Fonseka’s official residence searched for harbouring army deserters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2009, 10:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers numbering about 150 led by the police Friday evening rounded up the official Bullers’ Residence of General(retd) Sarath Fonseka on a complaint that the latter( former SLA commander) had given shelter for a group of army deserters.
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Colombo sacks Tamil doctor for internment camp comments

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 December 2009, 13:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Ministry of Health has interdicted a Tamil doctor, Dr Murali Vallipuranathan, for speaking out on the conditions on the detention camps, and informed him that the Ministry "found him to have acted in a manner that brought disrepute on the Government of Sri Lanka," Sri Lanka weekly Lakbima reported. Ministry of Health's communication, written in Sinhala dated 10th November 2009, said that Dr Vallipuranathan was being removed from service for causing disrepute to the Government of Sri Lanka, and that his salary was also being stopped.
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Another SLA soldier found dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 2009, 07:42 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier, who was on night duty guarding the Peoples Bank branch located along Stanley Road in Jaffna was found shot dead in the vicinity of the bank during the early hours of Thursday, Police said. The SLA has beefed up security following the report of another mysterious death among the SLA soldiers in Jaffna for the second day.
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Text books, school uniform issue event conducted in Sinhalese in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 2009, 02:23 GMT]
A "national" event of issuing free text books and school uniforms to students in Jaffna was held entirely in Sinhalese Wednesday in Jaffna Veampadi Girls’ College, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was to preside in this event and later his brother Basil Rajapaksa was to participate in the event instead of the president. But Basil Rajapaksa too did not attend the event as announced in the local media. In the meantime, the Sri Lankan president visited Vanni Wednesday to open a "national war memorial" north of Mullaiththeevu at the centre of Puthukkudiyiruppu tank.
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SLA soldier shoots himself to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 2009, 16:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna said that one of their soldiers shot himself to death Wednesday around 1:20 a.m in a police station located near Post Box Junction along Palaali Road in Jaffna.
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US Senate Committee evaluation pushes aside political solution to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 2009, 07:32 GMT]
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recommending Monday on ‘recharting’ US strategy on Sri Lanka, said the US should focus on economy and security of the island instead of humanitarian considerations, IDPs and civil society; should also invest in Sinhalese parts of the country instead of just focussing on North and East; should resume training of Sri Lankan military officials to ensure human rights in future operations as well as to build critical relationships and implied that US should not emphasise on political reform as a condition to assistance, bringing rift in US- Sri Lanka relations making the latter to align with countries of alternative model of development. While the report based on evaluation by two staffers, one of whom a US Sinhalese, is viewed by Tamil circles as an open insult to their struggle, it is also seen as an election ‘manifesto’ to woo Sinhalese votes.
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Civilian killed in army fire at Vaazhaichcheanai beach

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 December 2009, 23:47 GMT]
One person was killed and another was injured when soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) of Kumburumoolai camp fired at a group of persons in an attempt to flee in boats Friday night from Vaazhaichcheanai sea beach. SLA soldiers rushed to the Vaazhaichcheanai beach on receipt of information that a group of people suspected to be asylum seekers assembled there Friday evening.
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Government demolishes Tiger monuments while erecting monuments for its soldiers

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 2009, 13:51 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) which is actively destroying the Heroes Tombs and memorial monuments of Liberation Tigers in Vanni is simultaneously busy erecting memorial monuments for its soldiers killed, in many parts of Vanni, sources in Vanni said.
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Global meet urged to discuss environmental genocide by Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 2009, 13:18 GMT]
Decades-long massive military operations and occupation of Tamil Eelam by Sri Lankan forces have caused grave environmental destruction to the north and east of the island. Recovery is difficult as the Tamil homeland is in the dry and arid part of the island, depending on scanty and truant northeast monsoon, writes environmentalist and freelance journalist T. Thipaakaran. It may take more than 150 years for the plundered timber trees to grow again, he says. Tamil academic circles viewing the situation as 'ethnically motivated environmental rape taking place with international abetment,' urge the Denmark meet to discuss the challenge of curbing such crimes of ‘state sovereignty’ and to explore ways of entrusting in such situations the control of land to the sons and daughters of the soil, who only could take a genuine interest in the recovery and protection of their environment.
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Resilience marks Maveerar Day in Sydney

