EU pledges GSP+ concessions, approves $100m for Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 03:12 GMT]
The European Union wants Sri Lanka to receive GSP+ concession, the EU Ambassador in Sri Lanka Julian Wilson said this week, according to press reports Saturday. The EU has approved $100m in humanitarian and development funds for Sri Lanka, the Daily Mirror paper quoted him as saying. "I will only say that a lot of melodramatic rubbish has been written about the renewal of GSP+ in local press. The truth is simple if somewhat banal-the EU wants Sri Lanka to receive GSP+ again for the coming three years,” Mr. Wilson said at an EU event on Thursday.
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Rajapaksa prorogues SL Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 17:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has moved on to prorogue the sittings of the Sri Lankan Parliament until June 05 according to an extra-ordinary gazette notification published Tuesday midnight. The move comes amid the increased media attention and the debate on SLA casualties in the Northern Front as four days were left for the Eastern provincial elections where oppositions parties including the SLMC, UNP and the JVP have protested against the armed paramilitary in the East. Meanwhile, in a specially arranged televised broadcast, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised the remote villagers in the east that they would get everything that they have aspired for.
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Ethnic divide reflected in Sri Lanka media coverage

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 17:56 GMT]
The polarization between Sri Lanka’s ethnic communities is also reflected in coverage of the island’s protracted conflict and has rendered ‘the truth’ an inevitable casualty of war, several speakers argued last week at the annual conference in London of the International Association of Tamil Journalists (IATAJ). The day-long event at the University of Westminster was attended by one hundred invited participants and was addressed by journalists, academics and media activists, including Mr. Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, editor of the Uthayan newspaper, Mr Chandana Bandara, senior producer with the BBC’s Sinhala service and Mr. Bhagwan Singh of the Deccan Chronicle.
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PAFFREL counts 32 election related complaints in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2008, 17:52 GMT]
Thirty two complaints of election related violence including two killings have been reported till Friday evening from the three districts of the east since the nominations closed for the provincial council election which is scheduled to be held on May 10, Peoples Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), a monitoring group which has not been recognized as an independent monitoring mission by the main opposition UNP.
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EPDP thanks Rajapaksa, India for Northern Province Interim Council

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2008, 12:40 GMT]
The paramilitary-cum-political party headed by Douglas Devananda, the EPDP, in a statement issued to media on Saturday thanked the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the friendly neighbouring state, India, for having selected the EPDP to lead the Interim Council for Northern Province. The decision was passed in a cabinet meeting by Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the EPDP said, and added that it was a 'practical step' advocated by the EPDP for a long time.
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UPFA observes May Day in east, UNP prayer at Kelaniya Vihare

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2008, 06:52 GMT]
The May Day of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa is being held at Dehiyatttakandiya in Ampaarai district for the first time outside Colombo. Earlier the UPFA decided to hold its May Day rally at Ampaa'rai town. Later it changed the venue to Dehiyattakandiya sans procession due to security reasons, party sources said. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) first decided to hold its May Day rally in Kurunagala town in the northwestern province without procession. Later it canceled the rally and decided to observe prayer at Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihare.
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Rajapaksa strengthens ties with Iran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 10:24 GMT]
Iranian President Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who arrived in Colombo Monday night on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, after his 4-hour mission to Pakistan, was scheduled to inaugurate two major projects, a hydro power plant in Moneragala and an aviation oil refinery, in Sri Lanka with USD 2 billion funding from his country. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a brief five-hour visit en route from Colombo back to Tehran, on Tuesday, as media reports in India said that the Iran issue has cast a shadow over Indo-U.S. relations.
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UPFA's May Day rally in Ampaarai

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 April 2008, 13:25 GMT]
The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has decided to hold its May Day rally at Mahaweli Grounds in Dehiyatttakandiya in Ampaarai district. ": We have accepted the challenge to hold the rally outside Colombo for the first time," Minister Dallas Alahaperuma said at a press briefing held in Colombo Thursday, media sources said.
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Washington to remain engaged with Colombo, hopes for progress on Human Rights

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 13:35 GMT]
Don Camp, the principal assistant secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, visited Colombo this week and met with Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Rohitha Bogollagama, SL Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe, Secretary to the SL Ministry of Defense Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. "Many of the issues we discuss are difficult ones, particularly on human rights and the resolution of the conflict, but the U.S. will remain engaged in the hope of seeing progress." Mr. Camp was quoted by the U.S. Embassy.
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Ferial Ashraff dismayed over appointment of Sinhala Education Secretary

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 April 2008, 01:10 GMT]
Ms Ferial Ashraff, a minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, is alleged to have expressed dissatisfaction over the appointment of a Sinhalese officer as the Secretary to the East Provincial Education Ministry at a time when the east provincial council election is to take place, political sources in Colombo said.
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Tamil woman arrested at politico's funeral in Ratnapura

