JHU to withdraw support to Government if 13th amendment is fully implemented

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 09:50 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the Buddhist monks’ political party, Monday declared that it would withdraw its support to the government led by President Mahinda Rajapakse if it fully implements the 13th Amendment to the Constitution or attempts to bring any other solution for the ethnic conflict devolving more powers to provinces including land and police.
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Galle / Kaali

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 03:03 GMT]
The rocks
The rocky place
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Ploy of Buddhism in nullifying Tamil nationalism

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 01:53 GMT]
The North and East of the island of Sri Lanka should first be subjected to ‘archaeological’ investigation to prove the land’s Sinhala ownership, before its ‘resettlement’, is the demand of the National Front of Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka, reported Virakesari a few days ago. If archaeology has any say, the entire island having microlithic sites of prehistoric period has to be resettled by Veddas, and if enough Veddas are not found in the island they could still be found among their next of kin outside, ranging from the Austro-Asiatic tribes of the South Asian subcontinent to aborigines of Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Australia, commented an academic of ethnic studies in the island.
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Jaffna Muslim IDPs should be resettled soon – Muslim contestant in JMC election

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2009, 15:34 GMT]
“While welcoming the government’s interest in resettling the displaced Vanni civilians in their original places we request that it should also take action to resettle the Muslims displaced from Jaffna soon,” Ahamed Sulthan Subiyan, the president of Jaffna Muslim IDPs Association and the independent contestant in the forthcoming Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, said in a press meet held Monday in his newly opened election office in Jaffna town.
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US statement undermines tourism revival - SL Foreign Ministry

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2009, 11:24 GMT]
United States travel advisory aimed at discouraging US citizens from visiting Sri Lanka was part of US strategy to undermine the country [Sri Lanka], according to Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry official, the pro-Government Island newspaper said. "[N]othing could be as bad as the US warning of potential for continued stability and possible terrorist attacks a month after the end of war," the paper said, and added, "though the armed forces maintained road blocks and carried out routine checks on vehicles entering the city and its suburbs, there was no likelihood of LTTE attacks," attributing the comments to a foreign ministry official.
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Mervin Silva abuses Sirasa journalists

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2009, 04:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister of Labour Mervin Silva grabbed the microphone from Sirasa TV station reporters and threw it on the ground at an event held in Bandaranayake Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), alleging that Sirasa TV station and its journalists are traitors of the country, media sources in Colombo said. The event was organized to felicitate the journalists who covered the Vanni battle along with Sri Lanka Army.
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Vavuniyaa Tamil Christian teacher reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 June 2009, 17:20 GMT]
A Christian teacher, Rasalingam Naguleswaran, father of two children, has been reported missing since 6 June afternoon after he boarded a bus bound for Vavuniyaa from Gunasinghapura bus halt in Colombo, according to complaints made by his wife Geethanjali with the Vavuniyaa police, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) and International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC).
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US warns against travel to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 June 2009, 13:49 GMT]
The United States this week Saturday warned “American citizens traveling to or living in Sri Lanka about the potential for continued instability, including possible terrorist attacks.” Despite Sri Lanka’s announcement of victory over the Tamil Tigers, the remnants of the LTTE remained and Sri Lanka’s “security posture remains heightened.” The US especially warned against travel to the North and East, given the “possibility of renewed [LTTE] insurgency” and the continued activity by government-backed paramilitaries in the Northeast. "In some cases, foreigners of Sri Lankan origin may be detained without their embassy being notified," the statement said. "The activities of journalists, researchers, aid workers, and volunteers receive particular attention," the release added.
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Veteran Kavignar Murugaian passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 June 2009, 08:25 GMT]
Well-known Kavignar (Poet) E. Murugaian, veteran Tamil scholar, passed away in Colombo Saturday and his funeral is to be held Sunday evening at Borella general cemetery. He was seventy five years of age when he died. Murugaian was conferred with the honorary title of Doctor of Literature (Ilakkia Kalanithi) some years ago by Jaffna University for his immense services to Tamil Literature and Tamil Language.
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‘Final Warning’ issued to Jaffna Tamil daily Uthayan staffers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 June 2009, 06:30 GMT]
A group calling itself ‘Tamil Front Protecting the Country’ allegedly linked to a paramilitary group operating with Colombo issued Saturday a notice titled ‘Final Warning’ to Uthayan Tamil daily office in Jaffna warning that Uthayan staffers will be killed if they do not officially relinquish their posts with effect from 30 June 2009, sources in Jaffna said. Thursday, all the local newspapers of Jaffna that defied publishing an anonymous and defiling notice against Liberation Tigers came under attack by an armed group in which thousands of copies of the local newspapers, Valampuri, Uthayan and Thinakkural (Jaffna edition) were burnt.
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IFJ condemns reactivation of Sri Lankan Press Council Law

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 2009, 07:31 GMT]
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has strongly condemned the Sri Lankan Government's decision to revive the Press Council that was established by an act of parliament in 1973. The Sri Lankan Press Council Act of 1973 contains stringent provisions, including the power to prosecute for contempt and sentence journalists to extended periods in prison and to prohibit the publication of certain kinds of content by the media. Reflecting on the move by Colombo, media activists in Colombo told TamilNet Saturday that the Sri Lanakan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, despite his claim that the Tamil war has ended, was continuing his war on journalists, aiming at creating a full fledged authoritarian ruling of the island.
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Tamil aid ship condition ‘critical’ despite Indian assurance

