Sitrampalam receives dead-dog threat

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2011, 09:00 GMT]
A dog shot by gun and packed in a bag was put into the well of the house of Professor S.K. Sitrampalam in Thirunelvealy, Jaffna, on Thursday night. The emeritus Professor of Archaeology of the University of Jaffna and Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) stalwart recently gave an interview to a Tamil daily in which he has said that the Mu’l’livaaykkaal war was like Kurukshetra (the war of the Mahabharata epic) and Tamils should never forget it. In another incident recently Rev. Fr. C.G. Jeyakumar, the parish priest of Kayts and former director of Human Development Centre of the Catholic Church was humiliated by a group of thugs who bucketed him with dirt at his church. The identity of the assailants was traced to a private army operated by Sri Lanka Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
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Gotabhaya grooms private army in the north

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 June 2011, 06:13 GMT]
In order to absolve the Sri Lanka Army occupying the Tamil country from international accusations, but at the same time to continue terrorisation and subjugation of Tamils, genocidal Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has formed a private army in the north consisting of military intelligence personal and some members of the paramilitaries who had gone astray, news sources in Jaffna said. This new outfit headquartered in Vanni but operates mainly in Jaffna as groups of thugs, is responsible for many recent acts terrorising civil society movements, public protests and university student activities, the news sources further said.
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U.S. case: Rajapakse ducks service, Court order sought for alternate service

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2011, 00:04 GMT]
Attorney for the three Tamil plaintiffs who filed civil action against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse for monetary damages under US's Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in the District Court of District of Columbia, informed the Court Tuesday that defendant, Mahinda Rajapakse, has avoided service of process by not accepting mail sent by recorded delivery to the Sri Lanka embassy and "Temple Trees," and that Plaintiffs are in the process of attempting to serve via Sri Lankan central authority in accordance with the provisions of "The Hague Convention," to which the U.S. and Sri Lanka are signatories. Plaintiffs will seek authorization from the court for alternate means of service, such as notification via a legal publication.
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Spain exercises universal jurisdiction in El Salvador killings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 June 2011, 03:13 GMT]
Judge, Eloy Velasco Nuñez of Spain’s National Court, used the doctrine of universal jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside of the country, to issue arrest warrants on Monday for some of the top military leaders of El Salvador’s civil war, accusing them of meticulously planning and carrying out the killings of six Jesuit priests in 1989, New York Times said in its Tuesday edition. The 77-page charging document said that the 20 men named in the warrants never had doubts about “carrying out the most execrable crimes against people merely to impose their strategies and ideas.”
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'EU parliament leaves justice to the indicted'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 May 2011, 19:44 GMT]
“The EP urges the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendations suggested by the UN panel of experts and conduct a genuine investigation,” said the European Parliament press release Thursday, leaving the delivery of justice with the genocidal state of Sri Lanka indicted for war crimes by the UN panel report. Eezham Tamils also noted with a feeling of insult added to injury, the statement of the EU parliament that said that the war “ended with the surrender of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)”, where as to their knowledge the war ended with massacre and genocide abetted by many establishments including some of the member states of the EU tagged behind the USA.
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War crime, genocide case against Rajapaksa placed in Norway courts

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2011, 00:06 GMT]
Leading Norwegian Lawyer on Human Rights, Harald Stabell, has filed a case under the Norwegian national law, against the Sri Lankan President and Commander-in-Chief of the SL armed forces, Mahinda Rajapaksa, his brother and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and former Sri Lanka Army commander Sarath Fonseka, now in Rajapaksa's custody, and several other SL commanders, for allegedly committing War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Genocide against Eezham Tamils. The case is filed on behalf of the Norwegian Council of Eezham Tamils (NCET) and 15 affected Norwegian Tamils. Following the latest revelations by the Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim in Norwegian national media NRK about his knowledge of the white-flag surrender, which turned into a war crime, the lawyers have indicated to the Chief Prosecutor of Norway that evidence may be sought from Mr. Solheim.
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Blake’s visit follows Maldives ditching UN panel report

