Jaffna students demand US and UN agenda-setters to declare PTA detainees as political prisoners

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2017, 23:44 GMT]
More than 1,000 Tamil students from across the faculties of Jaffna University as well as the students from the College of Education, Jaffna Technical College and High Tech institute took to the streets in Jaffna on Tuesday demanding the main intervening actors of the International Establishment to recognise the Tamil prisoners detained under the so-called Prevention of Terrorism Act as Political Prisoners. They handed over open and urgent appeals addressed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President of UNHRC and to the US Permanent Mission for UN in Geneva, which has been behind the drafting of the ‘consensus’ resolution with the SL State in Geneva Human Rights Council in 2015 and with postponing a final evaluation by two more years in 2017. The student leaders handed over the appeals through the UN Residential Office in Jaffna and the American Corner in the city.
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Colombo seizes more lands for Sinhala colonisation in Trincomalee through engineering Tamil-Muslim divide in East

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 October 2017, 21:55 GMT]
The authorities of occupying Colombo are seizing the lands of uprooted Tamils in Uppaa'ru, a GS area in Ki'n'niyaa division located between the East port city of Trincomalee and Moothoor division. There were at least 60 Tamil families and 8 Tamil-speaking Muslim families living in Uppaa'ru village before their displacement during the times of war. The occupying Sri Lanka Army was behind driving the people out from their villages in the late 1990s during the regime of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge. The SL military was sustaining around 10 Sinhala colonisers in a nearby locality known as Gengasasara-thoaddam. Now, setting encroaching Muslims against uprooted Tamils, the SL authorities are trying to ‘legally’ seize the lands that belonged to Tamils.
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Justice more important than motorbikes and houses: Journalists in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 April 2016, 15:25 GMT]
More than one hundred Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim journalists in Colombo organised a protest in front of the Fort Railway Station on Friday condemning the Sri Lankan State for not investigating the assassinations of popular journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam alias Taraki, who was abducted on 28 April 2005 and found shot dead behind the SL Parliament on the following day. Sivaram's assassination took place during the regime of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge (CBK), who now heads the so-called ‘Office of the National Unity and Reconciliation’ while remaining tight lipped on the genocidal crimes committed under her rule. A Sinhala journalist described the protest as a big success demonstrating the continued solidarity among the sections of Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim journalists, who were behind the principled demand of Justice.
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Coerced confessions determine Tamil prisoners' fate

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 January 2016, 19:57 GMT]
While rights groups highlight the continued torture and rapes of Tamils even after Sri Lanka's President Sirisena came to power, the 217 political prisoners languishing in Sri Lanka's high security jails expose another dark side of Sri Lanka's failed criminal justice system. The predicament of Valayuthan Varatharajan from Karava'nai South, Karaveddi who had been in remand for nearly 16 years in the New Magazine Prison, and was hurriedly given a sentence for "conspiring to carry out suicide attack" on the then President Kumaratunge, a verdict given three days before Sri Lanka resolution was passed in the UN on the 25th of September 2015, highlights Sri Lanka's judicial bankruptcy, legal sources in Colombo said. The main evidence the prosecution was able to assemble against Varatharajan was a coerced confession signed in Sinhala language by the defendant, according to these sources.
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Wigneswaran urges SL State to respect international principle on resettlement

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 2015, 12:04 GMT]
“Unless Grama Sevaka Divisions 244 and 252 are released in full as promised earlier, what has been gingerly granted today would hardly be of any use to the few families now selected to enter their erstwhile denied lands,” Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran said in his address at Vazhalaay during the visit by SL President, Prime Minister and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. “It may not be out of place for me to mention here of the land grabs taking place in the Vanni not only by the military but also by certain Politicians who wielded power earlier and who continue to wield power now, may be more so. They still influence in selecting inappropriate beneficiaries for the Indian Housing Schemes,” the CM said, urging the SL State to adhere to the UN Principles for Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and IDPs, which is known as the Pinheiro Principles.
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Sri Lanka Court admits as evidence confession taken under torture

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 December 2011, 02:15 GMT]
Ruling on the 1999 case involving the attack on former President Chandrika Kumaratunge, Colombo high court admitted as valid evidence defendant's confession taken under alleged torture and issued a guilty verdict, legal sources in Colombo said. Velayutham Varatharajah, the main suspect in the case, told reporters that despite the presence of medical evidence that he was tortured during Police custody the High Court ruled the confession taken under duress as admissible evidence against him.
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SB Dissanayake crosses over to SLFP from UNP

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 December 2009, 08:10 GMT]
S.B. Dissanayake, the national organiser of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Opposition Leader in the Central Province broke ranks with his party and crossed over to the ruling Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Monday. The move, which has brought the Sinhala politician with highest number of preferential votes in all the 13 electorates of Kandy in the last provincial elections to the side of Mahinda Rajapaksa, is viewed as a major setback to the UNP in the run up to the presidential elections with the common candidate General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka.
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Rajapaksa in war with judiciary - AHRC

