Kohona admits to sending "Killer SMS"

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2011, 20:26 GMT]
Dr Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN, admitted to sending an SMS message through a European intermediary giving instructions to leaders of the Libertation Tigers to surrender, Sydney Morning Herald reported in an investigative story in its Friday edition. In this "white flag" incident Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers is alleged to have gunned down all the LTTE members who surrendered. The Journalist Ben Doherty appeared to have visited Sri Lanka and gathered the pertinent evidentiary information, including a statement from an eye-witness to the incident.
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Jayalalitha’s victory speech focuses on Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2011, 19:34 GMT]
While most of the media in India don’t want to recognize the heart of the matter behind the unprecedented way in which Tamil Nadu voters turned out to teach a lesson to the regimes in New Delhi and Chennai, grasping the significance behind her historic victory, Ms. J. Jayalalitha on her victory speech in Jaya TV Friday, recognizing genocide and war crimes against Eezham Tamils said: "I will exert pressure on the central government, after I take over as the CM, to take action against Sri Lankan president before international court for genocide and war crimes. India should take the initiative for this." The general mood among Eezham Tamils in the island and in the diaspora over the TN election results was one that of vindication and jubilation. It has generated fresh hopes on the strength of public opinion in Tamil Nadu.
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Tamils may have lost the battle but will win the war: Delhi convention on UN report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 May 2011, 00:39 GMT]
While the Sri Lankan media view that the UN panel report has provided the Indian establishment with new bargaining power and facilitates the ‘shopping list’ of the officials from the Indian establishment visiting Sri Lanka soon to go beyond KKS harbour in Jaffna and Champoor power station in Trincomalee, a convention organized in New Delhi by the Delhi Tamil Students Union Thursday, resolved that action should come out of the report at the international level, genocide in the island should be recognized, Indian government should come out with a white paper of its own dealings and all democratic forces in India should raise concern over the happenings in the island. The participation of the convention by progressive forces of India generates hopes that the situation will not be hijacked, commented Eezham Tamil political circles.
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Nothing will happen by some welcoming UN report: Basil Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2011, 18:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka President’s brother and SL Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa made an unannounced sudden visit to Jaffna Monday. Nothing will happen by some welcoming the UN panel report and ‘Tamils should not play treachery by betraying the country for a few thousand dollars,’ Basil Rajapaksa who was carrying a ‘special message’ from Mahinda Rajapaksa to the people of Jaffna said, while addressing a meeting at Maaviddapuram. Basil’s ‘message’ implied a warning against any evidence going out of Tamils in Jaffna on the war crimes and genocide committed on them, news sources in Jaffna said.
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Occupying SL military threatens TNA politicians in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2011, 11:40 GMT]
While building up democratic politics in the north and east is reiterated as a prerequisite for ‘reconciliation,’ the genocidal SL Army occupying Jaffna under the command of ‘Asian Nobel Peace Laureate’ Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe is engaged in intimidating politicians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the most favoured political formation in the north and east, and the people who come into contact with it, news sources in Jaffna said. The occupying army particularly threatening people resettled in the so-called High Security Zones that “the TNA should not come here, if they come you will be chased out again,” shows that there is a long-term agenda in the Army to take Tamil politics directly into its hands, the news sources further said.
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War crime, genocide case against Rajapaksa placed in Norway courts

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2011, 00:06 GMT]
Leading Norwegian Lawyer on Human Rights, Harald Stabell, has filed a case under the Norwegian national law, against the Sri Lankan President and Commander-in-Chief of the SL armed forces, Mahinda Rajapaksa, his brother and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and former Sri Lanka Army commander Sarath Fonseka, now in Rajapaksa's custody, and several other SL commanders, for allegedly committing War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Genocide against Eezham Tamils. The case is filed on behalf of the Norwegian Council of Eezham Tamils (NCET) and 15 affected Norwegian Tamils. Following the latest revelations by the Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim in Norwegian national media NRK about his knowledge of the white-flag surrender, which turned into a war crime, the lawyers have indicated to the Chief Prosecutor of Norway that evidence may be sought from Mr. Solheim.
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Moragoda appointed special foreign policy advisor to Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 May 2011, 12:19 GMT]
Former Sri Lanka Minister Milinda Moragoda has been appointed special advisor on foreign policy matters to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse. Moragoda is to assume duties with immediate effect, according to Presidential Secretariat sources.
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Rajapaksa's governors blame UN Expert panel report as “irresponsible act”

