Fonseka appeares before Court Martial

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2010, 11:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army's former commander General (retd) Sarath Fonseka on Tuesday appeared before for his first Court Martial along with his lawyer Mr. Rienzie Arsakularatnam at Navy headquaters.
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Colombo accuses Amnesty of bias

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2010, 11:51 GMT]
Responding to Amnesty International's media release that a leaked list in Colombo "reveal[ing] the names of 35 leading journalists and NGO officers of interest to the country’s secret services," was "believed to be compiled by the Sri Lanka Intelligence Unit," Sri Lanka's Defence Spokesperson, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, said that "gross allegations were being made against the [Sri Lanka] government, and organizations such as AI were continuing this trend," and "accused AI of being biased despite the [Sri Lanka] government having discussions with them in the past."
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Sri Lanka undemocratic – Former Chief Justice

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2010, 05:34 GMT]
Former Chief Justice Sarath N. Siva charged that Sri Lanka had become an undemocratic country by betraying all its human rights principles which it had signed with the international community over the years, when he spoke to journalists in Colombo Monday. Silva stressed that by arresting Sarath Fonseka the government had gone against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
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Protest held in Colombo against Sarath Fonseka court martial

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2010, 16:33 GMT]
Hundreds of supporters of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Monday held a protest in Fort in Colombo demanding the scrap of military tribunal appointed by President Mahinda Rajapakse to charge the defeated common opposition presidential candidate General (retd) Fonseka.
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The Tamil Diaspora

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2010, 13:56 GMT]
Much of the recent commentary on the Tamil Diaspora, both in research and media, not only fails to account for the specific reality of Tamil expatriates in the West, it consciously serves to misrepresent and vilify them, with the explicit objective of denying them their rightful place in the resolution of the Tamil question in Sri Lanka, and limiting their role in the island’s politics, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its latest editorial.
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Holy relics of St. Anthony flown to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2010, 20:39 GMT]
Thousands of devotees participated in the procession in which the holy relics of St. Antony flown to Palaali airport in Jaffna were taken in procession to Maanippaay St. Antony’s church Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. The sacred relics of St. Antony were brought to Sri Lanka from Italy on the occasion of the 175th jubilee anniversary of the St. Antony’s Church, Kochchikkadai in Colombo, sources in Jaffna said.
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US rights report adds to Colombo's woes over war-crime accusations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2010, 00:08 GMT]
The "2009 Human Rights Report" on Sri Lanka released by the United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, criticized the Sri Lanka Government, paramilitaries working with the Government, and the Liberation Tigers for gross human rights violations. On torture, the report said, "reports of secret government facilities where suspected LTTE sympathizers were taken, tortured, and often killed." The report adds fuel to the recent accusations by high-level officials of the United Nations that Sri Lanka is balking on investigating allegations of war-crimes, and calling for an international investigations.
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Third Mu'l'livaaykkaal in the name of 'development'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2010, 12:50 GMT]
After abetting a military defeat and subsequently blessing a political defeat, the coterie of countries propping up Sri Lankan state is now bent upon enacting a third Mu’l’livaaykkaal, by bringing in a ‘development defeat’ of Eezham Tamils through handing over development management to the Sinhalese, said a concerned group of diaspora Tamils who recently had an experience of negotiating development in a peace-facilitating European country. Funding agencies of this country, citing their present choice of a Sinhala NGO for implementation of programmes in the island, advise Diaspora Tamils seeking development funds for the North and East to work under the Sinhala NGO.
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China lends Sri Lanka $290m for development

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2010, 12:30 GMT]
China has completed arrangements through its funding arm, Exim Bank, to provide $290m in concessionary development loans to Sri Lanka, Reuters reported. $190m of the loan is to develop a second airport in Matara and the other $100m is to improve the railways. China was the largest foreign funding source for Sri Lanka in 2009 with $1.2 billion followed by the Asian Development Bank with $424 million, according to the same report. The 2009 funds were allocated to build roads, coal power project in the Eastern province, and a port in Sri Lanka's President's electorate in Hambantota.
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UK Foreign Affairs Under Secretary arrives in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2010, 12:19 GMT]
British Permanent Under Secretary for Foreign affairs, Sir Peter Ricketts, arrived in Colombo Wednesday early morning on a two day visit, Colombo media reported. He immediately called on Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.
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JVP will oppose any power devolution to North, East provinces

