militarisation

By Charles HavilandTNA says people connected with the ruling coalition are intimidating its candidates The largest Tamil party in Sri Lanka has called for foreign monitors to have a presence at local elections in northern Sri Lanka that are due to take place later this month. It says people connected with the governing coalition are […]

Guru Nadarajah for GTN  In the guise of solving the problems of the Tamil people, Rajapakse government is engaged in Sinhalizing the traditional Tamil villages in the North and East.165 Sinhalese families settled in Kokadivankulam in Themmamadu in the Vanni area and the name of the village has been changed to Kalabowawela. This is the […]

By M.A. Sumanthiran MPMilitarization· Every activity that takes place in the North and East first requires approval by the Presidential Task Force and the military.· Lists of beneficiaries for projects in the north now have to be sent to the military. Incidents have been reported of the military altering these to include as beneficiaries individuals […]

 R.SAMPANTHAN, 5TH July 2011, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, TRINCOMALEEParliamentary Group Leader – Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi-I.T.A.K, Tamil National Alliance-T.N.A Hon SpeakerAdjournment Motion, ParliamentI hereby give notice that I shall after question time on the adjournment of Parliament on Thursday the 7th July 2011 move the following motion as a matter of urgent public importance.Whereas Sri Lanka […]

Following the Sri Lanka Army attack on Tamil National Alliance (TNA) meeting last month and the systematic harassment on building owners not to provide their halls to TNA for campaign meetings, the residences of various candidates of the TNA, including the former parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam, have been targeted by SLA-operated squads that are engaged in […]

”Today the entire Police Department is in a disreputable condition. The fundamental problem with the police today is an acute lack of knowledge, honesty, transparency and credibility. People believe that the police are powerless to act on their own as they used to do formerly. . They believe that the Police will act only if […]

2011.July.08,  Yesterday night , a most strange and disgracefully despicable vindictive action was launched on a TNA candidate in Jaffna. The dog reared in the house of C . Sivakumar ,Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate for the Waligamam municipal council elections , Jaffna had been cruelly killed and its decapitated head hung on the gate of […]

July 7, 2011 /By Saman IndrajithThe main Opposition in Parliament, the UNP, on Thursday alleged that the government had created the impression among the international community that Sri Lanka was a military State by packing the Sri Lanka Foreign Service with military personnel.UNP MP John Amaratunge alleged that SLFS was rapidly deteriorating due to inclusion […]

Speaking on BBC’s HardTalk program Tuesday, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinghe, advisor to the Sri Lankan President on reconciliation, claimed the UN panel of experts’ report on Sri Lanka’s war crimes had “taken stuff, some of it verbatim” from former UN spokesperson Gordon Weiss’s recently published book, and from Channel 4’s recent documentary. When asked why the […]

While the Nazi-style registration of people in the north by the occupying SL military is challenged in the SL courts by Tamil politicians, the SL Army is now engaged in another way of registering people by a census it is conducting on its own, forcing Tamil school teachers and through them exploiting school students. Earlier […]

”But despite the Indian foreign secretary’s persuasive powers, Colombo is unlikely to budge so easily. India will have to do more than one visit and some good statements. It’s support for negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance, that began in January 2011, needs to be pressured to move much faster […]

Abandoned IDPs in Vadamaraadchi East The Raamaavil camp inmates, who were suddenly herded out in the middle of the night by the occupying SL Army to make a show of ‘resettlement’ during the visit of the presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa to Jaffna, are now facing further misery. Staying in two small schools in Vadamaraadchi East, […]

05 July 2011/By Sandun A. JayasekeraThe law and democratic principles sometimes hamper development but a pinch of dictatorship can expedite the expected target at the expected time as witnessed in many Asian Tiger countries, Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.Minister de Silva was on an inspection tour of the ‘Deduru […]

A gang of SLFP ministers and parliamentarians, including presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa were camping in Jaffna last weekend to plan and campaign for the forthcoming civic elections to the town and village councils scheduled to take place in the north on 23 July. Their meetings were also participated by occupying Sri Lanka’s colonial governor Maj. […]

Villagers in the eastern Sri Lankan district of Amapara have been protesting against the moves by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) to acquire their ancestral land in order to establish a new camp.Panama, Kumana, Helawa and Ragamwela residents who have tried to resettle after the war say they were prohibited by the SLN, which the villagers […]

