SLA harasses resettled civilians in Vanni - TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2010, 03:15 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarians informed visiting British Acting High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Mr. Mark Gooding Monday, that the resettled civilians in Vanni are harassed by occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers according to several complaints they had received from the resettled civilians in Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. TNA parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran, Sritharan and Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy met the visiting British envoy in a hotel in Chu’ndukkuzhi. The TNA parliamentarians also explained how the resettled civilians in Vanni have been left to suffer even without basic facilities that should have been provided prior to resettlement by government authorities, the sources added.
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KP-Diaspora programme operated by SL Military Intelligence: Doctor Arudkumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 21:31 GMT]
Sri Lankan Director of National Intelligence, Major General Kapila Hendawitharana, the longest serving intelligence officer of the military, is in charge of the covert and overt programme of dividing and conquering the Tamil diaspora, alludes British Tamil doctor Velauthapillai Arudkumar, who visited the island recently as part of a ‘Tamil diaspora visit’ organised by Colombo through Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP. TamilNet releases an exclusive video interview with Dr. Arudkumar taken two days ago, in which he reveals the details of the trip. SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Maj. Gen. Hendawitharana and External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris, all spoke in a well-synchronised way. Military counterinsurgency and 'post-war development' are intertwined aiming at Tamil subjugation, the doctor infers in his interview.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 June 2010, 12:35 GMT]
A team of police intelligence unit in Vavuniyaa took into custody a Tamil civilian in Aachchipuram in Vavuniyaa Wednesday night on information that he had been involved in the activities of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the past, police sources said.
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Resettled Vanni civilians left uncared for

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 June 2010, 07:25 GMT]
130 families of uprooted Vanni civilians resettled four days ago in Oottuuppulam, a village along A9 road near Muruka’ndi in Ki’linochchi district had to seek shelter under trees in the pouring rain Tuesday night as they were not provided with tarpaulins to put up temporary shelter, a local NGO official in Ki’linochchi said. The resettled civilians had not been given even the dry food rations by government authorities in charge of resettlement in Vanni, he said.
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Explosion in Colombo, nine persons injured

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 June 2010, 07:01 GMT]
At least nine civilians were injured in a grenade explosion that took place Thursday early morning at Bodhiraja Mawatte in Pettah in Colombo. This incident took place near a stall in the busy Pettah area selling apples, police said.
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SLA arrests sixteen Tamil civilians in Eastern provinces

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2010, 04:15 GMT]
At least sixteen persons were taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from the districts of Ampaa’rai and Batticaloa until last week and held in detention on reports that they possessed cell phones with photographs of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V. Pirabakarna and video films related to LTTE, civil sources said.
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SLA constructs big base on Pa’n’nai coast near Jaffna Fort

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 16:46 GMT]
Hundreds of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are actively engaged in constructing a big base on the coastal stretch of Meenaadchipuram between Pa’n’nai and Naavaanthu’rai near Jaffna Fort, allocated for resettlement of uprooted civilians, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna SLA Commander Mahinda Kathurusinghe recently said in a press meet that the SLA 512 Division base presently located in the occupied private properties in Jaffna town including Subas and Gnanam hotels are to be soon relocated to another place.
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Sinhalese with Pirapaharan photo further remanded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 06:32 GMT]
Puththa'lam Magistrate Monday ordered further remand till June 30 for a Sinhalese civilian Amarasingha Chandana when he was produced from prison on a charge that he was carrying a photograph of LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan.
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130 Tamil civilians reported disappeared in Batticaloa district since 2007

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 05:04 GMT]
One hundred thirty Tamil civilians are reported disappeared during the last three years in the Batticaloa district since 2007, relatives of the disappeared told Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians at a discussion held Sunday at Batticaloa American Mission Hall. They requested the TNA parliamentarians to help trace the disappeared. Most of the disappeared were between the ages 20 and 35, they said. TNA parliamentarians P. Selvarajah, S. Yogeswaran and P. Ariyanethiran participated in the discussion.
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Janakaraliya inaugurates program of dramas in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 18:48 GMT]
Janakaraliya, Makkal Ka’lari of the people, with the assistance of Jaffna Education Department inaugurated Monday its program of dramas in ‘Mobile Theatre’ in Nalloor in the CMS School playground located near Jaffna Education Office scheduled to take place from 21 June to 02 July, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, V. Anandasangari of the TULF, who earlier backed Mahinda Rajapaksa during Colombo's war against the LTTE, condemned the program of Janakaraliya for being inappropriate in the context of war affected civilians suffering in Vanni and suggested that Janakaraliya could serve best by visiting Vanni and learn of the misery of Vanni people which could be portrayed realistically in their dramas.
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Funds allocated for resettled persons remain unused in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 16:20 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district MP, P. Selvarasa, accused that the 5792 million rupees allocated to provide basic facilities to the resettled persons uprooted from areas in Batticaloa district during the 2006 military offensive on Paduvaankarai have not been utilized by the related authorities. Selvarasa’s accusation comes when reports are issued claiming that the needs of the resettled civilians have been considerably met, following the recent official visit to Batticaloa by Minister of Resettlement, Milroy Fernando and Depurty minister, Vinayagamoorhty Murlitharan.
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Australian Greens to call for War Crimes Probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 07:24 GMT]
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young is set to put forward a motion in parliament this week urging the Australian Government to lobby the U.N to investigate alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. Citing a recent report by the ICG that highlighted the complicity of Sri Lankan Government and military officials in atrocities committed during the final stages of armed conflict and Australia’s role as an “active member state of the United Nations”, the motion has been praised by Tamil circles in Australia.
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Intoxicating hubris

