Dissident Karu Jayasuriya appointed UNP deputy leader

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 16:21 GMT]
Karu Jayasuriya was appointed as the deputy leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) by the party executive committee that met Monday evening with Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the party in the chair. The appointment was made amid speculation in Colombo political circles that Mr. Karu Jayasuriya is likely to rejoin the UNP with some dissident MPs.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's 2009 budget passed

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 10:48 GMT]
The 2009 budget of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa was adopted in the parliament Monday afternoon with a majority of 42 votes. 126 parliamentarian voted for the budget and 84 against. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa tabled the budget on November 6 in parliament in the capacity of Finance Minister.
Full story >>

Crucial voting on UPFA budget to be held Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 December 2008, 16:44 GMT]
The final voting on the third reading of the Sri Lankan budget for 2009 presented by the government led by Mahinda Rajapakse is to take place Monday amid speculation that some of the UNP dissident parliamentarians led by its leader Karu Jayasuriya would rejoin the UNP. However, the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) said the budget would be passed with a comfortable majority.
Full story >>

Wickremasinghe appeals to dissidents to rejoin UNP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 19:32 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Saturday made an appeal to the dissident group of seventeen parliamentarians of the UNP to rejoin the party, political sources in Colombo said. Mr. Wickremasinghe made this appeal when addressing the 58th annual convention of the UNP in Dehiwela.
Full story >>

‘No ceasefire’ - UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 20:05 GMT]
Military offensives aimed at curbing the LTTE should be continued and a ceasefire won't be necessary until the offensives come to an end, Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) said Thursday. The UNP’s Badulla District MP Laksman Seneviratne told Parliament during a debate on the defence budget that this was the stance of his party, the website lankadissent.com reported. The vote was passed by 114 to 14, reports said.
Full story >>

Colombo's development agenda aggravates factional fight within TMVP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 00:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government has sidelined Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, a key paramilitary leader operated by the Sri Lankan government and the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, on the utlisation of funds allocated for 'development'. "Pillayan is being treated almost like a political prisoner by the Rajapaksa government these days, especially after the recent protests against the killings," according to a Colombo based journalist.
Full story >>

Churn in Tamil Nadu reopens spectre of R2P - Prof. David

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 23:48 GMT]
Contrasting  the relatively slow changing and stable U.S. foreign policy to Pandora’s Box of unpredictable possibilities of India’s foreign policy towards Sri Lanka, Prof David in an op-ed column in Sri Lanka’s weekly Lakbima, asserts that “if  TN [Tamil Nadu] boils over not all the protestations of sovereign rights by the Sinhala state will count for a farthing; it will be R2P in its most rough manifestation.” Even ruling out outright military intervention, Prof David says, the new administration in India may take a tough line including using trade as a weapon, harass the Sri Lankan State, or turn a blind-eye to LTTE military activities.
Full story >>

Token fast against killings of Tamil civilians observed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 14:57 GMT]
A one-day token fast demanding the immediate stop of the rampant killings of Tamils in Batticaloa district and the arrest of the killers was observed Friday around 9:00 a.m near Gandhi Statue in Batticaloa town, organized by Pillayan faction, Baticaloa Municipal Council (BMC), and Federation of Local Government Councils' (LGC) Presidents, presided by the Mayor of Batticaloa Municipal Council, Ms. Sivakeertha Pirapakaran, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Faultline of Sri Lanka’s conflict now clear - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2008, 19:50 GMT]
Pointing out that it is as Sinhalese have become more and more confident of winning the war that overt racism against Tamils has become blatant, the Tamil Guardian newspaper this week said “what is qualitatively different between the late nineties and now is the clarity of the ethnic faultline in Sri Lanka.” The paper, published Wednesday, argued “Since independence the island’s core problem has been Sinhala domination and … persecution, of the Tamils. In the global liberal bubble of the nineties, this fundamental truth was subsumed amidst the logics of underdevelopment, resource wars and so on.”
Full story >>

Seeking solutions in horror-scope

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 20:19 GMT]
Ever since the Sri Lankan polity has become violent and belligerent, the top Sinhala politicians have abandoned the rational Heenayaana Buddhism to become Tantrics or perhaps Vajrayaana Buddhists. It has now become a routine for them to consult astrologers, seek propitiation or instigation from Malayala Tantrics and to undertake pilgrimages to temples and establishments of god-men in India just like visiting Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and M.K. Narayanan. They leave no stone unturned in winning the war with Tamils, writes Opinion Columnist Ampalam.
Full story >>

Rights watchdog faults Colombo for deteriorating human rights situation in East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 07:52 GMT]
"Killings and abductions are rife and there is total impunity for horrific abuses," in the eastern province, which the Sri Lankan government claims to have 'liberated' as an example of democracy in action, said the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW). There have been at least 30 extra-judicial killings and 30 abductions in Eastern Province within the last 60 days, the HRW said blaming the Sri Lankan government for providing unqualified support to TMVP paramilitary factions. The attacks and other threats against journalists have caused the media to curtail reporting on the security situation in the East. Members of civil society organizations have also been subjected to threats, according to the HRW.
Full story >>

