CID conducts spurious searches in paramilitary operatives’ houses in Vaazhaichcheani

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 June 2010, 09:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) searched Tuesday the house of Nagalingam Thiraviyam alias Jeyam, a member of the Eastern Provincial Council and an operative of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) who had been evicted from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2004 by the then Commander Karuna and present Deputy Minister of Rehabilitation, Vinayagamoorthy Muaralitharan. Similar searches were also made in his other houses in Vaakarai police division and his relatives’ houses in Challiththeevu and Panichchangkea’ni areas, sources in Batticaloa said. The CID, however, has not confiscated any stolen goods or documents related to various criminal activities of Jeyam who possesses wealth and properties exceeding his income, the sources added.
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Resettled people in Vanni suffer increasing SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 June 2010, 04:30 GMT]
Disappearances, sexual abuse and extortion by occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Vanni where people have been allowed to resettle have increased and the victims are helpless as there are no authorities to complain against the violence except to the SLA in Vanni, a government officer in Vanni said. Meanwhile, SLA earmarks properties with ‘Reserved for SLA’ notice boards and the owners of the marked properties have to pay large sums of money to claim their properties back, a worker of an NGO in Vanni said.
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India treats Sri Lankans on a par with Chinese in visa extension

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 June 2010, 23:38 GMT]
Sri Lankans and Chinese either employed or in business in India require direct visit to the home ministry in New Delhi for all extensions of their visas, according to recently revised regulations of the Government of India. The other nationals may apply and get extensions from local authorities. In the case of foreigners married to Indian nationals, Sri Lankans are singled out from the others and are required approval from the home ministry for all visa extensions. What do these regulations mean in the wake of recent Indo-Sri Lanka agreements in the name of economic cooperation as well as people to people contact and the influx of the corporates of India in the island, wonder business circles in Colombo.
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Defence Ministry objects to resettlement in Wards 3, 5 in Allaippiddi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 June 2010, 18:06 GMT]
The civilians of Wards 3 and 5 in Allaippiddi in the islets of Jaffna who were uprooted in August 2006 when clashes erupted between Liberation Tigers and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had sought refuge in Jaffna town. Thursday, for the second time, they were permitted to see their houses and properties occupied by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) claiming the area as High Security Zone (HSZ) and the SLN officials there had informed them that resettlement in the said HSZ is not immediately possible, sources in Jaffna said. The officials had told them that Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence objects to resettlement in their lands.
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CEPA will flood Sri Lanka with Indian workers: UPFA minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 June 2010, 05:33 GMT]
National Freedom Front (NFF), a constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Wednesday charged that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that is likely to be signed by India and Sri Lanka is a ploy to fill the island with Indian workers. Wimal Weerawansa, leader of the NFF said at a press conference held Wednesday at the NFF headquarters at Battaramulle that CEPA if signed would adversely affect Sri Lanka. NFF is a splinter group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
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US ambassador to Sri Lanka visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 June 2010, 15:36 GMT]
Ms. Patricia A. Butenis, Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives arrived in Jaffna Wednesday on a two-day visit where she first went to the ‘Periya Pa’l’livaasal’ (Big Mosque) of the Muslim community in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the Intelligence wing men of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were active in covering all her visits collecting particulars of the places she went, persons she met and also the subjects she discussed, the sources added.
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JVP: Gotabhaya insulted Fonseka in BBC interview

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 June 2010, 07:37 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tuesday condemned the comment made by Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse to BBC Hard Talk interview where he claimed General (retired) Sarath Fonseka, former commander of the Sri Lanka Army would be treated as a traitor and hanged if he gives evidence in the war crime probe.
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Exert pressure on Colombo to declare detained LTTE members as political prisoners: CPI politician

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 June 2010, 02:50 GMT]
Thousands of former LTTE members, who were captured by the Sri Lanka Army in May last year are still perishing in Colombo’s detention camps in unknown locations. “Many of the families of these young Tamils do not even know the whereabouts of their loved ones. The Sri Lankan state is treating them like criminals. Rajapaksa is not recognising these young Tamils as Prisoners of War. But, he should at least be pressurised by the global community to declare those detained as political prisoners,” said C. Mahendran, the deputy state secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Mahendran was addressing fellow activists of Ilangkai Thamizhar Paathukaappu Iyakkam, while they were held under collective custody by Tamil Nadu police, after a protest on Tuesday against Rajapaksa’s visit to New Delhi.
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Rajapaksa visits India amid wide-scale protests in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 June 2010, 11:33 GMT]
All the district capitals and major cities of Tamil Nadu state Tuesday noon reported wide-scale protests against Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to India. All the prominent leaders of political parties and movements, Vaiko, Pazha Nedumaran, Thirumavalavan, Seeman, Nallakannu, Mahendran, T. Rajendar, Thiyagu were arrested by Tamil Nadu police with thousands of other activists after they concluded their speeches and protests. The protests, including black flag demonstrations in front of Indian Central Government Institutions in Tamil Nadu, blocking railway and burning effigies of Sri Lankan President, have brought many Tamil parties and movements together in support of Eezham Tamils. All major media outlets operating from India have given coverage to the protests.
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Robberies by armed gangs escalate in Ampaa’rai, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 June 2010, 10:41 GMT]
Gangs of armed robbers in Kalmunai and Kalmunaikkudi areas in Ampaa’rai district in the Eastern Province are frequently robbing cash and jewellery from wealthy people during nights while the Special Task Force (STF) Commandos and Police are jointly engaged in road patrol duties in the said areas, sources in Kalmunai said. The complaints made to Kalmunai police by a well-known Muslim doctor who had been robbed of cash and jewellery worth more than 1.5 million rupees were not considered seriously by the police who are yet to arrest any suspects involved in the robbery, the sources added. Meanwhile, armed men robbed two houses in Vaazhaichcheanai last Thursday.
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People’s Bank fails to announce remedial measures to war affected customers in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 June 2010, 04:31 GMT]
The customers of People’s Bank branches in Vanni who expected alternative measures to be announced in the events of opening three People’s Bank branches Monday in Vanni were greatly disappointed as the key officials, including Governor of Sri Lanka Central Bank, Ajith Nivard Cabraal who participated in the events failed to say anything about their bank documents lost due to war, sources in Vanni said.
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Two civilians dead, two injured in mine blast in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2010, 17:59 GMT]
Failure to remove land mines and explosives in Thanangki’lappu in Thenmaraadchi where resettlement of uprooted civilians was permitted by government authorities was the cause for the deaths of two family men Monday evening while seriously causing injuring two elderly men, when an explosive device went off, sources in Jaffna said. The authorities had permitted resettlement in Thanangki’lappu on the assurance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Thenmaraadchi that the de-mining of the area had been completed.
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Jaffna District Union for persons disappeared after arrest meets after 8 years

