Month: September 2016

15-year-old Tamil brewing ‘Kasippu’ in Killinochchi

Karu

By Madhawa Kulasuriya – Vavuniya Three persons including a 15-year-old boy were taken into custody Wednesday after they were discovered brewing ‘Goda’ in Periyamkulam, Kattakaadu in Kilinochchi. Acting on a tip-off, Dharmapuram Police raided the illicit brewery in which there were 12 barrels of Goda and 20 bottles of alcoholic spirits. The teenage boy had dropped out of school to take to manufacturing kasippu. Police sources said the hooch manufactured by the suspects had been marketed in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. A probe team including Officer-In-Charge of the Charmapuram Police Station in…

Read More

Sri Lanka’s Fleeing Tamils

Karu

By Richard Potter In early June of this year, a boat with a failed engine carrying five children, 22 women, and 13 men was found in the water by fishermen off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia. One of the women on board was pregnant and one of the children was an infant. Those on board were all ethnic Tamils who had recently fled from their native Sri Lanka and were now seeking asylum. At the same time, human rights observers documented evidence of increased persecution and horrific torture against Tamils…

Read More

Wigneswaran urges Tamils to join mass protest in Jaffna tomorrow

Karu

By Dharisha Bastians Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran has urged Tamil people to participate in a demonstration scheduled in Jaffna tomorrow, to oppose the systematic settlement of Sinhalese people in the Tamil dominated region and the erection of Buddhist statues in an area devoid of Buddhist devotees. “Tamil speaking brothers and sisters, I urge you to participate in the Ezhuga Tamil demonstration,” a letter by Chief Minister Wigneswaran that was published on Wednesday said. The Tamil People’s Council (TPC) led by Chief Minister Wigneswaran is leading the ‘Ezhuga Tamil’…

Read More

Thousands to Rally in Jaffna to Protest Building of Budhist Temples & Call for Int’l War Crime Investigation

Karu

Also calling for Federal Solution in Traditional Tamil Homeland of unified North & East. Security forces are attempting to stop this rally. JAFFNA, SRI LANKA, September 21, 2016 /EINPresswire.com/ — Several main Tamil Political parties, Civil Society orgfanizations, Hindu & Christian religious groups and other organizations have come together to hold a massive rally in the Northern city of Jaffna on 24th to protest Sri Lankan Government and Security forces assisted building of Budhist Temples in Tamil areas where hardly any Sinhalese live. Tamils fear that this is an attempt…

Read More

Global Tamil Forum meeting with US Assistant Secretaries of State Nisha Biswal and Tom Malonowski in Washington DC

Karu

Global Tamil Forum meeting with US Assistant Secretaries of State Nisha Biswal and Tom Malonowski in Washington DC The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) delegates representing US, UK, Canada, Australia and Germany met Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Biswal and Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Tom Malonowski at the State Department in Washington DC today, Friday 16 September. President of Global Tamil Forum Father S. J. Emmanuel expressed the appreciation of the Tamil community for the continuous engagement of the US…

Read More

A Challenge To Tamils Living In Sri Lanka

Karu

By Arun Kumaresan – Arun Kumaresan – Air Vice Marshal (Ret’d) The word ‘Hearts and Minds’ was first used by a French General Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyaute in1870’s to counter the Black Flags rebellion in Indo China-Chinese border to gain much needed levy within the subjected population. This concept was also the cornerstone of the KESBAN; the strategy of Security and Development in countering Malayan emergency. British employed this concept with some success to eradicate the perceived feeling of seeing all Chinese as rebel communists by the majority Malay community. It…

Read More

A Reflection on Conflicts in Sri Lanka

Karu

We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we make this reflection, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects, to their Elders both past and present. We, individuals who grew up in the south of Sri Lanka, are grateful to the Uniting Church for providing us with this opportunity to reflect upon the conflicts that have taken place in that island. Given time constraints we will not deal with the wider socio-economic factors, but these need to be kept in mind during…

Read More

Sri Lankan refugee in UK imprisoned

Karu

A 31-year-old Sri Lankan asylum seeker in UK, has been imprisoned for 30 months on charges of sexually attacking a woman. This comes three years after, he was saved from deportation in a campaign led by his local MP, on Wednesday (14th September). The man reportedly made advances at a 21 year-old woman, who had rejected his advances at a night shelter. Bristol Crown Court heard that, the woman had woken up at 3 AM and found herself being sexually harassed by the man. DNA evidence at the scene of…

Read More

Catholic Peace Mission in Jaffna challenges Colombo’s propaganda on ‘reconciliation’

Karu

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 September 2016, 23:16 GMT] While the President of genocidal Sri Lanka has brushed away the objective criticisms on the utter failure of one-way-determined ‘Sinhala-Only Reconciliation’ as mere propaganda coming from ‘fundamentalist media’ in the North-East, Rev. Fr. S.V.B. Mangalarajah, the president of the Justice & Peace Commission in Jaffna, has issued a report exposing some of the fundamental failures of this ‘one-way’ determined campaign of ‘reconciliation’ and the so-called ‘good governance’. Lands of the people not returned, political prisoners not released, lack of accountability for missing persons,…

Read More

SriLankan Airlines: Insufficient Fuel On Board Heathrow Flight Forces Diversion To Gatwick

Karu

A SriLankan Airlines flight operating from Colombo to London Heathrow on the 15th of September 2016 was forced to divert to London Gatwick due to insufficient fuel on board. The scheduled SriLankan Airlines flight piloted by Capt. P. Manathunga was sent into a holding pattern by the Air Traffic Control tower prior to its arrival into London Heathrow. Sensing insufficient fuel after completing a few minutes in a holding pattern, Capt. Manathunga was then forced to divert to London Gatwick instead. It is reported that the Airbus A330 – 300…

