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Former Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger rebels 'disappear'

[ BBC ][ May 16 20:11 GMT ]

Three Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels who took part in a rehabilitation ceremony last year may subsequently have been taken away by the authorities, a rights campaigner has said. It has emerged that parents saw photos of their children at the ceremony attended by President Rajapaksa but now know nothing of their fate. Since 2009 more than 11,000 people have been detained for varying periods. [ full story | comments ]

- Sri Lanka trying to locate three youths in The Hindu picture - The Hindu

Feature Image

Image Courtesy: The Hindu
Son's picture that appeared in The Hindu gives Mullaitivu mother hope [ more ]

Refugees Are People Too

If Bill C-31, "Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act," passes in ...

Canada urges Sri Lanka police to probe murder

Canada says it expects Sri Lanka to make a full investigation of the m...

LTTE sympathiser freed after 5 years in US prison

A Sri Lankan native, who was head of the LTTE in the US and had pleade...

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Winning Sri Lanka's Peace

[ WSJ ][ May 16 19:16 GMT ]

On the face of it, Sri Lanka has much to celebrate this week as it marks the third anniversary of its military victory over the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). After that scarring 26-year civil war, which was among the bloodiest in modern Asia, ended, the economy is the hottest in its neighborhood: Last year GDP grew by 8.3%, the fastest expansion since independence in 1948. Tourist arrivals were up about 30% from a year earlier. In President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka boasts a leader whose regional peers can only envy his popularity with the masses and robust parliamentary majority. [ full story | comments ]

Owner of MV Sun Sea charged with human smuggling

[ National Post ][ May 16 19:14 GMT ]

A Sri Lankan man who had long been linked to the massive MV Sun Sea human smuggling operation appeared in a Vancouver courtroom on Wednesday and was ordered to return June 5 for a bail hearing. Kunarobinson Christhurajah, 32, was the owner of the Thai cargo ship that arrived off the West Coast in August 2010 carrying 492 Sri Lankan refugee claimants. He was arrested Monday along with Lesly Jana Emmanuel. Both have been charged with human smuggling and face a possible life sentence and $1-million fine. A third alleged organizer, Thayakaran Markandu, was arrested in France on March 29 and extradition proceedings are underway. [ full story | comments ]

- Two charged with helping to smuggle migrants to Canada aboard MV Sun Sea - CP

Tributes to war reporter Colvin at London service

[ AFP ][ May 16 19:12 GMT ]

War reporter Marie Colvin was described as the "bravest of the brave" at a memorial service in London on Wednesday for the Sunday Times journalist who was killed while covering the conflict in Syria. The packed congregation at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square heard Sunday Times editor John Witherow describe the American correspondent as the "greatest war correspondent of her generation". "Marie inspired love, affection and respect wherever she went. She had a gift of friendship and she nurtured many friends with as much love as she cared for her journalism," he said. [ full story | comments ]

Refugees Are People Too

[ Huffington Post ][ May 16 12:58 GMT ]

If Bill C-31, "Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act," passes in parliament, Canada will lose its reputation for fairness and human rights and, more importantly, hundreds if not thousands of people's lives will be adversely affected. Other Huffington Post contributions noted that the bill's earlier incarnation, C-4, was dangerously misguided in its attempts to stop human smuggling. The revised bill is in fact more draconian, dropping many of the protections guaranteed in the first one. The bill's mandatory immigration detention provision, among others, will harm innocent people, cost a lot of money and wont deter human smuggling or refugee claimants -- the bill's ultimate goal. [ full story | comments ]

Partnership helps restore public services in rural Sri Lanka

[ Uniceff ][ May 16 12:56 GMT ]

It’s the morning rounds of the village mothers’ support group. Today, they’re visiting one of the poorest families in this remote village in eastern Sri Lanka. Their concern is Sujalan, the youngest of Packiyaluxmi’s three children. He’s 2 years old and recovering from severe acute malnutrition. The women want to monitor his progress, check his medical record and give support. At his home, they find good news: Sujalan’s health is improving. The mothers’ support group is just one of many important initiatives resulting from a 3-year partnership between the European Union (EU) and UNICEF, in collaboration with the Government of Sri Lanka. [ full story | comments ]

Jaffna Tamil petitioners allege they were forced to sign

[ Lakbima ][ May 16 10:31 GMT ]

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted leave to proceed with petitions filed by 51 Jaffna Tamils who allege that the military and police assaulted them in the aftermath of the ‘grease yaka’ (devils) incidents in the peninsula last year. The petitioners also say that their fundamental and language rights were violated by the police forcing them to sign statements in Sinhala, which they do not understand. The first respondent in this case is Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The others include the army commander, the security forces commander, Jaffna, the inspector general of police, commander of the 51 division, commander of the 512 brigade, and other army and police officials. [ full story | comments ]

A mother searches for her son, with a photograph that appeared in The Hindu

[ Hindu ][ May 16 03:32 GMT ]

