Power of ideology sustains Tamil struggle: Gulf News

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 09:53 GMT]
Gulf News, a newspaper published from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, in an Op-Ed article on Wednesday said the idea of separate state for Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka is kept alive by the 'power of ideology' although Colombo managed to win the war on LTTE with a 'single-minded' approach. Although it is a softer doctrine, it is capable of gathering momentum over a period of time, the paper said. "Judging by the recent sequence of events, the past may, by all accounts, come back to haunt Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse," the editorial said adding that the onus is on Rajapakse's government to address the plight of the Tamils sooner rather than later.
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Indian Navy Chief visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 08:08 GMT]
Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy Admiral Nirmal Verma arrived in Colombo Sunday on a five day visit to Sri Lanka as a part of efforts to strengthen bilateral defense ties with Sri Lanka, met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Admiral Verma during was scheduled to grace Sri Lanka Navy officers' passing out parade at the Naval and Maritime Academy in Trincomalee.
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Amunugama appointed acting finance minister to present 2010 budget

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2010, 11:08 GMT]
In a dramatic move, the Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Sarath Amunugama was sworn in as the acting Finance Minister by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Tuesday morning before the latter left for Ukraine on an official visit accompanied by External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris.
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KP-Diaspora programme operated by SL Military Intelligence: Doctor Arudkumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 21:31 GMT]
Sri Lankan Director of National Intelligence, Major General Kapila Hendawitharana, the longest serving intelligence officer of the military, is in charge of the covert and overt programme of dividing and conquering the Tamil diaspora, alludes British Tamil doctor Velauthapillai Arudkumar, who visited the island recently as part of a ‘Tamil diaspora visit’ organised by Colombo through Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP. TamilNet releases an exclusive video interview with Dr. Arudkumar taken two days ago, in which he reveals the details of the trip. SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Maj. Gen. Hendawitharana and External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris, all spoke in a well-synchronised way. Military counterinsurgency and 'post-war development' are intertwined aiming at Tamil subjugation, the doctor infers in his interview.
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JHU holds protest march against UN Experts Panel

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 17:21 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse, Monday morning held a protest march starting from the premises of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) to the United Nations office located at Buddhaloka Mawatte in Colombo against the appointment of Experts Panel by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to advise him on the alleged war crimes during the last leg of the war in Sri Lanka, sources in Colombo said.
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PM to present 2010 Budget in parliament as SL President leaves for Ukraine

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 10:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne is to present the 2010 Budget in parliament Tuesday as President Mahinda Rajapakse departs to Ukraine the same day accompanied by the External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris. President Mahinda Rajapakse also holds the portfolio of the Finance Ministry. Earlier it was announced Mahinda Rajapakse would table the budget in the capacity of Finance Minister.
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Sand dunes scooped at Ma'n'niththalai

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2010, 07:56 GMT]
Similar to the plunder of limestone in the Jaffna Peninsula, agents of Colombo are now engaged in scooping the sand dunes of the Ma’n’niththalai sandbar, which is of immense natural beauty and of archaeological as well as tourist potentiality, sources in Poonakari said. The fragile ecology of the densely populated Jaffna Peninsula is deliberately destroyed by corporates in the construction industry and by their contractors, academics in Jaffna said. The plunder of resources in Jaffna and Vanni are divided among Douglas Devandanda and Namal Rajapaksa respectively. Meanwhile percentage of benefits from large-scale 'development' contracts goes to Basil Rajapaksa and the income extracted by the military goes to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, informed circles said.
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Malaysian corporates jump at Mahinda-KP plot for development, says Colombo media

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 June 2010, 16:01 GMT]
Top entrepreneurs of the Ceylonese Tamil diaspora in Malaysia gathered Saturday to raise funds for Selvaraja Pathmanathan’s (KP) ‘development’ of the North and East of Sri Lanka, media circles in Colombo said, citing Sri Lankan High Commission sources in Malaysia. The tables at the gathering were priced one million rupees upwards and the Maxis Communication CEO donated 35 million rupees, Lakbimanews said, adding that the fund will be for resettlement, reconstruction as well as rehabilitation of the LTTE cadres and disabled army soldiers. Two years back, a group of Ceylonese Tamils naming them newly as ‘Sri Lankans’ organized a conference for the diaspora attended by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner. The conference failed in its results, said the New York based Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) in a report last year.
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UPFA promises gone with the wind

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 June 2010, 06:32 GMT]
The United People’s Freedom Alliance which had lavished promises prior to April general election including a monthly increase of 2500 rupees to public servants, on the contrary, has increased the price of essentials like fuel, flour, milk products and other services hitting the common man who had been already struggling to make ends meet. The Sinhalese people, kept under the spell of the ‘Victory’ of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime over the Tamils and the propaganda of 'Mahinda Chintana', but are becoming frustrated by the reality of spiralling prices of essential utility items while Rajapaksa regime is calculating ways to to benefit economically by playing the 'geo-political' card with the powers that are locked in a corporate race.
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Colombo decides to hold next cabinet meeting in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 June 2010, 17:25 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government decided to hold weekly cabinet meetings at provincial level from next month. First such meeting will be held in Kilinochchi on July 14 presided by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, Minister Maithripala Sirisena told media Thursday.
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EU puts 15 conditions to extend GSP+ trade concession to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 June 2010, 11:11 GMT]
The abrogation of Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the release of those detained held under the Emergency Regulations (ER) and the implementation of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution are among the fifteen conditions put forward by the European Union (EU) as a pre-requisite for the further extension of the GSP+ trade concessions to Sri Lanka from August this year. However, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who addressed cabinet meeting held Wednesday is reported to have rejected these conditions stating that he would not compromise the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan state for the sake of USD 150 million.
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Media circles wonder whether US senators confirm offence by welcoming pardon

