Colombo rejects UN Expert Panel report, dubs it as “Darusman Report”

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 14:49 GMT]
Colombo government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday issued an official statement, stating that the conclusions of the externally constituted “Darusman Panel” working from New York should not take precedence over the conclusions, still awaited, of the domestic [LLRC] process. The statement said that the material could be looked at by the LLRC should it wish to do so, depending on its own assessment of the contents. “The public release of the Report at this stage is divisive, and disrupts our efforts to reinforce peace, security and stability in Sri Lanka. It feeds into the political agendas of interested parties,” the release by the External Affairs ministry in Colombo said.
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Channel 4 to show film on Sri Lanka’s war crimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 05:35 GMT]
Channel 4 is to air “probably the most horrific” footage it has ever shown in an investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, The Guardian reported Tuesday. Because of the horrific nature of the videos, the film, presented by Jon Snow, will air in a late night slot in May and C4 said that "distressing images will be preceded by appropriate warnings".
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SL Military ‘abducts’ two Tamil youths in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 April 2011, 14:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from the notorious Uduvil camp in Jaffna on Monday assaulted civilians in the streets of Tholpuram, situated 30 km away from Jaffna city in Valikaamam, till it finally managed to trace and ‘abduct’ two Tamil youths who had a quarrel with an SLA soldier in their village, the previous day, on Sunday. The parents of the youths who were taken away by the SLA Monday night said the Sri Lankan Police did not know the whereabouts of their sons. Tension prevails in Tholpuram.
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'Srebrenica moment'

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 April 2011, 23:37 GMT]
In an article in "The Australian" news paper authored by Gordon Weiss, a former UN spokesperson who accused Sri Lankan Government earlier of killing 10,000 to 40,000 Tamil civilians by discriminate shelling during the final stages of war, Weiss says that with the release [leak] of UN report on Sri Lanka's war crimes, the parallel, with the mass execution of 8000 Muslim boys and men by the Bosnian Serb army and how the horror reached the world from David Rohde, an US reporter, who had hiked through frontlines to reach the outskirts of the empty town, is apt, that Sri Lanka has reached its "Srebrenica Moment,"
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Panel’s report ‘cannot erase the stain on the UN’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 April 2011, 15:10 GMT]
The damning UN report on Sri Lanka’s mass killings of Tamil civilians in 2009 submitted last week to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon by a panel he appointed last year, “cannot erase the stain on the UN over its silence” during the bloodletting, The Times newspaper’s writer who first comprehensively reported on the violence said in a comment Friday. Catherine Philp recalling UN officials saying how the Ban’s chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, had ordered UN staff in Colombo to cover up the mass casualties being inflicted on Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan forces in 2009, so as not to “rock the boat” by criticising the Sri Lankan Government during its onslaught.
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SLA soldiers, para military attack local Tamil traders in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 April 2011, 11:19 GMT]
Local Tamil traders from Vadamunai, Pendugalseanai, Oothuchcheanai, Poththanai, Tharavai and Kudumpimalai areas in Chiththa'ndy division who had gone to collect milk from dairy farms in Paduwankarai area came under attack by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and cadres of para military groups. SLA soldiers and para military cadres had attacked them asking them to show the hide outs of LTTE in the area, according to affected traders.
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Residents succeed in protest against SLA checkpost in Mannaar village

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 April 2011, 06:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army had abandoned its move to set up a sentry in Pa'l'limunai village in Mannaar district Sunday due to vehement protest by residents. A group of SLA soldiers had gathered near the water tank in the village on Sunday morning and had been making arrangement to establish a sentry point.
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HRW demands accountability for wartime disappearances

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 April 2011, 05:19 GMT]
Human Rights Watch, a New York based rights organization, said in a press release issued Friday that "[t]hrough interviews with relatives of the missing and witnesses, published testimony, and media reports, Human Rights Watch found that more than 20 people who were taken into army custody between May 16 and 18, 2009, appear to have been forcibly disappeared. Most of them are known to have been detained in the Vadduvaakal area, just south of the strip of land in northeastern Sri Lanka where the final battle between the LTTE and government forces occurred. At the time, the area was controlled by the Sri Lankan army’s 59 Division," and demanded that Colombo "should account for everyone who was taken into custody."
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SLA officer killed in accident, driver beaten up by SL soldiers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 April 2011, 17:12 GMT]
A junior Sri Lanka Army officer was killed on the spot and another soldier was wounded on A9 Highway at Ira'naimadu junction in Ki'linochchi Wednesday around 10:00 a.m. when a tipper truck, coming from Vavuniyaa, hit the motorbike of the SL soldiers. The driver of the vehicle was severely beaten up by the SLA soldiers at the site.
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SLA-tortured teacher dies in Jaffna hospital

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 March 2011, 11:25 GMT]
28-year-old Sampanthan Sakthitharan a male teacher at Chaavakachcheari Hindu College, who was severely tortured by the occupying Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna at Thirunelveali on 15 March and dumped on the side of the road three hours later fought for his life at Jafna Teaching Hospital for 10 days with serious injuries in his head and finally succumbed to his injuries Saturday at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
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SLA soldier killed in accident in Minneriya

