Tamil medium candidates not selected for SLAS

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 15:30 GMT]
Not a single Tamil medium candidate who sat for the open competitive examination for the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) held in 2009 has been selected. All the selected 257 candidates are from the Sinhala medium, according to the results released on Sunday by the Sri Lanka’s Public Administration Ministry.
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NPC to be moved to Jaffna from Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 06:14 GMT]
Chief Secretary A. Sivasamy of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) located in Trincomalee has announced that the office of NPC is to be shifted to Jaffna from 1st of January 2011. NPC has placed advertisements calling for office space required for NPC in Jaffna. Earlier in July attempts made by NPC Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander of Jaffna, to move NPC to Ki’linochchi had been abandoned due to pressure from Sri Lanka government higher authorities.
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Muslims asked to pray for Nafeek

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2010, 00:47 GMT]
Western Province Governor Alavi Moulana has appealed to the 1.5 million Muslims living in the island of Sri Lanka to conduct a special prayer to save the life of Rizana Nafeek, who has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia. He said Muslims all over the world share the common belief in prayer and submission to the will of Almighty god.
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Mavai Senathirajah refutes Jaffna GA’s statement on Valikaamam HSZ issue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 October 2010, 07:58 GMT]
“I am one of the victims uprooted from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone 20 years ago and the petition filed by me in court seeking resettlement is pending inquiry. It is ridiculous for Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar to claim that there are no HSZs in Jaffna peninsula,” Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil Natilonal Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian said. Ms. Imelda Sukumar, speaking at the event of the handing over of furniture by SLA to Jaffna Teaching Hospital Saturday had claimed that there were no HSZs in Jaffna peninsula but only areas which need to be cleared of landmines.
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War affected women in North exploited by SL ministry agents

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 October 2010, 06:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka government ministries affected by the slump in garment exports due to the loss of GSP Plus face an acute shortage of workers in the garment industries in the South. The workers, mostly women, have left due to drastic pay cuts. The ministries now attempt to lure war affected young women in the North to work in the garment factories in the South at much lower salary. In this context, two groups of young women from Thellippazhai and Uduvil Divisional Secretariat areas in Jaffna have been taken to Colombo Thursday by the agents of some ministries, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, an attempt to entice some war affected young women in Ki’linochchi in Vanni with employment by a company in Kandy with the intention of misusing them had been stopped with the timely intervention of local social activists.
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Eelam war damaged India’s reputation: Pinang Deputy Chief Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2010, 17:42 GMT]
India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Malaysian visit to inaugurate ‘Little India’ didn’t go well with Tamils, the predominant Indian community in Malaysia, said Prof. Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister of the Pinang State of Malaysia. The Indian High Commission and other agents of India tried to control the damage. India does not understand that the pernicious actions of India in Eelam have damaged the reputation of the government of India and the entire Indian establishment in the eyes of global Tamils. Before the mass murder in Eelam, Malaysian Tamils looked upon India as their saviour. Today, there is little or no respect for India in general and for the politicians in Tamil Nadu or in the Congress Party, Prof Ramasamy said.
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Tourists not allowed to visit Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2010, 17:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers posted at the entrance of Jaffna Public Library did not allow any of the tourists who wished to visit the library Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. SLA officials had informed the Chief Librarian of Jaffna Public Library that tourists will not be permitted to visit the library according to instruction issued by government authorities. This instruction had come in the wake of a gang of Sinhala tourists storming into the library and vandalizing the premises of the Thanthai Chelva memorial monument located next to the library last on 22 October. SLA authorities had posted four soldiers at the entrance of the library Friday to guard the library along with the guards of Jaffna Municipal Council Administration.
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Denmark Tamils take legal step to file war-crimes charges

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2010, 16:25 GMT]
Bjørn Elmquist, a Danish attorney specializing in criminal law on crimes against humanity has written to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague Netherlands to bring war crimes charges against Sri Lankan officials alleged to have committed war-crimes against Tamils in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka. The legal effort is being initiated by three Danish Tamils and the Denmark Tamil Forum. The DTF officials told TamilNet that the Danish legal effort is being closely co-ordinated with the recent legal action undertaken by Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils (SCET).
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Malaysian Tamils protest Indian PM inaugurating their township

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 18:25 GMT]
Around 200 Malaysians gathered Wednesday to protest Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating ‘Little India’ in Brickfields, Malaysia, were dispersed when police arrested key leaders, Free Malaysia Today reported Thursday. The protestors questioned the rationale of naming the area ‘Little India’ when most traders doing business there for the past three centuries were Tamils. The protestors were also unhappy about Malaysian government choosing Manmohan Singh to preside over the launch. Manmohan Singh was least concerned about Tamil welfare, “Look at what happened in Sri Lanka. The Tamils were massacred by the Sri Lankan army but he was very quiet about it. The Sri Lankan army also attacked Tamil fishermen in Rameswaram (India) but Manmohan was mum about it as well,” M S Arjunan, a Malaysian Tamil leader said.
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Jaffna Public Library out of bounds to tourists

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 17:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Friday informed the Chief Librarian of Jaffna Public Library that tourists will not be permitted to visit the library and that SLA soldiers will be posted outside it to maintain order, sources in Jaffna said. The officials who said that they had been instructed by high level government authorities did not, however, disclose who the authorities were. This instruction comes in the wake of a gang of Sinhala tourists storming into the library and vandalizing the premises of the Thanthai Chelva memorial monument located next to the library last Saturday. SLA authorities have posted four soldiers at the entrance of the library Friday.
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NP Governor retracts sudden transfer of Ki’linochchi Director of Education

