Thousands pay last respects to Pirapaharan’s father

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 January 2010, 03:43 GMT]
Thousands of people, including men, women, and children Saturday paid their last respects to the remains of late Thiruvengadam Vellupillai, father of LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan, at Theeruvli in Valveddiththu’rai (VVT) near the memorial monument of Lt. Col. Kumarappa, Lt. Col. Pulenthiran and Col. Kiddu. Mr. Velupillai passed away while he was being kept in isolation and illegal custody by the Sri Lanka Army at the age of 86.
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Pirapaharan father's remains released, funeral in VVT on Sunday

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 January 2010, 15:44 GMT]
The funeral of late Thiruvengadam Velupillai, father of LTTE leader leader Mr. V. Pirabaharan, is to take place in Valveddiththu'rai on Sunday. The mother of LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan, Vallipuram Parvathy, was Friday released from Sri Lanka Army custody and handed over to Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian and Presidential candidate M. K. Sivajilingam, SLA officials in Colombo said. The ailing 80-year-old mother was driven by road from Colombo to the northern Jaffna Peninsula in an ambulance.
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Video authentic, Alston calls for wider war crimes probe

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 January 2010, 06:56 GMT]
Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, in a press meet today called for wider investigations into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka after three forensic experts hired by Alston and two previous independent analyses by Times On Line (UK), and a Colorado firm confirmed the authenticity of the video broadcast by Channel-4 in August.
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Student Union demands release of Tamil students, Amila Thera

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 January 2010, 12:53 GMT]
Hundreds of students of the Inter-University Students Union (IUSU) held a protest Thursday afternoon demanding the government to release Tamil university students arrested as LTTE suspects and Venerable Amila Thera. The demonstration which commenced from the premises of the Colombo University was stopped by police at Ernest De Silva Mawatha to prevent the students from proceeding towards Temple Trees, Colombo media reported.
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LTTE leader Pirapaharan's father passes away in SLA custody

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 January 2010, 12:39 GMT]
Thiruvengdam Velupillai, the father of LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan, passed away following a brief illness in Panagoda Sri Lanka Army camp Wednesday night, Sri Lankan military officials in Colombo said. The headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a message Thursday conveyed its condolences to Mrs. Velupillai, children and relatives. The entire Tamil Nation laments for the demise of Mr. Velupillai, who preferred to be with the people during the war, the statement said. Mr. Velupillai was kept in isolation and illegal custody by the SLA and was denied of proper medical care at his grand old age, the LTTE further said.
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JHU submits 29 proposals in support of Rajapakse election manifesto

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 December 2009, 12:46 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Sinhala Buddhist Monk party has handed over 29 point proposals to the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse in support of his election manifesto that is to be released during the first week of next month. One of the proposals is to renovate and reconstruct all Buddhist shrines and Buddhist archaeological sites which were destroyed in the north and east due to the three decade old war. The other proposal is to set up a Foreign Intelligence Service to destroy the international network of the LTTE now actively engaged abroad, after its defeat in the island.
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TMVP cadre arrested with 4 T-56 rifles in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 December 2009, 03:12 GMT]
Kalkudaa Police Thursday arrested a cadre of TMVP led by Pillayan, Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC), with four T-56 rifles and nine magazines in Maangkearni in Vaakarai division in Batticaloa district. The suspect has been identified as Sinnathamby Vettivel, 26.
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Sinhala ultra-nationalist monk backs Fonseka

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 December 2009, 18:08 GMT]
The Sinhala Buddhist extreme nationalist organisation, Patriotic National Centre (PNC) led by Buddhist Monk Venerable Dhambara Amila Thero, Thursday said that it has decided to support General (retd) Sarath Fonseka, contesting in the forthcoming Sri Lankan presidential elections. Dhambara Amila Thero has been opposed to outside influence, both the Western and the Indian, since the Norwegian brokered Ceasefire Agreement in 2002 and his movement has been a key opinion maker of the Sinhala nationalism, exercising the pressure on the Sri Lankan state to nullify the Norwegian brokered P-TOMS in 2005 and to unilaterally withdrew from the Ceasefire Agreement in 2008. Ven. Dhambara Amila Thero was formerly the leader of the National Bhikku Front (NBF), an ultra Sinhala nationalist organisation of Buddhist monks.
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GoSL faces serious challenge at Human Rights Council - SL Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 December 2009, 13:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister of Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe on Wednesday admitted that the Government of Sri Lanka finds itself in a situation to face the possibility of another serious challenge in the next meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Prof Philip Alston is expected to submit a report. He said the International Community is focusing on Sri Lanka after Sarath Fonseka’s ‘erratic’ statement.
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2 Tamil youths arrested in Katunayake, Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 December 2009, 12:43 GMT]
Colombo Police's 'Terrorist Intelligence Division' arrested a Tamil youth in Vavuniyaa and another at Katunayake International Airport Tuesday when he was about to take a flight to India.
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Fonseka revelations mandate independent probe into UN's role, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 December 2009, 01:11 GMT]
Former Sri Lanka Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka's revelations of Gotabhaya Rajapakse ordering executions of surrendering LTTE leaders and their families, and UN chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar's reported role in the deadly surrenders "require a formal Investigation of the entire role played by the United Nations Organization and its Officials throughout the course of this latest irruption of the GOSL genocide against the Tamils starting in January of 2009 until today," said Professor Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois. "The U.N. Secretary General has the power to order and publish such an investigation," Boyle added.
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UN Official's involvement in LTTE leaders' killing questioned

