Encroachment of government lands in Batticaloa Tamil areas

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 November 2009, 16:46 GMT]
Ma’nmunai Southwest Divisional Secretariat has informed the Deputy Secretary to President Rajapakse confirming the illegal colonization of government lands in Batticaloa district in Eastern Province where Tamil people live predominantly. Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Ariyanenthiran had already brought the issue of illegal colonization to the President and his Deputy Secretary had called for reports from the three Government Agents (GAs) in Eastern Province.
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Moothoor east IDP families suffer without proper shelters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 November 2009, 15:56 GMT]
One hundred and two Tamil displaced families who are not allowed to resettle in their villages Kadatkaraichcheanai and Champoor in Moothoor east which have been declared high security zone (HSZ) since the fall of Moothoor east to Sri Lanka Army in 2006 April, are undergoing untold hardships without permanent structures to live. They had first fled and sought refuge in Batticaloa.
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SL Government will decide later which election to be held first – President Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 November 2009, 15:44 GMT]
President Mahinda Rajapakse did not announce which election would take place first, presidential or parliamentary, while addressing the national convention of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Sunday evening despite wide speculation that he would announce the date for early presidential election. The convention was held at Kettarama Stadium in Colombo.
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Sinhala speakers socially fail in moral responsibility: Peter Schalk

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 November 2009, 13:05 GMT]
“We all know there will be no apologizing. It may come only when Lanka’s intellectual and political elite among Sinhala speakers faces its judges in an international war tribunal after an international (military) intervention by the UN or a cluster of states, or when the Lankan economy suffers a breakdown. We should not delay any effort to bring these criminals to justice. If they do not acknowledge any moral responsibility we can teach them legal accountability,” writes Professor Peter Schalk opining futility in expecting change and improvement for the Tamil people to come from the Sinhala society that is structurally not prepared by its mindset to accept responsibility and tactically considers pleading guilty is costly.
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87 Welikada Tamil prisoners on hunger strike

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 November 2009, 10:24 GMT]
Eighty-seven Tamil political prisoners began a hunger strike protest from Saturday morning demanding guarantee for their lives and to strengthen the security for them following the attack on fellow Tamil prisoners Friday by Sinhalese prisoners in the presence of prison officials, sources in Colombo said. Seven of the Tamil prisoners attacked are admitted in the prison hospital. The fasting Tamil prisoners sent a memorandum to relevant authorities requesting release on bail or to prosecute them in court and to hold an impartial inquiry into the Friday incident of attack on Tamil political prisoners, the sources added.
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Tamil trader killed in Hatton

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 November 2009, 05:44 GMT]
Tension among upcountry Tamil community in Hatton prevails following the killing of a Tamil trader by an unidentified gang on Wednesday. The victim has been identified as Karupannan Visvanathan, a popular trader in Puliyawatte estate in Hatton police division.
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Natives of Norway, Tamil Nadu, among 37 contesting NCET elections

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 November 2009, 06:43 GMT]
As the final list of candidates is out for the popular elections of the Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils (NCET) scheduled Sunday, 9 candidates contest for 5 seats of the national list and 28 candidates are in the fray for 10 seats under regional list. Figuring in the list are three native Norwegians and one Tamil of Tamil Nadu. The NCET constitution, while permitting vote only to people of Eezham Tamil descent above 16, allows even others to be elected provided they accept the principle of the Council advocating independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the island of Sri Lanka. Another feature of the candidates list is that many of them are highly educated and are professionals in various walks of life. Seven in the list are women, eight under 35 and two over 60. Two are young women among the 5 who have already been elected by institutions for the second chamber.
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Vavuniyaa court remands TNA parliamentarian Kanagaretnam till 4 December

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 November 2009, 05:20 GMT]
Mr. Sathasivam Kanagaretnam, Mullaiththeevu district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian was produced in Vavuniyaa Magistrate’s court Friday morning for the first time after six months detention in the headquarters of the Terrorist Investigation Division of the Sri Lanka Police. He was taken into custody from Oamanthai camp in May this year while he was staying with his family. He fled from Mullaiththeevu when Sri Lanka Army launched its final battle against the LTTE and sought refuge in Oamanthai.
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Australia aiding and abetting Sri Lanka’s war crimes - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 November 2009, 00:25 GMT]
“Australia is a contracting party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as well as to its related 1967 Protocol. Thereunder Australia has an absolute obligation to provide meaningful and humane asylum procedures, regulations and hearings to all Tamils fleeing from Sri Lanka,” said Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet Friday.
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Ki'linochchi female undergrad arrested in Peradeniya University

