War of words on opposition's strike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 July 2008, 18:21 GMT]
While Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said that the token strike it launched with the support of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Thursday was a success, the Sri Lanka Government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed in the parliament that the strike ended in 'utter failure' due to lack of support from the working class, political sources in Colombo said. The workers were pressurised in all provinces to be present at the work by the government officials and the police.
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Scurried pact for oil off Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 13:22 GMT]
Cairn India, a subsidiary of Cairn UK Holdings Limited, on Monday signed a Petroleum Resources agreement to explore for oil and natural gas in the Mannaar Basin. The signing took place in front of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees between the Sri Lankan Minister for Petroleum and Petroleum Development Resources A.H.M Fowzie and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director of the Cairn India, Indrajit Banerjee, who gave USD one million as signature bond to Rajapaksa government, according to informed sources.
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Spontaneous show of solidarity in Canada

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 23:00 GMT]
In a spectacular show at short notice, more than 75,000 Canadian Tamils spontaneously gathered at Downsview Park in Toronto, Canada, for the Pongku Thamizh event, forging solidarity for the cause of Eezham, on Saturday. It was in fact a response to the oppressive policies of the International Community against Eezham Tamil nationalism, observers say.
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UPFA fields disabled soldier against Janaka Perera

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 July 2008, 10:06 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who lost his two legs in an LTTE ambush in which a veteran SLA Commaner Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and eight others including Lieutenant General Wijaya Wimalarathne were killed in Jaffna in 1992, is one of the candidates contesting on the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ticket in the North Central Provincial Council against the main Opposition United National Party (UNP) which is led by its chief ministerial candidate Major General (retd) Janaka Perera, reports said.
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Deputy Speaker of the SL Parliament resigns

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 08:44 GMT]
The Deputy Speaker Geethanjana Gunawardene of the Sri Lanka Parliament has resigned his post. Presidential Secretariat has forwarded his resignation letter to the Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara Friday morning through the acting Secretary General of the parliament.
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Former IGP sworn in as Governor of Northern Province

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 07:24 GMT]
Victor Perera who retired on June 30 from the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Thursday took oaths before President Mahinda Rajapakse as the first Governor of the Northern Province. This is the first time a retired IGP has been appointed for the post of the governor of a province in the country.
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600 pilgrims on foot from east reach Kathirkaamam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 03:38 GMT]
About six hundred pilgrims from several areas of the eastern province entered Kathirkaamam scared area Sunday evening after two weeks of foot pilgrimage through Yala sanctuary to attend the annual festival Kathirkaamam Murugan Temple. The festival is scheduled to commence on July 4 with the flag hoisting event.
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Collecting Bank account details, violation of privacy, court says

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 01:40 GMT]
Sri Lankan Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, while presiding over a Fundamental Rights submission on Monday, said that privacy of individuals was fundamental and warned those responsible for abuses such as asking for bank account numbers from civilians during search operations. Counsel M.A. Sumenthiran had submitted to court that directions given by the court were not being carried out during search operations. The CID officers were asking for bank account numbers from the civilians during the operation.
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CWC, UPF decide to contest SPC election separately

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 01:34 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), allies of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have decided to contest the Sabragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) separately. Leaders of the CWC and UPF are holding ministerial posts in the cabinet of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Sri Lanka Army chief says victory date now mid-2009

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 09:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka this week again revised his timetable for defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; to mid-2009, from an earlier estimate of June 2008. Saying that the LTTE had lost its conventional fighting capacity, he told international correspondents Monday that, within a year, most of the remaining Tigers would be dead. Saying that the objective of the LTTE was to capture the entire island and wipe out the majority Sinhalese community, he vowed: "we will not allow that at any cost, we will fight them."
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VVIP helicopter of Rajapaksa's fleet comes under attack in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2008, 10:11 GMT]
A VVIP helicopter of the fleet of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa came under fire, presumably a rocket attack, in the airspace over Ullai in Ampaa'rai district around 2:00 p.m. Tuesday. The helicopter had an emergency landing. Nobody was hurt, but the chopper was damaged, according to available information.
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Weerawansa, Pillayan discuss alliance

