Unintended consequences and deeper dynamic of the IIFA in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 00:24 GMT]
“The decision to hold this year’s International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Colombo was clearly a political, even geopolitical, calculation. Whereas the previous award ceremonies … were meant to bring India ‘to the world’, this year’s event was intended instead to bring the world to Sri Lanka – or, more precisely, to the Sinhala south. It has done that, but in ways unintended. …The clumsy rush to whitewash the regime in Colombo has thus, perversely, served to focus attention on, and further highlight, Sri Lanka’s grotesque past and present,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. “[Moreover] the hosting of IIFA event in Colombo is symbolic of a much deeper dynamic: … while the Sinhala south is showcased and touts for economic inflows, the Northeast is isolated, hidden and scorched. This is not a mere legacy of protracted war, but of a long institutionalised, racial logic.”
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Former SLA Commander to be appointed as Mullaiththeevu GA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 16:53 GMT]
One of the former Commanders of Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Major Gen. C. R. de Silva, is to be appointed as the new Government Agent (GA) to Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Colombo government and SLA had already begun changing Mullaiththeevu district into a Sinhalese area by declaring it as Weli Oya district consisting of Pathaviyaa, Ma’nalaa’ru, parts of Vavuniniyaa North and Anuradhapura. The appointment of a former Sinhalese military commander to Mullaiththeevu district as GA is another calculated step in making Mullaiththeevu district a Sinhalese area, the sources added.
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Protests against controversial IIFA event draw attention on Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 01:15 GMT]
As protests gathered momentum in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai, with the support of South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC), against holding International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards weekend in Colombo, big stars from the Indian film industry have decided to avoid participation, media reports from Mumbai said. Hindustan Times reported that the event was turning out to be IIFAs most controversial, even before it has been held. The protests in South India have also brought media attention in New Delhi. The NDTV has timed a documentary, titled ‘Blood on Water,’ accommodating Tamil perspectives and an Indian doctor who was part of an Indian paramedic team present in Vavuniyaa last year, during the final phase of the war in Vanni, has spoken out on the scale of the slaughter as "massive casualties" among the civilian population.
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Parents appeal for daughter's release from TID detention

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2010, 09:52 GMT]
Parents of Peradeniya undergraduate Rasiah Dwaraka, who is now under detention in the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID), handed over a petition Tuesday afternoon to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) requesting to take steps to obtain Dwaraka's release, sources in Colombo said. Earlier her parents visited their daughter in the TID. Inter University Students Association (IUSA) led by its organizer Udul Premaratne facilitated the visit and handing over of petition. Dwaraka was taken into custody for accepting a medal from LTTE leader Pirapaharan for her academic performance.
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Bishop's House appeals to Vatican to urge Colombo to renovate Vanni churches

