India offers joint air-defence exercise to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 December 2007, 16:46 GMT]
The top-level visiting Indian defence delegation to Sri Lanka to review the ongoing bilateral defence cooperation has offered assistance in the form of "joint air-defence exercises" to face any threats posed by the aerial capability of the Tigers, according to highly placed sources in Colombo. Indian Defence Secretary Vijay Singh who called on Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in Colombo early this week has made the offer. The delegation arrived in Colombo last Sunday and left the island Wednesday after meeting with the Commanders of the Sri Lankan Army, Air Force and Navy.
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Inter-religious summit calls for power-sharing constitutional framework in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 17:06 GMT]
Religious leaders from Sri Lanka and a multi-religious delegation from six countries of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, who met in Jaffna last Wednesday and Thursday, said the decision to make Jaffna the location of the summit was to express solidarity with all those who continue to live in situations of violence and despair due to the conflict. "We saw the massive destruction of infrastructure and housing that occurred in previous phases of fighting, the loss of villages and fertile agricultural lands to High Security Zones, and the fear and insecurity in the lives of the people, especially youth, which is dehumanizing to all those affected."
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Kanimozhi Karunanidhi: Slaying of Thamilchelvan against the norms of war

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 November 2007, 17:05 GMT]
Thamilchelvan's killing was against the norms of conventional warfare, said Kanimohzi Karunanidhi, the daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and a Member of Indian Parliament when speaking at a meeting in Thiruvaroor in Tamil Nadu, condemning the killing of the political leader and negotiator of Eelam Tamils, media sources in Chennai said, on Monday.
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‘Peace needs a paradigm shift in international approaches’

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 November 2007, 00:18 GMT]
"A striking sentiment perceivable on stage and among the audience at the gathering in Olso to pay tribute to Thamilchelvan, was righteous indignation about the lopsided morality of International Community, in not responding effectively to the killing of an important political personality," K. Sivapalan, a senior attorney-at-law from Trincomalee, who attended the gathering in Oslo on Saturday, told TamilNet.
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Gotabhaya bans transport of livestock from abandoned Tamil homes in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 October 2007, 08:55 GMT]
Acting on a complaint made by Ameer Ali, Sri Lankan minister of disaster relief services, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan defense secretary, has instructed teh Batticaloa district commanding officer of Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Superintendents of Police and officers of Special Task Force (STF) to ban the transport of livestock belonging to Tamils from the areas in Batticaloa district, recently brought under the control of the SLA. Tamils in these areas have repeatedly lodged complaint with Mr. Ameer Ali that cattle from their homes were being systematically stolen out of the district by paramilitaries and Sri Lankan soldiers and sold in Sinhala areas of the Polonnaruwa district.
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Tamil sovereignty, basis of peace talks - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 September 2007, 17:37 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), in a statement issued Monday, urged the UN General Assembly which has gathered for its 62nd session in New York, USA, to recognize the concept of the sovereignty of the Tamil people and support the peace process in accordance with this principle. The LTTE statement characterized the confidence of some members of the International Community on Sri Lanka's latest All Party Representative Committee (APRC) which has not brought any constructive outcome to date, as a misplaced confidence.
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India, Sri Lanka form joint defence panel - report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 September 2007, 18:15 GMT]
India and Sri Lanka have formed a high-level, joint defence panel following a meeting in New Delhi between top officials of the two countries on September 3 and 4, the Hindustan Times reported Wednesday quoting a release from the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat.
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RSF urges EU, US to help protect Sri Lanka journalist

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 August 2007, 06:58 GMT]
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF) in a press release issued Wednesday urged European and US Embassies to do their utmost to protect Iqbal Athas, investigative journalist of the Sunday Times weekly in Sri Lanka, who had gone into hiding for fear of his life after he published an article, revealing corruptions Sri Lanka State's purchase of Mig-fighter jets from Ukraine. Athas finds himself the target of some members of the government and the army and Sri Lanka's President should order the speedy restoration of Iqbal Athas' security, RSF further said in the press release.
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Police powers to military threatens democracy - NPC

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 May 2007, 06:16 GMT]
Colombo based National Peace Council, a peace group, Friday said it was "extremely concerned," about SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's decision, a month ago, about delegating police powers to the military. "There is an urgent need for the government to demonstrate clear political will in regard to law and order processes if it is to retain the confidence of the civilian population that it is not taking the country on a journey to anarchy and to the breakdown of democratic governance," the NPC said. The group said it was apprehensive that this government decision will send wrong signals and lead to an aggravation of the hardships faced by the civilian population.
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SL President pooh-poohs Gothabaya death threat

