http://www.tamilnet.com Latest 20 TamilNet reports from Sri Lanka en Copyright (c) 1997-2010 TamilNet Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:47:35 GMT Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:47:35 GMT tamilnet@tamilnet.com http://www.tamilnet.com/img/feedlogo2.gif http://www.tamilnet.com 88 31 TamilNet logo http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31170 United National Party (UNP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP-M-wing), Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) are to stage protests in key towns in the country Wednesday against the arrest of General (retd) Sarath Fonseka. Tue, 09 Feb 2010, 18:16 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31169 Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has dissolved Parliament and the gazette notification to this effect has been sent to the government printer, according to initial report from presidential secretariat sources. Tue, 09 Feb 2010, 18:14 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31168 As General Fonseka under arrest needs regular medication his wife Anoma Fonseka has appealed to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to supply the necessary medicines needed for her husband, Mrs. Fonseka said at a press briefing Tuesday. Tue, 09 Feb 2010, 14:25 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31167 Sri Lankan Police officials have claimed that they have arrested two former Sri Lanka Army officials in connection with the assassination of Sunday Leader Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickremathunge. The arrests were carried out following information provided by the Intelligence Unit of the SLA, police sources claimed Monday, when former Sri Lankan military chief and defeated presidential candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka was taken by the Sri Lankan military police for investigations. Tue, 09 Feb 2010, 11:03 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31166 General Sarath Fonseka, the former Sri Lankan military chief and defeated presidential candidate, was punched and dragged along the ground by troops led by a Major General who arrested him as he met political allies last night, the Daily Telegraph said Tuesday. “There was no decorum. To call it an arrest gives dignity and legality to what was a brutal abduction. He was beaten, dragged along the floor and bundled into a van," said opposition politician and Fonseka’s campaign spokesperson Mangala Samaraweera. Tue, 09 Feb 2010, 10:47 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=31163 Writing on the negotiations of 1964 Srimao-Shastri Pact that caused adverse impact on the demography of Tamils in Sri Lanka, Professor V. Suryanarayan says, “The most pathetic member of the Indian team was Ramiah, a Cabinet Minister from Tamil Nadu. According to informed sources, throughout the discussions, Ramiah did not utter a single word on behalf of the Tamil plantation workers, who wanted to remain in Sri Lanka and become Sri Lankan citizens.” Mr. Karunanidhi, for his personal consolidation of power, collaborated with New Delhi in ceding Kachchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974. Had he challenged it in the Supreme Court, the India-Sri Lanka relations might have taken a different turn, the academic said in a paper he read last week. Tue, 09 Feb 2010, 02:12 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31165 Prasad Samarasinghe Monday morning assumed office as the Military Spokesman and has been promoted to the rank of Major General. He previously served as the military spokesman in the rank of Brigadier prior to getting posted to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London on a diplomatic posting. Tue, 09 Feb 2010, 02:03 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31164 While a few U.S. cities, including Washington postponed the planned Sri Lanka Boycott rallies due to the record-breaking snow storm, in most of the 15 cities Tamil activists held protests urging ethical-minded consumers to boycott Sri Lanka products, especially textiles, as the protesters allege that the profits fund State violence against Tamil civilians, organizers of the protest said. Meanwhile, the organizers of the boycott campaign released a third-video in a planned series of video releases highlighting the need to black-label Sri Lanka products across the world, sources close to the boycott campaign said. Tue, 09 Feb 2010, 01:25 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31162 Sri Lankan military police Monday night arrested former commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and opposition candidate in the recent presidential elections General (retd) Sarath Fonseka, initial reports from sources close to Fonseka said. The arrest comes after he declared that he was prepared to witness against anyone who had committed war crimes. The military personnel ragged away Fonseka in a very disgraceful manner, according to Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Muslim Congress, who was with Fonseka while the arrest took place, told Reuters. Mon, 08 Feb 2010, 16:28 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31161 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had imposed restrictions on fishing in Jaffna peninsula since its occupation for the last fourteen years is now tightening the restrictions, subjecting the peninsula fishermen to additional harassment, fisheries societies sources in Jaffna said. SLA compels the fishermen to renew their ‘fishing pass’ often while keeping many fishing jetties in several coastal villages closed to them, the sources further complained. Mon, 08 Feb 2010, 03:20 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31160 Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna