UNP to call for implementation of Right to Information Act

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 August 2010, 18:13 GMT]
Ranil Wickramasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) is to table a motion calling for the implementation of the Right to Information Act when parliament meets Tuesday August 3 afternoon, according to UNP spokesman parliamentarian Gayantha Karunatileka told a press conference in Colombo Monday afternoon.
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UN basement meetings on Sri Lanka, a Japanese innovation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 August 2010, 18:10 GMT]
Outgoing Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations, Yuki Takasu, when asked on July 27 by Inner City Press (ICP) to describe innovations during his time in charge of the Security Council's working methods, listed the Council's informal basement meetings on Sri Lanka, in the final stages of the conflict, ICP reports in its website. ICP also said that Sri Lanka's President, Mahinda Rajapakse, is listed as attending the September General Debate in the UN.
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Indian national arrested at Oamanthai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 August 2010, 13:04 GMT]
The Vavuniyaa Magistrate Friday ordered remand till August 10 for an Indian citizen who was arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Oamanthai check point as he failed to produce Sri Lankan defense ministry clearance on his way to Jaffna in a state run bus, according to Police spokesman Preshantha Jayakody to Colombo media.
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Dias case filed in European Court, German Ambassador meets Swiss Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 August 2010, 00:21 GMT]
Following the filing of a complaint against the Federal Republic of Germany with the European Courts of Human Rights (ECHR) for violating the ‘European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms’ in accepting Maj. Gen. (retd.) Jegath Dias as deputy Counsel in Sri Lanka’s embassy, German Ambassador to Switzerland, Hon. Von Schubert, met with a delegation of the Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils (SCET) led by Tharsika Pakeerathan, the president of SCET, Wednesday evening in Bern, Switzerland, sources in Bern said. "The discussions were very productive and were centered around the main arguments in the complaint on the violations of Germany to preserve the dignity of Tamils as enshrined in Articles 3, 8, 11(2) and 13 of the convention," Tharsika told TamilNet.
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101 complaints of abductions made to SL police in 7 months

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2010, 08:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka police have received 101 complaints of abductions since January to the end of July in various parts of Sri Lanka and 93 of them are related to ransom demands, SL police spokesman Preshantha Jayakody told media in Colombo.
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Searches in Colombo instill fears among Colombo resident Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2010, 02:18 GMT]
The re-commencement of registration of Tamils with the police and targetted search operations have created a renewed sense of insecurity and injustice amongst the larger Tamil population that is detrimental to national reconciliation, said Democratic People's Front Leader Mano Ganesan, according to Colombo media. Ganesan has requested Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa to intervene to halt the police registration of Tamils in the Wellawatte Police division in Colombo saying that the searches are discriminatory and against the spirit of reconciliation.
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Mano Ganesan condemns Siyatha attack, urges IGP to investigate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2010, 01:52 GMT]
Leader of Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) and Convener of Civil Monitoring Commission, Mano Ganesan, has unequivocally condemned the arson attack on the Siyatha Media Network studio in Colombo on Friday morning. In a statement released Friday, Ganesan, while condemning the attack in the strongest of terms, noted that the incident had taken place in the very heart of the city location in close proximity to the major political and military installations of Sri Lanka.
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Intestines of nurse killed in Veala’nai exhumed, sent to Colombo JMO

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 July 2010, 14:57 GMT]
The intestines of the family consultant nurse Saravanai Tharsika alleged killed by Sinhala doctor Priyantha Senivaratne in Veala’nai hospital, removed after post mortem examination in Jaffna Teaching Hospital and buried in Koddadi cemetery before her body was handed over to her family, were exhumed Friday in the presence of Oorkaavattu’rai magistrate and Jaffna Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) and sent to Colombo JMO on request, sources in Jaffna said.
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Armed men set fire to TV station in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 July 2010, 07:50 GMT]
Twelve armed men clad in black uniforms forcefully entered the private TV channel Siyatha TV office and assaulted the security guard and set fire to the station and caused severe damage to the equipment on Friday at 1.30 am. The station belongs to former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Mr. Priyantha Kariyapperuma. Mr. Kariyapermuma was earlier a close associate of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa, but he was sacked from his post week before the presidential election by the SL President.
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Trial in ‘white flag’ case against Fonseka to begin on September 27

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 July 2010, 06:47 GMT]
Editor of the Sunday Leader, Frederica Janz, is one of the twenty witnesses summoned to give evidence before the Sri Lankan High Court Trial-At-Bar which is to begin on September 27 into the ‘white flag’ case against former commander of the Sri Lanka Army Sarath Fonseka. Major General Shavendra Silva and Sri Lanka’s Representative to the UN in Geneva Kshenuka Seneviratne are among the other witnesses noticed to appear in court on September 27.
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Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka rules against TRC injunction on Shakthi TV

