All in the game in the name of archaeology

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 03:19 GMT]
The Sinhala academics cannot compare their plight of opposing totalitarian social fascist system of governance with that of the Tamils who bear the entire brunt of fascism amounting to genocide set against them by an ethnic-powered state mechanism, says a Tamil academic in Jaffna responding to professor Sudharshan Seneviratne defending the archaeology agenda of Colombo. Genuine dialogue on culture, co-existence etc and partnership in opposing fascism come only when sovereignty snatched away from Tamils is restored as a priority and when there is parity. However patronising in overtures, individuals and organisations serving Colombo cannot escape from being ultimately colonial. Academics who are always on the side of enjoying the comforts of state power in the island are yet to explore ways of contributing to their ideals better by coming out of the system they identify as oppressive.
Full story >>

Thanthai Chelva remembered on his 33rd anniversary

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 17:44 GMT]
The 33rd death anniversary of the late Tamil leader and the founder of Federal Party (Ilangkai Thamil Arasu Kadchi - ITAK), Samuel James Velupillai Chelvanayagam (SJV) was observed in the North and East with hundreds of ITAK supporters along with ITAK parliamentarians attending the memorial events in Jaffna, Vavuniyaa and Trincomalee. ITAK parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah in Jaffna and ITAK leader and parliamentarian R. Sampanthan in Trincomalee took part in the events.
Full story >>

Rajapaksa tipped to head G-15

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 14:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be taking over the presidency of the Group of Fifteen (G-15) from the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the forthcoming two-day summit in Tehran on 17 May, media in Colombo reported Sunday. Mr. Rajapaksa, who visited Tehran twice during his first tenure, had received extensive credit facility from Iran, enabling Colombo to sustain its foreign exchange at the height of the war.
Full story >>

Colombo Stock Exchange to open branch in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 17:44 GMT]
A branch of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) will be opened in Jaffna soon as a response increased demand by the peninsula business community, Udayasiri Kariyawasam, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission told media Sunday.
Full story >>

Rajapakse to brief Manmohan Singh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 16:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse will brief the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the measures taken by Sri Lanka government to improve the conditions following the end of the three decade old war. The briefing would take place during the sidelines of SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Thimpu, capital of Bhutan this week, according to a statement by the Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Minister G.L.Peiris to Colombo media Sunday.
Full story >>

Rajapakse to attend Bhutan SAARC summit

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 April 2010, 15:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse is to leave for Thimpu, capital of Bhutan Monday to attend the sixteenth South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit. The SL delegation includes the new Foreign Minister G.L.Peiris and Foreign Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe, according to political sources in Colombo. The SAARC summit is scheduled to be held from April 28 and 29.
Full story >>

Police administration in North continues in ‘Sinhala Only’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 April 2010, 05:14 GMT]
Police administration in police stations and in courts in the North and East continue only in Sinhalese language causing immense difficulties to public as their complaints and statements are recorded in Sinhalese, a language not known to them, sources in Jaffna said. Despite the repeated insistence by magistrates in the North police administration is still carried out in Sinhalese language as the police officers being Sinhalese are not proficient in Tamil language to record complaints or statements in the language of the people. Six moths ago, Mahinda Rajapakse government had made great publicity of appointing Tamils in the police stations in the North and had held interviews to select candidates for training but nothing has come out of it, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Tories, Tamils reach out

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 22:33 GMT]
It’s a sight that would have been incongruous a few years ago, but is almost unremarkable today. Nestled amongst the Tamil restaurants, grocery shops and other businesses on the main strip in Rayners Lane, a suburb of London, a large sign on the front of former store front says: ‘British Tamil Conservatives’. On the other side of London, another office of the BTC opened a few weeks ago with a lamp lighting ceremony accompanied by mirithungam drummers, directly opposite the tube station in the Tamil-dominated suburb of East Ham.
Full story >>

Senior ex-LTTE cadres under pressure to confess

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 09:46 GMT]
Colombo Establishment has subjected hundreds of senior Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres in its custody to confess to alleged accusations of war crimes, promising that a general amnesty would be granted sooner to those who confess, informed legal sources in Colombo told TamilNet Friday. The move, backed by Indian advice, comes as the Rajapaksa government secured majority of seats in Sri Lankan parliament. Concerned legal sources urged Diaspora Tamils to take meaningful action in arranging legal assistance to the victims through independent and reliable sources without allowing Indian or Colombo backed legal practitioners to victimise the detained cadres.
Full story >>

Senior LTTE cadres held to be produced in High Court for trial

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:43 GMT]
Around 2,000 senior cadres and combatants of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eezham (LTTE) held in custody are to be soon produced in High Court for trial with the sole aim to find them guilty of war crimes and subject them to long-term imprisonment, according to legal circles in Colombo. Meanwhile, persons of an organization called Home for Human Rights (HHR) are already at work to exploit the above situation and fleece money from Tamil Diaspora in foreign countries and International Humanitarian Organizations on the pretext of arranging lawyers to appear on behalf of the Tigers during the said trial, human rights activist lawyers in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Fonseka likely to attend inaugural session of new parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 09:25 GMT]
General Sarath Fonseka is likely to attend the opening session of the seventh parliament that is fixed for April 22. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse has been asked by the Acting Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Kitulgoda to take necessary steps to allow General Fonseka to attend parliament.
Full story >>

