Sri Lanka plays down Batticaloa blast toll

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2010, 01:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka revised down the official casualty figures of a massive explosion Friday that destroyed a police station in the eastern Batticaloa district, from over sixty dead to an official count of 25, but local government officials amongst those who rushed to the site said dozens of bodies from the rubble had been swiftly removed by Sri Lankan forces. Citing negligence, the authorities said later on Friday that two Chinese construction contractors, seven civilians and 16 policemen were amongst those killed when containers of dynamite stored at the Karadiyan-aa'ru police station exploded. Local officials, however, insisted over 60 people, mainly police had been killed. It was not clear why the authorities, who have also ruled out sabotage, were downplaying the blast, they added.
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Colombo bans BBC from covering LLRC hearings

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 2010, 15:20 GMT]
While the forthcoming hearings by Sri Lanka's Lesson and Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) at the former LTTE stronghold Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu are to be held in public, BBC has been "blocked from covering the public hearing," BBC said Friday. "A senior defence ministry official said he could not allow the BBC to attend the sittings, due to start on Saturday....The military liaison officer declined to give any reasons," BBC said in its report.
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Court Martial sentences Fonseka three years in prison

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 2010, 08:02 GMT]
The second court marital Friday sentenced Sarath Fonseka, to a prison term not exceeding three years, on being found guilty for violating tender procedure in purchasing arms while being the Commander of Sri Lanka Army. The second court martial further said the sentence is to be served or not is to be decided by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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LLRC member Prof. Jiffry passes away

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 2010, 14:49 GMT]
Professor M. T. M. Jiffry, one of the eight member- Lesson and Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) passed away Friday morning after a brief illness in Colombo. His burial took place Friday evening at Dehiwala Jummah Mosque. Born in Matara, Jiffry was the Professor of the Medical Faculty in Sri Jayewardenepura University.
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62 killed, 100 wounded in Batticaloa blast, official figures on casualty low

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 2010, 08:15 GMT]
Around 62 persons including Sri Lankan policemen, civilians and two Chinese nationals have been killed in a massive explosion that rocked the Karadiyan-aa'ru area, situated 20 km northwest of Batticaloa city, Friday around 12:30 p.m., initial reports from the area said. Containers with explosives parked close the police station exploded destroying the entire police station. The explosion also affected the nearby agricultural department building. There were at least three containers with dynamites intended for road construction which was operated by Chinese workers, the reports further said. Around 100 persons, including engineers from the South, wounded in the blast were being rushed to hospital. Ex LTTE members deployed in the construction work under Colombo's publicized rehabilitation programme were likely among the victims, a local NGO official told reporters in Colombo.
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Colombo refuses visa to NGO official

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 2010, 22:53 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government has ordered Daniel Horgan, security coordination officer of Nonviolent Peaceforce, a foreign NGO, to leave Sri Lanka immediately, the Sinhala language Divaina newspaper said in an article. The order was made when Horgan sent in his papers seeking renewal of his visa to continue his work in Sri Lanka.
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Rajapaksa leaves for US via London

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 2010, 13:35 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday left via London to United States of America (USA). Mr. Rajapaksa left few days in advance for personal reasons, informed sources in Colombo said. He will take part in both the plenary meeting of the General Assembly of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the sessions of UN General Assembly.
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European Court to review Jagath Dias case

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 2010, 03:43 GMT]
A. Muller-Elschner, the legal secretary to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), said in a letter to the Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils (SCET), the democratically elected country council of Eezham Tamils in Switzerland, that the European Court will take up the case against the appointment of ex-SLA commander Jagath Dias as a diplomat to the Sri Lanka embassy in Germany. SCET, the Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils (NCET) and the US based NGO, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), had filed an application to the ECHR in July 2010 charging the German government for violating EU Rights conventions by accepting a Sri Lankan military commander, Major General Jagath Dias, an accused in the war crimes.
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‘Extreme position of appeasement’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 2010, 00:50 GMT]
“Sri Lanka sits at the crossroads of two significant contemporary geopolitical shifts. Firstly there is the rise and resurgence of China as a regional power; and secondly, many Western governments have lost their credibility in terms of morality, human rights advocacy and international law due to interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The SL government is masterful in its diplomacy and deals with a variety of governments, which are sometimes at odds e.g.: Iran & Israel, India & Pakistan, USA & China. This puts SL in a unique geopolitical position”, says ‘Minutes of the Sri Lanka Roundtable’, convened by Centre for Peacebuilding in Switzerland last month. While the West in its inability opts for extreme position of appeasement towards genocidal Colombo, Tamil voices against subjugation are ironically viewed as ‘extremism’, commented diaspora circles.
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2 Tamils die in road accident in Marawila

