Japan’s aid for Tamils’ rehabilitation will not reach them – TNA tells Yasuhi Akashi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 10:02 GMT]
”Japan’s 480 million aid to Sri Lanka government to rehabilitate displaced Tamils will only help the government’s aims to segregate the traditional home lands of the Tamils converting Vanni into a military zone”, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, Suresh Premachandran told Japanese Ambassador, Yasushi Akashi when the TNA delegation led by Iraa. Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group’s leader, met the Ambassador Saturday, TNA sources said. Yasushi Akashi, in response said that the Sri Lanka government which was elected by the people of Sri Lanka has pledged to him that the displaced Tamils will be gradually resettled and was told by Iraa. Sampanthan that Sri Lanka government will never keep to its pledge, the sources added.
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RSF campaigns for release of three women journalists

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 01:38 GMT]
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Saturday said it is mounting a campaign for the release of three women journalists, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge of spying for the United States, and two American journalists employed by California-based Current TV, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who have been held in Pyongyang since 17 March. In the 2009 report released earlier in the year the RSF said in Sri Lanka, "[m]urders, physical assaults, kidnappings, threats and censorship are the lot of Sri Lanka's journalists. Top government officials, including the defence minister, are directly implicated in the serious press freedom violations that accompanied the military offensive against the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels."
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Paramilitary kills kidnapped girl in Batticaloa after ransom demand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 11:56 GMT]
Dead body of the 8-year-old Thinusika Satheeskumar, the girl reported missing since Tuesday after going to her school, was recovered inside an abandoned well in the city Saturday morning. The victims' relatives have alleged that the killers were paramilitary operatives who have been demanding 3 million rupees in ransom. Thinusika is the daughter of Satheeskumar Santhirarajah who was abducted two years ago allegedly by Karuna Group paramilitary men demanding ransom. He was reportedly slain in Welikande even after a part of the ransom was paid. Now, a former PLOTE paramilitary operative is alleged to be the man behind the abduction and murder of the girl.
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Paramilitary men shoot dead 3 Tamils, a Muslim in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 06:54 GMT]
Paramilitary men operating with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shot and killed Saturday around 8:45 two Tamil civilians including the President of the Nochchiku’lam Peace Committee and a Muslim civilian in Kantha’laay police division in Trincomalee district, sources in Trincomalee said. Meanwhile, paramilitary men gunned down a Tamil civilian Saturday around 9:00 p.m at Shaanthipuram in Kantha’laay police division, the sources added.a
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Perfect opportunity for US to prove credentials: ICG, Asia Director

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 12:44 GMT]
"Barack Obama's administration has said it is committed to the principals of international law and humanitarian protection. Sri Lanka is the perfect opportunity for the new U.S. president to show that this is not empty rhetoric," says an article by Robert Templer of the International Crisis Group. "Urgent, determined, and united international action is necessary to ensure the safety of the innocent -- by the United Nations Security Council, other multilateral organizations, and individual countries that have relations with Sri Lanka, including India and Japan. Only international supervision, unhindered by the government, can provide the necessary level of protection," writes the author, reflecting the changing and opportunistic perspectives of the IC, but elusive on the crux of the crisis – the Tamil national aspirations.
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Tamil policeman, trader arrested in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 April 2009, 14:04 GMT]
Thirukkoayil police arrested Sunday a Tamil policeman attached to Thirukkoayil police and a Tamil trader in Thurukkoayil, in Ampaa’rai district, on suspicion of helping Liberation Tigers, the police said. The arrested policeman had earlier taken into custody some paramilitary men who had tried to extort money form the arrested Tamil trader along with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, residents of Thirukkoayil said.
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LTTE welcomes US initiative, asks Sri Lanka to listen to IC

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 April 2009, 07:35 GMT]
The LTTE on Monday, in a significant statement, recognized and welcomed a refreshing attitude in US, different from the other countries. It pleaded the Sri Lanka government to listen to international opinion, to stop the war and enter into negotiations. But at the same time it warned Colombo of dire consequences if the war is continued. "The LTTE and the fight for our freedom will also continue. The methods may vary but Sri Lanka will never be able to live in peace as it imagines a military victory will bring. However, for the record, the LTTE would like to emphasize again that it is always ready to explore peaceful means to resolve the conflict”, the LTTE statement issued from the political headquarters in Vanni, read.
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Night robberies escalate in Jaffna despite SLA presence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 April 2009, 15:37 GMT]
Night time robberies in Jaffna town and other areas of the peninsula which is under the complete control of Sri Lanka Amy have escalated markedly in the recent past. Though persons caught red-handed had been handed over either to the police or the SLA most of them have not been produced in the court, civil society sources in Jaffna raised accusation. As the culprits caught operate closely with SLA-backed paramilitary men in Jaffna, they manage to escape prosecution and punishment, the sources alleged.
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9,966 children in Jaffna victimized in 2008, Jaffna tops in school drop-outs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 April 2009, 04:56 GMT]
Nearly 5% of the children in Jaffna peninsula have either lost one of their parents or separated from, due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) harassment, killings, arrests and forced disappearances, according to the 2008 statistics report submitted to Jaffna Government Agent (GA) by Jaffna District Children Welfare Centre (JDCWC) in Jaffna Secretariat. A total of 9,666 children in Jaffna peninsula have been victimized by the above humanitarian violations in 2008, the statistics revealed. Meanwhile, Jaffna district tops the list of school children drop outs compared to other districts in the country, according to Jaffna GA who commented on the statistics report.
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Fein debunks Patton-Boggs "white paper" on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 April 2009, 21:52 GMT]
Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General and counsel for a Washington-based Tamil activist group, responding to a "white paper" on the current situation in Sri Lanka written and distributed to the media by Patton Boggs LLP, the Washington Law firm retained by the Government of Sri Lanka for advocacy work in the U.S., said, the "[p]aper is a collection of lies or misrepresentations calculated to conceal the ongoing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes perpetrated against Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s armed forces," and "fails to discredit a single one of the more than 1,000 genocidal incidents marshaled in the model genocide indictment."
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Police recover body of Kauna group person in Vaazhaichcheanai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 17:31 GMT]
Vaazhaichcheanai police recovered the body of the Karuna group person shot and killed Friday night by unidentified armed men at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) office of Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias Karuna in Vadamunai Ooththuchcheanai on the border of Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. The body was recovered near Vadamumani tank with gunshot injuries, the police said.
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17 Tamil youths abducted, gone missing in Trincomalee, Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 April 2009, 14:11 GMT]
Seventeen Tamil youths have been either abducted or gone missing in the past two weeks in Moothoor East in Trincomalee district and Thirukkoayil in Batticaloa district, according to complaints made by the youths’ relatives to Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian K. Thurairatnasingam. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and paramilitary military men who operate with them come to the houses of the youths in white vans and forcibly take the youths away, the relatives said in the complaint.
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Paramilitary detainee escapes from Jaffna prison

