JVP delegation to visit Vanni, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 June 2010, 13:55 GMT]
The parliamentary group delegation of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna led Democratic National Alliance (DNA) is scheduled to undertake a three day-tour to Vanni and Jaffna from June 14 Monday. JVP leader Somawansa Amarasingha will be leading the delegation, according to DNA parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake to media Sunday.
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CID conducts spurious searches in paramilitary operatives’ houses in Vaazhaichcheani

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 June 2010, 09:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) searched Tuesday the house of Nagalingam Thiraviyam alias Jeyam, a member of the Eastern Provincial Council and an operative of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) who had been evicted from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2004 by the then Commander Karuna and present Deputy Minister of Rehabilitation, Vinayagamoorthy Muaralitharan. Similar searches were also made in his other houses in Vaakarai police division and his relatives’ houses in Challiththeevu and Panichchangkea’ni areas, sources in Batticaloa said. The CID, however, has not confiscated any stolen goods or documents related to various criminal activities of Jeyam who possesses wealth and properties exceeding his income, the sources added.
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Emergency needed to nab sleeping Tiger cells: Sri Lankan PM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 June 2010, 07:29 GMT]
Heated argument ensued in parliament Tuesday during the debate on extending the state of emergency for another month between the opposition and ruling party parliamentarians over the speech by the Prime Minister D.M.Jayaretna that the State of Emergency was needed to nab sleeping LTTE senior cadres in Colombo and that Sri Lankan intelligence personnel are working around the clock day and night to arrest these LTTE cadres.
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Exert pressure on Colombo to declare detained LTTE members as political prisoners: CPI politician

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 June 2010, 02:50 GMT]
Thousands of former LTTE members, who were captured by the Sri Lanka Army in May last year are still perishing in Colombo’s detention camps in unknown locations. “Many of the families of these young Tamils do not even know the whereabouts of their loved ones. The Sri Lankan state is treating them like criminals. Rajapaksa is not recognising these young Tamils as Prisoners of War. But, he should at least be pressurised by the global community to declare those detained as political prisoners,” said C. Mahendran, the deputy state secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Mahendran was addressing fellow activists of Ilangkai Thamizhar Paathukaappu Iyakkam, while they were held under collective custody by Tamil Nadu police, after a protest on Tuesday against Rajapaksa’s visit to New Delhi.
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Rajapaksa visits India amid wide-scale protests in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 June 2010, 11:33 GMT]
All the district capitals and major cities of Tamil Nadu state Tuesday noon reported wide-scale protests against Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to India. All the prominent leaders of political parties and movements, Vaiko, Pazha Nedumaran, Thirumavalavan, Seeman, Nallakannu, Mahendran, T. Rajendar, Thiyagu were arrested by Tamil Nadu police with thousands of other activists after they concluded their speeches and protests. The protests, including black flag demonstrations in front of Indian Central Government Institutions in Tamil Nadu, blocking railway and burning effigies of Sri Lankan President, have brought many Tamil parties and movements together in support of Eezham Tamils. All major media outlets operating from India have given coverage to the protests.
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Court orders Sunday Leader Editor to produce note book regarding Fonseka’s interview

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 June 2010, 03:51 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate Champa Janaki Rajaratne Monday ordered the Chief Editor of the Sunday Leader, a weekly newspaper published from Colombo. to produce her note book in court on the next date of inquiry on June 21. Her note book is said to have contained the original transcript of the controversial interview with the former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army General (retired) Sarath Fonseka.
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JVP to step up opposition against Indian involvement in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2010, 18:32 GMT]
General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tilvin Silva Monday blamed India for meddling with affairs of the Sri Lankan state as if it was a federal unit of India. The JVP reaction has come as the Tamil National Alliance was scheduled to meet Rajapaksa Monday evening before his visit to India on Tuesday. Recently, the Government of India, while gazetting a declaration designating LTTE as an unlawful association in India, linked 'Tamil Eelam' as a separate homeland amounting to 'cession and secession of a part of the territory of India.'
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Rajapaksa reschedules 'victory day' parade for June 18

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2010, 08:14 GMT]
Colombo's 'victory parade' postponed due to bad weather in May is re-scheduled to be held on June 18 at Colombo Galle Face Green, according to government sources in Colombo. The three armed forces, police, and Civil Defence Force are to participate in the parade to be held by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Meanwhile, Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) would mark 'Victory Day' on June 8 with Adishtana Pooja at the Viharamahadevi Open Air Theatre, said Mrs. Anoma Fonseka, wife of General (retired) Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army who led the Sri Lankan forces in the war against Tamils.
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SLA Commander's deposition provides convincing evidence of war crimes- TAG

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2010, 00:21 GMT]
Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group, claimed in a press release issued Saturday, that it has obtained a 100-page long sworn affidavit from a senior commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who has fled Sri Lanka seeking asylum for himself and his family. Noting the sensitivity of the evidence, TAG said that the affidavit was recorded by a court reporter but declined to reveal the name of the commander or the modalities used in obtaining the affidavit. The sworn testimony contains "clear and convincing evidence" that Colombo committed war crimes, and this document can be made available to "other independent organizations which can demonstrate serious intent in pursuing legal action against Colombo officials," TAG spokesperson told TamilNet.
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Boyle: Independent Eelam will be a bulwark for India

