Sivakeetha requests Election Commissioner to fill abducted member’s post

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2010, 14:36 GMT]
The mayor of Batticaloa Municipal Council Sivakeetha Pirapaharan has written to the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections to fill the vacancy created following the abduction of a councillor, Prakasam Sahayamani, who was also a member of a paramilitary faction led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the chief minister of Eastern Province.
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Sinhalese VC for Eastern University?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2010, 20:25 GMT]
A Sinhalese academic is likely to be appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University by the Sri Lanka Ministry of Higher Education. The Eastern Provincial Council Chief Minister and several deputy ministers in the eastern province have given consent to the appointment, according to reports emerging from education sources in Batticaloa. Meanwhile, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr.C. Yogeswaran, made an appeal in the parliament recently that the steps now being taken by the government to appoint a Sinhalese as VC should be stopped as the Eastern University is located at Vanthaa'rumoolai in the Tamil dominated district.
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Vaazhaichcheanai parents, students protest against TMVP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 08:57 GMT]
Students and parents of Vaazhaichcheanai in Batticaloa district Monday protested against the decision by Piratheasa Chapai (PS) chairman S. Jeevagathas to close down private tuition centres in the area. This was the first time residents of Vaazhaichchenai held such demonstration against the TMVP, which is led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pilliayan who is also the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC).
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Rajapaksa’s Ampaa’rai coordinator gets suspended jail sentence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 06:57 GMT]
Kalmunai High Court Judge Ms. Chandramani Visuvalingam Monday imposed a sentence of two years rigorous imprisonment that is suspended for a period of ten years on Kanthasamy Nishanthan alias Inniyabarathi, Ampaa’rai District coordinator for the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he pleaded guilty to the charge of threatening with death a former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian of the Ampaarai district Chandiranehru Chandrakanthan on 11.06.2007 at Thirukkoayil.
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SL Police arrest TMVP operative in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 07:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka police Intelligence officers arrested Sunday an important operative of Tamil Makkal Viduthali Pulikal (TMVP) a political-cum-paramilitary party led by Eastern Province Chief Minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, in Ka’ruvaakkea’ni in Batticaloa. He was arrested for involvement in the theft of a van on information given by Vadivel Ravichandran, the Vice Chairman of the Vaazhaichcheanai Pradeshiya Saba in Batticaloa who was arrested and detained in October by police in Nuwara Eliya district, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Batticaloa MC members assaulted by Chief Minister’s men

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 06:03 GMT]
A group of men led by Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan assaulted two members of Batticaloa Municipal Council (BMC) Friday during a meeting held at the residence of Batticaloa Mayor Ms. Sivakeertha Prapakaran, sources in Batticaloa said. K. Arumailingam representing Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and R. Pirpakaran, the General Secretary of EROS, were the members assaulted with batons. They are admitted to Batticaloa hospital with serious injuries.
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CID arrests Vaazhaichcheanai PS Vice Chairman

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 October 2010, 09:22 GMT]
A team of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Sri Lanka Police arrested Tuesday Vadivel Ravichchandran, Vice Chairman of the Vaazhaichcheanai Pradeshiya Saba in Batticaloa in his private office. He is detained in the Nuwara Eeliya Police Station in the central province, according to his wife Selventhini. She had said that she visited her husband on Thursday in Nuwara Eliya Police station and she was unaware of the reason for his arrest and detention, according to her complaint to the Chief Minister of the Eastern provincial Council (EPC) Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan.
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Batticaloa Court orders removal of ineligible occupants in Muslim colony

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2010, 16:55 GMT]
Batticaloa District Court ordered the Secretary of Ma’nmunaipattu to immediately remove all who are not eligible reside in the Muslim Colony for tsunami victims established in 2004 in the lands of Tamils by M. L. A. M. Hisbulla when he was the Minister of Post and Telecommunication during former Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaranatunge with funds from Kuwait government. The owners of the land encroached for the Muslim colony had filed petition against the Muslim colonization scheme and M. L. A. M. Hisbulla who is a Deputy Minister in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) now. Directed by the court, the Secretary of Ma’nmunaippattu, Ms. Pathmarajah had written to the ineligible occupants to vacate before 11 November.
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EP Chief Minister abets appropriation of Tamils’ lands – TNA parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2010, 07:30 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian P. Selvarasa accused the Chief Minister of Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias (Pillayan), for not taking any action against lands belonging to Tamils being encroached by Sinhala and Muslim people. Selvarasa, speaking as the chief guest in an event of the release of a CD titled ‘Gone with the Waves’ in Periya Kallaa’ru in Batticaloa district, raised the accusation. Repeated complaints made to the Chief Minister remain ignored as the colonization of Sinhala and Muslims in the lands of the Tamils continue unchecked, the MP said.
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Colombo shuns Eastern province TNA parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 17:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has failed to invite Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Eastern Province parliamentarians to the Eastern Provincial Development review meeting held Monday in the Naval Headquarters auditorium in Trincomalee presided by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, P. Selvarasa, Batticaloa distirct TNA parliamentarian said. Shunning the representatives democratically elected by the people to participate in decision making meetings by Sri Lanka government reveals how very much it discriminates the Tamils, he added.
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Eastern Provincial 'development' meeting held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 14:56 GMT]
The Eastern Provincial 'development' review meeting was held Monday in the auditorium of the Naval Headquarters in Trincomalee presided by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa. His secretary Lalith Weeratunge, Defense Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera accompanied the President to Trincomalee to attend the meeting.
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Trincomalee under heavy security for Rajapaksa’s visit

