Colombo court releases former SLA, SLAF personnel arrested with Fonseka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 February 2010, 01:56 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate Champa Janaki Rajaratne Wednesday ordered the release of fourteen persons arrested with Sarath Fonseka after the latter’s defeat in January presidential election as the prosecution did not file any charges against them.
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Perception on ex-LTTE members must be revised: former Aussie diplomat

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 10:55 GMT]
Australian authorities must cease bowing to influence and pressure from the Sri Lankan Government in its handling of asylum seekers said former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh in a letter to the editor appearing in the Australian Financial Review and Canberra Times. Condemning the Rajapaksa administrations slaughter of “anywhere between 10-40,000 civilians”, its censoring of the media and rapid descent into dictatorship, Haigh described the Sri Lanka Government “corrupt” and “tarnished”, before urging a review on the assessment of LTTE members who were merely ”soldiers on one side in a particularly brutal and nasty civil war, a war in which both sides employed terrorism as a weapon” and who do not represent a security threat to Australia as stated by intelligence organisations.
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IDPs evicted from army HSZ in Valikaamam again asked to register their names

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 03:06 GMT]
The residents of Valikaamam North evicted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to establish its High Security Zone (HSZ) have been asked to register their names with Thellippazhai Divisional Secretariat (DS) if they wish to be resettled in their properties, before Thursday. Meanwhile, IDP Welfare Organizations in Jaffna said that this is the sixth time the residents are being asked to register their names and added that this is another drama being staged in view of the forthcoming parliamentary election.
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Political complacency will hasten plunge into autocracy: Australian media

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 01:58 GMT]
Australia’s nonchalant approach to Sri Lanka’s rapid decline into a full-blown autocracy would be a betrayal of the inhabitants of the land “should Australia be seen to abandon support for democracy in order to preserve relations with an increasingly authoritarian ruler” warned The Age in an editorial on Friday. Citing the alleged slaughter of thousands of Tamil civilians, the abduction of journalists and the recent arrest of presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, all under the gaze of the current administration, the paper urged the Rudd Government to take a pro-active stance as it has done to sanction other pacific nations that have defied the frameworks of democracy or risk failing its vested responsibilities as a regional power.
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UN rights chief says lack of progress in Sri Lanka investigations

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 February 2010, 03:43 GMT]
Recent statement in Dublin by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navaneetham Pillai, that national investigations in Sri Lanka "have not worked so far," and Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse's interview to the BBC, where Mr Rajapakse said that "he would not allow any war crimes investigation in Sri Lanka," are two forceful statements with enough legal weight to satisfy the basic requirement of international law mandating "complementarity," legal sources in Washington said. International law permits International bodies to step-in to conduct investigations on war-crimes in Sri Lanka, as the opportunities given to Sri Lanka to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by its armed forces have been exhausted, legal sources added.
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Theological premises of Maha Sangha raise questions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 February 2010, 10:24 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government should overlook the alleged crimes committed by General (retd) Sarath Fonseka, as the government has taken in its fold 'criminals' such as Karuna and Pillayan, who 'massacred' Bhikus at Aranthalawa, launched a bomb attack on Dalada Maligawa and killed Sinhalese civilians and military personnel. Hence the government should overlook the alleged offences committed by the Sri Lankan Genreal (retd) Sarath Fonseka, who almost lost his life to 'safeguard the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka' and so it surely can overlook the alleged offences committed by him, said a statement signed by the chief prelates of the four chapters of the Buddhist Maha Sangha. Tamil circles question whether the statment outlines the principles of 'practical theology' of the Maha Sangha in the island.
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Sri Lanka massacred up to 40,000 Tamil civilians – former UN official

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 February 2010, 00:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military massacred as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final onslaught against the Liberation Tigers in 2009, according to a former United Nations official with detailed knowledge of events, press reports said. The former United Nations’ spokesperson in Sri Lanka, Gordon Weiss, has resigned from the UN after 14 years and returned home to Australia, where he was interviewed by ABC News. “He’s now free to speak openly about the situation in Sri Lanka, for the first time and does so candidly and unflinchingly,” the media agency said.
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SLA occupation of churches in Vadamaraadchi shocks Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 2010, 02:52 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam is reported to be in great shock on witnessing Vettilaikkea’ni Kappal Eanthiya Maathaa Koayil, a historically famous St. Mary’s Church in Vadmaraadchi East, being converted into a big military base of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), on his recent visit to Vanni and Vadamaraadchi, according to sources close to Jaffna Bishop House. The Bishop had been instructed by SLA authorities not to release any information about the said church to media or other institutions, the sources further said.
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Two Britons jailed for selling armour piercing ammunition to SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 February 2010, 00:50 GMT]
Two Britons were jailed for 9 years and 7 years by Southwark Crown Court Judge James Wadsworth for "knowingly trading in large amounts of ammunition for totally war-like, destructive and death-dealing use, without a UK licence," BBC reported Monday. Gideon Sarig, 58, of west London and 64-year-old Howard Freckleton, of north London, were found guilty of supplying "bombs, armour-piercing ammunition and other weapons to Sri Lanka's military and Israel have been jailed," BBC said in the report.
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Proving geopolitical strength, antidote to international injustice to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 21:20 GMT]
In whatever ways Eezham Tamils may express aspiration for their national liberation, India and Rajapaksa government will quietly go ahead with their agenda of what they understand by ‘reconciliation,’ is the response that comes from the circles of the Indian Establishment. Informed Tamil political circles say there is a ‘high level’ understanding among all powers of geopolitical competition to negate Tamil independence. How to achieve the goal when all are against and what is the point in claiming freedom outside when people are subjugated inside are questions of those who are disillusioned by the psychological war. If crimes against Tamil nation are committed due to geopolitics the antidote is nothing but Tamil uprising to prove geopolitical superiority and the responsibility lies with Tamil Nadu.
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International countries should urge Sri Lanka to reveal proposal to solve ethnic issue