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 June 2010, 00:02 GMT]
Professor Francis A. Boyle, an expert in international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, said that an independent state of Tamil eelam south of the Indian border will add to India's security, and therefore, India should actively intervene in the Tamil struggle and facilitate the formation of Tamil eelam. Boyle was talking to the popular Tamil Nadu Tamil biweekly magazine Junior Vikatan in an exclusive interview given to the magazine's US correspondent Prakash M Swamy early part of May.
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Father of victim in Channel 4 photo identifies son as LTTE member

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 16:15 GMT]
The father of a victim in the photos released by Channel- 4 in mid May identified one of them as his son as a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Mu'l'livaaykkaal between 18 and 19 May 2009. The father told TamilNet that the LTTE combatants could not have been arrested in April 2009 as it was reported earlier as he had met his son on 11 May in 2009. A mother and her daughter have earlier identified another victim in the photo as 40-year-old Thuraichamy Harikrishanan, a native of Vavuniyaa, an ex-member of LTTE. Meanwhile, close relatives living in the diaspora of another LTTE member also claimed the same person as their relative. Efforts are under way to clarify the identity of the victim, a Tamil group working on genocide documentation told TamilNet Friday.
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Peiris to head Sri Lankan military officials in Security Summit

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 09:51 GMT]
Former Chief Negotiator of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the incumbent Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris, who recently left a scheduled meeting with journalists at the National Press Club without speaking, is heading a delegation to attend the 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit, which is taking place in Singapore Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Peiris is scheduled to attend the Shangri-La dialogue to address defence ministers, defence secretaries, intelligence chiefs and national security and defence officials from 28 countries on Sri Lankan 'Counter-Insurgency' and the challenges of "reasserting control and governance in formerly LTTE held areas."
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STF, Police arrest 4 Tamils in Puththalam, Pottuvil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2010, 15:37 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians were taken into custody by the Special Task Force (STF) at Arugam Bay in Pottuvil Tuesday. The police said that the two are suspected to have links with the LTTE. The arrested were handed over to the Terrorist Investigations Unit (TID) and are being interrogated, according to the Police.
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Parents appeal for daughter's release from TID detention

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2010, 09:52 GMT]
Parents of Peradeniya undergraduate Rasiah Dwaraka, who is now under detention in the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID), handed over a petition Tuesday afternoon to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) requesting to take steps to obtain Dwaraka's release, sources in Colombo said. Earlier her parents visited their daughter in the TID. Inter University Students Association (IUSA) led by its organizer Udul Premaratne facilitated the visit and handing over of petition. Dwaraka was taken into custody for accepting a medal from LTTE leader Pirapaharan for her academic performance.
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5 male corpses exhumed from toilet pit in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2010, 11:43 GMT]
Five male bodies estimated to be between 20 to 35 years of age, in highly decomposed state and packed securely in five separate bags were exhumed from the toilet pit of a house in Ka'neasapuram in Ki’linochchi under the supervision of Vavuniyaa Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dr. P. Sritharan and in the presence of Ki’linochchi magistrate Monday morning, sources in Ki’linochchi said. Some of the bodies had clothes with Tiger stripes, some in Lamb Black uniforms used by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and some in ordinary civilian dress, the sources added.
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Chandran Ratnam arrested for "possession" of explosives

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2010, 11:04 GMT]
A well known film producer and director of several films Chandran Ratnam was taken into custody by the Sri Lanka police Sunday on an allegation that he had been in possession of explosive materials in his former residence in Nugegoda, according to police media spokesman Preshantha Jayakody. In a recent video interview Chandran, who comes from a mixed parentage, explains that he is not averse to risk taking, and prides in the reconciliation theme he has advanced in his movies.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Pulmoaddai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 18:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police arrested a Tamil civilian from his house at Kaddukku'lam in Pulmoaddai village in Trincomalee district Friday and took him for interrogation.
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US awaits Sri Lanka action, despite rights groups’ warning

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 12:26 GMT]
The United States will be “watching closely” Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s newly established ‘reconciliation commission’ to see if it lives up to Colombo’s claims, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, said Friday. Shortly after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as holding “promise” the body Sri Lanka has set up to investigate war crimes – and which international human rights groups have dismissed as a sham - Mr. Blake said “they’ve now just begun this process … It’s up to them now to prove that they will be able to take on all of these responsibilities.”
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STF again under SL Defence Ministry

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2010, 13:16 GMT]
The notorious Special Task Force (STF), a military-styled elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan Police, which has been responsible for a number of war-crimes and genocidal onslaughts against Tamil speaking people in the East, has been brought under the control of the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with effect from May 12 following a decision by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa with the approval of his cabinet of ministers. The STF was responsible for the execution-styled massacre of five Tamil students in January 2006.
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Journalists, NGOs unsettle Peiris's US visit

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2010, 00:30 GMT]
While Tamil demonstrators plan to protest in front of the State Department during Sri Lanka's Minister of External Affairs Gamini Lakshman Peiris's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton Friday, reports covering Peiris's US visit indicate an uncomfortable minister facing hostile press and questioners, and the resulting damage to the Minister's mission to block UN and US acting on the war-crimes call by several NGOs. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, International Crisis Group and Elders this week, had called for an independent international war crimes investigation in Sri Lanka. Minister Peiris has been taking pre-emptive steps, unprecedented for a visiting Minister, to avoid facing serious journalists who have been covering Sri Lanka's war and the conduct of the protagonists during the last months of the war.
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