2 Tamil opposition MPs join SL government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 August 2010, 20:29 GMT]
Praba Ganeshan, Colombo district parliamentarian of the Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) and P.Digambaram, parliamentarian of Workers National Congress representing Nuwareliya district Thursday joined the ruling United Peoples Front Alliance (UPFA) after meeting Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse at Temple Trees, according to President’s media unit. Praba Ganesan and P. Digambaram later crossed over to the government side in Parliament Thursday afternoon.
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Armed men rob fuel station flanked by police, SLA, EPDP office in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 2010, 18:23 GMT]
Armed men entered Monday night the fuel station in Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi, located in front of Nelliayadi Sri Lanka police station, near Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administration office and the office of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), a constituent of the ruling UPFA government, and robbed cash around half a million rupees breaking open the iron safe of the fuel station in Kaddaiveali Muti-purpose Cooperative Society building, sources in Point Pedro.
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450 voluntary teachers in Vanni struggle for permanent appointment

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 July 2010, 10:11 GMT]
Four hundred and fifty volunteer teachers serving in schools in the districts of Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu are still awaiting permanency in their posts even after ten years of service under trying condition, education sources said.
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Gotabhaya's involvement in agitation against UN irks foreign missions

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2010, 16:36 GMT]
Sinhala journalists concerned on freedom of speech released recorded evidence of verbal abuse by the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa against the police officers providing security to the UN Compound on Tuesday, raising questions on Rajapaksa brothers involvement in triggering protest against the UN. Meanwhile, the heads of foreign missions in Sri Lanka from Germany, UK, USA, France, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Romania, Norway and EU delegation on Friday issued a statement saying that they were dismayed by the blockade of the UN-compound in Colombo and the role played in it by a government minister.
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SLFP wants diplomatic approach to UN issue than protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2010, 15:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday called upon its constituent parties for more diplomatic approach to resolve the crisis with the United Nations over the appointment of Experts Panel on Sri Lanka and to advice the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon that holding protests and fasting against UN organization. Senior members including six cabinet ministers have appealed to the hierarchy of the SLFP to resolve the issues diplomatically. SLFP general secretary and a senior minister Maithripala Sirisena is reported to have told Colombo media that the issue with the UN could have been resolved in a diplomatic manner than protesting agaist it.
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Weerawansa resigns ministry portfolio, continues fast against UN

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2010, 10:19 GMT]
Wimal Weerawansa, the leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF), a splinter group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and currently an ally of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Friday resigned from the post of Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Colombo media reported quoting his ministry spokesman. However Lalith Weeratunge, the Secretary to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse told media that he has not received the resignation letter yet.
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Peiris, Wickramasinghe speak on Weerawansa hunger strike in parliament

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2010, 05:24 GMT]
The hunger strike by Minister Wimal Weerawansa, leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF), a constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and a splinter group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) came up for debate between the External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris and opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe Thursday in parliament during the committee stage debate of the 2010 budget.
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Weerawansa’s protest against UN turns violent, announces 'devil dance'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 14:30 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister for Construction and Housing, Wimal Weerawansa, who launched a protest in front of the UN office in Bauddaloka Mawatta in Colombo demanding the UN to dissolve the expert panel announced by the UN Secretary General to investigate allegations of war crimes and human rights violations, arrived at the demonstration site around 5:00 p.m. and prompted the protesters to enter the premises of the UN complex after phoning Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and receiving instructions, a reporter at the site told TamilNet. A police officer was manhandled by the mob and the police has withdrawn from the premises. The protest was going till the reporter left the site at 7:00 p.m. The minister himself attacked the police officer and has planned to hold 'devil dance' throughout the night in front of the UN office.
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SL Parliament extends Emergency

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2010, 08:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s parliament Monday adopted a motion moved by the Rajapaksa government to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of one hundred votes. 132 Parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the motion and 32 parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) voted against.
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Move afoot to make Kumaratunga UNP MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 July 2010, 11:05 GMT]
Moves are afoot by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to make Chandrika Kumaratunga a Member of Parliament through the UNP list, political sources in Colombo said. The move has been reportedly initiated by a splinter group of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), led by Mangala Samaraweera.
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Central Bank of Ceylon opens Northern Provincial Office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 18:44 GMT]
Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri officially opened the Northern Provincial Office of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Jaffna in a private building on Arasadi Veethi in Jaffna Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurasinghe participating in the event walked out when he was called upon to light the traditional lamp as he was dissatisfied with the seating arrangement, apparently because he was not given his due place, the sources added.
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JHU holds protest march against UN Experts Panel

