Parliamentarian monk withdraws fast unto death

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 June 2005, 06:21 GMT]
Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera, the parliamentarian monk from the Sinhala ultra nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), gave up his fast unto death on Saturday at 9.15 AM following the assurances given by the Chief Prelates of the Buddhist order in the country. Meanwhile, a media release issued from the Presidential Secretariat on Saturday quoted President Kumaratunga as saying to the Chief Prelates that "the proposed Post-Tsunami Operations Management Structure (P-TOMS) does not threaten Sri Lanka's national security or territorial integrity".
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Monks march against Joint Mechanism

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2005, 12:38 GMT]
More than 500 monks belonging to extreme nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), party members and JHU parliamentarians held a protest campaign against the Joint Mechanism (JM) Friday evening at 4pm, sources in Colombo said. The protesters started the campaign near the Colombo Viharamahadevi park and marched through Maradana, and Pettah, and stopped in front of Sri Lanka President's house shouting slogans against the Joint Mechanism proposal before continuing their march.
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Fasting monk rejects President's assurance

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2005, 10:56 GMT]
Venerable Omalpe Sobitha Thera, parliamentarian of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Friday morning informed a team of government politicians that he is not prepared to give up his fast unto death against the implementation of the joint mechanism, as he is not satisfied with the assurance of the President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge that she would not take final decision on the JM without Buddhist prelates' consensus.
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No final decision on JM proposal without Mahanayakas' consensus- SL President

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2005, 05:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge Friday early morning sent a special message to the Mahanayake Theras of three Chapters regarding the controversy over the signing of the joint mechanism structure with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "Final decision to sign the proposed Joint Mechanism will not be taken without the consensus of the three Mahanayakas," the president assured in her letter, the State controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) announced in its Friday morning news bulletin.
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Buddhist High Priests issue ultimatum for abrogating JM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 June 2005, 17:56 GMT]
High priests (Mahanayaka Theras) of all four Buddhist Chapters of Maha Sangha gave a 24-hour ultimatum to Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge to make a clear statement on whether she intends to abrogate the Joint Mechanism proposal, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), an extremist party of Buddhist monks said in a press release issued Thursday night in Colombo, sources said. Buddhist prelates who reach the position of Mahanayake Theras play a vital role in the thinking of the Government in power.
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JHU threatens to boycott parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 June 2005, 13:27 GMT]
Venerable Athuraliya Ratana Thera, parliamentary group leader of the all monks' Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party Tuesday announced in parliament that his party has decided to boycott the House temporarily in protest of the Sri Lanka government's move to sign the joint mechanism proposal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), parliamentary sources said.


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JHU MPs fast against Joint Mechanism

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 June 2005, 16:24 GMT]
Monks belonging to Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), ultra-Sinhala nationalist party of Buddhist monks, began fast unto death in front of the historic Dalada Maligawa in the hill town of Kandy, demanding the government of Sri Lanka to reject signing the Joint Mechanism, the proposed agreement with the Liberation Tigers regarding the rehabilitation and reconstruction of tsunami destroyed coastal areas in the Northeast province, sources in Kandy said.
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Funeral of Major Muthalif held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 June 2005, 11:15 GMT]
Funeral of high ranking Military Intellligence Commanding Officer Major Mutalif (39), who was assassinated Monday by unidentified gunmen was held Wednesday morning at Dehiwela Mohideen burial grounds with full military honors, sources in Colombo said.
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JVP again blasts joint mechanism, JHU warns - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 14:55 GMT]
The Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) strongly and totally rejected the joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE - charging it would be unconstitutional, undemocratic and create chaos not only in the country but in the whole South Asian region, the Daily Mirror reported. The hardline monks party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), has “vowed to do everything possible to stop the government from signing the joint mechanism,” the paper said.
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Monks disrupt Parliament over Trinco statue

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 08:00 GMT]
The hardline monks’ party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Thursday condemned a Magistrate’s judgement ordering police to temporarily remove the controversial Buddha statue erected in Trincomalee town bus stand.
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Buddhist Congress protests against aid deal

