Fonseka instructs wife not to appeal for pardon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2010, 04:59 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, has instructed his wife Anoma and his children not to appeal for pardon on behalf of him as he had done nothing wrong, media reports in Colombo said. He had issued this instruction to Anoma Fonseka when she visited him in Welikada prison Friday where her husband is serving a rigorous imprisonment. Sarath Fonseka had told his wife that there was no necessity to apologize on his behalf as he had done nothing wrong, the report said.
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193 Sinhala families seek resettlement in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2010, 05:12 GMT]
193 Sinhala families have arrived in Jaffna until Friday seeking resettlement in Jaffna claiming that their families had lived in Jaffna before 1983. They are occupying the old Jaffna Railway Station premises displacing the families of uprooted families from Valikaamam North Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) who had been staying there, local media sources said. Some of these Sinhala families belong to SLA soldiers in Jaffna and SLA authorities are providing the basic needs for all the Sinhala families. Meanwhile, Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar said that no one had informed Jaffna Secretariat about the Sinhala families coming to Jaffna. The families handed Friday appeals to Jaffna GA and Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda requesting help to resettle them in Jaffna.
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Pakistan joins Sri Lanka in execution video storm

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2010, 01:16 GMT]
In the wake of criticism on Pakistan's human rights abuses by key US Congressmen, Pakistan's military Friday ordered an investigation into a video, widely available in the internet, showing Pakistani soldiers summarily executing blindfolded men in civilan dress, Washington Post reported. A similar, but more horrendous, video showing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers extra-judicially executing blindfolded men, stripped naked with hands tied back was shown by British Channel-4 news in August 25th and declared authentic after a UN investigation, but no attempts have yet been made by Colombo to investigate the crime to identify the perpetrators.
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SLA stops volunteer teachers’ demonstration in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 07:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Ki’linochchi did not allow more than 300 volunteer teachers of Vanni to stage their token protest demonstration in front of Ki’linochchi Education office Wednesday demanding Sri Lanka government to appoint them permanently in their posts. The volunteer teachers have been serving the schools in the districts of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu without salary for the last ten years and even during the war on Vanni, sources in Ki’linochchi said. SLA said that no demonstration will be allowed in public places. The demonstrators who then went into the Education Office held a brief meeting before handing their appeal to the Education officials.
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SL government prioritizes tourism neglecting rehabilitation in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2010, 08:15 GMT]
While the people of Jaffna peninsula having lost their lives, properties, livelihoods and being uprooted due to war suffer without any assistance, Sri Lanka government is bent on turning Jaffna peninsula into a tourist place for the Sinhala people in the South, Non Government Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna pointed out, in the context of the opening ceremony of a new road to the newly built tourist complex in Casuarina Beach in Kaarainakar in Jaffna, by key politicians and officials of Sri Lanka government, Wednesday. The funds allocated for the rehabilitation of war-affected people in the peninsula have been diverted to construct pleasure projects to please the Sinhala Buddhist people from the South by the Governor of Northern Province, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, they said. .
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SLA opens ‘luxury’ resort in occupied Tamil land

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 18:31 GMT]
A ‘tourist resort’ owned and managed by Sri Lanka Army was opened at Kaangkeasanthu’rai in the occupied ‘High Security Zone’ in the Jaffna Peninsula on Monday by Colombo’s Army commander Jagath Jayasuriya. The resort bears a Sinhala name ‘Thalsevana’. The HSZ there was created after evacuating several ancient villages of Tamils. On Sunday, the Army rejected all possibilities of resettling the displaced. The Army didn’t permit the re-opening of a Central College in the zone either. If a tourist resort could be opened there by the army, what is the meaning of continuing the area as HSZ, asked a person who is unable to even visit his house and land there. While Sri Lanka teaches new lessons to the world on genocide, there are some ‘responsible’ global bigwigs who advise Tamils not to call a spade, a spade, he further said.
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SLA closes access road to resettled families in Vaadmaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 04:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has closed Point Pedro- Maruhthangkea’ni road in Vadamaraadchi East where uprooted families from Kudaththanai and Raamaavil camps had been taken to be resettled. Recently, the road had been opened with great publicity by Sri Lanka government allowing public to use the road from 7:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m daily. But now SLA authorities have closed the road for public use. SLA and government officers, however, are permitted to use it, sources in Vadamaraadchi said.
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SLA units in NorthEast to be strengthened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 03:05 GMT]
Moves are underway to restructure the Army before January 1st, 2011, the Lankadeepa newspaper said quoting Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Jagath Jayasuriya at a function held in Anuradhapura to commemorate the army’s 62st anniversary. Special military units will be appointed in every district following the restructuring of the military, according to Jayasuriya. All security forces units in the north and east will also be strengthened in the coming months as part of the overhaul, the Commander added.
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Trincomalee under heavy security for Rajapaksa’s visit

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 15:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to preside over a conference at the Trincomalee Naval Base Monday morning to discuss development of the Eastern province that comprises the three districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai where security arrangements have been strengthened heavily. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and policemen deployed in large numbers are on patrol covering all parts of Trincomalee town.
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Sunday Leader Editor first witness in ‘white flag’ case

