Sri Lanka soldiers remanded over rape of 9-year old Tamil girl

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 February 2010, 01:55 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were taken into custody for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old Tamil girl at Ki'raan Vaazhaichcheani in the eastern Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. The victim identified one of the perpetrators during an identification parade held in Batticaloa Magistrate Court. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that the soldiers of the Digiliwatiya camp had threatened the protesting villagers, and the body of one protester was recovered in a pond near the SLA camp after the protests.
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Denmark goes for Tamil referendum Sunday

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 20:06 GMT]
Eezham Tamils in Denmark will cast their ballot in 32 centres across the country in a referendum on the question of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka. The referendum will be conducted by a professional institute TNS Gallup, specialised in sociological and public opinion research services, deploying electronic system for confidential voting, says Dr. Remmon Washington, the spokesperson of the Denmark Tamils Forum formation committee, which has initiated the poll. The total number of eligible Eezham Tamil voters in Denmark is estimated to be ranging around 6,500.
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Suresh Premachandran’s office in Jaffna attacked again

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 19:44 GMT]
Unidentified persons threw stones continually, attacking the office of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) former parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran Friday night causing damage to the tiles and windows of the office, sources in Jaffna said. The office is located at the entrance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 512 Division on Point Pedro road in Jaffna where there is 24-hour presence of SLA and the police, the sources further said.
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Elections Commissioner declares District Secretariat areas as HSZ

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 February 2010, 06:42 GMT]
Twenty-two district secretariats in the island are declared as special High Security Zones (HZS) from Friday, according to instructions issued by the Commissioner of Elections. Friday is the final day to submit nominations for the forthcoming general election. Submitting nominations by registered political parties and independent groups began on February 19.
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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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GTF launch well attended by British politicians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 03:13 GMT]
British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Liberal Democrats Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey all addressed the Global Tamil Forum’s inaugural meeting in London on Wednesday, 24 February. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) launch saw delegates from 14 countries gather in the UK House of Commons to be addressed by speakers from across the political spectrum, including parliamentarians, councilors and prospective parliamentary candidates. Some delegates were also invited in for a private meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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Amuthu Pulavar, veteran of Christian Tamil literature passes away

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 February 2010, 14:57 GMT]
Chevalier Dr. S. Adaikalamuthu, Tamil pundit and poet from I’lavaalai, Jaffna, known by his pseudonym Amuthup-pulavar, passed away at the age of 92 in London, Tuesday. Studied classical Tamil at the prestigious Kaaviya Paadasaalai (School of Classics), which was functioning in the Arumuga Navalar School in Jaffna, Amuthup Pulavar was one of the few surviving authors of Christian Tamil literature of the traditional genre. Born in 1918 and beginning his poetic pursuits in 1938, his most known literary work was Madu Maathaa Kaaviyam, a poetic composition on the famous Catholic pilgrim centre at Madu in Mannaar. He was knighted (Chevalier) by the Late Pope John Paul II in Rome in 2004 and in the same year was awarded honorary doctorate by the University of Jaffna.
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54 women detainees taken to Boosa prison from detention camps in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 February 2010, 13:15 GMT]
Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) arrested 54 women detainees from Pampaimadu and Cheddiku’lam Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps 18 February and took them to Boosa prison 19 February, according to information sent to Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) by Boosa prison authorities. Recently 49 women from the same camps in Vavuniyaa were arrested by TID and taken to Boosa prison for additional interrogation, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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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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SLA harrasses former Jaffna parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 February 2010, 20:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Tuesday evening harassed former Member of Parliament from Jaffna Selvarajah Kajendren and a group of civilians who were discussing with him near a temple in Thirunelveali, media circles in Jaffna said.
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SLA soldier recovered dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 February 2010, 03:07 GMT]
The body of a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier with more than five bullet wounds was handed over to Jaffna Teaching Hospital Monday from Vettilaikea’ni in Vadmaraadchi East. SLA authorities claim that he had shot himself to death. Meanwhile, the newly appointed SLA commander for Jaffna, Major Gen. Kathurusinghe, met several civil society representatives 17 February in an effort to get their cooperation in integrating activities in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.
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27 passengers injured in bus accident in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 February 2010, 02:37 GMT]
A public transport bus carrying mostly government employees and teachers fell into the roadside canal Monday early morning while trying to avoid colliding with a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) vehicle in Kunchchup Paranthan in Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. Eleven of the injured are admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital where three of them are in a critical condition, hospital sources said. Rest of the injured are admitted to Ki’linochchi government hospital.
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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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Pasadena firm assists in Alston's execution video analysis

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 February 2010, 20:59 GMT]
Evidence from reputable and established forensic firms on the authenticity of the Channel-4 execution video continues to accumulate, and the latest is a Pasadena, California, forensic firm which disclosed Friday that one of the firm's technical representative, Jeff Spivak, assisted Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, in analyzing the video for authenticty. The firm claimed that "[i]n part, due to the image processing results performed with the Cognitech Video Investigator software, UN Rapporteur Professor Phillip Alston, has requested a full scale investigation into the incident," indicating a positive conclusion that video was authentic.
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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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49 women detainees arrested in Vavuniyaa camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 February 2010, 01:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arriving in vehicles 14 February took away 49 women from the SLA detainment camps in Valayamaa’ru, Cheddiku’lam and Pampaimadu in Vavuniyaa to Boosa camp, fellow detainees in the camps said. But camp authorities claimed that the women were arrested by Vavuniyaa Terrorism Investigation Department (TID).
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Anniversary of Murugathasan’s death marked in Geneva

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 February 2010, 04:03 GMT]
Tamils from across Europe gathered in Geneva Saturday to commemorate the life Murugathasan Varnakulasingham, who immolated himself in February last year to draw attention to the plight of hundreds of thousands of Tamils being starved and killed in the Vanni, Sri Lanka. The commemoration coincidentally followed soon after former UN official, Gordon Weiss, admitted that the Sri Lankan government was responsible for the deaths of up to 40,000 Tamil civilians in the last days of the war alone. This is a figure far larger than the 7,000 the UN had previously claimed as being the number killed in the Vanni, but even that figure was disputed by the Sri Lankan government.
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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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Paramilitary men lob grenade, demand ransom in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 February 2010, 02:50 GMT]
Paramilitary men alleged to be collaborating with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit in Jaffna lobbed two hand grenades on the house of a person in Araali East in Valikaamam Tuesday night in an attempt to threaten him to pay two million rupees demanded by them, sources in Jaffna said. One of the grenades had exploded and following the attack the person had been threatened on phone that his life will be in danger next time if he does not pay the demanded sum of money, the sources added.
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