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 00:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is widely believed to be the key Sri Lanka official responsible for instituting procedures and issuing commands that allegedly violated international norms in the conduct of war, has provided enlightening clues to inner workings of his mind in several interviews recorded on film by reputable international media. "His unchecked power, authorized by his brother and Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, appears to have blunted his reasoning faculty, triggering him to compulsively express open threats against journalists and unwittingly admit to abject disregard for civilian casualties while issuing military commands. Many of his statements border on self-incrimination," said a spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group. A collection of Gotabhaya interviews are compiled in this feature.
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US says Sri Lanka Commission does not meet [International] standards

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 June 2010, 16:51 GMT]
Stephen Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues appointed by President Obama, said, "what's been announced to date has not met the standard. They're [Sri Lanka is] telling use it does have that capacity, to investigate these cases, to follow up and call witnesses. We're hearing it, but we're not seeing it." Rapp's statement came as a response to a question from Inner City Press which asked Rapp if "Lessons Learned" [Commission] was adequate to carry out investigations, ICP reported.
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Sri Lanka stands by its dud commission, UN interested in its progress

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 June 2010, 02:12 GMT]
When United Nation's Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe announced Thursday the imminent appointment of advisory panel to advise Ban Ki Moon on the alleged war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the last stages of the war, Colombo toned down its rhetoric with Media Minister pontificating, "it is best to allow the locally appointed commission to do its work prior to involving international actors or taking further unwarranted actions." Pascoe, while asserting that Sri Lanka's President has assured him that the local "reconciliation panel" will be "credible and accountable," said "[w]e will be interested in its progress."
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Akashi visits Ki’linochchi for the first time after war

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 June 2010, 19:06 GMT]
Yasushi Akashi, the special envoy appointed by Japan during the Norwegian facilitated negotiations between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), accompanied by Basil Rajapaksa, handed over agricultural implements to some of the resettled Vanni civilians Friday in an event held in Ki’linochchi town. Yasushi Akashi who had held talks with the LTTE in Ki’linochchi was visiting the town for the first time after Sri Lankan military occupied the entire Vanni.
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MIA: I speak for my people

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 June 2010, 01:13 GMT]
Calling the Jaffna born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA), "the most provocative pop star of her age," the British Guardian, writing about the singer's popularity before the release of her third album "Born Free" in July, said that "she speaks out in support of Tamil citizens," and that "[h]er assertions that the Sri Lankan government is guilty of the genocide of local Tamils have not been going down well. She's even been accused of supporting the LTTE..." Earlier this month story of her confrontation with New York Times for misrepresenting MIA's quotes was a popular story on major news media and noted websites that cover music.
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'Victory Day' declared public holiday in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 June 2010, 17:17 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka has declared Friday as a public holiday to celebrate the Victory Day event to mark the defeat of LTTE last year, according to a press release by the Government Information Department Thursday. Government offices and schools are to be closed down on Friday enabling public servants and teachers and students to attend the event.
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UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs visits Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 June 2010, 12:12 GMT]
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe, who arrived Wednesday morning Colombo on a two day visit, left to Mullaiththeevu on an inspection tour, sources in Colombo said citing Sri Lankan External Affairs ministry officials. Prior to leaving to Mullaiththeevu Mr. Pascoe met G.L. Peiris, the Sri Lankan foreign minister. The visit by Lynn Pascoe takes place after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited India and the arrival of top officials and envoys from the USA and Japan.
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Justice for Bloody Sunday victims after 40 years

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 June 2010, 02:10 GMT]
British Prime Minister, David Cameron, addressing the House of Commons Tuesday afternoon after the release of Saville Report on the killing of thirteen civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland in January 1972, acknowledged that British paratroopers had fired on fleeing unarmed civilians, that British soldiers had fired the first shot, many of the soldiers lied about their actions, and that British soldiers had shot and killed already wounded civilians. The Prime Minister then apologized on behalf of the British Government, according to a BBC report.
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