Nambiar, UN, undermine war crimes investigation on Sri Lanka, Burma

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2010, 08:48 GMT]
Unchecked for the role he played in the genocide of Eezham Tamils last year, Vijay Nambiar’s UN villainy is now targeting ethnicities struggling in Burma. The Burmese military now plans to adopt the Rajapaksa doctrine of military solution to the national question in Burma, with the backing of the same establishments that backed Rajapaksa, and Vijay Nambiar is in the scene again, facilitating the agenda and shielding the war crimes. A few days ago, UK has urged the UN to replace Vijay Nambiar by another fulltime envoy to deal with Burma. According to Mizzima News Wednesday, the London-based Burma Campaign expressed extreme disappointment on the approach of Nambiar befriending military generals and ignoring nations struggling for liberation. Meanwhile, the UN panel on Sri Lanka meeting Colombo’s LLRC has raised eyebrows in the human rights circles.
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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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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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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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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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India-China contention benefits Kashmiris, Tibetans

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 December 2010, 07:32 GMT]
Since China has started issuing special visas to Kashmiris, India retaliated by not declaring Tibet as a part of China in the joint statement of the prime ministers of both the countries after their meet in New Delhi, Wednesday and Thursday. For the last 30 years as a prerequisite for dialogue with China, at every meet of both the countries India was reiterating its official position that Tibet was part of China. The long oppressed and suffocating Himalayan states, hemmed between the two powers, could see new light if the states and the concerned peoples concertedly come forward to intelligently negotiate the unfolding equation between the two powers, political analysts on South Asia said.
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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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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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'Post-Tsunami failure of Co-Chairs promoted Colombo on genocidal war path'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 December 2010, 12:02 GMT]
The main event of remembering the victims of 26 December 2004 that claimed the lives of 41,000 people in the island, most of the victims from eastern and northern coasts of the Tamil homeland, is to be held at Veerasingkam Hall in Jaffna. Around 1.5 million people lost their homes in the Tsunami. Most of the victims along the coastal belts of Vanni and elsewhere have been denied of proper resettlement as Colombo waged a genocidal war on them, killing and maiming thousands of the Tsunami victims. The West, which had equal humanitarian access to North-East as well as to the South, failed to course correct the Sri Lankan state in addressing the post-Tsunami reconstruction. Instead, it relied upon appeasement tactics towards Colombo at that time and is still harping on the same string, said TamilNet commentator in Colombo responding to the latest comment by US spokesman, P J Crowley.
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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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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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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 cabinet decides to abolish Tamil version of ‘national anthem’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 December 2010, 13:32 GMT]
The first cabinet meeting convened by Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa after returning from London decided to abolish the Tamil version of Sri Lanka’s national anthem, Sunday Times reports. The ‘shortcoming’ of having two national anthems should be rectified and in no other country was the national anthem used in more than one language, Mahinda Rajapaksa told his cabinet Wednesday. The Tamil version of the national anthem of Ceylon and later Sri Lanka was adopted in 1948 at the time of the so-called independence. It was an exact translation of the Sinhala original, sung in the same tune. Supporting Rajapaksa, minister Wimal Weerawansa said that even in neighbouring India, where around 300 languages were used, the national anthem was only in Hindi. But the SL minister was ignorant of the fact that the national anthem of India is in Bengali.
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Colombo’s heritage minister sees ‘multi-religious’ institutes in Trinco, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 December 2010, 22:55 GMT]
Hindu temples like Thirukeatheesvaram in Maanthai, Mannaar and Thirukoa’neasvaram in Trincomalee were identified as multi-religious institutes and steps were being taken to name them as World Heritage sites, said Colombo’s National Heritage Minister Jagath Balasuriya, addressing officials of the five departments under him and media in his ministry Tuesday, according to Daily News. Colombo is yet to declare the Dalada Maligawa complex in Kandy where temples for Siva, Vishnu, Murukan, Ka’n’naki and also Dadi Mu’nda are found as a multi-religious institute. There are a large number of sites in the south, such as Devinuvara (Dondra Head) waiting to be declared as multi-religious institutes.
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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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