Next local government poll on mixed electoral system

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2010, 11:27 GMT]
The next local government election that is scheduled to be held January next year in Sri Lanka will be under the First Past the Post System (FPTP), according to the proposal approved by the Cabinet Thursday. Sri Lanka Local Government Minister M. L. A. M.Athaullah tabled the draft proposal in the cabinet meeting Thursday with President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the chair.
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Fonseka refuses to seek pardon from Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2010, 15:10 GMT]
Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sarath Fonseka said that he had been approached by intermediaries of Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa urging him to ask the President for a pardon. “I told them that I will never do that,” Sarath Fonseka said at a media briefing held in the parliamentary complex Wednesday. Sarath Fonseka, leader of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) and other MPs of the DNA participated in the media briefing.
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'Colombo teaches lessons of political culture for South Asia'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2010, 14:22 GMT]
The 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed in Sri Lankan parliament Wednesday with a majority of 144 votes. The Amendment, which has been passed in a rush by the government without pubic debate enables Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest presidential election for any number of terms besides bestowing additional powers in the appointments of key government posts. What is happening to state and democracy in the island of Sri Lanka is a warning to people who are deceived in the ‘democratic’ practices of dynasties and families in the rest of South Asia, political observers said. Sometimes back, a key diplomat of a leading power, looking after South Asia, tolerantly sounded that family rule in the island is typical of contemporary political culture in the region.
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SL Army, Archaeology dept appropriate lands of uprooted Tamils in Maathakal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2010, 07:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka government’s archaeological department with the help of Sri Lanka Army is constructing more structures in Thirvadinilai in Maathakal in Vallikaamam North SLA High Security Zone (HSZ), in addition to a Buddhist temple erected in October 2009. This area had been the home of Tamil families living there since ancient times evicted twenty years ago when Valikaamam North HSZ was established by SLA. Now the families are not allowed even to see their own places in Maathakal while thousands of Sinhala Buddhist pilgrims visit the newly built temple daily which now has become a 'tourist attraction' in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA Commander declines to comment on Jaffna GA’s announcement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2010, 05:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe declined to endorse Jaffna Government Ms. Imelda Sukumar’s announcement that uprooted families from Valikaamam North SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) will be soon allowed resettlement in a recent meeting at Jaffna Veerasingham Hall, representatives of welfare organizations for uprooted families from Valikaamam North said. The GA is acting as if she is the spokesperson of Sri Lanka Defence Ministry, they accused. SLA Jaffna continues to deny permission for resettlement as Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa is unyielding in his decision not to permit resettlement in Valikaamam North HSZ, they said.
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'India should stop calling Eezham Tamils a minority'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2010, 00:30 GMT]
Eezham Tamils are a nation having historical sovereignty and territory in the island called Sri Lanka. Members of the Indian Establishment should stop humiliating them any further by calling them as ‘minority’. Tamil brethren of Tamil Nadu should be sensitive enough and stop such fundamentally faulty approaches and psyop war of the New Delhi-Chennai-Colombo axis on the historical nation of Eezham Tamils in the island. Edification of Chennai and New Delhi is basic to make the world see the crisis in realistic perspectives. Eezham Tamils, in their casual and social interaction should consciously stop using the recently invented name 'Sri' Lanka of genocidal connotations, when an official Tamil name Ilangkai and another ancient Tamil name Eezham are available to refer to the island, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Boycott Colombo International Tamil Writers Conference - Tamil Nadu Creativists

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2010, 06:36 GMT]
The Association of Tamil Creativists in Tamil Nadu against the Colombo International Tamil Writers Conference to be held in Colombo from 5th to 8th January 2011 has appealed to all Tamil writers to boycott the Colombo conference in a message to media released Tuesday in Chennai. Several leading Tamil creativists including writers, artists, film industry persons and journalists who took part in the Tuesday press meet have signed the appeal.
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Hard questions for India and Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2010, 06:33 GMT]
Nirupama Menon Rao expressed satisfaction at the progress in resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and development activities of the North, said state-owned Colombo newspaper Daily News Thursday, titling the news as “Indian investment interest rising”. But, reporting on Nirupama’s visit, The Hindu on Friday titled the news “Political solution should be priority” and cited her saying to Colombo-based Indian journalists that “While the focus on development and rehabilitation is very welcome, a long term perspective that also includes the issues relating to the political settlement that would meet some of the needs of the minorities should also be kept in mind.”
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3 UNP MPs to support Rapajaksa's 18th Amendment

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 September 2010, 08:36 GMT]
Three parliamentarians from the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Friday announced in Colombo that they will support the proposed constitutional amendments. Badulla District Parliamentarian Lakshman Seneviratne and Polonnaruwa District Parliamentarian Earl Gunasekera made this announcement at a joint press conference. Meanwhile Galle District UNP MP Manusha Nanaykara also said he had decided to support the proposed constitutional amendment.
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18th Amendment move reminds of Emergency Bill: Media movements

