Speech criminalized in US Supreme Court material support case

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 June 2010, 01:51 GMT]
In a decision announced Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to criminalize speech in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the first case to challenge the Patriot Act before the Supreme Court, and the first post-9/11 case to challenge primacy of national security claims over free speech guarantees. The plaintiffs were organizations and individuals who wanted to continue to support lawful political and humanitarian activities of two groups designated as terrorist: the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an advocate for self-determination of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
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Continuing ‘counter insurgency’ approach to chronic national question

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2010, 11:41 GMT]
Colombo’s latest deployment of Selvarasa Pathmanathan (KP), a victim of circumstances, to blunt the Eezham Tamil struggle only reveals that ‘counter insurgency’ is the style continued to be envisaged by some powers in approaching the chronic national question in the island, commented Tamil circles watching the developments. The move, bereft of any political promises, but aiming at roping in the diaspora for ‘development,’ comes after the visit of G L Peiris to Washington, Robert Blake lamenting that still “some polarisation” exists in the island and amidst heavy visits of dignitaries in the last couple of weeks. The move is not surprising. It is a sequence of a long-existing design, operated simultaneously through good and ugly faces of the West, observers said. The KP operation in Colombo is handled by a controversial group of foreign-trained Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel.
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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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JHU ousts pro-Rajapaksa Thera from leader post

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 07:52 GMT]
Power struggle ended in the extreme Sinhala nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) by ousting Venerable Ellawala Medhananda Thera from the post of party leader and electing Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera unanimously at the party’s seventh national convention held Saturday evening at Colombo Town Hall. Ellawala Thera was backing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa with the idea of prolonging his presidential term through constitutional amendment. The JHU had to elect a new leader as Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera had resigned from the post as he needed more time to devote on his pet subjects of archaeological research in Mullaiththeevu, JHU sources said.
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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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Failure of international system results in slave camps for POWs

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 21:27 GMT]
The plight of the captured LTTE cadres and alleged supporters numbering more than 10,000 in the slave camps of Colombo is a direct result of the deliberate failure of the international system in not recognising them as Prisoners of War. The war broke out by Colombo breaching an internationally enacted peace. The war against the LTTE was internationally abetted. Personnel of some countries, especially India, were known for directly operating in the ground, proving the international dimensions of the war. The call for the surrender of the LTTE was made internationally. The Norwegian peace facilitator publicly made the call. Yet, the international system tries to maintain the issue as ‘internal’. The failure of the system in either not taking direct responsibility of the cadres or declaring them as POWs questions the credibility of the powers dominating the system, Tamil circles said.
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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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Sunday Leader editor produces note book on interview by Fonseka in court

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 07:38 GMT]
The Editor of the Sunday Leader, Fredrica Janz, Monday produced her 89 page note book before Chief Magistrate Champa Janaki Rajaratne related to the interview with Gen (retd) Sarath Fonseka where he reportedly made the controversial remarks regarding orders to shoot LTTE officials coming to surrender with white flags.
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WFP opens office in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 June 2010, 05:16 GMT]
The United Nations (UN) opened a World Food Programme (WFP) office in Kilinochchi. It would be expanded in due course including staff from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), media reports said quoting WFP sources.
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Venezuela and the 'law of the fishes’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 June 2010, 00:18 GMT]
"Instead of making connections with the illegitimate opposition of Sri Lanka, Venezuela should be strengthening the hand of an ally that is also suffering imperial aggressions," says Eva Golinger, a friend of the President of Venezuela and English editor of the Venezuela government newspaper Correo del Orinoco. Writing a feature of factual and perceptual errors, Golinger says, Rajapaksa who is supported by left and communist parties put an end to the LTTE that has strong ties with the CIA. Tamil circles don’t believe that the reputed left-wing writer failed to do her homework on Sri Lanka or on the Eezham Tamil struggle. Instead, they think that in a world where the villains and the heroes are together nowadays, some forces are working on luring Latin America to enter into South Asia from the wrong direction, hanging onto the deceptive red shawl of Rajapaksa soaked in genocidal blood.
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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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Parvathi Amma transferred to Jaffna Hospital

