Tamil-speaking voters decided new SL President, says JVP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2015, 14:19 GMT]
The major share of the victory of Mr Maithiripala Sirisena as the sixth president of the country belongs to Tamil-speaking people although the JVP had a ‘little say’ in the outcome of the result, said Anura Dissanayake MP, the president of the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), at a media briefing held in Colombo on Friday evening. Currently, the JVP is prepared to give ‘pressure’ from outside to ensure ‘good governance’ via the new SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, the JVP leader further stated.
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Rajapaksa’s budget passed by a majority 95 votes

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2014, 15:08 GMT]
The 2015 Budget of the United People Freedom Alliance government was passed in Sri Lanka’s parliament Monday around 5:00 p.m. with a majority of ninety five votes amid speculation that more parliamentarians from the government ranks might cross over to the opposition supporting the Common Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena, news sources in Colombo
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Colombo opts for anti-Tamil campaign to handle constitutional case

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 12:31 GMT]
The petitioners of a constitutional case against the ‘Divineguma’ Bill that will snatch away even grassroot development and social welfare powers of the provinces in genocidal Sri Lanka are currently targeted through a Sinhala poster campaign of ‘counterinsurgency’ style that collectively names the petitioners as ‘Paikiasothy Gang’ aiming ‘separation of the country’. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), headed by Colombo-based Tamil, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, in a statement on Tuesday hinted at the connection between the posters and Sri Lanka Army coming for ‘investigations’ of the Centre on Monday. The SL Supreme Court on Monday decided for a separate hearing of the case filed by the TNA and has fixed it to next Monday, while four more writ petitions challenging the bill will be taken up for hearing by the court on Thursday.
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Colombo appoints Sinhala Chief Secretary, sidelines Tamils in EPC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 September 2012, 17:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan government has appointed a Sinhalese, Mr DMS Abeygunawardena as Chief Secretary of the predominantly Tamil-speaking Eastern Province. Not a single Tamil has been appointed as minister by Colombo. Apart from the Muslim Chief Minister, three Muslims and a Sinhalese have been appointed as ministers to the newly formed EPC. Paramilitary operative Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan is the sole member of the newly elected EPC from the Batticaloa district, but he declined to accept a ministerial portfolio. Instead he has been appointed by the SL President as his ‘advisor’ for the entire Eastern Province.
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Gananath review shows nations divided in perception

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 February 2012, 01:44 GMT]
“I will confess that, as I write this essay, many do see him [Rajapaksa] as someone who “saved” the nation from the brutal LTTE. Surely such a view is not without its truth. But that truth cannot excuse human rights violations that currently afflict the nation as a whole; or for that matter obscure the looming threat of the cultural and political colonisation of the north by the Sinhala Buddhist majority,” writes Gananath Obeyesekere, in reviewing a recent book on Sri Lanka. Commenting, a Tamil academic said Gananath’s reference to ‘nation’ in singular confines to the Sinhala nation, for despite differences of opinion on ways and tactics, many Eezham Tamils see the LTTE as something that was checking brutal genocide by the Sinhala state. The divided perception is sign of nations in plural, justifying their separation even for reconciliation in future, the Tamil academic said.
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Colombo brings in new legislation to replace Emergency Regulations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 September 2011, 14:22 GMT]
Having hoodwinked the international community by announcing an imminent withdrawal of the three decade-long Emergency Regulations, Colombo has decided to introduce new set of laws with immediate effect to replace the draconian law that gives sweeping powers to SL Police and military forces to arrest and detain people without any charges indefinitely. Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem has said that the new set of laws will be in place with the expiry of similar provisions under the island’s controversial emergency laws, which Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa proposed to lift by the end of August. Badly hoodwinked by the mere propaganda exercise by the genocidal Rajapaksa regime many members of the powerful international community, including the United States quickly hailed as “significant step” the move to do away with the emergency regulations.
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BTF reps visited India over Sri Lanka war crimes probe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 August 2011, 13:36 GMT]
Representatives of the British Tamil Forum (BTF) travelled recently to India to raise awareness of the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and to build support for an independent international investigation into the mass killings of Tamil civilians in the closing months of the island’s war, the organisation said in a statement this weekend. Taking up an invitation extended to the BTF by India’s main opposition Bhathiya Janatha Party (BJP) during a meeting in London, a delegation travelled to Delhi and several Indian states, including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, to meet several key political leaders and senior political advisors, as well as representatives of human rights organisations, religious and media organisations, the statement said.
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Colombo Sinhalicises Tamil villages in Trincomalee through State-aided colonisation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2011, 10:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Housing, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities has started allocating houses for Sinhalese who are to be brought from the south under SL State-aided housing schemes constructed in traditional Tamil villages in the North and East. This became evident recently when the ministry allocated twenty four of thirty houses to Sinhalese, four for Muslims and two for Tamils in a traditional Tamil village Puththukudiyiruppu located in Tamil speaking Thampalakaamam Divisional Secretariat division of Trincomalee district.
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Those who committed Genocide on Tamils should be brought to Justice: BJP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 August 2011, 04:18 GMT]
“We are not going to give up till all those people involved in genocide are brought to justice,” said India's former Foreign Minister and a top leader of the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) Yashwant Sinha Friday, questioning the motives behind New Delhi’s silence on the UN Chief’s expert panel report that found credible evidences for the wide-spread allegations of war-crime committed by the Sri Lankan troops. According to media reports from India, leaders of various mainstream political parties, including the BJP, on Friday have expressed solidarity with Eezham Tamils, saying that they would continue to raise their voice until everyone responsible for the “genocide” there were brought to justice.
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4 JVP members arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 May 2011, 08:48 GMT]
Moratuwa police Sunday morning arrested four cadres of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) while they were preparing for the May Day rally that is scheduled to be held in the afternoon. They were taken to the police station while they were decorating a vehicle for a display against the privatization of the free education system, JVP sources told media in Colombo.
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UN experts took bribes from LTTE supporters – SL minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 April 2011, 15:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s minister for Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities, Wimal Weerawansa, accused the independent experts who authored a UN report on war crimes during the final months of Sri Lanka’s war, of having taken bribes from the Tamil Diaspora. His comments were reported in the state-run Daily News Thursday. Sinhala ultra-nationalist firebrand Weerawansa last July famously staged a fast-unto-death in front of the UN building in Colombo in response to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s appointment of the panel.
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Emergency extended for another month in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 April 2011, 05:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Thursday evening adopted the motion by the government to extend the state of emergency for another month with a majority of 81 votes. 98 parliamentarians from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituents voted for the motion, parliamentary sources said.
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ITAK wins 12 local body elections in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 March 2011, 12:22 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), contesting under the symbol of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), captured the administration of twelve local authorities including two Urban Councils (UC) and Predesiya Sabas (PS) in the North and East in the elections held Thursday. The TNA failed to capture power of the Moothoor PS in Trincomalee district but was able secure three seats out of 11. Elections to local bodies in Jaffna district and to some in the districts of Trincomalee, Ampaarai and Mullaithivu were not held Thursday.
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Trinco under heavy security for Rajapakse election visit

