Tiran Alles residence comes under grenade attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 January 2010, 03:20 GMT]
Unknown attackers lobbed a grenade Friday early morning at the residence of Tiran Alles, a leading businessman currently holding the post of General Secretary of the Mahajana Wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Mr. Tiran Alles managed to escape from the attack, but his house and vehicle caught fire during the explosion, Police said. Tiran Alles is one of the campaign managers of the opposition common candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka.
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Sarath Fonseka visits Jaffna seeking Tamils' votes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 January 2010, 10:24 GMT]
Main opposition presidential candidate and former Chief of Sri Lanka Armed Forces and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, Major General (retd) Sarath Fonseka arrived in Jaffna Saturday morning accompanied by the Leader of Opposition, Ranil Wickremasainghe, Parliamentarians Mano Ganeshan, Jayalath Jayawardene, JVP Samaraweera Amarasinghe, Anurakumara Disanayake, Hakeem and several other political personalities to engage in election campaign in Jaffna peninsula. Sarath Fonseka and his team made it a point to first visit Saiva temples in the peninsula before meeting the public and other important persons. Sarath Fonseka and his associates also visited Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Soundaranayagam at his residence where they spoke with the representatives of civil organizations in the peninsula, sources in Jaffna said.
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UNP, SLFP-M back Fonseka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 November 2009, 13:04 GMT]
The working committee of the main Sri Lankan opposition United National Party (UNP) Thursday endorsed General (retd) Sarath Fonseka as their common presidential candidate. UNP is the main constituent of the newly formed United National Front (UNF). The peoples’ wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), led by rebel SLFP parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera, former Foreign Minister in the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government also endorsed General Sarath Fonseka as their common presidential candidate.
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'Norway finances humiliation of Tamils'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 03:18 GMT]
Norway is up to appease Colombo as the Tamil Tigers are out of the picture and the only way to do this is abetting Colombo’s discrimination of Tamils in the line of Iran, Burma and China, writes Professor Øivind Fuglerud of the University of Oslo adding that a revealing cue comes from Norway insensitively sponsoring a Buddhist organisation to conduct a music festival on 27th November in Galle, timed to humiliate Tamils on the Heroes' Day. Norway sat silently like a mouse in the final phase of the war. Now its ‘humanitarian’ aid helps the internment camps of captivity and death. In future Norway’s aid may be integral to Colombo’s military complex cum Buddhist temple infrastructure to dominate Tamil areas, he further says. Not surprisingly, Norway's leading news agency, NTB, on Monday came out with biased reporting on the first ever democratically elected council of diaspora Tamils.
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Protest demonstration against assault of Tamil political prisoners in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 November 2009, 12:47 GMT]
The Democratic People’s Alliance (DPA) staged a protest demonstration outside the main central jail in Colombo Tuesday against the assault of Tamil political prisoners by prison guards and fellow Sinhalese prisoners Friday, sources in Colombo said. The demonstrators demanded the release of Tamil political prisoners or to take legal action against them. Despite the assurance given by Sri Lanka government to United Nations (UN) Commissioner of Human Rights, Ms. Louis Arbour that the Tamil political prisoners would be released after speedy trials, during her visit last year, they are continued to be imprisoned without any legal action against them, the sources added.
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In Orwellian Sri Lanka 40 civilians disappear from camps daily - Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 11:49 GMT]
“In George Orwells 1984, the Ministry of Peace dealt with war, and the Ministry of Love with torture. Likewise we witnessed in Sri Lanka how the Peace Secretariat justified excesses carried out in the name of war against terrorism. And the so-called welfare camps are virtual prisons,” Daily Mirror said quoting Mangala Samaraweera's charge against the Sri Lanka in the parliament Tuesday, adding that about 30 to 40 persons are abducted on a daily basis from IDP camps in the North,
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“No IDPs but FDDPs, in Vavuniyaa camps” - Mangala Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 03:51 GMT]
“Today barbed wire internment camps are euphemistically called “Welfare Camps” and the 280,000 people incarcerated there are called IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) while in actual fact that these people should be called FDDPs (Forcibly Displaced and Detained Persons)”, Mangala Samaraweera, the leader of the dissident group of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), said.
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Colombo's paranoid secrecy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 September 2009, 16:20 GMT]
"Why must the military be in control of the camps, why not civilian agencies? Why can't visitors enter the camps? Why are journalists barred? Why are international agencies kept out? Why is it taking the courts so long to make a straightforward order to allow members of parliament to visit the camps?" and quoting Mangala Samaraweera, "I can walk into any prison at will and meet any criminal, but I am not allowed to meet these people held in detention for no reason," Prof Kumar David, in an opinion column in Sunday's Lakbima, writes, "[t]he reasons offered for this paranoid secrecy varied from the need to hide human rights violations to calculations relating to the upcoming elections. I think it will be some time before the real reason comes seeping out."
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MNCs flock in to get the ‘fruits’ of war

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 August 2009, 09:18 GMT]
Roman Scott of Calamander Group, who believes Tigers have been effectively contained, suppression of free expression by Colombo will not affect business, and economics is not really that strong related to democratic principles, is an early bird in the island for investment, says the latest issue of Forbes India. Sri Lanka is going to be “one of the best investment opportunities on the planet for the next two to three years,” said the Singapore based British equity manager. According to Forbes, companies from some countries have a natural advantage either because they have the trust of the Sinhalese or understand the local nuances better. China falls into the first category and India into the second. These two countries are likely to play a major role in the reconstruction.
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SL Appeal Court fixes order in MPs’ petition to visit internment camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 July 2009, 16:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal Monday fixed the order for August 24 in a petition filed by leading opposition parliamentarians seeking the court to order the authorities concerned to allow them to visit camps located in Vavuniyaa where hundreds of thousands of Vanni internally displaced people are detained by the Sri Lankan military.
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‘1,400 dying each week in Manik Farm camp’ – The Times