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 15:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to preside over a conference at the Trincomalee Naval Base Monday morning to discuss development of the Eastern province that comprises the three districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai where security arrangements have been strengthened heavily. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and policemen deployed in large numbers are on patrol covering all parts of Trincomalee town.
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Buddhist monk on fast-unto-death, demands colonisation of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 09:26 GMT]
A Sinhala Buddhist monk, Ven. Ampitya Sumanaratna Thero, has been on a fast-unto-death campaign demanding construction of Buddhist temples in the predominantly Tamil-speaking Batticaloa district with Saivites, Christians and Muslims. The monk, who has on the fast-unto-death campaign for 3 days also demands appointment of Sinhala officers to Batticaloa District Secretariat, Divisional offices and Courts. The extremist monk said he would end his campaign only when Basil Rajapaksa, the brother of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa, promises action on the demands and extends in person an apology for 'defaming' him in front of two former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leaders.
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SL government appropriates Tamils’ lands in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 05:48 GMT]
Aaraiyampathi Social Development Organization (ASDO) in Batticaloa district alleged Sri Lanka Deputy Minister M. L. A. M Hisbulla of converting lands of the Tamils in Kaangkeayanoadai village into a Muslim village in the name of ‘The Village of Peace’ with funds from Iranian government. The foundation stone has been laid for this purpose without the knowledge of the Local Government Body (LGB) of the area and it is said that Muslim families of Kaaththaankudi are to be settled in the village to be built, T. Mahendran, the Secretary of ASDO said.
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Former Tamil SLA accomplice abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 2010, 06:11 GMT]
A gang of unidentified armed men arriving in a van abducted a Tamil youth who had operated with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) during the war, on 15 September at Kalladi in Batticaloa district, according to complaints made by his wife to Batticaloa police. She had first complained at the office of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), a political-cum-paramilitary party led by Eastern Province Chief Minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, raising suspicion whether he has joined TMVP on returning from a Middle East country where he had worked after the war, sources in Kalladi said.
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SL government responsible for abductions – TMVP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 2010, 05:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka government should take responsibility for the abductions that have taken place after the war in Eastern Province, the propaganda secretary of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP), a political-cum-paramilitary party led by Eastern Province Chief Minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, said in a meeting held in Kommaanththu’rai in Batticaloa district. Meanwhile, Batticaloa district residents said that armed men alleged to be Pillayan group and Karuna group abduct persons and rob houses in the outskirt villages of the district. Karnuna group is also a political-cum-paramilitary party led by Sri Lanka minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna.
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Batticaloa MC member reported abducted

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 2010, 10:43 GMT]
The wife of a member of Batticaloa Municipal Council (BMC) complained to Batticaloa police that her husband had gone missing since August 23 after having met BMC Mayor Sivageetha Pirabakaran and a member. She said she suspects that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit officers had abducted her husband. A person had called her 22 August night and intimidated that her husband will be abducted by the SLA. Meanwhile, Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias (Pillayan) is reported to have said that SLA and Sri Lanka police in Batticaloa should take responsibility for the abductions in Batticaloa district.
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Nirupama meeting uprooted families in Champoor cancelled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 04:48 GMT]
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao Wednesday visited Trincomalee and held talks with the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan and the Governor of Eastern Province at their respective offices. But her scheduled visit to Champoor in Moothoor East Wednesday was cancelled at the last minute. According to her program she was to meet uprooted people of Champoor now lodged elsewhere. The reason for the cancellation was not disclosed, Trincomalee sources said.
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Basil Rajapakse fails to reply TNA allegations

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2010, 14:47 GMT]
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse has failed to respond to questions raised by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians at the Batticaloa District Development Council (DDC) meeting held on Monday at Batticaloa District Secretariat over the resettlement of displaced Tamil families and settling Sinhalese from the south in traditional Tamil villages in the district under the pretext of resettlement.
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Plans afoot to Sinhalicise Paasikkudaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2010, 04:23 GMT]
Sri Lankan Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa Tuesday paid an official visit to Paasikkudaa in Batticaloa district and laid the foundation stone for a tourist complex. The tourist complex is viewed as another step to settle yet more Sinhalese in the traditional Tamil areas of Batticaloa district, by the local residents.
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