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 2009, 00:40 GMT]
Despite the Indian government’s statement that the Sri Lankan government had relented on its refusal to allow the aid ship sent by Tamil expatriates to dock in Colombo harbour and that the supplies for Tamil refugees would be offloaded by the Indian Red Cross, there has been no action at all, the organisers of the mercy mission said Friday. In an urgent press release, they said the MV ‘Captain Ali’ has been at sea for 51 days and the condition of its crew and passengers is now critical.
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Children in Manik Farm camps suffer due to malnutrition: Sarvodaya

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 June 2009, 12:20 GMT]
“About thirty thousand to thirty five thousand children are sheltered in Manik Farm. Many of them are suffering from diseases and some still suffer from injuries sustained in the military operations. Fifteen to twenty percent of them are also suffering from acute malnutrition,” media reports in Colombo said quoting Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, the executive director of Colombo based NGO Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya.
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Police arrest 17 Tamils in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 June 2009, 04:08 GMT]
Seventeen Tamil civilians including two women were arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted in Wellawatte in Colombo police division from 8:00 p.m. until 12:00 midnight on Wednesday, Wellawatte Police Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Mangala Dehideniya, told the media. The arrested are being detained in the police station and are being interrogated, the OIC added.
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120 Tamils in Welikada prison urge immediate release

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 June 2009, 00:42 GMT]
One hundred and twenty Tamil prisoners, detained in the Welikada magazine prison for the last four years under the Emergency Regulations (ER) without any inquiry and not being charged in court, have appealed to President Mahinda Rajapakse to take immediate steps to release them without any further delay. Some of the Tamil prisoners brought to Colombo magistrate’s court Tuesday in some cases against them handed over the memorandum addressed to President Mahinda Rajapakse on behalf of them and other fellow detainees to the Chief Magistrate, media sources said.
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Tamil woman journalist abducted, later released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2009, 12:11 GMT]
Tamil journalist, Ms Krishni Kandasamy, was abducted by unidentified persons in a white van Wednesday morning from Wattala in Colombo division, and was released later in the evening the same day in Kandy in the central province after being interrogated. She had been working for a leading Tamil daily published from Colombo, Virakesari, for 10 years, according to complaints lodged with the Wattala Police.
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Colombo’s concentration camps compared with Hitler’s in NZ parliament

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2009, 08:36 GMT]
Urging New Zealand government to pay immediate attention to the horrific situation faced by the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, Keith Locke, New Zealand’s member of parliament, speaking Tuesday last week on the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, compared the concentration camps run by Colombo with that of Hitler. Blaming the international community for its failure, the MP urged the NZ government to demand full access to the camps, fair treatment to the combatants and non-combatants of the LTTE and release of people to get back to their homes. He also reminded not to forget attending the underlying cause of the conflict – the Tamil aspirations that arose from the time of independence, well before the Tamil Tigers were ever thought of.
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Wholesale attack on Jaffna newspapers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2009, 01:36 GMT]
All the local newspapers of Jaffna that defied publishing an anonymous and defiling notice against the LTTE came under attack by an armed group in the early hours of Thursday. The notice was brought out in the name of 'Tamil Front Protecting the Country' allegedly linked to a paramilitary group operating with Colombo. Thousands of copies of the local newspapers, Valampuri, Uthayan and Thinakkural (Jaffna edition), were burnt down wholesale in huge flames by the armed group allegedly operated by the Sri Lankan military intelligence at Aanaippanthi and Kannathiddi junctions at 5:00 a.m. Thursday, while the newspapers were being taken for distribution.
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ICJ Vice Chairman urges governments of free people to protect Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2009, 00:16 GMT]
“I call upon the Australian government to stand up and complain bitterly until something is done”, said Justice John Dowd, Vice President of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), stressing his point that it is “to not speak up but yell” in order to save the Tamils in the concentration camps. He was addressing a forum in Federal Parliament, Canberra, discussing Australia's role on human rights in Sri Lanka Wednesday last week. Sceptical of United Nations and questioning why Commonwealth is aloof, the jurist mooted an idea for governments such as Australia to hold hearings against those who violated the Genocide Convention, warning what is happening in the island is ethnic cleansing of an ancient people in their homeland.
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Sri Lanka’s hidden agenda in JMC election - Manickasothy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 June 2009, 17:48 GMT]
”Tamils struggle for their rights began at a time even when there were four train services a day from Jaffna to Colombo, hundreds of lorries and busses plying on the A9 road and a continuous electricity supply from Laxapahana was available to the people of the North; the claim to restore these by the government is but an obvious propaganda ploy to lure votes for the ruling United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA), in an effort to show the world that the Tamils are not opposed to a unified Sri Lanka but whole heartedly support it, by securing victory in Jaffna Municipality Council (JMC) election,” Abimanasingham Manickasothy, the principal candidate of the Independent group contesting JMC election, told the media in a press meet held Wednesday in Bastion Hotel in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.
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