Swiss German media twists heart of the matter

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 August 2010, 22:31 GMT]
While younger generation of diaspora Tamils respond to the times and express themselves through democratic protests such as the British youth Sivanthan’s war crimes awareness walk to Geneva, the Swiss German media NZZ portrays the long-standing national cause of Eezham Tamils as an LTTE idea. Parameswaran won his case against British media. But there is an orchestrated effort in the Western media from Canada to Geneva to blunt the liberation question in the name of 'terrorism'. Bulk of this media shamefully abetted genocide in the island. Are they now against terrorism or against liberation of a people and whether independent democratic transformation of liberation polity is sabotaged to bail out Rajapaksa and the genocidal state, ask Tamil diaspora circles.
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Australian ‘Sri Lankans’ test conscience of international Tamil writers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 August 2010, 02:06 GMT]
Creative writers are conscience keepers of humanity. They are neither bound by nor are contributors to authoritarian forces. They don’t need ‘sponsors’ whose ‘sponsors’ have bloodstained hands. In the name of ‘International Tamil Writers Forum’, some Australian Tamil individuals donning ‘Sri Lankan’ identity want international Tamil writers to meet in Colombo, January next year. They promise passage, boarding, lodging and even a tour around ‘Sri Lanka’ for those who come forward. The sponsors say they have been organizing the international meet hitherto in Australia for the last ten years, but this time they want to have it in Colombo. What is the message these conscience keepers want to give to international Tamils and to the world of creative writers, asks a writer in Colombo who has no freedom to reveal name.
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Opposition to introduce bill to protect journalists rights

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 August 2010, 04:59 GMT]
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared that legislation will be brought to parliament shortly which will ensure that the rights of all journalists in Sri Lanka are safeguarded. According to Dinamina, a state run newspaper, Wickremesinghe will put forward the bill as a private member’s motion.
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Morawaka

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2010, 22:29 GMT]
The side of Mora trees (Nephelium longanum)
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95 persons disappeared in Batticaloa district after SLA occupation

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2010, 09:07 GMT]
Ninety-five persons including two women have disappeared without trace in Batticaloa district since Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupation of the district, according to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, P. Selvarasa. The youths who had left the Liberation Tigers and married leading a normal life and persons who had been supporters of the LTTE had been arrested or abducted by SLA Intelligence Wing with the assistance of Tamil paramilitary group of Pillayan and Karuna. These persons are among those gone missing. The abductors arriving in white vans during nights had taken away the persons who had disappeared since then, the MP said.
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‘Development’ conquistadors have no appetite for psychological need of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2010, 07:07 GMT]
Psychotherapy provides meaning for the enormous suffering people have undergone to hope for the future and to hope for trust in the world, says Daya Somasundaram of the University of Jaffna, one of the very few psychiatrics serving the war affected Eezham Tamils in the island. Considering the long history in the island, the meaning comes only when Eezham Tamils get their land and affairs into their hands and when their nation is recognised. But the ‘development’ conquistadors of the West and India show no appetite for basic psychology needed for regeneration in the context of the island, commented Tamil circles, citing Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao who is scheduled to visit the island saying that conflict in the island had ended and India has to go beyond rehabilitation to look at development, without any reference to the crux of the matter.
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Colombo says cannot interfere with Fonseka Court's decision

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2010, 01:46 GMT]
Chief Government Whip, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, said in Sri Lanka parliament that the government is ‘helpless’ and cannot reverse the military court ruling made against former army Commander General Sarath Fonseka. "The Court arrived at the verdict applying laws of State to the conduct of General Fonseak, and Sri Lanka Government or the legislative body, the parliament cannot do anything about it," Sinhala dailies Lakbima and Dinamina said quoting Minister Gunawardena.
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Namal Rajapaksa engaged in promoting government propaganda in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2010, 11:27 GMT]
Namal Rajapaksa, parliamentarian and son of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been frequently visiting Jaffna and Vanni in the North in an attempt to show that he is keen in the development of North, particularly in the field of education, sources in Jaffna said. The swimming pool project he inaugurated with much publicity in Jaffna Central College had to be abandoned as his 'Blue Brigade' young men had made away with millions of rupees allocated for the project, they added.
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SLA, police conduct search operation in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2010, 05:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police have been conducting a search operation throughout Wednesday night in Kokkuvil area where three Sinhala furniture traders were knifed Monday night. Unconfirmed sources in Jaffna said that Koappaay police have arrested three Tamil furniture traders suspected of involvement in the attack. Koappaay police, however, did not confirm the arrest.
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The Hindu review accuses LTTE for failure of peace

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 August 2010, 10:31 GMT]
“To those who knew that the ceasefire was built on a glaringly faulty premise — that the LTTE wanted a negotiated settlement within a united Sri Lanka — its eventual breakdown was foretold on the day it was signed,” writes, Nirupama Subramanian in reviewing a book in The Hindu Tuesday. The review was favourably highlighting a point that Tamil polity should drop ‘liberation’ to focus on securing economic rights for the people. “They are absolutely right since the development they mean is not even economic liberation of people,” responded Tamil circles, adding that the previous generation of Indians shouldn’t have asked for independence but should have focused on development the British colonialism was undertaking.
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SLA tightens grip on Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 August 2010, 07:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLN) occupying Jaffna peninsula has begun constructing permanent sentry posts and mini camps on the main junctions along the key roads in Jaffna peninsula in haste, sources said. Meanwhile, the SLA soldiers posted inside Jaffna Teaching Hospital and around it refuse to withdraw despite the requests of hospital administration, hospital sources said. Civil society circles in Jaffna said that SLA intends to keep Jaffna peninsula in its tight grip and is engaged in strengthening its presence in strategic places.
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Another Sri Lanka "Committee" to investigate ex-Minister's tree fiasco