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 09:03 GMT]
Thousands gathered on Saturday to commemorate Heroes Day 2009 in an outpouring of grief in Sydney. A series of artistic and visual tributes, including a spectacular centre piece display carrying the symbols of Tamil Eelam set behind commemorative tombstones, illuminated Parramatta Park amid an atmosphere of reflection and resolve as over 2000 members of the Diaspora paid tribute to the fallen soldiers of the liberation movement and reaffirmed their commitment to the establishment of Tamil Eelam. The sister of LTTE Political head B. Nadesan, along with family of Colonel Amuthap lit the flame of sacrifice to mark the event, which featured songs, poetry and a series of provocative dramas portraying the horrors of Mullivaiykal and the sacrifices made by the fallen soldiers throughout the struggle.
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Police arrest youth in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 15:17 GMT]
Chu’n’naakam police took into custody a youth from Uduvil East in Jaffna for alleged involvement in the killing of Charles Wijewardne, Superintendent of Police (SP) on 05 August in I’nuvil, sources in Jaffna said. The arrested youth had been produced in the court for the killing of the SP but had been released for want of evidence. Later, the youth who had been detained in Vavuniyaa camp had recently come to Jaffna to stay with his family in Uduvil, the sources said.
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Credentials of IC challenged while widespread rape by SLA alleged in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 November 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence officers operating in the internment camps of Vanni have been allegedly involved in several rape cases during the past months. At least three cases of young victims, aged 14, 15 and 16, appeared in front of Vavuniyaa District Judge in October. SLA soldiers have also raped a 14-year-old mentally retarded Tamil girl inside the Vavuniyaa hospital.
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'Norway finances humiliation of Tamils'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 03:18 GMT]
Norway is up to appease Colombo as the Tamil Tigers are out of the picture and the only way to do this is abetting Colombo’s discrimination of Tamils in the line of Iran, Burma and China, writes Professor Øivind Fuglerud of the University of Oslo adding that a revealing cue comes from Norway insensitively sponsoring a Buddhist organisation to conduct a music festival on 27th November in Galle, timed to humiliate Tamils on the Heroes' Day. Norway sat silently like a mouse in the final phase of the war. Now its ‘humanitarian’ aid helps the internment camps of captivity and death. In future Norway’s aid may be integral to Colombo’s military complex cum Buddhist temple infrastructure to dominate Tamil areas, he further says. Not surprisingly, Norway's leading news agency, NTB, on Monday came out with biased reporting on the first ever democratically elected council of diaspora Tamils.
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SLA erects minicamps, sentry posts in interior parts of Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 18:20 GMT]
Fear and suspicion have risen among the residents of Jaffna peninsula as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna is actively engaged in hastily setting up minicamps and sentry posts manned by small groups of soldiers in the interior parts of Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. Though SLA has announced that it is removing its sentry posts near the schools in Jaffna Town they are not being removed but relocated in the interior areas, civil society representatives pointed out. SLA continues to occupy Gnanam Hotel and Subhas Hotel in the heart of the town while it refuses to open Clock Tower Road, Power House Road and Victoria Road in the town for public use, they added.
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Sri Lanka expands number of troops and officers in its armed forces

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 11:29 GMT]
Though Sri Lanka government claims that the war with Liberation Tigers is over it is actively engaged in recruiting persons to serve as soldiers and officers in Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), according to statements made by the spokesmen of the three armed forces to media in Colombo. Recruitment to Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force will continue to meet the targets for this year and the coming years, they said. New officers are much needed for defensive and offensive purposes, for humanitarian de-mining and for development work in the country, they added.
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Reconciliation of two nation states requires parity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 November 2009, 18:42 GMT]
Considering all what had gone before, 'reconciliation' has to first take place between the powers and Eezham Tamil psyche and the probabilities are remote unless the powers recognize the national question as national question and come forward to address it in ways fit enough for chronic cases. Ultimate reconciliation has to take place between Sinhala and Tamil nation states but genuine reconciliation cannot come without parity and dignity. The issue has to be approached reconciling to the reality of two nation states, not only for peace in the island but for even achieving shared sovereignty of a regional model, if that is going to be the demand of time in future. Present day International Community will register a point of progress in the polity of humanity by collectively eradicating baneful states like Sri Lanka that habitually use the card of geopolitics to resist restructure.
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Husband seeks HRCSL help to trace wife taken by SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 November 2009, 15:01 GMT]
Suntharalingam Thayaparan, a resident of Ki'linochchi , currently residing in Ne’lukkul’am in Vavuniyaa after being released from Menik Farm internment camp on October 26 has lodged a complaint with the regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to trace his wife Veni alias Arunthathi who was taken to Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital by the Sri Lanka Army in a helicopter for treatment to her head injuries caused due to the artillery fire in the last leg of military operation in Vanni region.
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Chinese Navy involved in attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen - FMOA

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 November 2009, 10:59 GMT]
Fishing Motorboat Owners Association (FMOA) in Tamil Nadu publicly informed Sunday that Chinese Navy men had attacked fishermen from Tamil Nadu fishing on the maritime boundary between Sri Lanka and South India. According to the statements of Tamil Nadu fishermen who were attacked on the sea a few days ago, there were eight Chinese navy soldiers and two Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) men in the boat which attacked them, FMOA said. The media in India had given much publicity to the presence of Chinese Navy soldiers on Indian sea.
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Fonseka, Gotabhaya entangle in US legal net

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 November 2009, 00:54 GMT]
United States appears to be slowly moving to corral Major General Sarath Fonseka, an aspiring US citizen, and Gotabhaya Rajapakse, a US citizen with property and family living in the U.S., into the US Justice system to investigate the two Sri Lanka officials for criminal culpability for allegedly issuing commands to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to fire heavy weapons towards the SLA demarcated No Fire Zone (NFZ) in the final stages of war killing more than 20,000 Tamil civilians. Colombo dailies report that Gen. Fonseka, currently on a private visit to the US, has been asked by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to have a "voluntary meeting" to discuss matters related to the recently released war-crimes report, and if he would be willing to testify against Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary.
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Protest against video-captured killing of Tamil youth

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 November 2009, 14:55 GMT]
The Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) led by Colombo district parliamentarian, Mano Ganeshan, is to hold a demonstration in front of the Fort Railway Station on November 4 at 12:00 noon condemning the assault and killing of a mentally ill Tamil youth by police and Sri Lanka Army soldiers in the sea of Bambalapitya on Thursday.
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