Sampanthan: Majority of TNA MPs back Fonseka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 January 2010, 15:27 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district MP Rajavarothayam Sampanthan on Wednesday said majority of 18 members of the alliance who were present at lengthy deliberations were of the view that the "only meaningful way" to thwart the desire of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to seek a mandate to hold office for a further term would be urging the Tamils to vote for the joint opposition candidate General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka. The announcement by Mr. Sampanthan comes amid strong opposition from the Tamil diaspora against supporting either General Sarath Fonseka or Mahinda Rajapaksa as Tamils believe they are both implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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Basil Rajapakse expected to visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 January 2010, 03:13 GMT]
Basil Rajapakse, the brother and senior advisor to president Mahinda Rajapakse, will be arriving in Jaffna Wednesday to engage in election campaign for Mahinda Rajapakse who is expected to visit Jaffna on 9 January, according to a press notification released by Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) Tuesday. Meanwhile, United National Party will begin its election campaign in Jaffna peninsula from 11 January, sources in Jaffna said.
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Fonseka’s Batticaloa meeting put off due to poor security

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 January 2010, 01:44 GMT]
Gen (retd) Sarath Fonseka, Common opposition candidate postponed his scheduled visit to Batticaloa Tuesday to address an election meeting in Batticaloa. However, he went to Ampaarai and addressed a meeting. Propaganda meeting in Batticaloa would be held on a later date, according to a spokesman of the opposition election campaign.
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SLN mini camp in Ampaa'rai closed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 January 2010, 03:06 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) mini camp erected a month ago on the coast near Kaaraitheevu Veerapaththiran temple in Ampaa'rai district was closed down on request of many people who participated in the opening ceremony of the Sri Lanka freedom Party (SLFP) office on Kaaraitheevu beach Saturday. Sri Lanka President's Ampaarai district coordinator, K. Iniyabarathi who spoke at the event promised the people that the said mini camp would be closed within 24 hours, sources in Ampaa'rai district.
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Ruling UPFA supporters attack children street drama

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 January 2010, 16:35 GMT]
A group of persons believed to be supporters of a minister in the President Mahinda Rajapakse led United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Sunday evening attacked a political street drama staged by a group of children in Hiriyala in Kurunagala district.
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Election clash in Nawalapitiya, 2 JVP activists injured

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 January 2010, 03:42 GMT]
Supporters of the Sri Lanka common opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka and supporters of Sri Lanka government minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage clashed Sunday evening in Warakawa in Nawalapitiya, Colombo media reported. Several activists from all sides were injured, and two Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) supporters were admitted to the Kandy Teaching Hospital.
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Tamils, Muslims should reject both Mahinda and Sarath - Wickremabahu Karunaratne

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 January 2010, 04:37 GMT]
Tamils and Muslims should not cast their votes either to Mahinda Rajapakse or Sarath Fonseka in the presidential election so that niether of them poll more than 50% of the votes cast, as a clear message to both, Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne, leader of the New Left Front (NLF), contesting the forthcoming presidential election said in a press meet held Friday in Jaffna Bastian Hotel. The defeat of Liberation Tigers has also affected the lives of the poor among the Sinhalese, he said.
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UPF leader Chandrasekaran dies of heart attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 January 2010, 11:48 GMT]
Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, the leader of Up-country People's Front (UPF) and Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity passed away Friday morning in a private hospital. He was fifty-two years old. Mr. Chandrasekaran was admitted to the hospital following a brief illness.
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Curfew in Jaffna to be lifted - NP Governor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 December 2009, 02:27 GMT]
Northern Province Governor, Major General G. A. Chandrasiri announced Monday that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed curfew on Jaffna peninsula will be completely lifted, in a meeting held in Jaffna to gather support to Mahinda Rajapakse in the forthcoming presidential election, sources in Jaffna said. Minister Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Government Agent K. Ganesh, Jaffna University Vice-chancellor took part in the meeting along with ardent supporters of Mahinda Rajapakse, the sources added.
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JHU submits 29 proposals in support of Rajapakse election manifesto

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 December 2009, 12:46 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Sinhala Buddhist Monk party has handed over 29 point proposals to the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse in support of his election manifesto that is to be released during the first week of next month. One of the proposals is to renovate and reconstruct all Buddhist shrines and Buddhist archaeological sites which were destroyed in the north and east due to the three decade old war. The other proposal is to set up a Foreign Intelligence Service to destroy the international network of the LTTE now actively engaged abroad, after its defeat in the island.
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TMVP cadre arrested with 4 T-56 rifles in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 December 2009, 03:12 GMT]
Kalkudaa Police Thursday arrested a cadre of TMVP led by Pillayan, Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC), with four T-56 rifles and nine magazines in Maangkearni in Vaakarai division in Batticaloa district. The suspect has been identified as Sinnathamby Vettivel, 26.
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Diplomatic misstep