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 2010, 17:49 GMT]
A man and a five year old boy, both Tamils, died in a road accident when a Prisons Department vehicle crashed against a passenger van from behind at Marawila Sunday morning. Seven others were injured in that accident, Marawilla police said.
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Local government elections to be held in a single day

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 2010, 14:39 GMT]
Elections to all local government bodies of Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradesya Sabas in Sri Lanka including North and East provinces will be held in a single day in January 2011 under the amended Local Government Elections Act that is to be tabled in the parliament next month for approval, Sri Lanka Local Government Ministry sources said. Meanwhile, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) is reported to have decided to support the said bill in parliament, sources in Colombo said.
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Alternative Development

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 2010, 06:35 GMT]
There is no point in diaspora arguing with officials and politicians over development, because, they ‘do know’ what they are doing. Instead the diaspora should think creatively in identifying overlapping areas of interest in development, without compromising the national aspirations. Human resource development is a potential area, needed both by the ‘developers’ and nationalists. Eezham Tamils have credible institutions at home and grass root organisations in the diaspora to carryout it. Ask the developers whether they are prepared to give direct aid. If they decline and if their interest is only in prodding the diaspora to Rajapaksa and in devising KP-line of politics, then the diaspora need not care for them.
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TNA attends SL District Development meeting in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 2010, 04:48 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarians Suresh Premachandran and Sarvanabavan participated in the Sri Lanka government’s Jaffna District Development meeting Sunday in Jaffna. This is the first time TNA parliamentarians are participating in the District Development Meeting in Jaffna district. Suresh Premachandran had issued a message to local media Saturday night that TNA will attend the Sunday meeting. Sri Lanka Minister of Disaster Management A. H. M. Fowzi and SL Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Douglas Devananda jointly chaired the Sunday meeting.
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UNP crisis reaches climax, Wickremasighe to make statement

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 2010, 14:37 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) is expected to make a statement as his leadership is under challenge from his loyalists in the party even after defection. Political circles speculate he may relinquish his leadership in the party to give way for another leader amid reports carried in electronic and print media quoting his main rival Sajith Premadasa that he is ready to take over the leadership of the party from Wickremasinghe.
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Gotabaya Rajapaksa in China with military top brass

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 2010, 10:12 GMT]
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the brother of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka Defence Ministry Secretary, left to China Saturday leading a military delegation consisting of the Chiefs of Staff of Sri Lanka Army, Navy and Airforce. China had been one of the mains suppliers of military hardware and expertise during Sri Lanka’s war on Vanni last year.
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FMM condemns arrest of printers producing posters against Rajapaksa's amendment

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2010, 19:37 GMT]
The Free Media Movement on Friday condemned the arrest of the printer and seven workers of Sarala Graphics, Nugegoda, for printing a poster protesting against 18th Constitutional Amendment. On the night of September 7, 2010, as Parliament prepared to debate the Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, the owner and press workers, including a woman, were arrested by the Sri Lankan police under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Meanwhile, Mangala Samaraweera, the head of UNP media unit, has claimed responsibility for printing the poster. Informed media circles in Colombo said Rajapaksa brothers have instructed their media to step up campaign against Mr. Samaraweera.
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Tamil asylum seeker in UK deported to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2010, 17:15 GMT]
United Kingdom Immigration officials forcibly deported 31st August a Tamil youth from Sri Lanka who had sought political asylum in United Kingdom a year ago back to Colombo in a Sri Lankan Air Lines flight. The youth was detained in Katunayake International Airport on arrival for more than 24 hours and subjected to interrogation, his family members said. The youth whose fingers are inert due to injuries is admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital in a mentally affected state, hospital sources said.
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Average 12 persons commit suicide daily in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2010, 13:32 GMT]
An average of twelve persons commit suicide in Sri Lanka everyday and ten times of that number attempt to commit suicide everyday, according to Lanka Sumithirayo, a counseling service and the VSO, an international development charity organization based in Colombo, quoting police reports to mark the International Day of Prevention of Suicide Friday.
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Explosion in Vanni SLA camp, 3 soldiers wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2010, 09:25 GMT]
Three soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army were injured in a blast that took place Friday afternoon at SLA 211 headquarters in Vavuniyaa. It was an accidental explosion while soldiers were cleaning a detonator box in the camp, SLA spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawala told media in Colombo.
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Namal Rajapaksa to open Mihin Lanka Airlines office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2010, 05:39 GMT]
Namal Rajapaksa, son of Sri Lanka president and parliamentarian, is expected to open an office of Mihin Lanka Airlines in Jaffna Sunday. Mihin Lanka will begin a special flight service between Katunayake International Airport and Palaali Airport in Jaffna as Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence had given the Airlines permission to operate the local flight service, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, opposition parties allege that Mihin Lanka Airlines is a Rajapaksa family concern and that it has not paid millions of rupees due to Sri Lanka government for the fuel it had used in the past.
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