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2005, 13:58 GMT]
Hundreds of Buddhist monks belonging to Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya (JSS National Buddhist Congress) held a protest march Sunday against any deal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for a Joint Mechanism to facilitate post-tsunami reconstruction in the NorthEast, sources in Colombo said. The protesters marched to the office of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr Mahinda Rajapakshe and handed over a memorandum.
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Pro-peace groups receive death threats

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 May 2005, 13:46 GMT]
Leaders of civil society organisations calling for a peaceful solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have received death threats from an extreme Sinhala nationalist group calling itself ‘Theraputtabhaya force.’ The letter, which claimed responsibility for the murder of journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam, says that all traitors should be ready to become "fertiliser for the motherland" if they continue to betray it.
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Joint mechanism mired in Sinhala politics

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 15:51 GMT]
The joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers called for by international aid donors has become the centre of political manoeuvres by the main Sinhala parties, in whose zero-sum calculations, international aid has a critical role to play.
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Donors can't dictate dates to finalize aid deal- Kadirgamar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2005, 05:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar said after a meeting with donor community in Geneva Friday that President Chandrika Kumaratunga has been holding "intensive" talks with religious and political leaders ahead of a meeting with Liberation Tigers on May 15 th and 16th, and that Sri Lanka "could not accept any dictation by the donor community about dates," according to an AFP report.
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SL Parliament approves Tsunami Bills

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 May 2005, 15:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Wednesday adopted the Tsunami (Special Provisions) Bill and the Disaster Management Bill. Mr.John Seneviratne, Minister of Justice and Judicial Reforms and Ms Sumedha Jeyasena, Minister for Social Services and Women Affairs moved the Tsunami (Special provisions) Bill and Disaster Management Bill respectively, parliamentary sources said.


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'Sivaram was a terrorist journalist' - JHU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 May 2005, 00:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline monks party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) this week denounced Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram, the Tamil political columnist and military analyst who was murdered on Friday, as a “terrorist journalist” working for the LTTE. Saying Mr. Sivaram was akin to “Hitler’s Goebbels” a statement issued by the JHU's General Secretary, Omalpe Sobitha Thera, said he had “undermined the morale of the armed forces who were fighting the fascist Tigers.” Saying Sivaram should have been arrested according to the laws of Sri Lanka, the JHU urged the government to take stern action against others working in support of the Tigers.
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Protest at Sri Lanka truce monitors’ HQ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2005, 13:49 GMT]
An organization calling itself ‘National Fortress for Safeguarding Military Intelligence Officers’ protested in front the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) headquarters in Colombo Wednesday accusing the Nordic truce monitors of impartiality. Five protestors who were allowed into the SLMM office handed over a letter to the truce monitors urging them to secure the release of Inspector Jeyaratnam, the senior Sri Lankan Police intelligence officer allegedly abducted by the Liberation Tigers last week. The protestors shouted at the truce monitors, calling them ‘white tigers’.
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JHU joins anti joint mechanism fray

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2005, 14:11 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), an ultra Sinhala nationalist party in Sri Lanka's Parliament, Monday vowed to oppose the proposed joint mechanism between the Liberation Tigers and Colombo to distribute Tsunami aid in the island's northeast. Addressing a press conference in Colombo Monday, Mr. Champika Ranawaka, propaganda secretary of the JHU said that his party was ready to join hands with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to campaign against the joint mechanism proposal. He said that there are many politicians in the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the opposition United National Party who are against the joint mechanism for Tsunami aid.
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Sinhala nationalists urge crack down on Muslim groups

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 April 2005, 17:32 GMT]
Sinhala Buddhist nationalists Tuesday protested in Colombo, urging the Government of Sri Lanka to crack down on Islamic groups that are opposing the construction of Buddha’s statues in some Muslim towns and villages on the island’s southeast coast. Hundreds of Buddhist monks and their lay supporters marched to the Ministry of Buddha Sasana to condemn the “anti Buddhist activities of Muslim extremists”. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and several civil society groups have opposed the construction of Buddha’s statues in Muslim areas on the southeast coast.


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Tilak Karunaratne withdraws petition against MoU

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 March 2005, 08:27 GMT]
One of the three petitions filed in the Court of Appeal challenging the constitutional validity of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the then Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Mr.V.Pirapaharan leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was withdrawn last week, legal sources said.
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