Wickremasinghe to brief Rajapakse on US visit

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 December 2006, 07:17 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), returned to Sri Lanka Sunday after a week's visit to United States of America (USA) at the latter's invitation, sources in Colombo said. During his stay in Washington he held discussions with Political Affairs Secretary, Nicholas Burns, Assistant Secretary of Central and South Asian Affairs of the US government, Richard Boucher, and former US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, regarding the current political and security situation in Sri Lanka.
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Eastern University Vice Chancellor reported missing

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2006, 05:41 GMT]
S. Raveendranath, the Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL), who was forced to resign his post recently following threats from paramilitary Karuna Group that abducted a Deen of the EUSL demanding the resignation of the Vice Chancellor, was reported missing since 1:30 p.m. Friday, Dehiwale Police in Colombo said. The VC was reported missing in High Security area in the Bauddhaloka mawatta.
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Payilvan's remains exhumed, Sufi building demolished

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2006, 04:02 GMT]
The remains of M. S. Abdul Payilvan, a leader of the Suffi sect, which was buried amidst vehement protests by the orthodox Muslims of Kathankudyat Tharikathul Mufliheen Mosque burial grounds, was exhumed Friday around 5:30 p.m, in the presence of Batticaloa Senior Superintendent of Police Maxie Proctor on the orders of Special Judge Mohamed Isardeen from Colombo, Kathankudy sources said. The burial triggered controversy and brought clashes between orthodox Muslims and members of the Sufi sect in Kathankudy for the past 9 days,
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Declare Vaharai a safe zone ­-Trinco MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2006, 00:23 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Trincomalee district, K. Thurairetnasingam, urged the International Community and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to convince the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), to demarcate a safe zone in Vaharai where thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDP) from Trincomalee district who had fled their homes due to SLA onslaught are currently trapped.
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Anton Balasingham - The Times’ Obituary

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2006, 06:52 GMT]
In an obituary Friday, The Times of London described Mr. Anton Balasingham, the theoretician and chief negotiator of the LTTE who passed away Thursday, as “the one man the Tigers could trust with their destiny in what looked like being a breakthrough in talks.” At one stage in the Norwegian peace process, the British broadsheet noted, Mr. Balasingham had steered the Tigers away from their demand for independence. However, it said, “everybody underestimated the determination of hardcore Sinhalese organisations like the JVP and hardline Buddhist clergy to scuttle any deal that gave the Tamils even a hint of autonomy.”
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Viral fever epidemic affects over 100,000 in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2006, 19:08 GMT]
The mosquito borne viral disease Chikungunya currently sweeping across Jaffna peninsula is believed to have affected more than 100,000 civilians, according to a preliminary survey A.Ketheeswaran, Director of Public Health Services, Northern Region has reported.
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Sanctioning Impunity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2006, 13:20 GMT]
“Memories of psychological trauma, physical pain from torture, and the loss of dignity while I was incarcerated in prison for one year in 1993 after I was arrested under PTA, still haunt me. Nightmares have returned after I heard that PTA has been reimposed. All local and international organizations concerned of human rights should exert pressure on Colombo to repeal the act," "Mahes", 38, a father of three children, from Valaichchenai said Monday.
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JVP meets US

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2006, 13:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka's ultra-Sinhala nationalist JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Perumana) is building a 'cordial' relationship with United States, which it earlier denounced as an imperialist force conspiring to divide Sri Lanka, reports in Colombo said.


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$210m ADB loans for Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2006, 11:43 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank signed a loan deal for Sri Lanka worth 210 million dollars on Thursday, to upgrade national highways and water sector, reports said. A loan package of 150 million dollars will be used to widen and rehabilitate a network of 350 kilometres of roads, LankaBusinessOnline reported, quoting the finance ministry.