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2011, 16:30 GMT]
The Maldivian foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem told journalists in Colombo that the UN report into human rights abuses in the closing days of Sri Lanka’s civil war is “singularly counterproductive,” reports Minivan News, an independent news service from Maldives, Saturday. Maldives is currently a member of the UN Human Rights Council. This week, the US Asst. Secretary of State Robert Blake, after closeting with Sri Lanka’s defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa made a three-day visit to the Maldives. Eezham Tamils in UK, who support the Conservative Party that has considerable influence in deciding the foreign policy of Maldives should take a special note of what the Maldivian foreign minister has said, commented a diaspora political observer.
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India, SLA, have occupation blueprint for northern coast of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2011, 08:57 GMT]
By maintaining silence, and covertly working against war crimes investigation on Sri Lanka, India bargained Colombo’s cabinet approval for its hold on the KKS harbour of Eezham Tamils, political observers in Jaffna said. The SL cabinet has approved a proposal by Rajapaksa to develop KKS harbour with Indian aid and a MoU is to be signed soon with Indian government, Deccan Herald reported Thursday. Meanwhile, SL Army physically being inducted in building blocks for a reputed school in the area sets dangerous precedence for prolonged military rule over Eezham Tamils by the occupying Sinhala Army, and shows long-term occupation interests of the military in that particular region, political observers in Jaffna further said.
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Puzzle grows over piracy in Indian Ocean

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2011, 08:49 GMT]
A cargo ship of 24 Chinese sailors, registered in Panama, was seized by pirates in the Arabian Sea, 800 km off Mumbai, and was rescued after several hours by US and Turkish teams, said Chinese news reports Friday. According to Indian media, the Indian Navy was involved in the rescue. There was no information on whether a ransom was paid. Last November, another cargo ship with 19 Chinese sailors, registered in Singapore was hijacked and was released after a payment of several million dollars. According to the Chinese quoted by the AFP, the pirates have been extending the coverage area and the next ones of their reach are Sri Lanka and Malacca Straits.
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"Prepared to go to gallows to save Motherland" - Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 April 2011, 20:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during a meeting held at Temple Trees today with electoral officers, declared that he is willing to go even to gallows to safeguard his motherland. "Certain groups with vested interest are still hell bent on bringing disrepute to Sri Lanka, almost two years after the war was ended," Rajapakse said according to political sources in Colombo. Rajapakse made these statements in reference to the UN-panels report on Sri Lanka war crimes which was submitted to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Sri Lanka-based paper Island leaked the executive summary of the report in an attempt to soften the damages before the UN releases the full report, a political observer in Colombo said.
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‘Nazi-style registration of civilians in Jaffna’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 February 2011, 12:08 GMT]
The occupying SL military in Jaffna is directly engaged in registration of individuals and families in the Jaffna peninsula in recent times. Everyday, covering area by area, the SL military is distributing forms to collect information and is insisting of family photographs along with children to be given to them. The activity of the SL military, reminding the Nazi practice before the Holocaust, creates terror in the minds of the people in Jaffna, said a human rights activist in Jaffna. Meanwhile, undeclared curfew is imposed in Jaffna by the SL military and police, who have brought the street movement of people almost to an end after 6:00 p.m. by harassing them through numerous checkpoints after dusk.
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US State Department plays ‘ultimate saviour of genocidal Colombo’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 February 2011, 08:34 GMT]
Those who are guilty of war crimes naturally would try to blame others and would do everything to save their skins. If at all the LTTE was responsible of any war crimes, it is not there now. But the others responsible are roaming free. The US Asst Secretary of State Robert Blake often calls for ‘some’ accountability. Some accountability comes only when some of those internationally responsible for the crimes bow down first taking responsibility, and desist from further contribution to genocide and denial of independence to Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo, responding to Mr. Blake passing “large part of the responsibility” for the civilian casualty in the Vanni war on the LTTE. In a way Blake in his recent interview concedes that he and his government were a party to the war and thus a party to the war crimes, the writer points out.
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New Delhi’s insensitive defence approach triggers off trouble in Palk Strait