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 July 2010, 04:11 GMT]
The Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka ruled against the Tele Communication Commission injunction on ‘Shakthi Television’, the Tamil channel of MTV (Pvt) of Maharajah Organization, to continue telecast in Jaffna peninsula from 1 January 2010, in favour of a petition filed by Shakthi, sources in Jaffna said. MTV (Pvt) is a leading concern that had been attacked many times in Colombo by supporters of Sri Lanka government and Shakthi TV journalist Shakthi Theva had been beaten to death in Jaffna by unidentified persons. Its telecast tower in Jaffna Veerasingam Hall had been smashed by unknown persons in the past, the sources added.
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Tamil hunger striker wins libel claim against Daily Mail, Sun

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2010, 09:36 GMT]
British newspapers Sun and Daily Mail, represented by their Counsel at the Royal Court of Justice in London on Thursday, apologised sincerely and unreservedly for untrue and highly defamatory allegations against Parameswaran Subramanyam, who was on a 23-day hunger strike April, last year, demanding international community to stop Colombo’s war on Tamils. The newspapers also agreed to pay substantial damages and legal costs, according to Carter-Ruck solicitors. “The false allegations about Parameswaran were not just hurtful but clearly aimed at undermining Parameswaran’s credibility and the credibility of the whole Tamil protest,” commented Liberal Democrats' Deputy Parliamentary Leader Simon Hughes. According to Labour MP, Siobhain McDonagh, the ‘authorities’ who gave the information to the newspapers, “did it to undermine and shame the Tamil demonstrators in Parliament Square”.
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Indian Bank to open branch in Jaffna to channel Delhi’s rehabilitation aid

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2010, 01:14 GMT]
The Chennai-based, state-run Indian Bank is planning to open a branch in Jaffna, and to facilitate an Indian government loan to Sri Lanka of US$ 200 million for the rehabilitation of internally displaced Tamils, media reports said. "Talks [with Sri Lanka] are in an advanced stage at the moment," chairman and managing director Mr. TM Bhasin told The Times of India earlier this week. Indian Bank has at present over 1,700 branches, the majority in Tamil Nadu (757) and Andhra Pradesh (230).
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Body of nurse killed in Veala’nai exhumed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 July 2010, 19:07 GMT]
The body of the family consultant nurse Saravanai Tharsika allegedly killed by Sinhala doctor Priyantha Seniviratne in Veala’nai government hospital in the islets of Jaffna 10 July and buried in Kaithadi Hindu crematorium grounds was exhumed Wednesday in the presence of Oorkaavattu’rai magistrate under the direction of Judicial Medical Officer, sources in Jaffna said.
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Tamil prisoners attacked in Colombo remand prison

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 July 2010, 16:20 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) Jaffna district parliamentarian Ms. Vijyakala Maheswaran Monday requested Sri Lanka government to launch an inquiry into the attack on Tamil prisoners in Colombo remand prison on Saturday. The Tamil prisoners were attacked when they complained to the prison authorities that they were being detained in overcrowded cells in the prison, sources in Colombo said.
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British Tamils seek boycott of defiant Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 July 2010, 12:21 GMT]
British Prime Minister David Cameron will Monday be handed a memorandum on behalf of UK’s Tamil community urging his government to support an international probe into war crimes in Sri Lanka, and to pressure the Colombo government to resettle in their homes tens of thousands of Tamils still languishing in refugee camps, and allow international access to thousands held in its prisoner-of-war camps. The UK is also being urged to boycott Sri Lanka till Colombo complies with international law. The handover follows a march and ‘midnight vigil’ outside 10 Downing Street staged Friday night by thousands of supporters of the campaign who marked the anniversary of the 1983 ‘Black July’ anti-Tamil pogrom.
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NGOs consider withdrawing from Vanni as Sri Lanka tightens restrictions

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 July 2010, 16:10 GMT]
Some International and Local Non-government organizations (NGOs) serving in Vanni consider leaving Vanni as Sri Lanka government’s restrictions to stay and serve in Vanni are tightened. Permission from President’s Task Force (PTF), headed by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother and Sri Lanka Minister, Basil Rajapaksa for NGOs has been a prerequisite to assist the war affected people in Vanni. In addition to this now Sri Lanka government requires the NGOs serving in Vanni to obtain permission from Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence (MoD) and renew same monthly if they wish to be in Vanni and serve its people, a representative of a local NGO in Vanni said.
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IFJ condemns death threats to journalist's family in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 July 2010, 06:19 GMT]
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in a media release Wednesday said that it is alarmed by threats made against the safety of the family of senior Sri Lankan journalist Gamini Pushpakumara. "We call upon the Sri Lankan police and security agencies to take immediate measures to investigate the source of the threats and to extend all necessary protection to Pushpakumara's family," IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said. "Unfortunately, recent actions by the Sri Lankan authorities indicate that they remain disinclined to take action against the use of coercion and threats of violence that attempt to silence journalists who courageously speak the truth to power," the report said.
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Buhne, Blake arrive in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 July 2010, 18:04 GMT]
Neil Buhne, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sri Lanka arrived early Tuesday morning. Later in evening he met External Affairs Minister G.L Peiris, according to External Affairs ministry sources. Robert O. Blake, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, also arrived in Sri Lanka Tuesday evening .
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