SLA arrests TNA supporters in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 03:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested Tuesday morning supporters of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) distributing handbills thanking the people of Jaffna peninsula for casting their votes in large numbers to Sarath Fonseka in the recent presidential election, rejecting President Mahinda Rajapakse, on TNA’s request, sources in Jaffna said. This arrest is seen as a continuation of the attacks on TNA supporters and their properties who openly campaigned for Sarath Fonseka, the sources added.
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SL Parliament to be dissolved this week: Maithiripala Sirisena

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 February 2010, 11:46 GMT]
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa would be dissolving the parliament this week on his return from Russia, said Maithripala Sirisena, a Senior Minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Sunday to media. The term of office of the current parliament ends on April 22. He further said his government hopes to have a 'closer understanding' with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the forthcoming general election to 'uplift' the Northern and Eastern provinces. However he said that does not mean that the UPFA government would accept any condition by the TNA.
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SL parliament extends emergency another month

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 2010, 16:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Friday adopted a motion by a majority of eighty seven votes to extend the State of Emergency for another month. One hundred and two MPs of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) voted for the motion and fifteen from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) voted against. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarians did not participate in the voting.
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Indian fishing trawlers encroach Jaffna seas

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 February 2010, 02:59 GMT]
Indian fishing trawlers encroaching the seas around Jaffna peninsula have increased in large numbers recently, damaging the fishing nets of local fishermen while robbing local fish resources, president of Federation Jaffna peninsula fishermen societies, S. Thavaratnam said. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) turns a blind eye to deep sea trawler fishing by Indian fishermen in the seas from Mayiliddi in Kaangkeasanththu’rai to Maathakal and in the seas of the islets of Jaffna, he added. Meanwhile, trawler fishing is being permitted in peninsula seas despite protest by local fishermen and against Fisheries Department regulations, with the blessing of a government minister, sources in Jaffna said.
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Rajapaksa's second term begins from November 2010: SL Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 February 2010, 14:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Tuesday determined that the second term of the Mahinda Rajapaksa, as president of the country, begins from November 19, 2010 and not from November 19, 2011, according to a communiqué sent to the Presidential Secretariat, legal sources said.
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Tamils undisputed champions of diaspora politics: Scottish writer

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 January 2010, 17:07 GMT]
“Unless there is a sea change in the factional Scottish parliament in the months ahead, it is a vote I will not be able to cast in a Scottish constitutional context,” writes Stuart Cosgrove, a Scot married to an Eezham Tamil, who cast his vote in that capacity in the referendum for Tamil Eelam in Mayhill, Glasgow, Saturday. In his column in Times Online, from the Sunday Times, he recollected the Scottish referendum of 1997 and sounded contentment about his participation in the Tamil referendum which in his view defied the new world order on the epic stage of global politics. Saying Tamils are undisputed champions of diaspora politics today, Cosgrove’s appreciation was that “it was a timely reminder that democracy is a precious gem that neither war nor national circumstances should tarnish.”
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New Chief of Staff appointed for SLA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 January 2010, 14:53 GMT]
Former military spokesman Major General Daya Ratnayake has been appointed the Chief of Staff (CoS) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with immadiate effect on Saturday, defense sources from Colombo said. Major General Daya Ratnayake was earlier the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation.
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Active voting in Jaffna despite intimidation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 2010, 05:38 GMT]
Despite a few incidents of bomb explosions, attacks on TNA supporters’ houses Monday night and burning of tyres on some roads in Jaffna people are actively engaged in casting their votes in the presidential election, sources in Jaffna said. Voters who were few in the morning later came in groups to cast their votes and voting continues without any mishaps, the sources added.
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TNA accuses EPDP for voter fraud in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 2010, 03:04 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarians accused Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) for having taken large number of persons to the islets of Jaffna with the intention of committing voter fraud, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, EPDP men have instructed the post masters in the islets of Jaffna to issue polling cards to persons without calling for their identity documents and that EPDP supporters have collected the polling cards of many persons in many parts of Jaffna peninsula, TNA parliamentarians further accused.
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TNA parliamentarian’s office attacked, bomb blasts heard, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 2010, 02:40 GMT]
Masked men in two white vans arriving at the office of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran in Jaffna town around 7:00 p. m Monday stoned his office while some others attacked the houses of TNA supporters around the same time in Achchuveali, Aavarangkaal and in Vadamaraadchi and Thenmaraadchi, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, more than four bomb explosions and gunshots were heard around from 3:00 to 3:30 a.m Tuesday in some areas in Jaffna town, the sources added. The bomb blasts are said to be caused by persons trying to place the blame on Liberation Tigers for allegedly boycotting the presidential election.
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“Tamils’ votes indispensable to send Mahinda home” - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 January 2010, 03:55 GMT]
“The votes of Tamils are of great value in this presidential election,” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader, R. Sampanthan said Saturday in a big election campaign meeting held Saturday around 3:00 p.m in Nalloor Chaddanaathar Koayil area, in which nearly four thousand people from various parts of the peninsula participated, sources in Jaffna said. “After considering various pressing issues including the resettlement of Vanni people in their places we decided to offer our support to Sarath Fonseka,” he said. “He agreed to consider our demands favourably while Mahinda was not prepared to give in on any of them and therefore we decided to support Sarath Fonseka in this presidential election,” Sampanthan further said.
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Stiff sentences for pair convicted in New York arms deal