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 June 2008, 10:04 GMT]
Wimal Weerawansa, a pro-government politician who heads a breakaway faction of the Sinhala extreme nationalist JVP, Saturday morning held discussions with Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the leader of the paramilitary-cum-political party TMVP, who was recently installed by Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling UPFA as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, to reach a 'common understanding' and to form a 'common political front', informed sources in Colombo told TamilNet. Meanwhile, JVP sources, when contacted with the news, described the move as 'alliance of puppets.'
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STF exposed in Batticaloa killings: TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 June 2008, 01:07 GMT]
The indiscriminate shooting on Sunday by Special Task Force (STF) troops of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) resulting in the killing of two civilians and injuring three others in Ka’luthaava’lai, Batticaloa demonstrates the 'barbaric behaviour' of STF, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian T.Kanagasabai Batticaloa district said in a press communiqué released Monday.
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India helping Colombo to perpetrate genocide on Tamils, accuses Vaiko

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 June 2008, 14:39 GMT]
In a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Vaiko, General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), accused India of “equipping the Sri Lanka Government to help its war machine to perpetrate genocidal attacks against the Tamils...throwing to winds the farsighted foreign policy adopted by Pandit Nehru and Mrs. Indira Gandhi,” and urged the Prime Minister to not participate in the SAARC Conference.
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The Symbols Affair

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2008, 13:41 GMT]
Tamil diaspora quarters lament the inability or unwillingness of the International Community to read the diaspora public opinion. They feel that Tamil Nationalism has to be differentiated from the issues between the International Community and the LTTE and no power should dictate or exert insinuating pressure on what the Tamils should aspire for and what not. According to them, in the guise of protecting the diaspora from intimidation of terrorism, the IC is intimidating the Tamil national sentiments and such approaches in the name of the international system are not going to bring in any credibility to the powers involved.
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Fein seeks action against Sri Lanka officials

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2008, 05:41 GMT]
Bruce Fein, a Washington Times columnist, and a functionary in the Ronald Reagan administration, who is currently in Toronto, told a Toronto newspaper, that he is seeking support to "gathering evidence against two brothers of current Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse (one a U.S. citizen) and that nation's army chief, Sarath Fonseka," who he claims are responsible for "daily atrocities" in Sri Lanka.
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CWC, UPF to contest Sabragamuwa PC separately

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 June 2008, 08:30 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) Thursday officially announced that they would contest the election to the Sabragamuwa Provincial Council separately and not in the ticket of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA). CWC and UPF are constituents of the UPFA. Leaders of the parties have been holding ministerial portfolios in the cabinet led by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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385 Tamil civilians languish in SLA detention in Nanaaddaan - MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 19:00 GMT]
385 civilians from 177 families of Mannaar are languishing in Sri Lanka Army detention at Ka'limoaddai in Naanaaddaan for three months without any inquiries, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivasakthy Anandan in a letter to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday. The TNA parliamentarian for Vanni District appealed to the Sri Lankan president to order the release of the civilians detained in the SLA camp. Some of those detained include those who were born in India and had their education in the schools and Universities there.
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SL Parliament begins debate on Witness Protection Bill

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 04:28 GMT]
Ruling and opposition parties in Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday agreed to debate the Assistance and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Bill. The Minister of Justice Amarasiri Dodangoda presented the Bill, parliamentary sources said.
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JVP trade unions announce token strike demanding wage increase

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 10:19 GMT]
The National Trade Union Centre (NTUC), which claims that it comprises of hundreds of public, private and state sector trade unions, has called for a one-day token general strike on July 10 demanding a salary increase of five thousand rupees to public, private and state sector employees and a five hundred rupees increase in the daily wage of plantation workers. NTUC is backed by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)
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