 GMT]
The Sri Army and the Police at last yielded to the demand of the protesting residents of Ki'n'niyaa and released all twenty four Muslim civilians including three students who are sitting for the G.C.E. advanced level examination. They were arrested following a group of Muslim civilians attacked a camp of the Sri Lanka Navy Sunday night suspecting that an alleged ‘grease devil” roaming in the area had entered the navy camp located in Ki'n'niyaa. Residents said they had witnessed a ‘grease devil” that had entered the navy camp located at Faisal Nagar in Ki'n'niyaa town in a car. ‘Grease devil’ is kind of attack on women reported in the island in which the culprit comes after applying grease on his body so that he could not be caught.
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Iran, Turkey follow Sri Lanka model: Kurdish paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2011, 22:02 GMT]
While the Sri Lankan government is accused of deploying Israeli ‘Gazafication’ model in Sinhalicising the occupied country of Eezham Tamils, Iran and Turkey are adopting the so-called Sri Lankan model of ‘warfare’ against Kurdish people. In an article titled, “Reminding the Kurdish nation of the case of Tamil,” The Kurdish Globe, a weekly published in Erbil, Kurdistan in northern Iraq, on Saturday cited recent instances of pro-Turkey writers discussing ‘Sri Lanka model’. In the meantime, the executives of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have also gone on record comparing the Tamil situation with their own, the paper said.
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21st anniversary of Veeramunai massacre of Tamils commemorated

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2011, 10:44 GMT]
Twenty first death anniversary of 55 Tamils including men, women and children by Muslim home guards on 12 August 1990 at Veeramunai, a traditional Tamil village in Ampaa'rai district in eastern province, was commemorated Friday. Relatives of massacred Tamils Friday evening attended prayers held at Veeramunai Sinthayaathirai Pi'l'laiyaar Koavil and attended commemoration event held at mausoleum constructed opposite the Koavil.
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Those who committed Genocide on Tamils should be brought to Justice: BJP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2011, 04:18 GMT]
“We are not going to give up till all those people involved in genocide are brought to justice,” said India's former Foreign Minister and a top leader of the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) Yashwant Sinha Friday, questioning the motives behind New Delhi’s silence on the UN Chief’s expert panel report that found credible evidences for the wide-spread allegations of war-crime committed by the Sri Lankan troops. According to media reports from India, leaders of various mainstream political parties, including the BJP, on Friday have expressed solidarity with Eezham Tamils, saying that they would continue to raise their voice until everyone responsible for the “genocide” there were brought to justice.
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Sikhs condemn New Delhi’s stand against nations in India

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 August 2011, 18:45 GMT]
While pleading for the release of an Indian spy sentenced to death in Pakistan on ‘humanitarian’ grounds, Government of India advises the President of India to expedite the hangings of Sikh, Kashmiri and Tamil activists sentenced to death in India, hits out Sikh political party Dal Khalsa. In a statement on Friday the party’s general secretary Dr Manjinder Singh and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh condemned New Delhi advising the President to reject the clemency petitions of Khalistani activist Prof Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, Kashmiri activist Afzal Guru and Tamil activists namely Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan one after the other. They appealed to the Chief Ministers of Punjab, Kashmir and Tamil Nadu to take up the matter with the Home Ministry to seek justice for their respective (state’s) citizens.
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EPRLF Thurairatnam condemns Tamil ministers for failing to confront Sinhalacisation in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 August 2011, 15:34 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa is actively engaged in destroying historic places of worship and illegally acquiring lands belonging to Eezham Tamils and it is a pity to note some Tamil collaborators with ministerial positions in Rajapaksa government have no backbone in opposing the landgrab and the Sinhalicisation, said R.Thurairatnam, Eastern Provincial Councillor and the organizer of EPRLF (Varathar Wing) in Batticaloa district in a statement to media this week.
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Devil reading from scriptures, Jayalalitha derides Gotabhaya

