Rajapaksa’s ministers threaten Tamil voters in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 September 2012, 11:37 GMT]
A group of more than ten ministers of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) currently staying in Trincomalee district on the eve of election to the Eastern Provincial Council were reportedly engaged in intimidating voters to vote for their candidates and the Tamil village level officers are intimidated for not co-operating with them in this regard, civil sources in Trincomalee said Saturday. In the meantime, participation in the provincial elections on Saturday was as low as 35% in the city and 40% in remote areas in the early hours of the day. However, reports from remote areas indicated active participation later in the day. In Ampaa'rai district, the attendance was at 60%. In Batticaloa district, 62% of the votes were polled, the officials said. Muslim voters in Ee'raavoor, Kaaththaankudi and Vaazhaich-cheanai divisions actively participated, news sources in East said.
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Rajapaksa's UPFA-men destroy Hindu temple in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 September 2012, 17:50 GMT]
Abiraami Amman Koayil in Meankaamam village, situated in Moothoor DS division of Trincomalee district, was destroyed on Wednesday. Residents in the area told TamilNet that a gang led by former Provincial Minister of Agriculture and Inland Fisheries T. Navaratnarajah, who is contesting the forthcoming election to the Eastern Provincial Council on the ticket of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), was behind the destruction.
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Sampanthan writes to Rajapaksa on election violations in East by UPFA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 September 2012, 13:42 GMT]
Certain events have occurred in the past several days which have raised grave misgivings in regard to whether the elections to Eastern Provincial Council to be hold on Saturday would be free and fair, tells R. Sampanthan, the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Thursday in a formal letter sent to SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is also the leader of the ruling UPFA alliance. Vehicles belonging to candidates and supporters of political parties opposed to the UPFA have been attacked, Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel have warned those opposed to the UPFA of ‘unpleasant consequences’ after the elections and a so-called Blue Brigade that has arrived in the East has been asking for the polling cards of voters, the letter by Mr Sampanthan said.
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Basil Rajapaksa's men threaten Tamil-speaking voters: Sampanthan, Hakeem

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2012, 15:31 GMT]
More than one thousand men sent under the instruction of SL Presidential sibling and Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse have been engaged in intimidating Tamils and Muslims in the three districts of the eastern province namely Ampaarai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee that they would face serious consequences if they fail to vote for the ruling United Peoples Freedom Party in the forthcoming election to the Eastern Provincial Council that is scheduled to be held on Saturday, September 8 , according to complaints lodged with the Commissioner General of Elections by the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R.Sampanthan and Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, who is also the Justice Minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet. Basil Rajapakse is also a minister in same cabinet.
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Paramilitary group unleashes violence in Batticaloa, Ampaa'rai against TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 August 2012, 22:43 GMT]
Paramilitary operatives of Pillaiyaan group, contesting the forthcoming election to the Eastern Provincial Council on the ticket of Colombo's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have been attacking the candidates and supporters of the Tamil National Alliance. The poll to elect 35 councilors to the EPC is to take place on September 8.
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Basil Rajapaksa dispatches 1000-member squad to Trincomalee to ensure UPFA polling in PC elections

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 August 2012, 21:37 GMT]
More than one thousand persons have arrived in Trincomalee district under the instruction of SL presidential sibling and Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa to manipulate the polling in the forthcoming provincial elections in the East in favour of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), informed sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet Friday.
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Internecine clashes erupt in East between Muslim parties of UPFA alliance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 August 2012, 20:38 GMT]
Supporters of Muslim constituent parties in the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government of Mahinda Rajapakse clashed in East over election dispute on Monday evening. Hundreds of supporters of SLMC attacked the election office of the former Provincial Minister who is also contesting the EPC election on the UPFA ticket Mr. M.S.Uthumalebbe and set fire to his office. Two vehicles stationed at the site were also set on fire. Thereafter Akkaraipaththu Police with the Sri Lanka Army arrived at the scene and opened tear gas on the unruly crowd to bring the situation under control.
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3,500 Tamil families remain uprooted from 40 villages in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 August 2012, 23:48 GMT]
More than 3,500 Tamil families still remain uprooted from fifteen DS divisions in Ampaa'rai, civil officials in the district said. 6,500 acres of paddy fields, 3,500 acres of coconut lands and about 2,000 acres of lands, used for sugar cane cultivation, have also been appropriated from the Tamils since 13 April 1967. Since 2007, new Buddhist stupas have mushroomed with the backing of the occupying Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos, the sources further said adding that more than 20 Saiva shrines have been destroyed. Tamil people who fled from their traditional villages in Ampaa'rai district now ask whether they would also get their lands according to the assurances given by the SL Minister Rauf Hakeem, the civil sources said.
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130 civilians reported missing in Batticaloa under UPFA rule

