NPM opposes granting police, land powers to PCs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 01:41 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM), an extreme Sinhala nationalist organization, said Friday that it would launch a struggle if the government accedes to the demand to devolve land and police powers to provincial councils. "Granting of such powers to provincial councils is tantamount to granting Tamil Eelam to Velupillai Pirapaharan,"said Dr.Gunadasa Amarasekara, President of NPM at a press briefing held in Colombo.
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British Foreign Minister to meet Pillayan - reports

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 July 2008, 19:40 GMT]
Britain’s Foreign Minister, Lord Malloch-Brown, is to meet Pillayan (Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan), Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and leader of the Army-backed paramilitary group, the TMVP, Sri Lankan press reports said. Lord Malloch-Brown is on a four day visit to Sri Lanka this week, The Island newspaper said.
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UPFA government disregards SL Parliament - Wickramasinghe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 11:12 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), has stated that Sri Lanka was being ruled by a government that disregards the sovereignty of the parliament. The parliament should be used as a platform to fight for the basic fundamental rights of the people, Ranil Wickremasinghe has said.
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Media institutions hold protest demonstration in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 14:41 GMT]
Five media organizations and prominent political leaders staged a protest demonstration Wednesday around 12:30 p.m. at Colpetty Junction, condemning the attacks let loose on journalists and media men. The demonstrators called on the Sri Lankan government to immediately appoint a ministerial sub-committee to conduct inquiries into the Monday attack on Media Director of the Sri Lankan Press Institute (SLPI) Namal Perera and the British Embassy officer Mahendra Ratnaweera.
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UNP dissidents withdraw their case against Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2008, 01:30 GMT]
Eleven dissident parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and have been functioning as UNP Democratic Wing in the parliament holding ministerial posts in the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Friday withdrew their petitions filed against Ranil Wickremasinghe and Tissa Attanayake, president and general secretary of the UNP from taking steps to expel them from the proper UNP, legal sources said.
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Gang obstructs Wickremasinghe on his way to parliament

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2008, 21:05 GMT]
"It is a slur on the democracy," said Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara Thursday in parliament commenting on the protest by a group of persons blocking the road that leads to Jayewardene Parliamentary Complex and shouting slogans against Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main United National Party (UNP) when he was on his way to attend the opening of the third session of the sixth parliament, parliamentary sources said.
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UNP, SLMC councilors boycott EPC first sitting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2008, 00:32 GMT]
Fifteen councilors elected to the 35 member Eastern Provincial Council on the main opposition United National Party (UNP) ticket Wednesday boycotted the first sitting of the council convened on the instruction by the East Provincial Governor Mohan Wijewickrema, sources in Trincomalee said. Eighteen councilors elected on the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and sole member of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and of the Democratic National Tamil Alliance (DNTA) participated.
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Court refuses police motion against UNP demonstration

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2008, 19:55 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate Tuesday rejected a motion filed by Welikada Police seeking the court to issue restraining order on the main United National Party (UNP) from holding demonstration against the increase of fuel price in the Colombo and other areas in the district. The court gave the reason for the rejection that the motion was against the Freedom of Expression enshrined in the Constitution under Section 14, legal sources said.
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Shifts in world order alters dynamics of Sri Lanka’s conflict - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 12:14 GMT]
Whether Sri Lanka is or isn’t on the UN Human Rights Council is an irrelevancy as far as international dimensions of the island’s conflict are concerned, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued this week. “Rather than a ‘universal’ principle, the concept of ‘human rights’ has, in actuality, served mainly as a tool for the West-led international community to (re)order the world,” the paper said. Meanwhile, the rise of new poles in the international system is proving a challenge for the West’s post-Cold War efforts to construct a liberal order, the newspaper said in another recent editorial.
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EU pledges GSP+ concessions, approves $100m for Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 03:12 GMT]
The European Union wants Sri Lanka to receive GSP+ concession, the EU Ambassador in Sri Lanka Julian Wilson said this week, according to press reports Saturday. The EU has approved $100m in humanitarian and development funds for Sri Lanka, the Daily Mirror paper quoted him as saying. "I will only say that a lot of melodramatic rubbish has been written about the renewal of GSP+ in local press. The truth is simple if somewhat banal-the EU wants Sri Lanka to receive GSP+ again for the coming three years,” Mr. Wilson said at an EU event on Thursday.
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Protest will continue despite arrests- Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 08:33 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinge, United National Party (UNP) head and the Leader of Opposition accompanied by UNP parliamentarians inspected the place where UNP protestors were arrested Wednesday morning in front of the Election Department in Rajakiriya, Colombo, for demanding removal of arms from paramilitary groups including Pillayan group before the Eastern Provincial Council election. Two garbage carriers of Jayawardnepura Kotte Municipal Council littered their contents at the site, prompting Wickremasinghe’s visit, sources in Colombo said.
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Opposition leader's helicopter makes emergency landing