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2010, 12:30 GMT]
The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in a statement for immediate release, Tuesday, said “Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, Ranking Member Dick Lugar and Subcommittee Chairman on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs Senator Robert P. Casey,Jr., today welcomed Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s decision to pardon journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who had been convicted last year and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor.” By welcoming Mahinda Rajapaksa ‘pardoning’ him, do the US senators imply Tissainayagam committed an offence, ask media circles in Colombo.
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Continuing ‘counter insurgency’ approach to chronic national question

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2010, 11:41 GMT]
Colombo’s latest deployment of Selvarasa Pathmanathan (KP), a victim of circumstances, to blunt the Eezham Tamil struggle only reveals that ‘counter insurgency’ is the style continued to be envisaged by some powers in approaching the chronic national question in the island, commented Tamil circles watching the developments. The move, bereft of any political promises, but aiming at roping in the diaspora for ‘development,’ comes after the visit of G L Peiris to Washington, Robert Blake lamenting that still “some polarisation” exists in the island and amidst heavy visits of dignitaries in the last couple of weeks. The move is not surprising. It is a sequence of a long-existing design, operated simultaneously through good and ugly faces of the West, observers said. The KP operation in Colombo is handled by a controversial group of foreign-trained Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel.
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SLA constructs big base on Pa’n’nai coast near Jaffna Fort

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 16:46 GMT]
Hundreds of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are actively engaged in constructing a big base on the coastal stretch of Meenaadchipuram between Pa’n’nai and Naavaanthu’rai near Jaffna Fort, allocated for resettlement of uprooted civilians, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna SLA Commander Mahinda Kathurusinghe recently said in a press meet that the SLA 512 Division base presently located in the occupied private properties in Jaffna town including Subas and Gnanam hotels are to be soon relocated to another place.
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JHU ousts pro-Rajapaksa Thera from leader post

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 June 2010, 07:52 GMT]
Power struggle ended in the extreme Sinhala nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) by ousting Venerable Ellawala Medhananda Thera from the post of party leader and electing Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera unanimously at the party’s seventh national convention held Saturday evening at Colombo Town Hall. Ellawala Thera was backing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa with the idea of prolonging his presidential term through constitutional amendment. The JHU had to elect a new leader as Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera had resigned from the post as he needed more time to devote on his pet subjects of archaeological research in Mullaiththeevu, JHU sources said.
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Janakaraliya inaugurates program of dramas in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 18:48 GMT]
Janakaraliya, Makkal Ka’lari of the people, with the assistance of Jaffna Education Department inaugurated Monday its program of dramas in ‘Mobile Theatre’ in Nalloor in the CMS School playground located near Jaffna Education Office scheduled to take place from 21 June to 02 July, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, V. Anandasangari of the TULF, who earlier backed Mahinda Rajapaksa during Colombo's war against the LTTE, condemned the program of Janakaraliya for being inappropriate in the context of war affected civilians suffering in Vanni and suggested that Janakaraliya could serve best by visiting Vanni and learn of the misery of Vanni people which could be portrayed realistically in their dramas.
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Indonesian, Austrian to form the Panel of Experts

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 03:19 GMT]
An Indonesian and an Austrian are to form the panel of experts to advise UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on accountability issues relating to the last stages of the separatist war in May last year, according to Sunday Times.
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Rajapaksa to visit Ukraine

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 03:18 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to make an official visit to Ukraine before the end of June, according to media reports from Colombo. Military co-operation between Sri Lanka and Ukraine will be among subjects he will discuss with Ukrainian leaders, according to these reports.
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Intoxicating hubris

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 00:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is widely believed to be the key Sri Lanka official responsible for instituting procedures and issuing commands that allegedly violated international norms in the conduct of war, has provided enlightening clues to inner workings of his mind in several interviews recorded on film by reputable international media. "His unchecked power, authorized by his brother and Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, appears to have blunted his reasoning faculty, triggering him to compulsively express open threats against journalists and unwittingly admit to abject disregard for civilian casualties while issuing military commands. Many of his statements border on self-incrimination," said a spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group. A collection of Gotabhaya interviews are compiled in this feature.
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Japan backs UN war crimes probe into Sri Lanka war

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 June 2010, 18:28 GMT]
Japan is backing efforts by the United Nations to investigate war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the final months of the island’s war, Tokyo’s visiting envoy, Mr. Yasushi Akashi, said Sunday. Amid Sri Lanka’s vehement rejection of any international scrutiny into the conduct of its armed forces, two days ago, Mr. Akashi had seemed to imply his government was supporting Colombo when he told reporters "It is up to the Sri Lankan government to define the precise role [of an inquiry]”. However, speaking on Sunday Mr. Akashi endorsed a UN probe and suggested Colombo was not heeding his advice towards a proper accounting of the war.
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