Police arrest 8 Tamils in Polonaruwa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 05:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka police arrested Saturday night eight Tamil civilians including two women in a cordon and search operation conducted in Kaduruwela area in Polanaruwa district in North Central Province, sources in Polanaruwa said. Most of the arrested are from Batticaloa, Ka’luvaangnchchikkudi, Nawalapitiya and Hatton, employed in the rice mills in the area searched.
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Sri Lanka’s conflict has ancient roots – UK minister, Bishop

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 22:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict is ““obviously … a quarrel that has ancient roots. It is also an extremely violent quarrel, with appalling things being done by both sides,” Britain’s Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown said Monday. He was agreeing in the House of Lords with the Bishop of Portsmouth who objected to the President of Sri Lanka describing the island’s conflict as part of the “war on terror,” the website Religious Intelligence reported.
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Ocampo urged to investigate Sri Lanka's war crimes

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 22:12 GMT]
Bruce Fein, counsel for a US-based Tamil activist group, in a letter sent to Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Hon. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and made public Monday, urged him to open investigations for war crimes, crimes against humanity and war crimes against four high-level officials of the Sri Lanka Government. Fein said he had sent copies of the Model Indictment for Genocide currently being reviewed at the U.S. Department of Justice, to Ocampo's office.
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India obligated to bring Sri Lanka's genocide to UN Security Council - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 21:36 GMT]
Pointing to India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's statement that the lack of peace and stability in Sri Lanka can also" affect security situation in our country [India]", as reported in the Press Trust of India Monday, Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at University of Illinois College of Law said that "[i]n light of this latest statement by the Prime Minister of India, the Government of India must immediately bring the Government of Sri Lanka's genocide against the Tamils to the attention of the United Nations Security Council for remedial action," as allowed by the Article 35(1) of UN charter.
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160 Tamils arrested in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 18:08 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos and police took into custody Monday 160 Tamils in Chammaanththu’rai in Ampaa’rai district in a large scale joint cordon and search operation, sources in Ampaa’rai said. Though Sinhalese and Muslim civilians were subjected to interrogation during the search only Tamils have been arrested and detained in the police stations in Ampaa’rai district, the sources added.
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Police arrest 6 Tamil youths in Katunayake

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 17:27 GMT]
Police and Sri Lanka Army in a cordon and search operation conducted in the Katunayake high security zone on Saturday night arrested six Tamil youths who are residents of east and upcountry area. Police said they were detained in police station as they failed to prove their identity and justify their stay in the location.
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Candlelight vigil for Vanni victims held in Mauritius

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 11:41 GMT]
Amnesty International Mauritius Branch held a candlelight vigil adopting the theme “Let’s all light a candle for Vanni” in Rose Hill in Mauritius 30 April in which the Mayor of Rose Hill, many MPs of the Mauritius National Assembly, the leader of the opposition, representatives of the National Movement Against Tamil Genocide (MATG) and other NGOS participated. A petition was circulated, calling the Government of Mauritius to intervene and make official representations in international forums to stop the war, alleviate the suffering of the Tamil civilians caught in the war and lobby for proper humanitarian aid to reach the war-affected zones.
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World Press Freedom Day observed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 16:15 GMT]
“It is of great importance that the World Press Freedom Day is celebrated in Jaffna peninsula where press freedom is completely restricted,” Chief guest of the event, C. V. K. Sivagnanam, the president of Jaffna peninsula NGOs Federation, said in the event organized by North Ceylon Journalists’ Association (NCJA) Sunday around 10:30 a. m in Jaffna University Media Training Centre, chaired by NCJA President, V. Kathirkamathamby. The portraits of the slain journalists of Jaffna peninsula and Tharmaratnam Sivaram, Tharaki, from Batticaloa and late senior journalists were unveiled in the NCJA office in the Media Training Centre at the beginning of the event, sources in Jaffna said. Veteran media photographer, Changkarakambar Kahiravelu, 76, was honoured for his continuing dedicated service to the media for the past 45 years, in the event.
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Japan’s aid for Tamils’ rehabilitation will not reach them – TNA tells Yasuhi Akashi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 10:02 GMT]
”Japan’s 480 million aid to Sri Lanka government to rehabilitate displaced Tamils will only help the government’s aims to segregate the traditional home lands of the Tamils converting Vanni into a military zone”, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, Suresh Premachandran told Japanese Ambassador, Yasushi Akashi when the TNA delegation led by Iraa. Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group’s leader, met the Ambassador Saturday, TNA sources said. Yasushi Akashi, in response said that the Sri Lanka government which was elected by the people of Sri Lanka has pledged to him that the displaced Tamils will be gradually resettled and was told by Iraa. Sampanthan that Sri Lanka government will never keep to its pledge, the sources added.
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Children faint from hunger, starvation deaths reported in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 07:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B. Nadesan on Sunday blamed the Sri Lankan government for deliberately carrying out "horrendous act of genocide" by denying food and humanitarian access to the civilian population. Mr. Nadesan pointed out the imminent danger of starvation escalating exponentially and urged the International Community not to fail in its duty to ensure humanitarian access to the civilian population under siege by the Sri Lankan military. Meanwhile, health officials in Vanni report that several children faint from hunger within the so-called safety zone every day. Deliberate denial of food by Colombo, especially milk powder for children, have caused severe malnutrition and starvation as local media reported at least 9 starvation deaths in recent days.
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Sinhalese colonization of Tamil village in Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 04:37 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Eastern Province parliamentarians accused the government of colonizing traditional Tamil villages in the border area between the districts of Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai districts with Sinhalese families, sources in Batticaloa said. Encroachment by Sinhalese families of paddy fields of Tamils in Keviliyaamadu village in Paddippazhai Divisional Secretariat in Batticaloa district takes place with government assistance, they further said.
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RSF campaigns for release of three women journalists

