Indian Tamil traders arrested in Batticaloa to be deported

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 17:07 GMT]
Seven South Indian Tamil traders were fined each two thousand rupees Monday by the Batticaloa Magistrate V.Ramakamalan and were discharged with a warning that they should not engage in illegal business with tourist visa. They were taken into custody by the Batticaloa Police from a lodge in Batticaloa on receipt of information that they had been operating illegal business in Batticaloa while staying with tourist visa.
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EPC Chief Minister, ministers demand removal of Governor

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 06:37 GMT]
The wrangling between the elected administration of the Eastern Provincial Council and the Provincial Governor is reported to have reached its climax with Chief Minister Mr. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan and four other provincial ministers reportedly sending a petition to President Mahinda Rajapakse demanding the removal of Governor Mohan Wijewickrema and replacing him with a person supportive of power devolution, according to reports in Colombo media Monday.
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Bodies of 2 Up-Country Tamil women found in canal in Colombo HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 19:40 GMT]
Bodies of two females of young age were found Saturday morning in a canal along Bauddhaloka Mawatte in Colombo. The area is located in the high security zone. A special police team rushed to the site on receipt of information and began investigation into the deaths of the women and to identify the victims.
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Internment camps in Vavuniyaa under flood water

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 08:25 GMT]
Additional troops have been called into the Manik Farm area in Vavuniyaa to prevent inmates in the IDP camps creating unrest or move from the camps following heavy rains which have inundated parts of the camps on Friday. Heavy rains have been continuing for the last two days in the area where the internment camps of Vanni civilians are situated, causing severe hardships to the inmates of the camps. The worst affected camps are the Zone II camps where the water has entered the tents forcing people to remain standing, a local NGO official in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka fleeces kith and kin of IDPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 06:52 GMT]
Family members and kinsfolk of IDPs in the internment camps had remitted 100 million rupees in the past two months, according to I.D. Weerasena, Deputy General Manager of Bank of Ceylon, reported Sri Lankan state owned Daily News, Saturday. In the past four to five months, 500 million rupees had been deposited by the IDPs, said Mr. Weerasena, whose state-controlled bank had opened banking units with online and ATM facilities in the internment camps and deals with 21,000 new account holders.
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SSP’s son to be arrested in student abduction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 04:55 GMT]
Kaduwela Magistrate Mr. Manilal Prasanna De Silva Thursday ordered police to arrest Ravindu Gunawardena, the son of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Vas Gunawardene, the head of Colombo Crimes Division (CCD), and impounded Ravindu’s passport. Ravindu Gunawardena, the main suspect, is alleged to have abducted and assaulted Nipuna Ramanayake, a fellow student of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), Malambe, last week.
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US urged to go beyond clichés

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 August 2009, 01:18 GMT]
The very phrase ‘political reconciliation’ is partial and diabolical as it only upholds the integrity of a genocidal state and artfully nullifies the nationalist perspectives of the Tamil struggle, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo, responding to US stand discussed with groups of diaspora Tamils. Any genuine political approach to the age-old nationalist conflict in the island begins from recognising the nations involved in the conflict and engaging them as equal parties having full right to self-determination, the commentator writes, adding: “If willingness for positive political engagement is not forthcoming from the Sri Lankan state, the state can be induced and Eezham Tamils could be encouraged to participate willingly, by US and India in particular acknowledging the nation of Eezham Tamils and its absolute right to self-determination without mincing words.”
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Bill banning community reference in party name unconstitutional, say Tamil parties

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 17:43 GMT]
If the amendments to the election bill are passed as gazetted, "no political party which has a name signifying any religion or ethnic or other community will be entitled to be treated as a recognized political party," and the "concept of outlawing names of religions or other groups or communities from the name of political parties is inconsistent with the constitutional standards that may be gleaned from several articles of the Constitution," said Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi 9itaK) and All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in a petition filed in Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Wednesday, legal sources in Colombo said.
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US stresses ‘political reconciliation’ with Tamils for peace in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 17:38 GMT]
The US State Department met Tuesday with US-based Tamil Diaspora groups to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the prospects for “political reconciliation” in Sri Lanka, a government press release said. US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake and Chargé d'Affaires in the US embassy in Colombo, James Moore (participating by video link) held discussions with representatives of sixteen Tamil groups. The US officials had welcomed the opportunity to discuss the Tamils' concerns and perspectives and had "underscored the importance of political reconciliation," the US statement said. The US government has meanwhile stressed to the Sri Lanka government that "to achieve a lasting peace, it must promote justice and political reconciliation for all parties" the statement also said.
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12 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 August 2009, 05:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody 12 Tamil youths in a search conducted in the suburbs of Colombo on information received from the Intelligence Department that a suicide bomber has infiltrated into Colombo, sources in Colombo said. The arrested youths are said to be from North, East and the Upcountry.
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Conscience of Swaminathan should touch India, IC: Tamil circles

