100 Tamil youths taken to Boosa prison from Vavuniyaa detention camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 March 2010, 14:55 GMT]
Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) arrested Friday 100 Tamil youths detained in Ne'lukku'lam Technical College detention camp in Vavuniyaa for further interrogation and later took them to Boosa prison in the south, according to information given to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Colombo. Recently two groups of young Tamil women from some detention centres in Vavuniyaa had been arrested on two separate occasions and taken to Boosa prison, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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17 persons reported missing since January

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 February 2010, 02:18 GMT]
Seventeen persons had been reported missing till 23rd February, spanning first seven weeks this year, according to complaints made by the relatives to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL). HRCSL spokesperson in Colombo said that HRCSL regional offices had received seventeen complaints of disappearance of persons, majority of them from north and east provinces, media sources said.
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JHU protests against Mano Ganeshan contesting Kandy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 February 2010, 21:03 GMT]
Supporters of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a political party of Buddhist monks, Saturday morning held a protest demonstration in Kandy against Mano Ganeshan, leader of the Democratic Peoples Front (DPF), contesting in the Kandy electoral district on the United National Alliance (UNF) ticket led by the main opposition party (UNP), political sources in Kandy said.
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Sri Lanka's democratic institutions in peril, says Seattle Editorial

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 February 2010, 19:52 GMT]
Noting that the "European Union recently dropped the island's preferential trade status because of human-rights violations," Seattle Times (U.S.) on Friday "says Sri Lankan media are not free to discuss the challenges, so the best hope is international attention." The writer, Peter Mountford, observes, "at the core of Sri Lanka's problem is a rotten constitution, which gives the president near dictatorial power. Opposition members in parliament are easily bought through cushy ministerial appointments, and the chief justice of the Supreme Court is appointed by the president."
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1867 candidates contesting in North-East

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 15:02 GMT]
A total of 1867 candidates are set to contest the up coming April eight Parliamentary Elections in Sri Lanka’s north and east where 31members will be elected to the SL Parliament. The candidates will contest in the districts of Jaffna, Vanni, Batticoloa, Trincomalee and Digamadulla. The total includes those from eight recognized political parties while the rest are independent and from smaller parties that will have no actual bearing on the outcome of the results. The number of candidates in Ampaa'rai district is second highest with 660 candidates, next to Colombo district with 836 candidates from 22 political parties and independent groups.
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TNA submits candidates’ list to contest Vanni district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 18:25 GMT]
Tamil National Aliance (TNA) submitted Wednesday its list of candidates to contest Vanni district in the forthcoming parliamentary election at Vavuniyaa Secretariat, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Meanwhile, United National Party (UNP) is expected to submit Thursday its list of candidates contesting Jaffna district with Ms. Vijayakala Maheswaran, wife of late Thiyagarajah Maheswaran, former Colombo district parliamentarian, as its chief candidate.
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'Eezham Tamils to act for themselves'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 04:15 GMT]
Political, social and economic movements, firmly rooted in national aspiration and democratic in structure, but placed above pseudo electoral politics in the island and power machinations outside, are the need of the hour for Eezham Tamils in the homeland and in the diaspora. Specific tasks ahead of them range from infrastructural nation-formation to damage control of the on going ‘development’ onslaught. At least some core movements of Tamils need to keep collaboration, international crisis engineers and aid funds at arms length and hit the bullseye in alternative ways by independent and ingenious handling of the little resources of Tamils, writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) that is meeting in London is expected to fill the vacuum Eezham Tamils face in the island and in the diaspora, he says.
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SLA relaxes travel restriction in Valikaamam North HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 February 2010, 02:49 GMT]
Newly appointed Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, Major. Gen. Kathurasinghe said Tuesday that travel restrictions in Valikaamam North in SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) have been relaxed so that people in Jaffna could travel freely, participating as chief guest in a Marathon race event held in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. But Welfare Organizations representing Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) said that this relaxation is mainly for the benefit of Buddhist devotees from the South visiting Naakatheepa Buddhist temple in Nainaatheevu and the Saiva temples in Maaviddapuram and Keerimalai and that it has not brought any relief to the IDPs who insist on being allowed to resettle in their own houses in the HSZ.
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Myth of Sri Lankan state and the historic responsibility of Tamil leadership

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 February 2010, 18:49 GMT]
Why Tamil political leadership should never on its own surrender sovereignty, why Tamils are coerced to surrender it by all quarters concerned, what are the historical and legal bases for claims of Tamil sovereignty in the island – these are questions every Eezham Tamil, whether politician or layman has to put to serious perusal at this historic juncture, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo. Just like the Sinhalese, Tamils also lost their sovereignty to the Portuguese but through a separate legal convention. The Tamils have not regained it like the Sinhalese but proved it de facto. After an unfair war, TNA or any other Eezham Tamil leadership should not make the historic blunder of again surrendering Tamil sovereignty and also proving that surrender in a ballot, he further writes.
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Ex-TNA parliamentarian Thangesvary to contest in UPFA ticket

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 February 2010, 18:02 GMT]
Kathiraman Thangesvary, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian in the dissolved parliament is to contest in the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) with five new faces in the Batticaloa electoral district, media circles in Colombo said Monday.
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Wickramasinghe to contest under UNP led UNF, Fonseka under JVP led DNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 February 2010, 15:06 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) Sunday night decided to contest the forthcoming general election set for April 8 under its Elephant symbol, rejecting the last minute appeal by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to contest under the Democratic National Alliance (DNA). JVP led DNA is contesting under the symbol Champion Trophy.
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Dengue fever rides high in Jaffna district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 February 2010, 13:28 GMT]
Four hundred and fifty five cases of dengue have been detected in Jaffna district from February 1 till last Wednesday while eight hundred and fourteen cases had been reported in the month of January. This shows an increase by about fifty percent, according to Health Ministry official in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka enters Information dark age?

