Sri Lanka cabinet's next stop, Ambilipitiya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 July 2010, 23:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government has decided to hold the next out station Cabinet meeting in Ambilipitiya, the Lankadeepa newspaper said Friday. This follows this week’s Cabinet meeting held in Ki'linochchi, the former headquarters of the LTTE. The significance of holding cabinet meetings in cities across the country is to primarily showcase the fact that Colombo, Sri Lanka's commercial capital, is not the only place where decisions with regard to the country’s upliftment are taken, according to the paper.
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Verdict on Sri Lanka should be warning to others: Pakistan Newspaper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 July 2010, 18:07 GMT]
“The verdict on Sri Lanka should come as a warning to other armies fighting on their own soil”, says Thursday’s editorial of Pakistan’s influential newspaper Dawn, commenting on UN’s efforts of war crimes investigation and Sri Lanka’s opposition to it. “The war was conducted by the army but had the full backing of the president who believed that Tamil Eelam was an intractable problem which could not be resolved through political means”, the Dawn said. Meanwhile, Tamil circles were commenting on the war crimes of peace brokers. The former peace facilitator Erik Solheim made a statement last month that lives would have been saved and the UN, the USA and India would have taken over the situation had the LTTE surrendered. Why didn’t he tell this possibility when hundreds of thousands took to street to stop the war, asks Dr. T. Sivakanesan, a member of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam.
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High Security Zones will not be dismantled says SL Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 July 2010, 15:32 GMT]
Sri Lankan Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella on Thursday said High Security Zones of the Sri Lankan military in strategic locations will remain although the war had ended and people have been claiming ownership of their land. The Sri Lankan minister said even super powers such as the USA were having High Security Zones. Colombo's decision comes while Indian assistance was provided to revive the KKS Harbour, the cement factory and Palaali airstrip, all of which are located inside High Security Zone. The Sri Lankan military is also setting up new bases along the coastal areas of North and East in recent weeks. Tamil circles, commenting on the controversial announcement by Mr. Rambukwella said Colombo was preparing the ground for large-scale Sinhalicisation of strategic Tamil areas
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War crimes and human civilisation

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 July 2010, 08:19 GMT]
A war will not end without the delivery of political justice to the core issue. Even the winners who waged World Wars for the monopoly of colonies couldn’t escape conceding independence to colonies. USA and India bungling political justice to the national question in the island will have a bearing on Afghan War, Western Civilisation and on Indian integrity. The solidarity of Eezham Tamil diaspora is as important a trump as the geopolitical trump of Sri Lanka. In its historic duty to its nation and to civilisation, the diaspora without succumbing to lures should intensely align with the people of Tamil Nadu and progressive Sinhalese in realising political justice and in seeing no others ever suffer like Eezham Tamils. The last diplomatic chance for the USA and India to make ‘strategic partnership’ a smooth affair is to jointly uphold the balance of nations in the island.
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Batticaloa Tamils fear establishment of civil youth committees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 July 2010, 05:36 GMT]
Civil youth committees are to be formed in all thirty Grama Niladhari divisions in the Batticaloa police division, according to Superintendent of Police in charge of the division, I. M. Kaurnaretna. Each committee will comprise of ten youths including the Grama Niladhari of the area in charge, he said at a meeting held Monday at Batticaloa Mahajana College. Tamil residents in Batticaloa district are perturbed over the move of setting up civil youth committees in the background that Sinhalese and Muslim members of such committees earlier appointed during the war time in the Ampaarai district had engaged in burglary and robbery.
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Weerawansa resigns ministry portfolio, continues fast against UN

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2010, 10:19 GMT]
Wimal Weerawansa, the leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF), a splinter group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and currently an ally of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Friday resigned from the post of Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Colombo media reported quoting his ministry spokesman. However Lalith Weeratunge, the Secretary to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse told media that he has not received the resignation letter yet.
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Asylum seekers set sail in a sea of silence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 July 2010, 00:52 GMT]
Noting that asylum policy debate in Australia has re-focussed on "how to stop the boat people coming," Dr Sam Pari, spokesperson of the Australian Tamil Congress, in an article appearing on ABC, points out that "if both parties [Labor and Liberals] are serious about cutting down on asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, they need to look at the root cause of the problem and review their foreign policy in regards to Sri Lanka," and faults Australia's political leaders saying, "while our Western allies continue to publicly denounce Sri Lanka's appalling treatment of its civilians, Tamils in particular, Australia is yet to publicly condemn any of the country's [Sri Lanka's] current or past acts."
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Weerawansa’s protest against UN turns violent, announces 'devil dance'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 14:30 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister for Construction and Housing, Wimal Weerawansa, who launched a protest in front of the UN office in Bauddaloka Mawatta in Colombo demanding the UN to dissolve the expert panel announced by the UN Secretary General to investigate allegations of war crimes and human rights violations, arrived at the demonstration site around 5:00 p.m. and prompted the protesters to enter the premises of the UN complex after phoning Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and receiving instructions, a reporter at the site told TamilNet. A police officer was manhandled by the mob and the police has withdrawn from the premises. The protest was going till the reporter left the site at 7:00 p.m. The minister himself attacked the police officer and has planned to hold 'devil dance' throughout the night in front of the UN office.
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SLA obliterates Tiger Heroes' Cemeteries, erects military bases