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2008, 08:11 GMT]
If the Sri Lankan Executive President wins his war against the judiciary the people will soon be heading in the direction of the type of life that prevails in places like Burma and Cambodia, said the Hong Kong based regional rights group Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in a statement issued Friday. Stating that reports indicated that the government had already ordered the use of all propaganda at its command to support itself in this new war against the judiciary, the AHRC warned: "It will be the people themselves who will have to resolve the issue of either living under a political system which is completely under the control of the executive or to maintain the separation of powers."
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"Near perfect" interview that never aired

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 March 2008, 14:52 GMT]
An interview recorded by the popular 'Hard Talk' show in BBC channel-24 with Sri Lanka's Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal related to Sri Lanka’s 60th Independence Anniversary has not aired yet, media reports from Colombo said. Colombo weekly Sunday Island spurned as unbelivable reported BBC response that the tapes had been accidently erased.
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Jaffna Local councils face financial crisis

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 February 2008, 13:28 GMT]
Acute shortage of funds has crippled functioning of the local government authorities in the Jaffna Peninsula, and the Municipal and Pradeshya Sabhas face uncertain future, local administrative officials said. Development activities have been curtailed, and the security situation prevailing in the North has further impacted the day-to-day activities of the local councils, officials added.
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Dhanapala quits

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2008, 13:08 GMT]
Advisor to Sri Lanka President on Peace Process, Jayantha Dhanapala, quit his position following the termination of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) by the Rajapakse Government on 2nd January, media reports from Colombo said. "Close confidants of Dhanapala said he was embarrassed by the turn of events, with the government pressing for a military victory after scoring several battlefield successes against the rebels last year," an AFP report said.
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Kumar Ponnambalam remembered on eighth anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 13:33 GMT]
Eighth year anniversary of Kumar Ponnambalam, president of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Wellawatte, a Tamil suburb of the capital Colombo around 11.15 a.m. 5 January 2000, was commemorated in U.K. and in Vanni in simple ceremonies.
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Anura Bandaranaike crosses over to opposition

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 December 2007, 10:51 GMT]
Anura Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan Minister of National Heritage and the brother of former SL President Chandrika Kumaratunge crossed over to opposition in Sri Lanka's parliament, ahead of the final vote on budget 2008.
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TRO diligently complied with U.S. laws- President

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 November 2007, 19:09 GMT]
Dr. N. A. Ranjithan, President of TRO-USA, in an opinion column appeared in Cumberland Times-News, says, "As a charity registered in the U.S.A., TRO has diligently and faithfully been complying with the laws and all regulations related to registered charities. TRO-USA reiterates that it is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising for the Libertarian Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)...I am deeply concerned about the future of Tamils in Sri Lanka, persecuted by their own government and left without many friends in the world. Now that TRO accounts are frozen, I hope and pray that some other organization will step in to fill the void."
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Tamil sovereignty, basis of peace talks - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 September 2007, 17:37 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), in a statement issued Monday, urged the UN General Assembly which has gathered for its 62nd session in New York, USA, to recognize the concept of the sovereignty of the Tamil people and support the peace process in accordance with this principle. The LTTE statement characterized the confidence of some members of the International Community on Sri Lanka's latest All Party Representative Committee (APRC) which has not brought any constructive outcome to date, as a misplaced confidence.
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Kumaratunge to visit New York

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 September 2007, 05:19 GMT]
Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, former President of Sri Lanka, is scheduled to leave for New York Tuesday morning at the invitation of Bill Clinton Foundation. Her US visit coincides with President Mahinda Rajapakse trip to New York. Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge held the Executive Presidency post from 1994 till 2005, for two terms.
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Basil Rajapakse appointed National List MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 September 2007, 18:59 GMT]
Basil Rajapakse, senior advisor and brother of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse is to be sworn in as National List parliamentarian when the parliament meets on Wednesday, parliamentary sources in Colombo said. His name has been forwarded to the Commissioner of Elections by the General Secretary of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Susil Premajayanth Tuesday to fill the vacancy created with the death of Mr.Anwer Ismail, a minister in the present government last week.
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Kumaratunge to visit India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 September 2007, 10:54 GMT]
Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, Sri Lanka's former president is scheduled to leave for India Tuesday to hold talks with Indian leaders Her decision to visit India was taken after a two hour meeting with Indian High Commissioner Mr.Alok Prasad at her official residence in Colombo, media reports quoting diplomatic sources said.
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Wickremasinghe to visit India

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 September 2007, 12:51 GMT]
Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), is to visit India to hold vital talks with Indian leaders. This follows the visit to India of Sri Lanka Government three-member delegation headed by Mr.Lalith Weeratunge, Secretary to President Mahinda Rajapakse, accompanied by two Rajapakse brothers, Defence Secretary Mr.Gothabaya Rajapakse and Presidential senior advisor Mr.Basil Rajapakse, media reports said.
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UNP to move no-confidence motion on Rajapakse government

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2007, 12:22 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) is to submit a no-confidence motion against government headed by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse when parliament meets on Tuesday, parliamentary sources in Colombo said. The political affairs committee of the UNP took this decision at a meeting held on Wednesday following one-to-one talks between former president Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, and Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, UNP leader.


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