CWC files FR petition against mass arrest, detention of Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2007, 19:43 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Thursday filed a Fundamental Rights Violation petition in the Supreme Court seeking the court to prevent further arrest and detention of Tamil people without any valid reason and reasonable suspicion. This is the second FR violation petition filed in the Supreme Court against the mass arrest and detention of Tamil residents. The first FR petition was filed Tuesday by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), sources said.
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Colombo lacks sincerity in investigating Fr. Jim Brown's disappearance - Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 12:05 GMT]
The Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundranayagam, who is on a mission to Vanni, on Sunday said that the manner in which Colombo was handling the investigation on the disappearance of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, seemed like an eyewash exercise without any sincerity, being conducted to "hoodwink the International Community" into believing that investigation was continuing. "Two weeks ago, a CID officer from Colombo came to meet me. He only knew Sinhala. I was shocked to realize how he could conduct investigations without working knowledge in Tamil and English to collect evidence on the disappearance of Fr. Brown," the Bishop said while briefing media on the prevailing situation in Jaffna.
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Muslims appeal to Rajapaksa to address community grievances

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 December 2007, 00:02 GMT]
Mosques Federation of Eastern province, during a meeting held by the Federation in Polannaruwa Friday, appealed to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take immediate steps to address dangers faced by the Muslim community, sources in the eastern province said.
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Sri Lankan forces arrest 1,500 Tamils in South, detention camps overcrowded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2007, 12:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan armed forces have arrested around 1,500 Tamil men and women in wide scale cordon and search operations within the last 48 hours in Colombo and other districts in South, Tamil parliamentarians told media in Colombo on Sunday. 351 of the arrested persons in Colombo, currently detained at Boosa detention camp, complained that many of them were arrested despite documenting their identity and that they have not been provided proper food and drink for the last 48 hours. 51 of the detainees, at Boosa, were females.
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SC fixes inquiry into Sunday Leader journalist FR petition

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2007, 10:09 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Supreme Court Thursday granted leave to Tamil journalist Arthur Wamanan to proceed with his fundamental rights violation petition filed last week against his arrest and illegal detention by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police on a verbal complaint by a minister in the government led by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Arthur Wamanan is a journalist working in the Sunday Leader, English Weekly.
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Vanni protest rallies condemn SLA killing of school girls

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 November 2007, 01:26 GMT]
All employees of Government Departments in Vanni wearing black arm bands staged a work stoppage from 9:30 a.m. till 11:00 a.m. Thursday as a mark of protest against the Claymore attack carried out Tuesday morning by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) in which seven female students of Iyankankulam school engaged in rural first aid service were killed.
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Rajapakse visits Iran for bilateral talks

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 November 2007, 14:29 GMT]
Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Monday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially welcomed his Sri Lankan counterpart, Mahinda Rajapakse, at the Presidential Office. Earlier IRNA quoting Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad-Ali Hosseini, said that Mr Rajapakse will be "heading a high-ranking political-economic delegation."
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UNP welcomes ban on TRO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 03:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National party (UNP) has welcomed the government’s decision to ban the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), the Daily Mirror reported Friday. The UNP echoed the stance of the ultra-Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) with senior UNP official, Lakshman Kiriella, also telling a news conference that the government had failed to pursue the matter with commitment. Earlier this week, there was applause in Sri Lanka’s parliament as the government promised to consider banning the TRO and also the LTTE
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Sri Lanka’s ban on TRO ‘final nail’ in coffin of peace process

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 01:10 GMT]
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisations (TRO) has condemned the Sri Lankan government’s banning of the charity, saying the Rajapakse regime had done so with the “ulterior motive of unleashing untold hardships on the Tamil people as part of [the government’s] continuing discrimination and oppression of the Tamil people.” The TRO, which has been the largest - and for long periods the sole - NGO assisting the hundreds of thousands of Tamils displaced by the conflict, said in a statement this week “With the banning of the TRO the final nail in the coffin of the peace process has been hammered home.”
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UPFA budget passed with 16 majority votes

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 11:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Monday evening adopted the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) budget for 2008, the third budget of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, with a majority of 16 votes. 118 members voted for the budget and 102 voted against, parliamentary sources said.
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TNA seeks GoSL response on abduction before budget voting

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 06:31 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan Monday morning urged the Speaker in Sri Lankan Parliament to prevail upon the Government of Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to secure the release of S. Sajitharan, the abducted son-in-law of Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian T. Kanagasabai, enabling the MP and other Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarians to vote on the Budget. Three of four Batticaloa district parliamentarians of the TNA were not present in the parliament Monday morning following threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operated paramilitary, Pillayaan Group.
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TNA sends SOS to foreign diplomats

