Sinhala settlers in Jaffna rob rain-affected Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 09:57 GMT]
Tamil families who had to temporarily leave their houses in low lying resettlement lands in Naavatkuzhi and returned back have found their properties robbed by settlers of a newly established Sinhala colony. According to latest reports, the number of families in the Sinhala colony in Naavatkuzhi has increased to 186 as Colombo was scheming ways to set up more Sinhala settlements in the peninsula. Resettled Tamil families also complain of theft during nights.
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UK Minister's visit to Sri Lanka postponed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 09:44 GMT]
A scheduled three day visit of British Secretary of State of Foreign and Commonwealth Office of South Asia, Mr. Alistar Burt, to Sri Lanka has been postponed amid reports of a diplomatic row between Sri Lanka and Britain, political sources in Colombo said. Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse was scheduled to speak on December 2nd at the Oxford Union and the event was cancelled for security reasons after Rajapakse and his entourage arrived in London.
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"Sovereign Immunity question is a matter for U.S. Supreme Court"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2010, 23:01 GMT]
The U.S. Justice Department responding to a query by Tamils for Obama, a US-based activist organization, in August of this year, on the immunity against arrest of heads of state accused of war crimes visiting the U.S., said, "as a matter of general policy, the Office of the Solicitor General does not state or provide opinions on such matters unless such questions arise in the context of Supreme Court or other appellate litigation." The response was received during the week of controversy of the attempted arrest of suspect war criminal Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London.
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Rajapaksa vengeance orchestrates political shield of captive Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2010, 11:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa, crest fallen in London, tried to simulate support for him Saturday, by intimidating Eezham Tamils living in captive conditions under his military in Vanni. On Saturday early morning, amidst heavy rains, Sri Lanka army rounded up ‘re-settled’ Tamil civilians in Vanni, including pregnant mothers, elderly and children, and brought them to Ki’linochchi forcing them to carry placards in a ‘demonstration’ that Rajapaksa was doing good to them and it was wrong for the diaspora Tamils in London to reject him. About 500 civilians were caught in the military harassment and those who resisted were attacked by the military. Rajapaksa is determined in demonstrating that the genocidal conditions set by him is the reality to comprehend with, as opposed to diaspora articulations, and he is backed in it by the position taken by India, observers said.
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Suspect War Criminal flees UK, escapes arrest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2010, 03:43 GMT]
Suspect Sri Lankan war criminal, Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London, escaped arrest by his premature departure from Britain, British daily Guardian reported. "An application [for arrest warrant] was lodged at Horseferry Road magistrates court, central London, but inquiries by Scotland Yard established that he [Chagi Gallage] had left on Thursday night," the paper said. Tamil campaigners sought the arrest warrant claiming that the ex-General who was in-charge of 53 & 59 divisions committed war-crimes by intentionally shelling civilian hospitals while advancing towards Mullaiththeevu area.
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One did not fly over

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 04:54 GMT]
It was billed as a ‘private’ visit. But when Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse flew to Britain on Monday, the entourage he took with him included Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris, Education Minister S.B.Dissanayake and even a Provincial Council member, Nauzer Fauzi, amongst other politicians. Also came Sri Lanka Army Major General Chagi Gallage – though he was Thursday reportedly scrambling to find a flight out to escape an arrest warrant UK lawyers are building a case for. The only member of President Rajapsksa’s entourage not to get a visa to Britain, The Times newspaper reports, was Tamil paramilitary leader and ruling party Parliamentarian, Douglas Devananda.
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Rajapakse endures brickbats and snowballs in London

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 02:40 GMT]
Mass demonstrations in London condemning Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse as a war criminal took place Thursday evening in front of his luxury hotel and the Sri Lankan High Commission where he held a glittering reception for some of his supporters in lieu of his abortive address to the Oxford Union. Over seven thousand Tamil expatriates and others braved the snow falls inundating Britain this week to crowd Park Lane, where The Dorchester is located, to demand Sri Lankan officials be prosecuted for war crimes, while hundreds more filled the short street in front of the High Commission. President Rajapakse’s reception began with an organising mix-up that left some of his select guests waiting to be allowed into the mission, and ended with a flurry snowballs thumping into his departing police-escorted motorcade.
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War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 00:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London, plans to escape war crimes accusation in the courts of London by chartering a flight, informed circles in London said Thursday midnight. Meanwhile, if Mr. Rajapaksa's visit was a private one as claimed by him, why there were senior ministers like G.L.Peiris and military commanders in the entourage, wonder media circles in London. The escape plans of the military commander follows attempts by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) to file a war crimes case against him in London. Valid reasons are suspected behind the escape attempt of Chagi Gallage. Around 7,000 Eezham Tamils in London protested the presence of Rajapaksa entourage in London Thursday.
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British High Commission clarifies cancellation of Rajapaksa's Oxford event

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 20:07 GMT]
As a cabinet minister in Rajapaksa government called for a protest against the British Government in Colombo on Friday, the British High Commission issued a statement Thursday stating the planned address by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in London was a private event organized by the Oxford Union and the Sri Lankan High Commission in UK. The British Government was not involved in that event, it said. On Wednesday, The Times of India reported on Wednesday that Rajapaksa embarked on the trip after British government assured him diplomatic immunity.
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Weerawansa calls for protest against British High Commission

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 19:27 GMT]
Blaming the British government for 'failing' to provide 'adequate security' to the visiting Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, a minister in the Rajapaksa's cabinet Wimal Weerawansa Thursday called for a protest in front of the British High Commission in Colombo on Friday. In July 2010, minister Weerawansa staged 'devil dance' in front of the UN office in Colombo demanding the UN to dissolve the expert panel announced to investigate allegations of war crimes and human rights violations in the island. The protest against the UN turned violent and Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa went to the extent of threatening the police officers who were protecting the UN office from the violent protesters.
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Gotabhaya's ministry to act against opposition MPs supporting Tamil diaspora

