Colombo announces reconciliation commissison classifying 1,350 LTTE POWs as criminals

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 May 2010, 11:04 GMT]
While on the one hand keeping uprooted civilians subjugated in open prisons and inside internment camps under a military-led administration, engaging in systematic demographic genocide in Tamil homeland in the form of Sinhala colonisation encroachments, abetting cultural genocide by erecting the symbols of Mahavamsa mindset and destroying the Tamil heritage, on the other hand the Sri Lankan President and Commander-in-Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa has come up with the announcement of appointing a commission for truth and reconciliation. Announcing the move, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne said in SL parliament on Wednesday that his government had categorized around 1,350 ex-LTTE members as "criminals who will be dealt with according to the law."
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English language journalist assaulted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 May 2010, 13:54 GMT]
Sandun Jayasekara, a senior journalist of the Daily Mirror, the English daily published from Colombo, is said to have been assaulted Wednesday morning by some security officers who are members of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on security duty at the Maharagama cancer hospital. The journalist went to the hospital with an official media invitation to cover an event President Mahinda Rajapaksa was attending Wednesday morning in the hospital. The matter was reported to the new Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella immediately, sources in Colombo said.
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4 Sri Lankan ministers, 6 deputy ministers take oaths

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 May 2010, 09:32 GMT]
Four new Sri Lankan ministers and six deputy ministers were sworn in before SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday morning. Keheliya Rambukwella has been appointed Information and Media Minister, S.B.Dissanayake as High Education Minister, Arumugan Thondaman as Livestock Development Minister and Tissa Vitarana as Technology and Research Minister, presidential media unit said.
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Rajapaksa decides to pardon journalist Tissainayagam

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 May 2010, 07:38 GMT]
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa is reported to have decided to pardon and release the senior journalist J.S.Tissainayagan who had been convicted and sentenced to twenty years rigorous imprisonment on 31 August 2009 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), according to External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris to media Monday.
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Withdrawal of SLA forces from Jaffna peninsula to be reconsidered

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 May 2010, 05:00 GMT]
The earlier decision taken by Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Major Gen. Mahintha Kathursinghe to withdraw SLA forces in stages is to be reconsidered as per request of newly appointed Defence Secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse, the brother of President Mahintha Rajapakse, Mahintha Kathurusinghe told the editors of Jaffna dailies in a meeting Sunday night at Gnanams Hotel SLA base. The decision is to be reconsidered due to the current deterioration of law and order in Jaffna peninsula which the Defence Secretary explored into with the key officials of SLA and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) at Palaali SLA Head Quarters Saturday, the Major General told the editors. He further alleged that armed men of Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), a constituent of ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), were involved in the social crimes in Jaffna peninsula in the meeting with the editors.
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SL Police arrests EPDP operative in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 May 2010, 23:53 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police in Chaavakachcheari Sunday arrested the EPDP coordinator of Thenmaraadchi zone, Alexander Soosaimuththu alias Charles, for allegedly threatening Chavakachcheari Magistrate K. Prabakaran for having issued arrest warrant on EPDP suspects involved in the abduction and murder of student Kapilnath. Mr. Charles would be brought to the courts on Monday, according to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, who met local press at Gnanam Hotel Sunday night.
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CWC to accept ministry relevant to plantation community welfare

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 2010, 16:39 GMT]
The politburo of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), a constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance Friday decided to accept a ministry that is relevant to the welfare of the plantation community. Hence the leader of the CWC has been waiting for the response of the President Mahinda Rajapakse who returned from Bhutan Friday, CWC sources told media.
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First UPFA Cabinet meeting to be held on May 5

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 2010, 15:17 GMT]
The first Cabinet meeting of the new United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government that came to power following April 8 general election is to be held on Wednesday (May 5). The first parliamentary group meeting of the ruling UPFA was scheduled to be held on Saturday, UPFA sources said.
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Jaffna Civil organizations accuse Colombo financial institutions of exploitation

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2010, 16:46 GMT]
Civil organizations and Non-governmental organizations in Jaffna peninsula raised accusations against financial institutions in South rushing to open their offices with the motive of exploiting the wealth of peninsula residents as Sri Lanka Central Bank Governor, Ajith Nivard Cabral, a close friend of President Mahinda Rajapakse ceremoniously opened Friday the offices of ‘The Financial Co. Ltd’ and ‘Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers (Pvt) Ltd, in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The organizations further said that Sinhalese persons have been brought to work in the Southern firm, denying job opportunities to young men and women in Jaffna peninsula.
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CPJ makes ominous prediction to media freedom in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2010, 02:48 GMT]
Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator for media-watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in the organization's website that while there is "a lull of sorts in outright attacks on the media as the Rajapaksa government takes stock of where it stands," the recent appointment of former Labor Minister Mervyn Silva as Sri Lanka's deputy minister of media and information is "an indicator of what might come next for the media." CPJ noted that in December 2007 after Mr Silva showed up with a group of men at a TVstation to complain that the station has not covered one of his speeches, "[f]ive staff members reported being stabbed, beaten, or slashed with razor blades by unidentified men."
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5 more cabinet ministers to be appointed this week