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 August 2011, 04:18 GMT]
Verbal feud between Jayalalithaa Jayaram, Tamil Naadu chief minister, and Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse escalated as Jayalalithaa hit back at Gotabhaya after the latter had asked Jayalalithaa to "mind her own business and not interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka," saying, "Gotabaya claims that there were no war crimes and the reports are false and misleading. The Tamil Nadu resolution on Lankan Tamils is beyond politics," India Today reported. Jayalalithaa said that Lankan defence secretary's statement is like the Devil quoting from scriptures, and added that her government will not rest till the issue of atrocities on Lankan Tamils has got a permanent solution.
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India boosts Sri Lanka: Jaya; India answerable for genocide: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 August 2011, 07:48 GMT]
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s remarks aired by Headlines Today rocked the Tamil Nadu State Assembly on Thursday as political parties moved for special call attention motion to discuss Gotabhaya’s remarks on Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution on Sri Lanka. “Indian government being mute spectator has boosted the morale of Srilanka,” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalitha accused in the Assembly. Meanwhile, speaking to Priyamvatha of Headlines Today on Thursday, hours before a discussion on Sri Lanka in the Indian parliament, Vaiko said the government of India is answerable to Headlines Today report on the genocide of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. However, on Thursday afternoon, the Indian parliament postponed the discussion on Sri Lanka to coming Tuesday.
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Mayilanthanai massacre of Tamils remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 August 2011, 18:06 GMT]
Nineteenth death anniversary of 39 Tamil civilians who were massacred by on 9th August 1992 at Punaanai Maiyilanthanai village, 50 km off north of Batticaloa city, was commemorated on Tuesday. The victims, including pregnant women, children and elders, were shot and hacked to death by a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army from a camp located at Punaanai railway station.
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Sequel to Headline Today documentary to air tonight

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 August 2011, 16:09 GMT]
A sequel to the "I witnessed Genocide" Headline Today documentary broadcast Tuesday, labelled "Who killed 40,000 Tamils" is to be broadcast at 7:30 p.m and 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, the Indian TV channel Headline Today announced. As a multi-piece documentary being released under the title "Inside Sri Lanka's Killing Fields," contain eyewitness accounts of mass slaughter, rape, and torture, classified as universal crimes, taken by the news channel's reporter who travelled undercover to Vanni.
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US warns Sri Lanka to investigate atrocities ‘quickly’ to avoid international action

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 August 2011, 07:41 GMT]
The United States said Tuesday that if Sri Lanka does not “quickly” investigate “in a way that meets international standards” allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the final months of the island’s war in 2009, “there’s going to be growing pressure from the international community for exactly the kind of international action that Sri Lankans say they don’t want.” The comments by State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland came in response to questions posed by Headlines Today television’s Washington correspondent Tejinder Singh, following up on answers to his queries on Monday.
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Vanni survivors recount mass killings, rape in Headlines Today documentary

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 August 2011, 04:05 GMT]
In a world exclusive report aired Tuesday, India’s Headlines Today (HT) television broadcast eyewitness accounts of mass slaughter, the use of chemical weapons and cluster bombs, and torture, rape and sexual humiliation in internment camps by Sri Lanka’s military. The accounts were gathered inside Vanni from survivors of the catastrophic violence of 2009 by one of HT’s investigative reporters, P. Priyamvatha, who traveled undercover into the region – described by the channel as “the most densely militarized place in the world.” She conducted her interviews in Tamil. Responding to the documentary, titled ‘I witnessed genocide’, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India condemned it as “tendentious, unsubstantiated, inflammatory” and questioned Priyamvatha’s bona fides.
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US backs international mechanism to investigate Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 August 2011, 02:26 GMT]
The United States on Monday called again for a “transparent accounting of Sri Lanka’s actions” during the final months of the island’s war. Addressing reporters State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the UN panel of experts is a mechanism “that should be taken advantage of” and that “an international mechanism to look at these is in everyone’s interest.” Mr. Toner made his comments in response to a question by Tejinder Singh, the Washington correspondent of Headlines Today television, part of the India Today group, which is to air on Tuesday a new documentary on Sri Lanka’s war crimes.
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Headlines Today to air new documentary: Inside Lanka's Killing Fields