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 April 2009, 09:50 GMT]
A paramilitary man alleged to be a person of a prominent Tamil political-cum-paramilitary party in Jaffna, detained for suspected involvement in various robberies, abduction and extortion, escaped from Jaffna Prison Sunday between 4:30 a.m and 4:35 a.m, according to Jaffna Prison officials. The escapee is alleged to have operated along with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) elements in Jaffna and the concerned political party refused to comment when contacted for information, sources in Jaffna said.
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Karuna group person shot, killed, another injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 April 2009, 10:11 GMT]
Unidentified armed men opened fire Friday around 10:45 p.m on Karuna group persons in Karuna’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) office in Vadamunai Ooththuchcheanai on the border of Batticaloa district, killing one and injuring the person in charge of the office. Two persons in the office at the time of the shooting have gone missing, police sources in Batticaloa said.
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EUSL Registrar, Dean resign after paramilitary threats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 11:12 GMT]
The Registrar of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) has resigned his post following harassments by a paramilitary operative, Julian alias Newton, who claims to be in charge of "educational affairs" of SLFP appointed Minister of National Integration, Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias Karuna. The resignation comes after the paramilitary person demanded two-thirds of the income of Eastern University from its Registrar threatening him either to pay the sum or resign from his post. Meanwhile, the Dean of the faculty of Fine Arts at the EUSL has also resigned his post after being harassed by Newton to select Karuna-favoured candidates the posts of assistant lecturers.
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Batticaloa district development meeting held without TNA parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 10:16 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians representing the people of Batticaloa district, P. Ariyanenthiran, S.Jeyanandamoorthy, K. Thangeswary and T. Kanagasabai did not attend the Annual Batticaloa District Development meeting Monday in Batticaloa District Secretariat for fear of danger to their lives by the paramilitary men operating along with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Special Task Force (STF) in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa. This is a meeting where the district’s parliamentarians allocate funds to various development projects in the district.
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Tamil journalists applaud “Women of Courage” award to Srinithy Nandasekaran

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 11:46 GMT]
Magistrate Srinithy Nandasekaran, who had served earlier in the courts of Vavuniyaa, Jaffna, and Oorkaavattu'rai (Kayts), and currently a Magistrate in the Colombo Juvenile Court, was recognized as a South Asia Regional Finalist for the US Secretary of State's Women of Courage Award by the U.S. Ambassador Blake in Colombo on 24th March. Commenting on the award, a senior journalist said: "Ms Nandasekaran took strong, legally admissible steps to reign in on the Sri Lankan military's attempts to encroach into basic freedom of movement and rights of Jaffna residents. She ruled that the military cannot wear black masks during duty, and was a staunch critic of the road blocks the military forces set up that created hardship to the normal life of civilians."
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'Coercion is not the beginning for a lasting solution'

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 01:17 GMT]
“Intimidation and coercion of Tamils and their political leaders can never be a good beginning for any lasting solution. The fundamental point is that the powers don’t want to see parity to Tamils in the negotiation. They want to confirm Colombo’s position that there is a post-LTTE phase and the Tamils to negotiate from a post-defeat position. Above all, they don’t want to recognize the national liberation perspectives of the Tamil struggle,” writes an independent commentator in Vanni, who has long been sharing his insight with TamilNet. “What the powers actually expect is TNA disowning the LTTE and joining Rajapaksa club in hoodwinking a solution. The Eezham Tamils were at the receiving end of political deceit for ages and they have a good sense of smelling it out, even if it is international."
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SL ministers taking side harm communal harmony in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 01:46 GMT]
Mistake and oversight of government officials in re-allocating an already leased out land have caused a conflict between two Tamil speaking communities in Mannaar. Two ministers of the Colombo government, taking sides, but failing in sorting out the issue is adding to the tension, sources from Mannaar said.
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Uthayan office in Jaffna attacked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 23:57 GMT]
The main office of Uthayan Tamil daily in Jaffna came under grenade attack Tuesday night around 11:10 p.m., the administration of the paper told media in Colombo. Tamil media circles added that the attack had come after verbal instructions by the top officials of Rajapaksa government not to publish stories related to civilian casualties in Vanni or reproduce the contents of interviews given by the LTTE officials to news agencies and media. Uthayan and Valampuri newspapers have recently printed photos of children being killed in the Sri Lankan attacks inside 'safety zone' in Vanni.
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