New Year celebrations dull in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 07:00 GMT]
The Tamil New Year was observed in a low key in the North as well as in the East of the country. The Vanni uprooted civilians held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps, not allowed to resettle in their own places despite countless promises and dates announced by the government, had other unfulfilled basic needs in their minds than the arrival of the New Year, according to sources in Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, Sinhalese Buddhists from the South attended in unprecedented numbers in the religious ceremonies held in Nainaatheevu Naakavikaarai, Aariyaku’lam Naakavikaarai and the newly built Buddhist Vikaarai in Ki’linochchi, sources in Jaffna said.
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TNA MP: Low turnout reflects Tamils losing faith in political system

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2010, 01:34 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson Suresh Premachandran has been quoted by The Island as saying that the very low turnout of Tamils in North and East in the 7th parliamentary elections of Sri Lanka signalled that the Tamil voters were losing faith in the political system. The TNA MP from Jaffna further said that the majority of Tamils who participated in the elections had endorsed the TNA manifesto for the resolution of the conflict and speedy re-settlement of the uprooted civilians.
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HR activist in Australia condemns freezing asylumn to Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2010, 23:24 GMT]
The Australian Government has introduced a suspension of the processing of new asylum applications from Sri Lanka. The suspension has been made as a result of the "evolving circumstances" said a joint media release from the Australian Ministers for Immigration and Citizenship, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs on Friday. Meanwhile, Julian Burnside, an Australian barrister and a human rights advocate, has condemned the move in an article published in The Age, stating that Tamils from Sri Lanka are fleeing because they face genocide in Sri Lanka.
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Clashes reported in the wake of election all over the country

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 19:56 GMT]
Clashes following Thursday parliamentary election between supporters of opposing candidates are reported to be taking place in several areas of the island, according to media reports. Former minister of the ruling United People’s Freedom (UPFA), M. Aluthgama is alleged to be directly involved in the assault of a member of the Election Monitoring Committee in Navalappiddi in the upcountry where incidents of post election violence has been high. Fights between two Muslim factions in Aalayadiveampu in Batticaloa in which Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) members are alleged to be involved, are also reported.
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Lowest number of votes registered in Jaffna electoral district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 18:31 GMT]
Only 18 to 20 percent of the voters in Jaffna electoral district cast their votes in the parliamentary elections Thursday recording the lowest in island, while the voting percentage in the whole country was from 52 to 55 percent, according to Election Monitoring Agencies. Jaffna electoral district, compared to other electoral districts, recorded the lowest turn over of voters where voting percentage in Thenmaraadchi was higher than that of Vadamaraadchi while voting was very low in the islets of Jaffna, the sources said. Compared to the recent presidential election where the voting was low the voting turn out was even less in the parliamentary election in Jaffna electoral district.
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Incidents of violence mark Election Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 10:15 GMT]
In Vavuniyaa in the North, alleged supporters of former Minister of Resettlement and ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Risard Badudeen harassed private bus owners transporting Vanni uprooted civilians in Vavuniyaa detention centres to the polling stations in Vanni district, according to Advisor to the Elections Commisioner, Bandula Kulathunge. Meanwhile, Executive Director of PAFFREL, Rohana Hettiarachchi said that the Election Day was quite violent with incidents continuing to pour in from all parts of the island.
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Thousands of uprooted civilians denied voting: CaFFE election monitors

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 08:46 GMT]
Many interned Tamil civilians in Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa were told by Sri Lankan election officials that they must go to Ki'linochchi Cluster Polling Station to vote, while election officials in Ki'linochchi station were instructing civilians that they must proceed to the Menik Farm Polling Station to vote, said Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) in a statement issued Thursday. "In the Killinochchi Central College Cluster Polling Centers only 362 out of 7,504 total registered voters have been able to cast their votes in the first set of 8 cluster polling stations. Furthermore, in the second set of 8 cluster polling centers only 283 out of 10,240 voters have been able to cast their votes by 12.00 noon," CaFFE statement said.
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SLA releases Vanni civilians from Thellippazhai Rehabilitation Centre, opens Clock Tower road

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 10:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) released 106 Vanni uprooted persons including young men and women held in Thellippazhai SLA Special Rehabilitation Centre (SRC) and opened Clock Tower Road in Jaffna town Wednesday in a last minute attempt to support the government in the context of Thursday parliamentary election, sources said. Jaffna SLA Commander Major Gen. Mahintha Kathurasinghe presided at the official event held at Thellippazhai SRC Thursday morning and later officially opened Clock Tower Road which had been closed by SLA for the last 15 years. Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, Jaffna University Vice-chancellor Prof. Shanmugalingan, Commanding Officer of SLA 515th Division G. A. Jayasundara participated in the event at Thellippazhai.
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Uprooted civilians sell dry food rations on streets in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 04:46 GMT]
Uprooted civilians from Vanni in Vavuniyaa internment camps are forced to sell their dry food rations on the streets of Vavuniyaa as they are unable to fulfill their other pressing needs including milk food for their children, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Help from NGOs being unavailable they are driven to sell their dry food rations for less than half the market price to meet their other vital needs. The uprooted persons resettled in Vanni and in Jaffna district too face the same predicament, sources from Vanni and Jaffna said.
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UK backs Burma tried in UN war crimes tribunal