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 August 2011, 17:28 GMT]
New Delhi-based news channel, Headlines Today, which has brought wide media focus in India on Sri Lankan war crimes after broadcasting the Channel 4 documentary, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, followed with a debate recently, on Monday said it was to broadcast an exclusive documentary of its own on Tuesday, titled "I witnessed Genocide: Inside Lanka's Killing Fields". The new documentary to be aired on Tuesday will feature eyewitness accounts of shelling and aerial bombardment of designated safe zones, hospitals and other civilian targets, rape, sexual harassment at IDP camps, use of chemical bombs, use of cluster munition, denial of food and medicines to civilians etc., media sources in New Delhi said.
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21st anniversary of Thiraayk-kea'ni massacre commemorated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 August 2011, 14:36 GMT]
Twenty first death anniversary of 47 Tamil civilians massacred by Muslim goons with the support of Special Task Force (STF) of Sri Lanka Police in Thiraayk-kea'ni village in Ampaa'rai district on the 6th August, 1990, was observed Saturday. Thiraayk-kea'ni village is located 70 km away south from Batticaloa in Ampaa'rai district. Tamils were massacred as retaliation to the killing of 13 Muslim labourers that took place on August 5, 1990 by the STF at Digavapi village.
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Resettling civilians locate mass graves in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 August 2011, 16:18 GMT]
Uprooted civilians of Vanni, who are recently allowed to resettle in some areas of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) division of Mullaiththeevu district, have come across hundreds of skeletons of slain civilians in the 2009 war of Tamil genocide. The residents of Kaiveali village of PTK, while putting up temporary huts in their lands and paving way for lanes along the borders of the allowed resettlement area, have come across human graves and skeletons this week, sources in Mullaiththeevu told TamilNet.
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Corpse recovered near SLA post in Vanni causes suspicion on the cause of death

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 August 2011, 14:43 GMT]
A 42-year-old family man, Philip Chelvanayakam, who had gone from his village, Kumizha-munai in Karaithu'raip-pattu, to a bank situated in Mullaiththeevu, was recovered dead last Tuesday near a Sri Lanka Army post located in Theakkangkaadu on Kumizhamunai - Mullaiththeevu Road. In the meantime, the officers of the occupying Sri Lanka Army have ‘explained’ to the family and the relatives of the deceased that soldiers manning the post had gone on vacation. Further, the body of the deceased was sent to Colombo for post-mortem and not to Ki'linochchi or Jaffna, the residents of the village told media.
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US Court rules Rumsfeld can be sued for torture

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 August 2011, 14:02 GMT]
Federal judge, James S. Gwin, of the District Court of District of Columbia, ruled this week that former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld can be sued personally for damages by a former U.S. military contractor who says he was tortured during a nine-month imprisonment in Iraq. The lawsuit also accused four other US Government officials of a failure to secure the return of plaintiff's property seized upon his detention and of violations of his right to travel. Chicago civil rights law firm, Loevy & Loevy, argued for the plaintiff identified only as John Doe. A War crimes civil suit against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse by three Tamil plaintiffs sponsored by a US-based advocacy group Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), is also pending in the same District Court but under a different judge Colleen Kollar-Kelly.
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IC’s war crimes investigation, looking upon India counterproductive: KP

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2011, 19:23 GMT]
Gotabhaya-controlled Selvarasa Pathmanathan (KP) meeting media in Mullaiththeevu on Thursday said that the diaspora should stop campaigning for war crimes investigation as it provokes anger and hatred among the Sinhala people. “They have to know the reality, we must live in peace,” he said. According to him, talking about Channel 4 documentation is absurd. On India he said, “India is doing its maximum. India would not go further than this and propose a solution. So this should be understood by responsible people,” adding that, “We should not run to India complaining over minor matters.” The ‘patriotism’ of Sinhala regime that never hesitated to invite the West and India into the island to commit genocide on a part of the population, now voices ‘patriotism’ through the mouth of the captive-KP, to get rid of the ‘partners’, commented Tamil national politicians in the island.
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Colombo rejects TNA’s ultimatum on non-existing devolution plan

