India compels CEPA on Sri Lanka: Dr. Wickrembahu Karunaratne

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 June 2010, 08:15 GMT]
India is compelling Sri Lanka to sign the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) for the favour of supplying weapons in the war against the Liberation Tigers, Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne, the leader of the New Left Front (NLF), said in a press meet held in Colombo Wednesday morning. He further said that India which had been instrumental in the mass killings of Tamils in Sri Lanka is employing schemes like CEPA to bring Sri Lanka under its control. He warned that all trade ventures including small industries in Sri Lanka will become Indian if the CEPA is signed.
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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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Emergency extended for another month in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 June 2010, 16:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Tuesday evening adopted the motion tabled by the government to extend the State of Emergency by another year by a majority of sixty eight votes. 121 parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituents voted for the extension while fifty-three voted against. Kandy district parliamentarian Abdul Cader elected from the main opposition United National Party (UNP) voted with the government.
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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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Two civilians dead, two injured in mine blast in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2010, 17:59 GMT]
Failure to remove land mines and explosives in Thanangki’lappu in Thenmaraadchi where resettlement of uprooted civilians was permitted by government authorities was the cause for the deaths of two family men Monday evening while seriously causing injuring two elderly men, when an explosive device went off, sources in Jaffna said. The authorities had permitted resettlement in Thanangki’lappu on the assurance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Thenmaraadchi that the de-mining of the area had been completed.
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Mahinda Rajapakse to hold talks with TNA, EPDP before leaving to India

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 June 2010, 20:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has invited the representatives of Tamil National (TNA) for talks on the eve of his visit to India Tuesday, sources in Colombo said. The president has also invited representatives of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) led by Minister Douglas Devananda for talks to be held following his meeting with TNA representatives Monday evening, the sources added. Meanwhile, the joint statement by Sri Lanka and India to be released following the meeting with the heads of both governments in India is expected to include the various development projects that are to be launched in Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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Student Unions observe death anniversary of Pon. Sivakumaran in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 2010, 21:20 GMT]
Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) and Jaffna Technical College Student Union (JTCSU) observed the death anniversary of Pon. Sivakumaran who was the pioneer in leading the Tamil youth into armed struggle to regain the robbed rights of Tamils marking this transition and setting its basic attributes such as sacrificing one's life by consuming cyanide. Only a few students participated in the event due to fear while Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) which vie with each other to observe the death anniversary of Pon. Sivakumaran did not show any interest in commemorating the day, sources in Jaffna said.
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Journalist Roopan remembered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 2010, 20:54 GMT]
Media associations in Jaffna peninsula held an event Saturday in remembrance of Selvaratnam Roopan, sub-editor of ‘Yaazh Thinakrual’ Tamil daily, also known as ’Sakthi Thasan’ who passed away due to illness in Jaffna Teaching Hospital 25 April, in Jaffna Multi Purpose Society Hall. General Manager of Yaazh Thinakural, A. S. Nadarajan presided at the event attended by Professor. V. P. Sivananthan, Dr. M. Jamunanantha and many media persons of Jaffna peninsula. 32-year-old Roopan had been in the forefront in rescuing thousands of people caught in the clashes in Ma’ndaitheevu in the islets of Jaffna in 2006 and in admitting the injured among them in the hospitals in Jaffna.
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SLA soldiers harass resettled women during nights in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 2010, 20:29 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier who broke into a house in Thirunakar in Ki’linochchi Friday midnight and attempted to sexually harass a woman was chased away by neighbours, according to complaints made by the resettled families to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, N. Siritharan. The soldier who tried to escape the chasing men accidentally fell into a well on the way and had to remain in the well until rescued by fellow soldiers who came that way in a tractor as the men who chased him did not pull him out.
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Tamil political prisoners appeal to TNA seeking amnesty

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 04:25 GMT]
Tamil political prisoners held in Welikada and Magazine prisons have appealed toTamil National Alliance (TNA) to move an adjournment motion in Parliament when it is scheduled to meet next week 8 June demanding general amnesty for them. More than one hundred and twenty Tamil political prisoners are held in these prisons and most of them are yet to be produced in court.
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TNLA to register as political party

