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TamilNet Newswire
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Latest 20 TamilNet reports from Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka: Fonseka refuses to seek pardon from Rajapaksa
Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sarath Fonseka said that he had
been approached by intermediaries of Sri Lankas President Mahinda
Rajapaksa urging him to ask the President for a pardon. I told them
that I will never do that, Sarath Fonseka said at a media briefing held in
the parliamentary complex Wednesday. Sarath Fonseka, leader of the
Democratic National Alliance (DNA) and other MPs of the DNA
participated in the media briefing.
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Sri Lanka: 'Colombo teaches lessons of political culture for South Asia'
The 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed in Sri Lankan parliament Wednesday with a majority of 144 votes. The Amendment, which has been passed in a rush by the government without pubic debate enables Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest presidential election for any number of terms besides bestowing additional powers in the appointments of key government posts. What is happening to state and democracy in the island of Sri Lanka is a warning to people who are deceived in the democratic practices of dynasties and families in the rest of South Asia, political observers said. Sometimes back, a key diplomat of a leading power, looking after South Asia, tolerantly sounded that family rule in the island is typical of contemporary political culture in the region.
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Sri Lanka: Six UNP MPs support Rajapaksa's 18th Amendment
Six parliamentarians of the main opposition of United National Party
(UNP) crossed over to the government benches while the debate on the
18th amendment to the constitution was in progress Wednesday evening.
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Debate on 18th amendment begins in Sri Lankan Parliament
Sri Lankas seventy nine year-old Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratna tabled
the 18th Amendment to the constitution in Parliament Wednesday
morning. According to the 18th amendment, the restriction of the two term
executive presidency system is to be removed allowing the incumbent
president to contest any number of times.
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Sri Lanka: SL Army, Archaeology dept appropriate lands of uprooted Tamils in Maathakal
Sri Lanka governments archaeological department with the help of Sri Lanka Army is constructing more structures in Thirvadinilai in Maathakal in Vallikaamam North SLA High Security Zone (HSZ), in addition to a Buddhist temple erected in October 2009. This area had been the home of Tamil families living there since ancient times evicted twenty years ago when Valikaamam North HSZ was established by SLA. Now the families are not allowed even to see their own places in Maathakal while thousands of Sinhala Buddhist pilgrims visit the newly built temple daily which now has become a 'tourist attraction' in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said.
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Sri Lanka: UNP to boycott debate on 18th amendment Wednesday
Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the main opposition United
National Party (UNP) Tuesday announced in Sri Lanka parliament that his party
would not attend the debate on the 18th amendment to the Constitution
of Sri Lanka when it is taken up for debate on Wednesday. UNP
parliamentarians led by Ranil Wickremasinghe thereafter walked out.
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Sri Lanka: SL parliament adopts emergency extension without voting
Sri Lankas Parliament Tuesday adopted a motion to extend the
State of Emergency for another month without voting. Prime Minister
D. M. Jayaretna tabled the motion seeking the approval of the
parliament. Parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) who were present in the house did not ask for division when the motion was put to vote.
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Sri Lanka: UNP MPs enter parliament clad in black
Majority of parliamentarians of the main opposition United National
Party (UNP) Tuesday afternoon entered the parliament clad in black as
a mark of protest in opposition to the 18th amendment to the
constitution. One dissident parliamentarian of the UNP Abdul Cader of
Kandy district was present in the house in his usual attire and not in
black.
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Sri Lanka: Thousands attend Nalloor Thear festival
The Thear (Chariot) festival of the historic Nalloor Kanthasuvaami Temple in Jaffna town was held Tuesday morning with at least a hundred thousand devotees from all over the island and abroad participating in the annual festival. The opening of A9 road had enabled the devotees to travel easily to Jaffna. Tamils and Sinhala people from South and expatriate Tamils in particular were among the thousands of devotees, sources in Jaffna said.
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Sri Lanka: SLA Commander declines to comment on Jaffna GAs announcement
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe declined to endorse Jaffna Government Ms. Imelda Sukumars announcement that uprooted families from Valikaamam North SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) will be soon allowed resettlement in a recent meeting at Jaffna Veerasingham Hall, representatives of welfare organizations for uprooted families from Valikaamam North said. The GA is acting as if she is the spokesperson of Sri Lanka Defence Ministry, they accused. SLA Jaffna continues to deny permission for resettlement as Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa is unyielding in his decision not to permit resettlement in Valikaamam North HSZ, they said.
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Sri Lanka: TNA to vote against 18th amendment
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that has a parliamentary strength of
fourteen members Monday decided to vote against the 18th amendment to
the Constitution of Sri Lanka, according to Colombo media reports
quoting TNA media spokesman and Jaffna district
parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran.