officials are attempting to close the files of persons reported missing in the period after 11 August 2006 claiming that the missing persons had gone abroad, the families who had made the complaints said. While Sri Lanka government continues to maintain that persons reported missing after arrest by its armed forces have left the country the action taken by Jaffna HRC officials seems to strengthen government’s stand, they further complained. Mon, 08 Feb 2010, 02:50 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31159 Superintendent of Police (SP) Priyantha Jayakody has been appointed as the new media spokesman of the Sri Lanka Police with immediate effect. He was the Director (Recruitment) prior to this appointment. Mon, 08 Feb 2010, 01:58 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=31156 The widespread systematic pattern of crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state against Tamil civilians, particularly during the first five months of 2009 in the Northeast province, constitute violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, legal scholars have said. During this period, indifference exhibited by the international community, including the United Nations, led to the deaths of more than 30,000 Tamils. The strong transnational expatriate Tamil community now has the burden (a) to prevent Sri Lanka from erasing the massacres from historical record, (b) to resist attempts by international powers to persuade Tamils for reconciliation without establishing justice and accountability for the crimes, and (c) to seek justice for tens of thousands of Tamil victims by charging Sri Lanka of war crimes and genocide against Tamils in world courts. Sun, 07 Feb 2010, 23:15 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31158 Noting that on Sri Lanka's Independence day "Tamil diaspora around the world mourn as they believe today marks the beginning of national oppression," John Murphy, Australian Member of Parliament, said in a recorded speech in the parliament on 4th February, adding, "[d]espite the Sri Lankan government’s declaration of [military] victory, the international community has expressed its grave concern that this battle will not be won and peace will not prevail until the Sri Lankan government provides essential political reform." The MP called for an independent investigation into the "reports of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Sri Lanka." Sun, 07 Feb 2010, 14:48 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31157 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. Sun, 07 Feb 2010, 11:46 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31155 The Peace Palace Library (PPL), the main library of the World Court, the popular name for the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has acquired "The Tamil genocide by Sri Lanka," a recent publication by Clarity press authored by Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at University of Illinois College of Law, Marianne Brouwer, principal catalog librarian for the PPL, confirmed. "The book has made it to the World Court. Now we just need to file the lawsuit [against Sri Lanka for Genocide/war-crimes]," commented Boyle. Sun, 07 Feb 2010, 03:16 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=31154 With the death of 85 years old Boa Sr in Andaman Islands of India last week, the Bo language of prehistoric antiquity became extinct once and for all, reports, Survival International, a movement for tribal peoples. The Andaman and Nicobar islands, home of several prehistoric tribes of Austroloid, Negroid and Mongoloid origins, is currently a Union Territory directly administered by the Central Government of India. “The Great Andamanese were first massacred, then all but wiped out by paternalistic policies which left them ravaged by epidemics of disease, and robbed of their land and independence,” says Survival on the modern history of the tribes since British times. Meanwhile, India launched a show off of ‘naval exercise’ in the Andaman Sea Friday, mobilising 13 countries in the region including Sri Lanka, the new 'colonial power' in South Asia. Sat, 06 Feb 2010, 23:39 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31153 Pro-Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Sinhala language weekly “Lanka” appeared on the news stands Saturday in Colombo and several parts of the south after publication ceased earlier due to the arrest of the paper's editor and threat to the printing establishment. The newspaper office was sealed by the police after the presidential election, but later, due to lack of evidence, Gangodawila Magistrate revoked police action, legal sources in Colombo said. Sat, 06 Feb 2010, 14:25 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31152 All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) expressed deep concern over Sri Lanka's planned widening of the Jaffna-Kankesanthurai high way from Jaffna town to KKS as the plan would lead to the destruction and desecration of twenty seven Saiva temples and several historical cultural monuments along both sides of the highway, sources in Jaffna said. Officials of ACHC have protested the planned road upgrade to Northern Provincial Governor G.A. Chandrasiri. Sat, 06 Feb 2010, 12:54 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31151 Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa left on a three day official visit to Russia Saturday. Mr. Rajapaksa is scheduled to meet his counterpart President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday and is expected to sign an agreement with him, enabling Sri Lanka to receive a USD 300 million loan to buy arms and dual use of equipment from Russia, presidential secretariat sources said. Sat, 06 Feb 2010, 10:15