SLA claims to have removed 290,445 mines in North, East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 18:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) claimed that 290,445 mines have been removed in the North and East and adjacent areas. Of them 59379 mines were removed from Mannaar district, 30905 mines from Vavuniyaa district, 57710 mines from Kilinochchi district and 16749 mines in Mullaiththeevu district, according to Military media spokesman Brigadier Ubaya Medewela.
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SLA destroys remnants of Black Tiger Miller monument in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 July 2010, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers totally destroyed the remnants of the first Black Tiger Miller memorial statue Sunday night on the eve of Black Tigers’ Day which falls on 5 July, sources in Vadamaraadchi said. The remnants destroyed were the dais on which Miller’s statue had stood and the stone memorial plaque erected in memory of Miller. SLA which is systematically obliterating all evidences of Liberation Tigers in the North hastily destroyed what remained of Miller’s memorial monument Sunday night.
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HRW urges Australia to end discriminatory asylum policy

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 July 2010, 11:52 GMT]
"Australia’s new prime minister, Julia Gillard, should lift the suspension on new asylum claims by Sri Lankans when the three-month moratorium expires on July 8, 2010, Human Rights Watch said today. The [Australian] government should also lift the suspension on Afghan asylum claims, which have been halted until October," Human Rights Watch (HRW) a rights watchdog said in a press release issued Sunday.
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SLAF soldier commits suicide at KIA

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 July 2010, 11:49 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) person shot himself, committing suicide, while on duty at the Katunayake International Airport (KIA) Sunday morning.
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Sinhala daily says India opposes UN panel

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 22:26 GMT]
Colombo-based Sinhala daily, Lankadeepa, without quoting any officials from the Indian government or the Indian embassy in Colombo, said in a report Sunday that the Indian government has expressed its disapproval over the appointment of the expert panel by United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon. Responding to the news, Tamil circles in Chennai blamed Monday the New Delhi Establishment for continuing to abet the genocidal agenda of Colombo, by objecting any international investigation amidst widespread allegation of Indian forces assisting the Sri Lankan military in the war against the Tigers.
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Central Bank of Ceylon opens Northern Provincial Office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 18:44 GMT]
Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri officially opened the Northern Provincial Office of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Jaffna in a private building on Arasadi Veethi in Jaffna Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurasinghe participating in the event walked out when he was called upon to light the traditional lamp as he was dissatisfied with the seating arrangement, apparently because he was not given his due place, the sources added.
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SLA demolishes Koappaay Thamizh Eezham Heroes Cemeteries

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 18:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers along with Sinhalese thugs are engaged in obliterating Koappay Thamizh Eezham Heroes War Cemetery (Thamizh Eezha Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam), the only one that remained in Jaffna peninsula, for the last three days, residents of the neighbouring villages said. The remnants of the graves, memorial plaques and monuments are taken away in the night to unknown destination, the sources added.
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SLA Civil Admiration Offices in Jaffna to be made permanent

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 06:33 GMT]
SLA 52 Division Commander Brigadier Lal Perera officially opened a civil administration office in Kodikaamam area in Thenmaraadchi on 30 June in addition to the one already functioning in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The hurried official openings of SLA civil administration offices in Jaffna peninsula are said to be a part of the government scheme to keep the peninsula under the control of SLA, the sources added. Meanwhile, the Secretary of Presidential Action Committee (PAC) has again instructed the government officials in the North to invite local SLA key officials to all government functions, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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Parts of abandoned vehicles in Vanni sold with SLA connivance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 05:54 GMT]
Parts of thousands of vehicles left abandoned by fleeing Vanni civilians during the final days of the war are dismantled by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and officers and sold to Sinhalese and Muslim traders from South, a Tamil trader who had bought such a spare part for his heavy vehicle told TamilNet. The dismantled parts are available for sale in most of the SLA bases along A9 road as well as in some SLA sentry post, he said. SLA soldiers and their officers are alleged to be making millions of rupees in this lucrative enterprise.
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SLA obliterates Tiger Heroes' Cemeteries, erects military bases

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 July 2010, 18:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which has been systematically razing to the ground without any traces the Thamizh Eezham Heroes War Cemeteries (Thamizh Eezha Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam) in several places of North and East, has in recent weeks obliterated the Thuyilum Illam at Kodikaaman in Thenmaraadchi, Jaffna, and is erecting a big SLA base in its place. Ellangku’lam Heroes Cemetery in Udupiddi in Vadamaraadchi had been already destroyed without any trace and the premises converted into an SLA base. The obliterated Thuyilum Illam is now enclosed by barbed wire fence and hidden by coconut cadjans where a large number of SLA soldiers are hurriedly constructing a base. Tamil circles view the systematic destruction of Tamil war heroes' cemeteries and the symbols of the Tamil struggle in north and East as part of a large-scale genocide programme on Tamils by the Sri Lankan state.
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SLA conducts sudden search, checking in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 2010, 11:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers stopped pedestrians, passengers travelling in vehicles along Beach Road and Galle Road in Wellawatte in Colombo city Friday early morning and subjected them to search and checking, sources in Colombo said. It is not known whether anyone had been taken into custody. Wellawatte is predominantly a Tamil area.
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Basil: Sri Lanka will not dance to international tunes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 2010, 12:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa has said that his government will not be bullied by either the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or any other foreign lending agencies on how to steer the economy of the island. He told parliament on Thursday that the Sri Lankan government was not going to dance to the tunes of any international lending institutions.
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Hindu temples in East face forcible removal, destruction

