Sri Lanka President must be answerable for the murder - IFT

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 April 2005, 07:14 GMT]
International Federation of Tamils (IFT) The purported murder was committed in a High Security Zone which is under the constant and vigilant protection of the Security Forces of the Sri Lankan government. As supreme commander of the armed forces, the Executive President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaiake Kumaratunge should be held responsible and made answerable for the murder. Several Tamil journalists and human rights activists, including Nimal Rajan in Jaffna, G.Nadesan in Batticaloa, Kumar Ponnambalam in Colombo and Chandra Nehru in Batticaloa, have been murdered, all in High Security Zones, during the present President’s tenure.
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Sivaram Dharmeratnam: A Journalist’s life

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 21:11 GMT]
Mark Whitaker, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Carolina, Aiken, U.S.A, is completing an intellectual biography of Dharmeratnam Sivaram’s life and work in a book entitled “Learning Politics from Sivaram.” Prof. Whitaker summarizes Sivaram’s life and work in this feature.


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CPJ condemns ‘brazen abduction and execution’

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 18:25 GMT]
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the murder on Friday of leading military analyst and political commentator, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, saying “the brazen abduction and execution of a veteran journalist sends a chilling message to others in the Tamil media.”
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NESOHR: Yet another blow to press freedom in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 12:49 GMT]
Pointing out that none of the cases of journalist murders in Sri Lanka for the past two decades have been solved, North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) said: "Abduction and murder of well known journalist Dhramaratnam Sivaram in the capital city Colombo on Thursday April 29th 2005 is yet another blow to the non-existing press freedom in Sri Lanka and yet another nail on the coffin of the dying democracy in Sri Lanka. It is a telling symbolism that he was abducted in front of a police station in Colombo and his body was found only 500 meters behind the parliamentary complex."
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Batticaloa burial planned for slain journalist

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 12:48 GMT]
Sivaram's body will be buried according to Sivaram's wishes in Batticaloa, at the family burial grounds where his parents' bodies lie in rest, a relative organizing the funeral arrangements said. Viewing is to be held in Colombo at Sivaram's residence in Ratmalana and the body is to be taken to Batticaloa Sunday for Monday's funeral,
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RSF ‘revolted’ at Sivaram’s murder

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 12:19 GMT]
Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) Friday said it was revolted at the brutal killing of well known journalist and military analyst Dharmeratnam Sivaram who was abducted in front of a Colombo police stations Thursday night. Describing Mr. Sivaram as a “brilliant journalist”, RSF said he was targeted because of his “uncompromising coverage of the political and military situation” in Sri Lanka.
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Journalist Sivaram murdered

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 02:37 GMT]
The body of abducted journalist Mr Dharmeratnam Sivaram was found with severe head injuries in Himbulala, a Sinhala suburb between Jayawardhenapura hospital and the Parliament building in Colombo Friday morning. The location is about 500 meters behind the parliamentary complex and lies inside a high security zone. Mr Sivaram, a senior editorial board member of TamilNet, was abducted Thursday evening around 10.30 PM by unidentified persons in front of the Bambalapitya Police Station in Colombo.
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Journalist Sivaram abducted

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2005, 18:31 GMT]
Mr. Sivaram Dharmeratnam, 46, a senior editorial board member of TamilNet was abducted at around 10.30 PM by a group of unidentified men in front of a restaurant in Bambalapitiya, Colombo, according to reliable media persons in Colombo. A Sinhala journalist who has been in touch with the HIRU newspaper said that four unidentified persons, who were standing in front of the Bambalapitya Police Station, got into an ash coloured Toyota SUV type of vehicle and pulled Mr. Sivaram into the vehicle and drove off. 9.30pm was the last time Mr. Sivaram was in touch with TamilNet.
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Norwegian funded boat repair yard opened in Salli

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2005, 15:37 GMT]
Under the Tsunami Boat Rehabilitation Project funded by the Kystaksjonen of Norway, a boat repairing yard was opened Thursday morning in Salli, a fishing hamlet about eleven km north of Trincomalee under the auspices of Trincomalee Division Fisheries Co-operative Societies Union (TDFCSU). This was the twelfth of the fourteen boats repairing yards scheduled to be opened in the northeast by Kystaksjonen of Norway.
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President Kumaratunga's top aide calls for establishment of Joint Mechanism

