Sri Lanka plans criminal show of ‘reconciliation’ in Colombo, Jaffna on May 1

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2011, 20:51 GMT]
In a cruel show of ‘reconciliation,’ Sri Lanka’s occupying military in full swing has gone to the houses of released LTTE cadres, family members of the captives and ‘resettled’ Eezham Tamils living in open prisons in north and east and intimidated them to participate in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s demonstration show in Colombo on 1 May, to oppose any international justice coming to the crimes committed against them. A fleet of buses are organized to herd the people from Vanni and Jaffna to Colombo, after warning them of dire consequences if they don’t come. Meanwhile, a group of thugs has been brought from the south for violent demonstrations in the locality of UN offices in Jaffna city on May 1.
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‘Solheim transforms from peace facilitator to facilitator of war crimes indictment escape’

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2011, 06:50 GMT]
Norway’s former peace facilitator to the island of Sri Lanka, Mr. Erik Solheim, speaking to Norwegian state owned media NRK (Dagsnytt 18) on Wednesday, argued against any immediate international investigation on the war crimes in the island and said that it is only correct and fair to expect the Sri Lankan authorities to domestically investigate the UN panel material. According to him, this is what the ‘broader international community’ including nearly all the Western countries want. Solheim defended Ban Ki Moon, as his situation is difficult, accused the Tigers for not listening to his surrender call since five months before the end of the war, and suggested a new principle for international law that since Tiger leaders are now eliminated, domestic handling should be given a chance than ‘one-sided’ international indictment of Sri Lankan state.
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Sri Lanka Court shuts news website

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2011, 00:46 GMT]
A Magistrate court in Colombo Thursday ordered the ban of the trilingual website after the site was accused of posting an inaccurate news item regarding a pending court case. The Pugoda Magistrate, Aravinda Perera, ordered the Telecommunication Regulations Authority to ban the site (Lankaenews.com) until the judicial proceeding of contempt by publication of the news item is concluded, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Accountability needed before lasting reconciliation possible - UK

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2011, 06:45 GMT]
Britain Wednesday welcomed the UN Panel of Experts report on the war crimes in Sri Lanka’s war and expressed support for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s decision to commission the study. Calling on Sri Lanka to respond positively to the expert panel’s report, the UK said accountability for war crimes must be resolved before lasting reconciliation could be achieved in Sri Lanka. But, the British Foreign Office was not specific whether it means an international investigation or a fresh local investigation by Colombo.
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Ban “would welcome a mandate” to investigate Sri Lanka’s war crimes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2011, 06:06 GMT]
The day after his office released an expert panel’s report on Sri Lanka’s war crimes, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he would welcome a mandate to establish a commission of inquiry (CoI) into war crimes in Sri Lanka. Noting that a UN-led probe would require the agreement of Colombo – something that is patently impossible – or an intergovernmental body.
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Colombo’s crimes grotesque – The Times

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2011, 00:04 GMT]
The Times newspaper (London) said Wednesday that the UN expert panel’s report on Sri Lanka’s war crimes confirms the newspaper’s reporting in May 2009 that the “Sri Lankan Government was party to the mass murder of civilians.” Referring especially to mass bombardment of civilians in so-called no-fire zones, the paper demanded that “perpetrators of this war crime should be pursued and targeted with sanctions by the UN and other international organisations.” Dismissing Colombo’s claim that the UN panel’s conclusions would inflict “irrevocable damage” on postwar efforts of reconciliation as “disingenuous”, the paper singled out India especially to act over Sri Lanka’s war crimes.
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G.L. Peiris to confront diplomats on Expert Panel report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 15:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris is scheduled to “brief” Colombo based foreign diplomats Thursday morning on its response to the UN Experts Panel report, which has put serious war crimes and crimes against humanity allegations against Mahinda Rajapaksa government during the Vanni War in 2009. Mr. Peiris returned to Colombo Wednesday after a trip abroad.
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Colombo rejects UN Expert Panel report, dubs it as “Darusman Report”

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 14:49 GMT]
Colombo government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday issued an official statement, stating that the conclusions of the externally constituted “Darusman Panel” working from New York should not take precedence over the conclusions, still awaited, of the domestic [LLRC] process. The statement said that the material could be looked at by the LLRC should it wish to do so, depending on its own assessment of the contents. “The public release of the Report at this stage is divisive, and disrupts our efforts to reinforce peace, security and stability in Sri Lanka. It feeds into the political agendas of interested parties,” the release by the External Affairs ministry in Colombo said.
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Colombo forces Tamils to sign petition against UN: Srikantha

