SL Military Intelligence behind abduction of priests in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 March 2011, 12:16 GMT]
Intelligence officials of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was behind the abduction of three Christian priests ten days ago in Batticaloa town, sources close to the priests said. The Priests were released February 25 after interrogation held in Fourth Floor of the SLA headquarters. The Priests while admitting that the abduction occurred, declined to reveal anything that took place while in custody due to security reasons.
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Paramilitary abducts three Christian Priests in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 February 2011, 14:29 GMT]
Three Christian Priests, active in humanitarian work in Batticaloa, have been abducted by paramilitary group led by Pillayan according to complaints filed by the relatives with the Batticaloa police sources in the eastern province said. The priests were asked by Ramesh, a member of Pillayan's group, to attend a meeting with the Eastern province Chief Minister Pillaiyan on February 22, and have not been seen since, the complaint further said.
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University students protest against desecration of Parvathi Amma

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2011, 12:02 GMT]
Thousands of the students at the University of Jaffna Wednesday noon boycotted their classes as the news of SL military's desecration of the ashes of late Parvathi Amma, the mother of LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan, Tuesday night. The students vacated the premises after putting up posters condemning the uncivilized act of the Sri Lankan military and condemning the Sri Lankan authorities for blocking them from participating in the funeral procession of Parvathi Amma on Tuesday.
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Seizure of Indian trawlers, a token action: fishermen representatives

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 February 2011, 00:15 GMT]
Around 500 Eezham Tamil fishing society representatives who gathered at Point Pedro in Vadamarradchi refused Thursday to hand over the poaching Indian trawlers, which they had seized from the intruding Indian fishermen on Tuesday. Declaring that their action against Indian poaching was a token one, the representatives urged immediate action from the Indian authorities. The fishermen representatives also refused to hand over the vessels to Sri Lankan military, urging the concerned authorities to resolve the dispute by civil means.
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Local elections likely to be postponed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 February 2011, 23:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan Department of Elections has said it was considering requests made by political parties to postpone the local elections until hundreds of thousands of families displaced due to recent floods are resettled and resume their day to day normal life in their villages and towns.
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Hague's WikiLeaks admission spells legal danger to Sri Lanka war-criminals

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2011, 12:11 GMT]
The Sierra Leone war crimes tribunal in The Hague has granted Charles G. Taylor, 62, the former Liberian president, who has been on trial charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the right to use two leaked American diplomatic cables as evidence to challenge the court’s impartiality. While the leaked information in the Taylor case was used by Taylor's lawyer to raise doubts on the courts independence and suggested the prosecution was political, Sri Lanka's leaked cables from the US Embassy contain incriminating information on the complicity of Rajapakse family, Ex-SLA Commander Sarath Fonseka, and Tamil paramilitaries in war-crimes and crimes against humanity on Tamil civilians, legal sources in Washington said.
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Village Officers association condemns attacks in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 February 2011, 03:20 GMT]
Batticaloa District Branch of the United Village Officers Association has expressed concern over the failure of the Colombo government to take action against intimidation and assault on its members involved in relief work following the recent floods. The association has organized a demonstration Wednesday to condemn such attacks in Batticaloa.
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TNA MP protests against ethnic subjugation of Eastern University

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 February 2011, 00:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently appointed a Sinhala officer with powers above the rank of Vice Chancellor in the Eastern University under the pretext of eliminating irregularities and corruption. “The real agenda of the move is subjecting the overwhelmingly Tamil-speaking Eastern University to the insinuations of Mahinda Chintana based ethnic subjugation,” blamed Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Batticaloa District C. Yogeswaran, talking to Tamil journalists.
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Flood victims express anger on public servants for lack of relief in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 January 2011, 20:07 GMT]
Civilians in Batticaloa district have started to show their anger on government servants for the failure to provide relief as promised by Colombo authority. The latest attack on a Village Officer of Makizhadith-theevu in Paddipazhai DS division in Batticaloa district took place Friday while he was in the act of distributing relief items donated by a non-governmental organization. Over five hundred thousand flood affected people in Poaratheevup-pattu, Paddippazhai, Vavu'na-theevu, Ea'raavoor-pattu, and Chengkaladi in Paduvaankarai DS division have not been provided with relief materials properly. Meanwhile, the district has started to experience another round heavy torrential rain since last week. Hence the spill gates of Unnichchai and U'rukaamam irrigation tanks have been opened to allow excess water.
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EPDP area organizer recovered dead in Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 January 2011, 22:20 GMT]
36-year-old Rasarathninam Sathees, Maruthangkea'ni area organiser of EPDP paramilitary-cum-political party was found dead Saturday morning near Aanaivizhunthaan cemetery near Vallipuram temple. The last news about Mr. Sathees was that he was on his way in a motorbike to organise an event to which EPDP leader and SL Minister Douglas Devananda was scheduled to attend at Ampan-kudaththanai. Sathees has been critical of EPDP leadership on its Maheswari Foundation business of excavating sand from Vadamaraadchi East. The EPDP has said Sathees was killed in a motorbike accident. Police said it was awaiting a medical report.
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EUSL becomes playground for Karuna politics