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 November 2009, 11:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers took into custody a Tamil female undergrad, a native of Ki’linochchi, Thursday afternoon from Peredeniya University in Kandy but she is yet to be released and her whereabouts remain unknown, according to complaint lodged with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Kandy office by fellow Tamil undergrads.
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Tamil woman reported missing in upcountry

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 November 2009, 11:00 GMT]
Two Tamil women from Bogawanthalawa in upcountry had gone to collect firewood in the nearby jungle Tuesday evening and one of them is reported missing, according to complaints made to Boagawanthalawa police.
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Postgraduate courses debarred in Jaffna university

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 November 2009, 09:25 GMT]
University Grants Commission in Colombo has ordered the university of Jaffna to stop postgraduate courses conducted at present in its postgraduate faculty, media sources in Jaffna said. Even though the reason is said to be quality of coaching, academic circles in Jaffna believe that Colombo doesn’t want development-oriented courses to be conducted in this university in the Tamil region, news sources further said.
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Tamil political prisoners attacked in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 November 2009, 04:40 GMT]
22 Tamil political prisoners in custody within the Colombo Remand Prison (CRP) were attacked Friday morning by Sinhala prisoners, initial reports from Colombo said. Seven of the prisoners were rushed to Colombo hospital with serious injuries.
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Norway Eezham Tamils enfranchise all above 16

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 November 2009, 06:42 GMT]
In the forthcoming elections for Norwegian Council of Eezham Tamils (NCET), scheduled to take place Sunday, all those of Eezham Tamil descent above 16 years will be permitted to vote according to the constitution of NCET. The move was in line with the trial project of the government of Norway enfranchising over 16 in commune elections in 2011. The NCET ballot will elect 5 under the national list and 10 under the regional list who will constitute the chamber of representatives. Another five members elected by Eezham Tamil institutions in Norway will make the second chamber. This is the first country-wide ballot taking place among diaspora Tamils, democratically electing representatives to form a Council.
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Sri Lanka schemes ‘legal reform’ to negate identity and grab land

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 02:34 GMT]
News reports from Colombo indicate Sri Lanka government is planning to revise the Theasa Vazhamai law of Tamils, which is a constituent legal code, ever since the formulation of the island’s current legal system by the Dutch. The urgency of the Sri Lanka state at this juncture is not social reformation but grabbing the lands of Tamils without legal hurdles, besides removing last vestiges of Tamil sovereignty in the state apparatus, Tamil legal circles said.
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Court orders remand for 45 suspects arrested under PTA, ER

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 10:17 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate Nishantha Hapuarachchi Monday ordered remand till November 12 for forty-five suspects, majority of them Tamils, arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER) for allegedly being involved in terrorist activities in the hill country in the central province. They were produced in court after being interrogated by the CID held under the detention order of the Defence Ministry. Some of the suspects are Muslims and Sinhalese, sources in Colombo said.
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Household checking by police in Colombo reimposed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 10:10 GMT]
The new Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mahinda Balasooriya, on his assumption of duty has reimposed checking of house holds of Tamil residents in Colombo. In a repetition as in the LTTE war period, police personnel have been instructed to question any visitor lodged in a residence not registered with the respective police station in the area and to take any person living in a household unregistered into police custody, sources in Colombo said.
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Age of struggle Tamil poetry comes in English

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 09:01 GMT]
Eezham Tamil poetry since 1970s by three leading poets has been translated into English and for the first time appears in an exclusive volume, which is to be launched in Canada Saturday. One of the poets, Puthuvai Rathnathurai, regarded as Tamil National Bard, was last seen among the displaced moving towards internment camps during the closing days of the war in Vanni and was taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Army. He is reportedly kept in undeclared captivity under rigorous conditions.
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Police arrest 2 Tamil civilians in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 November 2009, 10:38 GMT]
The Intelligence Unit of the Sri Lanka Police Saturday night arrested two Tamil civilians in Thoa’nikkal in Vavuniyaa on information received that they had been members of the Liberation Tigers. They are now detained in Vavuniya police station and being interrogated to find out their involvement with the militant group earlier, police spokesman Nimal Mediwake said in Colombo.
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LTTE welcomes all diaspora ballots

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 November 2009, 00:19 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a press statement issued on Monday welcomed all the current democratic moves in the diaspora, such as referendum on Vaddukkoaddai Resolution, Country Councils and Transnational Government and said that even if one of the efforts is at shortfall, it will affect all the others. “These are democratic efforts for which people have taken over the leadership to gain their political aspirations and while welcoming them the LTTE requests that they should be accomplished with full participation of people,” said the statement addressed LTTE headquarters. "It is now a historical duty of all Tamils to firmly tell the whole world that what they desire is independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam and they have their homeland, nationalism and the right to self-determination to claim it," the statement further said.
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