SLA denies permission to Thirumavalavan to meet public in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 07:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna turned down the request of Thol. Thirumavalavan, Tamil Nadu Parliamentarian and leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Kadchi (VCK) Party, to meet the public in Jaffna when the delegation of Tamil Nadu MPs was taken to Jaffna Public Library for a meeting Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna University Students expressed their strong protest against India for having let down the Eezham Tamils and for deceiving them continually, when the MPs met students in Jaffna University Sunday, the sources added.
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Tamils get international recognition in sciences

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 23:23 GMT]
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, born in Chithamparam, Tamil Nadu is named for Nobel Prize 2009 in Chemistry, Wednesday, for contributing to the knowledge of structure and functions of ribosome, leading to development of direct and more effective antibiotics in medicine. In June, Jaffna-born Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, an old student of Mahajana College, Thellippazhai, was conferred knighthood for his contributions in the field of medicine in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. While such achievements inspire younger generation of diaspora Tamils in making global contributions to humanity, it is also time for the diaspora to forge its own global organization to help itself as well as to remind a dodging IC of its responsibilities to the plight of Tamils. Sir Arulkumaran’s Alma Mater, celebrating its centenary next year, is in the military occupied HSZ for years now, being deprived of its population.
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Ad hominem attack on Clinton draws US's ire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 15:34 GMT]
Following Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka's statement during a live radio interview Wednesday that "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to have forgotten the Monica [Lewinsky] episode and should focus on her own backyard instead of making allegations of women being abused in other countries," Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Jaliya Wickremasuriya, was "summoned to the Department of State to be told of the US Government’s displeasure," Sri Lanka's weekly broadsheet, Sunday Times, reported.
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Tamil family man reported missing in Chammaanthu’rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 12:05 GMT]
A group of men in police uniforms and in civil clothes took away Friday night a Tamil family man in Veerachcholai in Chammanthu’rai area in Ampaa’rai district, according to complaints lodged with Chammaanthu’rai and Veerachcholai police Stations by his relatives Saturday.
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Fonseka's legal perils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 04:50 GMT]
As Major General Sarath Fonseka's military and political stars in Sri Lanka show signs of decline, the General may have to soon decide whether to stay in Sri Lanka and suffer ignominy under the Rajapakse brothers, or to use the lottery-won US Green Card, and seek safety with his children in the US. But safety in US may spell judicial danger. Without the cover of sovereign immunity, which had protected Fonseka's alleged war-crimes until now, the General will be exposed to answer charges, in the US Federal Courts, against his conduct of war in Sri Lanka's north. Both criminal and civil actions against Maj.Gen. Fonseka are likely in the US, and Colombo's resources, including legal help from US lobby-firms under Sri Lanka's payroll, will unlikely be available to him, legal sources in Washington said.
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Police arrests Tamil youth in Negombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 02:21 GMT]
Negombo police Saturday arrested a Tamil youth while he was staying in his residence alleging that the youth is a senior cadre of the LTTE and had arrived in Negombo a year ago. The arrested youth is being detained by the State Intelligence Unit and being interrogated, police said.
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Release 250,000 Tamils from illegal detention immediately, HRW tells Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 20:40 GMT]
Pointing out that "[d]eteriorating conditions, including a shortage of water since October 5, 2009, combined with the prospect of flooding during the imminent monsoon season, have led to rising tensions among camp residents and clashes with the military," New York based rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), called on international donors Japan, the United States and European Union member states "to send a clear message to the Government of Sri Lanka that continued detention of the displaced will have serious consequences for Sri Lanka's relationship with the international community."
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Colombo cancels TamilNadu MPs visit to east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 15:33 GMT]
The visit of a group of parliamentarians of Tamilnadu in India to the eastern province was cancelled Saturday last minute, according to media reports from Colombo. The TN group arrived in Colombo Saturday morning, and was scheduled to visit Batticaloa and especially the resettled village Vaaharai the same day.
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Sinhalese Buddhist priest appointed as archaeological curator for Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 12:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed Rev. Warapitiya Rahula Thero as the curator for archaeological artifacts in Jaffna peninsula in an attempt to fabricate evidence to show the Sinhalese masses and the outer world that traces of Buddhism in Jaffna peninsula are exclusively Sinhalese, sources in Jaffna said. Rev. Rahula Thero will be working from an office that is to be soon built in the ‘Old Park’ located next to Jaffna Secretariat. Jaffna Museum which had lain neglected for more than 30 years and looted during successive Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives on the peninsula is to be relocated to the new archaeological department in Old Park where Rev. Rahula Thero will go into action following in the footsteps of the successive Sinhalese regimes which have tried to rewrite the history of Sri Lanka in favour of Sinhalese Buddhists, the sources added.
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Tension grips Tamil business community in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 11:54 GMT]
Tension has gripped the Tamil business community in Colombo and its suburbs after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers called on them to register their assets with the local authorities. The soldiers had called on the community with a printed form which has to be filled with every miniature detail from the type of enterprise, to assets such as vehicles, etc, members of the family, relatives and employees. The Tamil business community is perturbed over this new regulation since they have already registered themselves with the relevant police divisions.
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Tamil Nadu MPs delegation to see IDP internment camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 11:45 GMT]
Eight Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu, from the ruling Congress Party and its supporting political parties Dravida Munetra Kazhakam (DMK) and Viduthalai Chiruththaikal (VCK) are expected to arrive in Colombo Sunday and from there they will be taken to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa where the Vannin IDPs are detained, sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, opposition parties in Tamil Nadu and India including Communist Party have expressed their strong protest for not having included any MP from the opposition or prominent leaders who had stood up for Eezham Tamils for many years. Sri Lanka government intends to take this delegation on a ‘guided tour’ to ‘selected spots’ in an effort to hide the true conditions under which the IDPs are suffering, representatives of IDP welfare organizations said.
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Jaffna fort to be readied for new colonial masters

