JVP trade unions to ignore Rajapakse invitation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 15:49 GMT]
The National Trade Union Centre (NTUC) which has the backing of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the third largest political party in the current parliament decided not to attend the conference of trade unions summoned by President Mahinda Rajapakse on Wednesday to discuss the impact of the price increase of fuel. NTUC claims that 634 JVP backed trade unions in the country are its members, political sources in Colombo said.
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Shifts in world order alters dynamics of Sri Lanka’s conflict - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 12:14 GMT]
Whether Sri Lanka is or isn’t on the UN Human Rights Council is an irrelevancy as far as international dimensions of the island’s conflict are concerned, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued this week. “Rather than a ‘universal’ principle, the concept of ‘human rights’ has, in actuality, served mainly as a tool for the West-led international community to (re)order the world,” the paper said. Meanwhile, the rise of new poles in the international system is proving a challenge for the West’s post-Cold War efforts to construct a liberal order, the newspaper said in another recent editorial.
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Court remands 3 Tamil women arrested in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 11:52 GMT]
Puththa'lam Magistrate Friday ordered remand till June 4 for the three Tamil women arrested in a cordon and search conducted in Selvapuram, a village in Udappu police division by the Sri Lanka Army on Tuesday. Asantha J.Jothy Fernando, 60, Josephine Kanimolzhi Fernando, 42, and Mariampillai Rita Fernando, 45, residents of Mattakuliya in Colombo were first taken in for questioning while they were staying in a house of their relative in Selvapuram.
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Senior U.S. Human Rights official visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 07:54 GMT]
Barks-Ruggles, a key official of the U.S. Foreign Service, who earlier served in the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, where her portfolio included peace negotiations in Sri Lanka, visited Colombo on Thursday and met with several senior government officials, political and civil society leaders to address the concerns of the U.S. and others on Human Rights and to emphasize the importance of 'continuing the dialogue' between the U.S. and Sri Lanka, which have enjoyed '60 years of unbroken friendship,' according to a press statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo Saturday.
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Raviraj murder suspects further remanded

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2008, 22:31 GMT]
Colombo Additional Magistrate Ms Sujatha Alahaperuma Thursday ordered further remand for the two suspects in the Nadaraja Raviraj murder case till June 4th and directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to communicate immediately with the Attorney General to find out what action they should take against the suspects, legal sources said.
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Defense journalist beatenup, released

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2008, 01:14 GMT]
Keith Noyahr, Defence writer of English weekly The Nation is reported missing after he left his office at 10:30 p.m. 22nd May 2008, was later released after being severely beaten up, sources in Colombo said. He has been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital, according to reports.
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SLA extends amnesty for deserters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 23:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has extended the amnesty period of deserters by two weeks, until May 31, reports from Colombo said. SLA had earlier announced amnesty for deserters to return to their earlier ranks from May 2 until May 12.
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Tamil woman reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 15:48 GMT]
A family woman from Point Pedro in Vadamaraadchi is reported missing since Saturday when she was traveling in a bus to Negombo from Colombo, according to complaint lodged by her mother to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna, Thursday. Meanwhile, the employees of Udupiddi Multi Purpose Co-operative Society who went on a search Wednesday to find their General Manager who was suspected abducted, at the place of abduction close to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in Kalikai and Yaakkarai, said they could not find his body that was rumoured to be lying in the mangrove land near the SLA camps.
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3 Tamil civilians arrested in Katugastota