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 01:38 GMT]
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Saturday said it is mounting a campaign for the release of three women journalists, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge of spying for the United States, and two American journalists employed by California-based Current TV, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who have been held in Pyongyang since 17 March. In the 2009 report released earlier in the year the RSF said in Sri Lanka, "[m]urders, physical assaults, kidnappings, threats and censorship are the lot of Sri Lanka's journalists. Top government officials, including the defence minister, are directly implicated in the serious press freedom violations that accompanied the military offensive against the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels."
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Tamil Nadu activists attack Indian Army trucks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 18:06 GMT]
Activists belonging to the pro-Tamil nationalist Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK) attacked a convoy of military trucks of the Indian Army allegedly transporting weapons to Sri Lanka. Five trucks were damaged in the attack. Mortar shells were found in the trucks, sources in Chennai said.
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Jaffna DDC meeting postponed again

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 18:00 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) K. Ganesh informed that the Jaffna District Development Committee (DDC) meeting scheduled to take place 5 May has been postponed indefinitely. This is the second time the DDC meeting is postponed during the current year. The DDC, comprised of Sri Lanka Minister, Douglas Devananda, Governor of Northern Provincial Council and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian, Mavai Senathirajah, is responsible for the planning and implementation of development projects of Jaffna district.
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LTTE urges UK, French Foreign ministers to continue initiatives

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 17:59 GMT]
The LTTE’s Head of the Political Division on Saturday appreciated the attempts of the UK and French foreign ministers for visiting Colombo to address the dire humanitarian crisis faced by the Tamil people. In his letter to the ministers, the LTTE political head clarified the situation of IDPs in LTTE control areas in Vanni and invited international monitors to assess the civilian situation. Further, he concurred with the Foreign Ministers’ assessment of the situation by stating that ‘Should the Sri Lankan regime be permitted to continue with its ultimate objective of imposing a ‘final solution’ through military means, we have no doubt that it will destabilize the region’.
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Sri Lanka’s democratically mandated genocide

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 15:41 GMT]
"If Sri Lanka has reached the stage of having a 'democratically elected' government mandated for genocide by the ethnic majority, then that is the strongest reason why the country has to be democratically divided", writes TamilNet's political commentator in Colombo, responding to British envoy John Sawers' comment Thursday at UN that "Sri Lanka is a democratically elected government fighting a terrorist organization". Pointing out that this stand, worse than the fallacy of viewing an ethnic war as war on terrorism is not isolated in the IC, the commentator cautioned "as long as the IC, jaundiced in eyesight, fails to acknowledge that genocide and terrorism are 'democratically elected’ in Sri Lanka, they endanger democratic ideals globally” adding that "it is time for Tamil Nadu and the diaspora to demonstrate mandate for secession".
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17 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo on May Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 17:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and police took into custody 17 Tamil youths in a joint search operation conducted on May Day in Colombo 7, Bambalapitiya, Wellawathe, Watala and Negombo, subjecting hundreds of people going along the streets to severe interrogation, sources in Colombo said. The main political parties did not conduct May Day processions within Colombo city, the sources said.
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TNA parliamentarians condemn disappearance of students in Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 16:12 GMT]
“How could the government say that normalcy has been restored to Eastern Province and that civil administration takes place when many students in Batticaloa, Ampaa’rai and Trincomalee have gone missing?” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarians asked, in a joint report which called on the government to take action to have the abducted students released at the earliest, sources in Batticaloa said.
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'One-man hunt excuse to nullify a national question'

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 08:04 GMT]
Contrary to what is said outside, the real focus of the UN Security Council deliberations is not on the plight of the Tamil civilians, but using their plight as a shield and by manipulating it, the thrust is actually for the hunt or deposition of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan, in order to blunt the Tamil struggle, news reports hinted Thursday. Inner City Press quoted a senior advisor of Ban Ki-moon saying that the UN Secretariat’s hope was to arrange amnesty to the remaining LTTE cadres in the conflict zone, except Mr. Pirapaharan. When asked about his son, the advisor said, “That’s what negotiations are for”. While Colombo’s ambassador at UN said the matter is being considered, according to the UN advisor cited above, the Three Brothers have shown little interest as they feel they are about to win. Tamil circles smell Indian hand in such a line of deliberations.
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Hurdles remain on IMF Sri Lanka loan

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 03:51 GMT]
While the mandate of the IMF is to assist member countries facing Balance of Payment crisis, regardless of the military or human right situation, the loan to Sri Lanka can be stopped if the law suit filed by the Tamil diaspora is successful or if the members of the Executive Committee vocally campaigned against the loan, congressional sources said.
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