Clinton's rape bombshell

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 00:17 GMT]
US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, chairing the United Nations Security Council meeting Wednesday, on the last day of US's turn of the rotating presidency of the 15-member body in September, on violence against women in warfare, dropped a bombshell on Sri Lanka by including Sri Lanka in the company of Congo, Sudan, and Mayanmar, saying Sri Lanka has used rape as a weapon of war [against Tamils], thereby adding another incriminating legal element to mounting woes of the Sri Lanka Government from allegations of war-crimes for slaughtering more than 20,000 Tamil civilians, and incarcerating more than 300,000 Tamils with little freedom of movement in military supervised internment camps.
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Torrential rain kills 5 in Galle

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 13:07 GMT]
Five civilians, three from the same family, were killed and two others wounded when a tree collapsed on their house in Galwadugoda in Galle Friday afternoon. The torrential rains and gusty winds are experienced in many parts of the island, especially in the Western, Southern and Central Hills.
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Protestors attack SL High Commission in New Delhi

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 12:28 GMT]
A group of Indian protesters, who were demonstrating against the Sri Lankan state Friday evening, attacked the Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi. The protesters were slanting slogans against the Rajapaksa government on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. Indian Police said around 20 protesters broke through the barrier and caused damage to some property inside the high commission. Meanwhile, activists in Tamil Nadu staged widespread protests against the Sri Lankan government and the Indian government, which they alleged abetting the genocide in Sri Lanka.
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British MP urges boycott of Sri Lanka goods

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 12:14 GMT]
Siobhain McDonagh MP, Mictham & Morden, UK, during the Labor Party conference held Thursday appealed to the delegates, and to the millions of live TV viewers, to shoulder their own commitment on the Sri Lanka issue, urging that a boycott of goods and avoiding holidays in the unsavory state would ensure their money would not “prop up that government.” During the event, the sitting government party passed a resolution condemning the treatment of Tamils in the island by that government.
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No signs of Jaffna IDPs in Vavuniyaa to be brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 11:30 GMT]
Only after bringing the entire Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the islets of Jaffna held in Vavuniyaa camps the IDPs from Vadamaraadchi East will be brought, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh said. Of around 6,000 Islet IDPs held in Vavuniyaa camps nearly 3,000 have been brought in different batches until Wednesday to the islets of Jaffna where they are again detained in camps under the control of Sri Lanka Navy, sources in Jaffna said.
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Internment, poisoning hopes of reconciliation - Economist

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 05:29 GMT]
"The fate of a quarter of a million interned Tamils is poisoning Sri Lanka’s hopes of ethnic reconciliation....So long as Tamils feel abused by a racist Sinhalese state, the conflict may resume. Economic development of their shattered regions, which the government is planning, is unlikely to change that. Hence the government’s continued war-footing—but this is in turn also reinforcing Tamil grievances," a feature in the 1st October edition of The Economist said,
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Medical doctor arrested in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 13:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday night arrested a visiting physician of the general hospital in Vavuniyaa, Dr. Maheswaran Umakanth, at his official residence in Kuruma'nkaadu, according to medical sources in the town.
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Tamil, Muslim party leaders call for end to forced detention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 02:23 GMT]
Five Tamil and Muslim party leaders in a joint communique issued Wednesday stated that "the forcible detention of hundreds of thousands of Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka in camps for Internally Displaced Persons is illegal, without basis in the Constitution and in gross violation of international human rights norms," and called for immediate action to "end to military administration and restrictions placed on civilians, and we urge the restoration of full civilian administration to facilitate return to economic and social normality."
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UN warns Sri Lanka of Tamil ‘bitterness’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 September 2009, 01:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s failure to rapidly resettle nearly 300,000 Tamils who survived the government’s final onslaught against the Tamil Tigers and their further suffering under harsh conditions in militarised camps could result in growing bitterness, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake Tuesday - the same day, the UN issued its strongest criticism yet of Sri Lanka’s continued internment of the hundreds of thousands of displacedTamils. Mr. Ban also stressed the need to expedite “a serious, independent and impartial accountability process to look into alleged violation of international law during the conflict as a critical part of moving forward and building peace in Sri Lanka,” a UN statement said.
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Former LTTE leaders likely to be used for Colombo-US formula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 September 2009, 00:34 GMT]
Unconfirmed reports indicate that some noted LTTE leaders in the custody of Colombo are likely to be made to collaborate a Colombo-US formula of ‘reconciliation,’ nullifying national aspirations of Eezham Tamils. The recent visit of Colombo’s defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and foreign minister Rohita Bogollagama to the US was in fact aimed to discuss the details, sources in Colombo said. The visiting delegation also wanted to strike a ‘deal’ with the US on handling the LTTE cadres and suspects in its prison camps, the sources further said. Meanwhile, the war crimes report scheduled to be released by the U.S. State Department to the U.S. Congress on 21st September is delayed, allegedly due to ‘Gotabhaya involvement’, according to a report by the Inner City Press.
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Melting pot of Eezham-Tamil democratic politics