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2011, 15:40 GMT]
The nine governors appointed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, including the two ex-military governors of North and East, Maj. Gen (retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri and Rear Admiral (red.) Mohan Wijewickrema, have come out with a joint statement accusing the UN Expert panel report as a “biased unilateral report which would bring discredit to the President and the Armed Forces thereby to the people of Sri Lanka.” Mohan Wijewickrema, the colonial SL governor of the Eastern Province has issued the press release in the capacity of the Chairman of 13th Governor’s Conference.
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Sinhala extremist federation wants Rajapaksa to terminate talks with TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2011, 05:42 GMT]
The Federation of National Organizations, a coalition formed by ten Sinhala extremist groups in the south, has requested the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to terminate its talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a statement issued on May Day, coinciding with the protest show of Mahinda Rajapaksa against the UN Expert Panel report. Meanwhile, Tamils from several parts of the island were forcefully taken to Colombo by Sri Lankan military, paramilitary and other agents to showcase as people from all ethnicities were united in the protest against the UN. However, a dead silence prevailed in the SL occupied country of Eezham Tamils throughout the whole day on May Day.
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Colombo propagates UN report as against Muslims

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 May 2011, 08:51 GMT]
Amid vicious propaganda by the Colombo government that UN Experts Panel is against the interests of the Muslim Community, Mr. Basheer Sego Dawood, deputy minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksea government said that the report should be considered as a foundation to find a lasting political solution for the ethnic conflict in the country.
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Sri Lanka plans criminal show of ‘reconciliation’ in Colombo, Jaffna on May 1

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2011, 20:51 GMT]
In a cruel show of ‘reconciliation,’ Sri Lanka’s occupying military in full swing has gone to the houses of released LTTE cadres, family members of the captives and ‘resettled’ Eezham Tamils living in open prisons in north and east and intimidated them to participate in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s demonstration show in Colombo on 1 May, to oppose any international justice coming to the crimes committed against them. A fleet of buses are organized to herd the people from Vanni and Jaffna to Colombo, after warning them of dire consequences if they don’t come. Meanwhile, a group of thugs has been brought from the south for violent demonstrations in the locality of UN offices in Jaffna city on May 1.
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‘Solheim transforms from peace facilitator to facilitator of war crimes indictment escape’

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2011, 06:50 GMT]
Norway’s former peace facilitator to the island of Sri Lanka, Mr. Erik Solheim, speaking to Norwegian state owned media NRK (Dagsnytt 18) on Wednesday, argued against any immediate international investigation on the war crimes in the island and said that it is only correct and fair to expect the Sri Lankan authorities to domestically investigate the UN panel material. According to him, this is what the ‘broader international community’ including nearly all the Western countries want. Solheim defended Ban Ki Moon, as his situation is difficult, accused the Tigers for not listening to his surrender call since five months before the end of the war, and suggested a new principle for international law that since Tiger leaders are now eliminated, domestic handling should be given a chance than ‘one-sided’ international indictment of Sri Lankan state.
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Ampaa'rai DCC meeting conducted in Sinhala only

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2011, 11:02 GMT]
The civil authority of the Ampaa'rai administrative district, where seventy five percent are Tamil speaking officers, is conducting the meeting of the District Coordinating Committee (DCC) only in Sinhala excluding Tamil language, complained district Parliamentarian Mr.P. Piyasena who has been supporting the Mahinda Rajapakse led United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA). He was elected on the ticket of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at the last general election held in April 2010 from the Ampaa'rai electoral district.
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G.L. Peiris to confront diplomats on Expert Panel report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 15:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris is scheduled to “brief” Colombo based foreign diplomats Thursday morning on its response to the UN Experts Panel report, which has put serious war crimes and crimes against humanity allegations against Mahinda Rajapaksa government during the Vanni War in 2009. Mr. Peiris returned to Colombo Wednesday after a trip abroad.
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Colombo rejects UN Expert Panel report, dubs it as “Darusman Report”