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2007, 11:05 GMT]
Before leaving for Italy Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa telephoned Ms. Champika Liyanarachchi, editor of the Daily Mirror, in a bid to defuse the controversy that has erupted over the death threats she received Tuesday from Defence Secretary Gotathabaya Rajapaksa. The President had suggested to Ms. Liyanarachchi that she had overreacted to Mr. Gotabhaya’s “expressions of concern for her safety,” Presidential Secretariat sources said.
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Gothabaya threatens Mirror editor over Karuna story

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2007, 03:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa threatened the editor of a leading English daily on Tuesday, saying the paper’s coverage of actions of the Karuna Group had angered the Army-backed paramilitaries, a media watchdog said. Mr. Gothabaya, brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had Tuesday morning telephoned Ms. Champika Liyanarachchi, editor of the Daily Mirror to say she should not be surprised if the Karuna Group turned its violence against her and if so, she shouldn’t expect government protection, the Free Media Movement (FMM) said.
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‘There is no ceasefire agreement with LTTE’ - Gothabaya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2007, 17:02 GMT]
There is no ceasefire between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government and the 2002 agreement was only being left in place to satisfy the international community, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said Tuesday. "There is no cease-fire agreement. There is no meaning in that," said Rajapakse, who is the brother and a close-confidant of President Mahinda Rajapakse told the Associated Press. He vowed to attack the LTTE’s northern strongholds, saying “it’s not good for the military to have relaxed periods.”
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UNP Kurunagala MP Fernando complains of death threat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2007, 00:03 GMT]
The United National Party parliamentarian for Kurunagala district, Johnston Fernando, who has recently criticized Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and the brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, Wednesday complained to the Police and to the Speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament W.J.M Lokubandara that he has received death threats over telephone for having criticized Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse.
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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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CID arrests Sooriyarachchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 March 2007, 09:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested Sripathy Sooriyarachchi Saturday in Colombo following his summon for investigation into alleged misuse of a government vehicle after his removal from the ministerial portfolio. The arrest comes after Mr. Sooriyarachchi, the former non cabinet minister of port development, who was sacked by the SL President Mahinda Rajapakse, exposed an alleged scandal by Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the brother of Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, involving Rs.600 million in the purchase of Russian-made MIG fighter and weapons.
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Acrimony flares, US says diplomats not LTTE’s target

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 00:13 GMT]
Amid growing acrimony within the Sri Lankan government over the LTTE mortar attack Tuesday on military helicopters carrying foreign ambassadors and UN officials to Batticaloa district, the American ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O. Blake, contradicted Colombo’s assertion that the Tigers had tried to assassinate the diplomats. Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary says the diplomats should share the blame for the near-disaster for asking to visit Batticaloa. He slammed as “interference” attempts by foreign dignitaries and NGOs to visit the war torn Northeast.


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US should monitor citizen Gotabhaya's conduct - Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 March 2007, 12:49 GMT]
Former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera alleged Thursday that Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Ghotabhaya Rajapaksa is an American citizen and the US government must monitor his conduct against freedom of media in Sri Lanka.
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Rajapakse visits Vaharai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 10:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday morning visited Vaharai region together with his Commanders and the Defence Secretary, his brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse. All the mobile phone links in Batticaloa district were disconnected before SLAF helicopters carrying Mr. Rajapakse and his commanders reached Vaharai. The visit, which comes a day before the Sri Lankan Independence Day on Sunday, is to be showcased as a symbol of military victory, before the celebrations in South, that target military recruitment.
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SL Army and Karuna can defeat LTTE – Defence Secy

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 April 2006, 23:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the head of the international ceasefire monitors that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) could easily defeat the Liberation Tigers with the assistance of the Karuna Group paramilitaries, the Daily Mirror reported Tuesday. Paradoxically, Mr. Rajapakse, appointed to his post by President Mahinda Rajapakse, his brother, had two weeks ago also told the then head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that paramilitaries were not operating in government-controlled areas.
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Intelligence Chief Zacky in Jaffna to step up campaign

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 12:40 GMT]
Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) Brigadier Rizvy Zacky, a hardliner, has been recently posted as Brigadier General Staff Officer (GSO, Intelligence) at the Sri Lanka Army Head Quarters (SF HQ) Jaffna in a major reshuffle of the SLA and Intelligence apparatus. Execution-style killings of five students in Trincomalee and three women members of a family in Jaffna mark a stark change of pattern in the escalation of intensified serial killings of non-combatant civilians in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas in the NorthEast. The pattern of violence also marks the return of hardliners who seems to prefer terror to subdue a population.
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