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 June 2010, 18:49 GMT]
Ms. Parvathi Velupillai, mother of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Pirabaharan, has been transferred from Valveddiththu’rai (VVT) government hospital to Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) to undergo certain medical tests not available in VVT hospital, sources in Jaffna said. Parvathi Amma who is bedridden due to paralysis is not in a critical condition of health, JTH sources said.
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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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India was not happy about Norwegian peace: Prof Shanmugaratnam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 June 2010, 10:40 GMT]
India was not happy about Norway being given a role in peace brokering in Sri Lanka. Japan was keen to be the broker, but India was more against Japan than Norway, said Dr. N. Shanmugaratnam, Professor of Development Studies and Head of Research of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, while addressing a session on the failed peace process and Norway’s role in Sri Lanka, at a conference held in Nansen Peace Centre in Norway last Friday. The Norwegian Tamil academic also said that in his view the key challenges to the peace process were internal than international and the internal has always been decisive. Post mortem of the peace process has become a hot topic in Norwegian circles nowadays since the failed envoys of Sri Lankan process have embarked upon fresh peace initiatives elsewhere.
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Political transformation should start in Tamil Nadu: Prof Ramasamy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 June 2010, 22:45 GMT]
Political transformation of the Tamil mind at the global level starting with Tamil Nadu is a fundamental prerequisite for the achievement of Eelam, said Prof. P. Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister of the Penang State of Malaysia in an interview to TamilNet. Tamil Nadu should go beyond DMK or AIADMK to handle the global plight of Tamils. Tamil groups in Sri Lanka have no vision or capacity and some are goaded by India. Some in the West don’t understand the historical and contemporary trajectory of the national liberation of Eezham Tamils. Discussing Tamil question with the Sinhala State is counter-productive at this stage, he further said, adding that he is presently working on exposing the misdeeds of India and the DMK and will push for international investigation of Sri Lanka’s war crimes and India’s strong role in them.
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Colombo's 'Victory Parade' to be held every year

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 June 2010, 16:21 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka announced Tuesday that the 'Victory Parade' commemorating the victory over Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the three decade old war will be held every year. In this year first Victory Parade that is scheduled to be held Friday at Galle Face Green about nine thousand security personnel from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) who took part in the last leg of the war against LTTE would participate, military spokesman Major General Prasad Samarasinghe said at a media briefing held Tuesday.
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Genocidal Colombo gets unlimited chances from US, India

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 June 2010, 23:38 GMT]
"The US and India have a very similar view of the situation in Sri Lanka and the steps that need to be taken,” said US Asst Secretary of State Robert Blake Monday to rediff.com, acknowledging, "We have worked very closely throughout the last several years on the situation in Sri Lanka, and again we have a real convergence of view on how that situation has evolved." Commenting, Tamil circles said the US policy compelled by the geopolitics of the Afghan war is tagged with New Delhi’s perception of the crisis in the island and unless the diaspora and the people of Tamil Nadu are not vigilant Colombo is likely to be encouraged with chances after chances to blunt the national struggle of Eezham Tamils and to complete the genocide. Tamil circles anticipate a long orchestrated plan soon unfolding to hoodwink their national cause as well as to make them economic slaves in their own land.
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Japanese envoy Akashi to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 June 2010, 13:54 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), is to commence a five day visit to the island of Sri Lanka on Tuesday June 15. Japan was the largest donor besides Europe and the United States, before Rajapaksa government turned towards China, India and Iran in its war against Tamils. Japan, together with the USA, the EU and Norway constituted the Tokyo Co-Chairs, which formally represented the role of the 'International Community' in the disastrous peace process that altered the balance of power in favour of Colombo, enabling the Sri Lankan state to wage a genocidal war on Tamils.
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