India's Champoor power project, a terrible scandal, say activists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 19:44 GMT]
While India's National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) Chairman Ram Charan Sharma told the media that the 500-MW thermal power project in Champoor in Trincomalee district will be one of the largest infrastructure investment in Sri Lanka, residents and rights activists complained that the Indian decision to pick Champoor for the power project had added to the Champoor displaced people's misery. "I have interacted with Indian diplomats (in Colombo) and am certain they are very sensitive to the human rights and humanitarian issues. But if India is involved in this, it will be a grave disappointment, even a terrible scandal," the activist told the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), the agency reported.
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Complicity of Armed group raises questions of sovereignty violations- CaFFE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 13:12 GMT]
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE), a Colombo-based NGO, in a pre-election observation report on the east elections released Saturday observed that fear-psyche prevented Tamil community from participating actively in the east elections, whereas the Muslim and Sinhala communities enthusiastically participated in the campaigns, and that the Sinhala participation "gradually transformed into violent and confrontational political campaign at the end of the pre-election period."
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2 Tamil civilians abducted in Puththa'lam, Modera

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 10:59 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians one, in Puththa'lam and other in Modera in Colombo, were abducted in two separate incidents, according to complaints lodged by their relatives with the Puththa'lam Police and Modera Police, media sources reported.
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Tamil trader abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 10:54 GMT]
Unidentified men arriving in a white van Thursday afternoon abducted Ehamparampillai Viswanathan, 53, a father of three children, at Fourth Cross Street-Keizer Street junction in Colombo, according to complaints lodged with the Fort Police Station by his relatives on Friday.
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CMEV: 25 complaints, 18 major offenses on EPC elections day

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 10:22 GMT]
Centre of Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) in an update issued at 2:30 p.m. in Sri Lanka said it had registered 18 major offenses such as murder, attempted murder, assault, threat and intimidation, impersonation and ballot stuffing. Of the major offences, 13 were reported from Batticaloa, 03 from Ampaa'rai and 02 from Trincomalee district. The CMEV has urged the Sri Lankan Election Commissioner to annul the poll in the stations it had identified. The TMVP Pillayan Group supporters were seen removing voter ink from their fingers and returning to vote repeatedly in Thambiluvil in Ampaa'rai and there has been a mortar attack close to polling stations in which four civilians were wounded.
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International poll monitors arrive in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 01:36 GMT]
International poll observers to monitor the Eastern Provincial council elections scheduled to be held May 10th arrived in Batticaloa Friday, sources in Colombo said.
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Sea Tiger commandos sink SLN supply ship in Trinco Harbour

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2008, 21:40 GMT]
A troop carrier cum supply ship of the Sri Lanka Navy, A-520, named 'MV Invincible', was sunk by Sea Tiger naval commandos in the Trincomalee Harbour at 2:23 a.m. Saturday, according to the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in Vanni. The underwater attack by Black Tigers was carried out when the supply vessel was loaded with explosives to be transported to KKS Harbour in Jaffna, the LTTE said.
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Jaffna Bishop's House appeal to Colombo to rebuild Allaippiddi church

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2008, 14:33 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop House and several Catholic organizations in Jaffna peninsula appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to rebuild St. Philips Narrie’s church in Allaiappiddi in the islets of Jaffna which was destroyed in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Multi-barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire in August 2006, sources in Jaffna said. The church serves more than 80 resettled families in Allaipiddi.
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UK: Karuna released, remains under immigration detention powers

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2008, 13:08 GMT]
Vinayagmoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, a former Tiger commander who turned leader of a paramilitary group operated by the Sri Lanka Army in the East, was released by the British authorities on Thursday following his imprisonment for possessing false documents. "He now remains under immigration detention powers," said British High Commission in Colombo, in a press release issued on Friday.
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Shortage of essential medicines in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2008, 03:18 GMT]
Health service in Jaffna peninsula will be facing a crisis if the fast dwindling stocks of medicines in Jaffna Teaching Hospital and other hospitals in Jaffna peninsula are not replenished immediately, District Public Health Service (DPHS) sources said. Repeated requests to he Ministry of Health remain unattended due to disinterest and calculated step-motherly attitude of the authorities in charge of this affair, Jaffna Health officials added.
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Opposition parties in Sri Lanka fear election malpractice