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 15:22 GMT]
Ms. Fredica Janz, Editor of the Sunday Leader, is listed as the first witness in the case against Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), related to the ‘White Flag’ issue. Fonseka, in an interview to the Sunday Leader, had alleged that Sri Lanka Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse had ordered not to spare any Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres surrendering with white flags but to shoot all of them dead. The case is scheduled to be taken up for inquiry before a three-member bench of the Colombo High Court presided by Deepali Wijesundera Monday.
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Resettlement in Valikaamam North HSZ not possible – Jaffna SLA Commander

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 07:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe, who had earlier admitted the possibility of resettling uprooted families in Valikaamam North SLA High Security Zone, however, said that resettlement is not possible due to the danger of landmines. He told the representatives of the Committee for Peace and Goodwill so in a meeting held in Jaffna Bishop House Sunday, presided by Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam. Meanwhile, the Coordinating Committee for De-mining in Jaffna Secretariat said that SLA had not permitted de-mining in its HSZ in Valikaamam North. Mahinda Kathursinghe’s announcement has caused shock and despair among the families uprooted by SLA from their properties in Valikaamam North, sources in Jaffna said.
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Dublin follow-up on Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 October 2010, 15:33 GMT]
School of Law and Government of Dublin City University together with Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka are holding two events this week as follow-up to the Dublin war crimes tribunal on Sri Lanka held in January this year. Dublin findings issued at the end of the hearings said, Sri Lanka Government is "guilty of War-Crimes" and "guilty of Crimes Against Humanity." The tribunal also concluded that the charge of Genocide requires further investigations. Eye witnesses included several escapees from the final week of Sri Lanka offensive in the Mullaitivu "No Fire Zone" where more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were allegedly slaughtered by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) training heavy weapons on them.
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Former SLA commander Fonseka in Welikada Prison

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 09:03 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, was transferred to Welikada Prison Thursday around 10:30 p.m to serve his 30 months’ rigorous imprisonment following the ratification of the recommendation of the Second Court Martial. Sri Lanka President’s ratification endorsed that Fonseka should serve thirty months in prison and not 36 months as recommended by the Second Court Martial for violating tender procedures in purchasing arms to the Sri Lanka Army.
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SLA denies permission to reopen Central College in Palaali HSZ

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 05:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Palaali High Security Zone did not permit the school administrators to reopen Vassavi’laan Maththiya Makaa Viththiyaalayam located in Palaali HSZ which was officially handed over Tuesday in a event held in the school in the presence of Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, SLA Jaffna Commander Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe, Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devandanda and Education Department officers. The school administrators who took the furniture and other necessary things from the temporary location of the school Thursday were sent back and directed to take all the things brought out of the HSZ. The SLA officials told them that the school could only be reopened in 2011, Jaffna Education Department sources said.
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Kuruwita, Kurunægala

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 02:57 GMT]
The small hill
The small rocky hill
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Douglas Devananda pays homage to SLA soldiers killed in demining

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 2010, 05:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda paid homage to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers killed in demining operations in the North in an event held in Vassavi’laan Maththiya Makaa Viththiyaalayam Tuesday. Paying homage to SLA soldiers by Douglas Devananda is an attempt to please Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe, SLA Jaffna Commander who had openly criticized him for exploiting the sacrifices of SLA soldiers to attain selfish interests, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Northern Province Governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri is keen in improving relations between Douglas Devananda and Mahinda Kathurusinghe, the sources added.
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Uprooted Tamils trying to resettle driven out by Sinhala men in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 05:41 GMT]
With the withdrawal of the Special Task Force (STF) camp in Oo’ra’ni in Ampaa’rai district 30 August, the Tamil families uprooted in 1990 by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had begun to resettle in their own places have been driven away by Sinhala men, sources in Ampaa’rai said. The affected families blame the Chief Minister of Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chanthirakanthan alias Pillayan for allowing lands of Tamils being appropriated for Muslim and Sinhala families in the name of creating amity between ethnic communities in Eastern Province and ask as how he is going to stop the Sinhala men chasing them from their own places.
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Reopening Vasaavi’laan School in Palaali HSZ not immediately possible

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 20:19 GMT]
Reopening Vasaavi’laan Maththiya Makaa Viththiyaalayam caught in Palaali High Security Zone (HSZ) of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the last twenty years is not immediately possible due to the danger of landmines in the school precincts, the school administration said. The school is functioning in a private property in Urumpiraay area since it was forced to displace in 1990 due to SLA offensives. The roof and the furniture of the school had been plundered during SLA occupation.
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SLA erects Buddhist temples in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 05:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Vanni are actively engaged in erecting Buddhist temples in the surroundings of Saiva temples in Vanni, sources in Ki’linochchi said. The construction of a Buddhist temple in the precincts of Mu'rika’ndi Pi’l’laiyaar temple located on Kandy road by SLA has been suspended by the Local Government Body of the area. A case filed by a private person in Colombo High Court claiming that Mu'rika’ndi Pi’l’laiyaar temple belongs to him is being taken up for inquiry, the sources said.
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Keeping TGTE transnational

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 00:25 GMT]
The TGTE should be true to the transnational spirit and need. It has to function independently and transnationally. Parallel secretariats in federal spirit, in feasible locations across the world, and members meeting in those different locations are important to its image and spirit. Another major issue the members of the TGTE may have to consider is guarding TGTE against one-person leadership or one-time democracy. The apex leadership being collective has some advantages in formative or transition situations. Contrary to the propaganda of oppressors and defeatism of pessimists, spirited people among ordinary folk and serious elite expect a lot from TGTE. But polity and leadership don’t come from the blues. They manifest only from the realities of the structure and capacity of a society.
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