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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Kurankupaanchaan IDPs to be resettled

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 August 2007, 02:49 GMT]
Nearly three hundred families displaced from Kurankupaanchaan, a hamlet in Kinniya division in Trincomalee district in 1990, are to be resettled. A team of Sri Lanka government officials led by the Kinniya Divisional Secretary is to pay a visit to Kurankupaanchaan village during the weekend to see the ground situation before making arrangement for the resettlement, civil society sources said.
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Chandrika Kumaratunge to meet Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2007, 02:11 GMT]
Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, former President of Sri Lanka for two terms from 1994 till 2005, returned to Colombo from UK Sunday and is scheduled to hold talks with Mr.Mangala Samaraweera, leader the Peoples Wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), regarding current political situation Monday evening at her Horagolla residence, media sources said.
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'Para Demala': a reader's response

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 August 2007, 01:58 GMT]
A Sinhala reader of TamilNet has come out with the following note on our news feature 'Para Demala', dated 06 August 2007. According to him, the word 'para' is the worst kind of derogatory word in Sinhala, but is used in the sense to mean alien or foreign. It is not connected to the Pa'raiyar community. He further adds that even Sinhala-Buddhist reformers of the calibre of Anagarika Dharmapala had used the phrase 'Para Demala' in a negative sense to mean low-grade aliens.
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Black July emblematic of Sinhala rule - paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 July 2007, 05:38 GMT]
In nearly a quarter century of conflict since the state-sponsored anti-Tamil riots of July 1983, despite the tens of thousands of lives that have been lost in the conflict, “there has not been an iota of change in the Sinhala leadership’s thinking – nor, for that matter, in the sentiments of the international community [on the ethnic question],” the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its editorial this week. Comparing the regimes of Presidents Junius Jayawardene, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapakse, the paper contends: “Black July is not just a historical event. Rather, it is an emblematic act of Sinhala rule."
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Husband shot dead, wife injured in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2007, 10:47 GMT]
Unidentified armed men forcibly entered a house and shot dead a family man, seriously injuring his wife, Wednesday around 8:00 p.m. at Aathimoddai, Samballthivu, seven km north of Trincomalee town, sources in Sambalthivu said. The victim's wife was rushed to Trincomalee general hospital where she is being treated in the Intensive Care Unit.


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Resign post, get back to USA, UNP MP tells Gotabhaya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 09:52 GMT]
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse should immediately accept responsibility for the security fiasco of the Katuayake air base when it was attacked by the Liberation Tigers air wing, and relinquish his post and get back to USA, demanded Johnston Fernando, Kurunagalle district parliamentarian of the opposition United National Party (UNP) at a press meet held Monday noon, in the Sri Lankan Opposition Leaders office in Colombo.
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Mannar district under tight security

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2007, 10:34 GMT]
Security in Mannar district has been tightened and more police personnel and soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) have been deployed for patrollling of key roads, civil sources in Mannar said. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Police have set up additional roadblocks along Pallimunai-Mannar Road and along Talaimannar-Thalvupadu Road, and are thoroughly checking all vehicles.
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Colombo battles to sidestep Human Rights focus - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 April 2007, 15:58 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is trying to sidestep International Community's focus on Colombo's worst record of human rights abuses and institutionalized impunity for crimes against the Tamil people, by attempting to use the forum of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit against Tamil people's right to defend themselves, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan told TamilNet when asked to comment on Colombo's focus shift to LTTE's air capability, prior to the 14th SAARC Summit in New Delhi.
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Rajapakse wants referendum on abolishing CFA – state media

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 13:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse plans to hold a referendum to decide whether the Sri Lankan government should continue to abide by the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), state media reported Sunday, quoting “a high ranking official of the Presidential Secretariat.” The official was quoted by the Sunday Observer as saying “President Rajapaksa is keen to obtain a fresh mandate from the people on the CFA. The President is interested in looking at the proposed abolition of the CFA in a 'democratic manner', enabling the voters to decide on the fate of the CFA.”
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Supreme Court rejects Jaffna youth's FR petition

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 12:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court rejected Tuesday a fundamental rights application filed by a Jaffna Tamil youth who is currently being detained in Colombo magazine prison stating that the petitioner has failed to fulfil conditions needed to file such application, legal sources in Colombo said.
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SL government is strong, says Anura Bandaranaike

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 March 2007, 20:48 GMT]
Mahinda Rajapakse's government is in a stronger position after the joining of United National Party (UNP) dissidents, and there is no question about the government's stability within the parliament, National Heritage minister Anura Bandaranaike, said Sunday in Kandy.
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UK calls for truce, backs Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 March 2007, 23:13 GMT]
British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wednesday called for the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) to be implemented as a first step towards ending Sri Lanka’s conflict. “The only realistic way to get a solution is to come back to the 2002 agreement and make sure that it is implemented,” Mr. Blair said. Meanwhile British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told her Sri Lankan counterpart, Rohitha Bogollagama, “there can be no military solution alone to the conflict.” The emphasis on ‘alone’ is seen by some as British preparedness to endorse the Colombo’s war against the Tigers, provided a political solution is offered also.
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Peoples' Committee urges opening of western sea-route to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 March 2007, 01:35 GMT]
Rt. Rev. Thomas Savundranayagam, the Bishop of Jaffna, said that he has requested Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse to open a sea route from Kurrikaduvan in the jaffna Islets to Mannar enabling people to travel to and fro from the peninsula, sources said. Closure of A9-highway has seriously affected the lives of the peninsula residents, the Bishop said in a press meet held by the Peoples' Committee for Peace and Goodwill (PCPG) Sunday around 3:00 p.m at the Jaffna Bishop House.
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SL Military strengthens security in Mannar

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 March 2007, 12:32 GMT]
Additional Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops have been brought into Mannar to man new checkpoints in the town and suburbs, and to conduct frequent road patrols. Pallimunai, Panankattikottu, Uppukulam and Moor Street in Mannar town are being subjected to regular cordon and search operations by the military, civil sources said.
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SL anti-terror officials detain Sinhala paper director

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 22:10 GMT]
The Financial Director of the Sinhala language weekly "Mawbima", Dushantha Basnayake, has been detained by the Sri Lankan Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) Monday evening at his workplace in Colombo. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, in a televised address, Saturday had charged that the weekly was "pro LTTE." The paper is owned by Tiran Alles, a close confidante of Mangala Samaraweera, the former SL Foreign Minister who was recently sacked by Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. Mr. Tiran Alles was also removed from Sri Lanka's Civil Aviation Authority this month.
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Marginalisation of CFA compells Tamils to resume freedom struggle - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 February 2007, 16:54 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in a statement marking five years since the signing of 22 February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), said the CFA formulated with the full support of the international community, had transcended the parameters of Sri Lanka’s majoritarian constitution, recognizing Tamil Eelam’s de facto existence and the balance of power between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE. However, the international community’s insistence on a solution that does not infringe on the "territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka," is deeply frustrating for the Tamil people, the statement said.
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