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2011, 11:54 GMT]
Rejecting outright the demands of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a typical Sinhala hegemonic manner, the militaristic government of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday said that the demands set out in the TNA’s ultimatum for future talks have reflected the attitude of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Gotabhaya’s sexist comments on war victim giving evidence on rape

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2011, 11:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s genocidal soldiers making lewd comments on the naked bodies of female victims killed in the war, suggesting that they were killed after rape has been documented in the Channel 4 documentary. While denying the documentation as fake to Headlines Today this week, Sri Lanka’s defence secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa made a sexist comment on a war victim who was giving evidence to Channel 4. The attitude of Gotabhaya only proves the mind-set with which a defence establishment is being steered in the island, media circles in Chennai commented. Headlines Today released the main comments of Gotabhaya on Thursday. The full interview will be on telecast on Monday.
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SLA complicit in assisting Karuna's extortion ring

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2011, 03:32 GMT]
Paramilitary personnel of the group led by Karuna working hand in hand with the intelligence personnel of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are engaged in extorting money from people who go to work in Paduvaankarai village, Batticaloa, according to complaints filed by the victims to authorities, civil sources in Batticaloa said. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, currently holds the post of Deputy Resettlement Minister in Mahinda Rajapakse government.
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TNA gives two weeks ultimatum to Colombo’s ‘devolution’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 August 2011, 21:12 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance in a press statement Thursday has said that it gives two weeks ultimatum to Rajapaksa government to come out with ‘devolution’ details on the structure of governance, the division of subjects and functions between centre and the devolved units and on fiscal and financial powers, to decide on carrying forward any future dialogue. As no response has been forthcoming for several months from Colombo’s side, no meaningful or purposeful discussion could be had on the discussion papers tendered by the TNA, said the statement released from the office of TNA’s nominated parliamentarian, Mr. MA Sumanthiran.
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Rights groups urge Swiss Attorney General to prosecute Dias for war-crimes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 August 2011, 16:42 GMT]
Society for Threatened People and TRIAL, two advocacy groups based in Europe, requested the Swiss Attorney General today to pursue war crimes charges against Jegath Dias, SriLanka's deputy ambassador to Germany and former major general in Sri Lanka's armed forces. The groups allege that Dias's division was "responsible for massive bombing of civilians and hospitals," an AP report said. This action follows the filing of a complaint against the Federal Republic of Germany with the European Courts of Human Rights (ECHR) for violating the ‘European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, in accepting Dias as a Diplomat, by three Tamil organizations.
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Colombo transfers Admin functions of East Tamil areas to Sinhala districts

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 August 2011, 11:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has been implementing a scheme to transfer administrative functions of Tamil districts in Eastern Province to the adjoining Sinhalese districts. As a first step the government has transferred the financial administration of Batticaloa District Coconut Development Board to Polonnaruwa located in the North Central Province. The government should immediately stop this transfer, said Mr.P. Selvarasa, Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian.
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Indian parliament hijacked to show solidarity with genocide and militarism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 August 2011, 16:00 GMT]
The Congress-led Indian establishment that orchestrates a crime-filled Sri Lanka policy through advisors, bureaucrats and intelligence agents, on Tuesday hijacked its parliament to demonstrate its adamant solidarity with genocide and militarism in the island by inviting a delegation of the island’s parliament to a session of its parliament, at a time when the Tamil Nadu State Assembly has passed an overwhelming resolution to investigate the crimes of the regime in the island, political analysts in Chennai said. The protesting AIADMK, MDMK, CPI and CPI(M) of Tamil Nadu in the Indian parliament shouted “shame, shame”, when the speaker of the Indian parliament welcomed the guest-partners and the rest of the members followed thumping their desks.
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US urges Colombo to investigate assault on Uthayan news editor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 August 2011, 13:12 GMT]
Condemning the assault on Gnanasundaram Kuganathan, the news editor of Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna, the US Embassy in Colombo on Wednesday urged the SL government to undertake a thorough investigation and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
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Indian PM rejects TN State assembly resolution for economic sanctions on SL