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 16:49 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop House sent an appeal to the Holy See in Vatican to urge Sri Lanka government to renovate and restore the churches in Vanni destroyed or badly damaged during the war on Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. No one except Jaffna Bishop had been permitted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vanni to see the churches in Vanni after the war and Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundranayagam, had been greatly shocked and distressed to find the churches destroyed and plundered, Bishop House circles said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government has announced financial aid for renovating the churches in Vanni where people have been allowed to resettle.
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SLA hastens to destroy skeletal remains of victims killed in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 16:18 GMT]
Following the disclosure of five male corpses in a toilet pit in Ki’linochchi Monday Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has ordered all skeletal remains of persons assassinated or killed in war lying visibly in Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, an officer of a humanitarian de-mining organization who had personally seen some skeletal remains along the roads in Mullaiththeevu and the frantic efforts of SLA soldiers to burn them without any trace told TamilNet Tuesday. Colombo has sent in a team of Sinhalese officers from Vavuniyaa to survey the areas and evaluate the extent of de-mining that has to be done, with the assistance of SLA, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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'Freedom Flotilla symbolises new dimension of humanitarian struggle'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 12:48 GMT]
A project manager of the Vanni Mission ship of the Tamil diaspora has said the courage displayed by the organisers and activists of the Freedom Flotilla and the sacrifices made by the activists have brought a new dimension to the global humanitarian struggle, exclusively revealing to TamilNet how Tamil Nadu government was 'forced' to act in delivering the aid carried by the Tamil mission last year. S. Noel, the France based project manger of the Tamil diaspora project said humanitarian activists world over should not hesitate to initiate similar actions in future if the humanity is serious about changing the attitude of oppressors, who cause untold sufferings to innocent children in besieged situations of genocidal proportion, and urged Tamil diaspora to express solidarity with those affected in the tragedy.
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India wants TNA proposals submitted to Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 06:11 GMT]
Top officials of the Indian government have advised the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to consider submitting its devolution proposals to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa before he leaves to New Delhi on June 7, informed diplomatic sources in Colombo said. The move has come as the Indian Establishment, locked in a corporate race with China, has been pushing Colombo to finalise the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which New Delhi wants signed when Mahinda Rajapaksa visits India. In the meantime, the TNA leadership has invited Tamil parties, except Douglas Devananda, through Tamil channels, to join hands with the alliance before facing the provincial elections in the North. The invitation has also been extended to paramilitary-cum-political outfits aligned with India.
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UN Rights chief renews call for Sri Lanka war-crimes probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2010, 10:41 GMT]
The United Nations human rights chief, Navaneetham Pillay Monday reiterated her call for an "independent international probe" into Sri Lanka Government's final offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the final months of the war in 2009. While noting the appointment of "post-war reconciliation commission" by Colombo, Navi Pillay said, "based on previous experience and new information, I remain convinced that such objectives [looking into alleged human rights violations, and provide justice to victims] would be better served by establishing an independent international accountability mechanism that would enjoy public confidence, both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere," AFP reported.
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3rd death anniversary of slain journalist Thevakumar observed in Moo’laay

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2010, 20:01 GMT]
Public organizations in Moo’laay in Jaffna observed Sunday the third death anniversary of Jaffna correspondent of Sakthi TV station, Paranirupasingam Thevakumar, 34, abducted while he was returning to his residence in Moo’laay and hacked to death in Kaakkaitheevu, a barren land near Naavaanthu’rai in Jaffna on 28 May 2008, in Ganesha Community Centre Hall in Moo’laay, sources in Jaffna said. Immediately after the killing, his wife in her statement to three Sinhalese journalists from Colombo had said that men of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), a constituent of ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), were directly involved in her husband’s assassination.
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Chandran Ratnam arrested for "possession" of explosives

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2010, 11:04 GMT]
A well known film producer and director of several films Chandran Ratnam was taken into custody by the Sri Lanka police Sunday on an allegation that he had been in possession of explosive materials in his former residence in Nugegoda, according to police media spokesman Preshantha Jayakody. In a recent video interview Chandran, who comes from a mixed parentage, explains that he is not averse to risk taking, and prides in the reconciliation theme he has advanced in his movies.
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Treaty discussion, reminder for appointing Sri Lanka War Crimes panel, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 21:53 GMT]
While Secretary General Ban Ki Moon extolled the contributions of the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC) as an effective instrument to uphold peace, justice and human rights, in a Washington Post article, as UN's member nations convene Monday in Kampala to formally review the Rome Treaty, Professor Francis A. Boyle criticized Ban for delaying action on establishing accountability for Sri Lanka's "massacre of about 50,000 Tamils" and urged Ban to "immediately appoint the International War Crimes Committee for Sri Lanka that he had already promised to do several weeks ago."
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US awaits Sri Lanka action, despite rights groups’ warning