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2005, 11:04 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Senior Economic Advisor, Mano Tittawella, who is also the head of the Presidential Task Force For Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN) said Thursday that the establishment of a Joint Mechanism was necessary to "equitably distribute the tsunami relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction" to the affected people living in the areas that are not coming under the writ of the Government.
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Protest at Sri Lanka truce monitors’ HQ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2005, 13:49 GMT]
An organization calling itself ‘National Fortress for Safeguarding Military Intelligence Officers’ protested in front the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) headquarters in Colombo Wednesday accusing the Nordic truce monitors of impartiality. Five protestors who were allowed into the SLMM office handed over a letter to the truce monitors urging them to secure the release of Inspector Jeyaratnam, the senior Sri Lankan Police intelligence officer allegedly abducted by the Liberation Tigers last week. The protestors shouted at the truce monitors, calling them ‘white tigers’.
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Buddhist monks say joint mechanism only over their dead bodies

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2005, 11:58 GMT]
Norway’s special peace envoy, Mr. Eric Solheim and US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca have no right to ask the Government of Sri Lanka to set up a joint mechanism with the Liberation Tigers for distributing Tsunami aid in the northeast, said Ven. Kalawalgale Chandaloka Thero, general secretary of the National Bikkhu Front, an ultra Sinhala nationalist organization of Buddhist monks, addressing a press conference in Colombo Wednesday. “The joint mechanism can be established only over our dead bodies”, he declared. The National Bikkhu Front (NBF) said it will launch a campaign from Thursday to collect signatures from the public against the joint mechanism.
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Train hits bus: Death toll reaches 49

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 April 2005, 04:07 GMT]
27 mutilated bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the train collision that occured with a bus east of Colombo Wednesday morning around 8.30 AM, Hospital sources in Colombo said. 22 died on admission to hospitals in Colombo, Kurunagela and Polgahawela. The accident took place at a railway crossing between Polgahawela and Alawwa. 10 of 45 wounded persons were brought to Colombo Hospital.
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Joint mechanism will give new life to ISGA- JVP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 April 2005, 15:14 GMT]
Mr.Somawanse Amerasinghe, leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a major constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government said Tuesday at a press briefing in Colombo that the proposed Joint Mechanism (JM) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be a stepping-stone for the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) for NorthEast, sources said.
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"Thanthai" Chelva death anniversary observed in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 April 2005, 13:24 GMT]
Twenty eighth-death anniversary of late Mr.S.J.V. Chelvanayakam (1898-1977), prominent leader of the Tamil people for more than three decades of his life and fondly called as "Thanthai (Father)" was observed in Trincomalee, Jaffna and several parts of the northeast province Tuesday, sources said.
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JHU joins anti joint mechanism fray

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2005, 14:11 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), an ultra Sinhala nationalist party in Sri Lanka's Parliament, Monday vowed to oppose the proposed joint mechanism between the Liberation Tigers and Colombo to distribute Tsunami aid in the island's northeast. Addressing a press conference in Colombo Monday, Mr. Champika Ranawaka, propaganda secretary of the JHU said that his party was ready to join hands with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to campaign against the joint mechanism proposal. He said that there are many politicians in the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the opposition United National Party who are against the joint mechanism for Tsunami aid.
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JVP says will campaign against joint tsunami aid mechanism

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2005, 05:22 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s main coalition partner, said Monday it will launch a massive campaign to oppose the proposed Joint Mechanism between the Liberation Tigers and Colombo for distributing Tsunami aid in the island’s northeast. “The campaign will start from the capital and will be held in all major provincial towns to educate the people about the dangers the Joint Mechanism poses to the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, a party spokesman said. JVP’s opposition to the Joint Mechanism will be the central theme of the huge May Day rally the Marxist party is preparing to hold in Colombo, according to him.
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GTZ assists psychosocial counselling in NE schools

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2005, 02:40 GMT]
The German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ) of the German Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development has donated about 3.1 million rupees worth of playing tools, building blocks, musical toys, puzzles, chess boards and sport equipments to support psycho social counselling in schools in five education zones, Akkaraipattu, Batticaloa, Kalmunai, Mullaitivu and Vadamaradchchi in the northeast province, sources said.
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Tigers postpone crucial press meet

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 April 2005, 17:36 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Sunday they are indefinitely postponing a crucial press conference scheduled for Tuesday in Kilinochchi. Informed sources said that the press meet was intended to explain the LTTE’s stand on the proposed Joint Mechanism for Tsunami reconstruction in the island’s northeast province. The indefinite postponement of the press conference added fuel to speculation in Colombo that a compromise on the Joint Mechanism is floundering on strident opposition by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s main coalition partner Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.
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SLFP launches campaign to promote Joint Mechanism

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 April 2005, 14:26 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, Sunday launched a two day-awareness campaign in Sri Lanka's South explaining the positive aspects of the proposed joint mechanism expected to be signed with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to disburse funds provided by several international aid agencies and foreign governments to reconstruct tsunami affected areas in the northeast, sources said.
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