JVP trying to launch another insurgency- SLFP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2008, 12:47 GMT]
The Sinhala Nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), has been on its way to the jungle once again after its internal split, said the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and a senior minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena, addressing a press briefing held in the auditorium of the Mahaweli Centre in Colombo Friday.
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20 Tamil youths arrested in Sri Lanka's Central towns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2008, 09:11 GMT]
Twenty seven civilians including twenty Tamils were arrested in two separate cordon and search operation conducted from Wednesday evening till Thursday evening in Dambulla and Teldeniya areas, sources said. The arrested are still being detained in respective police stations, and are to be produced in courts after the investigation is completed, police sources said.
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Sri Lanka's 'Tamil implementation'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2008, 04:04 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government and its agencies outside are bent on a propaganda programme of highlighting equal implementation of Tamil as an official language in Sri Lanka, as provided by the 13th amendment of the constitution, to argue the case against secession and to justify themselves to international opinion. But in actual practice there is a planned effort by the state to sinhalicise the very usage of Eezham Tamil itself.
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Civilians flee SLA shelling in Northern Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2008, 00:07 GMT]
Internally displaced families in Moon'raampiddi and Ve'l'laangku'lam villages, located in the northern part of Mannaar district, were fleeing their villages and settlements Friday after artillery and mortar barrage from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) that has approached Iluppaikkadavai, north of Vidaththaltheevu. Meanwhile, IDPs from the administrative areas of Maanthai West division of Mannaar district and Thu’nukkaay division in Mullaiththeevu district are undergoing severe hardships without proper accommodation and relief supplies in Karaichchi division of Ki'linochchi district.
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Landmark European ruling says Tamils risk torture if deported

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 July 2008, 10:48 GMT]
In a rebuke of Britain’s efforts to deport Tamil asylum seekers, the European Court of Human Rights allowed Thursday the appeal by one refugee, finding that he was at risk of torture by the Sri Lankan authorities if returned there. Immigration lawyers said the European Court’s ruling was ‘very significant’ as the forcible removal of hundreds of Tamils had been held up pending this judgment. The Court’s decision came as the British government praised the Sri Lankan government’s efforts on human rights.
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Navanethem Pillay tipped to become U.N. Human Rights Chief

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 July 2008, 10:42 GMT]
The South African judge Ms. Navanethem Pillay, who has served on the International Criminal Court since 2003, is expected to be proposed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the candidate for UN's next Human Rights Chief, succeeding Louise Arbour, Reuters reported Friday. As a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she served for eight years, Judge Pillay led the landmark decisions defining rape as an institutionalized weapon of war and a crime of genocide.
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Boston Globe: Sri Lanka, in danger of becoming a rogue state

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 July 2008, 11:33 GMT]
"The solution to Sri Lanka's conflict must be political, not military. Rajapakse should be encouraged to strike a deal that grants Tamils substantial autonomy in their own homeland areas. If not, the war will drag on, and Sri Lanka's government may find itself classified alongside the regimes in Burma, Zimbabwe, and Sudan as an international pariah," Boston Globe, in an editorial published Thursday said.
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Two Tamil youths abducted in Kohuwela, Dehiwala

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 July 2008, 10:31 GMT]
Two Tamil youths were abducted in two separate incidents, one at Kohuwela Tuesday around 8:20 p.m. and the other at Dehiwala Monday night, according to complaints lodged with the Dehiwala police by his relatives.
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SL Supreme Court allows videofilming during search operations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 July 2008, 10:22 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarath Silvan has allowed the Sri Lankan 'security' establishment to video residents of 'all communities' during the cordon and search operations. The Sri Lankan Chief Justice issued the directive Tuesday following the explanation by the State Counsel appearing for the Attorney General in a fundamental rights violation case filed by the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) against the indiscriminate arrests of Tamils in Colombo that it is tantamount to violating fundamental rights of Tamils. Members of law enforcement authority could continue video filming of persons in search operation irrespective of racial, religious and other differences.
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73 IDP families to be resettled in Moothoor east