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 04:16 GMT]
The new Tamil political party, Tamil National Liberation Alliance (TNLA), is to hand over an application to be registered as a political party in Sri Lanka as Sri Lanka Elections Department has begun to entertain newly formed political parties from 1 June, according to M. K. Sivajilingam, General Secretary of TNLA and former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian of Jaffna district told media in Colombo.
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India wants TNA proposals submitted to Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 06:11 GMT]
Top officials of the Indian government have advised the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to consider submitting its devolution proposals to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa before he leaves to New Delhi on June 7, informed diplomatic sources in Colombo said. The move has come as the Indian Establishment, locked in a corporate race with China, has been pushing Colombo to finalise the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which New Delhi wants signed when Mahinda Rajapaksa visits India. In the meantime, the TNA leadership has invited Tamil parties, except Douglas Devananda, through Tamil channels, to join hands with the alliance before facing the provincial elections in the North. The invitation has also been extended to paramilitary-cum-political outfits aligned with India.
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Film producer, director Ratnam released without charges

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2010, 08:27 GMT]
Chandran Ratnam, internationally famed Tamil film producer was released Monday the Gangodawila Magistrate without any charges against him.Ratnam was arrested by the police last week for allegedly possessing explosive materials in his former residence in Nugegoda.
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Minister Douglas Devananda to launch a new Tamil daily in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2010, 16:32 GMT]
The leader of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Douglas Devananda, a cabinet minister in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), who continues to publicly accuse the three Tamil dailies published in Jaffna of having denied him and his party equal opportunity and sufficient cooperation during the last parliamentary elections, is actively engaged in launching a new Tamil daily in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Minister Devananda had in person offered higher wages to the members of the editorial boards of the three dailies published in Jaffna in an attempt to lure them to his new daily, 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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IIFA showbiz event blamed for promoting ‘paradise of genocide’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2010, 16:24 GMT]
As Tamils world over mark one-year of Indian abetted genocidal war against Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, the Hindi film industry known as Bollywood and the major Indian conglomerate of trade unions, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) are joining hands with Rajapaksa regime in Colombo in staging 11th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards weekend during the first week of June in Colombo. The FICCI, the largest and oldest business conglomerate of India is the flagship organiser of the business event named FICCI-IIFA Global Business Forum, where hundreds of CEOs and business heads from India would be signing various investment contracts and tie-ups in the island on the second day of the celebrity and corporate event.
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SLA plundered vehicle spare parts in Vanni sold in Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 May 2010, 19:57 GMT]
Anuradhapura has turned into the main ‘spare parts sales town’ in Sri Lanka as the spare parts of vehicles abandoned in Mu’l’livaaikkaal in Vanni, plundered by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), are being taken to Anuradahapura along A9 road in trucks and vehicles which bring goods to North, according to Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian. He further alleged that the spare parts of the vehicles of Vanni civilians systematically plundered by SLA soldiers immediately after the war are kept hidden in bunkers with the collaboration of their officers and that the parts are gradually passed on to Southern Sinhalese and Muslim traders to be sold in Anuradhapura.
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Bhikku to conduct pooja in Kathirkaamam Pi'l'laiyaar temple

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 May 2010, 10:03 GMT]
A fundamental right violation petition was filed in Matara High Court last week challenging the action taken by the relevant Sri Lanka government authority to appoint a Buddhist monk to hold Pooja and manage the administration of the Chellak-Kathirkaamam Maa'nikka Pi'l'laiyaar Temple in Kathirkaamam.
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SLA refuses to permit TNA parliamentarians into Menik Farm camp in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 May 2010, 12:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Menik Farm Camp in Vavuniyaa did not permit Saturday a group of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians to visit the said detention centre and see the Vanni civilians held, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The SLA officials insisted on prior permission from Ministry of Defence Secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse and stood firm in their decision though the MPP tried to argue their way into the centre, the sources added.
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