SL Parliament extends state of Emergency

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 October 2010, 04:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Parliament Tuesday adopted the motion moved by its Prime Minister to extend the state of emergency for another month by ninety votes. 118 parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the motion. The members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted against the motion. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians abstained from voting. State of emergency is being extended every month by the parliament since August 2005.
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Mahinda Rajapaksa shuns North TNA parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2010, 05:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has failed to invited the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians of the North to a meeting related to ‘Development of North’ in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Joseph Camp Tuesday, deliberately keeping away the elected representatives of the people from participating in the meeting, TNA parliamentarians of North accused. The participation of the elected representatives is crucial as issues of Sinhala colonization in the North, refusal to resettlement of uprooted Tamils in their own properties and similar matters are to be explored in Tuesday meeting, they said. Purposely shunning the democratically elected representatives from participating in decision making meetings by Sri Lanka government reveals how very much it discriminates the Tamils, TNA MPs said.
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SLA, police harass ex LTTE members in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 October 2010, 15:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police personnel collect details of persons who had been members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and ex-combatants who had surrendered themselves and later released in Batticaloa district and use the information to check on them house by house subjecting them to harassment in the name of interrogation, P. Ariyanenthiran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian said. The families of LTTE war heroes are also harassed by the police and SLA soldiers, according to complaints made to him by the affected persons, the MP said.
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Birth centenary of V. Navaratnam, pioneer of Tamil Eelam polity

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 October 2010, 05:35 GMT]
18 October 2010 is the birth centenary of V. Navaratnam, doyen of the Tamil Eelam cause and founder leader of Thamizhar Chuyaadchik Kazhakam (TCK) in the late 1960s. TamilNet interviewed him in July 2005 when he was 95 years old. He passed away on 22 December 2006. Eezham Tamils and Sinhalese could never live under one government, even a confederation will not work and separation is the only way, he asserted in his interview. When his party contested the 1970 election there was only a little support. He was criticized for dividing the vote bank of the Federal Party. But within a few years all the mainstream Tamil political parties fell in line with his polity. The Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of 1976 was a copy of his party manifesto, said Mr. Navaratnam. His interview in voice is reproduced here.
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‘Sinhala Only’ imposed on name boards in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2010, 08:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka government Road Development Authority (RDA) in Eastern Province using only Sinhala language in the name boards reveals the intention of Sri Lanka government to impose the ‘Sinhala Only’ Act again, Batticaloa residents said. The name board of the road to Vaakarai from Batticaloa is written only in Sinhala language and despite the request made by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarian Pon. Selvarasa to RDA to include the names in Tamil and English languages in August in the Vaakarai Development Meeting, the name board remains with the Sinhala name only.
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Appeal Court instructs AG to ensure Fonseka’s presence in court

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2010, 04:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal Friday instructed the Attorney General to ensure the presence of Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of Sri Lanka Army in court when his writ application against the First Court Martial decision to strip him of the rank of General is taken up for inquiry on the next date. The Bench comprised Judges Rohini Marasinghe and Upali Abeyratne. Sarath Fonseka was not present in court Friday.
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Kandy court orders remand for UNP MP in defraud case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2010, 04:53 GMT]
Kandy Additional Magistrate Thanuja Jayatunge Friday ordered remand till October 18 for Ranjan Ramanayake, Ratnapura district parliamentarian of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) when he was produced in court on a complaint of defrauding one million rupees from a female teacher on the promise of marriage. He was arrested in Colombo Thursday afternoon and later taken to Kandy where the complaint was lodged.
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EP Chief Minister abets appropriation of Tamils’ lands – TNA parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2010, 07:30 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian P. Selvarasa accused the Chief Minister of Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias (Pillayan), for not taking any action against lands belonging to Tamils being encroached by Sinhala and Muslim people. Selvarasa, speaking as the chief guest in an event of the release of a CD titled ‘Gone with the Waves’ in Periya Kallaa’ru in Batticaloa district, raised the accusation. Repeated complaints made to the Chief Minister remain ignored as the colonization of Sinhala and Muslims in the lands of the Tamils continue unchecked, the MP said.
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Ratnapura UNP parliamentarian arrested on cheating complaint

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2010, 04:15 GMT]
Ranjan Ramanayake, Ratnapura District United National Party (UNP) Parliamentarian was arrested Thursday evening by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on a complaint that he had cheated a female teacher of a Kandy school by obtaining about one million rupees on the promise of marriage. He was taken to Police Headquarters for further inquiry from a home of his friend, police sources said.
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Sinhala men continue to intimidate Tamil cultivators in Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 08:14 GMT]
Sinhala men continue to intimidate the Tamil cultivators in the Tamil villages located on the boundaries of the districts of Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai in Eastern Province preventing them from cultivating their paddy fields, P. Selvarasa, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian said. The Tamil cultivators uprooted from their villages due to war had resettled in their places after a period of 25 years during which the Sinhala men from their neighboring villages had appropriated most of their paddy fields, he said. Recently, Sinhala men had attacked two Tamil cultivators and chased them away from their own properties, the MP further said. No action has been taken on this issue though the TNA parliamentarians of Batticaloa district has brought it to the notice of it to the Government Agent of Batticaloa, he said.
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Medical surgeon M. Ganesaratnam receives honorary degree