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 11:55 GMT]
Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leader Arumugan Thondaman and three others are to be sworn in as Cabinet Ministers after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa returns from Bhutan this week, government sources said Wednesday.
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Blake meets Rajapaksa, Jayaratne vows to defeat international pressure

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 11:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka's new prime minister D. M. Jayaratne Wednesday morning urged all political parties irrespective of 'caste, creed and race,' to unite in defeating international pressure being exerted on the Sri Lankan state. The move comes a day after US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs Robert Blake had met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Bhutan.
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Diaspora paramount in voicing aspirations of Tamils: The Age

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 10:04 GMT]
Amid Sri Lankas' legal constitution that classifies Tamils as “Second class citizens” and “continuing problems of ethnic marginalisation and persecution”, the Tamil Diaspora feel they “need to press for and represent Tamil claims, because Tamils in Sri Lanka have lost their voice, and have no representation following the defeat of the LTTE” said an article in the Age on Friday, a day after results of Australia’s historic Tamil referendum were announced showing “unanimous support for the proposal for an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka”.
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New parliament to debate extension motion of Emergency on May 4

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 08:57 GMT]
The newly formed United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government is to table a motion seeking the extension of the State of Emergency for another month when the parliament meets on May 4. Mr. D. M. Jayaratne, the new Prime Minister, will move the motion as his first official duty amid reports in political circles that the new government is contemplating to relax the imposition of emergency regulations in some areas, parliamentary sources said.
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Missing Sinhala journalist under unlawful custody, wife files HC application

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 10:17 GMT]
The missing journalist Prageeth Ekniligoa of Lanka E-News since January 24 is being held under unlawful custody or detention with the knowledge of police officers, stated in a Habeas Corpus application filed by his wife Mrs. K.M.S.P.Ekniligoda and his two children S.S.Bandara Ekniligoda and H.D.Sooriya Ekniligoda in the Court of Appeal. The Petitioners have cited DIG Nandana Manasinghe of the CID, OIC of the Homagama Police, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mahinda Balasuriya.
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All in the game in the name of archaeology

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2010, 03:19 GMT]
The Sinhala academics cannot compare their plight of opposing totalitarian social fascist system of governance with that of the Tamils who bear the entire brunt of fascism amounting to genocide set against them by an ethnic-powered state mechanism, says a Tamil academic in Jaffna responding to professor Sudharshan Seneviratne defending the archaeology agenda of Colombo. Genuine dialogue on culture, co-existence etc and partnership in opposing fascism come only when sovereignty snatched away from Tamils is restored as a priority and when there is parity. However patronising in overtures, individuals and organisations serving Colombo cannot escape from being ultimately colonial. Academics who are always on the side of enjoying the comforts of state power in the island are yet to explore ways of contributing to their ideals better by coming out of the system they identify as oppressive.
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Sajith Premadasa expected to take over UNP leadership

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 15:54 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) is in the process of electing a new leadership to take the party forward from the present plight after facing defeats in every election held in the island since the UNP government was dismissed by the then SL president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004. 42-year-old Sajith Premadasa, the son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, is expected to take over the leadership of the UNP, political sources said quoting Gayantha Karunatilake, Galle district UNP parliamentarian.
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Rajapaksa tipped to head G-15

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 14:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be taking over the presidency of the Group of Fifteen (G-15) from the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the forthcoming two-day summit in Tehran on 17 May, media in Colombo reported Sunday. Mr. Rajapaksa, who visited Tehran twice during his first tenure, had received extensive credit facility from Iran, enabling Colombo to sustain its foreign exchange at the height of the war.
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Rajapakse to brief Manmohan Singh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 16:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse will brief the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the measures taken by Sri Lanka government to improve the conditions following the end of the three decade old war. The briefing would take place during the sidelines of SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Thimpu, capital of Bhutan this week, according to a statement by the Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Minister G.L.Peiris to Colombo media Sunday.
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British Tamils must pick candidate, not party

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 15:19 GMT]
With Britain’s general election less than two weeks away, campaigning is in full swing. In an election that is too close to call and with many constituencies where British Tamils' vote can be decisive, the vital question facing expatriate Tamils is where best to place their votes? "As British Tamils, we have in this country, every opportunity to make our voices heard. By participating with enthusiasm in the forthcoming general elections British Tamils can work towards a just and stable future for Tamils in Sri Lanka," argues TamilNet political commentator in UK.
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