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 18:00 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, opposition leader and the leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Monday was provided with a helicopter to attend election rally in Batticaloa district. However, the helicopter developed engine trouble on Wickremesinghe's return trip back to Colombo Monday evening, and landed at Mahiyangana in the south.
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We will restore democracy to Eastern province – Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 13:58 GMT]
“United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) alliance will restore democracy to the East by putting an end to the domination by paramilitary groups,” Ranil Wickremasinghe, the Leader of the Opposition and UNP head said Sunday addressing a SLMC party conference held in Kaaththaankudi attended by more than 10,000 Muslims from the north, east provinces, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Silence is eloquence: last remarks of Rev Fr Karunaratnam

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 11:32 GMT]
Barely two weeks before he was killed in a Claymore attack, allegedly carried out by a Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army, Rev M X Karunaratnam was interviewed by the National Television of Tamileelam (NTT). While answering questions on the Madu Shrine controversy, he said, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was entirely responsible for politicizing the issue of the Shrine as it had attempted to achieve a militarily favourable situation by choosing to launch its offensive drive through Madu, a greatly revered Catholic holy pilgrim center. The Reverend Father also explained the silence of Vatican and the Sinhala bishops.
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UNP cancels May Day rally citing security reasons

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 April 2008, 02:07 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) has cancelled its main May Day rally and public meeting citing current volatile security situation, according to its general secretary Tissa Attanayake, party sources in Colombo said. The UNP earlier decided to hold its official May Day rally and public meeting at Kurunagala town in the northwestern province.
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Not possible to remain mute spectators: Ramadoss to Indian PM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 March 2008, 09:16 GMT]
Labelling Sri Lanka "a failed state, a condominium of anarchy, and a shame on humanity" that "terrorized its own Tamil citizens," Dr. S. Ramadoss, leader of Paaddaa'li Makka'l Kadchi (PMK, Toilers' Party) and a constituent ally of the Congress-led Indian government, said that it was not possible to remain "passing by-standers to this human tragedy at our doorstep" in his letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday. "The sixty million Tamils in India cannot wait and watch while their sisters and brothers are being decimated across the Palk Straits and Gulf of Mannar," he said.
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SLMC to go alone in Eastern PC election

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2008, 07:46 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Wednesday at a discussion with the leadership of main opposition United National Party (UNP) expressed its stand that it would contest the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) election alone to preserve its identity, but with some understanding with the UNP. The SLMC, however, would not forge any alliance with the ruling party, according to media reports quoting SLMC general secretary Mr. Hassan Ali.
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UNP to contest Eastern PC election

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 06:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) Tuesday decided at its executive committee meeting to contest the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council election which is to be held on May 10. Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the UNP has been empowered by the party committee to hold talks with other political parties to form an alliance in this regard, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told media.
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NE Bishops scheduled to meet UN special envoy

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 February 2008, 00:33 GMT]
A delegation of bishops from Northeast are scheduled to meet Angela Kane, UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs who arrived in Colombo Wednesday morning for a week-long fact finding mission in the island, sources close to the Bishops said.
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India's Peace and War

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 01:24 GMT]
The now defunct Ceasefire Agreement in Sri Lanka was mooted and shadow-managed by the BJP government, according to Indian journalist, M.R. Narayan Swamy. Wickramasinghe and Pirapaharan were aware of this top secret mission of India, supervised by Vajpayee's Advisor Brajesh Mishra, but not J.N. Dixit who succeeded him with the change of government in May 2004. Dixit had to learn it from Wickramasinghe. The CFA signed in February 2002 was unilaterally withdrawn by the Sri Lanka government in January 2008. Swamy's revealing and the chronology of events implicate the Congress establishment and the ego war of the Chanakyas (Machiavellis) of New Delhi in belligerency returning to Sri Lanka.
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