GoSL lacks will to bring justice – IIGEP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 00:16 GMT]
A lack of will on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was one factor in the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) terminating its operations in Sri Lanka, Prof. Sir. Nigel Rodley, representing Britain in the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), told BBC Tamil service in an interview Thursday.
Full story >>

HRW: Rajapaksa Government, one of world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 March 2008, 09:09 GMT]
The United States-based Human Rights Watch, an International rights advocacy group, on Thursday said Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, "once a rights advocate," has now led his government to become "one of the world’s worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances." Issuing a 241-page report, "Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for 'Disappearances' and Abductions in Sri Lanka," the group has called on, in particular, India and Japan, to make further military and other non-humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka contingent on government efforts to halt the practice of “disappearances,” and to end impunity, including its acceptance of an international monitoring mission.
Full story >>

IIGEP quits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 March 2008, 08:25 GMT]
The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), headed by P N Bhagwati, former Indian Chief Justice, has decided to terminate its operations in Sri Lanka, according to a statement issued by the IIGEP on Thursday. "The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP," an AFP report has quoted a statement by the IIGEP. The move is viewed as serious diplomatic blow for Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had invited the group, after International pressure, to monitor his Commission of Inquiry (CoI), set up to investigate and inquire into serious violations of Human Rights.
Full story >>

Second Tamil youth abducted in Moneragala

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 March 2008, 12:23 GMT]
A Tamil youth driving his three wheeler towards Buttala from Moneragala town was abducted Sunday morning at Orambuwa in Moneragala division, sources said. Police rushed to site and found the abandoned three-wheeler in the jungle near Orambuwa.
Full story >>

Vavuniyaa court takes action on abduction complaints

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 March 2008, 10:19 GMT]
Vavuniyaa Magistrate M.Ilancheliyan Friday directed the Cheddiku'lam Superintendent of Police to conduct inquiry into the allegations made to him by parents of two Tamil youths who are allegedly "abducted" by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army at Arasadikku'lam area. The abduction had taken place on February 27, according to complaints by parents to the Magistrate, media sources said.
Full story >>

Court expresses concern over escalating abductions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 February 2008, 17:11 GMT]
Vavuniyaa District Judge and Magistrate, Mr.M.Ilancheliyan, expressed his serious concern over the increase of abduction of civilians in the district to the army and police top officials in charge of Vavuniyaa and Chettikulam, during a meeting held in the court premises this week. Three women were abducted since February 17 in Vavuniyaa, media reports said.
Full story >>

White van armed men abduct 2 youths in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 February 2008, 14:21 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in a white van at a school in Kaithadi in Thenmaraadchi Wednesday around 7:00 a.m forcibly abducted the office assistant of the school in the presence of students, according to a complaint lodged by his wife with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna. In a separate incident, unidentified armed men abducted an auto-rickshaw driver at gun point Wednesday around 9:00 a.m at Aadiyapaatham Veethi in Kokkuvil, Jaffna, the victim's grandfather complained to HRC Jaffna.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka C.I.D., Police treat Tamils like stray dogs- Mano Ganesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 February 2008, 13:50 GMT]
Mano Ganesan, Leader of Western People’s Front (WPF) Convener of Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC), in a press release issued Saturday, said that "[T]he Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has very clearly contravened the accepted norms, rules and regulations in conducting this arrest [of two tamils] let alone the civility and decency. They have failed to inform the police of the area where the ‘arrested’ persons were living at the time of ‘arrest,' and questioned whether the arrests were "deliberately done on purpose to put fear into the minds of Tamil Citizens."
Full story >>

NE Bishops scheduled to meet UN special envoy

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 February 2008, 00:33 GMT]
A delegation of bishops from Northeast are scheduled to meet Angela Kane, UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs who arrived in Colombo Wednesday morning for a week-long fact finding mission in the island, sources close to the Bishops said.
Full story >>

Abductions on rise in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2008, 10:35 GMT]
Colombo based Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC) has reported that it has received 115 complaints regarding missing persons in the year 2007 in Colombo alone. There was a decline in the number of abductions in beginning of the New Year but it has increased in February. A 22-year-old youth has been reported missing since Saturday according to a complaint made to the Grandpass Police.
Full story >>