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 July 2009, 03:37 GMT]
About 1,400 people are dying every week at the giant Manik Farm internment camp set up in Sri Lanka to detain Tamil refugees from the nation’s bloody civil war, senior international aid sources have told The Times. The shocking toll lends credence to allegations that the Government, which has termed the internment sites “welfare villages”, has actually constructed concentration camps to house 300,000 people, the paper said. Most of the deaths are the result of water-borne diseases, particularly diarrhoea, a senior relief worker told The Times on condition of anonymity.
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Court directs Colombo to grant permission to camp visit by MPs

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 03:28 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Supreme Court directed the State Counsel to seek permission from the Defence Secretary to grant permission to Members of Parliament to visit the camps occupied by the internally displaced persons in a Fundamental Rights petition filed by members of SL Parliament. The petitioner MPs said that they had sought permission from the relevant authorities to visit the IDP camps and the hospitals in Mannaar, Vavuniyaa and other places that house the civilians who had fled the war zone and surrendered to the Sri Lankan forces, but permission has not been granted.
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11 journalists killed, 50 abducted since 2005 – UNP parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 2009, 20:13 GMT]
“Eleven journalists have been killed while fifty have been abducted from 2005 up to now,” Joseph Michael Perera, Gampaha district parliamentarian and United National Party (UNP) Chief Whip said in Sri Lanka parliament presenting a special report Wednesday morning, sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, five media organizations staged a protest demonstration Wednesday around 3:00 p.m in Colombo Vihara Mahadevi Park, condemning the abduction of and assault on journalist Bothala Jeyantha.
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Mano Ganeshan urges government to publicize details of Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 07:58 GMT]
“The government of Sri Lanka should release all information about Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps without trying to keep it a secret,” Mano Ganeshan, Colombo district parliamentarian and the leader of Democratic Peoples’ Front (DPF) said in a press meet held in the residence of the leader of the opposition Friday under the title ‘Forum for Freedom’.
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Sri Lankan cricket team shot in Pakistan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 04:45 GMT]
Sri Lankan cricket team which was on its way to participate in the second day of Test match in Lahore, the eastern city of Pakistan, was shot and six players were wounded in the episode that took place around 9:30 a.m. Pakistan time, according to initial reports in Colombo. Five Pakistani police officials escorting the Sri Lankan team in a bus were killed instantly in the gunfire, the reports said. Four of the players are discharged from the hospital and two are still undergoing treatment.
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Samaraweera to raise Colombo's rights violations with U.S.

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 04:13 GMT]
Asserting that Mahinda Rajapakse regime is “the darkest, the most brutal and the most ruthless,” that has ruled Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera, the convenor SLFP (M), in an interview published in this weekend Sunday Leader, said that he will “seek an appointment with the US State Department and the incoming Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton,” to offer evidence related to human rights violations committed by “Gotabaya [Rajapakse] and Basil Rajapakse as well as Sarath Fonseka…The US must deal with these people. They have an obligation to deal with them.”
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Kungchupparanthan: first debacle of SLA in battle for Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 22:55 GMT]
Several decomposed corpses of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were still lying within the no-man area between the SLA and Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) frontiers in Kugnchupparanthan no man zone, informed sources revealed on Friday. The SLA soldiers had maneuvered deep into LTTE trap, according to the source, which said it was the first debacle of the SLA in the battle for Ki'linochchi. At least 75 SLA soldiers were confirmed dead so far, the source said adding more than 160 of the soldiers, who managed to reach back to their barracks, had been injured. The LTTE, which earlier said 43 SLA soldiers were killed and 70 wounded, is yet to release further updates.
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130 SLA killed, 450 wounded in 3 days in Mukamaalai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 15:45 GMT]
At least 130 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers lost their lives and more than 450 wounded in the offensive push within the last 3 days in Ki'laali and Mukamaalai fronts, according to a reliable Sri Lankan military source. 29 SLA soldiers lost their lives sustaining sniper fire, the source said and added several soldiers were killed while they were trapped in Tiger minefield. The LTTE is yet to release details on the fighting in Northern Front.
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Rajapaksa re-stages 'APC drama' to avert pressure from Tamil Nadu - Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 01:15 GMT]
Leader of the dissident SLFP (M) Wing and a former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera in the Rajapaska government, charged Monday that the Sri Lankan President was engaged in re-staging 'All Party Conference' drama as agitations and protests were growing in Tamil Nadu state in India and Tamil Nadu politicians have formed broad alliances as never before against the war in Sri Lanka. Stating that Rajapaksa regime is bogged down in war with its "Unitary State," Mr. Mangala Samaraweera said there is absolutely no possibility of finding a political solution that could address the just grievances of the Tamil people within Rajapaksa's Unitary State and its 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
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Opposition parties to form alliance against election violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 August 2008, 06:15 GMT]
Mangala Samaraweera, rebel Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarian, has started talks with the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) to form an alliance to oppose the increase of election related violence in the elections to the North Central Provincial Council and Sabragamuwa Provincial Council scheduled to be held on August 23, sources in Colombo said.
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