Paramilitary link, screening competition behind arson in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 04:49 GMT]
Batticaloa Criminal Investigation Department (CID) police arrested Sunday the owner of Chengkaladi Sellam cinema theatre on suspicion of involvement in setting fire to the screen and stage of Shanthi theatre in Kaaththaankudi police division 17 June night, sources in Batticaloa said. The persons who had set fire had left handbills that warned no theatres in the North and East should screen any South Indian Film for a week. The arrested theatre owner, Kanapathipillai Mohan, a contestant in the last parliamentary election on behalf of the paramilitary-cum-political party led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, Chief Minister of Eastern Provincial Council, is said to have frequent conflicts with the owner of Shanthi theatre arising out of the competition in screening South Indian films, the sources added.
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CID conducts spurious searches in paramilitary operatives’ houses in Vaazhaichcheani

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 June 2010, 09:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) searched Tuesday the house of Nagalingam Thiraviyam alias Jeyam, a member of the Eastern Provincial Council and an operative of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) who had been evicted from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2004 by the then Commander Karuna and present Deputy Minister of Rehabilitation, Vinayagamoorthy Muaralitharan. Similar searches were also made in his other houses in Vaakarai police division and his relatives’ houses in Challiththeevu and Panichchangkea’ni areas, sources in Batticaloa said. The CID, however, has not confiscated any stolen goods or documents related to various criminal activities of Jeyam who possesses wealth and properties exceeding his income, the sources added.
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TMVP submits nominations to contest in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 February 2010, 01:56 GMT]
Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) Tuesday submitted its list of candidates at the Trincomalee Election Office to contest in the Trincomalee electoral district in the forthcoming parliamentary election scheduled to be held on April 8.
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Sivageetha announces support to Fonseka

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 January 2010, 10:37 GMT]
Batticaloa Mayor Sivageetha Prabhakaran Friday resigned from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and joined United National Party (UNP) to support General (retd) Fonseka in the upcoming Sri Lankan Presidential elections. Ms. Sivageetha was earlier in the TMVP paramilitary group faction led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, the present chief minister in the Eastern Provincial Council. Later she joined the SLFP at the request of Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, now a minister the Rajapaksa government who is also one of the vice presidents of SLFP.
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Youth's body recovered from well in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 December 2009, 03:55 GMT]
Police recovered the body of a youth Tuesday from a well in A'laveddi in Valikaamam on information from local residents. The youth is suspected to have been killed elsewhere and his body brought and dumped in the well, police said.
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Improve lives of resettled people in Moothoor, demands IDP Union

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 2009, 13:44 GMT]
The president of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Union requested government authorities to take several actions which could greatly help the resettled people to improve their lives, in a meeting held Wednesday around 10:00 a.m in Kaddaippa’richchaan Vipulaanantha Mahaa Viththiyaalayam. Eastern Province Chief Minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, Governor Mohan Vijayavickrama, Government Agent T. T. R. de Silva, Cooperative Development Minister, A. Majeed, Eastern Province Agriculture Minister T. Navaratnarajah, Divisional Secretary N. Selvanayagam and government officials participated in the meeting, sources in Trincomallee said.
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Karuna, Pillayan groups supporting Rajapaksa clash in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 December 2009, 14:21 GMT]
Three paramilitary men were reported missing when a major clash broke out between rival paramilitary men of TMVP Pillayan group and SLFP Karuna group around 2:15 p.m. at Thirukkoayil in Ampaa'rai district where a group of 50 operatives of Pillayan had gone in three vehicles to campaign for Mahinda Rajapaksa passing the office of the Sri Lanka Freedom (SLFP) manned by Karuna's paramilitary men headed by operative Iniyapaarathi. Three TMVP men sustained injuries, according to Sri Lankan Police. A vehicle, sent to locate the missing persons, has been set on fire around 5:00 p.m. by Karuna's men. The fate of the occupants were not known.
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Grabbing land for wrecking contiguity of Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 December 2009, 10:22 GMT]
‘Investors’ may see the eastern coastal tract of the island of Sri Lanka, from Kokku’laay to Kuchchave’li, potential for minerals, tourism and fisheries. But the tract is of utmost importance to Eezham Tamils in linking the north and east of their historic homeland. Tamils wouldn’t have been averse to the idea of anyone coming and investing in this tract had there been a guarantee to the territorial integrity of their nation. It would have even been welcomed. But the genocidal Sinhala State and powers of greed have chosen the cruel way to achieve ambitions by crushing the Tamil nation – killing, maiming, chasing, incarcerating and weakening the historical inhabitants. If India that has a particular eye on this tract wants its gratification peaceful and long lasting it should take the responsibility of not altering the demography, writes a university academic of the Eastern Province.
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Eezham Tamil refugees in Thailand in dire straits – TNA parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 November 2009, 11:41 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Chandraneru Chandrakanthan who had spent three days in Thailand meeting Eezham Tamils who had sought refugee with Thailand UNCHR authorities said that nearly 4000 of them are facing insurmountable difficulties. The MP has requested the UN and the UNCHR to do the needful to these refugees. Tamils living in various parts of the world should pay attention to the sufferings of these refugees in Thailand remembering that there are Eezham Tamil refugees even out of Sri Lanka who need immediate attention and support, Chandrakanthan said.
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Tamil, Muslim political parties find their table in Zurich