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 July 2012, 23:40 GMT]
130 civilians have been reported disappeared during the three year rule of Mr Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan as the chief minister of Eastern Provincial Council, according to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian C. Yogeswaran.
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Paramilitary terrorizes Vaakarai, instructs people to vote for UPFA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 July 2012, 20:22 GMT]
Paramilitary operatives led by former chief minister of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) are threatening the voters in Vaakarai area of Batticaloa district that they would be driven out from the region if they vote for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at the forthcoming election to the EPC. The paramilitary men have instructed the people to vote for Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in which Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan would be participating as the lead candidate.
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Paramilitary groups threaten TNA candidates in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 July 2012, 23:19 GMT]
Paramilitary groups operated by the occupying SL military in Batticaloa district have threatened candidates who are being fielded by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the forthcoming elections to the Eastern Provincial Council. The main doors of the houses of the lead candidate in TNA list for Batticaloa district K.Thurairajasingham and another candidate Indrakumar Prasanna had been padlocked from outside by an unidentified gang on Tuesday night. Both had to complain with the SL Police in Batticaloa to break open the doors to get out.
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Unemployed graduates protest in Jaffna, UPFA dominates public sector employment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 July 2012, 18:29 GMT]
SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Colombo government is widely blamed for handling new and temporary appointments in the Northern province for electoral political purposes. Recent temporary appointments have been provided with the condition that the employees should extend support the UPFA government in the provincial elections, unemployed graduates demanding justice said. On Thursday, a section of unemployed graduates, who have been sidelined in such appointments, demonstrated in front of the District Secretariat in Jaffna amidst harassment from the SL military intelligence and police commandos.
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Right to free assembly worsens further in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 July 2012, 16:48 GMT]
The occupying SL military-run ‘civil’ administration of the Northern province, led by Colombo's colonial governor of North Maj. Gen. (retd) GA Chandrasir, has instructed the educational sector officials in Vanni about whom they should invite as guests to events and meetings of the schools. Those who could be invited are military officers, SL ministers, state officials and the politicians or operatives of the ruling UPFA alliance or the paramilitary outfits such as the EPDP. Those banned from the stages are elected parliamentarians of the TNA and representatives of civic bodies. The SL military has almost imposed an undeclared emergency in Vanni, prohibiting people from getting together for meetings without prior permission from the military.
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TNA politician in Ampaa'rai threatened not to contest against UPFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 June 2012, 18:14 GMT]
The chairman of the Kaaraitheevu Divisional Council (Piratheasa Chapai) who was elected on the ticket of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to the civic council, has been threatened in Sinhala by telephone on Thursday, according to a complaint made at Chammaanthu'rai Police station, sources in Ampaa'rai said. He would have to face serious consequences if he failed to contest on Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in the forthcoming election to the Eastern Provincial Council, which is expected to be held in September this year, the caller had said ‘inviting’ him for a meeting to the SL military camp, news sources in Ampaa'rai said.
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Colombo plans new demographic change in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 June 2012, 21:36 GMT]
After tactically promoting the Sinhala Buddhist extremist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a ruling UPFA ally of the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, to file a legal suit against a key post-Tsunami resettlement village of the Tamil-speaking Muslims in Digawapi in Ampaa'rai, the colonial state apparatus in Colombo is now scheming a demographic change in Ampaa'rai to create a Sinhala division covering the Digawapi area with other areas, civil sources in Ampaa'rai say. Digawapi is a Buddhist ‘Sacred Zone’ is the argument promoted by the exclusivist JHU and the genocidal elements in the Colombo establishment. The new Sinhala Buddhist division would be carved out from four divisions, informed civil sources Ampaa'rai say.
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SL Navy blocks resettlement-seeking Tamils from entering Mu'l'likku'lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 June 2012, 04:28 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Navy Friday morning stopped a group of 75 uprooted Tamil families, who were demanding resettlement in Mu'l'likku'lam village in Musali DS division of Mannaar district. Earlier, on Wednesday, the uprooted Tamils met the Bishop of Mannaar, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, and requested their Catholic priests to accompany them in their effort to gain access to their native village that remains occupied by the SL military since September 2007. Responding, the Parish Priests of Thoaddave'li and Chilaavath-thu'rai, Rev. Fr. Nehru and Rev. Fr. Rasiah, accompanied the villagers. However, the SL Navy camped at Mu'l'likkulam junction stopped the uprooted Tamil families stating that they had no permission to enter the village. The families immediately sat in front of the SLN camp and staged a protest till they were forced to relocate to a nearby locality, Periyaku'lam.
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Colombo exerts political influence on government employments in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 June 2012, 08:02 GMT]
Unemployed Tamil graduates in the Batticaloa district are being forced by the Colombo government through its colonial agents in the Eastern Province to join SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), to get job opportunities in the government sector. 2,800 unemployed graduates attended the interview examinations held at district secretariat last week.
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Ampaa'rai Tamil politician questions Rauff Hakeem on land justice