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 21:31 GMT]
While the idea of transnational government (TNG) is captivating the minds of Eezham Tamils, their public opinion should be watchful for political moves not slipping in concepts and terminologies and the organisation process maintaining absolute financial independence. Democratically elected country councils widen, strengthen and secure the democratic structure of TNG and help it to evolve from bottom to top. The nation needs to explore models of structurally integrating country councils and bodies such as GTF in the apex body of TNG. Conducive atmosphere has to be created for wider participation of the society, youth and women. The trauma and depression Eezham Tamils undergo, can be conquered by them only by innovatively engaging in action – this time democratic action – and by demonstrating their spirit unconquered.
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IDP families from Moothoor HSZ villages relocated elsewhere

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 17:02 GMT]
327 members of ninety-seven internally displaced Tamil families from Moothoor east in Trincomalee district were brought down to Verukal in fifteen State sector buses with police escort Tuesday morning from Kokkuvil transit centre in Batticaloa district. Moothoor Divisional Secretariat officials received them at Verukal Tuesday and transferred them to another transit centre located in Chinnakku’lam in Moothoor east as their original homes in Champoor east Champoor west, Kooniththeevu and Kadatkaraichcheanai in Moothoor east are occupied as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zones (HSZs).
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IDPs to be held in the islets of Jaffna for indefinite period

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 11:24 GMT]
Around 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), originally from the islets of Jaffna held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa and brought to the islets of Jaffna recently will be continued to be held in detention camps under the control of Sri Lanka Navy, Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh said. The IDPs will be allowed to go their residences only if Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities issue the necessary clearance to them, he said.
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374 Vanni IDP families remain in Trinco transit centres

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 02:51 GMT]
Three hundred seventy four IDP families out of three hundred eight nine families brought to Trincomalee district from Vavuniyaa internment camps three weeks ago to be resettled in their villages are still held under detention in transit centres located in four schools under heavy security of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Trincomalee said.
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5 Sinhala youths arrested in Yala sanctuary

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 September 2009, 09:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and police in a combined operation Saturday arrested five Sinhala youths of Okampitya in Buttala located in Yala sanctuary in the southern province. They were taken into custody on information received from suspects now being interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Unit (TIU), SLA sources said.
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Tissainayagam, a prisoner of conscience - paper, Amnesty

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 September 2009, 15:48 GMT]
Arrested without a warrant, incarcerated without detention order, refused to see a lawyer for more than two weeks after arrest, denied privacy of conversation with his attorney and his wife while under detention, and held without charge for more than 5 months, and now sentenced by Sri Lanka's high court for 20 years in prison, Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam, a Sri Lanka's Tamil journalist, "became a symbol of [Sri Lanka] government repression and a martyr for freedom of the press. To many observers, Tissainayagam’s treatment cemented Sri Lanka’s reputation as a totalitarian state in the making," Sunday Leader said in its weekend edition. Tissainayagam was chosen by President Obama as an emblematic example of persecuted journalists.
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Indian envoy listens to preparations on IDPs withstanding monsoon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 September 2009, 00:55 GMT]
The Indian High commissioner in Colombo, Mr. Alok Prasad, on Saturday visited internment camps in Vavuniyaa and held discussions with the militarised 'Competent Authority' for IDPs in the Northern Province, Maj. Gen. Kamal Goonaratne, and the Sri Lankan Government Agent for Vavuniyaa Mrs. Charles. Amidst all what have been listed by the Indian High Commission, as matters discussed by the High Commissioner, observers give much significance to his listening to briefings on making facilities for the internment camp mates to face flooding and water logging during the forthcoming monsoon. Tamil circles find it as tacit acceptance by India for prolonging the internment camps beyond this year's rainy season.
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‘Paranoid Colombo machinates IDP human shield’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2009, 13:43 GMT]
A whole world is duped in what Colombo is machinating in the name of resettlement of IDPs, Tamil circles in Jaffna commented, citing Sri Lanka Navy’s new internment camps around its installations in the island sector of Jaffna. Colombo’s aim is threefold: a human shield of civilians for its occupying forces, prevention of rightful owners reoccupying houses and lands around its military installations and eventually confiscating those lands in strategic areas for its expansion and other demographic conspiracies in the very heart of Tamil homeland, pointed out Tamil circles adding that a paranoid Sri Lankan state can never deliver justice to Tamils. The core truth is that the barbed-wire camps came up because the world powers wanted it. But some powers by not directly taking responsibility and some others like India by sitting on international action continue injustice, Jaffna circles said.
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SLA shoots 6 including women, children in Cheddiku'lam camp

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2009, 12:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Saturday around 6:00 p.m. opened fire and injured six civilians including two women and three children in Cheddiku'lam internment camp, according to initial reports reaching from Vavuniyaa. One 8-year-old child, seriously wounded in the episode, was transferred to Anuradhapura hospital from Vavuniyaa hospital, medical sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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3 youths injured in SLA landmine explosion in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 September 2009, 18:59 GMT]
Landmines planted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), in the area between Ariyaalai and Kozhumpuththu’rai in Jaffna where people were allowed to resettle, exploded Friday around 7:00 p.m seriously injuring three youths transporting sand in a tractor, sources in Jaffna said. The injured youths are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Jaffna Teaching hospital.
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