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 23:27 GMT]
M S Swaminathan, internationally renowned agriculturalist, regarded as the father of India’s Green Revolution, declined to involve with Colombo “unless there is some kind of political settlement,” IANS reported Wednesday. “There are people who feel unless Tamils in Sri Lanka can live in dignity, other things are subsidiary. This is a viewpoint. I have no plans to go to Sri Lanka in the immediate future,” Swaminathan told IANS. In February, another prominent Indian and a Kannadiga from Mysore, N R Narayana Murthy of Infosys, refused IT advisory to Colombo. “Development is not exploitation of the plight of people facing structural genocide,” Tamil circles said pointing to the attitude of the Indian Establishment and sections of IC blindly abetting Colombo and officially rationalising genocide, just to make inroads into the island.
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Kuala Lumpur congratulates Colombo, donates US $ 100,000

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 17:17 GMT]
Malaysian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, Rosli Ismail congratulated Colombo for defeating ‘LTTE terrorism’ and described it as a “big achievement” while handing over his government’s donation of US $ 100,000 for the welfare of internally displaced ‘Sri Lankans’ affected by the conflict, according to a press release of Colombo’s foreign ministry, Thursday. Eezham Tamil IDPs in the internment camps alone number 300,000. Speaking on the occasion, Colombo’s foreign minister, Rohitha Bogollagama noted that Malaysia is one of the largest investors in Sri Lanka and has been consistently supportive of Sri Lanka’s efforts, “especially in the fight against terrorism.”
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Arrested youths shot dead, dumped on railway track in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 August 2009, 12:47 GMT]
Residents of Angulana police area at Moratuwa found two dead bodies of youths with gunshot injuries Thursday morning. The victims were taken into custody by Angulana police Wednesday night. For more than two months, the Sri Lankan Police has shot and killed more than 90 suspects, who were taken into custody over various allegations and the relatives of many of the victims have alleged fabricating false charges.
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Tamil homeland to get integrated in Indo-Lanka power grid

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 19:24 GMT]
India is to sign the Joint Venture agreement and Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Government of Sri Lanka this month to accelerate the "much delayed" two strategic power projects- 1,000 MW Champoor Coal Power Plant in Trincomalee and under the sea power cable link to India, "heralding an era for cross-border energy trade" in the near future according to media reports from Colombo quoting top official of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). The official further said that "in a dramatic development this week India has intimated to the GOSL its intention to accelerate these projects". The Indian High Commission in Colombo has recently gifted 117 million rupees to the Sri Lankan military to 'rehabilitate' Palaali military airbase following reports of Kaankeasanthu’rai (KKS) harbour will be given to India.
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Muslim militant leader shot dead in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 06:04 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot and killed a Muslim person Tuesday night around 7:30 p.m in his house in Ea’raavoor in Batticaloa district. He is suspected to be the leader of an unidentified armed group operating in the eastern province, according to Batticaloa police.
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A roadmap to liberation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 22:30 GMT]
What is currently seen as the biggest threat of destabilisation by Colombo and by some powers is not the militancy of Tamils. Militancy of a small nation can be crushed by ganging up and by fabricating all excuses, as has already been witnessed by us. But what exactly threatens the establishments is the effort of Tamils organising themselves politically. What they expect is the ‘defeated’ Tamils to play political stooges. Tamil national question today appeals to an array of oppressed masses deprived of political justice all over the world. It is a topic that appeals to progressive minds thinking of restructuring the polity of human civilisation. The responsibility of Eezham Tamils and their diaspora is to present the case with a progressive political theme and language.
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Patkunam Yogeswary appointed Mayor of JMC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 17:29 GMT]
Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) in Jaffna said in a press release Tuesday that Ms. Patkunam Yogeswary has been appointed as the Mayor of Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC), and its senior member Thurairajah Illango, alias Regan, as Deputy Mayor by Social Service Minister Douglas Devananda. Civil society sources in Jaffna, however, said Ms. Yogeswary was appointed Mayor though Thurairajah Illango had polled more preferential votes than Ms. Yogeswary, mainly to due to pressure from Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), one of the coalition member party in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
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Reconcile with Tamils or risk terrorism - US

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 16:40 GMT]
The top US diplomat for South Asia says Sri Lanka's refusal to share power with the Tamils following the end of a bloody 25-year civil war in May could lead to renewed violence. US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake also said that Sri Lanka should allow more freedom of movement for the nearly 300,000 Tamils displaced by the war and confined to government camps. However, the hardline government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa questioned the US official’s right “to speak on behalf of the Tamils.” The US has been providing emergency assistance to the displaced, but longer term reconstruction assistance depends on Sri Lanka’s progress in resettlement, Mr. Blake said.
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Tamils confined against their will – US

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 14:04 GMT]
The United States, which has provided aid to the camps and is ready to offer more to help the displaced Tamils go home, was dismayed so many were being held against their will, Eric Schwartz, US assistant secretary at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said. Sri Lanka’s claim that they plan to settle 75,000 of the 280,000 Tamil civilians now held in military run camps before the end of August was “encouraging news," but Colombo should move faster, he told Reuters Friday.
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Tamil civilian arrested at KIA still under detention

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 07:28 GMT]
A Tamil civilian attached to Mannaar Education Office who was taken into custody by police at Katunayake International Airport (KIA) in Colombo is held under detention by Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) since 28 June, according to complaints by his wife to Colombo police and human rights organizations. She said her husband was taken into custody by the police saying that he was to attend a meeting organized by Seeman, a film director in South India in Chennai.
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