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 January 2010, 12:51 GMT]
Eastern District Court of New York Friday sentenced two Sri Lankan Tamils, Sathajhan Sarachandran and Nadarasa Yogarasa, to 26 years and 14 years in prison respectively, in connection with their attempt to purchase weapons for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in the U.S.A. Defendants were Caught in an FBI undercover sting operation attempting to purchase surface-to-air missiles, missile launchers, and hundreds of AK-47 automatic rifles, the press release said. Material support to to any organization designated as an FTO is illegal in the U.S.
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Muslim presidential candidate supports TNA, SLMC decision

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 January 2010, 04:50 GMT]
M. S. Iliyas, former Jaffna parliamentarian and one of the presidential candidates, said that he welcomed Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) decision to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa by supporting Sarath Fonseka in the presidential election, in a press meet held Thursday in Jaffna Veerasingham Hall. Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims and various political parties of the country have decided to bring in a change of government despite their differences, he added.
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Death threats to MP Kajendren, Jaffna University community

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 January 2010, 00:48 GMT]
A group calling itself ‘Tamil Protection Alliance to Save the Country’ issued Tuesday and Wednesday handbills threatening with death to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Selvarajah Kajendran and the Jaffna University community. The group which allegedly operates on the directions of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit and a Tamil paramilitary-cum-political party last year issued similar death threats to 13 persons including representatives of Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU), faculty deans and lecturers and one of them had been shot and seriously injured.
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Mahinda inciting racial hatred between Sinhalese and Tamils - Suresh Premachandran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 January 2010, 14:01 GMT]
“President Mahinda Rajapakse, on learning Tamil National Alliance (TNA) intention of supporting his rival Sarath Fonseka in the presidential election, is actively engaged in whipping up racial animosity between the Sinhalese and the Tamils,” Suresh Premachandran, TNA parliamentarian said in a press briefing held Tuesday in his Jaffna office. “Mahinda, Minister Douglas Devananda and other government supporters are deceiving the Tamils with their false promises,” he further said.
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TNA MP Sathasivam Kanagaratnam released

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 January 2010, 09:39 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Vanni district Sathasivam Kanagaratnam was released on condition after being produced before Vavuniyaa Magistrate Alex Raja Wednesday night. Mr. Kanagaratnam was taken into custody while he was staying with his people in one of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, for displaced civilians from Mullaiththeevu.
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TNA delegation leaves to New Delhi to meet Indian leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 January 2010, 02:55 GMT]
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) left Colombo Tuesday to New Delhi on the invitation of the Government of India. Mr. R. Sampanthan, TNA head of the parliamentary group, is leading the delegation. The TNA delegation is expected to take a flight to New Delhi from Chennai Wednesday evening and to hold talks with Indian leaders on Thursday, TNA sources said.
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Support for Mahinda in Jaffna declines

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 January 2010, 04:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) being reluctant to permit resettlement in its High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North, whatever support that President Mahinda Rajapakse had in Jaffna peninsula began to decline fast, sources in Jaffna said. Besides, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Sivasakthi Ananthan had told ‘Valampuri’, the Tamil daily published in Jaffna, that SLA soldiers at Thellippazhai had demanded Ministry of Defence (MOD) permission from him to enter the HSZ and this had altogether dashed the hopes of the IDPs who had been time and again promised with resettlement.
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Shiranthi Rajapakse seeks Jaffna Bishop’s help

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 January 2010, 15:03 GMT]
Shiranthi Rajapakse, wife of President Mahinda Rajapakse, paid a visit to Jaffna Bishop’s House Monday evening where she entreated Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam to help get the people of Jaffna peninsula to vote for her husband in the presidential election, Bishop House sources said. She had also requested him to ask the peninsula residents not to refrain from voting in the forthcoming presidential election, the sources added.
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Families evacuated from Thellippazhai HSZ deceived by government officials

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 January 2010, 04:57 GMT]
More than a hundred Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), evacuated from their places in Thellippazhai area by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for establishing High Security Zone (HSZ), who was informed by Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, that they will be allowed to resettle in their places had to return with disappointment. Even, Sivasakthi Anathan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian who too had come to the SLA Front Defence Line (FDL) in Thellippazhai hoping to see his house within the HSZ was not allowed entry into the HSZ, sources in Jaffna said.
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