Eyewitness to desecration of temple arrested under fabricated charges - UPF Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2008, 10:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan police in Grandpass, Colombo, arrested last Thursday a 29-year-old Tamil man who is the main eyewitness to the desecration of a Hindu temple by a Buddhist monk at de-Mel Watte in Colombo on 03 September. Up-Country People's Front parliamentarian and a Deputy Minister in UPFA, P. Rathakrishnan has condemned the act as a move by the police to intimidate a key witness. The Tamil community viewed the arrest as a fabricated charge, he said.
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Canada says Bahu an LTTE member, refuses visa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 05:51 GMT]
Canadian High Commission in Colombo last week denied visa to the Leader of New Left Front and General Secretary of New Sama Samaja party, Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne, saying that his past actions "constitute membership in the LTTE," and therefore, Dr Karunaratne fails the admissibility tests laid out in Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
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SL Police detain 10 civilians in Batticaloa after slaying of TMVP operative

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2008, 19:05 GMT]
Sri Lankan forces and TMVP paramilitary men on Saturday detained 10 Tamil civilians in a cordon and search operation jointly conducted by them in Tha'lavaay area, after a TMVP operative was slain Friday night at the office of TMVP at Tha'lavaay.
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Gunmen shoot SLFP activist in Poththuvil

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2008, 11:17 GMT]
Armed men who entered a shop in Poththuvil in Ampaa'rai shot at its owner, a 53-year-old Tamil man, who has been operating as the Pothtuvil area secretary of the SLFP, the party of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa around 8:15 p.m. Saturday.
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TMVP office attacked in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2008, 10:26 GMT]
Attackers who arrived in a motorbike Saturday night around 8:30 p.m., lobbed a grenade on the office of paramilitary-cum-political party TMVP, located along Bagalow Road in Periyakallaa'ru. The attackers escaped from the site where a police post is situated 50 meters close to the TMVP office. Four persons who were inside the office narrowly escaped unhurt, Police said.
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Tamil diaspora representatives condemn International System Failure in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2008, 14:45 GMT]
"First was its failure to stop state human rights abuses in Sri Lanka; second was its inability to inspire a political solution in lieu of military solution; third was succumbing to government pressure in withdrawing International Agencies, and now, sitting with crossed fingers for the impending genocide and bloodbath, yet backing the failed state of Sri Lanka. What is the message the International System is trying to give to the people of the world in the test case of the Tamil crisis in Sri Lanka," asks Rev. Fr. F.C. Inpanathan, who was one of the diaspora representatives of a delegation that met Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer on Friday. "Does State Terrorism being replaced by System Terrorism?" he further questions.
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SLA shells A9 at Mu'rika'ndi

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2008, 08:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has launched heavy artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire targeting A9 and the surrounding villages at Mu'rika'ndi from 7:00 a.m. Monday, according to initial reports from the area. At least one civilian was wounded in the artillery barrage and two shops in Mu'rika'ndi junction were destroyed in the shelling. Civilians were fleeing from 55th Mile Post and Ira'naimadu junction where ICRC Ki'linochchi office is located. All traffic on A9 to Oamanthai exit point has been cut off due to the artillery barrage.
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History rejects military defeat of liberation movements- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2008, 18:22 GMT]
Responding to a question on year-end dead line set by the Government of Sri Lanka to defeat the Liberation Tigers, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Jaffna said, "We have been told many times and by many governments of Sri Lanka that the war will be won and that the LTTE will be defeated...I am yet to come across an instance when a national liberation movement in any part of the world has been militarily defeated," in an interview published in Colombo weekly the Sunday Leader 14th edition.
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Opposition challenges war progress claims

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 05:38 GMT]
Hours after a devastating Tamil Tiger attack on the Sri Lankan military’s headquarters in Vavuniya, the main opposition Tuesday questioned the government’s claims of progress in the war against the LTTE, press reports said Wednesday. “The Air Force base and the Police HQ of Vavuniya was attacked using heavy artillery. Radar defence system is completely destroyed. This happened in an area that government has always claimed has been liberated a long time ago, and cleared of any LTTE activity,” United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Lakshman Seneviratne was quoted by The Bottom Line newspaper as saying.
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Sri Lanka parliament extends emergency