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 05:59 GMT]
The education officials and principals of schools in Ki’linochchi district abstained from duties Wednesday in protest against the sudden transfer order to K. Kurukularajah, Zonal Director of Education in Ki’linochchi, by Northern Province Governor, Major. Gen. G. A. Chandarasiri. The governor, however, said that the transfer order has been immediately cancelled in a meeting he convened in Vavuniyaa Thursday, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The governor had also claimed that he had nothing to do with the sudden transfer order to K. Kurukularaja. Meanwhile, the protestors in Ki’linochchi said that Chandrasiri acts more like a military commander in performing his duties than as the governor of Northern Province. He had been the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander of Jaffna before being appointed as governor. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) too had joined in the Wednesday protest.
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Jaffna police unaware of whereabouts of abducted Tamil Nadu traders

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 05:26 GMT]
The officer-in-charge of Jaffna police said that he does not have any information of the textile traders from Tamil Nadu abducted Saturday morning in Jaffna town from the lodges they were staying in, in response to questions raised by local media. He declined to answer when asked whether the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers from Colombo had arrested them. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) spokesman in Colombo said that the traders may have been arrested for overstaying their tourist visa period. No official information about the abducted traders is available.
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SLA targets prominent Tamil businessmen in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 12:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has cast its net wide to arrest around 163 leading Tamil traders in Jaffna on charges that they had funded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the past, Jaffna Traders Association (JTA) circles said. Some of them had been already arrested and detained after being interrogated in the notorious ‘Fourth Floor’ of the SLA Intelligence Wing in Colombo. SLA is engaged in rounding up the prominent Tamil traders claiming that it has evidence of their involvement with LTTE found in the statements of the traders in their detention, the sources added. The real motive behind this move is to cripple the prominent Tamil traders in Jaffna to eliminate them competing with the Sinhala traders who continue to invade Jaffna since the opening of A9 land route, JTA circles said.
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TNA files petition challenging Local Authorities Amended Bill

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 11:30 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday filed a petition in Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court that the “Local Authorities (Special Provisions)” Bill seeks to amend the Municipal Councils Ordinance, the Urban Councils Ordinance and the Pradeshiya Saba Act No. 15 of 1987 while the “Local Authorities Elections (Amendment)” Bill seeks to amend the “Local Authorities Elections Ordinance” which cannot become law without the ratification of the elected Northern Provincial Council (NPC).
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SLA claims removal of road blocks, check points in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 16:44 GMT]
The removal of road blocks and check points between Wellawatte and Bambalapity in the Colombo district commenced Wednesday. This is being done due to the improved security situation in the country and with the advanced surveillance system now put in place, according to media spokesman Major General Ubhaya Medawela to local media Wednesday morning.
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White van armed gang abducts Tamil Nadu traders in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 16:41 GMT]
An armed gang alleged to be operating with the Intelligence Unit of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) abducted Wednesday early morning the textile traders from Tamil Nadu staying in the lodges in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The abducted traders had not been produced in any of the court or police station in Jaffna peninsula until Wednesday night. The whereabouts of the abducted traders and their fate remains unknown.
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Undergrad Buddhist monks allegedly attack university officials

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 13:51 GMT]
A group of monk undergraduates of the Sri Jayawardenepura University in Colombo allegedly attacked some university officials, accompanying Vice Chancellor Dr. N. L. A. Karunaratne, when they visited the monk hostel on Sunday night, The Island reported Monday. According to the Vice Chancellor, the attack took place when he and the officials visited the hostel to inquire on a complaint they had received from the people of the area that their children could not study at night due to the din from the hostel.
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SLA, SLN take over lands of Muslims in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 09:45 GMT]
Several acres of land belonging to members of Muslim community located in villages of Pulmoaddai, I’raakka’ndi, Nilaave’li and Pudaivaikkaddu in the north of the Trincomalee district are still under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN). In Moothoor area several acres of lands belonging to Muslim farmers are still in the custody of the SLN. Hence farmers and fishermen of this community are not allowed to engage in their livelihood activities which have come to a standstill even after the war is over, R. M. Anwer, a councilor of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC), said.
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Controversy over ICRC employees giving tractors to Sinhala people in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 08:43 GMT]
The Governor of Northern Province, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, the former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander of Jaffna district, has ordered SLA intelligence officers to probe into the allegation that ICRC employees in North had issued some of the two-wheel land master vehicles meant for the war affected farmers in the North to Sinhala men, sources in Jaffna said. But it is alleged that the Governor himself had instructed the employees to give the vehicles to Sinhala men. Meanwhile, the Governor is said to be very upset about photos appearing in various local and international websites and media showing the Chief of ICRC in the North shedding tears in the vicinity of a refugee camp and the inquiry launched by him is a but ploy to get hold of the persons who had sent the said photos to the media, the sources added.
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Sinhala fishermen invade Mannaar assisted by SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 08:13 GMT]
Sinhala fishermen from South Sri Lanka are allowed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Mannaar district to fish in Mu’l’likku’lam reservoir located in the area where local residents uprooted during war are not permitted by SLA to resettle, sources in Mannaar said. Hundreds of Sinhala fishermen from South with six cooler vehicles stay in Mu’l’likku’lam area and drain the tank dry of fish which they take to the South. Brigadier Nisanka Ranawana, the Commander of SLA 61 Division in Mannaar, is alleged to be the person who is instrumental in allowing the Sinhala fishermen to fish in Mannaar, the sources added. The sale of the catch from Mannaar sold in South brings quite a large amount of profit in the venture.
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