Police administration in North continues in ‘Sinhala Only’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 April 2010, 05:14 GMT]
Police administration in police stations and in courts in the North and East continue only in Sinhalese language causing immense difficulties to public as their complaints and statements are recorded in Sinhalese, a language not known to them, sources in Jaffna said. Despite the repeated insistence by magistrates in the North police administration is still carried out in Sinhalese language as the police officers being Sinhalese are not proficient in Tamil language to record complaints or statements in the language of the people. Six moths ago, Mahinda Rajapakse government had made great publicity of appointing Tamils in the police stations in the North and had held interviews to select candidates for training but nothing has come out of it, sources in Jaffna said.
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Tories, Tamils reach out

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 22:33 GMT]
It’s a sight that would have been incongruous a few years ago, but is almost unremarkable today. Nestled amongst the Tamil restaurants, grocery shops and other businesses on the main strip in Rayners Lane, a suburb of London, a large sign on the front of former store front says: ‘British Tamil Conservatives’. On the other side of London, another office of the BTC opened a few weeks ago with a lamp lighting ceremony accompanied by mirithungam drummers, directly opposite the tube station in the Tamil-dominated suburb of East Ham.
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Liberation Tigers’ Ira’naimadu runway used exclusively by Indian Air Force

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 21:10 GMT]
The runway constructed by Liberation Tigers of Tami Eezham (LTTE) in Ira’naimadu in Ki’linochchi has been handed over to the exclusive use of Indian Air Force (IAF), according to sources close to a section of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel who have expressed their disapproval of this course of action by Sri Lanka government. The area in which this runway is located in Ira’naimadu falls within the High Security Zone (HSZ) and is strictly out of bounds for low ranking SLA personnel, the sources added. IAF officers fly routinely between Tamil Nadu and Ira’naimadu besides training SLAF personnel at I’ra’naimadu, the sources said.
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Senior ex-LTTE cadres under pressure to confess

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2010, 09:46 GMT]
Colombo Establishment has subjected hundreds of senior Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres in its custody to confess to alleged accusations of war crimes, promising that a general amnesty would be granted sooner to those who confess, informed legal sources in Colombo told TamilNet Friday. The move, backed by Indian advice, comes as the Rajapaksa government secured majority of seats in Sri Lankan parliament. Concerned legal sources urged Diaspora Tamils to take meaningful action in arranging legal assistance to the victims through independent and reliable sources without allowing Indian or Colombo backed legal practitioners to victimise the detained cadres.
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99.4 percent vote for Tamil Eelam in Australia

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2010, 05:07 GMT]
99.4 percent of those who cast votes in the Tamil referendum across Australia last weekend said “yes” to the formation of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the contiguous north and east of the island of Sri Lanka. The results were announced Thursday at a press conference held at NSW State Parliament in front of state and national media. 8,272 out of the registered, numbering around 10,000, participated in the polls. The number of eligible Eezham Tamil voters in Australia is estimated to be around 15,000. The formation of Tamil Eelam was assented by 8,154. The negative votes were 51 and 67 were invalid.
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Chennai High Court calls for clarification on deportation of Pirapaharan’s mother

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 12:20 GMT]
Chennai High Court judge who took up Wednesday for inquiry the petition filed by Mr. M. Karupan, a senior lawyer and human rights activist, citing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. M. Karunanidhi and the Indian Central Government as respondents for having sent back Mrs. Velupillai Parvathi, mother of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Mr. V Pirapaharan, to Malaysia without allowing her to land in Chennai airport, ordered Mr. Karunanidhi and the Indian Central Government to submit a report on why Mrs. Velupillai Parvathi was sent back, before next Monday, legal sources in Chennai said.
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National list MPs nominated: UPFA-17, UNP-09, DNA-02, and ITAK-01