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 March 2010, 18:35 GMT]
"Britain is backing moves to refer Burma's military leaders to the international criminal court for investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity. The move is part of a heightened campaign to force the junta to embrace genuine democratic reforms," UK's Guardian said quoting diplomatic and government sources. Britain's ambassador to the UN, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, said the UK supported a recommendation by the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma that The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) opens a war crimes investigation, the paper added.
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Sydney launch of CJPD's book on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 2010, 22:41 GMT]
“Sri Lanka 60 Years of 'Independence' and Beyond" a publication by Switzerland based NGO, Center for Just Peace and Democracy (CJPD), and edited by Program Director at CJPD, Ana Pararajasingham, was launched at the popular Gleebooks bookshop in the heart of Sydney Friday. John Murphy, Member of the Australian Parliament, David Feith, an academic attached to Monash University, and Professor Bruce Kapferer who were contributors to the publication, and Gordon Weiss, the former UN diplomat, attended the event.
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Uprooted Champoor families undergo hardships in welfare centres

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 2010, 12:07 GMT]
Two thousand and five hundred members of seven hundred and ninety four uprooted families from Champoor in Moothoor East have been undergoing untold hardships without drinking water and water facilities for bathing purposes in temporary shelters which are located in Ki'liveddi, Paddiththidal and Ma'nalcheanai in Moothoor Divisional Secretariat (DS) division.
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BBC: Fox and Love lobbied for Sri Lanka after junkets

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 2010, 04:00 GMT]
Two British MPs, Mr. Andy Love of the ruling Labour party, and Dr. Liam Fox of the main opposition Conservative party, made visits to Sri Lanka paid for by the government there, and while not declaring their trips, spoke in support of Sri Lanka in parliament, a BBC investigation has revealed. Both MPs were hosted by Mahinda Rajapakse regime in the past three years amid Sri Lanka’s onslaught in which tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed. Mr. Fox, some of whose trips coincided with international outrage over the ongoing slaughter, told the BBC his visits were to “promote peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.” Following his second visit in 2008, Mr. Love urged British ministers to send more aid to Sri Lanka.
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EPDP men alleged of attack on UNP campaigners in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2010, 16:37 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) chief candidate for Jaffna electorate Ms. Vijayakala Maheswaran registered complaints with Jaffna Election Officer that persons of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) had attacked UNP candidates and supporters when they were pasting election campaign posters in Suruvil, Oorkaavattu’rai in the islets of Jaffna Sunday. Meanwhile, EPDP officials denied the allegation saying that the attackers were not their party men but ordinary civilians, sources in Jaffna said. When the islets of Jaffna is said to be under the full control of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) there is no possibility of ordinary civilians attacking them, the UNP candidates and supporters said.
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TID interrogates 700 civilians under ER

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2010, 11:51 GMT]
About seven hundred civilians are being detained by the Terrorism Investigations Division (TID) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police under the Emergency Regulations, Colombo media reported quoting TID sources. Most of the detainees were arrested during the last months of the war. The State of Emergency was extended by the dissolved parliament during the first week of this month.
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Britain names Sri Lanka as a country of concern

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 2010, 07:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka is the only country added on the annual human rights report by Britain this year as a country of concern by the Foreign Affairs Committee, according to British Foreign Office. The Annual report on Human Rights 2009 presented 17 March to British Parliament says, ‘Since the last report, we have added one country of concern. We agreed with the Foreign Affairs Committee’s recommendation to include Sri Lanka. This reflects our concern about allegations of serious conflict violations, as well as the deteriorating status of the rule of law and freedom of expression.’
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Prof. Boyle: PCIJ precedent brings GoSL's war-crimes within UN jurisdiction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2010, 20:58 GMT]
Quoting a landmark 1923 decision on rules governing international agreements by the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), Professor Boyle, an expert in international law, referred to Colombo's claim that UN is infringing on the sovereignty of a member state, and said, "I am not going to spend a lot of time here refuting this erroneous and disingenuous interpretation of international law and the requirements of the United Nations Charter by the GoSL (Government of Sri Lanka) and its Foreign Minister. There is one definitive answer to their objection. Namely, the GoSL Army undoubtedly inflicted numerous violations of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 upon the Tamils in Vanni a year ago, and in particular but not limited to gross violations of Common Article 3 thereof, which constituted war crimes. Sri Lanka is a contracting party to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949."
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‘Vanni Mouse’ wins best fiction award in international film festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2010, 18:01 GMT]
A Tamil short film directed by a diaspora Eezham Tamil winning the best award in an international festival is seen as a first with the short film titled ‘Vanni Mouse’, which has won the best film award in the fiction category in the nine-day 11th International Short and Independent Film Festival (ISIFF) at the Shaukat Osman auditorium of Central Public Library in Dhaka on Friday. Commenting on the award, Barrister S. J. Joseph of Eelavar Cine Arts Council, based in London told TamilNet on Monday that this was the first time an Eezham Tamil artist being awarded at an international film festival.
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US rights report adds to Colombo's woes over war-crime accusations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2010, 00:08 GMT]
The "2009 Human Rights Report" on Sri Lanka released by the United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, criticized the Sri Lanka Government, paramilitaries working with the Government, and the Liberation Tigers for gross human rights violations. On torture, the report said, "reports of secret government facilities where suspected LTTE sympathizers were taken, tortured, and often killed." The report adds fuel to the recent accusations by high-level officials of the United Nations that Sri Lanka is balking on investigating allegations of war-crimes, and calling for an international investigations.
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Sarath Fonseka to be tried over 5 charges under Army Act

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2010, 10:58 GMT]
Retired Major General Sarath will be tried over five charges under Army Act at a court martial within next few days, Military spokesman, Major General Prasad Amarasinghe told media Monday. He added that the summary of evidence over charges against General Fonseka made in compliance with provisions of the Army Act was completed and handed over to Army Commander over the weekend.
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