http://www.tamilnet.com Latest 5 TamilNet reports from Sri Lanka en Copyright (c) 1997-2013 TamilNet Sat, 25 May 2013 16:10:44 GMT Sat, 25 May 2013 16:10:44 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=36346 Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Friday that DMK Chief M Karunanidhi has requested New Delhi to provide citizenship to over 100,000 Eezham Tamils living in South Indian state of Tamil Nadu as refugees. Pointing out to the immigration reforms in the U.S., Mr Karunanidhi was quoted as saying, "[s]imilarly, it is also our wish and request to the Centre to come forward and provide citizenship to over one lakh Eezham Tamils living in the country ensuring their permanent safety," the PTI added. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36347 Following a writ-application filed at the Sri Lankan Court of Appeal by 1,474 Eezham Tamils owning lands in Valikaamam North on 14 May, which was an initiative taken by Colombo-based lawyers, including those belonging to the Tamil National Alliance, a group of lawyers based in Jaffna have filed legal action in Sri Lankan Supreme Court on 22 May, challenging the publication of the Section 2 notice to acquire lands from the owners in Valikaamam North. In the meantime, the commander of the occupying SL military in Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, who recently faced questions from the visiting United Nations representatives on the acquisition of lands in the former High Security Zone (HSZ), was attempting to play down the scale of the Sinhala militarization by hiding the extent of land acquisition outside the Valikaamam North area. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36345 While New Delhi and Washington harp on either the 13th Amendment or holding Northern Provincial Elections (NPC) as solutions to the national question in the island of Sri Lanka, a statement coming from SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa reconfirms the unworkable nature of the Provincial Council (PC) model in a unitary constitution of the Sinhala state, Tamil political observers in the island said. Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was warning the government of his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa that giving police and land powers to the provinces meant that the Northern Province comprising the districts of Jaffna, Mullaiththeevu, Vavuniyaa, Mannaar and Ki'linochchi could pose a ‘major security challenge’, reported the Island on Thursday. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36344 An armed squad that came in a white van on Tuesday abducted a 68-year-old activist, Thangathurai Veluppillai, a supporter of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Ampaa'rai district. The victim was blindfolded while he was at Kalmunai public market and was taken away by the squad that tortured him to obtain the names of the TNA activists in Ampaa'rai district. The abduction comes a few days after the intelligence of the occupying SL military ‘investigated’ him following a meeting against the land grab by the SL military in his division. After 3 days of interrogations in Batticaloa, Mr Thangathurai was taken back to Kalmunai and released there, the sources further said. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36343 The commander of the occupying SL military in Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, together with all of his senior officers and a section of soldiers, observed a ‘Sil’ campaign on Thursday, according to a news release by the SL military in Jaffna. At the event, the SL commander Hathurusinghe and his personnel were all clad in white. In contrast, the occupying SL commander and his officers have been wearing military uniform while entering Hindu temples, an act considered as showing disrespect to the deities and as desecrating the shrines, observers in Jaffna commented. One of the topics discussed by the Buddhist clergy and the academics at the Buddhist religious event on Thursday was ‘music therapy as a remedy to youth unrest’, the news release by the SL military further revealed.