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 11:46 GMT]
The names of twenty nine national list parliamentarians have been gazetted by the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections Wednesday. The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has nominated seventeen parliamentarians, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) nine parliamentarians, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) two parliamentarians and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) one parliamentarian from their national lists.
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UPFA 144, UNP 60, ITAK 14, DNA 7 constitute new Sri Lankan parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 07:56 GMT]
Sri Lankan Elections Secretariat gazetted the names of newly elected members to the seventh parliament which is to meet on Thursday. According to the final results released, the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has won 144 seats including 17 places in the national list. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) bagged 60 seats including nine national list MPs. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) won 14 seats including one place in the national list. The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) won seven seats including two places in the national list.
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UPFA wins 2, UNP 1, ITAK 1 in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:57 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Election Department Tuesday night released the final official results of the Trincomalee electoral district. The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) polled 59,784 votes, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) polled 39,691 votes and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) polled 33,268 votes.
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Senior LTTE cadres held to be produced in High Court for trial

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:43 GMT]
Around 2,000 senior cadres and combatants of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eezham (LTTE) held in custody are to be soon produced in High Court for trial with the sole aim to find them guilty of war crimes and subject them to long-term imprisonment, according to legal circles in Colombo. Meanwhile, persons of an organization called Home for Human Rights (HHR) are already at work to exploit the above situation and fleece money from Tamil Diaspora in foreign countries and International Humanitarian Organizations on the pretext of arranging lawyers to appear on behalf of the Tigers during the said trial, human rights activist lawyers in Colombo said.
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Indian aid to resettled Vanni civilians left undistributed along A9 road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:06 GMT]
Materials to construct shelters given as aid by India meant for the resettled families in Vanni have not been fully distributed to them and are left unattended along A9 road due to noncooperation of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Vanni and their refusal to grant permission for distribution, sources close to Ki’linochchi Secretariat said. SLA authorities purposely delay and obstruct distribution of these materials with the aim to give them to Sinhalese families to be colonized in places including Kokkaavil and Maangku’lam in Vanni, according to some Tamil National Alliance (TNA) newly elected representatives. The distribution of the materials had not been carried out by the government officials due to noncooperation by SLA authorities in Vanni.
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Kumpurupiddi re-poll in progress, no incident reported

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 09:23 GMT]
Re-poll in a polling station located in a school in Kumpurupiddi, a Tamil village located in the north of Trincomalee town, began Tuesday morning. Villagers were seen in queue before the polling station. One third of 977 registered voters exercised their franchise till 11:30 a.m in the morning.
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Australian Tamil referendum attracts media, provokes Colombo's envoy

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 23:35 GMT]
More than 10,000 registered to cast their votes in the referendum across Australia last weekend, on the creation of independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, reported SBS Australia, citing organisers. However, the success of mass participation provoked Colombo's envoy to retaliate that "the Tamils who are in Sri Lanka at the moment are perfectly happy to go on with the present system. It is only the Diaspora who are trying to force this thing on the people in Sri Lanka”. But, it won the support of John Dowd, the president of the International Commission of Jurists in Australia, SBS said, citing him saying that the referendum highlighted the aspirations as well as the plight of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. "Australians need to be reminded that there is a common obligation to these people who for centuries or indeed millennia have led their own lives there," John Dowd further said.
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Indonesia, Australia relocate Tamil refugees to isolated detention centres

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 13:59 GMT]
Indonesian authorities on Monday relocated more than 100 Tamil refugees in Merak, who have been refusing to leave their boat, to an undisclosed location, believed to be an Australian-funded detention centre on the Riau islands, near Singapore. Informed Tamil sources said that the refugees were being moved without any promise and that attempts to legal aid by the community was refused access during the process. Meanwhile, the Australian government, which had frozen asylum applications from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan a few days ago, on Sunday said it was reopening Curtin, an isolated detention centre in the sparsely populated far north of Western Australia, 1,800 km north of Perth to move the refugees from Christmas Island.
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Uproar in TN State Assembly over India’s refusal to allow Pirapaharan’s mother to land in Chennai