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 02:38 GMT]
Three Tamil civilians were taken into custody in a joint cordon and search operation conducted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in Katugastota in Kandy district Wednesday following the explosion of a bomb hidden under a bridge along Kandy-Matale rail track Tuesday night around 11:00 p.m., sources in Colombo said.
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Ground facts, Rights lobby cause Sri Lanka's UN debacle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 00:27 GMT]
Despite determined lobbying by Colombo during and prior to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the stark history of gross rights violations by Sri Lanka Security forces, the unfolding ground situation including the exit of International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) from rights monitoring from the island, and intense lobbying by several Rights organization including three Peace Nobel laureates, have led to the ignominous defeat of Sri Lanka Wednesday in securing the sought after coveted spot in the Human Rights Council of the UN.
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Justice Ministry Secretary visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 14:23 GMT]
Secretary to Sri Lanka Ministry of Justice and the Director for Rehabilitation, from Colombo arrived at Palaali Military Airport Wednesday morning and returned in the evening, sources in Jaffna said. The Secretary inspected Jaffna Prison where nearly 300 hundred persons are placed in protest custody due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries, and also other places related to the welfare of the inmates. Although the Director was expected to inspect the proposed Rehabilitation Centre at Kaarainakar held in Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) control, the plan was cancelled due to undisclosed reasons.
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Sri Lanka lies to UN on disppearance of upcountry youth - Ganesan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 17:40 GMT]
Mano Ganesan, Leader of Western People’s Front and Convener of Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC), accused the Sri Lanka Government of lying to the United Nations Working Group of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) when the disappearance of a 25-year old upcountry youth was raised by the WGEID based on a complaint filed by the CMC. While CMC said it had irrefutable evidence of complicity of Sri Lanka Police officials in the disappearance of the youth, Colombo has responded to the WGEID that no such person was arrested and that National Identity Card was not a valid one.
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USAID reconstructs milk chilling facility in Vellave'li, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 10:52 GMT]
A high-ranking official from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) inaugurated on Tuesday a milk chilling center in Vellave'li, Batticaloa, on the site where the original structure was completely destroyed in 1990, according to a press statement issued by the Embassy of the United States of America in Colombo. Through a grant to international NGO World Concern and in partnership with Milco Private Ltd., the USAID constructed 40 cattle sheds and five milk collection points, provided 300 milk cans and trained 160 farmers in feeding technologies, animal health and business planning. In all, nearly 2,000 households in the area have benefited.
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JVP to take neutral stand in East PC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 07:26 GMT]
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said that its newly elected councilor to the East Provincial Council would function as a neutral member without supporting the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UNP) or the United National Party-Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (UNP-SLMC) combine, party sources said in Colombo.
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CVF cadre shot dead in Buttala

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 04:24 GMT]
A member of the Civil Volunteer Force working with the Sri Lanka Army was shot dead by unidentified men Monday night around 10 pm along Kadirgammam-Buttala road in the southern province. The victim was on duty in a police sentry point located at 38th mile post at the time of incident, reports from Colombo said.
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SLA, Police complicit in white van abductions- SL Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 02:18 GMT]
"I have received information that Sri Lanka Police personnel and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were involved in several white van abductions. Reluctance of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and other law enforcement officials to take timely steps to investigate these crimes is clear evidence of widespread violations of human rights and breakdown of law and order," said Sri Lankan Deputy Minister for Vocational Training and Industrial Education, P. Rathakrishnan, during a meeting with the relatives of the disappeared held late last week at the Colombo 14 offices of the Upcountry People's Front (UPF), Tamil daily Thinakkural reported in the Sunday edition.
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"Sri Lanka will not succumb to western pressure"- Wickremanayake

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 01:31 GMT]
"Western powers have been exerting pressure to Sri Lanka to start negotiation with 'terrorists' as a condition to provide economic assistance. I categorically state that Sri Lanka will not succumb to any such pressure," declared Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sunday addressing an event to mark the release of two Sinhala translation of books on Kandahar area in Pakistan, sources in Colombo said.
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Batticaloa celebrates Vesak

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 May 2008, 13:08 GMT]
Vesak, the holiest day in Buddhism, is celebrated this year Monday and Tuesday in Batticaloa district. The celebrations are being conducted in all the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps, police stations and in the camps of Special Task Force (STF) in the district, sources in Batticaloa said.
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IGP Victor Perera to retire next month

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2008, 18:10 GMT]
Victor Perera, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is to retire by the end of June. He has sent in his retirement papers to the National Police Commission for approval, reports from Colombo said.
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Police officer demands ransom from fishermen in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2008, 15:02 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Chief Inspector of Police who is serving as Officer-In-Charge of the Police (OIC) of the police post in Peasaalai in the island of Mannaar, has been demanding ransom from the fishermen of Peasaalai during the recent days, according to religious leaders in Mannaar. The OIC has gone door-to-door in certain areas of the village, demanding ransom ranging from SLR 20,000 to 500,000. The police officer has accused the fishermen of transporting 'banned goods' to LTTE controlled areas from Mannaar and warned them that they would be spared from charges of 'assisting terrorism,' only if they heeded to his ransom demand on time.
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