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 July 2008, 08:05 GMT]
A group of Tamil families fled from Moothoor east in Trincomalee district to Batticaloa with the launching of military operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on their villages in 2006 are to be resettled Friday.220 members of 73 families are to be brought by the eight buses via Vaakarai-Verukal road to their villages in three Grama Sevaka divisions, Paddaalipuram, Pa'l'likkudiyiruppu and Nallur, resettlement authority officials said.
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Japanese Tamil scholar Susumu Ohno passes away

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 July 2008, 21:26 GMT]
Professor Susumu Ohno, distinguished scholar of Japanese linguistics, known for his phenomenal research of linking the origins of Japanese language with Tamil, passed away on Monday in Tokyo at the age of 89, reported The Japan Times. He was working on the relationship between Tamil and Japanese languages for the last 30 years and even last year came out with a publication, reasserting to his theories. A 1999 book of him on Japanese language sold nearly 2 million copies.
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Tamil youth abducted, another missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 July 2008, 15:12 GMT]
Two Tamil youths were abducted Monday by unidentified armed persons in two separate incidents in Dehiwala and Narahenpitiya in Colombo, according to Civil Monitoring Committee.
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One Tamil youth abducted, another missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 July 2008, 15:12 GMT]
Two Tamil youths were abducted Monday by unidentified armed persons in two separate incidents in Dehiwala and Naharenpitya in Colombo, according to a statement issued by the Civil Monitoring Committee.
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TNA: Jaffna Pass system violates basic human rights

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 July 2008, 15:43 GMT]
Maavai Senathirajah, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Jaffna in a letter to Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse, protested that procedures instituted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials for Jaffna residents to obtain a “Pass” to travel out of Jaffna require several days, and are causing “tremendous hardships” to the public and demanded immediate withdrawal of the pass system. He accused Colombo of suppressing freedom of movement and of grossly violating basic human rights.
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SLA approval mandatory for Vadamaraadchi development projects

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 July 2008, 01:39 GMT]
The commanding officer of 52nd Division of Sri Lanka Army (SLA), in a letter sent to the Jaffna Government Agent (GA) Friday, has instructed the GA to obtain permission from SLA before implementing any projects in SLA- controlled Vadamaaradchi East.
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Court seeks explanation from AG for video taping Tamil residents

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 July 2008, 00:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, in response to a complaint filed by the petitioner in a fundamental rights violation case, Monday, directed the Attorney General to appear on Tuesday and submit his explanation for video taping a group of Tamil civilians in Muhathuwaaram in Colombo on July 2 after they were taken to an open space following a cordon and search operation, legal sources said.
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Protection seeker dies at Jaffna hospital

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 July 2008, 22:11 GMT]
A 37-year-old Tamil civilian, who had sought humanitarian protection with Jaffna office of Human Rights Commission (JHRC) and placed on protective custody in Jaffna prison was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Jaffna hospital Monday and later succumbed to his illness, according to medical sources.
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Two milk vendors missing in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 July 2008, 18:02 GMT]
Two milk vendors from Akkaraippattu police division have been reported missing since Saturday early morning 4:00 a.m., Vimalavathy, wife of one of victims, stated in a complaint lodged with Akkaraippattu police. The relatives of the victims have also reported the disappearances to the nearby Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps.
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Making SAARC meaningful

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 July 2008, 11:42 GMT]
The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation, which incorporates India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and now Afghanistan, is a logical process, not just because of geographical contiguity, shared cultures, legacies of British imperialism, elite use of English language etc., but because of the region’s common aspirations and problems, first of all in ensuring secure and quality life, and then seeking the rightful place for one fifth of humanity in the contemporary world. What went wrong with the noble concept of SAARC, while similar regional formations such as the EU and ASEAN are successful elsewhere, discusses Opinion Columnist Chivanadi.
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Tamil Assistant Registrar of Kelaniya University reported missing

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 July 2008, 01:33 GMT]
The Assistant Registrar of the Kelaniya University, R.Rajeswaran, has been reported missing since July 4. He left for work on that Friday morning but failed to return home, according to a complaint lodged with the Wattala Police by his wife Vasanthini, a teacher at Puthukkulam Maha Vidiyalayam in Vavuniyaa.
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