Hope came in end February 2012, in the form of a photograph in a Tamil newspaper. The Hindu's photograph that appeared in print on October 1, 2011, of a function at Temple Trees where Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa handed over the former LTTE combatants to their families , was published in the local Tamil weekly...“I can spot my son in that picture. I can also spot two of his friends,” said Saroja Devi. After that I have been walking around with this photo,” she said and thanked The Hindu for letting her know that her son was alive. [ full story | comments ]

Sri Lanka mulls freeing jailed ex-army chief

[ AFP ][ May 15 22:43 GMT ]

Sri Lankan authorities are mulling a pardon for jailed former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka amid international calls for his release, an official said Tuesday. President Mahinda Rajapakse was likely to consider freeing Fonseka who is serving two jail terms over two separate cases -- one ordered by a military court martial and one by a civilian court, an official close to the president said. "A pardon could be issued around the time when the foreign minister (G. L. Peiris) is in Washington," said the official, who declined to be named. [ full story | comments (1) ]

UNP doubts whether Govt. is genuine

[ Daily Mirror ][ May 15 15:20 GMT ]

The United National Party (UNP) said today there were questions whether the Government was genuine about Monday’s bilateral talks with the UNP though there was the possibility of a broad dialogue with all opposition political parties to resolve the national issue. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told journalists that even in past the UNP has had bitter experiences when it held talks with the government. “Sri Lanka will definitely fall into difficulty if the government does not make a genuine effort to resolve the national question because the international community is keeping an eye on the country now more than ever before,” Mr. Attanayake said. [ full story | comments ]

George W Bush guilty of war crimes

[ Fairfax NZ News ][ May 15 13:50 GMT ]

Former United States president George W Bush and seven of his associates have been found guilty of war crimes. But their deeds are likely to go unpunished as the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal which found them guilty is a "tribunal of conscience" and does not have the power to impose any punishment. They were charged and convicted for Torture and Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment of the Complainant War Crime Victims, Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War said in a statement. [ full story | comments (2) ]

Refugee limbo spurs suicide attempts

[ SMH ][ May 16 19:15 GMT ]

REFUGEES with no prospect of being released or resettled after secret Australian Security Intelligence Organisation assessments branded them security threats have suffered a spate of suicide attempts inside detention centres Two Tamils at a detention centre in Melbourne's north given an adverse assessment by ASIO have attempted to take their lives in the past month - one of them twice. A third man, Jasee, stood screaming with an electrical cord clutched in his hand late on Sunday at the spot his friend had swung by the neck until almost dead three nights before. [ full story | comments ]

Sri Lanka could free jailed ex-army chief 'within days'

[ AFP ][ May 16 19:12 GMT ]

Sarath Fonseka could be free "within days" after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse held talks on Wednesday with the jailed former army chief's political party, officials said. Fonseka fell out with the government over who should take credit for winning the separatist war against the Tamil Tiger rebels and he lost the 2010 presidential election to Rajapakse after quitting the army. Two weeks after his election defeat, Fonseka was detained on a charge of corruption relating to military procurements. He was given a 30-month jail sentence in September 2010. [ full story | comments ]

Days of Remembrance: Tamils Remember, Three Year On

[ CTC ][ May 16 16:33 GMT ]

May 2009 brought Tamils around the world unprecedented anguish and tragedy as the 27 year long brutal ethnic conflict came to a disastrous end. The month of May will always be etched in the memory of Tamils around the world for generations to come as more than 40,000 Tamils were massacred during the final stages. In an effort to raise awareness of the injustice and in commemoration of those who perished, the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) has organized and participated in various events. Following a parliamentary press conference on the morning of April 24th, 2012, CTC organized a screening of Channel 4’s “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields – War Crimes Unpunished” in the Canadian Parliament. [ full story | comments ]

Sri Lankan rice farmers buffeted by flood, drought

[ Asia Times ][ May 16 12:57 GMT ]

Last year was one of extremes for the small Sri Lankan village of Verugal. Lying on the island's northeastern coast, Verugal began the year with incessant rainfall. Between January and February 2011, the east coast received a year's worth of rain, which destroyed more than 7,000 hectares of rice crops in Verugal and about 17% of the country's annual rice harvest. Some villages were cut off for weeks on end. "I was working in a life jacket for over two weeks," said Ponnabalam Thanesvaran, head of the Verugal divisional secretariat and the highest-ranking government official for the region. Just as the rains abated around September, Verugal fell foul of nature's wrath once more, this time weathering the flip side of the coin: drought. [ full story | comments ]

Sri Lanka cautions against imposing external solution

[ Indian Express ][ May 16 10:34 GMT ]

Sri Lanka has cautioned the US against imposing any foreign solution to the issues concerning its people. "We also realise that the process that we have in mind must be a domestic process. It can't be donor-driven or foreign-owned. That will be unhelpful in implementing the reforms that are required at this moment in history," Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G L Peiris said.In his address to the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars -- a Washington-based think tank, Peiris said, "At the end of the day, the solution that everyone wants has got to have a home-grown element to it." [ full story | comments ]

The Transitional Justice Function of Multicultural Policies in Sri Lanka

[ Human Rights Blog ][ May 16 03:35 GMT ]