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 January 2011, 21:25 GMT]
Paramilitary leader and a Deputy Minister of Colombo, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, has been blamed by the students and the administration of the EUSL for intervening into the affairs of the EUSL by entering the premises escorted by Ea'raavoor Police and claiming to resolve a dispute between the students and the administration of the Arts Faculty for pursuing his politics, sources at the EUSL said. Mr. Muralitharan entered the premises on Tuesday when Art Faculty students were in discussions with the Vice Chancellor and the Faculty Dean following a protest by students over 6 months delay in announcing their examination results
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Angry public burns cut-outs, banners of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 January 2011, 07:52 GMT]
Angered by the politics and by an extravagant ritual, ‘Yaakam,’ by a Tamil Nadu chaamiyaar (Hindu religious person) Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, at a time when genocide and floods cause desperation, the Eezham Tamil public in Ka’luvaagnchikkudi in Batticaloa on Saturday burnt his cut-out images and banners. He went back to India the following day. Last Thursday, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar honoured the ‘social service’ of the SL president’s son Namal Rajapaksa at a function in Colombo, jointly organized by his outfit to observe the 2600-year of the birth of Buddha. On Saturday, at the ‘Mahaa Rudra Yaakam’ ritual, he honoured the paramilitary politicians S. Chandrakanthan, chief minister for the East and SL deputy minister V. Muralitharan by placing shawls on them.
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Teachers Union condemns one-day pay cut in East

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 January 2011, 23:50 GMT]
Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) has cut one-day pay of teachers in the province from their wages for January. The chairman of Ceylon Teachers' Union, Joseph Stalin, has condemned the act as political bankruptcy of the EPC that has bypassed the regulations for such wage cut. While the people of the other provinces and the larger international community have come forward to help the flood victims, the EPC has been engaged in cutting the wages of the victims themselves in the name of flood relief, the union said.
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People turn against paramilitary groups in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 January 2011, 18:22 GMT]
Batticaloa residents have shown their anger against Karuna, Pillayan paramilitary groups by organizing demonstrations against the factions of the groups, one led by a deputy minister of Rajapaksa-government Muralitharan (Karuna) and the other by Colombo-installed chief minister S. Chandrakanthan (Pillayan). On Tuesday, an spontaneous street-demonstration condemned attacks by Pillayan group on divisional secretary and village officer attached to Ma'nmunaippattu DS office.
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TAG to file civil case against Rajapakse in Texas Federal Court

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 January 2011, 02:37 GMT]
Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group advocating criminal legal action worldwide against Sri Lanka's alleged war-criminals, said in a press release issued today, that TAG's attorney is filing civil action against visiting Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse for damages under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA/TVPA) on behalf of three plaintiffs for the killings of 40,000 civilians in Mullaiththeevu in 2009, killing of 5 Trincomalee students in January 2006, and for the killing of 17 Action contre la faim (ACF) workers in August 2006. As calls to apprehend, investigate and prosecute Mahinda Rajapakse by rights organizations, US Congresspersons and diaspora Tamils have escalated, European Tamil diaspora youth are mobilizing protests in front of US embassies against Rajapakse's visit to the U.S.
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SLN blamed for murder of female teacher

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 January 2011, 12:51 GMT]
The dead body of a woman recovered earlier this week from a well at Munaippulam located near Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) base in Pungkudutheevu, an island off Jaffna, was identified Thursday as that of Uththamakumari Thurairajasingham, a teacher at Ariyaalai Anantha Viththiyaalayam, who was reported missing since 16 November 2010, more than 30 km away from the island. The body of 40-year-old teacher had cut injuries in neck, medical sources said. Her clothes, bound to a stone, were located at the bottom of the same well, where her naked body was found. The SLN base in Pungkudutheevu, the largest base for the occupying military in the islands, gained notoriety after villagers accused SLN soldiers for the gang-rape and brutal murder of 29-year-old Sarathambal, the wife of Saiva priest Saravanabavanatha Kurukkal, 10 years ago, in December 1999.
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Batticaloa flood victims demand relief

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 January 2011, 02:16 GMT]
Flood affected people Tuesday morning held a demonstration blocking road traffic in Maanmunaipattu North division in Batticaloa district demanding immediate relief, sources in Batticaloa said. The refugees said they are suffering without even one meal a day due to the failure of the authorities to distribute assistance. The victims accuse Colombo for not making arrangement to supply cooked meals and dry rations through Divisional Secretariat offices in the districts that have been innundated with flood waters due to two week long torrential rains.
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Pillayan group attacks DS officer in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 January 2011, 01:33 GMT]
A group headed by councillor and Pillayan group paramilitary person P. Prasanth, Monday morning entered the Divisional Secretariat in Aaraiyampathi and attacked injuries to four workers of the secretariat. The same group attacked a village officer in the division on Sunday. The group was attempting to block independent local aid groups from engaging with the citizens in their 'electorate', civil sources said.
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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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Paramilitary assaults Village Officer in Batticaloa over flood relief distribution

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 January 2011, 19:42 GMT]
The Village Officer of Aaraiyampathi S.Suresh was assaulted by a group of persons led by P. Prashanthan, a TMVP person and a councillor of the Eastern Provincial Council Sunday morning in the presence of a police officer. The TMVP - Pillayan group has assaulted the Mr. Suresh while he was supervising the distribution of relief goods to flood-affected families sheltered in Ramakrishna Mission Mahaa Viththiyaalayam.
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