This is a struggle for all of us: Vikramabahu tells Heroes Day congregation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2010, 12:57 GMT]
Tamils were killed by successive Sinhala chauvinistic governments and at last but not the least by the Mahinda regime. Not only Tamils but also thousands of Sinhala youth who were sent for aggression in the Tamil homeland and attack Tamils died in an alien land. The misery created among the Sinhalese will also show its reaction in future. This is a struggle for all of us. Yes, we have gone through defeat. Now we have to get up and fight to overthrow this chauvinistic military regime to have democracy in the land, said Dr. Vikramabahu Karunaratne, Secretary of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), who was a star speaker at the Maaveerar (Heroes) Day gathering in London, Saturday. The event attended by more than 50, 000 diaspora Tamils paid homage to the heroes who laid down their lives fighting for the liberation of Tamil Eelam.
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Sinhalese appointed to government departments in Batticaloa, Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2010, 12:20 GMT]
All Ceylon Government Public Servants Association (ACGPSA) has requested the President Mahinda Rajapakse to stop appointing Sinhalese from other parts of the country to fill vacancies in Divisional Secretariats and other government departments in the districts of Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai with immediate effect. ACGPSA President S.Loganathan said that he has sent a memorandum to Rajapakse to this effect.
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Pakistan President Zardari arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 14:47 GMT]
Pakistan President, Asif Ali Zardari, arrived Saturday evening in Colombo on a three day official visit, and was received by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), diplomatic sources in Colombo said. Ali Zardari will interact with Members of the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Association and address a Business Forum comprising businessmen and corporate leaders during his state visit, according to the same sources.
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Heroes Day - 2010

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 00:01 GMT]
At the height of the Vanni war, a representative of the Biafra struggle sent a message to TamilNet. He wanted the Eezham Tamils to remember that they were fighting not merely for them, but for the cause of many peoples like them all over the world. If the Eezham Tamils fail they fail the world of liberation, he said. He wanted the message and his best wishes to be conveyed to Vanni. That is the international dimension of the heroes of Tamil Eelam. They fought for the liberation of their nation and at the same time fought for a missing point in contemporary human civilisation. Many thought that Biafra could never be repeated in contemporary times and that too in ‘civilized’ South Asia. But there were people who adamantly wanted to prove that it is possible. Remembering the heroes in 2010 should remind us of the duty ahead of us towards ourselves and towards human civilisation.
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Sri Lanka will reject any political settlement with Tamils - editorial

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 12:27 GMT]
“If [India's External Affairs Minister S M] Krishna is intending to take up the issue of a political settlement during his visit to Sri Lanka, he will get short shrift in Colombo. President Mahinda Rajapakse has already made his response clear in an interview with The Hindu newspaper this week: there will be no such thing,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper said in its editorial this week. “It is in this way that a long-standing contradiction between the Sinhala establishment and the international community, which had been masked by Indian and Western hostility to the Tamil armed struggle, is now coming clearly to the fore.”
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'Rajapakse not needed in Nepal'

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 12:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is increasingly styling himself at home as latter-day manifestation of ancient Sinhala rulers, also considers himself a ‘regional’ leader, as his foreign minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris puts it. However, the Nepali government doesn’t seem to think so - this week it rubbished Prof. Peiris’ claim the Himalayan state had sought President Rajapakse’s help in resolving the political imbroglio there.
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Number of Cabinet ministers in SL government rises to 61, deputies 34

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 17:38 GMT]
The number of Cabinet rank ministers in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has risen to sixty one with the appointment of one more minister and the number of deputy ministers to thirty-four with the appointment of three more. Milroy Fernando, former Resettlement Minister Thursday took oaths as the Minister for Social Welfare increasing the number of senior ministers to eleven.
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New Secretaries appointed to ‘Mahinda Chintana’ government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 12:24 GMT]
55 Secretaries, the highest civil servants of the ministries appointed Tuesday by the President of the Colombo government Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, were advised by him to discharge their duties properly according to the ‘Mahinda Chintana’, reports Daily Mirror. Structuring the ministries in his second term of office, Mr. Rajapasksa handed over new appointment letters to the secretaries of the various ministries. The Mahinda Chintana list of Secretaries has one Tamil and one Muslim among the 55. The lone Tamil secretary is appointed to the Ministry of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development for which Mr. Douglas Devananda is the minister.
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Washington Post questions ethics in Indian media

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 11:51 GMT]
“Do you have in mind a clear political solution, even if you have not revealed the specifics?” Mr. N. Ram of The Hindu who was awarded ‘Sri Lanka Ratna’ gave the lead to Mahinda Rajapaksa in a recent interview. The Hindu, lobbying for Colombo, later titled the news “I have a political solution in mind: President Rajapaksa.” The Sri Lanka president in fact sounded vicious when he said “We defeated terrorists, not freedom fighters…What we refused to give Prabakaran, we won’t give to others,” and even on provincial elections he said “We can’t have elections under the 1981 Census,” indicating what schemes are hatching in his mind. Meanwhile, Indian journalists are accused of secretly helping politicians, businesses, said the lead of an article in Washington Post, Monday, in the context of a multibillion-dollar scandal causing the resignation of a DMK minister in the New Delhi Establishment.
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Rajapaksa’s Ampaa’rai coordinator gets suspended jail sentence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 06:57 GMT]
Kalmunai High Court Judge Ms. Chandramani Visuvalingam Monday imposed a sentence of two years rigorous imprisonment that is suspended for a period of ten years on Kanthasamy Nishanthan alias Inniyabarathi, Ampaa’rai District coordinator for the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he pleaded guilty to the charge of threatening with death a former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian of the Ampaarai district Chandiranehru Chandrakanthan on 11.06.2007 at Thirukkoayil.
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Wall Street Journal skeptical about Sri Lanka promises