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 07:14 GMT]
Jaffna University bestowed honorary PhD degree to medical surgeon Dr. M. Ganesaratnam attached to Jaffna Teaching Hospital in its twenty-sixth convocation ceremony held Wednesday in Kailasapathy Auditorium, sources in Jaffna said. Chancellor M. Sivasuriya presided at the event in which more than 1200 students, including 22 of the medical faculty received their degrees. Law students passed out from Jaffna University for the first time in its history in this event.
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Colombo shuns Eastern province TNA parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 17:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has failed to invite Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Eastern Province parliamentarians to the Eastern Provincial Development review meeting held Monday in the Naval Headquarters auditorium in Trincomalee presided by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, P. Selvarasa, Batticaloa distirct TNA parliamentarian said. Shunning the representatives democratically elected by the people to participate in decision making meetings by Sri Lanka government reveals how very much it discriminates the Tamils, he added.
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Lightening deaths in southern Sri Lanka increase to eight

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 07:59 GMT]
Eight people struck by lightening died in the southern parts of Sri Lanka since the torrential rain with thunderstorm began ten days ago. The latest victim was a fourteen year-old student. Lightening struck while he was watching television with his father Saturday around 7.30 p.m in Waharaka, Indurana, Ruwanwella Police said.
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Lightening kills 5 in southern Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 15:05 GMT]
Lightening claimed the lives of five persons within twenty-four hours in the districts of Moneragala, Gampaha and Ratnapura in southern Sri Lanka. Some persons are missing due to floods following torrential rain. The number of missing persons has not been officially released by the Disaster Management Centre in Colombo. Sri Lanka has been experiencing heavy rains since Friday.
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Police security to Jaffna Tamil daily strengthened

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 08:07 GMT]
Following threats to a Tamil daily in Jaffna by Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) led by Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda the editors had sought extra protection from Jaffna police and security to the office of the daily has been strengthened, media sources in Jaffna said. The daily had published Sunday, news related to the illegal sand excavation by EPDP firm ‘Maheswary Funds’ highlighting the appeal by the residents of Vadamaraadchi East to Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians to stop the sand excavation destroying large areas in Kudaththanai and Ma’natkaadu. EPDP men arriving in two buses had gathered in front of the daily’s office to demonstrate against the daily and to attack its office, sources in Jaffna said. However, the situation was brought to normalcy following the talks held between the editors of the daily and some of the EPDP men.
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Swaminathan, Aswer nominated to PAC

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 08:54 GMT]
Two national list parliamentarians, a Muslim and a Tamil, have been nominated respectively by Sri Lanka Prime Minister and the opposition leader to the five-member Parliamentary Advisory Council (PAC) that is to be established under the 18th amendment to the constitution. The Prime Minister D. M. Jayaretna nominated A. H. M. Aswer from the national list of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the opposition nominated D. M. Swaminathan from the national list of the main opposition United National Party (UNP).
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Kuruwita, Kurunægala

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 02:57 GMT]
The small hill
The small rocky hill
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Fasting Sinhala Buddhist monk admitted to Batticaloa hospital

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 15:05 GMT]
Venerable Ambitiya Sumanaratna Thera, chief priest of the Batticaloa Mangalaramaya Vihare and the Deputy Chief Sanganayake of Batticaloa-Ampaarai district was taken to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital Tuesday night for emergency treatment as his condition was reported critical on the third day of his fast unto death campaign, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Buddhist monk on fast-unto-death, demands colonisation of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 09:26 GMT]
A Sinhala Buddhist monk, Ven. Ampitya Sumanaratna Thero, has been on a fast-unto-death campaign demanding construction of Buddhist temples in the predominantly Tamil-speaking Batticaloa district with Saivites, Christians and Muslims. The monk, who has on the fast-unto-death campaign for 3 days also demands appointment of Sinhala officers to Batticaloa District Secretariat, Divisional offices and Courts. The extremist monk said he would end his campaign only when Basil Rajapaksa, the brother of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa, promises action on the demands and extends in person an apology for 'defaming' him in front of two former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leaders.
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SLN soldier commits suicide in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 04:34 GMT]
Mannaar police recovered the body of a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldier with gunshot injuries Monday in Damanna SLN camp located close to Thalaimannaar. Police sources said that the soldier had shot himself with his own gun.
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