Second Court Martial against General Fonseka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 03:49 GMT]
The second Court Martial hearing against General Sarath Fonseka commenced Monday amidst uncertainty whether he would be allowed to attend the inaugural session of the new parliament that is to meet on Thursday. General Sarath Fonseka appeared before the second Court Martial which heard charges against him, including procuring arms for the Sri Lanka Army in contravention of standard procedures.
Full story >>

Australian Tamil referendum attracts media, provokes Colombo's envoy

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 23:35 GMT]
More than 10,000 registered to cast their votes in the referendum across Australia last weekend, on the creation of independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, reported SBS Australia, citing organisers. However, the success of mass participation provoked Colombo's envoy to retaliate that "the Tamils who are in Sri Lanka at the moment are perfectly happy to go on with the present system. It is only the Diaspora who are trying to force this thing on the people in Sri Lanka”. But, it won the support of John Dowd, the president of the International Commission of Jurists in Australia, SBS said, citing him saying that the referendum highlighted the aspirations as well as the plight of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. "Australians need to be reminded that there is a common obligation to these people who for centuries or indeed millennia have led their own lives there," John Dowd further said.
Full story >>

Wellawatte police blamed for long-term neglect in investigating disappearance

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 09:29 GMT]
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Monday blamed Wellawatte Police in Colombo for not having taken any action during the two-year period since a young Tamil student was allegedly arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). "No information has been given to his family and his whereabouts are entirely unknown. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has also been aware of the case since 2008," the AHRC said in a press statement. "This long-term neglect to investigate a disappearance is a clear breach of domestic and international law and questions the accountability and professionalism of CID officers in the country," the AHRC has charged.
Full story >>

JNU convention condemns Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 14:15 GMT]
"[C]onditions in Sri Lanka cannot improve unless the Tamils are given a respectful place in society as equal citizens. Unfortunately, that is not happening,” said Rajinder Sachar former Chief Justice on Delhi High Court in a conference on Sri Lanka's war crimes held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Thursday, a summary report of the convention issued by the organizers said. The convention concluded with passing a resolution condemning "the genocidal war crimes perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government on the Tamils," and demanding that the war criminals in the Sri Lankan government be brought to justice, Tamils who have been forcefully detained in camps be released and settled in their native homes, an immediate end to colonization, and suspension of military aid by India.
Full story >>

Indian High Commission to open an office in Jaffna to handle visa application

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 10:40 GMT]
High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka, Ashok K. Kantha, said Sunday that India will not open a branch of its Colombo embassy in Jaffna but only an office to handle visa applications, at the opening ceremony of Jaffna International Trade Fair in Jaffna Central College and Vembadi Girls’ College premises in Jaffna where he participated as the chief guest, sources in Jaffna said. He said that the said visa office will be opened on 5th May and added that cordial relationship between India and Sri Lanka prevails now and that India will strive to continue to develop the relationship, the sources added. Meanwhile, traders in Jaffna said that the government is holding the trade fair with the aim to extend the market for the goods of Southern traders in Jaffna peninsula.
Full story >>

Court Martial to decide Fonseka's attendance to parliament

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 17:30 GMT]
The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Friday said that an attempt is being made by the Government of Sri Lanka to prevent General Sarath Fonseka from attending the parliament by getting a conviction against him at the Court Martial hearing fixed for April 19, three days ahead of the inaugural event of the new parliament which is scheduled to meet on April 22, media sources reported quoting JVP former parliamentarian Anurakumara Dissanayake.
Full story >>

Ex-speaker Lokkubandara likely to be appointed cabinet minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 17:24 GMT]
Former Speaker W. M. J. Lokkubandara is likely to be appointed a minister in the new cabinet which is expected to be announced on Wednesday by President Mahinda Rajapakse. A new face is to be elected to the post of Speaker on the first day when the new parliament meets on Thursday, political circles in Colombo said.
Full story >>

USA wishes joint celebrations, engages in joint operations

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 15:20 GMT]
The US embassy in Colombo carried a statement Monday from Secretary Clinton, greeting ‘Sinhala and Tamil New Year,’ and saying that this year, for the first time in decades, Sri Lankans from all parts of the island can celebrate together in a peaceful and united country. This is an opportunity for ‘Sri Lankans’ living inside and outside of the country to renew bonds and the US is eager to support them in this journey, the statement said. On Friday the US embassy announced joint operations of the US and Sri Lankan militaries in ‘humanitarian exercises’ in Trincomalee. “The joint exercise helped members from our two militaries to exchange best practices on how to address complex humanitarian challenges,” said Defence Attache of the US embassy.
Full story >>

Media owner's election participation invokes reactions in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 09:06 GMT]
Criticism has emerged from various quarters in Jaffna, including the senior activists of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK), against the way the TNA conducted its campaign promoting industrialist Eswarapatham Saravanapavan, a senior UNP member and the general manger of two leading newspapers, Jaffna based Uthayan and Colombo based Chudaro'li. Meanwhile, the chief editor of the newspaper has complained to his management that he is considering to renounce his editorship as criticisms are levelled against him for his stand in the last parliamentary election.
Full story >>