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 April 2012, 21:12 GMT]
Traditional lands belong to Tamil people in the Ampaa'rai district have been continuously grabbed by those sitting in power in Colombo, according to Selliah Rasaiah, the chairman of Kaaraitheevu Piratheasa Chapai (PS) situated in Ampaa'ria district of the Eastern Provice. Mr Rasiah, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politician, has asked the SL Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem, whether the Tamil people chased out of their villages in the district would be able to demand their lands forcibly occupied by the Sinhalese and Muslims. The SL minister had recently gone on record saying that he would make laws to enable those who lost their lands in the times of the war to gain them back.
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Colonial Governor closes down computer section of Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2012, 23:48 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka's Governor of North and war crimes accused former SL commander of Jaffna, Major General (retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri, has instructed the Jaffna Municipal Council administration to immediately remove the computer section at the Jaffna Public Library, used by the readers of the library for viewing electronic documents, to construct a modern toilet there for the benefit of the visitors from the South. CVK Sivagnanam of the Council of NGOs in Jaffna District has sent an urgent letter to SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to intervene and stop the destructive move. Talking to media, Mr. Sivagnanam on Monday warned to wage a campaign if the move is not abandoned by timely intervention. The news has already upset the wider community of the Eezham Tamils in the district, the veteran civil and political activist further said.
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SL colonial governor coordinates anti-UN demonstration of SLFP, EPDP in North

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 February 2012, 16:41 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka’s colonial governor, Maj. Gen. G. A. Chandrasri was seen coordinating the two factions collaborating with the Rajapaksa regime, the Angkayan-led SLFP and Douglas Devananda-led EPDP, in staging a simulated demonstration in Jaffna and Vanni against UNHRC discussing Sri Lanka in Geneva on Monday. The simulation forced in sections and individuals waiting for benefits from the Colombo regime. An attendance register was maintained for the participants. However, a media clip that captured comments of a passing-by youth street vendor, universally encapsulated the game on the island. The youth told the unemployed graduates in the ‘demonstration’: “I am not educated like you to perform this act.” The youth has not said that to the ‘demonstrators’ alone, commented media circles witnessing the scene in Jaffna.
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