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2011, 14:49 GMT]
Colombo government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday issued an official statement, stating that the conclusions of the externally constituted “Darusman Panel” working from New York should not take precedence over the conclusions, still awaited, of the domestic [LLRC] process. The statement said that the material could be looked at by the LLRC should it wish to do so, depending on its own assessment of the contents. “The public release of the Report at this stage is divisive, and disrupts our efforts to reinforce peace, security and stability in Sri Lanka. It feeds into the political agendas of interested parties,” the release by the External Affairs ministry in Colombo said.
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'Srebrenica moment'

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 April 2011, 23:37 GMT]
In an article in "The Australian" news paper authored by Gordon Weiss, a former UN spokesperson who accused Sri Lankan Government earlier of killing 10,000 to 40,000 Tamil civilians by discriminate shelling during the final stages of war, Weiss says that with the release [leak] of UN report on Sri Lanka's war crimes, the parallel, with the mass execution of 8000 Muslim boys and men by the Bosnian Serb army and how the horror reached the world from David Rohde, an US reporter, who had hiked through frontlines to reach the outskirts of the empty town, is apt, that Sri Lanka has reached its "Srebrenica Moment,"
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Report, devastating indictment of Sri Lanka military conduct, says Washington Post

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 April 2011, 00:25 GMT]
"The [UN] panel’s findings constituted a devastating indictment of the country’s [Sri Lanka's] military conduct during the final stage of the 28-year war, accusing government forces of shelling hospitals, no-fire zones and U.N. facilities, and blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid to victims of the war," Washington Post said Thursday, adding, "the panel calls on Sri Lanka to “issue a public acknowledgment of its role in and responsibility for extensive civilian casualties in the final stages of the war."" The UN officials told the Post that the release of the report had been delayed amid discussions with Sri Lanka over the possibility of including a rebuttal in the report.
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Petitions, complaints, warnings from Sri Lanka ahead of UN war crimes report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 April 2011, 22:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government has launched a petition campaign against the UN making public an expert panel’s report on war crimes committed during the final months of the island’s war. The campaign, launched Thursday by Sri Lanka’s Minister of Private Transport Services, C. B. Ratnayaka, aims to collect one million signatures. It comes two days after President Mahinda Rajapaksa called for annual May Day rallies to be directed against the UN report. Also on Thursday, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister G.L. Peiris claimed releasing the report will damage the UN, while Mass Media minister Keheliya Rambukwella claimed the experts had written the report in just two weeks. The UN said earlier it will be releasing the much anticipated report on Friday.
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Indian public opinion should take care of Russia meddling with Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 April 2011, 21:51 GMT]
Mahinda Rajapaksa is harping on Russia and China to escape international action on war crimes and to continue the well-planned genocide of Eezham Tamils unabated. Regrettably, Russia sees the current accelerated process of structural genocide and dismemberment of the nation of Eezham Tamils in the island as ‘reconciliation’ that should not be disturbed by war crimes investigation. On Monday Russia raised a number of ‘procedural’ objections on UN discussing the panel report. According to Inner City Press Thursday, Colombo’s UN representative Palitha Kohona insisted that there was “no mechanism” to bring the matter to the Security Council and that “We have Friends”. Whether Russia is acting on own or at the behest of somebody else, public opinion in India should take care of Russia, writes a Tamil political activist in Colombo.
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UN experts took bribes from LTTE supporters – SL minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 April 2011, 15:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s minister for Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities, Wimal Weerawansa, accused the independent experts who authored a UN report on war crimes during the final months of Sri Lanka’s war, of having taken bribes from the Tamil Diaspora. His comments were reported in the state-run Daily News Thursday. Sinhala ultra-nationalist firebrand Weerawansa last July famously staged a fast-unto-death in front of the UN building in Colombo in response to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s appointment of the panel.
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