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2008, 02:12 GMT]
All activities of the political parties and independent groups contesting the Eastern provincial council elections ended Wednesday midnight, the office of Elections Department (ED) announced Thursday. Meanwhile, expressing fear that Colombo was preparing itself for a large-scale election rigging, UNP parliamentarian Laxman Kiriyelle has accused the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry for its alleged involvement in distributing blank polling cards in the East. It is also alleged that nearly 170,000 polling cards remained stagnant in the post offices without being delivered and these were taken away by the paramilitary Pillayan group.
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Colombo revises decision to refuse AP coverage in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 11:20 GMT]
Associated Press of America (AP) Colombo Bureau Chief Ravi Nessman and staff photographer Gemunu Amarasinghe, who were in Batticaloa and asked to leave the area immediately as the Government of Sri Lanka had taken a decision not to allow foreigners, except the election monitors, to visit Batticaloa. The journalists were told Thursday afternoon that they would need Ministry of Defence clearance. However, soon after the news spread, the GoSL revised the decision and allowed the journalists to return to Batticaloa giving instructions they can only engage in election coverage, media activists in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka helicopters airdrop Pillaiyan campaign leaflets

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 11:01 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) Wednesday brought to the notice of the Commissioner of Elections that the government has provided helicopter facility to airdrop hundreds of thousands of pamphlets in support of the candidature of Pillaiyan, leader of the armed group contesting the east provincial election. Pamphlets with Tiger emblem were printed in Colombo and brought to Batticaloa Tuesday and Wednesday. UNP general secretary Tissa Attanayake confirmed this to the media, party sources said.
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Protest will continue despite arrests- Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 08:33 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinge, United National Party (UNP) head and the Leader of Opposition accompanied by UNP parliamentarians inspected the place where UNP protestors were arrested Wednesday morning in front of the Election Department in Rajakiriya, Colombo, for demanding removal of arms from paramilitary groups including Pillayan group before the Eastern Provincial Council election. Two garbage carriers of Jayawardnepura Kotte Municipal Council littered their contents at the site, prompting Wickremasinghe’s visit, sources in Colombo said.
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Slain journalists remembered in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2008, 12:16 GMT]
Movement Against Media Suppression (MAMS), a common front organization consisting of five major media organizations, held a memorial event Tuesday around 6:30 p.m. in front of Fort Railway Station, Colombo, in remembrance of the 14 slain journalists. The MAMS, in a leaflet gave the statistics, describing the state of media freedom in Sri Lanka where 14 journalists were killed in recent years, 8 journalists were subjected to abductions, 4 were imprisoned, 5 electronic broadcasts were blocked, 1 website blocked, 3 records of suppressive laws against media and countless number of harassments against media and media personnel.
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Rajapaksa prorogues SL Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 17:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has moved on to prorogue the sittings of the Sri Lankan Parliament until June 05 according to an extra-ordinary gazette notification published Tuesday midnight. The move comes amid the increased media attention and the debate on SLA casualties in the Northern Front as four days were left for the Eastern provincial elections where oppositions parties including the SLMC, UNP and the JVP have protested against the armed paramilitary in the East. Meanwhile, in a specially arranged televised broadcast, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised the remote villagers in the east that they would get everything that they have aspired for.
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Just, fair election impossible in East – UNP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 16:09 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians and supporters led by its General Secretary, Tissa Athanayake, staged a protest demonstration Tuesday around 2:30 p.m in front of the election office in Colombo calling for the removal of arms from the paramilitary Pillayan group and to conduct the election for the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) in a just and fair manner. Meanwhile, the UNP parliamentarian Laxman Kiriyelle has accused the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry for involvement in distributing blank polling cards and warned that the government is preparing itself for a large scale election rigging.
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Batticaloa Teachers protest demanding release of arrested collegues

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 13:23 GMT]
Three hundred teacher trainees of Batticaloa Teacher training college boycotted the classes and staged a peaceful rally Tuesday morning demanding the release of five teacher trainees arrested by Waduwa police in Kalutura district on 27 April.
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2 new parliamentarians sworn in

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 10:46 GMT]
Sarana Gunawardene and Dulip Wijesekara were sworn in as new parliamentarians from the Gampaha district Tuesday when the parliament met for the first time after the New Year recess. Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara administered oaths at the commencement of the session, parliamentary sources said.
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Vaiko condemns military soft loan, assails India's opposition to UN resolution on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 07:00 GMT]
Expressing "terrible shock" over the press reports that New Delhi was finalising a soft loan package of USD100 million for Sri Lankan military, Vaiko, the general secretary of Marumalarchchi Dravida Munneatta Kazhakam (MDMK) sent an urgent letter Monday to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to reconsider the decision and recalled earlier assurance given to him in April by Dr. Manmohan Singh that India was not giving any arms to Sri Lanka. At the same time, Mr. Vaiko expressed serious concern over India's opposition to the move initiated by European Countries to bring a resolution in the United Nations against the gross violation of human rights by the Sri Lankan government.
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