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 February 2010, 03:28 GMT]
Commenting on Sri Lanka's plans for additional cyber censorship, and the invitations extended to Chinese Information Technology experts for assistance in formulating Sri Lanka's internet policy framework, Prof. Kumar David, in the weekend edition of Lakbima says, "This [Rajapakse Government] is a frightened regime, truth and transparency give it diarrhoea; this country [Sri Lanka] has never before been threatened with despotic thought control replicating Chinese or any other Stalinism as the norm; no not ever before. The worst is that once this rotten lot start it, the next government and the ones thereafter, UNP, SF or whoever, will never roll it back; they too will exploit these despotic powers to the full, till one day the people throw out the whole putrid system."
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Fundamentalism versus totalitarianism in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 February 2010, 03:22 GMT]
Religious fundamentalism and state totalitarianism, which contribute to each other in the island of Sri Lanka is now at loggerheads, when state totalitarianism wants to have complete reins over the other, is the interpretation of a leftist academic in Colombo over the Maha Sangha controversy this week. Meanwhile, BBC Sinhala reported Friday, that "the main opposition in Sri Lanka has accused the government of violating the constitution by trying to destroy the Theravada Buddhism in the island."
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18 ex-UNP parliamentarians appeal to Supreme Court to ensure their security

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 February 2010, 14:15 GMT]
Eighteen former parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Wednesday filed petitions in Supreme Court seeking relief against the withdrawal of their security by the government. Petitioners said their security had been withdrawn on February 15 whilst a group of former government parliamentarians and government supporters who are not parliamentarians are provided with security of the Ministerial Security Division, legal sources in Colombo said.
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TNA considers opening offices in Delhi, Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 February 2010, 02:39 GMT]
On being asked whether Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has plans to open its party offices in Delhi and Colombo, Suresh Premachadran, TNA spokesman and MP, said that efforts are being taken to open the two offices but they will be opened only after the parliamentary election. In response to a question whether the Indian Government has granted permission to open an office of TNA in Delhi, he did not give a clear answer. However, he added that there is no need to obtain permission to open an office in Colombo.
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TNA shouldn't fail representing hearts of Tamils: Fr. Emmanuel

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 February 2010, 13:26 GMT]
At a time when Colombo and its collaborators try their best to erase out the national aspirations of Tamils, the Tamil National Alliance has the noble responsibility to maintain its unity in being the true voice and champions of Tamil aspirations, says Rev. Prof. Dr. S.J. Emmanuel, the former Vicar General of the Catholic diocese of Jaffna in an open letter addressed to TNA leaders Sampanthan, Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran, Selvam Adaikalanathan and Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam. Eezham Tamils have been consistent in expressing their genuine desire for independence ever since 1976 and even now it remains the underlying goal despite constitutional sanction on speaking it out openly in the island of Sri Lanka. But, their kith and kin in the free diaspora have voiced on their behalf, overwhelmingly re-confirming that desire as the standing-aspiration, he said in the appeal.
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Colombo court releases former SLA, SLAF personnel arrested with Fonseka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 February 2010, 01:56 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate Champa Janaki Rajaratne Wednesday ordered the release of fourteen persons arrested with Sarath Fonseka after the latter’s defeat in January presidential election as the prosecution did not file any charges against them.
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Tamil circles urge TNA to enunciate policy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 03:45 GMT]
Several organizations in Jaffna including those of the students and intellectuals have called upon Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to make public its proposed solution for the ethnic issue well before the forthcoming parliamentary election, sources in Jaffna said. The call comes in the wake of rumours that TNA stands divided as some of its senior parliamentarians are planning to field new candidates other than the present representatives in order to strengthen their positions, the sources added. Meanwhile, TNA is being urged to state their policy clearly as it was done in 1976 in the first National Convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) where the Vaddukoddai Resolution was proclaimed, the sources added.
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“Rajapaske is the cause, not the solution”: Sydney Morning Herald

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 02:05 GMT]
The ushering of the perceived “post-war” era in Sri Lanka, bridled with hopes of prosperity blindly predicated by global powers has instead revealed the reality of a “dictatorship [that] must be watched with alarm by the democratic world” stated the Sydney Morning Herald in an editorial piece on Friday. Citing the arrest of presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, described as “a textbook case in abuse of incumbency”, the temporary imprisonment of election commissioner Dayanada Dissanayake and continued intimidation of journalists, the editorial warned of a “new rebellion, this time among the Sinhalese majority on the lines of previous Marxist insurgencies”. The paper also urged Canberra to re-evaluate its co-operation with Sri Lankan authorities in stemming in the tide of Tamil refugees seeking asylum in Australia, describing President Rajapakse as “the cause, not the solution”.
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