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 March 2011, 08:40 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army lieutenant was killed and five soldiers were injured in an accident in Minneriya Friday morning 3:00 am, Sri Lankan Police said. At the time of the accident the group of soldiers and officer were heading to Habarana from Kandaketiya army camp in Welikanda.
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Remains of Parvathi Amma cremated amidst military harassment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2011, 14:10 GMT]
Braving harassments by occupying Sri Lankan military that has been forcing the people to remove black flags they had flown to mourn the late Parvathi Amma, people from various parts of the peninsula took part in the funeral procession Tuesday together with former and current parliamentarians representing Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) Tuesday evening. Politicians and activists from Tamil Nadu and the diaspora addressed the mourners paying tribute through phone calls at Theeruvil grounds. Defying the order by SLA soldiers to remove the black flags, people of Vadamaraadchi closed their shops and flew black flags.
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Kohona could face court over Tamil Tiger deaths - Sydney paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 February 2011, 13:33 GMT]
"An Australian citizen and senior Sri Lankan diplomat has been accused of complicity in the murders of three surrendering Tamil Tigers in an application to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands," Sydney Morning Herald said in its Monday edition, referring to Dr Palitha Kohona, who is currently attached to the United Nations Sri Lanka Mission in New York. "...two international Tamil organisations have made a series of war crimes allegations to the International Criminal Court involving Dr Kohona and his role in the negotiated surrender of three Tamil Tigers who are believed to have been killed," the paper said.
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Occupying SL military intimidates mourning for Parvathi Amma

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 February 2011, 21:47 GMT]
Colonial military of Sri Lanka occupying Jaffna, intimidated people of Valveddiththu’rai on Sunday to remove the black flags displayed to mourn the demise of Parvathy Amma, 80-year-old mother of the LTTE leader Pirapaharan. Hundreds of SL military intelligence personnel in civil dress, deployed at Theeruvil grounds where the remains are kept for public homage, made the local people themselves to remove the flags of mourning. Angered by the SLA harassment, representatives of civil organizations in Valveddiththu'rai warned the military personnel of repercussions if they continued to harass the people, when the occupying soldiers were instructing the people to remove the name of Mr. Pirapaharan from posters paying tribute to Parvathi Amma. Colonial Colombo behaves the same way the British treated the Kandyan Sinhalese, commented a journalist in Jaffna.
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Milk production drops 50% as flood destroys cattle in Battlicaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 February 2011, 03:36 GMT]
Milk production in Batticaloa district dropped by more than 50% as nearly 250,000 cattle were killed and owners of at least 28 cattle farms in the Batticaloa District were directly affected by the recent two major floods in December last year and in January this year, according to District Animal Production and Health Assistant Director Dr. Mallika Amirthalingam. Livelihood of those involved in rearing catte has been badly affected by the floods, the official added.
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SLA terrorizes TNA candidates in Vavuniyaa, Killinochi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 02:10 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has complained that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are threatening an intimidating TNA candidates contesting in the forthcoming local elections in the Vanni region. Jaffna district TNA parliamentarian Mr.S. Sritharan has accused the SLA soldiers of unleashing terror in the Vanni region creating fear psychosis among the TNA candidates. TNA parliamentarians Selvam Adaikalanathan and Sivasakthi Aanandan have also alleged that they are being intimidated by SLA soldiers and intelligence unit men against holding election meetings in Vavuniyaa.
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Maalu-vaadi,
Paravan-vaadi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2011, 20:43 GMT]
The fishing camp
The camp of the Paravar (maritime) community
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Kokkaddichchoalai massacre of 65 Tamil civilians remembered

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 January 2011, 12:13 GMT]
The twenty fourth annual remembrance of Kokkaddichchoalai massacre was held Friday in Batticaloa. The Sri Lanka Army, which is almost all Sinhalese, killed 65 Tamil civilians in a prawn farm located about 10 km off west of Batticaloa city on 28 January 1987. The SLA burnt down the farm and huts where Tamil laborers were staying.
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Rajapaksa sued in US Courts over war-crimes, plaintiffs seek $30m in damages

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 January 2011, 20:05 GMT]
Three Tamil plaintiffs whose relatives were killed in three different incidents, all considered to be war-crimes, filed a civil case in the District Court of District of Columbia against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday at around 4:00 p.m, the attorney for the plaintiffs and former Assistant Deputy Attorney General of the US, Mr Bruce Fein, said in a release sent to the media in the U.S. The legal action was sponsored by Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group. The plaintiffs seek $30m as damages through six counts of violations of the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA).
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SLN blamed for murder of female teacher

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 January 2011, 12:51 GMT]
The dead body of a woman recovered earlier this week from a well at Munaippulam located near Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) base in Pungkudutheevu, an island off Jaffna, was identified Thursday as that of Uththamakumari Thurairajasingham, a teacher at Ariyaalai Anantha Viththiyaalayam, who was reported missing since 16 November 2010, more than 30 km away from the island. The body of 40-year-old teacher had cut injuries in neck, medical sources said. Her clothes, bound to a stone, were located at the bottom of the same well, where her naked body was found. The SLN base in Pungkudutheevu, the largest base for the occupying military in the islands, gained notoriety after villagers accused SLN soldiers for the gang-rape and brutal murder of 29-year-old Sarathambal, the wife of Saiva priest Saravanabavanatha Kurukkal, 10 years ago, in December 1999.
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