Read More

Diplomatic mission for Tamil Eelam

Karu
Map of Sri-Lanka-the coloured is Traditional Homeland of Tamils

Diplomatic mission for Tamil Eelam As I pointed out at a media conference last Monday, Denmark had included Tamil Eelam as one of the countries in the world in a list from which visa applicants should choose their nationality. In response to our protest, the Danish government apologized and immediately withdrew the name from the list on Wednesday. Tamil Eelam had never been in existence in the world. No country has so far recognized Tami Eelam. If it is so, how was Tamil Eelam included in the list of countries?…

Read More

BBC journalist wins £50,000 payout after failing to prioritise report on Prince George’s birth

Karu

Telegraph Reporters http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/18/bbc-journalist-wins-50000-payout-after-failing-to-prioritise-rep/ 18 SEPTEMBER 2016 • 12:44PM A BBC journalist has won £50,000 in compensation after he was sacked for prioritising a report on Sri Lankan politics over the birth of Prince George. Chandana Keerthi Bandara, 57, lost his job as a producer on a BBC Sri Lankan news service, and sued the BBC for unfair dismissal and race discrimination. He had worked for the BBC for 18 years and had been a senior producer on the Sinhala service since 2000. Mr Bandara was in charge of publishing stories on…

Read More

Anti LTTE Anandasangare urges President to release political prisoners

Karu

Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Secretary General V Anandasangaree has written to President Maithripala Sirisena urging him to release all political prisoners. Anandasangaree said he doe not see any justifiable reason for their prolonged detention when it is clear that if charged for any specific offence hey could have by this time served the full period of sentence and gone free. “Once again I reiterate that immediate action should be taken in respect of the release of the Political Prisoners detained in our prisons, for lengthy periods without any trial, very many for…

Read More

We are opposed to any type of Political Solution – Mahinda Group

Karu

In the wake of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga calling for a Federal and Quasi-Secular Constitution for Sri Lanka, the joint opposition (JO) who are supporters of former president Mahinda Rajapaksha said it was totally opposed to ‘Federalism’  or any political solution as a means to resolving the national question. Sinhala hard liners and the JO parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardane who is a strong supporter of former president Mahinda Rajapaksha who plays racists card to come back to power said yesterday they met to discuss the issues concerning the country at…

Read More

Speaking in Jaffna Ranil assures political solution

Karu

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking in Jaffna today, assured that his Government will work towards a political solution to resolve the National issue. The Prime Minister said that following the end of the war there was an expectation that the National issue will be resolved with the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Wickremesinghe noted that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had also promised to go beyond the 13th Amendment with “13 plus” but that was not to be. He said that the Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims faced several…

Read More

TNA tells diaspora ‘don’t disturb Lankan process’

Karu

Teargas spraying disrupts TNA Paris meeting: TNA tells diaspora ‘don’t disturb Lankan process’ A teargas attack that disrupted a Tamil diaspora meeting in Paris last week has prompted a call by the Tamil National Alliance leadership for the diaspora to refrain from violence that could disturb the on-going peace process in Sri Lanka. A senior Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian has called on radical elements in the Tamil Diaspora not to indulge in such violence because it would disturb the current moves for a political settlement of the ethnic conflict. TNA…

Read More

Wimal admits to mass grave in North

Karu

Wimal admits to mass grave in North but rebuffed by Malwatte Mahanayake Mass grave In his efforts to convince the prelate of the necessity to stop the current government from changing the Constitution to allow an enquiry into the final phase of the war, former MP Wimal Weerawansa inadvertently let slip the location of a mass grave his former bosses – former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa – used to bury bodies from the end of the war. “For example,” the former MP told the devoutly…

Read More

Govt. Playing Into Hands of The Diaspora – Prasanna Ranatunga

Karu

By Thushari Nathaniel Former Western Province Chief Minister and Joint Opposition Member of Parliament Prasanna Ranatunga says the government is playing into the hands of the Tamil Diaspora, and it will jeopardise the sovereignty of the country. In an interview with The Sunday Leader, he said that even the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit was part of the Diaspora agenda, and he was here only to ensure that the government keeps to the pledges that they made to them. Saying that for true reconciliation to take place both parties…

Read More

MR the ‘great Sinhala Buddhist’ now seeks prayers of US Christian Pastor to dispel his fears after Duminda’s death sentence!

Karu

So desperate has discussions until midnight (Lanka-e-News -10.Sep.2016, 11.45PM)  Mahinda Rajapakse the former corrupt brutal ruler,  who treated Duminda Silva as a watchdog and allowed to commit all the crimes including drug peddling had got so frightened and  panic stricken following Duminda’s death sentence on the 8th  . Here is a photo depicting Mahinda clinging on to a straw (vide photo). Poor Mahinda who was  so shaken and unnerved following Duminda’s death sentence , had invited a Christian Pastor  yesterday evening through his private secretary Uditha Lokubandra to invoke blessings…

Read More

This September In Geneva: Sri Lanka At The UNHRC

Karu

By Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka –   Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka The September session of the United Nations Human Rights Council will start on the 13th of this month. There is a report on Sri Lanka due to be presented there. It is the Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on its mission to Sri Lanka. I am no lawyer or any kind of expert but as I have closely observed the Council from a ringside seat (in the years 2007-2009) and am familiar with it,…

Read More