Rajapaksa to set up new Intelligence Service

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 October 2010, 04:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse has submitted a Cabinet paper recommending the establishment of a new National Intelligence Service (NIS) under the Defense Ministry to safeguard peace and stability in the country. The NIS would be set up through a new Act of Parliament replacing the current institution, government sources said.
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IMF to discuss Sri Lanka's debt repayment terms

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 October 2010, 03:16 GMT]
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka next month, state owned Dinamina newspaper said in a front page report. During the visit, the delegation will meet with government official to discuss terms related to debt repayment and other issues related to the island's economic revival, the paper said.
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Rajapaksa to take oaths for second term in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2010, 10:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to be sworn in for the second term on November 19 and the venue of the ceremony will be Colombo and not Anuradhapura in the North Central Province as earlier stated in the media quoting some ministerial sources. The reason for the change of the venue is not revealed by the authorities concerned.
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Fonseka instructs wife not to appeal for pardon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2010, 04:59 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, has instructed his wife Anoma and his children not to appeal for pardon on behalf of him as he had done nothing wrong, media reports in Colombo said. He had issued this instruction to Anoma Fonseka when she visited him in Welikada prison Friday where her husband is serving a rigorous imprisonment. Sarath Fonseka had told his wife that there was no necessity to apologize on his behalf as he had done nothing wrong, the report said.
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Fonseka loses parliamentary seat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 12:34 GMT]
Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader, parliamentarian and former Sri Lanka Army commander Sarath Fonseka has lost his seat in the Sri Lankan Parliament on Thursday, according to the Parliamentary Secretary General Dhammika Dissanayake, sources in Colombo said. Sarath Fonseka, who challenged Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election, was sentenced for 30 months rigorous imprisonment last week after he was found guilty at the first Military Court Martial.
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Colombo shuns Eastern province TNA parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 17:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has failed to invite Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Eastern Province parliamentarians to the Eastern Provincial Development review meeting held Monday in the Naval Headquarters auditorium in Trincomalee presided by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, P. Selvarasa, Batticaloa distirct TNA parliamentarian said. Shunning the representatives democratically elected by the people to participate in decision making meetings by Sri Lanka government reveals how very much it discriminates the Tamils, he added.
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Eastern Provincial 'development' meeting held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 14:56 GMT]
The Eastern Provincial 'development' review meeting was held Monday in the auditorium of the Naval Headquarters in Trincomalee presided by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa. His secretary Lalith Weeratunge, Defense Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera accompanied the President to Trincomalee to attend the meeting.
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Wickremesinghe demands immediate release of Fonseka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 02:56 GMT]
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has demanded Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa to immediately pardon and release former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, who led the battle against the Liberation Tigers and ended the war May last year, the Sinhala daily Lankadeepa said Tuesday.
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Trincomalee under heavy security for Rajapaksa’s visit

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 15:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to preside over a conference at the Trincomalee Naval Base Monday morning to discuss development of the Eastern province that comprises the three districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai where security arrangements have been strengthened heavily. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and policemen deployed in large numbers are on patrol covering all parts of Trincomalee town.
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Resettlement in Valikaamam North HSZ not possible – Jaffna SLA Commander

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 07:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe, who had earlier admitted the possibility of resettling uprooted families in Valikaamam North SLA High Security Zone, however, said that resettlement is not possible due to the danger of landmines. He told the representatives of the Committee for Peace and Goodwill so in a meeting held in Jaffna Bishop House Sunday, presided by Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam. Meanwhile, the Coordinating Committee for De-mining in Jaffna Secretariat said that SLA had not permitted de-mining in its HSZ in Valikaamam North. Mahinda Kathursinghe’s announcement has caused shock and despair among the families uprooted by SLA from their properties in Valikaamam North, sources in Jaffna said.
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Swaminathan, Aswer nominated to PAC

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 08:54 GMT]
Two national list parliamentarians, a Muslim and a Tamil, have been nominated respectively by Sri Lanka Prime Minister and the opposition leader to the five-member Parliamentary Advisory Council (PAC) that is to be established under the 18th amendment to the constitution. The Prime Minister D. M. Jayaretna nominated A. H. M. Aswer from the national list of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the opposition nominated D. M. Swaminathan from the national list of the main opposition United National Party (UNP).
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SLA denies permission to reopen Central College in Palaali HSZ