Youth abducted in Kotahena

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2008, 01:00 GMT]
A Tamil youth from Batticaloa district, a resident of Poaratheevu, recently captured from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), was abducted in Kotahena, Colombo on the 14 January by group of five men operating in a white van with license plate number 2534899, the relatives of the youth stated in a complaint lodged with P.Rathakrishnan, Deputy minister and an Upcountry United Front (UPF) parliamentarian.
Full story >>

Alarming increase in Mannaar abductions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2008, 16:45 GMT]
In the past three weeks, Mannaar has witnessed the abduction of five Tamil civilians, including a leading businessman and a young mother, in broad daylight. In at least two of the cases, the victims had received mysterious phone calls asking them to come to an appointed place at a particular time. Distraught families have been running from pillar to post to trace their missing relatives, but a hostile police force has ensured that they remain groping in the dark.
Full story >>

Court fixes inquiry into Mano Ganeshan's petition

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2008, 12:41 GMT]
A Writ Application filed on Thursday by Colombo district parliamentarian Mr.Mano Ganeshan, leader of the Western Peoples Front, in the Court of Appeals against the reduction of his security personnel and withdrawal of the back-up vehicle allocated to him, is listed to be taken up for inquiry on January 24, legal sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Amnesty International calls for urgent protection of civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 14:12 GMT]
Amnesty International, in a press release issued on Wednesday said it was gravely concerned that the end to the Ceasefire Agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam today will lead to an increase in hostilities that will result in a dramatic rise in indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population. The Human Rights watchdog called on all parties in the conflict to comply with their obligations under international law to protect civilians and urged the international community to support the call to establish an independent, international monitoring presence on the ground without delay.
Full story >>

Monopoly on Violence

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2008, 02:05 GMT]
German social scientist Maxwell Weber said one hundred years ago that the monopoly on violence, and the provision of security and public order, are the cornerstones of modern, Westphalian, state legitimacy. A current school of conflict resolution theory has advanced a more progressive definition of "Public monopoly of force," that accommodates legitimate international intervention in "fragile or failing" states. In many cases, such as in Sri Lanka, the challenge by an armed non-state actor to the Weberian State's monopoly of violence can pose a serious threat to the State's stability, creating further need for an international response commensurate with "Public monopoly of force" doctrine.
Full story >>

White van abductions escalate in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2008, 17:33 GMT]
Threatened by increasing number of abductions in the area, members of 40 families residing in a refugee camp located in Thaalikulam, Vavuniyaa handed over a written appeal Saturday to the officials of Vavuniyaa Human Rights Commission (HRC) requesting them to take immediate action to provide protection and relocate them to a safer location, civil society sources in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>

4 civilians disappear in Jaffna, 4 seek protections with HRC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 16:27 GMT]
Four Tamils, including youths and young married men, disappeared in Jaffna peninsula within the one week period ending Monday, according to reports lodged at the Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), sources said.
Full story >>

2007: The year in review

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 07:34 GMT]
For the people of the NorthEast, 2007 was a grim year. Sri Lanka’s security forces and allied paramilitaries intensified their campaign of abductions (‘white van’ abductions), torture, and murder of Tamil civilians. Tamil civil society leaders bore the brunt of the counter-insurgency campaign. Jaffna remained an open prison with shortage of essential items, east falling under the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) control with thousands displaced as Colombo concocts colonization schemes to make east a Sinhala majority province.
Full story >>

Colombo to annul CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 15:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces as well as the Minister of Defence, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has decided to annul the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE). Sri Lankan Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwela, has confirmed that a cabinet decision to withdraw from the CFA has been taken on Wednesday. But, he did not provide a date for the GoSL withdrawal. The February 2002 agreement, in its paragraph 4.4, specifies that the agreement shall remain in force until notice of termination is given by either Party to the Royal Norwegian Government.
Full story >>

Maheswaran killing, disturbing erosion of democracy- FMM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2008, 12:50 GMT]
The Free Media Movement (FMM), a Colombo-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Tuesday, strongly condemned the assassination of United National Party (UNP) MP T. Maheswaran, and said the murder adds to the "incredible number of political killings and the suppression of those who seek to bring to light gross human rights abuses," in Sri Lanka, and FMM is "mindful that the Sri Lankan Police have been unable and unwilling to bring the killers of other high profile political figures."
Full story >>