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 19:12 GMT]
Sri Lankan Defense Ministry headed by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has threatened to launch 'investigations' against 'Sri Lankan' politicians who express solidarity with Tamil diaspora saying that they support 'separatism'. "Action would be taken against them on evidence found," said Lakshman Hulugalla, Director General for the Media Centre for National Security at a hurriedly arranged media briefing held Thursday.
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UNP MP threatened in Sri Lanka Parliament over UK protests

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2010, 05:20 GMT]
Tense situation is prevailing in Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday morning after the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians attempted to assault UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardena accusing him of instigating the protests in the United Kingdom against visiting Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, parliamentary sources said.
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‘Sheer scale’ of expected protests compels Oxford Union to cancel Rajapakse event

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 19:02 GMT]
The Oxford Union Wednesday said it was cancelling Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s address planned for Thursday. "Due to the sheer scale of the expected protests, we do not feel that the talk can reasonably and safely go ahead," the organisation, an independent debating society which is not part of the University of Oxford, said. Thousands of people were expected to protest Thursday in the university town to express their outrage at the event, organised despite growing international outrage over the Rajapakse administration’s war crimes and ongoing repression. Last week Tamil societies from sixteen British universities wrote to the Oxford Union protesting the invitation. On Monday hundreds of people demonstrated at Heathrow airport as Rajapakse’s plane landed.
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Britain assured Rajapaksa diplomatic immunity: Times of India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 12:44 GMT]
The Times of India on Wednesday reported that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was visiting UK on an assurance that he has diplomatic immunity against any attempt to arrest him in UK. In the meantime a Tamil diaspora activist spearheading legal suits against Tamil genocide urged Tamil organisations and media not to give false hopes to the diaspora Tamils as if Rajapaksa's arrest was something imminent urging all concerned to concentrate on credible action on legal front.
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Three vie for Jaffna University VC post

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 10:01 GMT]
The next Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University is to be named by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa from three names recommended by the Senate of the Jaffna University. Eight academics out of twelve contested for the post of VC but only the first three who polled highest number of votes were selected. Professor Ms Vasanthy Arasaratnam of the Medical Faculty received 14 votes, the incumbent VC Professor N. Shanmugalingan and Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole received 9 votes.
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Amnesty urges Britain to examine Rajapakse war crimes allegations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 02:55 GMT]
After Britain’s Channel 4 News aired Tuesday further evidence of war crimes, including sexual abuse, by Sri Lanka’s military, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Professor Christof Heyns, expressed his shock and called for further investigations in light of the new footage. Amnesty International meanwhile urged Britain to investigate bringing war crimes charges against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and other Sri Lankan officials under the UK’s universal jurisdiction laws. Channel 4 says it has “received hundreds of photographs and many more shocking videos depicting summary executions and rape,” and has sent one five-minute video to the UN panel looking at Sri Lanka’s war crimes.
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Properties, temples of uprooted Tamils robbed in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 00:09 GMT]
How the number of Tamils in Valikaamam in Jaffna district has dwindled during the last 20-years due to Sri Lankan genocidal onslaught on Tamil homeland became evident when only 970 families registered for resettlement in the three villages of I'lavaalai and Viththakapuram in Valikaamam North, bordering the Sri Lanka Army declared High Security Zone, civil sources in Jaffna said. 1746 families were registered in the same area in 1990, according to the statistics by Thellippazhai divisional secretariat. The uprooted civilians, who were allowed to visit their villages last weekend and later denied of proper access-route to their villages, also complained that even the few properties that remained in their houses and temples have been robbed away after they were allowed access to the villages.
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Icy reception for Rajapaksa at Heathrow

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 22:36 GMT]
More than five hundred Tamils gathered at London’s Heathrow airport to protest as Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa landed from Colombo. As Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL509 carrying Mr. Rajapaksa, who is on a private visit, landed at about 9:50 p.m. UK time, protestors braved Britain’s unusually cold weather to call attention to his government’s war crimes. Meanwhile, a senior Norwegian expert on the conflict in Sri Lanka advised Tamil activists to concentrate on country-level legal moves, rather than waiting for any global or governmental actors to take the lead. Tamils should forge alliances with legal, alternative, and human rights groups to fight the legal battle, the expert told Norwegian Country Council representatives, who welcomed the British demonstration.
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Rajapaksa leaves for London

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 17:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa left for London Monday evening in a special flight 509. He is scheduled to address the Oxford Union on December 2nd at the invitation of the Oxford Union and the Sri Lanka Society of Oxford University, the Government Information Department said. Times of India on 05 November reported that Rajapaksa cancelled his trip to UK fearing arrest for war crimes. However, Rajapaksa's office responded by saying that the visit was not cancelled, but postponed till December.
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Ken Livingstone vows unwavering support for Tamils’ struggle

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2010, 09:22 GMT]
Addressing the Tamil National Remembrance Day gathering in London Saturday, veteran British politician Ken Livingstone slammed the Sri Lankan state for “the terror [it] has waged against the Tamil community”, and vowed his unrelenting support for the Tamil people’s struggle. “The government of Sri Lanka is a disgrace to the international community,” Mr. Livingstone, a prominent figure of the Left in British politics said. “Behind the façade of voting there is no longer a democracy in Sri Lanka. I look forward to the day once again when Sri Lanka once again can become a real democracy, and get rid of the current war criminal who occupies the office of president,” he said of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
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