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 03:52 GMT]
Civil Society Organizations in Jaffna Peninsula requested Canadian Ambassador Mr. Pruce Levy to urge international countries to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to disclose immediately if it has any proposal to solve the ethnic issue, when the Ambassador met them at several places in the peninsula. President Mahinda Rajapakse who said that he will present the proposal after the presidential election now says that he will reveal it after the announced general election, the representatives told the visiting Canada Ambassador.
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SLA arrests TNA supporters in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 03:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested Tuesday morning supporters of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) distributing handbills thanking the people of Jaffna peninsula for casting their votes in large numbers to Sarath Fonseka in the recent presidential election, rejecting President Mahinda Rajapakse, on TNA’s request, sources in Jaffna said. This arrest is seen as a continuation of the attacks on TNA supporters and their properties who openly campaigned for Sarath Fonseka, the sources added.
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Dead bodies of Vanni IDP male and female recovered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 02:26 GMT]
Koappaay police recovered the bodies of a male and a female first year students of Management Faculty of Jaffna University, found floating in Eriyaku'lam pond in Irupaalai by residents on Tuesday. The two students, both IDPs from Vanni, boy hailing from Jaffna and the girl from Batticaloa, had rejoined the University after being held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camp in Vavuniyaa, University sources told TamilNet. Fear and tension prevails among the students of Jaffna University.
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Police arrests 2 ex-SLA officials after intelligence tip-off on Lasantha assasination

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 February 2010, 11:03 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police officials have claimed that they have arrested two former Sri Lanka Army officials in connection with the assassination of Sunday Leader Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickremathunge. The arrests were carried out following information provided by the Intelligence Unit of the SLA, police sources claimed Monday, when former Sri Lankan military chief and defeated presidential candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka was taken by the Sri Lankan military police for investigations.
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Academic exposes habitual collaboration of Chennai in bungling geopolitics

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 February 2010, 02:12 GMT]
Writing on the negotiations of 1964 Srimao-Shastri Pact that caused adverse impact on the demography of Tamils in Sri Lanka, Professor V. Suryanarayan says, “The most pathetic member of the Indian team was Ramiah, a Cabinet Minister from Tamil Nadu. According to informed sources, throughout the discussions, Ramiah did not utter a single word on behalf of the Tamil plantation workers, who wanted to remain in Sri Lanka and become Sri Lankan citizens.” Mr. Karunanidhi, for his personal consolidation of power, collaborated with New Delhi in ceding Kachchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974. Had he challenged it in the Supreme Court, the India-Sri Lanka relations might have taken a different turn, the academic said in a paper he read last week.
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SL military police arrests Fonseka

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 February 2010, 16:28 GMT]
Sri Lankan military police Monday night arrested former commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and opposition candidate in the recent presidential elections General (retd) Sarath Fonseka, initial reports from sources close to Fonseka said. The arrest comes after he declared that he was prepared to witness against anyone who had committed war crimes. The military personnel ragged away Fonseka in a very disgraceful manner, according to Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Muslim Congress, who was with Fonseka while the arrest took place, told Reuters.
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SLA tightens fishing restrictions in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 February 2010, 03:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had imposed restrictions on fishing in Jaffna peninsula since its occupation for the last fourteen years is now tightening the restrictions, subjecting the peninsula fishermen to additional harassment, fisheries societies sources in Jaffna said. SLA compels the fishermen to renew their ‘fishing pass’ often while keeping many fishing jetties in several coastal villages closed to them, the sources further complained.
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Sri Lanka, acid test for International Law

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 February 2010, 23:15 GMT]
The widespread systematic pattern of crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state against Tamil civilians, particularly during the first five months of 2009 in the Northeast province, constitute violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, legal scholars have said. During this period, indifference exhibited by the international community, including the United Nations, led to the deaths of more than 30,000 Tamils. The strong transnational expatriate Tamil community now has the burden (a) to prevent Sri Lanka from erasing the massacres from historical record, (b) to resist attempts by international powers to persuade Tamils for reconciliation without establishing justice and accountability for the crimes, and (c) to seek justice for tens of thousands of Tamil victims by charging Sri Lanka of war crimes and genocide against Tamils in world courts.
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A language dies in India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 February 2010, 23:39 GMT]
With the death of 85 years old Boa Sr in Andaman Islands of India last week, the Bo language of prehistoric antiquity became extinct once and for all, reports, Survival International, a movement for tribal peoples. The Andaman and Nicobar islands, home of several prehistoric tribes of Austroloid, Negroid and Mongoloid origins, is currently a Union Territory directly administered by the Central Government of India. “The Great Andamanese were first massacred, then all but wiped out by paternalistic policies which left them ravaged by epidemics of disease, and robbed of their land and independence,” says Survival on the modern history of the tribes since British times. Meanwhile, India launched a show off of ‘naval exercise’ in the Andaman Sea Friday, mobilising 13 countries in the region including Sri Lanka, the new 'colonial power' in South Asia.
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Sri Lanka given 6 months to reverse EU GSP+ suspension

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 February 2010, 01:58 GMT]
Ambassadors of the nations of European Union, based on EU Commissions negative assessment of Sri Lanka's human rights record, have decided to suspend the preferential trade status known as GSP+ (Generalised System of Preferences Plus) to Sri Lanka. However, when the European finance ministers announce this decision at a meeting in Brussels on February 16, the announcement will trigger suspension only after 6 months from that date, providing "Colombo a fair opportunity to get the decision reversed," European media reported.
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