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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Self-employed Tamil reported missing in Vavuniyaa

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

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

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

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

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 December 2010, 22:20 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka is alleged to have been involved in crippling the business activities of the Tamil traders in Jaffna peninsula to make way for the Sinhalese to capture it, Jaffna traders who have been subjected to harassment by officers from Criminal Investigation Department of Colombo Police.
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War crimes ignored in East, focus urged on ‘killings’ at Eastern University

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

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

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

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

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

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

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2010, 14:21 GMT]
Free Media Movement (FMM), a Colombo-based media watchdog, in a press release isssued this Thursday, condemned the attack on two journalists by a "group of BIA [Bandaranaike International Airport] employees, allegedly under [Sri Lanka] government orders while covering an attack on Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne, leader of the New Left Front, and his supporters. Dr. Karunaratne was returning from a visit to the United Kingdom where he delivered several lectures. His speeches were earlier criticised by ruling party members as 'traitorous,'" FMM said. FMM described the attack as a serious threat to media freedom in Sri Lanka.
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15,000 new cancer victims every year, says Sri Lanka

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