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 November 2009, 15:10 GMT]
Widely speculated as a drama backed by ‘high-powers,’ leaders of most of the Tamil and Muslim political parties in the island of Sri Lanka are meeting for the first time in Zurich, Switzerland, between Thursday and Saturday. The move is said to be for ‘extracting’ a joint proclamation of them necessary for further power manoeuvres in the island. A couple of years ago it was such a behind-the-scene move of some powers that made most of these parties except the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to rally behind Mahinda Rajapaksa and pledge support to him in the war that brought in disaster to Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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2 SLA, civilian killed, Pillayan's vehicle meets with accident

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 03:05 GMT]
A civilian and two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed Tuesday morning around 4:30 a.m. in Kurunegala district where a vehicle of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the chief minister of Eastern province and a paramilitary leader, met with an accident, Police said.
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Colombo cancels TamilNadu MPs visit to east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 15:33 GMT]
The visit of a group of parliamentarians of Tamilnadu in India to the eastern province was cancelled Saturday last minute, according to media reports from Colombo. The TN group arrived in Colombo Saturday morning, and was scheduled to visit Batticaloa and especially the resettled village Vaaharai the same day.
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8 SL media organizations urge President to release journalist Tissanayagam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 September 2009, 08:07 GMT]
Eight media organizations comprising Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (EGSL), Free Media Movement (FMM), Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists Alliance (SLTJA), Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum (SLMMF), Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Union (FMETU), South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) and Sri Lanka Newspaper Publishers’ Association (SLNPA) Monday unanimously decided to request President Mahinda Rajapakse to release senior journalist Mr.J.S.Tissanayagam using his executive powers, sources in Colombo said. Mr.Tissanayagam was recently sentenced to twenty years rigorous imprisonment under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
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EPC Chief Minister, ministers demand removal of Governor

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 August 2009, 06:37 GMT]
The wrangling between the elected administration of the Eastern Provincial Council and the Provincial Governor is reported to have reached its climax with Chief Minister Mr. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan and four other provincial ministers reportedly sending a petition to President Mahinda Rajapakse demanding the removal of Governor Mohan Wijewickrema and replacing him with a person supportive of power devolution, according to reports in Colombo media Monday.
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Indian government assists disintegration of Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 July 2009, 11:09 GMT]
Government of India on Wednesday announced 66 million SL Rupees scheme to 'develop' communication between the eastern coastal cities, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, in such a way that the two traditional Tamil cities will be effectively linked to the Sinhala districts than with each other. While even the shortest coastal road link between the cities are neglected of development for decades now, the Indian plan is to help Colombo running rail-buses between the cities through the colonial cum Sinhala state railway track that goes in a circular way through the Sinhala districts outside of Eastern Province.
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TNA warns of more bloodshed in the coming days

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 12:20 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has pointed out that 3000 Tamils have been killed and more than 1000 have been wounded in the last 3 days in the Vanni region, in a press conference held in Colombo on Tuesday night. Tamil National Alliance leader MP R.Sampanthan states, “The Government of Sri Lanka is mass killing Tamil civilians after denying them food and medicine. This is the reality. More bloodshed can happen in the next few days. We appeal to the International community to immediately stop this systematic slaughtering of civilians.”
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Batticaloa district development meeting held without TNA parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 10:16 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians representing the people of Batticaloa district, P. Ariyanenthiran, S.Jeyanandamoorthy, K. Thangeswary and T. Kanagasabai did not attend the Annual Batticaloa District Development meeting Monday in Batticaloa District Secretariat for fear of danger to their lives by the paramilitary men operating along with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Special Task Force (STF) in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa. This is a meeting where the district’s parliamentarians allocate funds to various development projects in the district.
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Trinco Varsha killing; Tamil paramilitary groups blame each other

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 17:08 GMT]
Two paramilitary groups, Tamil Makal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) led by Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan and other by Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, who resigned from the TMVP and joined the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), are blaming each other for the abduction and killing of six-year-old girl student, Varsha Jude Reggie, according to Colombo media reports.
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Woman recovered dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 11:04 GMT]
Vellaave’li police recovered the body of the mother with the help of neighbours and handed it over to Ka’luvaangnchchikudi hospital. The victim was identified as Sivakumar Mahathevi, 32, the treasurer of Viveakaananthapuram Women’s Development Society.
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Karuna to contest Batticaloa as UPFA candidate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 February 2009, 01:24 GMT]
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna who met the government high officials, principals and the public in Batticaloa district this week had told them they should help electing him and six of his associates in Batticaloa district contesting under United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ticket, Batticaloa residents said. The persons holding high offices in the government departments in Batticaloa are being replaced by Karuna's supporters, the residents alleged.
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