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 August 2011, 06:04 GMT]
Rejecting the resolution of the Tamil Nadu State assembly, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday has said that India “cannot afford to restrict economic links with neighbouring Sri Lanka”, a move widely seen as giving a moral and diplomatic strength to the hawkish Rajapaksa government, which is under international pressure over wide-spread war crime allegations. According to the Delhi-based Hindustan Times report, the Indian Prime Minister has made his government’s policy with regard to Sri Lanka and to Eezham Tamils when he was met by the General Secreatry of Marumalarchi Dravida Munetra Kazhakam (MDMK) Vaiko on Tuesday.
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IFJ outraged by brutal attack on senior journalist in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 August 2011, 05:02 GMT]
Uthayan newspaper's editorial policy in backing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) appears to be the direct provocation for the near lethal attack on its senior news editor in Jaffna on July 29, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a statement issued on Tuesday. "The IFJ is shocked at the viciousness of the attack on Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan, which extends a long sequence of targeted attacks on Uthayan," the statement further said listing attacks on Uthayan in recent years.
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Media organisations in Colombo protest against attack on Tamil editor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 August 2011, 10:46 GMT]
Five Colombo-based media organizations held a protest campaign at Lipton Circus, Colombo, Tuesday afternoon, against the assault of Uthayan newspaper's News Editor Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan in Jaffna. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa talking to foreign journalists on Tuesday said the attack on Kuhanathan was an 'isolated' incident and a 'petty' crime. Since year 2000, six employees of Uthayan newspaper including two journalists, Raji Varman and S.S.R. Sugirtharajan, have been killed. But the Sri Lankan authorities have not arrested a single person to date in connection with the killings.
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Colombo deprives livelihood of 2500 Tamil, Muslim families in Kuchchave'li

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 August 2011, 01:44 GMT]
Nearly two thousand five hundred Tamil and Muslim families in Periya-karaichchi village in the Kuchchave'li Divisional Secretariat division in Trincomalee district have been deprived of the their permanent livelihood following the construction of a saltern by a southern based firm with the permission of the Colombo government. The project is named Raigam Saltern employing Sinhalese from South. “Nearly 2000 families of Tamils and Muslims who were doing prawn farming on this Periya-karaichchi land and another five hundred families who benefited from the subsidiary employment related to prawn farming have been pushed out and some outsiders from other districts have come started a saltern. This is extremely unfair,” said R.Sampanthan, Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian in a letter to the Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Gotabhaya denies role in white flag surrender killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 August 2011, 12:55 GMT]
Rattled and ravaged by the widespread credible war crime allegations, Sri Lankan Presidential sibling and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on Monday denied his role and responsibility over the killing of LTTE’s political wing leaders, Nadesan and Puleedevan while surrendering to the 58 Division troops in the final days of the war in May 2009. In the meantime, a disinformation report released by his ministry has come with a comically low figure of major offences committed by Sri Lanka Army personnel between 2005 and 2010 in the North and East: 8 murders, 4 rapes and 1 sexual abuse. The only year with no major offenses by the SL Army was, according to its own report, none other than the year 2009, the year when SLA ironically adhered to the policy of Gotabhaya's “Zero Civilian Casualty”.
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Hundreds remember Black July in Australia

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 August 2011, 10:45 GMT]
Hundreds of Australian Tamils marched through Central Sydney this weekend to remember victims of Black July and urge support for an independent war crimes probe into the Mu'l'livaaykkaal massacre. Police closed major roads on Saturday as Australians from all walks of life joined members of the Tamil community to commemorate the event.
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Attack on Uthayan editor portrays renewed attacks on Tamils: JDS

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 August 2011, 06:18 GMT]
Holding the political and military leadership of the Rajapaksa regime responsible for the recent pre-planned attack on the news editor of the Janffa-based Uthayan newspaper, the Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a media organisation of exiled group of Journalists from the island, has said that the attack has portrayed “the vicious nature of the renewed and accelerated violent attacks on democratic rights of Sri Lanka's Tamil people”.
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