Malaysian corporate brokers embark on ‘development’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 July 2010, 23:01 GMT]
A Malaysian Ceylonese delegation visited Jaffna last month to discuss ‘development’ with the commander of the occupying Sri Lanka military, the Government Agent and the Bishop of Jaffna. The purpose of the visit of the nine-member team, headed by Dato S Kulasegaran and C Gnanarajah, was to assist the government machinery in the fields of economy and trade and to inspire the foreign investors on the ventures open for investment in the region, said a military-run website in Jaffna. Kulasegaran, a corporate lawyer having economic interests in Colombo, is close to the Malaysian Prime Minister. In the past few years he has been coordinating with the military intelligence of Sri Lanka and with the Sri Lankan High Commission in Malaysia.
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Police registration made mandatory to Wellawatte Tamil residents

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 July 2010, 14:56 GMT]
Tamil residents in Wellawatte in Colombo division are reported to have been instructed by the police to register with the local police station immediately. An announcement had been made through loudhailers fixed in three wheelers and some vehicles Wednesday, residents of the area said. Police sources said the procedure was intended to account for the large number of Tamils who had returned from abroad and staying in several hotels and lodges.
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Asylum seekers set sail in a sea of silence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 July 2010, 00:52 GMT]
Noting that asylum policy debate in Australia has re-focussed on "how to stop the boat people coming," Dr Sam Pari, spokesperson of the Australian Tamil Congress, in an article appearing on ABC, points out that "if both parties [Labor and Liberals] are serious about cutting down on asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, they need to look at the root cause of the problem and review their foreign policy in regards to Sri Lanka," and faults Australia's political leaders saying, "while our Western allies continue to publicly denounce Sri Lanka's appalling treatment of its civilians, Tamils in particular, Australia is yet to publicly condemn any of the country's [Sri Lanka's] current or past acts."
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Scheme afoot to Sinhalicise part of Mullaiththeevu district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 July 2010, 09:36 GMT]
The leader of Tamil National Liberation Alliance (TNLF) and former MP Sivajilingam said in a press meet Tuesday in Jaffna that Sri Lanka government has built 5,000 houses for families of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on the east of A9 road between Maangku’lam and Mu’ruka’ndi with the aim to Sinhalicise Mullaththeevu district reducing the numerical strength of Tamil population. Sivajilingam accused the government for being a ‘dog in the manger’ as it refuses local and foreign volunteer organizations to assist the resettled uprooted civilians in Vanni who suffer without even food and drinking water. Government’s ‘Resettlement’ is nothing but taking the uprooted civilians from the camps in trucks and unloading them in places without any basic facilities, Sivajilingam further said.
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Devananda, Perumal join hands in new forum

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 July 2010, 08:45 GMT]
A group named 'Tamil Political Parties Forum' (TPPF) of nine Tamil Political parties, paramilitary cum political parties and activists allegedly backed by New Delhi and Colombo, has been formed with the aim to explore ways of finding solution for the problems of the Tamil people in the North and East, political sources in Colombo said. Varatharaja Perumal, Chandrahasan and PLOTE Siddharthan, already known to have close links with New Delhi, have joined hands with M.K. Sivajilingam, a former TNA MP, Anandasangaree of TULF, Pillayan from TMVP and Kumarakuruparan of Democratic People Front in creating the forum. The move has been initiated by Shereen Xavier of Home for Human Rights and Douglas Devananda, the leader of EPDP, who is aligned with Mahinda Rajapaksa government.
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TNLA to launch protest demonstration against government

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 July 2010, 06:05 GMT]
Tamil National Liberation Alliance (TNLA) leader and former MP Sivajilingam said that TNLA will hold a large scale protest demonstration 2 August in Jaffna urging Sri Lanka government to disclose its decision on the state of persons held in detention and those who had disappeared after arrest by government armed forces, in a press meet held in Jaffna town Tuesday. TNLA has sought the cooperation of Leftist Front and the Committee for the search of disappeared persons in the South to hold the protest demonstration as it fears government obstruction and intimidation, he said.
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Jaffna Tamil daily reporter dies in accident

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 19:45 GMT]
A 32-year-old reporter and photographer of 'Yarl Thinakkural', a Tamil daily published from Jaffna died Tuesday morning in an accident when he was hit by a bus on A9 road at Usan while on duty. The victim, Perampalam Jeyachandran alias Jeyam, a father of one child, was a native of I'lavaalai. Mr. Jeyachandran was one of the few journalists who served with commitment to journalism particularly during the dangerous times that prevailed in the peninsula, media sources in Jaffna said.
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Weerawansa’s protest against UN turns violent, announces 'devil dance'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 14:30 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister for Construction and Housing, Wimal Weerawansa, who launched a protest in front of the UN office in Bauddaloka Mawatta in Colombo demanding the UN to dissolve the expert panel announced by the UN Secretary General to investigate allegations of war crimes and human rights violations, arrived at the demonstration site around 5:00 p.m. and prompted the protesters to enter the premises of the UN complex after phoning Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and receiving instructions, a reporter at the site told TamilNet. A police officer was manhandled by the mob and the police has withdrawn from the premises. The protest was going till the reporter left the site at 7:00 p.m. The minister himself attacked the police officer and has planned to hold 'devil dance' throughout the night in front of the UN office.
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SL Parliament extends Emergency

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 08:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Monday adopted a motion moved by the Rajapaksa government to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of one hundred votes. 132 Parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the motion and 32 parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted against.
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Ampaa’rai Tamil, Muslim volunteer teachers complain of discrimination