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 10:35 GMT]
In the name of archaeology the Dutch fort of Jaffna is going to be renovated by the Department of Archaeology of Sri Lanka as an abode for visiting Colombo’s dignitaries and Sinhala Buddhist ‘pilgrims,’ news reports say. The fort of Jaffna, originally built by the Portuguese and made into its present form by the Dutch in the 17th century, never ceased to be a symbol of oppression to the people of Jaffna. It never became the cultural property of Tamils to whom it rightfully belongs. After the so-called independence it served as provincial prison, quarters for the Sinhala security forces and the King’s House inside was the guesthouse for Colombo’s politicians. The Sinhala politicians who burnt the Jaffna library in 1981 executed it from the King’s House and the police that killed audience and disturbed the 4th International Tamil Conference in 1974 came from the fort.
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SLA collects particulars only from Tamil traders in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 09:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been distributing forms in Sinhalese language only to Tamil traders in the city of Colombo since Thursday calling for particulars for the purpose of special registration, according to an urgent letter sent by Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan to Prime Minister, R. Wickremanayake, requesting him to instruct SLA to explain as to why such details are being collected from Tamil traders only, sources in Colombo said.
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2 Tamils, a Muslim arrested in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 15:47 GMT]
Chilaw Police took three youths, two Tamils and a Muslim, in a surprise cordon and search operation, conducted in the Tamil suburbs of Chilaw town Wednesday night around 10:00 a.m. The arrested youths are detained in Chilaw police station for interrogation as they failed to prove their identity.
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Disabled IDP youth gains admission to Jaffna medical faculty

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 12:46 GMT]
An Internally Displaced Tamil youth who lost both legs during the final battle launched by Sri Lanka Army against Liberation Tigers in Vanni region and held in Vavuniyaa internment camp had gained admission to the medical faculty of the Jaffna University. He has been admitted to the medical faculty and is attending lectures, according to Vice-chancellor Professor N. Shanmugalingam.
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Legal action against Tamil MPs calculated, partial – Defence Attorney

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 12:44 GMT]
”There are many who had addressed ‘Pongu Thamizh’ events held in various places in Sri Lanka then, now functioning as government ministers, deputy ministers and leaders of political parties. But cases are filed only on four Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians accusing they had addressed ‘Pongu Thamizh’ rallies in countries like Germany and Australia in 2006 with the intention of partitioning Sri Lanka. Therefore this is a case of calculated and partial act,” argued K. V. Thavarajah, Senior Attorney-at–law, appearing on behalf of TNA parliamentarians, S. Jeyanandamoorthy, P. Ariyanethiran, Selvarajah Gajendran and K. Sivajilingam, in Colombo Chief Magistrate Court, Tuesday, with Magistrate Nishantha Happu Araachi on the bench.
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Indian strategic analyst writes on 'lost leverage'

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 11:58 GMT]
“Today, India stands more marginalized than ever in Sri Lanka. Its natural constituency—the Tamils—feels not only betrayed, but also looks at India as a colluder in the bloodbath. India already had alienated the Sinhalese majority in the 1980s,” writes Professor Brahma Chellaney of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, in a forthright article appeared in Forbes, Friday. Welcoming his admissions and responding to him, Tamil circles said that who ever now addresses the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils, holds the key to the region of South India-Sri Lanka- Maldives, but India is yet to learn the lesson and may continue forfeiting leverage even with its own people, by blunting the national question.
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Eastern Province CM unable to stop Sinhalese colonization – Ariyanenthiran

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 October 2009, 08:41 GMT]
Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA), P. Ariyanenthiran who was able to visit his constituency after three years Friday said that Sinhalese families from the South have been colonized in Choaliyaamadu village in Paddiruppu Regional Secretariat division in Batticaloa district. He told media that the Chief Minister of Eastern Province, though a Tamil, cannot stop traditional home lands of Tamils being colonized with Sinhalese families.
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2 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 17:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody Thursday early morning two Tamil youths in Moratuwa, in the suburbs of Colombo, who were returning to Colombo from Kathirkaamam, in a search conducted in the streets in Moratuwa, the relatives of the youths said.
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Emergency extended in Sri Lanka for another month

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 17:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Thursday adopted a motion to extend the State of Emergency by another month with a majority of seventy votes. Eighty-two parliamentarians from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the National Freedom Front (NFF), the rebel group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted in favor of the motion. Twelve Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who were present at that time voted against the motion. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) abstained from voting. Parliamentarians of the JVP were not present in the House at that time of voting. The State of Emergency is being extended by the parliament monthly since August, 2005.
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