UPFA candidates urged not to criticize JHU, JVP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 March 2006, 00:14 GMT]
The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) leadership has instructed its candidates contesting the forthcoming local council elections not to criticize the policies of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the all monks' party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), said Mr.Mathiripala Sirisena, Minister and the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the UPFA addressing a conference held recently in Colombo, sources said. "UPFA candidates should confine their electioneering to unveil their plans to develop their respective local authorities when they win," he added.
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Rajapakse to hold All Party Conference

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 March 2006, 11:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse is planning to hold the All Party Conference (APC), on March 6 Monday to brief the leaders of all registered political parties represented in the current parliament on the outcome of the Geneva peace talks, political sources in Colombo said. He will also brief the leaders on the matters to be discussed at the next round of talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).


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Appeal Court to hear petition against CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 March 2006, 10:58 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Court of Appeal fixed the inquiry for 29 March into the petition filed by the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and all monks' party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) seeking the court to nullify the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) entered into between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The JVP and JHU argue that the CFA is against the Constitution of Sri Lanka and illegal. The GoSL and the LTTE renewed their commitment to respect and uphold the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002 in Geneva last week.
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Sri Lanka should ignore Geneva Agreement- JHU

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 March 2006, 01:30 GMT]
"Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) has to be amended urgently. Sri Lanka Government delegation to the next round of talks in Geneva should strictly adhere to the principles promulgated in Mahinda Chintanaya," said Ven. Ellawala Medananda Thero, the leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the all monks Buddhist nationalist party, in a press meet held at the Buddhist Centre in Colombo Tuesday afternoon, sources said.
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SL President to meet JVP, JHU separately before APC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 March 2006, 00:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse is planning to meet the leaders of the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and all monks' party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) separately before holding the All Party Conference (APC) to brief the outcome of the Geneva peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), political sources in Colombo said.
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State of Emergency extended till March 7

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 15:53 GMT]
Sri Lankan parliament Tuesday extended the State of Emergency for another month till March 7. Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Prime Minister and the Deputy Defense Minister moved the extension motion when the parliament resumed its sitting Tuesday. The State of Emergency was declared last year on August 13, the day after Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar, Foreign Minister was assassinated at his residence in Colombo. Since then the State of Emergency has been extended every month with the approval of the parliament, sources said.
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No Tamil Eelam, only devolution within Unitary State- Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 12:57 GMT]
Ruling out demands by the Liberation Tigers for a separate homeland in the NorthEast, Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse in an interview with Reuters ahead of Geneva talks said, "This is a small country, where you can't have two states. I won't allow the country to be divided," he added. "You have to give up the concept of having two nations, or two countries … There is no Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. There cannot be an Eelam."
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Sri Lanka pardons prisoners on Independence Day

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 10:59 GMT]
None of those arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the Emergency Regulations (ER) were among the 2042 prisoners who were released on Presidential pardon on Sri Lanka's "Independence Day," Saturday. However, it was the first time some prisoners from the Northeast were released from the Sri Lankan prisons in Jaffna and Batticaloa. Meanwhile, the much-awaited release of Mr.S.B.Dissanayake, a political prisoner of the opposition UNP, did not take place.
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Intelligence Chief Zacky in Jaffna to step up campaign

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 12:40 GMT]
Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) Brigadier Rizvy Zacky, a hardliner, has been recently posted as Brigadier General Staff Officer (GSO, Intelligence) at the Sri Lanka Army Head Quarters (SF HQ) Jaffna in a major reshuffle of the SLA and Intelligence apparatus. Execution-style killings of five students in Trincomalee and three women members of a family in Jaffna mark a stark change of pattern in the escalation of intensified serial killings of non-combatant civilians in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas in the NorthEast. The pattern of violence also marks the return of hardliners who seems to prefer terror to subdue a population.
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JHU demands Colombo to stop Balasingham's visit

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 11:30 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist party of Buddhist monks, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Wednesday demanded the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to stop the visit of Chief negotiator and political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.Anton Balasingham , to Killinochchi. Venerable Athuraliya Rathana Thera, parliamentary group leader of the JHU addressing a press briefing Wednesday in the parliamentary complex said the present government is also trying to hand over the sovereignty of the country to the LTTE in the cover of peace process, parliamentary sources said.
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State terrorism rising in NorthEast, say Tamil MPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 15:31 GMT]
"Violence and terror unleashed by the State armed forces is on the increase in the North East province. Fifty Tamil civilians have been abducted in the Jaffna district within few months. From December 1 to January 12 the State armed forces and para military groups in Jaffna have killed thirty-one Tamil civilians. Forty-two Tamils have been killed in other districts of the province," said leaders of Tamil political parties addressing a press briefing after their protest in parliament Tuesday morning.