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 06:17 GMT]
The president of Ampaa'rai District Volunteer Teachers' Union (ADVTU) accused Sri Lanka government for not making their appointments permanent though they had served for more than twelve years under trying circumstances and for having granted permanent appointment for seventy Sinhalese volunteer teachers an year and half before, sources in Ampaa'rai said. The president of ADVTU, M. S. A. Sabras, said that 109 Tamil medium volunteer teachers had not been made permanent in their appointments though they had faced several interviews held by Education Department in the past. He added that their union has launched a protest to draw the attention of the authorities to their five demands and that they will go on hunger strike if the demands are not met.
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Constitutional reforms to be further delayed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 00:10 GMT]
The proposed constitutional reforms which was scheduled to be tabled in parliament this month is likely to be further delayed by one or more months according to media reports from Colombo. The proposed reforms are yet to be forwarded to Sri Lanka's Cabinet for approval, reports further said.
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SL parliament to debate emergency extension motion Monday

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 July 2010, 11:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister is to table a motion Monday seeking the approval of the parliament to extend the State of Emergency for another month. The State of Emergency is in force since 12 August 2005. Every month it is being extend with the approval of the parliament. Opposition parties including the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) have decided to oppose the emergency extension motion.
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Sinhala daily says India opposes UN panel

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 22:26 GMT]
Colombo-based Sinhala daily, Lankadeepa, without quoting any officials from the Indian government or the Indian embassy in Colombo, said in a report Sunday that the Indian government has expressed its disapproval over the appointment of the expert panel by United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon. Responding to the news, Tamil circles in Chennai blamed Monday the New Delhi Establishment for continuing to abet the genocidal agenda of Colombo, by objecting any international investigation amidst widespread allegation of Indian forces assisting the Sri Lankan military in the war against the Tigers.
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SLA demolishes Koappaay Thamizh Eezham Heroes Cemeteries

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 18:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers along with Sinhalese thugs are engaged in obliterating Koappay Thamizh Eezham Heroes War Cemetery (Thamizh Eezha Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam), the only one that remained in Jaffna peninsula, for the last three days, residents of the neighbouring villages said. The remnants of the graves, memorial plaques and monuments are taken away in the night to unknown destination, the sources added.
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Parts of abandoned vehicles in Vanni sold with SLA connivance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 05:54 GMT]
Parts of thousands of vehicles left abandoned by fleeing Vanni civilians during the final days of the war are dismantled by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and officers and sold to Sinhalese and Muslim traders from South, a Tamil trader who had bought such a spare part for his heavy vehicle told TamilNet. The dismantled parts are available for sale in most of the SLA bases along A9 road as well as in some SLA sentry post, he said. SLA soldiers and their officers are alleged to be making millions of rupees in this lucrative enterprise.
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SLA obliterates Tiger Heroes' Cemeteries, erects military bases

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 July 2010, 18:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which has been systematically razing to the ground without any traces the Thamizh Eezham Heroes War Cemeteries (Thamizh Eezha Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam) in several places of North and East, has in recent weeks obliterated the Thuyilum Illam at Kodikaaman in Thenmaraadchi, Jaffna, and is erecting a big SLA base in its place. Ellangku’lam Heroes Cemetery in Udupiddi in Vadamaraadchi had been already destroyed without any trace and the premises converted into an SLA base. The obliterated Thuyilum Illam is now enclosed by barbed wire fence and hidden by coconut cadjans where a large number of SLA soldiers are hurriedly constructing a base. Tamil circles view the systematic destruction of Tamil war heroes' cemeteries and the symbols of the Tamil struggle in north and East as part of a large-scale genocide programme on Tamils by the Sri Lankan state.
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SLA conducts sudden search, checking in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 2010, 11:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers stopped pedestrians, passengers travelling in vehicles along Beach Road and Galle Road in Wellawatte in Colombo city Friday early morning and subjected them to search and checking, sources in Colombo said. It is not known whether anyone had been taken into custody. Wellawatte is predominantly a Tamil area.
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State media blames exiled scribes for 'mudslinging' against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 2010, 10:01 GMT]
A 'clandestine media group' consisting of several Sri Lankan journalists now in exile has embarked on a mudslinging campaign against Sri Lanka, state-owned media reported Friday. According to the Dinamina Sinhala daily, this group of journalists have sent a petition condemning Sri Lanka to more than 70 foreign non-governmental organizations urging these organizations to pressure the international community to withdraw any trade benefits given to Sri Lanka.
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Colombo sinhalicises Ampaa'rai District Secretariat

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 2010, 04:38 GMT]
Biased Sinhala officials in Ampaa’rai District Secretariat have been taking steps to transfer all Tamil officials working there in an effort to convert it a Sinhala only office. As a first step a Tamil Assistant Director of Planning has been transferred out of Ampaa’rai District Secretariat causing hardships to Tamil people in the district.
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ITAK stalwarts in Jaffna oppose TNA abandoning alliance concept

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 2010, 18:39 GMT]
The concept of TNA as a broad alliance has become a legacy with Suresh Premachandran's move in convincing Mr. Sampanthan to make the alliance into a political party, blame opponents of the latest move by the TNA hierarchy, which has applied to register the alliance as a political party. The TNA has applied to register itself as a political party with R. Sampanthan as the leader and Mavai Senathirajah representing ITAK, Suresh Premachandran of EPRLF Suresh faction and Selvam Adaikalanathan on behalf of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), as joint secretaries.
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