Lessons to be learnt about China

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 20:04 GMT]
The ‘Himalayan’ blunder committed by Nehru and Krishna Menon in their China policy has been re-enacted by their descendants in the Indian Establishment nearly half a century later. A couple of years ago, writing on the crisis in the island of Sri Lanka, a TamilNet article quoted a saying in Tamil about the dog that allowed the squirrel to climb the tree (A’nil ea’ravidda naay). Now it seems that it isn’t just one but many in that situation, after allowing the ethnic question in the island to be hijacked by China. India has to realise at least now that a united Sri Lanka, that too an enforced one, at the cost of its natural ally – and at the cost of ruining its leverage with it – is no guarantee to prevent China’s ambitions in South Asia.
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Fishing ban imposed in Jaffna in view of Basil’s visit

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 12:07 GMT]
Fishermen in Kaarainakar, Ponnaalai and Chuzhipuram areas in Jaffna were not allowed to go fishing from Thursday evening till Friday evening in the seas of Jaffna islets in a security measure imposed in view of Basil Rajapakse, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother and advisor, taking part in a meeting at Kaarainakar, along with some ministers, to explore into the difficulties faced by the fishermen in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said.
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UNP submits nominations for JMC election

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 11:47 GMT]
Jayalath Jayawardne, representing United National Party (UNP), submitted Monday the nomination list of 29 candidates with A. J. Sathiyendra, a prominent Tamil businessman as the principal candidate, contesting Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) elections, sources in Jaffna said. 28 Tamils and a Muslim including 4 women are contesting the forthcoming election as UNP candidates, the sources added.
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Proposals for roof without foundation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 2009, 00:12 GMT]
M S Swaminathan is a great name in the world of agriculture. He is a pride for all Tamils all over the world. The 83-year-old veteran who is now a member of Indian parliament in the Rajya Sabha and is running his own research foundation in agricultural sciences has recently come out with a ‘roadmap’ for India to develop agriculture, livestock and fisheries in the North to facilitate the twin mantras ‘resettlement and rehabilitation’. Mahinda Rajapaksa pricked his enthusiasm by saying ‘de-mining first’. Dr. Swaminathan should have first spoken to Eezham Tamils, the intended recipients. With all due respect to him they would have told him that if the guilty Indian Establishment he represents could concede their self-determination, they would be able to resettle and rehabilitate by themselves without giving the trouble to anyone.
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Basil on election campaign promises 24-hour electricity to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 June 2009, 10:55 GMT]
Basil Rajapakse, President Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother and advisor, who is on a whirling election campaign visit along with cabinet ministers in Jaffna peninsula announced Friday at Chu’n’naakam that he and his retinue are inaugurating a 24 hour electricity supply scheme, sources in Jaffna said. However, the electricity produced by the generators in Chu’n’naakam Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) which is hardly enough to meet the needs of the peninsula is likely to remain so in view of the production capacity of the existing generators, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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Journalists barred from covering government meeting in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 11:41 GMT]
North Ceylon Journalists’ Association (NCJA), in its media report Thursday, accused government authorities in Jaffna for barring journalists from attending a high level government meeting held Thursday by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother, Basil Rajapakse. Jaffna Government Agent (GA), when contacted by journalists seeking permission to cover the meeting, had said that journalists cannot be allowed to attend the meeting for security reasons, the report said.
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Sinhalicisation insinuated in Musali

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 09:45 GMT]
Top Sri Lankan military officials appointed by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Competent Authority in charge of resettlement of Tamils displaced from Vanni have finalised a plan to settle 200 Sinhalese people in Musali where 2,000 displaced Tamils have been allowed to resettle, informed civil officials in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet Friday. More than 4,500 civilians were forced to flee Musali division in Mannnaar district in September 2007.
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Basil's Jaffna meet fails to discuss people in internment camps

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 09:02 GMT]
The meeting meant to explore possibilities of the resettlement and rehabilitation of more than 13,000 Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Jaffna, held under tight security in Jaffna Public Library Thursday ended without any significant decisions regarding the issue concerned, Government officials who attended the meeting said. The venue of the meeting which was to be held in Jaffna Secretariat was changed at the last moment to Jaffna Public Library due to security reasons, the sources said. Even the pens carried by the officials were subjected to checking.
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Presidential Commission on HR violations ceases to function

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2009, 10:55 GMT]
The eight-member Presidential Commission which was appointed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2007 to inquire into serious violations of human rights that took place in the year 2006 ceased to function from Sunday without completing its mandate as its term was not extended. The commission was set up amid pressure exerted by local and international human rights organizations to investigate sixteen major human rights violations in the year 2006.
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Movement launched in south to extend Rajapaksa's term without election

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 June 2009, 15:29 GMT]
Leading ministers in the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has launched a movement in Sri Lanka's south to extend the current term of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse for another five years, without holding a presidential election at the end of first six year term. Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Mr.Janaka Bandara Tennekone led the first rally in support of the movement Sunday in Dambulla.
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Fishing ban lifted in East coast sea