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2010, 09:28 GMT]
The Sinhala Marxist party Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) former parliamentarian, Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that JVP will oppose if a new political constitution devolving powers to the Northern and Eastern provinces is to be created, in a press briefing held in Colombo Tuesday. “Minister G. L. Peiris recently said that the government intends implementing its newly drafted political constitution following the parliamentary elections and I call upon the government to make public this new political constitution,” Anura Kumar Dissanayake said adding that JVP will never permit the country to be divided.
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Colombo NGOs register complaint over threatening web report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 March 2010, 12:02 GMT]
Executive directors of two NGOs, the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based think tank, and Transparency International, Sri Lanka (TISL), have written a protest letter to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse complaining about a news report in a Colombo website which said that "[Sri Lanka] state intelligence agencies have been compiling a list or lists of individuals supportive of the opposition, and that CPA's Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, and TISL's Weliamuna have been placed on that list. While noting that CPA "cannot independently ascertain the veracity of this report," the letter said, if the report is true then "there are reasonable grounds for fear about the physical liberty and safety of the individuals concerned."
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Emergency extended in Sri Lanka by another month

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 March 2010, 10:56 GMT]
The State of Emergency was extended by another month by the Sri Lanka’s parliament Tuesday. Ninety three parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the extension and twenty parliamentarians from the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted against. The dissolved parliament was summoned by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse to ratify his gazette notification issued last week to extend the emergency. According to the Constitution, the gazette notification should be ratified within ten days.
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Nirupama Rao meets SL President Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 March 2010, 09:20 GMT]
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Sunday morning at the President's House. Both discussed several issues relating to the resettlement of the internally displaced people after the war. Sources in Colombo said the talks between the two also touched the subject on finding a political solution to the ethnic question. However no official communiqué was issued up to now on the talks.
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Time for International Criminal Tribunal on Sri Lanka, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2010, 22:03 GMT]
Dismissing the response by Colombo that Ban Ki Moon had not appointed panel of experts on other countries where there are "continuing armed conflicts on a large scale, involving major humanitarian catastrophes and causing the deaths of large numbers of civilians due to military action," as "simply untrue nonsense," Francis A. Boyle, professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, said that during the past year alone UN Human Rights Council had authorized Goldstone Commission investigation into Israel war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza. Noting that the "United Nations is just beginning to do the right thing for the Tamils," Prof Boyle urged that "Tamils around the world could do the same thing for establishing an International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka (ICTSL)."
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Indian Foreign Secretary arrives in Colombo on three day visit

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2010, 03:44 GMT]
Three member delegation led by Indian Foreign Secretary Ms Nirupama Rao arrived in Colombo Saturday night around 10:30 on a three day official visit. She is scheduled to meet Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and other government leaders and hold discussion on the resettlement of internally displaced Tamil families, and prospective political solution to Tamil national question, informed political sources in Colombo said.
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GTF resolution inspires Tamil polity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 March 2010, 05:13 GMT]
Whereas the Tamils democratically gave the mandate for the independence of their own country Tamil Eelam by endorsing the Vaddukoddai Resolution of 1976, in the 1977 general elections, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) calls upon the international community, governments, leaders and the UN to conduct a UN monitored referendum in the North-East region of Sri Lanka and among the displaced Tamils living in other countries, to determine if they wish independence or to be part of a united Sri Lanka, says a crucial part of the GTF resolution passed unanimously in London last week. The GTF resolution, not voluntarily surrendering the cause of Eezham Tamils but leaving it to the democratic choice of the concerned people, should inspire polity in the name of Tamil nationalism in the island and in the diaspora, Tamil circles commented.
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15 SLA soldiers arrested over journalist Lasantha Wickremathunge assassination

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 March 2010, 10:48 GMT]
The inquiry into the killing of Lasantha Wickremathunge, Chief Editor of the Sunday Leader took a new turn with the arrest of fifteen soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who earlier served in the SLA Intelligence Unit. They are now being detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) and being interrogated, police spokesman told media in Colombo.
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Orchestrated efforts suspected in silencing war witnesses

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 March 2010, 05:22 GMT]
Some recent 'abductions' of Eezham Tamil refugees who have come to Tamil Nadu after the war may have connections to orchestrated efforts in silencing war crime witnesses, allege informed media circles in Chennai. Within the last one month, a special group of people, released from the detention camps of Colombo, was sent to Tamil Nadu to carry out certain specific tasks, the sources said adding that the group includes some former LTTE members of key positions and those who were employed in the former Tamil Eelam civil administration, including the police.
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China, India, compete helping Colombo’s demographic onslaught of Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 March 2010, 01:30 GMT]
While Colombo plans allotting lands for ‘retired’ Sinhala army personnel in the so-called 'resettlement' schemes of Tamil North and East of the island of Sri Lanka, China and India compete in proving who is the best facilitator of Colombo in its demographic onslaught, Eezham Tamils circles said. China has emerged as Sri Lanka’s biggest single lender in 2009, revealed Colombo sources adding that China’s top aid to the North was spent particularly on creating conducive environment for Colombo’s occupying armed forces there. India is already helping Colombo’s communication strategies disrupting Tamil demographic contiguity. In the meantime, relieving Colombo from Western pressure, Indian envoy in Colombo said Sri Lanka could export more garments to India under Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
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