After an almost three-decade long civil war, the island of Sri Lanka is confronted with the significant political challenge of reintegrating an ethnic minority separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) back into a coherent society connected by state institutions. However, this is complicated by two issues. First, the government that successfully ended the war is highly favorable toward the ethnic majority group, the Sinhalese; and second, many in the Tamil community remain recalcitrant about the prospect of submitting to Sinhala majority rule. By adopting policies of multiculturalism, liberals in the Tamil diaspora and in Sri Lanka can moderate radical chauvinist claims in their respective camps and work toward a more tolerant society. [ full story | comments ]

Immigration for dummies: What transformational change means for newcomers

[ Postmedia News ][ May 15 22:46 GMT ]

Trying to make sense of Canada's complicated and seemingly ever-changing immigration system can be a taxing exercise. From legislative amendments to regulatory changes, from proposals to studies, from ministerial instructions to pilot projects, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has promised "transformational change" but has released details of the government's plan piecemeal, muddying the waters even further. [ full story | comments (1) ]

Tamil migrant ship smuggling probe leads to more charges

[ CBC News ][ May 15 22:42 GMT ]

Two more people have been charged with organizing illegal entry into Canada in connection with a ship that brought hundreds of Tamil migrants to B.C.'s West Coast. According to documents sworn in B.C. provincial court in Vancouver, Kunarobinson Christhurajah and Lesly Jana Emmanuel were charged Monday in connection with the MV Sun Sea, the boat that arrived off the B.C. coast in August 2010, carrying 492 people. Christhurajah and Emmanuel are both named in an amended indictment, bringing to three the total of people now charged in the case. [ full story | comments ]

- Two men charged over Tamil migrant ship that carried 492 people to Canada - Globe And Mail

British Tamil Conservatives: Rajapaksa’s visit would tarnish Queen’s six decade reign

[ Truth Dive ][ May 15 15:17 GMT ]

Britain gears up for four-day long celebrations from June 2-5 to mark the remarkable 60 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. On this momentous occasion, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the commander-in-chief of the war-crimes has been invited to take part in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the British Monarch Queen Elizabeth. The British Tamils for Conservatives (BTC), committed to bring awareness of the predicament of the Tamils in Sri Lanka within the Conservative party and also seek justice, peace and self-esteem for the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, has however put across its unhappiness about the news. [ full story | comments (3) ]

Ex-Sri Lanka army chief Fonseka to be freed soon: Sources

[ PTI ][ May 15 12:34 GMT ]

Jailed former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka, who led the successful battle against the Tamil Tigers, might be released within the next few days, presidential sources in Colombo said. "Fonseka's release is a possibility," the sources who did not want to be named said without giving any time frame. But the Lankan media reports said the freeing of Fonseka may come about in coming days. Colombo is facing intense international pressure to release Fonseka and according to media reports President Mahinda Rajapaksa [ Images ] might grant him a Presidential pardon. [ full story | comments (2) ]

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தமிழர்களின் கோரிக்கை குறைந்தபட்ச அதிகாரப் பரவலாக்கமே - சோமிதரன்

ம்பூர் எங்களது சொந்த மண் அங்கு எம்மை குடியமர்த்துங்கள்; மூதூர் சென்றிருந்த சரவணபவன் எம்.பியிடம் இடம்பெயர்ந்த மக்கள் கண்ணீர் மல்கக் கோரிக்கை

தெரிவுக்குழு தொடர்பில் ரணில்- சம்பந்தன் பேச்சு; ஜனாதிபதியுடனான சந்திப்புத் தொடர்பிலும் விரிவாக விளக்கினார் எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர்

கனடாவுக்கு சட்டவிரோதமாக கப்பலை கொண்டு சென்றதாக எம்.வி.சன் ஸீ உரிமையாளர் மீது குற்றச்சாட்டு

மூன்றாம் தரப்பு பிரஜைகளாக வடக்கில் வாழும் பொதுமக்கள் - ஐ.தே.க. சுட்டிக்காட்டு

சர்ச்சையை கிளம்‌பியு‌ள்ள 'கோத்தாவின் போ‌ர்' பு‌த்த‌க‌‌ம்

புதுக்குடியிருப்பில் வெடிபொருள் இராணுவ ஆய்வாளர் சந்தேகம்

கூட்டமைப்பு பங்கேற்க்காவிட்டால் தெரிவுக்குழுவுக்கு ஜ.தே.க. வராது; ஜனாதிபதியிடம் நேரில் திட்டவட்டமாக ரணில் தெரிவிப்பு

போராட்டத்தில் உயிரைப் பறிகொடுத்த உறவுகளின்எண்ணிக்கையை இன்றுவரை கணக்கிட முடியவில்லை: சிவசக்தி எம்.பி

இந்தியா எதைத் தந்துவிடப்போகிறது என்று உழுத்ததைத் தூக்கிக் காட்டினீர்கள்? ; மெனிக்பாம் மக்கள் மீது பாய்ந்தார் அமைச்சர்

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2012-05-16 - London, London