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 December 2009, 12:29 GMT]
Following up on independent rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Philip Alston's, request to Colombo to provide details of the killing of LTTE leaders who surrendered the arms, Inner City Press questioned, "given not only the UN's role in the final days of what even it called the "bloodbath on the beach" in Sri Lanka, but especially UN chief of staff Vijay Nambiar's reported role in the deadly surrenders, why Rapporteur Alston has not already demanded answers from the UN itself."
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Fonseka’s comment could restrict aid to Sri Lanka - Minister Peiris

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 December 2009, 12:36 GMT]
G.L.Peiris, a senior minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, said Monday to Colombo media that the comments made by Sarath Fonseka about the final stages of the war may make it difficult for some officers to travel overseas for training and medical treatment while there could be restrictions on the aid provided to Sri Lanka. Minister G.L.Peiris said that the comments made by Gen (retd) Sarath Fonseka have far reaching consequences including the possibility of some of the military officers being questioned on the events and action being taken against them.
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Allegations of killing LTTE surrendees under UN probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 December 2009, 12:20 GMT]
Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary execution to Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations office at Geneva, in a letter to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, requested explanation for the allegations made by Sarath Fonseka on the extra-judicial executions of of three senior members of Liberation Tigers and their families when they tried surrender to the Sri Lanka military on the night of 17th May, Daily mirror reported. In the letter, Alston quotes Common Article 3 of Geneva Conventions of 1949 which prohibits killing of persons who have laid down their arms. These allegations, if proven, will amount to war-crimes.
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World obliged to expose civilian slaughters, Arnestad tells CNN

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 December 2009, 02:15 GMT]
Beate Arnestad, the director an hour long documentary film, "My daughter the terrorist," in an interview with CNN Monday says that the lesson the world should learn from her film which follows two young, Catholic female LTTE fighters and the final end of the war when tens of thousands of unarmed civilians were killed by Sri Lanka military, is that the World has an obligation to expose the slaughter civilians by Governments for political reasons. The documentary made its World Premiere to a full house at Parkteatret in the Norwegian capital Oslo on the 12th March 2007.
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Referendum to speak for themselves - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 December 2009, 01:39 GMT]
Why after three decades once again a democratic mandate on independent Tamil Eelam? The answer is simple says Tamil Guardian in an editorial this week: The collective demand and popular mandate of 1977 has been studiously ignored and instead all kinds of voices - including the Sinhala state, marginal Tamil actors and important members of the international community - have simply asserted that 'the majority' of Tamils reject independence, whilst simultaneously lending tacit or overt support to the systematic and forcible denial of any space for the Tamil people to freely express their views on this core issue. On their assertion, a war was waged to devastate Tamils. The demand to conduct UN-run referendum was only met with silence. The referenda on Tamil Eelam now being organized by the Diaspora are an effort by Tamils to speak over those speaking for them, the editorial said.
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Rajapakse brothers, Brigadier Silva, presumptive war criminals, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 2009, 04:18 GMT]
Former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander General Sarath Fonseka's statement to the effect that the Rajapaksa Brothers, Gotabhaya Rajapakse and Basil Rajapakse, and Brigadier Shavendra Silva ordered the murder of surrendering LTTE leaders protected by a White Flag pursuant to a prior agreement to surrender that way sets forth a prima facie "war crime" under the customary international laws of war as codified into and exemplified by U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 "The Law of Land Warfare" (1956), paragraph 504, said Professor Francis A. Boyle, University of Illinois College of Law, and an expert in International Law, in a note sent to TamilNet.
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AG to institute legal action against Fonseka

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 December 2009, 10:45 GMT]
The Attorney General has been directed by the government to investigate and institute legal action against General (retd) Sarath Fonseka for making allegation against the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse that the latter had ordered the Division Commander on the ground to kill LTTE cadres who made an attempt to surrender, according to Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe.
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Fonseka names assassins of Nadesan, Puleedevan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2009, 09:01 GMT]
Former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander and presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka named Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Shavendra Silva, commander of army’s 58th division as directly responsible to the assassination of LTTE’s political leaders B. Nadesan, S. Puleedevan and police chief Ramesh, while naming presidential advisor Basil Rajapaksa, Norwegian minister Erik Solheim and various foreign parties as people involved in the episode, The Sunday Leader reported. While Basil Rajapaksa denied communication with Norway, Sri Lanka defence circles refused to comment. Meanwhile, Tamil circles commenting on Fonseka's 'revelations', said both the SLA Commander Fonseka and Commander-in-Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot explain away their involvement in war crimes and the crimes against humanity.
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Reveal whereabouts of surrendered, arrested Liberation Tigers – Mano Ganeshan

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 2009, 06:35 GMT]
“The government should maintain transparency in matters related to the Liberation Tigers who had surrendered or were arrested at the end of the war,” Mano Ganeshan, Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader and parliamentarian said, in a special interview to TamilNet Thursday. Mano Ganeshan, presently in Jaffna, also said that Sarath Fonseka, the common opposition presidential candidate, is steadfast in solving the issues related to the reunion of the Liberation Tigers with their families and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
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