Supreme Court directs Appeal Court to cease inquiry into Fonseka’s application

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 15:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Tuesday directed the Court of Appeal to cease the inquiry into the Writ Application by Sarath Fonseka over his parliamentary seat till it determines whether the Court Martial comes within the phrase ‘any court’ as defined in Article 89/d of the Constitution. The ruling was given by five member bench of the Supreme Court when it took the application of the Court of Appeal seeking a clarification whether the Court Martial that sentenced Sarath Fonseka is considered a court or not. The bench comprises Chief Justice Asoka de Silva, Justices Dr. Shirani A. Bandaranaike, Nimal Gamini Ameratunga, Saleem Marsoof and K. Sripavan.
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Thousands of Tamil, Muslim, Sinhala youths held in secret camps – JVP leader

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 13:27 GMT]
Somawanse Amarasinghe, leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), told media in Jaffna Monday that thousands of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala youths are held in the secret camps operated by Sri Lanka government. “If Mahinda Rajapaksa considers himself as the head of a responsible government he must disclose the names of the youths detained in its secret detention centers,” he said immediately after the JVP-backed protest demonstration that was forcibly dispersed by Sri Lankan military operatives, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, another JVP key person Ramalingam Chandrasekaran said Sri Lanka police forcibly sent back more than 50 students of Rajarata University from the South who had come in hired buses to participate in the protest demonstration. The police had stopped them at Ariyaalai and took them to Elephant Pass and sent them back, Chandrasekaran said.
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JVP accused of attempts to deceive Tamils in North

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 06:31 GMT]
The extremist anti-Tamil Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party that had vehemently opposed the Liberation Struggle of the Tamils earlier is now assuming a false role in an attempt to deceive them by pretending to give voice for the silenced Tamils, political observers in Jaffna said. JVP, in the recent past had been gradually attempting to infiltrate into North with its various false fronts claiming to be genuinely interested in the Tamils, they added. The real motive of JVP is to rally support against Namal Rajapaksa, the son of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is expected to be the chief contestant in the next presidential election, the observers said. The SL government stalwarts in Jaffna peninsula are equally keen in effectively killing the efforts of JVP in North, they said.
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Chinese companies begin road extension work in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 05:45 GMT]
China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group, China Aero Technological Engineering Group and China Hydro Corporation, the three Chinese companies that have undertaken the road development projects in the North of Sri Lanka funded by China, began their projects in Jaffna Sunday. Namal Rajapaksa, son of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa and MP for Hambantotoa, inaugurated the projects in Jaffna peninsula accompanied by SL ministers G. L. Pieris, Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar and parliamentarian Ranga, sources in Jaffna said. The team of SL ministers and parliamentarians had inaugurated similar road development work in Vanni Saturday.
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Paramilitary-employed Daya master says ex Tiger members unable to secure jobs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 17:23 GMT]
“All the former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants detained should be released under general amnesty and steps should be taken to reunite them with their families enabling them to lead a normal life,” V. Thayanithy, who was once an employed media coordinator of the movement, said while 'witnessing' at a session before Mahinda Rajapaksa's 'Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission' (LLRC) in Oorkaavattu’rai St. Henry’s Church, in the islets of Jaffna on Sunday. 'Employers are reluctant to give jobs to the rehabilitated and released former LTTE combatants. They are unable to lead a normal life and they should be assisted to rejoin the society, Mr. Thayanithy said.
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Indian intelligence think-tank studying China to meet in Chennai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 08:31 GMT]
“China’s relations with neighbouring countries having territorial disputes including India have somewhat come under strain. It has become important for the latter to factor the reasons behind China’s apparent assertiveness in their formulations of policies towards Beijing,” says the concept paper of a national seminar “Rise of China: Implications for Asian Neighbours,” convened on 17 December at Hotel Savera by three academic-intelligence outfits of India based in Chennai. One of them was founded a year ago to ‘sensitise the people of South India to the complex political, economic and security problems facing India and its South Asian neighbours’. Many of the participants of the seminar, addressed as renowned Sinologists, were actively involved in blunting the national question of Eezham Tamils.
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Colombo's commissions have failed to do any good to victimized persons: HR activist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 06:13 GMT]
“Various commissions and committees appointed by alternating Sri Lanka governments have stopped with issuing reports and their reports have been slighted by all the governments,” the President of the Association for the Protection of Disappeared persons arrested by Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna peninsula, N. Vijayakumar said Saturday witnessing before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) session in Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi. LLRC is authorized to record statements related only to the past ten years but this period should be extended to cover the last thirty years, he said. The president of LLRC in response said that LLRC had already made this request in its interim report submitted to the SL government.
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Colombo reinstates visa to Al Jazeera TV crew

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2010, 18:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday instructed the Immigration and Emigration Department to issue visas to a media group of Al-Jazeera television to cover his swearing-in event for a second term on November 19, Colombo electronic media reported quoting Presidential Secretariat sources.
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Appeal Court reserves order on Fonseka’s application