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 19:58 GMT]
Commenting on Sri Lanka’s new budget unveiled Monday, the Wall Street Journal echoed international investors’ skepticism, saying “implementing reforms is more important than announcing them.” Warning that “given its recent track record Colombo should expect investors to sit on the sidelines until the government shows it's serious about reform,” the paper singled out for criticism President Mahinda Rajapakse’s approach to business, noting his bragging about the state’s renationalisation successes. The paper also expressed other concerns: “Local businesses report an increasing trend toward crony capitalism. Corruption is endemic, and hostility to the private sector rife in the bureaucracy and among elected politicians.” The concern of WSJ was rather ‘investment reforms’ and not the fuming situation arising out of an unresolved national question.
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SLMC officially crosses over to government

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 12:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) officially crossed over to the government side during parliamentary sessions when it met Monday. Rauff Hakim, leader of the SLMC crossed over with his seven fellow parliamentarians. Hakim was sworn in as Minister of Justice and SLMC Chairman Basheer Segu Dawood as the Deputy Minister of Co-operative and Internal Trade Monday morning. All SLMC parliamentarians were seen seated with the government parliamentarians when President Mahinda Rajapaksa presented his 2011 Budget in the capacity of Finance Minister.
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Rajapaksa appoints 59 member-cabinet

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 10:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa Monday morning administered oaths to a fifty-nine member cabinet at the Presidential Secretariat. Nine senior ministers and forty-nine ministers are in the new cabinet. D. M. Jayaratne has been re-appointed as the Prime Minister.
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Rajapaksa to present 2011 budget in parliament Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 14:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Finance Minister is to present the 2011 Budget Monday afternoon in the parliament. Financial ministry sources said the new budget proposals would be a development oriented one that provides relief to the people. The total expenditure for 2011 is estimated to be over 1.08 trillion rupees.
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Sri Lanka’s new cabinet to be sworn in Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2010, 14:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka's new Cabinet is to be sworn in Monday at 10:00 a.m. Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to administer oaths to new ministers and deputy ministers in the Presidential Secretariat, according to Presidential Media Unit. D. M. Jayaratne is to continue as the Prime Minister. The number of cabinet rank ministers is to rise to fifty, according to political sources.
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Sinhala persons from other districts appointed as minor employees in Batticaloa – MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 November 2010, 06:57 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian P. Selvarasa has sent a letter to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa protesting against the appointment of 17 Sinhala persons from other districts as minor employees in the government departments and in divisional secretariats in Batticaloa district. Meanwhile, Ven. Ampitiya Sumanaratne Thero, the chief monk of the Mangalaramaya in Batticaloa fasted unto death in August demanding Sri Lanka government to appoint Sinhala officers to the government departments in Batticaloa and to appoint a Sinhala person as the SLFP organizer for Batticaloa district besides demanding first preference to Sinhala people and Buddhist temples in Batticaloa district. He gave up the fast on assurances made by SL government that his demands will be met.
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TNA parliamentarians to study present political situation

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 16:40 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group is to meet Saturday and Sunday in its party office in Colombo to study the latest development in regard to finding a political solution and to the problems now faced by Tamil people in the North and East after the war. Meanwhile, the leader of the TNA and Trincomalee district parliamentarian R .Sampanthan has sent a congratulatory message to Mahinda Rajapaksa who was sworn in as Sri Lanka President for second term on Friday morning.
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Chinese special envoy visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 15:39 GMT]
The Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, Sang Guowei is in Sri Lanka to participate in the swearing–in-ceremony of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the second term of office, as the special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Sang Guowei participated in the inaugural event of the new harbour in Magampura in Hambantota Thursday.
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Ranil Wickremasinghe leaves to India

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 08:31 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Wednesday morning on a three-day visit to India. He arrived in Chennai, capital of Tamilnadu state during his first leg of the tour. He is expected to meet Tamilnadu political leaders during his stay in Chennai.
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‘Quiet diplomacy’ does not work with Sri Lanka – Tissainayagam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 03:01 GMT]
Economic aid should be linked to press freedom in Sri Lanka, veteran Tamil journalist J. S. Tissainayagam, who was released from government custody by international pressure earlier this year, said Wednesday. In his first interview since his release, Mr. Tissainayagam rejected arguments that ‘quiet diplomacy’ would achieve better conduct from President Mahinda Rajapakse regime, and said “the more pressure that is put publicly, the more the government is willing to act”. He linked his own release directly to the government’s then efforts to retain the EU’s GSP+ trade concessions. Tissainayagam is currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University Journalism School in Boston.
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