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 14:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday adopted a motion moved by the government led by President Mahinda Rajapakse to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of 99 votes. 110 parliamentarians voted in favor for the motion to extend the emergency. Eleven parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted against the motion. Parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) abstained, parliamentary sources said.
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UN pulls staff from Vanni, aid workers fear 'bloodbath'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 13:33 GMT]
United Nations staff have begun leaving Vanni this week after Sri Lanka’s government ordered aid workers out of the Tamil Tiger controlled region and told them to remove their equipment with them. The government move comes after the UN agencies said they were unable to advise civilians to vacate LTTE-controlled areas in compliance with a government directive to this effect. Over 160,000 people have been displaced in the past two months by Sri Lankan offensives and a humanitarian crisis is fast developing, aid workers said. And amid indiscriminate bombing and shelling, some aid workers are warning of an impending bloodbath.
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1200 Tamils languishing under custody in Western Province - SL Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2008, 14:35 GMT]
Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) parliamentarian and a deputy minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, P. Rathakrishnan, has compiled a report with details of around 1,200 Tamil youths of both sexes, languishing in the detention centres and prisons in South after being arrested in Colombo and its suburbs recently. Mr. Rathakrishnan has told media that he would demand the advisory committee of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry to expedite the inquiries against the detainees and the police to ensure that innocent Tamil civilians are not harmed when enforcing 'law and order.'
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Rajapaksa's residence under tight security

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 August 2008, 18:01 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government has issued a gazette notification banning the movement of trucks, trailer lorries, parades, demonstrations, rallies, gatherings (political or otherwise) and motorcades within the high security zone in and around Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's residence "Temple Trees" in Colombo with immediate effect, officials in Colombo said. The lighting of firecrackers or fireworks for any reason within the HSZ is also totally prohibited.
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Police deployed inside Eastern University

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 11:40 GMT]
Effective immediately the security for Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) in Vanthaa'rumoolai has been handed over to the police based on instructions from higher authorities, according to Dr.V. Pathmanathan, the vice chancellor of the EUSL. 60 policemen under the supervision of an Assistant Superintendent of Police have been placed on duty within the University.
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SLFP to decide on holding elections to 5 PCs

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2008, 18:18 GMT]
The central working committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is to meet during the weekend to decide its political strategy about the question of holding elections to the Western, Southern, North Central, Uva and Central Provincial Councils in the south within next three months. The meeting has been summoned in the wake of the outright victory for the UPFA in Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) and North Central Provincial Council (NCPC) last Saturday, political sources said.
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UPFA victory endorses war - GoSL spokesman

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2008, 06:58 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has claimed that the people of the Sabaragamuwa Province and North Central Province have "fully endorsed" the stand and policy of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in "defeating terrorism" as the ruling alliance won the elections in Sabaragamuwa with a majority of more than 125,000 votes (55.38%) against the UNP, which secured 40.53% of the votes. In North Central Province, the UPFA polled 56.37% and the UNP 37.64%, 100,000 less than the UPFA.
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Violence marks election campaign in North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 16:13 GMT]
The election campaign in Sri Lanka's North Central and Sabaragamuwa provincial elections to be held on August 23 came to an end Wednesday midnight with scores of election related violence that topped up to 250 reported incidents from both provinces including a murder, arson, attempted murder and intimidations. Ten political parties and eight independent groups are contesting in Polonnaruwa while 11 parties and seven independent groups are contesting in Anuradhapura. More than 21,000 police are being deployed in the provinces as well as Sri Lanka Army soldiers.
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JVP says UPFA machinery geared for poll rigging

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 09:07 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Wednesday charged that the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government machinery of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been fully geared for mass scale rigging in the forthcoming elections to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) and North Central Provincial Council (NCPC), scheduled to be held On August 23 Saturday.
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Maheswaran murder suspect indicted in High Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 19:54 GMT]
The Attorney General Tuesday indicted Johnson Collin, alias Valentine, with the murder of Colombo district United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian T.Maheswaran and another devotee on January 1 while both were attending prayers in Colombo Ponnambalavaaneswarar Temple. Chandrakumar Mahindan was also killed in the incident along with Mr.Maheswaran.
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Polling stations to be declared security zone

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 August 2008, 12:03 GMT]
Five hundred meters surrounding each polling station in the North Central Province (NCP) and Sabaragamuwa Province (SP) are to be declared high security zone on the Election Day, August 23. This is consequent to the increase of violence preceding the elections to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) and North Central Provincial Council (NCPC) scheduled to take place in five days. Elections Commissioner has also decided to strengthen the security of polling station by deploying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, sources said.
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