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 12:26 GMT]
The United States will be “watching closely” Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s newly established ‘reconciliation commission’ to see if it lives up to Colombo’s claims, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, said Friday. Shortly after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as holding “promise” the body Sri Lanka has set up to investigate war crimes – and which international human rights groups have dismissed as a sham - Mr. Blake said “they’ve now just begun this process … It’s up to them now to prove that they will be able to take on all of these responsibilities.”
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4 SLA soldiers killed by lightning during preparation for 'War Victory Day' in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2010, 09:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka government failed to reveal the deaths of four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and others injured by lightning at Galle Face Green in Colombo while decorating the area for the War Victory Day celebrations, on 17, 18 April, two days prior to the event, sources in Colombo said. Though the government had concealed this incident from the public so as not to spoil the sprit of the first annual victory celebrations over Liberation Tigers, news of it had leaked through the employees of government and private offices and other establishments in Galle Face, the sources added. Tamil National Alliance and the other opposition parties had requested the government to cancell the celebration while the people was suffering but the government did celebrate the event.
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Journalists, NGOs unsettle Peiris's US visit

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2010, 00:30 GMT]
While Tamil demonstrators plan to protest in front of the State Department during Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs Gamini Lakshman Peiris's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton Friday, reports covering Peiris's US visit indicate an uncomfortable minister facing hostile press and questioners, and the resulting damage to the Minister's mission to block UN and US acting on the war-crimes call by several NGOs. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, International Crisis Group and Elders this week, had called for an independent international war crimes investigation in Sri Lanka. Minister Peiris has been taking pre-emptive steps, unprecedented for a visiting Minister, to avoid facing serious journalists who have been covering Sri Lanka's war and the conduct of the protagonists during the last months of the war.
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IIFA showbiz event blamed for promoting ‘paradise of genocide’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2010, 16:24 GMT]
As Tamils world over mark one-year of Indian abetted genocidal war against Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, the Hindi film industry known as Bollywood and the major Indian conglomerate of trade unions, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) are joining hands with Rajapaksa regime in Colombo in staging 11th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards weekend during the first week of June in Colombo. The FICCI, the largest and oldest business conglomerate of India is the flagship organiser of the business event named FICCI-IIFA Global Business Forum, where hundreds of CEOs and business heads from India would be signing various investment contracts and tie-ups in the island on the second day of the celebrity and corporate event.
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Former JVP MP questioned by the CID over meeting with Vanni parents in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2010, 09:43 GMT]
Former JVP Parliamentarian Ramalingam Chandrasekar was questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials and Army Intelligence Personnel soon after he met parents of the disappeared persons from Jaffna at Narayana Mandapam in Grandpass in Colombo District on Wednesday morning.
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Indian push to finalise trade agreement sparks protests in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 May 2010, 14:42 GMT]
Domestic service industries in the island would be affected by the Indian push to upgrade the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which exists between India and Sri Lanka to a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), say protesters in Colombo belonging to various service sectors. The Indian Establishment, locked in a corporate race with China, has been pushing Colombo to finalise the CEPA agreement, which New Delhi wants signed when Mahinda Rajapaksa visits India on June 8. Rajapaksa's visit to India is scheduled to take place after the celebration of Indian cinema and corporate weekend, known as Indian International Film Awards (IIFA) Weekend Festival, which is to be held in Colombo in the first weekend of June.
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Sri Lankan CID to record statement from UN representative over Fonseka interview

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 May 2010, 12:01 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate Champa Janaki Seneviratne Wednesday allowed an application by the Sri Lankan Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to record a statement from Keshunaka Seneviratne, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in United Nations in Geneva regarding the comment by United Nations Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston on an alleged interview made by former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka in a letter to her. Sarath Fonseka in an interview with the Sunday Leader, English weekly on the eve of presidential election alleging that the SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse in the final leg of war with the LTTE had ordered Brigadier Shavendra Silva to shoot the LTTE officials carrying white flags.
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Boston Globe: Probe War Crimes in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 May 2010, 02:35 GMT]
Noting that "outside world has received credible accounts of war crimes perpetrated on a large scale by Sri Lanka security forces as well as by the Tigers," during the military offensives by Colombo in the early months of 2009, Boston Globe, in Monday's editorial said that "President Obama, who has drawn criticism for soft-pedaling human rights concerns in Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere, should insist that Sri Lanka’s government be held accountable for shelling civilians and hospitals and murdering fighters who surrendered on the battlefield."
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