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 17:21 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse, Monday morning held a protest march starting from the premises of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) to the United Nations office located at Buddhaloka Mawatte in Colombo against the appointment of Experts Panel by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to advise him on the alleged war crimes during the last leg of the war in Sri Lanka, sources in Colombo said.
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UPFA promises gone with the wind

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 June 2010, 06:32 GMT]
The United People’s Freedom Alliance which had lavished promises prior to April general election including a monthly increase of 2500 rupees to public servants, on the contrary, has increased the price of essentials like fuel, flour, milk products and other services hitting the common man who had been already struggling to make ends meet. The Sinhalese people, kept under the spell of the ‘Victory’ of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime over the Tamils and the propaganda of 'Mahinda Chintana', but are becoming frustrated by the reality of spiralling prices of essential utility items while Rajapaksa regime is calculating ways to to benefit economically by playing the 'geo-political' card with the powers that are locked in a corporate race.
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Colombo decides to hold next cabinet meeting in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 June 2010, 17:25 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government decided to hold weekly cabinet meetings at provincial level from next month. First such meeting will be held in Kilinochchi on July 14 presided by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, Minister Maithripala Sirisena told media Thursday.
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UNP, JVP on UN Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 June 2010, 07:20 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) one time an ally of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have expressed their concern over the appointment of the Panel of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon on Sri Lanka. Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake who is also in the race to become the president of the UNP told media Wednesday that his party is opposed to the appointment of Panel of Experts by UN SecretaryGeneral.
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Plans afoot to Sinhalicise Paasikkudaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2010, 04:23 GMT]
Sri Lankan Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa Tuesday paid an official visit to Paasikkudaa in Batticaloa district and laid the foundation stone for a tourist complex. The tourist complex is viewed as another step to settle yet more Sinhalese in the traditional Tamil areas of Batticaloa district, by the local residents.
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JHU ousts pro-Rajapaksa Thera from leader post

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 07:52 GMT]
Power struggle ended in the extreme Sinhala nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) by ousting Venerable Ellawala Medhananda Thera from the post of party leader and electing Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera unanimously at the party’s seventh national convention held Saturday evening at Colombo Town Hall. Ellawala Thera was backing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa with the idea of prolonging his presidential term through constitutional amendment. The JHU had to elect a new leader as Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera had resigned from the post as he needed more time to devote on his pet subjects of archaeological research in Mullaiththeevu, JHU sources said.
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Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 June 2010, 19:27 GMT]
Vinayagmoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, a former Tiger commander who turned leader of a paramilitary group operated by the Sri Lanka Army in the East and later became a deputy minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet visited Jaffna Thursday for the first time after having joined United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government. Muralitharan, accompanied by the Minister of Resettlement Milroy Fernando, was primarily engaged in activities in promoting the resettlement of Muslims in Jaffna peninsula meeting Muslim Welfare Organizations (MFO) and government officials. Meanwhile, civil society circles in Jaffna pointed out that Mr. Muralitharan had been in Jaffna as a key Commander of the Liberation Tigers when the Muslims of the North were forcibly evacuated by the Tigers in 1990.
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JUSU condemns IUSU representatives being denied entry into Jaffna University premise

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 June 2010, 05:15 GMT]
Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) in a media report Tuesday expressed its deep discontent against Inter University Student Union (IUSU) representatives being denied entry into Jaffna University premises to hand over relief goods they had brought from South for the war affected Vanni undergrads. Meanwhile, Jaffna University Vice-chancellor who had denied entry to the IUCU representatives Saturday and Sunday said in a report to media Tuesday that students from other universities have to submit an authorization letter from their VC. Jaffna VC’s media report is seen as an attempt to pacify JUSU. Meanwhile, JUSU in its media report requested the VC to reveal the source of order from above directing him not to permit the IUCU representatives from meeting the war affected Vanni students, sources in Jaffna said.
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‘Jim Brown Memorial School’ for children opened in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 June 2010, 17:54 GMT]
The parents of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown who had disappeared without trace in August 2006 after being taken away by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) paramilitary men in Allaippiddi in the islets of Jaffna, recently opened the ‘Jim Brown Memorial School’ built in the premises of St. Peter’s Church in Ma’ndaitheevu, sources in Jaffna said. The school was built by the HUDEC – Caritas Jaffna in remembrance of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, the parish priest of Ma’ndaitheevu St. Peters Church, who had strived to save the remaining residents of Allaippiddi massacred by Sri Lanka Armed forces in August 2006.
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