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 December 2009, 21:33 GMT]
Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, appears to have received a reprimand from his Department's Minister after making disparaging remarks on Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary execution, and for dismissing as "another nuisance," the letter from Alston requesting explanation to Sarath Fonseka's allegations that Colombo may have committed war-crimes. In an interview, Mr Wijesinha calls Alston "a sad man," "an excitable man," and "a bit of an excitable chap." The Sri Lanka Government announced that it has withdrawn Mr. Wijesinha's self-publicized response to Alston.
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Sinhala ultra-nationalist monk backs Fonseka

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 December 2009, 18:08 GMT]
The Sinhala Buddhist extreme nationalist organisation, Patriotic National Centre (PNC) led by Buddhist Monk Venerable Dhambara Amila Thero, Thursday said that it has decided to support General (retd) Sarath Fonseka, contesting in the forthcoming Sri Lankan presidential elections. Dhambara Amila Thero has been opposed to outside influence, both the Western and the Indian, since the Norwegian brokered Ceasefire Agreement in 2002 and his movement has been a key opinion maker of the Sinhala nationalism, exercising the pressure on the Sri Lankan state to nullify the Norwegian brokered P-TOMS in 2005 and to unilaterally withdrew from the Ceasefire Agreement in 2008. Ven. Dhambara Amila Thero was formerly the leader of the National Bhikku Front (NBF), an ultra Sinhala nationalist organisation of Buddhist monks.
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GoSL faces serious challenge at Human Rights Council - SL Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 December 2009, 13:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister of Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe on Wednesday admitted that the Government of Sri Lanka finds itself in a situation to face the possibility of another serious challenge in the next meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council as the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Prof Philip Alston is expected to submit a report. He said the International Community is focusing on Sri Lanka after Sarath Fonseka’s ‘erratic’ statement.
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Minister G. L. Pieris in Jaffna canvassing for Mahinda

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 December 2009, 03:23 GMT]
G. L. Pieris, a cabinet minister in the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and a former United National Party (UNP) prominent person, arrived in Jaffna Wednesday to campaign for Mahinda Rajapakse in the presidential election, sources in Jaffna said. G. L. Pieris who visited various places in Jaffna peninsula meeting people is expected spend some more days in Jaffna.
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SLFP appoints main organizer for North

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 December 2009, 02:56 GMT]
Thilagakumara Udagama, being appointed as the main Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) organizer for Jaffna and Vanni districts in the North by the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), is presently in Jaffna actively engaged in election campaign in support of Mahinda Rajapakse, sources in Jaffna said. He said that eleven Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) campaign offices have been opened in Jaffna peninsula and that local persons will go from house to house canvasing votes for Mahinda Rajapakse in the presidential election.
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Allegations of killing LTTE surrendees under UN probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 December 2009, 12:20 GMT]
Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary execution to Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations office at Geneva, in a letter to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, requested explanation for the allegations made by Sarath Fonseka on the extra-judicial executions of of three senior members of Liberation Tigers and their families when they tried surrender to the Sri Lanka military on the night of 17th May, Daily mirror reported. In the letter, Alston quotes Common Article 3 of Geneva Conventions of 1949 which prohibits killing of persons who have laid down their arms. These allegations, if proven, will amount to war-crimes.
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British Minister under fire for Lanka vacation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 15:48 GMT]
"Ben Bradshaw will be free to travel in Sri Lanka in a way that 100,000 displaced Tamils cannot," said the British daily Independent, adding, "the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has raised eyebrows by taking a Christmas holiday in Sri Lanka days after the British government condemned the Colombo administration for its poor human rights record." Bradshaw's act follows a month after Gordon Brown blocked "Sri Lanka's attempt to host the next Commonwealth summit," and a week after last "David Miliband told the Commons that there remained ongoing concerns about the island's government after a crackdown on the Tamil population earlier this year," the paper said.
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Restriction on Upcountry Tamils traveling to Colombo to be lifted

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 13:33 GMT]
Tamils of upcountry can travel to Colombo and other areas in the south without any restriction from Monday. Earlier they had to obtain clearance certificates from their respective police station due to security concerns.
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"Tamils should reject Mahinda, Sarath in the presidential poll" - Sivajilingam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 11:30 GMT]
"I am contesting in the presidential election only to give the Tamils of the North and East to register their unified protest against the presidential candidates Mahinda Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka who were the key characters in killing our people and subjecting them to untold suffering," Sivajilingam, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and the Tamil presidential candidate said Friday in a press meet held in Janatha Hotel in Jaffna. Sivajilingam extended a public appeal to TNA to support him in the election in order to show the world that the Tamils of the North and East reject both Mahinda and Sarath.
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