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 14:56 GMT]
Seven media associations in South have jointly opposed the proposed 18th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, describing the move as violating the freedom of expression on the part of the people. The proposals have not been discussed among the masses and it is a dangerous trend to make such amendments in the form of an Emergency Bill, said the joint statement issued by the movements. When the country requires a new Constitution to address the challenges faced by it, the amendments which further concentrate power seriously around one person, dismantling checks and balances on that rule taking an individual nature, would further establish this dangerous trend, the statement said.
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Rajapaksa blames opposition for 'aiding' LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 14:33 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has alleged that "some groups who said they did not have money to fight the war, and signed ceasefire agreements with the LTTE, had money to give the LTTE,” the Sri Lankan state-run paper Dinamina quoted Mr. Rajapaksa as saying in its front page lead story on Thursday.
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Anglican Bishop: 18th Amendment will lead to destructive erosion of democracy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 10:13 GMT]
The 18th Amendment, proposed by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, if passed by the SL Parliament, will lead to destructive erosion of already fragile democratic culture said Rt. Revd Duleep de Chickera, the Anglican Bishop of Colombo in a statement issued Thursday.
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Court decision on constitutional amendment sent to Speaker

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 04:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Wednesday sent its decision on the proposed constitutional amendments to the Speaker of the House, Chamal Rajapaksa, brother of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The decision would be announced in the parliament on September 7. The five-member Bench of the Supreme Court chaired by Justice Shiranee Bandaranaike went through the draft bill that removes the restriction of the two term executive presidency system and the introduction of a parliamentary Advisory Council replacing the Constitutional Council appointed under the 17th amendment of the Constitution.
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Pro-government left parties to decide on constitutional amendment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2010, 11:16 GMT]
The Combined Left Front (CLF) that comprises the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), Sri Lanka Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL)) and New Left Front (NLF) is to meet this week to take a final decision on the proposed constitutional amendments. “Final decision would be taken after meeting Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse to apprise him of their position and get his opinion on this issue,” veteran left leader Vasudeva Nanayakara who is currently a national list parliamentarian from the ruling party United Peoples Freedom Alliance, said.
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Wimal Weerawansa, Russian Ambassador visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 August 2010, 16:56 GMT]
Wimal Weerawansa, Sri Lanka minister of Housing and Common Amenities, accompanied by the Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, visited Jaffna Tuesday morning preceding India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao who was expected in Jaffna Friday evening, sources in Jaffna said. Wimal Weerawansa and the Russian Ambassador returned to Colombo Friday evening after participating in some events in Jaffna peninsula.
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JVP to launch campaign against constitutional amendment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 August 2010, 11:26 GMT]
The Sinhala Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has decided to launch a campaign from September 8 on the day the United Peoples Freedom Alliance government led by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse presents the constitutional amendment bill that removes the two term executive presidency system and modifying the Constitutional Council system into a five member advisory council.
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SL Cabinet approves removal of 2 term executive presidency system

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 August 2010, 15:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Cabinet Monday approved the draft constitutional amendments. Prime Minister D. M. Jayaretna presented the draft proposals at a special cabinet meeting held at Temple Trees. Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse presided the meeting, sources in Colombo said. The draft proposals included the removal of two term restriction allowing an incumbent president to contest any number of times and modifying the 17th Amendment with a five member constitutional council by amending of Article 31 (2), the sources said.
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Fonseka to be indicted for harboring army deserters

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 August 2010, 14:59 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army is to be indicted in the Colombo High Court for harboring army deserters prior to the presidential election held in January this year. Sarath Fonseka who contested as the common opposition candidate in the presidential election was defeated by the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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'Anti-Tamil ideology, international meddling make reconciliation impossible'

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 August 2010, 14:42 GMT]
In a recent paper titled "Why National Reconciliation in Sri Lanka Is Not Possible," Brian Senewiratne, a renowned physician and an Australia based Sinhala expatriate, says although he had realized that ‘national reconciliation’ in Sri Lanka was ‘totally unrealistic’, after witnessing the major human rights violations inflicted upon the Tamil people, what has made the reconciliation really ‘impossible’ was the most serious recent slaughter of Tamils with features of genocide. In addition, what makes reconciliation ‘most unlikely’ is ‘international meddling’ and ‘power play’, he argues. The 78-year-old member of the Bandaranaike family, who is a long-time defender of the Eezham Tamil cause, also argues in his paper that even the real development of the Sinhala areas is not possible if the ‘developmental power’ is left in the hands of those in Colombo.
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Nirupama Rao to visit North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 August 2010, 07:53 GMT]
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is to visit Jaffna, Ki'linochchi, Mullaiththeevu and Vavuniyaa in the North 30, 31 August in the context of Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna's proposed visit to Sri Lanka late September, sources in Jaffna said. Nirupama Rao will inspect the progress of development projects, resettlement and rehabilitation activities in the North before meeting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians 1 March in Colombo. Sri Lanka government, keen to make a show of the 'Development of North' to international countries and India, is sending its ministers to North in haste in an effort to support its claims of achievements in the above mentioned matters, the sources added.
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