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 April 2008, 05:15 GMT]
Ratnapura police Thursday arrested a Tamil woman attending a funeral event of a leading member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Police said she was taken in for questioning on suspicion that she being a member of the LTTE, reports from Ratnapura said.
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SLA imposes travel restrictions on Mannaar Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 April 2008, 05:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has recently imposed travel restrictions on Tamils traveling to and from Mannaar. Tamils who leave Mannaar are only allowed to travel in train from Mathavaachchi while the Tamils, returning to Mannaar from other areas are filtered by their native and residential addresses and refused entry into Mannaar if they carry a National Identity Card with a residential address in South at Kaddaiyadampan SLA checkpost, located between Madu Road junction and Murungkan, on Mannaar Mathavaachchi Road. Family members are separated and refused entry, residents complain.
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As humanitarian crisis unfolds, Diaspora needs to help – paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 April 2008, 04:55 GMT]
Warning that, faced with determined resistance to its offensives into the Vanni, the Sri Lankan government, like previous ones, will intensify punitive attacks and measures against the Tamil population there, the Tamil Guardian newspaper this week called on the Diaspora to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis. “The embargo on food and medicine will be tightened further and civilian centers will be targeted more heavily. The Diaspora has long been the mainstay of relief efforts for the people of the Northeastern warzones. It needs to step forward yet again,” the paper said in its editorial.
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SL Parliament begins debate on emergency extension

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2008, 10:23 GMT]
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Wednesday tabled a motion seeking an extension of the State of Emergency now in force since August 2005, for another month, parliamentary sources said. Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara was in the chair when the debate on the motion began. Wickremanayake said during March, 93 members of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and police died in the fighting with the LTTE.
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Jeyaraj Fernandopulle killed in bomb blast

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 03:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Minister of Highways & Road Development, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, was killed in a bomb blast at the public playground in Weliweraya, located in the Gampaha district of Western Province, around 8:00 a.m. Sunday. 13 persons were killed and 60 wounded in the attack that took place while the minister was waving a flag to start off a marathon race in connection with the Tamil and Sinhala New Year celebrations. 16 of the wounded have sustained serious injuries, Police said.
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The temporal and spiritual conquest of Tamils: Mahinda's book of dreams

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 07:18 GMT]
More than security concerns, the sentiments of Tamil Christians and their mistrust of Sri Lankan State seem to be the impelling force behind the decision of taking away Our Lady of Madu from her abode. Those who could look at how Kathirkaamam was confiscated from the predominance of Tamils and how the ancient temples behind the Tamil Saiva myth are inside ‘High Security Zones’, could understand the fear of Tamil Christians. The question is whether the International Community and India, which contribute to the military option, don’t understand or don’t want to understand the fact that if there is anything to be defeated militarily in Sri Lanka, it is the chauvinism of the Sri Lankan State.
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Hizbullah: Rajapaksa never promised CM post to Pillaiyan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2008, 08:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa never promised Chief Minister post to Pillaiyan of the TMVP after the Eastern Provincial Council elections, said M.L.A.M.Hizbullah at a press briefing held Wednesday at Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. Mr. Hizbullah said Mr. Rajapaksa had promised that the appointment of the CM post would go to 'the one who secures largest number of votes.'
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Eastern PC election, another step in Sinhalasisation of East - TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 April 2008, 05:32 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has projected himself as an "ultra Sinhala nationalist leader" in all his decisions since taking office in 2005, was going ahead with his agenda of Sinhalasising the Eastern sector of the North-East, the historical habitation of Tamil speaking people, in the guise of development, splitting it into High Security Zones, Industrial Zones and Environmental Zones, after de-merging the North-East, in violation of the Indo-Lanka International Treaty, said R. Sampanthan, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary Group, who issued a statement of principles on Wednesday, clarifying the reasons for boycotting the Eastern PC elections.
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Hizbullah crosses over to UPFA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 April 2008, 16:20 GMT]
M.L.A.M Hizbullah, an executive committee member of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), on Tuesday, crossed over to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) strengthening Rajapaksa's alliance in the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council elections. Meanwhile, informed sources in Colombo said that TMVP, the paramilitary-cum-political party, which had invited all its nominees in Eastern Provincial elections to hotels in Colombo was disappointed as Rajapaksa's promise on Chief Minister post and allocation of number of seats in Trincomalee district as it had demanded, faded away with Hizbullah's cross over.
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Colombo offensive claims civil victims- Washington Post

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 April 2008, 11:50 GMT]
"...[U]nder a recent military offensive to wipe out those rebels [from LTTE], government forces have abducted hundreds of members of the Tamil minority group, including civilians, according to human rights groups. Many of the "disappeared" never turn up again," Washington Post said in an article in the Tuesday edition, adding, "Abductions are carried out in various ways, according to activists and relatives of those who have disappeared. Sometimes Tamil men of fighting age are rounded up at checkpoints, hurried into white vans and never heard from again. Sometimes they are arrested with little explanation in house-to-house raids at night."
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