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 16:00 GMT]
The Parliamentary Group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has urged the foreign diplomats in Colombo, including the U.S. Embassy, the British High Commission, the Indian High Commission, the Embassy of Japan and the Embassy of Norway, Sunday evening to persuade the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to secure the timely release of the family member of the Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian T. Kanagasabai, abducted by the paramilitary Sunday in Batticaloa, and to ensure a threat-free environment for the Tamil parliamentarians in exercising the democratic rights of the people they represent in the Sri Lankan parliament.
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Paramilitary threatens Batticaloa Tamil MPs not to vote against budget, abducts family member

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 11:18 GMT]
Armed paramilitary men from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operated Pillayaan Group entered the house of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian T. Kagagasabai and abducted the Batticaloa MP's son-in-law around 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The group has threatened to kill the abductee if Mr. Kanagasabai voted against SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's budget on Monday. The abduction took place at the police-protected house of the parliamentarian at Ka'luthaava'lai. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Police has withdrawn the security provided to all Batticaloa district TNA MPs residences in Batticaloa on Sunday.
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'Rajapaksa sustains majority votes' - UPFA minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 November 2007, 18:18 GMT]
Addressing a live political discussion programme in the Sri Lankan state-run ITN (Independent Television Network) TV, Thursday night, the Sri Lankan Minister of Education, Susil Premajayantha, assured viewers that the SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa has sustained sufficient number of votes, more than 117, to pass the 2008 budget in the parliament, coming Monday. Mr. Susil Premajayantha, who appeared in the "Thulawa" programme, said that the Rajapaksa government was not dependent on the JVP to pass the budget.
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Three UNP MPs to support Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 November 2007, 12:44 GMT]
Three opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians have promised Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa to cross over to the ruling alliance UPFA goverment to strengthen the majority of the Rajapaksa goverment, informed political sources in Colombo said. Colombo district UNP MP T. Maheswaran, Gurunagale district MP Gamini Jayawickrama Perera and Mohammed Mahroof, another Colombo district UNP parliamentarian met Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa Thursday extending their support.
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Dilan Perera protests against UNP MP's crossover

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 November 2007, 09:22 GMT]
Dilan Perera, Sri Lanka's Justice Minister without cabinet portfolio and Badulla district parliamentarian of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Thursday went and sat in the opposition bench in the Sri Lankan parliament, protesting against Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa for accommodating a United National Party (UNP) opposition parliamentarian who was implicated in the killing of Mr. Dilan Perera's associate, Nalanda Ellawala in 1999. Mahinda Rajapaksa is in discussions with Dilan Perera, amid claims and counter claims by ruling party and opposition of crossovers from both parties before Monday when the budget is to be put to final vote.
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UPFA MP joins opposition in parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 16:19 GMT]
A national list parliamentarian of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Wijedasa Rajapakse, Wednesday crossed from government side to the opposition when the parliament resumed its sitting to continue the debate of the 2008 Budget proposals presented by the SL President Mahinda Rajapakse for the fourth day, parliamentary sources said. Mr. Wijedasa Rajapakse is the chairman of the COPE, a parliamentary select to probe the malpractices and irregularities in the ministries and statutory boards coming under the government
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Claymore explosion in Yala amid tightened security

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 November 2007, 20:21 GMT]
At least one construction worker was killed and another wounded in a Claymore mine explosion inside the Yala sanctuary, one of the island's main tourist attractions, Saturday evening around 6:45, Police said. The attack comes in the wake of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa advising his political adviser and brother, Basil Rajapaksa, a national list parliamentarian, to set a Joint Operations Command (JOC) in Thissamaharama. Mr. Basil Rajapaksa led a high-powered delegation to Thisssamaharama earlier in the day and decided to arm Sinhala farmers, in addition to setting up a JOC.
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Fear grips Sri Lanka's southern villages- paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 November 2007, 03:22 GMT]
"Villages bordering the Yala sanctuary had been living on the edge since 15 October," reported a Colombo daily, after the Liberation Tigers overran the Thalgasmankada Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unit killing six troopers and injuring many. In the last three weeks, three had gone missing, and bodies of five cattle-herders have been found with cut injuries in Thissemaharama division situated in the constituency of the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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International community is letting war decide Tamils' fate - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 November 2007, 14:15 GMT]
By allowing the Sri Lankan state free rein and supporting it to wage war, the international community has made any rights the Tamils secure depend entirely on the battlefield outcome, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. "The military has for two years blasted villages, driven hundreds of thousands from their homes and continues to abduct, torture and murder…For all the noise about human rights (and much of that has dissipated now), the state actually wants for nothing. Ironically, the more the international community is convinced the LTTE can be defeated, the freer the hand it will have."
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