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 2010, 10:54 GMT]
Two Hindu temples in Trincomalee are earmarked for forcible removal by the Colombo government and another temple in Batticaloa is being subjected to Sinhala militarisation, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Batticaloa C.Yogeswaran told journalists in Batticaloa on Wednesday.
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Clash of Roadmaps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 19:33 GMT]
The Mahinda – KP move handled by the military intelligence of Sri Lanka, whether a culmination of a long-term strategy or a move to probe the diaspora, is now backfiring against Colombo, is backfiring against some international actors harping on wrong notions of reconciliation and is backfiring against some elements in the diaspora which were long dreaming on the success of this move to trail behind with their tangential politics.
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Power of ideology sustains Tamil struggle: Gulf News

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 09:53 GMT]
Gulf News, a newspaper published from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, in an Op-Ed article on Wednesday said the idea of separate state for Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka is kept alive by the 'power of ideology' although Colombo managed to win the war on LTTE with a 'single-minded' approach. Although it is a softer doctrine, it is capable of gathering momentum over a period of time, the paper said. "Judging by the recent sequence of events, the past may, by all accounts, come back to haunt Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse," the editorial said adding that the onus is on Rajapakse's government to address the plight of the Tamils sooner rather than later.
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Australian War Crimes motion illustrates paradigm shift

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2010, 19:25 GMT]
Australia is expected to back international calls for a war crimes probe in Sri Lanka after a motion urging national support was passed in parliament on Thursday. The motion, put forward by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, comes amid a significant paradigm shift in the orientation of Australia’s Tamil Diaspora, many who have looked to the Greens Party, seen as the “3rd force” in a two-party preferred political system. The formation of Australian “Tamils for Greens” (TFG), a largely voting youth initiated advocacy group, illustrates shifting alliances and growing disenchantment towards the Labor and Liberal parties, whom, despite harbouring sympathetic parliamentarians towards the plight of Eezham Tamils, have remained largely nonchalant in their orientation towards the social and political struggle of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka.
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Jaffna GA K. Ganesh retires from service

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2010, 18:44 GMT]
Mr. K. Ganesh, Government Agent (GA), Jaffna who is retiring from service Wednesday expressed his gratitude to all, particularly the media, for the cooperation offered to him in performing duties as the GA even under trying circumstances during war time, in a message to local media Tuesday. Ms. Imelda Sukumar, presently the GA of Mullaiththeevu district, will succeed Mr. K. Ganesh as the GA of Jaffna district from Thursday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Mr. V. Velnathan, former GA of Ki'linochchi district, who had been arrested and detained under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for allegedly supplying information to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and released later is to assume duties as Mullaiththeevu district GA, the sources added.
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SLA harasses resettled civilians in Vanni - TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2010, 03:15 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarians informed visiting British Acting High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Mr. Mark Gooding Monday, that the resettled civilians in Vanni are harassed by occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers according to several complaints they had received from the resettled civilians in Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. TNA parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran, Sritharan and Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy met the visiting British envoy in a hotel in Chu’ndukkuzhi. The TNA parliamentarians also explained how the resettled civilians in Vanni have been left to suffer even without basic facilities that should have been provided prior to resettlement by government authorities, the sources added.
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KP-Diaspora programme operated by SL Military Intelligence: Doctor Arudkumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 21:31 GMT]
Sri Lankan Director of National Intelligence, Major General Kapila Hendawitharana, the longest serving intelligence officer of the military, is in charge of the covert and overt programme of dividing and conquering the Tamil diaspora, alludes British Tamil doctor Velauthapillai Arudkumar, who visited the island recently as part of a ‘Tamil diaspora visit’ organised by Colombo through Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP. TamilNet releases an exclusive video interview with Dr. Arudkumar taken two days ago, in which he reveals the details of the trip. SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Maj. Gen. Hendawitharana and External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris, all spoke in a well-synchronised way. Military counterinsurgency and 'post-war development' are intertwined aiming at Tamil subjugation, the doctor infers in his interview.
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Sand dunes scooped at Ma'n'niththalai

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 07:56 GMT]
Similar to the plunder of limestone in the Jaffna Peninsula, agents of Colombo are now engaged in scooping the sand dunes of the Ma’n’niththalai sandbar, which is of immense natural beauty and of archaeological as well as tourist potentiality, sources in Poonakari said. The fragile ecology of the densely populated Jaffna Peninsula is deliberately destroyed by corporates in the construction industry and by their contractors, academics in Jaffna said. The plunder of resources in Jaffna and Vanni are divided among Douglas Devandanda and Namal Rajapaksa respectively. Meanwhile percentage of benefits from large-scale 'development' contracts goes to Basil Rajapaksa and the income extracted by the military goes to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, informed circles said.
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