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 05:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Palaali High Security Zone did not permit the school administrators to reopen Vassavi’laan Maththiya Makaa Viththiyaalayam located in Palaali HSZ which was officially handed over Tuesday in a event held in the school in the presence of Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, SLA Jaffna Commander Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe, Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devandanda and Education Department officers. The school administrators who took the furniture and other necessary things from the temporary location of the school Thursday were sent back and directed to take all the things brought out of the HSZ. The SLA officials told them that the school could only be reopened in 2011, Jaffna Education Department sources said.
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Mahinda Rajapakse ratifies Second Court Martial findings against Fonseka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 2010, 16:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse as the Commander-in-Chief ratified the Second Court Martial recommendation against Sarath Fonseka Thursday with an endorsement that he should serve only thirty months in prison instead of thirty-six months. The Second Court Martial had recommended that Fonseka should serve thirty-six months in prison on being found guilty for irregularities violating tender procedures in purchasing arms to Sri Lanka Army. Meanwhile, military spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawala said that Sarath Fonseka would be serving a rigorous imprisonment.
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Douglas Devananda pays homage to SLA soldiers killed in demining

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 2010, 05:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda paid homage to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers killed in demining operations in the North in an event held in Vassavi’laan Maththiya Makaa Viththiyaalayam Tuesday. Paying homage to SLA soldiers by Douglas Devananda is an attempt to please Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe, SLA Jaffna Commander who had openly criticized him for exploiting the sacrifices of SLA soldiers to attain selfish interests, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Northern Province Governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri is keen in improving relations between Douglas Devananda and Mahinda Kathurusinghe, the sources added.
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Fasting Sinhala Buddhist monk admitted to Batticaloa hospital

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 15:05 GMT]
Venerable Ambitiya Sumanaratna Thera, chief priest of the Batticaloa Mangalaramaya Vihare and the Deputy Chief Sanganayake of Batticaloa-Ampaarai district was taken to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital Tuesday night for emergency treatment as his condition was reported critical on the third day of his fast unto death campaign, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Buddhist monk on fast-unto-death, demands colonisation of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 09:26 GMT]
A Sinhala Buddhist monk, Ven. Ampitya Sumanaratna Thero, has been on a fast-unto-death campaign demanding construction of Buddhist temples in the predominantly Tamil-speaking Batticaloa district with Saivites, Christians and Muslims. The monk, who has on the fast-unto-death campaign for 3 days also demands appointment of Sinhala officers to Batticaloa District Secretariat, Divisional offices and Courts. The extremist monk said he would end his campaign only when Basil Rajapaksa, the brother of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa, promises action on the demands and extends in person an apology for 'defaming' him in front of two former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leaders.
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Reopening Vasaavi’laan School in Palaali HSZ not immediately possible

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 20:19 GMT]
Reopening Vasaavi’laan Maththiya Makaa Viththiyaalayam caught in Palaali High Security Zone (HSZ) of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the last twenty years is not immediately possible due to the danger of landmines in the school precincts, the school administration said. The school is functioning in a private property in Urumpiraay area since it was forced to displace in 1990 due to SLA offensives. The roof and the furniture of the school had been plundered during SLA occupation.
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ICJ blames Colombo for world's largest detention, cautions donors against complicity

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 2010, 10:18 GMT]
The International Commission of Jurists in a latest report has urged the International Community and the United Nations to extend 'rehabilitation' donor support only on condition of compliance with international law and standards, given the current legal vacuum and uncertain conditions under which at least 8,000 ‘surrendees’ are being detained by Colombo. Otherwise, those who provide support to Colombo's detention programme risk complicity in a policy of systematic mass arbitrary detention, the ICJ warned, in an in-depth report titled "Beyond Lawful Constraints: Sri Lanka’s Mass Detention of LTTE Suspects". In the report, the ICJ has characterised the detention as the largest mass administrative detention anywhere in the world. "[T]he mass detention has the character of collective punishment, which is prohibited in any circumstances under international law," the report said.
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Moon, Rajapaksa nexus to restrict UN panel mandate on Sri Lanka war-crimes?

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 2010, 02:33 GMT]
The statement made by the United Nations spokes person and the news release from Sri Lanka's President office, after the meeting between the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa in New York Friday raised doubts if there is any collusion between the two officials to interfere with the mandate by the UN appointed war-crimes advisory panel, a report filed by Inner City Press strongly suggested. While, Ban ignored mentioning the "advisory panel," and clarified that he was updated on Sri Lanka's own Reconciliation commission, Sri Lanka's statement said: "UN panel is “in no way empowered to investigate charges against Sri Lanka.”
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Buddhist prelates to talk to Mahinda Rajapakse on Fonseka release

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2010, 09:10 GMT]
Mahanayake Theras of two Chapters Malwatte and Asgiriya are reported to have assured Anoma Fonseka, wife of the detained former commander of the Sri Lanka Army that they would take up the issue of release of her husband with Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse when he returns from New York on Monday. Both Mahanayake Theras are said to have given the assurance to Anoma Fonseka when she met them and pleaded for the release of her husband, Sunday in Kandy.
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