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 June 2009, 12:44 GMT]
Fishing ban and restriction in the eastern coast sea in force for more than two decades has been lifted with immediate effect. Presidential Senior Advisor and parliamentarian Mr. Basil Rajapakse Sunday informed the fisheries associations in the districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa that fishing is allowed through out day and night in eastern cost without any restriction.
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FR petition in SL Supreme Court against detaining Vanni IDPs

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 June 2009, 22:48 GMT]
The Centre for Police Alternatives (CPA) Friday filed a Fundamental Rights Petition in the Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court challenging the detention of hundreds of thousands of Vanni displaced Tamil families in the camps located in Cheddiku'lam and Vavuniyaa under the Emergency Regulations thus violating the fundamental rights of them such as freedom of movement and depriving employment opportunities without restriction, enshrined in the constitution, legal sources said.
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Sinhala goons destroy Jesus statue in Minneriya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 2009, 19:06 GMT]
A group of Buddhist chauvinist elements forcefully removed a Jesus Christ statue from Minneriya convent on June 3 and destroyed it. The remnants of the statue were found near Minneriya tank. National Catholic Association has expressed deep concern over the vandalism against the Catholic community in Minneriya in north central province.
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'Our hands are tainted with blood,' admits Suryanarayan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 07:36 GMT]
“Our hands are tainted with blood”, admitted professor V. Suryanarayan, a member of India’s national security advisory panel during Vanni war, in a conference organised by International Tamil Centre, Chennai, on Monday. He also implied the connivance of the Tamil Nadu government when he said in this context that “during the last two three years New Delhi will not take any action without consulting Tamil Nadu”. However, Tamil circles found his criticism of India’s Sri Lanka policy leading nowhere to justice but was harping only on Indian aid conditioning Sri Lanka so that “a Tamil can be a Tamil but at the same time a loyal Sri Lankan”.
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Asoka de Silva, Sri Lanka’s new Chief Justice

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2009, 12:27 GMT]
Asoka de Silva was sworn in Monday morning as the new Chief Justice of Sri Lanka by the Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential Secretariat. Mr Silva is the thirty second Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. Sarath Nanda Silva retired from the post of Chief Justice Friday after eleven years.
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Sri Lanka refuses to allow Mercy Ship to unload relief

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2009, 20:32 GMT]
Despite repeated appeals by the Directors of Mercy Mission, a humanitarian project with a ship loaded with relief items donated by expatriate Tamils in Europe to help Tamils caught up in the war in NorthEast, Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has been detaining the Mercy Mission ship the MV “Captain Ali,” for more than three days, and is refusing to allow the 884 metric tons worth of relief items to be unloaded, sources close to the project said. Latest information indicates Colombo is moving towards returning the ship back to international waters, and force the ship to return to its origination port.
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UN chief calls for Sri Lanka war crimes probe

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2009, 18:37 GMT]
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Friday called for an international inquiry into war crimes in northern Sri Lanka and sought the Colombo government’s agreement, press reports said. At a closed-door briefing for UN Security Council members, Mr. Ban called for a credible inquiry to be undertaken with international backing and full support from Sri Lanka's government, AP reported. He declined to elaborate on exactly how the inquiry should be done, but urged an examination of serious allegations of violations of international humanitarian laws, according to diplomats and UN officials who attended. Ban also told the council that Sri Lanka must refrain from any victory dance after defeating the LTTE.
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World obliged to act when genocide occurs: Obama

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2009, 00:42 GMT]
"The international community has an obligation, even when it's inconvenient, to act when genocide is occurring," US President Barack Obama said Friday during a visit to Germany. He was responding to reporters asking how the Holocaust mantra of "never again" might apply to current crises in the Darfur region of Sudan or in Sri Lanka. He also said that it is up to other nations to take action to stop genocide when it occurs. Meanwhile, the UN's top human rights official, former war crimes judge Navi Pillay, has again called for an "independent international inquiry" into the violence against Tamil civilians in the Sri Lankan conflict.
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The Liberal Moment in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 2009, 12:39 GMT]
“For decades, the international community, especially the Western liberal democracies, have simply refused to confront the Sinhala chauvinism at the heart of the island’s crisis. Instead, it has blamed the LTTE solely. … Without the LTTE, it was unshakably believed, compromise, reconciliation and peace were inevitable. Now, according to Colombo, the LTTE is no more. However, what is taking place is something very different to liberal peace. The Sinhalese, it seems, have little interest in liberalism or peace with the Tamils. The question, however, is what is to be done, ” the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week.
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Sri Lanka rejects probes into slaughter of Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2009, 03:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka has no plans to investigate allegations that its security forces massacred 20,000 Tamil civilians in the final stages of an offensive against the Tamil Tigers, and neither is Colombo willing to eventually accept an international probe, trade minister G. L. Peiris said Wednesday in Tokyo. "No, we don't regard that attitude as acceptable. That is some kind of inquisition," Peiris, a former peace negotiator said, according to an AFP report. Last week, leading British and French newspapers published their investigations, including interviews with UN officials, into the massacre.
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