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 March 2011, 14:45 GMT]
Trincomalee town has been put on red alert from Friday for the forthcoming visit of Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse who is scheduled to address an election rally on Sunday morning in the Trincomalee McHeyzer Stadium in support of the ruling United peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) contesting the Trincomalee urban Council. Roads leading to the McHeyzer Stadium are under heavy checking by army and police personnel. Vehicles and other mode of transports are stopped and checked by security personnel, sources in Trincomalee said.
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Three opposition MPs to give evidence in “white flag” case

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 March 2011, 02:41 GMT]
Two parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and a parliamentarian from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) are among ten witnesses who will be giving evidence in the white flag case in which former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sarath Fonseka is charged for causing disrepute to the Sri Lanka government by making allegedly false statements to The Sunday leader, an English weekly published in Colombo.
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Colombo to postpone local elections in North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 February 2011, 03:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government has decided to postpone elections to 75 local authorities that were scheduled for March 17 until the Court of Appeal decides on the 60 writ applications, many filed by the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) against the rejection of its nomination lists in the districts of Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mullaithivu. The Court of Appeal last week put off the inquiry and order on the Writ Applications filed by the ruling UPFA challenging the rejection of nomination lists submitted for three Urban Councils and sixteen Predesiya Sabas in the Northern Province for February 28.
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Local elections likely to be postponed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 February 2011, 23:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan Department of Elections has said it was considering requests made by political parties to postpone the local elections until hundreds of thousands of families displaced due to recent floods are resettled and resume their day to day normal life in their villages and towns.
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Colombo extends Emergency for another month

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 January 2011, 16:52 GMT]
The Sri Lanka’s parliament Wednesday evening adopted, as usual, a motion to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of one hundred and eleven votes. One hundred and thirty four members of the ruling United Peoples National Alliance (UPFA) and its constituents voted for the motion.
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Split in Wimal Weerawanse led NFF

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2010, 10:51 GMT]
The National Freedom Front (NFF) a splinter group from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has reportedly expelled its national list parliamentarian Achala Jagoda from the party. The party secretary Prianjit Vitarana had refused to comment on the expulsion, but had told Colombo media that his party would not tolerate anyone who has been working against the party. His party is aligned with Mahinda Rajapaksa and is deployed by Rajapaksa brothers to showcase Sinahala extremist policies as a pressure tactic to the West, NGOs and the UN.
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SL parliament adopts 2nd reading of 2011 Budget

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 17:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Monday evening adopted the second reading of the Budget for the year 2011 by a majority of 104 votes. 150 parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the budget. 46 parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted against. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians abstained from voting.
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