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Tigers condemn the killing of Pararajasingham

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 December 2005, 08:37 GMT]
Condemning the "appalling and vicious murder" of the Tamil National Alliance MP Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers, on Sunday, charged the Sri Lankan military intelligence and the paramilitaries working with them for the killing of Mr. Pararajasingham, a Tamil nationalist and human rights activist. The Tigers also said the killing at the Christmas mass symbolised the "long hand of the chauvinistic forces such as the Jathika Hela Urumaya," was working through the Sri Lankan military intelligence wing.
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TNA MPs protest, pandemonium in SL Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 11:24 GMT]
Pandemonium reigned in Sri Lanka Parliament Tuesday morning when Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians protested and shouted slogans against the firing on the Tamil civilians in Jaffna Monday injuring several undergrads and university teachers when they were proceeding in a peaceful march to the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), sources said.
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Place Sri Lanka on war alert, JHU tells Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 December 2005, 15:33 GMT]
Ven. Ellawala Medananda Thero, the leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the all monks Buddhist nationalist party, Monday demanded the Sri Lankan Government to place the country on war alert. Warning that Colombo urgently needs to go on war footing, the Monk urged the SL government to adopt urgent measures to ensure security in Colombo and in southern Sri Lanka.
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Sovereignty fears

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 November 2005, 01:33 GMT]
The definition "supreme authority within a territory," captures the essential notion of sovereignty used to describe political authority of modern nation states. The origins of Sri Lanka’s long festering conflict lie in its unitary constitution which vests the exercise of sovereignty solely in the hands of Sinhala Buddhists. But Colombo wields no sovereign authority over nearly seventy percent of the island’s NorthEast. Radical Sinhala groups view the denial of their state’s sovereignty in areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers with extreme chagrin. Over the years, other events too have challenged Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.
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SL Supreme Court suspends P-TOMS inquiry

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 November 2005, 17:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Monday suspended the inquiry into the Post Tsunami Operations Management Structure (P-TOMS) petition. Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva announced that the inquiry into the petitions filed against the implementation of the P-TOMS is suspended indefinitely. The Chief Justice further extended the interim injunction on the implementation of the P-TOMS indefinitely, legal sources said.
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Rajapakse swears in as new President of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 November 2005, 12:51 GMT]
President Mahinda Rajapakse was sworn in as the fifth executive President of Sri Lanka before the Chief Justice Sarath N Silva at the Presidential Secretariat at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Mahinda Rajapakse, who hails from the southern district of Hambantota, in his first symbolic speech said his priority was to begin talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and strengthen the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA).
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UPFA submits budget

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 November 2005, 13:04 GMT]
Finance Minister of the United Peoples Alliance (UPFA) government, Dr Sarath Amunugama, submitted Tuesday afternoon the second and the last budget under the Presidency of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge in Sri Lanka Parliament, parliamentary sources said. Opposition United National Party (UNP), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) boycotted the event.
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JHU dissident MP begins campaign, supporting Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 November 2005, 08:30 GMT]
Venerable Uduwae Dhammaloka Thera, dissident parliamentarian of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) said he will begin his election campaign in support of Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, presidential candidate of the United National Party (UNP), Tuesday from Navagamuwa Raja Maha Vihare. About 200 Buddhist monks and 1000 youths will participate in his campaign in the districts of the south of Sri Lanka, Venerable Uduwae Dhammaloka Thera said in a press briefing.
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NPC urges NorthEast Tamils to vote

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 October 2005, 12:26 GMT]
Media Director of the Sri Lanka National Peace Council (NPC), Dr.Jehan Perera, Saturday appealed to the Tamil people vote for a candidate who could promote peaceful political solution to the ethnic problem and not to boycott the presidential election. He was addressing a seminar on "North-South Dialogue for Rebuilding of Sri Lankan Democratic Institutions," held at the Media Research and Training Centre of the Jaffna University.
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