Civilians in Vanni protest against Colombo's use of humanitarian supplies as tool of war

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2008, 16:07 GMT]
People in Vanni marched in thousands towards two Government Agents' offices and two Divisional Secretariat offices in four locations on Friday protesting against Sri Lanka Government's restrictions on food and essential supplies, blaming Colombo for using humanitarian supplies as a tool of war to force civilians to flee against their will into the hands of Sri Lanka Army (SLA). K. Mahethevan, a representative of Vanni Peoples Welfare Organisation (VPWO), addressing more than 5,000 protesters in front of Ki'linochchi Government Agent's office at Tharmapuram described how the supplies were reduced from 600 lorries per month in 2007 to 250 lorries per month in 2008, but only 54 have allowed to cross into Vanni in the recent days.
Full story >>

White van armed men abduct TELO district organizer in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2008, 12:50 GMT]
Vavuniyaa district organizer of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), Rex Ganeshalingam, was abducted Thursday early morning around 4:30 from his house by armed persons arrived a white van, according to complaints lodged with the Vavuniyaa Police by his wife.
Full story >>

130 SLA killed, 450 wounded in 3 days in Mukamaalai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 15:45 GMT]
At least 130 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers lost their lives and more than 450 wounded in the offensive push within the last 3 days in Ki'laali and Mukamaalai fronts, according to a reliable Sri Lankan military source. 29 SLA soldiers lost their lives sustaining sniper fire, the source said and added several soldiers were killed while they were trapped in Tiger minefield. The LTTE is yet to release details on the fighting in Northern Front.
Full story >>

JHU opposes TNA participation in APRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 15:18 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), all Buddhist monks' party Thursday said inviting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) deliberation is tantamount to allowing the LTTE to participate. Hence JHU severely opposes the invitation extended to TNA by APRC Chairman Professor Tissa Vitharane, said Narendra Gunatilake, JHU spokesman on international affairs at a press briefing held in Colombo.
Full story >>

Rajapaksa's three-pronged strategy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 01:47 GMT]
While celebrating its military achievements, Colombo is secretly prodded on an alternative game. Mahinda Rajapaksa is upto a three-pronged strategy now: limiting LTTE's jurisdiction with a low-profiled war, coercing Tamil political circles for his plans and conducting snap polls. A superficial solution is on the cards through Mahinda-Manmohan protocol. Unity and vigilance of Tamil Nadu are the need of the hour for countering any sabotage of the national cause of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet's Special Correspondent in a Situation Report.
Full story >>

Colombo spent 50 million for every Tiger it killed - Vickramabahu Karunaratne

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 20:18 GMT]
Leader of New Left Front, Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne, in a column that appeared last week in Lankadeepa accused India for instigating the current war in Sri Lanka. After enough damage has been done, now they push Rajapaksa government to stop the war and to go for talks. “They [the Colombo government] spent 500 billions of national wealth to kill Tigers. Accordingly, for each Tiger killed, they have spent 50 millions. All this is wealth of the people. How many thousand Sinhala were sacrificed in this war? Today mounts of Sinhala dead bodies are stacked under Palmyra trees," he wrote.
Full story >>

3 Karuna associates in Thirukkoayil disappear with arms

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 18:51 GMT]
Three cadres of the paramilitary group led by Karuna stationed in Thirukkoayil police division in Ampaarai district have gone into hiding with arms since Monday night, according to complaints lodged with the Thirukovil Police. The absconders are said to be close associates of Iniyabarathy, TMVP co-coordinator for Ampaarai district, and the co-ordinating secretary to President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Full story >>

‘It is not the big brothers but the younger ones who watch’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 04:50 GMT]
How the leadership in India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular going to respond to the question of Eezham Tamil liberation has become a test case. Watching the youth and grass-root public uprising in Tamil Nadu, defence analysts in London, Delhi and Colombo, off the record agree that the line of attempting a military defeat of Tamil nationalism can turn out to be disastrous to those who commit it, contribute to it or allow it. They also see a warning to the policy makers of the so-called International Community against meddling with Tamil affairs, writes a media student from Chennai presenting a cross section of reflections from India, Sri Lanka and Europe.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka wants 'friends' to buy tea

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2008, 19:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka has appealed to "friendly countries" to buy tea to help the country weather the global financial crisis, AFP quoted officials as saying. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and senior officials of the tea board on Friday met ambassadors and envoys of main tea-buying countries to urge their support. The Sunday Times newspaper reports that the decline in tea prices (which have almost halved in the past two months), and the large volume of unsold tea have caused a cash-flow crisis throughout the supply chain. However, last week demand had improved at last week’s Colombo auctions, reports said.
Full story >>