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 10:04 GMT]
Protesting against India’s refusal to allow LTTE Leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan’s mother Mrs. Velupillai Parvathi to land in Chennai airport for medical treatment in Tamil Nadu Friday night, major opposition parties in Tamil Nadu State Assembly moved a special attention-calling motion Monday, sources in Chennai said. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. M. Karunanithi, in response to the motion said that he knew nothing about the incident and came to know about in the papers the following morning. Heated arguments ensued the response creating uproar in the House. Consequently, the major opposition parties including Patali Makkal Kadchi, Indian Communist Party, Marxist Communist Party and Makkal Dravida Munetra Kazham staged a walkout. Jeyalalitha’s Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhakam party which had not initially participated in the moving of the motion joined in the walkout.
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Wellawatte police blamed for long-term neglect in investigating disappearance

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 09:29 GMT]
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Monday blamed Wellawatte Police in Colombo for not having taken any action during the two-year period since a young Tamil student was allegedly arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). "No information has been given to his family and his whereabouts are entirely unknown. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has also been aware of the case since 2008," the AHRC said in a press statement. "This long-term neglect to investigate a disappearance is a clear breach of domestic and international law and questions the accountability and professionalism of CID officers in the country," the AHRC has charged.
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Tamil Nadu police arrest protestors against Namal Rajapkase’s arrival in Chennai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 18:13 GMT]
Tamil Nadu police arrested ten persons Sunday among hundreds of people who had gathered at Chennai airport to protest against the arrival of Namal Rajapakse, the son of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse, passing via Chennai International Airport to watch the cricket match between the Chennai and Punjab teams, sources in Chennai said. Meanwhile, a group of fifty Sri Lankan police officers led by Superintendent of Police, L. R. Wijeyasinghe, who are to follow a three month course in security services for Very Important Persons (VIPs) in a training centre in Haryana state, arrived in Delhi Sunday, sources in Delhi said.
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JNU convention condemns Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 14:15 GMT]
"[C]onditions in Sri Lanka cannot improve unless the Tamils are given a respectful place in society as equal citizens. Unfortunately, that is not happening,” said Rajinder Sachar former Chief Justice on Delhi High Court in a conference on Sri Lanka's war crimes held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Thursday, a summary report of the convention issued by the organizers said. The convention concluded with passing a resolution condemning "the genocidal war crimes perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government on the Tamils," and demanding that the war criminals in the Sri Lankan government be brought to justice, Tamils who have been forcefully detained in camps be released and settled in their native homes, an immediate end to colonization, and suspension of military aid by India.
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TNA welcomes Sri Lanka’s stand on Palestine issue, hopes same to be followed in Tamil traditional homeland

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2010, 09:44 GMT]
“The permanent UN representative of Sri Lanka Bandula Jayasekara’s statement that an atmosphere to bring peace in Palestine could only be created by the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory it occupies is welcomed by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which expects Sri Lanka to follow the same principle in withdrawing its armed forces from the historical and traditional homeland of the Tamils of North and East to create peace in Sri Lanka,” Suresh Premachandran said in a press report on behalf of TNA. “We hope that the Sri Lanka government will not preach one thing in the UN and practice another at home,” the report further said.
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Rajapakse to declare open new parliament on April 22

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 17:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapakse is to officially declare open the first session of the seventh parliament Thursday (April 22) morning. The Secretary General of Sri Lanka's parliament, Dhammika Kitulgoda, has notified that the parliament will meet at 8:45 a.m. All newly elected members should be present at 8:30 a.m. The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has already won 117 seats in the 225-member Parliament, while the United National Front (UNF) led by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) obtained 46 seats, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) 12 seats and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led Democratic National Alliance (DNA) 5 seats. Twenty-nine members would be appointed through the National List on the votes each political party polled island wide.
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