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Leaked Expert panel's reports trigger controversy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 December 2006, 13:19 GMT]
The 17-member panel of "Legal/Constitutional Experts" tasked by Sri Lanka' president Mahinda Rajapakse to aid the sub committee on Constitutional Reforms to formulate proposals for constitutional changes, in June 2006, failed to agree to produce a single set of recommendations, and instead produced four separate, competing reports which were leaked to the media. The exercise widely believed by the Tamils and noted Think-tanks in Colombo, as a project by Colombo to buy time while engaginng in military offensives in the East, has triggered controversy in ruling circles, as Colombo attempted to distance itself from recommendations in the main reports.
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Anti-terrorism regulations suppress legitimate civil activities - CPA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 December 2006, 11:39 GMT]
Colombo based Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) in a statement issued Tuesday, noting the public pronouncements made last week by the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister that the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of 1979 was to be reintroduced, and calling for urgent clarification by the Government on the state of confusion and mixed messages surrounding the operational status of the PTA that contradict the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA), expressed serious concern regarding the new regulations called Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations (PPTSTAR).
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Monitors urge parties to refrain from violence in Vaharai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 11:33 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), in an statement issued from Colombo Tuesday, urged the Parties, the GoSL and the LTTE, to refrain from "any further viloence" in Vaharai area. Restriction of SLMM access by GoSL forces to areas where violations may have taken place is in itself a violation of the CFA and more importantly prevents the SLMM from working according to is mandate, charged the statement. "The LTTE has failed to protect civilians in Vakarai by restricting their movements," the SLMM statement accused the Tigers.
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New regulations mandate "written approval" for peace facilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 05:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, in his public address on 06 December, stated that his government had decided to "reactivate the provisions of the The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)." On the same day he announced that he had defined "terrorism" in new regulations called Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations (PPTSTAR) which makes explicit reference to the PTA. The facilitation process has to be conducted as an "approved transaction," and upon "written approval" from Colombo, according to the PPTSTAR.
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UN demands protection of Vaharai civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 05:34 GMT]
United Nations Office of the Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Colombo, in a press statement Tuesday called on the parties, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), to adhere to their responsibilities under international humanitarian law and said: "it is imperative that direct shelling where civilians reside stops and the civilian population must be granted full and unhindered freedom of movement, away from military operations."
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AG seeks additional time on TRO funds case

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 December 2006, 15:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Attorney General's (AG's) Counsel requested additional time to file his response to Tamil Rehabilitation Organization's (TRO’s) written submission on the question of whether the High Court of Colombo has the jurisdiction to “vary or vacate” it’s order to freeze the TRO Bank Accounts, when the High Court held hearings on the case today, legal sources for TRO said in a press release issued Monday. The Judge acceded to the Attorney General’s request and set Friday 15 December 2006 as the date for the Attorney General’s submission.
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SLA seeks ICRC assistance in locating missing soldiers

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 December 2006, 15:41 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has sought the assistance of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to trace and bring back the bodies of four soldiers reported missing in the fighting in Vaharai in Batticaloa district. ICRC sources confirmed that it had received such request from the SLA, media sources in Colombo said.
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Sinhala nationalist movement demands ban on LTTE, abrogation of CFA

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 December 2006, 15:25 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM), a broad coalition of extreme Sinhala Buddhist nationalists, held a protest meeting at Lipton Circle Monday at 3:00 p.m. demanding the Sri Lanka government to proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and to abrogate the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) entered into with the LTTE. Wimal Weerawanse, parliamentary group leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a constituent of the NPM, warned that failure to meet the demands would result in a public agitation against the government, sources in Colombo said.


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Church groups slam PTA

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 December 2006, 00:10 GMT]
Churches in Sri Lanka have denounced the revival of a draconian anti-terrorism law by the government. "Many still have painful memories of the harsh impact of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on the life of the nation not too long ago. It was political wisdom coupled with political will that finally led to it being suspended," Anglican Bishop Duleep de Chickera of Colombo said last week after the government declaration.
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"Colombo on genocidal war path" - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 23:50 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, in his address on International Human Rights Day held in Kilinochchi Sunday, stated that the Sri Lankan Government, depriving the Tamil people of their fundamental birthrights such as the "right to life, right to national identity and the right to homeland," and disabling the Ceasefire Agreement with its presently introduced "Prevention of Terrorism" act, was on a "genocidal war path," violating not only human rights laws, but also the Geneva humanitarian laws by carrying out bombardments on hospitals and schools. "Tamil people stand deceived by the membership conferred on the Sri Lankan state to the newly formed Human Rights Council."
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TRO appeals for SLMM, ICRC access to Vaharai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 12:48 GMT]
Pointing out that "over 30 shells have landed close to the Vaharai Hospital in the past few hours and 6 TRO Camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the area have received direct hits from shells resulting in 17 deaths, including a 6 month old baby, and 67 injured," Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), in a press release issued from its Colombo office Sunday, appealed to the Humanitarian Organizations and the International Community to pressure Government of Sri Lanka to allow access to the ICRC and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to the Vaharai area.
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