There is a very critical structural shift in policies towards militarization of this country.Unlike in the past we see that the Navy has started a water bottling company.It is taking tourists on whale watching tours in the East. The Air Force is running helicopter services. The Army is selling vegetables. In the same brush that […]

The May 2011 Joint Humanitarian and Early Recovery Update released on June 24th by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) states, that a total of approximately 220,000 persons are still displaced in the ‘former conflict regions’.The highlights of the report as follows:I. Situation overview and highlights – Between 1‐31 May 2011, […]

The country today desperately needs a vigorous civil society that will stand up and speak up for the preservation of our democratic freedoms. These freedoms include not only the freedom of speech and association and equality before the law but also economic and social freedoms as the right to work, to an adequate livelihood and […]

July 3, 2011/ By Franklin R.SatyapalanCommissioner of Elections Mahinda Deshapriya told Political Party Secretaries on Friday that he could take action on hear say or their press releases or news reports in the media exposing any instances of interference by the Army in the election campaign for the forthcoming local elections in the North.The Commissioner […]

Northern and Eastern divisions relatively better, though B’caloa remains major trouble spot July 3, 2011/ By Shamindra FerdinandoIn the post-war era, Batticaloa police division has logged the highest number of incidents among the Northern and Eastern divisions for two consecutive years.Police sources told The Island that in spite of dawn of peace Batticaloa division remained […]

The next day (last) Sunday morning, his blood-drenched body was hanging from a goal post in a playground in Putur, just two kilometres from his home. It bore torture marks. The nails of fingers in both hands had been plucked out, Jaffna Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), Dr. S. Sivaruban, testified at the post-mortem inquiry. He […]

Jayalalithaa, who had a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, last month handed over to the latter a 24-page memorandum. It begins with references to Sri Lanka. She is seeking the return of Kachchativu, an island in the Palk Straits, the seas that divide India and Sri Lanka. Here are the relevant highlights: Memorandum […]

Will Pullukkulam in Jaffna town area be given to the business activities of the majority community? Efforts for such grabbing have started.Many places in the North and East in Sri Lanka especially in Jaffna have been taken possession by the majority community. These places are used for building star hotels and posh restaurants. It is […]

Recent activities shows that, Sri Lanka is moving to dictatorship. There is a dangerous situation developing. The first is, wherever the people try to live, the military camps there. It is there on each street corner and it is very difficult to their development and people cant do anything with out military intervention. Further than […]

Soldiers stationed in the North have been intruding into the everyday affairs of the public and offer arbitrary mediation in affairs unwarranted of them. This has created an anxiety among the public.Soldiers stationed in the North have been intruding into the everyday affairs of the public and offer arbitrary mediation in affairs unwarranted of them. […]

 Commanding chief of the East Major General Boniface Perera at a special media briefing held yesterday at Deavar Hall, Batticaloa referring to yesterday’s Bank heist at Batticaloa said , this robbery is not only a threat to the security not only of Batticaloa , but of the entire Island.‘After one and half years , looting […]

1 July 2011/wswsDespite disruptive actions by the military and the police in the military-occupied city of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka, workers, youth and housewives participated in a well-attended June 19 public meeting organised by the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) on “The Middle East upheavals and the theory of the permanent revolution.”Two days before the […]

01 July 2011 Certain armed elements are hiding behind political parties in the Eastern Province and we will take steps to disarm them, Eastern Commander Major General Boniface Perera saidHe expressed these views at a meeting held between General Mangers and Political party representatives of the eastern province in the aftermath of the recent Batticaloa […]

The war is over and the enemy was slain nearly three years ago. Why a new Defence Headquarters at Rs.20 billion. If the good of the country is that mattered the focus should be on a much smaller defence enclave. You cannot fool the people all the time – even the short-memoried gullible variety we […]

by Ranga JayasuriyaOn Thursday (23) in Kilinochchi, the military dispersed a group of frail men and women who had gathered to get information on the whereabouts of their missing relatives. The protestors, many of who were ageing Tamil mothers and fathers who were clutching pictures of their missing children, had assembled at Depot junction, Kilinochchi, […]