Batticaloa Elections arrangements finalized -Commissioner

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2008, 16:27 GMT]
All arrangements have been finalized for Batticaloa local council elections scheduled to be held Monday 10 February, Mahinda Deshapirriya, Deputy Commissioner of Elections announced Sunday.
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Sri Lankan forces beef up security in Batticaloa before local polls

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2008, 11:46 GMT]
Local government elections for nine local bodies including Batticaloa Municipal Council are to take place on Monday 10 March after a lapse of 14 years and all arrangements related to them have been made, according to Deputy Election Commissioner. People`s Action For Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) is the largest monitoring body, engaged with 300 monitors with 20 foreign nationals. However, Batticaloa has been turned into a militarised city with 12 more check posts and the deployment of additional Sri Lanka Army, Special Task Force and Policemen. 6,725 policemen have been engaged. More than 1800 policemen have been brought from Colombo.
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Conference to discuss security measures held in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2008, 00:14 GMT]
A special meeting was held Wednesday at Batticaloa secretariat to discuss the safety measures to be implemented during the forthcoming elections to be held for nine local councils, sources in Batticaloa said.
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HRW: Rajapaksa Government, one of world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 March 2008, 09:09 GMT]
The United States-based Human Rights Watch, an International rights advocacy group, on Thursday said Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, "once a rights advocate," has now led his government to become "one of the world’s worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances." Issuing a 241-page report, "Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for 'Disappearances' and Abductions in Sri Lanka," the group has called on, in particular, India and Japan, to make further military and other non-humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka contingent on government efforts to halt the practice of “disappearances,” and to end impunity, including its acceptance of an international monitoring mission.
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IIGEP quits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 March 2008, 08:25 GMT]
The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), headed by P N Bhagwati, former Indian Chief Justice, has decided to terminate its operations in Sri Lanka, according to a statement issued by the IIGEP on Thursday. "The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP," an AFP report has quoted a statement by the IIGEP. The move is viewed as serious diplomatic blow for Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had invited the group, after International pressure, to monitor his Commission of Inquiry (CoI), set up to investigate and inquire into serious violations of Human Rights.
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SL parliament to debate emergency extension

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 March 2008, 12:28 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse is to seek the permission of the House to extend the State of Emergency for another month during this session, after Sri Lanka's parliament resumes sitting on Tuesday March 4. parliamentary sources said.
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Tamil Teachers Union excluded from talks with Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 March 2008, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday held a discussion with representatives of Sri Lanka's teacher trade unions regarding the removal of salary anomalies and the increase of salary. The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) was not invited for the discussion, trade union sources said.
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MP objects to SLA video-filming residents during cordon, search

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 February 2008, 16:54 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Ampaa'rai district K. Pathmanathan sent an appeal to Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse and Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse protesting against the video taping of residents by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers during cordon and search operation conducted 20 February in Aalayadiveampu area in Akkaraipattu. People were also harrassed during the interrogation and these are violations of basic human rights, the MP said in the appeal.
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International institutions turn sour to Colombo government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 February 2008, 13:18 GMT]
The Sri Lankan state, which was gleefully making use of some of the International NGOs and the Colombo based intellectuals associated with them, as long as their activities were serving its interests in weakening the Tamil cause, now frowns at them and seeks for their disintegration. The latest story is the government's hand in the disruptions faced by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) in Colombo. According to informed circles, there is a clear message from the Rajapaksa government that it would not tolerate any agenda of the International Community through such NGOs, when it comes to interference with the genocidal programme of the Sri Lankan state.
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Ganesan protests Kane's failure to meet Tamil, Muslim party leaders

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2008, 12:31 GMT]
Civil Monitoring Commission Convener and Western People Front leader Mano Ganesan expressed his protest over the failure of United Nation's Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Ms Angela Kane to meet with Tamil or Muslim party leaders during her week long visit to Sri Lanka. Ganesan said the visit, where she met only Sri Lanka Government officials, opposition party leaders, and the extremist JVP leaders, was a "one-sided affair" and "too political."
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Tyronne Fernando passes away

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2008, 07:41 GMT]
Tyronne Fernando, an advisor to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and a former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka under the United National Party (UNP) government earlier, passed away in a private hospital in Colombo Tuesday morning, according to Sri Lankan presidential secretariat officials. Mr. Tyronne Fernando served as the governor of North-East Province Council (NEPC) from December 2004 till January 2006.
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Tampoe: Sri Lanka is a virtual Police, Military dictatorship