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 July 2010, 18:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which has been systematically razing to the ground without any traces the Thamizh Eezham Heroes War Cemeteries (Thamizh Eezha Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam) in several places of North and East, has in recent weeks obliterated the Thuyilum Illam at Kodikaaman in Thenmaraadchi, Jaffna, and is erecting a big SLA base in its place. Ellangku’lam Heroes Cemetery in Udupiddi in Vadamaraadchi had been already destroyed without any trace and the premises converted into an SLA base. The obliterated Thuyilum Illam is now enclosed by barbed wire fence and hidden by coconut cadjans where a large number of SLA soldiers are hurriedly constructing a base. Tamil circles view the systematic destruction of Tamil war heroes' cemeteries and the symbols of the Tamil struggle in north and East as part of a large-scale genocide programme on Tamils by the Sri Lankan state.
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Person sending false SMS under detention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 2010, 17:53 GMT]
Sri Lankan Defence Ministry Thursday issued detention order to detain a manager of a mercantile firm for allegedly initiating a false SMS message claiming Black Tigers were to attack Anuradhapura on Poson Day.
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Clash of Roadmaps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 19:33 GMT]
The Mahinda – KP move handled by the military intelligence of Sri Lanka, whether a culmination of a long-term strategy or a move to probe the diaspora, is now backfiring against Colombo, is backfiring against some international actors harping on wrong notions of reconciliation and is backfiring against some elements in the diaspora which were long dreaming on the success of this move to trail behind with their tangential politics.
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Muslim school to function with Sinhala name in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 19:32 GMT]
Nallakuddiyaa'ru Muslim School has been given a Sinhalese name as Namalwatte Vidiyalayam without identifying it as a Muslim school. A Sinhalese woman Principal has been appointed with four Muslim teachers to Muslim students about 65. Not even a single Sinhala student is studying in the school which is located in Nallakuddiyaa'ru Muslim village in Morawewa (Muthalikku'lam) division in Trincomalee district. This school comes under the Trincomalee Zonal Education Office.
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Power of ideology sustains Tamil struggle: Gulf News

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 09:53 GMT]
Gulf News, a newspaper published from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, in an Op-Ed article on Wednesday said the idea of separate state for Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka is kept alive by the 'power of ideology' although Colombo managed to win the war on LTTE with a 'single-minded' approach. Although it is a softer doctrine, it is capable of gathering momentum over a period of time, the paper said. "Judging by the recent sequence of events, the past may, by all accounts, come back to haunt Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse," the editorial said adding that the onus is on Rajapakse's government to address the plight of the Tamils sooner rather than later.
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Jaffna GA K. Ganesh retires from service

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2010, 18:44 GMT]
Mr. K. Ganesh, Government Agent (GA), Jaffna who is retiring from service Wednesday expressed his gratitude to all, particularly the media, for the cooperation offered to him in performing duties as the GA even under trying circumstances during war time, in a message to local media Tuesday. Ms. Imelda Sukumar, presently the GA of Mullaiththeevu district, will succeed Mr. K. Ganesh as the GA of Jaffna district from Thursday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Mr. V. Velnathan, former GA of Ki'linochchi district, who had been arrested and detained under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for allegedly supplying information to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and released later is to assume duties as Mullaiththeevu district GA, 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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JHU holds protest march against UN Experts Panel

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 17:21 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse, Monday morning held a protest march starting from the premises of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) to the United Nations office located at Buddhaloka Mawatte in Colombo against the appointment of Experts Panel by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to advise him on the alleged war crimes during the last leg of the war in Sri Lanka, sources in Colombo said.
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Sand dunes scooped at Ma'n'niththalai

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 07:56 GMT]
Similar to the plunder of limestone in the Jaffna Peninsula, agents of Colombo are now engaged in scooping the sand dunes of the Ma’n’niththalai sandbar, which is of immense natural beauty and of archaeological as well as tourist potentiality, sources in Poonakari said. The fragile ecology of the densely populated Jaffna Peninsula is deliberately destroyed by corporates in the construction industry and by their contractors, academics in Jaffna said. The plunder of resources in Jaffna and Vanni are divided among Douglas Devandanda and Namal Rajapaksa respectively. Meanwhile percentage of benefits from large-scale 'development' contracts goes to Basil Rajapaksa and the income extracted by the military goes to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, informed circles said.
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Colombo schemes Sinhalicised capital for North

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 05:52 GMT]
Similar to the Sinhalicisation of Trincomalee, the capital of the East, Colombo plans for a new, Sinhalicised capital for the North too at Ki'linochchi, administrative sources working for Colombo on the project said. Ki'linochchi is being prepared for that with an extensive military cantonment with permanent houses for military personnel, cultivation lands for them, an airstrip at Ira'naimadu, new Buddhist temples and by not allowing the local population to their lands. For every three people there is one military personnel at present. When resettled, the local Tamils will be herded into pockets and there will be a new population, considerably Sinhalicised, the sources said adding that with the completion of the plot, there won’t be even one city or administrative centre existing for Tamils in the island.
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Malaysian corporates jump at Mahinda-KP plot for development, says Colombo media

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 June 2010, 16:01 GMT]
Top entrepreneurs of the Ceylonese Tamil diaspora in Malaysia gathered Saturday to raise funds for Selvaraja Pathmanathan’s (KP) ‘development’ of the North and East of Sri Lanka, media circles in Colombo said, citing Sri Lankan High Commission sources in Malaysia. The tables at the gathering were priced one million rupees upwards and the Maxis Communication CEO donated 35 million rupees, Lakbimanews said, adding that the fund will be for resettlement, reconstruction as well as rehabilitation of the LTTE cadres and disabled army soldiers. Two years back, a group of Ceylonese Tamils naming them newly as ‘Sri Lankans’ organized a conference for the diaspora attended by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner. The conference failed in its results, said the New York based Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) in a report last year.
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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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