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 05:53 GMT]
Former Tamil National Aliance parliamentarians N. Srikantha,and M.K Sivajilingam, who formed Tamil National Liberation Alliance (TNLA), blamed Colombo on Monday for continuing to lead the Sinhala masses on a racial path and for forcing the Tamils in Colombo to sign their petition against the United Nations Expert Panel report. Tamil civilians traveling in buses in Colombo are being forced to sign the petitions by extremist Sinhala elements, Mr. Srikantha, a Colombo based Tamil politician, told journalists in Jaffna at a press meeting held in Jaffna Monday evening.
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'Thanthai Chelva pioneered political course of Eezham Tamils'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 05:37 GMT]
“The first Republican Constitution of 1972 gave the last rites to the slow death for ethnic relations in this country that started when a unitary constitution was handed to us by the departing British,” said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr. M A Sumanthiran, while delivering Thanthai Chelva Memorial Speech at New Kathiresan Hall in Colombo, Tuesday, remembering 34th death anniversary of SJV Chelvanayakam, who founded Ilankai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi in 1949. To prove Tamil opinion rejecting the 1972 constitution, Chelva resigned his parliamentary seat and won a by-election. After leading the most favoured Tamil political party and struggling for federal solution for more than 25 years that found no success with Sinhala leadership, Chelva ultimately presided over the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution that called for Tamil independence in 1976.
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UN panel report oversteps by rejecting homeland of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 April 2011, 11:54 GMT]
Eezham Tamils hoodwinked by war crimes indictments that are doubtful of materialising into actions, should carefully note that the UN panel report has said nothing on the burning question of colonization of the Tamil country by Colombo in listing obstacles to ‘sustainable peace and reconciliation’. On the contrary, it advises especially the diaspora to realise that all ethnic communities in the island “share a common homeland.” Anyone could see that in the context of the island nullification of the historical homeland of Eezham Tamils amounts to dismemberment of their nation and completion of genocide. What is the mandate of the UN panel to imply a political model rejecting the territorial identity of Eezham Tamils as a ‘lasting solution’ and in the process paving way for further crisis to them, asks a Tamil politician in Jaffna.
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Kaaththaankudi UC defends Arabic usage in name boards

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 April 2011, 10:22 GMT]
The president of the Urban Council of Kaaththaankudi, a Muslim dominated town in the Eastern Province, has defended the use of Arabic on par with English in the name boards following protests from certain quarters in Colombo and in the provincial council in the East. Mr. S.H. Mohammed Anzar, the president has said it was a decision solely within the authority of the urban council.
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SL Police threaten Tamils in Colombo to sign petition against UN

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 April 2011, 10:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Unit personnel are threatening Tamils walking along roads in Colombo, forcing them to sign petitions prepared by the Rajapakse led government in an attempt to collect one million signatures against the UN Experts panel report. Tamils who refuse to sign are threatened and subjected to bodily harm, Tamil civil sources allege.
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ITAK chooses Colombo to observe SJV's 34th death anniversary

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2011, 13:49 GMT]
The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), main constituents of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is scheduled to hold the thirty fourth death anniversary of its founder leader Thanthai S.J.V.Chelvanayakam on Tuesday in Colombo-Bambalapity New Kathiresan Hall, projecting the topic of the memorial event as "finding lasting peace through power sharing". The event is being keenly watched by Colombo political circles at a time when the country is in tension with the leaking of the UN Experts Panel report alleging war crimes allegations against the Rajapakse government and the TNA welcoming the UN Experts Panel report.
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India was fully aware of the war situation: former UN spokesperson

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2011, 07:32 GMT]
The Indian government which wanted to "see the Tamil Tigers destroyed" was "fully aware" of the real situation in the battle zone, including the civilian casualties, said, Mr. Gorden Weiss speaking to BBC Sinhala Service Sunday. "I believe that Indians were aware of the civilian casualties that were happening, because they had pretty good intelligence inside the siege zone," Weiss who was the UN spokesperson in Colombo during the war said. He admitted that Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, made an agreement between the LTTE and the Sri Lanka authorities to arrange the surrender of senior Tamil Tiger leaders including B Nadesan and Pulithevan, who were executed after the surrender. The UN should have done more to prevent civilian casualties, he further said.
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UN has no right to meddle with democratic government - Dinamina

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 April 2011, 19:36 GMT]
An angry Sri Lankan government lashed out at the United Nations declaring that it did not have any right to meddle with the affairs of an independent, democratically elected government, the state run, Dinamina newspaper said in its lead article on Sunday. Quoting Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, the article said, the report by the three member panel appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was one sided with obvious partiality to the LTTE.
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Chinese envoy stays away from Peiris briefing on UN report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 April 2011, 02:32 GMT]
The Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Ambassador Yang Xiuping, was absent at the briefing held by Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris over the Colombo stance on the UN-panel report on war-crimes during the final phase of the war. Heads of all diplomatic missions in Colombo except Chinese envoy attended the briefing, according to a report published by the Sunday Times.
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Germany supports Colombo’s colonial archaeology in Tamil country

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 April 2011, 07:25 GMT]
After a discussion between Colonial Colombo’s ‘National Heritage’ Minister Dr. Jagath Balasuriya and German Deputy Ambassador to Colombo, Stefan Weak Bark, it was decided that Germany would support Sri Lanka’s initiatives to declare important ancient archaeological sites in the Northern and Eastern Provinces as World Heritage Sites. Quite typical of genocidal Sri Lanka’s indiscrimination between Army and Archaeology in the Tamil country it is occupying, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence website on Tuesday, citing the government media Daily News, said that Kurundugoda temple [?] in Jaffna which belongs to prehistoric period [?], Girihandu Seya which is considered the first stupa built in the world [?], along with Jaffna fort and Thirukethiswaram Kovil [Koayil] will be proclaimed ‘world heritage sites’.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 April 2011, 23:31 GMT]
A Tamil man, Solaikli Jeyaprasath, 31, a resident of Kotahena in Colombo, has been reported missing since a day after the Tamil-Sinhala New Year festival, according to complaints lodged by his relatives to Muhaththuwaram Police. Jeyaprasath left home in a three-wheeler on April 15th to purchase some goods from a shop in Kotahena and failed to return home, relatives said.
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India must act over Sri Lanka’s war crimes - AIADMK

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 April 2011, 22:29 GMT]
Citing the leaked UN expert panel’s report on Sri Lanka’s war crimes, Tamil Nadu’s main opposition AIADMK party has demanded India take steps to ensure Sri Lanka’s leadership stands international trial. "The UN Panel report is very clear. It lists out the war crimes of the Sri Lankan government," AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa said in a statement Friday reported on by PTI and IANS.
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