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 08:44 GMT]
The Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal Wednesday reserved its order on the Writ Application filed by Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army seeking interim relief to enable him to attend parliament to vote on November 18, the day before the incumbent Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse takes oaths for the second term. The three-member bench of the Court of Appeal comprised Justices R. L. Ranjit Silva, A. W. A. Salam and Upali Abeyaratne heard the submission of the petitioner and the Attorney General Wednesday.
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32 Sinhala families allowed to settled in Naavatkuzhi in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 13:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka government authorities hurriedly took 32 Sinhala families claiming resettlement in Jaffna Tuesday night to the housing scheme in Naavatkuzhi area where they were allowed to erect temporary dwellings in lands claimed as government property, sources Jaffna said. The Tamils who inhabit these areas since ancient times say the said lands belong to them. The Tamil families living in the housing scheme expressed fear that the Sinhala families may encroach into their houses in the future, as they are provided with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police protection.
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SLA occupation of school in Poonakari affects students

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 17:38 GMT]
More than a hundred students of Vigneswara Viththiyaalayam in Poonakari in Jaffna have to walk nearly ten km to attend schools as their school is occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had converted the school as its base, Ki’linochchi Education officials said. The same situation prevails in Vanni too where many schools are occupied by SLA and the related authorities had done nothing to enable the schools to function, they added. Namal Rajapaksa, the son of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and parliamentarian had been recently visiting schools in Vanni laying foundation stones and planting trees in the schools but nothing had followed his campaign to restore the schools to normalcy, parents in Vanni said.
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Media denied access to meeting in Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 06:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Mayor Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam and the staff of Jaffna Public Library held a meeting Monday to consider the mode of admitting tourists to visit the library following the incident where unruly Sinhala tourists from South had stormed into the library on 24 October. Media persons were not allowed to cover the meeting but sent away. Douglas Devananda had been accusing local media to have fabricated the said incident adding that the Mayor of Jaffna and the President’s Task Force had categorically stated that no such incident had taken place, sources in Jaffna said. It was decided in the meeting to allow the tourists to visit the library in limited numbers, library employees said. Prof. Pon. Balasutharampillai, former Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University and advisor to Douglas Devananda, too attended the meeting.
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Rajapaksa to present 2011 budget in parliament

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2010, 18:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the capacity of Minister of Finance is to present the 2011 budget in Parliament on 22 November. The Appropriation Bill 2011 will be debated from November 23 to December 10. The vote on the Second Reading will be on November 29, while the Committee stage begins on November 30 and ends on December 10.
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10 new envoys present credentials to Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2010, 20:55 GMT]
Ten new envoys, including 8 ambassadors and 2 high commissioners, presented their credentials to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday. Colombo has received new envoys from Norway, Switzerland, Cyprus, Mexico, Peru, Oman, Pakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam and Mongolia. Four of the envoys are women.
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Rajapaksa extends LLRC term for another six months

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2010, 20:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has extended term of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) that is to expire at the end of November this year for another six months from 1st December, according to Lakshman Wickremasinghe, Media Advisor of the LLRC. The LLRC has already been discredited by three leading human rights agencies of the West.
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Rajapaksa's LLRC to continue beyond stipulated period

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 18:05 GMT]
Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse on 15th May this year would continue to record evidence from members of the public beyond the stipulated period of six months, according to its Chairman, C.R de Silva.
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Rajapaksa visit to London postponed: SL Foreign Ministry

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 18:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Ministry Friday said the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to London will not take place on scheduled date, amidst reports by international media that the Mr. Rajapaksa had cancelled his scheduled visit due to fears that he will be arrested for alleged war crimes.
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Rajapaksa fears arrest in UK: Times of India

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 01:06 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's scheduled visit to UK has been called off by him fearing arrest in UK for his alleged war crimes under British law, the Times of India reported Friday. SL Foreign Minister G L Peiris was despatched to reconnoitre last month, the paper said, adding that certain Tamil organisations were planning to move court for Mr. Rajapaksa's arrest. Mahinda Rajapaksa is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Meanwhile, Eezham Tamil political activists allege that the war crimes in the island took place with the full blessings of the Indian Establishment.
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Wimal Weerawanse’s party office in Batticaloa burnt down

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2010, 09:37 GMT]
Unidentified persons arriving on motor bikes set fire to the office of the National Freedom Front (NFF), a constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, located along Punnaikkudaa Road in Ea’ravoor division in Batticaloa district Wednesday afternoon. NFF is a splinter group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) that is currently campaigning vigorously against the regime of Rajapaksa. JVP is alleged to be instigating university students against the government.
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Three judges to decide on Fonseka attending parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2010, 06:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal President Sathya Hettige Tuesday appointed a three-member bench to hear a petition by Sarath Fonseka, the former Army Commander and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader seeking for an order allow him to participate in Sri Lanka parliament proceedings. The three- member bench comprising Judges Ranjit de Silva, A. W. A. Abdul Kalam and Upali Abeyaratne will commence inquiry into the petition Wednesday, legal sources said.
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