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 February 2008, 16:42 GMT]
Prominent Trade Union leader, Bala Tampoe, says Rajapakse Government falsely states that their military objective is to defeat terrorism. The main objective is to wrest control from the LTTE the areas of North and east. "...[Colombo] can never achieve a proper political settlement till and until they recognise the right of self-determination, which is a democratic right, of the Tamil people and the Muslim people in the North and East, Tampoe says in an interview to Vikalpa, a citizen journalism initiative in Sri Lanka built on the effort pioneered by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based think-tank.
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UN envoy arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 February 2008, 04:20 GMT]
Ms. Angela Kane, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs arrived in Colombo Wednesday morning for a week long visit to Sri Lanka. Her visit is under the direction of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Kane is expected to have consultations in the areas of her responsibility that covers review of the work of United Nations Country Team in Sri Lanka, UN High Commission in Colombo said.
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Vavuniyaa residents appeal for resumption of train service

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 01:35 GMT]
A memorandum signed by more than one thousand civilians appealing to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to remove the obstacles faced by people in the north at the various check points including the one at Madawaachchi, and to recommence the services up to Vavuniyaa, was forwarded to Colombo Tuesday.
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24 Village-divisions in Trincomalee deserted due to conflict

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 14:47 GMT]
A preliminary report released by the Department of Census and Statistics in Colombo revealed that villages in 24 grama niladhari (village level) divisions in the Trincomalee district have been deserted due to the displacement of residents following the conflict. 20 GN divisions are Tamil areas. Other four are Sinhala divisions, media sources said.
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Appalling rights violations no bar to contain rebellion- RSF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 12:24 GMT]
"The government and the military have intensified the war against the Tamil Tigers and President Mahinda Rajapakse has sworn to stamp out the rebellion, at the price of appalling human rights violations if necessary. Both the Sinhala and English-language press came under even greater pressure from the authorities in 2007. On their side, the Tamil Tigers allow no dissident voices in the areas they control," said Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) in the annual report issued Wednesday. "Some ministers behave like gang leaders," the report further described the deteriorating state of governance in Sri Lanka.
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Sooriyaarachi to be laid to rest Wednesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2008, 21:51 GMT]
The remains of former Port Development Minister and Sri Lanka Freedom Party-Mahayana Wing (SLFP) (M) Coordinator Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, who was killed in a car accident Saturday at Thambuththegama, Anuradhapura was kept in Jayaratne Funeral Parlour in Borella Sunday morning for viewing by public to pay their homage, and was later taken to his residence in Kandana, sources in Colombo said.
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Sooriyaarachchi killed in accident

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 February 2008, 08:38 GMT]
Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi, former Sri Lankan Port Development Minister and Chief Co-ordinator of Sri Lanka Freedom Party's (SLFP) Mahajana faction, a splinter group of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's SLFP, was killed Saturday at 1:40 p.m. when his vehicle met with an accident at Madegama on Anuradhapura Galgamuwa road, Police said. The driver of the vehicle and two of his personal guards were also killed in the accident when his vehicle, while speeding, slipped off the road and crashed against a tree, according to initial reports.
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GOSL pays compensation to Ma'nalaa'ru injured

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2008, 13:18 GMT]
Rishad Bathiyutheen, Minister of Resettlement & Disaster Relief Services, on the directions of Mahinda Rajapakse, President of Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), forwarded compensation funds Tuesday to senior officials for distribution to the victims of Monday bomb blast in Ma'nalaa'ru .
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Stop military aid to Sri Lanka: PDK submits one million signatures to Indian defence minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 February 2008, 19:57 GMT]
Several hundred activists of the Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK) marched towards the Indian Parliament Wednesday morning demanding the Indian Government to immediately stop military aid and assistance to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). As a part of the protest, the activists, including 100 women and children, dressed as wounded Tamils marched from Jantar Mantar to Parliament Street and submitted a memorandum at the Prime Minister's office. PDK leaders on Thursday met Indian Defence Minister A K Antony at his residence and submitted a petition signed by one million Indian Tamils demanding that India stop all military aid to Sri Lanka.
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