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 August 2010, 01:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse's ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Tuesday appointed a three member committee to inquire into the actions of controversial former minister, Mervyn Silva who allegedly tied a Samurdhi officer to a tree for not participating in a dengue awareness campaign conducted by the then Minister Silva. The chairman of this committee will be presidents counsel Jayantha Weerasinghe. Other members of the committee are N.M. Saheed and Mahinda Samarasekara who will function as the secretary to the committee, according to Colombo media.
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Canada paints 'terrorism' to escape responsibility

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2010, 14:41 GMT]
Canadian government which tilted the balance by branding the defensive national struggle of Eezham Tamils as 'international terrorism' and was thus one of the abetters of Colombo in the war, is in its attempt to escape responsibility now breaches all bounds by painting a picture of 'terrorism' even for the arrival of refugees, Tamil circles said. "Canada government foments reaction over Tamil refugee boat," fans anti-immigrant prejudice, and boosts "Sri Lanka's authoritarian, communalist government - a government that is implicated in horrific war crimes," wrote Keith Jones in The World Socialist Website, Tuesday. Citing Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, he noted that Canada government may also use the country’s anti-terrorism laws to prosecute any Canadians of Tamil origin who helped fund the passage of their relatives to Canada on the MV Sun Sea, by linking the refugees to the LTTE.
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Traditional Hindu temples in East destroyed, replaced with Buddhist Viharas: MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2010, 06:43 GMT]
"Sri Lanka government is systematically destructing Hindu temples in the Eastern Province and constructing Buddhist Viharas in their places and one cannot remain passive while the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists continue to destroy Hindu temples and appropriate the traditional Tamil lands for the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA)," S. Yogeswaran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Batticaloa district said.
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SLA refuses to open key roads in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2010, 05:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Jaffna peninsula continues to refuse to open the key roads which it had closed for public use despite repeated requests by governemnt departments, NGOs and public organizations, sources in Jaffna said. The same situation prevails in allowing uprooted families to settle in their properties appropriated by SLA as High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North. It is alleged that the conflict of interests in these two matters between Northern Province Governor, Major. Gen. G. A. Chandarasiri and SLA Jaffna Commander, Major. Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe is the cause of the issues.
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Ma’ndu kuminthaan

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 22:13 GMT]
The place where silt accumulated as dunes
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SLA extends HSZ in Ki'linochchi encroaching traditional Tamil villages

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 17:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has instructed the Government Agents of Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts not to resettle anyone in an area of 200 acres in the adjoining traditional Tamil villages of the already declared area as the High Security Zone (HSZ) of occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in an extent of 300 acres in Ira'naimadu in Vanni, Ki'linochchi Government Secretariat sources said. The 500 acres of land encroached by SLA are to be used to colonize it with Sinhala families of SLA personnel from South and other Sinhala families, depriving the Tamil residents of the area from cultivating their paddy fields irrigated by Ira'naimadu reservoir, sources in Vanni said.
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3 Sinhala traders knifed, injured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 17:26 GMT]
A gang of eight men arriving on bicycles inflicted injuries with swords on three Sinhala traders Monday around 7:15 p.m. in Kokkuvil in Jaffna where they were selling furniture along Aadiyapaatham road, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna police rushed two seriously injured men to Jaffna Teaching Hospital. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers who were at the place following the incident told news reporters that the attack was not based on Sinhala-Tamil ethnic rivalry. Meanwhile, unidentified persons had set fire to a shop of a Sinhala trader in the same area recently, the sources added.
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Attempt to misuse resettled women in Vanni foiled

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 06:38 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Saravanabavan and Sritharan intervened and stopped Sunday the attempt of a private company from Kandy in Ki'linochchi town enticing young women recently allowed to resettle in Vanni, with job opportunities in South Sri Lanka with attractive salaries. The parliamentarians, on suspicion raised by local people about the true intent of the company, visited the enlisting place in front of Ki'linochchi Government Secretariat and prevented the unsuspecting young women being taken away to the South.
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Fishermen society delegation from North leaves for Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 06:01 GMT]
A delegation of 23 representatives of the fishermen societies in North will leave for Tamil Nadu Monday afternoon to Trichi to participate in meetings with the representatives of major fishermen societies in Tamil Nadu, sources in Jaffna said. Two Catholic priests from Mannaar and Jaffna who had organized the programme will be accompanying the delegation. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government has announced that two officers of the Sri Lanka Fisheries Ministry will be present in the meetings between the representatives to be held in Tamil Nadu. This reveals the keen interest of Sri Lanka government to learn first hand the nature and scope of the meetings in Tamil Nadu, the sources added.
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