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2010, 17:25 GMT]
The Jaffna District Union for persons disappeared after being arrested by Sri Lanka Armed Forces which met in Jaffna town Monday after eight years extended an appeal to all political parties to forget their differences and cooperate with dedication to trace the youths and young women disappeared after arrest by the armed forces, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, there were many participants in the meeting who said that Minister Douglas Devnananda had told them that their children are under detention by Army Intelligence Division, during his campaigns in the last parliamentary election meeting.
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SLA Commander's deposition provides convincing evidence of war crimes- TAG

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2010, 00:21 GMT]
Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group, claimed in a press release issued Saturday, that it has obtained a 100-page long sworn affidavit from a senior commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who has fled Sri Lanka seeking asylum for himself and his family. Noting the sensitivity of the evidence, TAG said that the affidavit was recorded by a court reporter but declined to reveal the name of the commander or the modalities used in obtaining the affidavit. The sworn testimony contains "clear and convincing evidence" that Colombo committed war crimes, and this document can be made available to "other independent organizations which can demonstrate serious intent in pursuing legal action against Colombo officials," TAG spokesperson told TamilNet.
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Sri Lanka's war, a corporate war, says Arundhati Roy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 June 2010, 02:22 GMT]
The war in Sri Lanka was not just a war of the Sri Lankans against the Tamil people, according to writer-activist Arundhati Roy. "That was a corporate war. All the large Indian companies are now heading to Sri Lanka to make more money," Roy said on Friday speaking at a Chennai convention on attacks by India against tribal resistance movements, Times of India said. Roy has previously voiced her opposition openly on Sri Lanka's war against Tamils and had condemned India's silence on the humanitarian tragedy in Sri Lanka, calling the war "a racist war on Tamils."
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Boyle: Independent Eelam will be a bulwark for India

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 June 2010, 00:02 GMT]
Professor Francis A. Boyle, an expert in international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, said that an independent state of Tamil eelam south of the Indian border will add to India's security, and therefore, India should actively intervene in the Tamil struggle and facilitate the formation of Tamil eelam. Boyle was talking to the popular Tamil Nadu Tamil biweekly magazine Junior Vikatan in an exclusive interview given to the magazine's US correspondent Prakash M Swamy early part of May.
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SLA soldiers harass resettled women during nights in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 2010, 20:29 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier who broke into a house in Thirunakar in Ki’linochchi Friday midnight and attempted to sexually harass a woman was chased away by neighbours, according to complaints made by the resettled families to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, N. Siritharan. The soldier who tried to escape the chasing men accidentally fell into a well on the way and had to remain in the well until rescued by fellow soldiers who came that way in a tractor as the men who chased him did not pull him out.
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Maangku’lam Maha Viththiyalayam relocated due to SLA occupation

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 20:36 GMT]
Maangku’lam Maha Viththiyaalayam (MMV) located along A9 road had to be shifted to another building in Maangku’lam as MMV has been transformed into Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base since 2008, education department sources said. MMV which had remained closed even after families had been allowed to resettle in the area began to function Thursday in the Technical College building constructed by NECORD in Maangku’lam.
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SLA denies permission for fishing in areas allowed for resettlement in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 20:18 GMT]
The residents of the coastal villages of Jaffna town evicted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in 1996, though permitted to resettle in their villages, complain that SLA does not allow them to engage in their livelihood of fishing, sources in Jaffna said. The uprooted civilians are greatly shocked to find their lands and properties destroyed while a great part of their villages is still being occupied by SLA, the sources added.
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NYT corrects journalistic "error" on MIA article

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 03:46 GMT]
New York Times (NYT) in a correction published Thursday admitted that NYT journlalist Lynn Hirschberg used quotes from an interview with Jaffna born music phenom Maya Arulpragasam (known by popular name MIA) out of context to misrepresent her views on the Tamil conflict. Hirschberg also wrote "Maya taps into her rage at the persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka to espouse violence," pointing to Maya's lyrics "You wanna win a war?/Like P.L.O. I don’t surrender.” A media outlet commented "within the context of the song, there’s no way to interpret the lyrics this way, unless you’re coming into it with a certain agenda."
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