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Sri Lanka: Pro-government left parties to vote for 18th amendment
The Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL), Lanka Sama Samaja Party
(LSSP) and Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), constituents of the ruling
United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Monday decided to support the
18th amendment in parliament. CPSL is led by Minister
D. E. W. Gunasekara, LSSP by Minister Tissa Vitharana and NSSP by
Vasudeva Nanayakara.
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Sri Lanka: Sivathamby denies involvement in Tamil writers conference
Veteran Eezham Tamil scholar Professor Karthigesu Sivathamby, Emeritus Professor of Tamil of the University of Jaffna, Sunday denied a report that he had been in the forefront in organizing the so-called 'World Tamil Writers Conference' in Colombo scheduled for January next year. His denial was carried in the Sunday edition of a
leading Tamil weekly, Thinakkural, published from Colombo.
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Sri Lanka: 'India should stop calling Eezham Tamils a minority'
Eezham Tamils are a nation having historical sovereignty and territory in the island called Sri Lanka. Members of the Indian Establishment should stop humiliating them any further by calling them as minority. Tamil brethren of Tamil Nadu should be sensitive enough and stop such fundamentally faulty approaches and psyop war of the New Delhi-Chennai-Colombo axis on the historical nation of Eezham Tamils in the island. Edification of Chennai and New Delhi is basic to make the world see the crisis in realistic perspectives. Eezham Tamils, in their casual and social interaction should consciously stop using the recently invented name 'Sri' Lanka of genocidal connotations, when an official Tamil name Ilangkai and another ancient Tamil name Eezham are available to refer to the island, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka: Devotees throng Nalloor Chapparam festival
Devotees in their thousands from across Sri Lanka and abroad filled the temple precincts at the annual Chapparam festival of Nalloor Kanthasuvaami temple in Jaffna held Monday night. Jaffna peninsula devotees took part in greater number than they had in previous years, sources in Jaffna said. The Chapparam festival will be followed with Thear (Chariot) festival Tuesday and Theerththam (Water cutting) festival Wednesday.
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Sri Lanka: Deepening of fisheries jetties in Vadamaraadchi stopped
Sri Lanka National Environment Commission (NEC) has stopped the deepening of the fisheries jetties in Vadamaraadchi saying prior permission had not been obtained from NEC. The deepening of the jetties had commenced after a long period. Fishermen societies in Vadamaraadchi said that they will gather fishermen to launch protest demonstrations unless Sri Lanka government finds a solution for the problem.
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Sri Lanka: NJ court dismisses 5 out of 7 charges against alleged fund raising by Tamils
During the pre-trial phase of a lawsuit accusing two Tamils and a US-registered Tamil charity, Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) for allegedly providing funds to the Liberation Tigers which is listed as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)" by the US Department of State, and thereby aiding the Liberation Tigers in causing the death of several Sri Lanka civilians, U.S. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh dismissed all but two charges, legal sources in Washington said. The suit was filed by relatives of 24 Sri Lankan civilians under a 1789 US statute Alien Tort Claim Act (ATCA) for the alleged killing by the LTTE. Legal sources in Washington said that the plaintiffs face a difficult legal challenge to establish that the remaining two charges due to the higher thresholds of burden of proof demanded by the Court.
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Sri Lanka stifles attempts to investigate war atrocities - paper
Comparing how the United States accounted any Vietnamese killed as Viet Cong, Peter Bouckert, in the British Daily Guardian said Sunday that "Sri Lanka's defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has taken such creative accounting to new heights. The United Nations reported that at least 7,000 civilians were killed and tens of thousands wounded during the final months of the brutal conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which ended in May 2009. But Gotabhaya has repeatedly cast aspersions on the idea that there were any civilian casualties."
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Sri Lanka: All island District Government Agents conference in Jaffna
Sri Lanka Public Administration Affairs Ministry held its first
all island District Government Agents conference in Jaffna Monday in District Secretaiat hall at 9:00 a.m presided by Sri Lanka Minister of Public Administration, John Seneviratne. Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar told Tamilnet that past development activities in the North and future devolpment projects were discussed in the meeting. Allocation of funds for various projects was also considered, the GA said.
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Sri Lanka: 174 Tamil youths disappeared in Vanthaarumoolai remembered
Parents and relatives of one hundred and seventy four Tamil youths
disappeared after arrest by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from
Vanthaa'rumoolai campus of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka in
Batticaloa district two decades ago held prayers in memory of them Sunday. SLA troops had come in buses and taken 158 Tamil youths by force from Vanthaa'rumoolai campus on 05.09.1990 and 16 youths eighteen days later on September 23.
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