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 January 2011, 22:13 GMT]
New Delhi’s approach of safeguarding its defence interests by protecting a flawed state and regime in Sri Lanka is the root cause for recent escalation of trouble in either side of the Palk Strait, following defence agreements and secret protocols between Indian Defence Secretary and Colombo’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. New Delhi and Colombo, having strategic partnership in safeguarding establishments and in economic interests of corporations, were totally insensitive to the defence of the people living on either side of the Palk Strait, the historic shareholders of the waters. Instead of working for international recognition and justice to the national question of Eezham Tamils, New Delhi sitting on it and defending genocidal Colombo will invite further trouble in the coming days, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka's commission to conclude "sittings"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 January 2011, 14:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the mandate of which was deliberately designed to whitewash Sri Lanka's war-crimes, and invitation to three leading premier human rights watchdogs Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and International Crisis Group (ICG) to attend LLRC's sittings was rejected due to LLRC "lacking the ability to advance accountability for war crimes," announced that the LLRC will "conclude its public sittings after the completion of sittings in the Ampara District in mid February" and would then would prepare its "final report that would be submitted to [Sri Lanka's] President Mahinda Rajapaksa in May," local media reported.
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Diplomats, defence chiefs hover around Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 January 2011, 07:05 GMT]
Former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had talks with SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the latter’s official residence Tuesday evening. The Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani will be in Colombo Wednesday, on a three-day visit, meeting Mr. Rajapaksa, SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the service chiefs. The Indian Air Chief Marshal, Pradeep Vasant Naik, arrived Colombo on Sunday was on a four-day visit. He also was scheduled to call on the SL president, Defence Secretary and the service chiefs.
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News reports irk Rajapaksa in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 January 2011, 00:05 GMT]
SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa visiting Jaffna and ‘celebrating’ Pongkal on Monday reacted to media reports that pointed out his ‘conspicuous silence’ about an aid he was politically capitalising. Meanwhile, the SL president who is coupling a terror campaign with his campaign for a colonial polity, ‘celebrating’ a Tamil agrarian festival in military occupied Jaffna, spending millions of rupees and intimidating people to attend it, while the agricultural lands of the Tamil country are seriously deluged in the floods making hundreds of thousands homeless, was nauseating to the public, media sources in Jaffna said. But addressing along with Rajapaksa, the SL minister and the ‘host’ of the event, Douglas Devananda declared that “today the polity of collaboration is on its victorious march.”
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'Pentagon blighting Tamil cause may turn counter-productive to US interests'

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 January 2011, 00:39 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government does have supporters in the U.S., particularly in military circles. Senior officials told me that their government owed much to a Pentagon official named James Clad, ‘a great friend of Sri Lanka.’ Clad was the Bush Administration’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, in charge of the Pentagon’s dealings with India and Sri Lanka, until he was replaced by the Obama Administration in January, 2009,” wrote John Lee Anderson in Newyorker.com last week, adding that in order to reform Sri Lanka’s public image, Clad, who recently retired from the Pentagon’s National Defense University, recommended to Gotabaya Rajapaksa that he host a meeting on maritime-security concerns in the Indian Ocean to “get out of its box as a ‘single-issue country’ and reconnect it with an earlier maritime heritage,” Anderson cited Clad, advising Gotabhaya.
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Gotabhaya to 'witness' in white-flag case

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 January 2011, 22:06 GMT]
Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is to give evidence before the Trial-at-Bar of the Colombo High Court on January 25 in the white flag case. Mr. Rajapaksa is the fourth witness in this case against former commander of the Sri Lanka Army Sarath Fonseka who has been charged for causing 'disrepute' to the Colombo government by making a statement in an interview to the English weekly, the Sunday leader.
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Gotabhaya-led team responsible for killings, abductions in North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 January 2011, 00:15 GMT]
An esoteric team of military intelligence led by Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is directly involved in the killings and abductions in the North, informed circles in Colombo said, citing a high-ranking military officer. The SL military in Jaffna is informed of any such operations of this team only when it is being carried out and it is instructed to provide only logistical support to those operations whenever required, the sources further said, adding that people who are targeted by this killer squad could hardly come back alive. The said squad reportedly maintains an operational unit in Vavuniyaa near the Oamanthai check post.
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Fatal blow on Eezham Tamil fishery follows Indo-Lanka ‘defence’ agreement

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 January 2011, 01:14 GMT]
From Maathakal to Mannaar, several millions worth fishing nets belonging to Eezham Tamil fishermen, laid in the Palk Bay even very close to the shores of the country of Eezham Tamils, were systematically destroyed this week in a highly organised way by trawlers coming from the Tamil Nadu coast. The destruction of Eezham Tamil fishery in the Palk Bay follows immediately the defence agreement signed between New Delhi’s Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and Colombo’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in the last week of December. While an agreement has been reached between the two establishments on the security of sea-lanes, as in the past many protocols of it remain a secret. Both the establishments in New Delhi and Colombo have joint interests in bringing in a wedge between the Tamil fishing communities on either side of the Palk Bay.
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