The Tamil National Alliance MP Seenithambi Yogeswaran said that his party will announce by the end of the month which one of the two presidential candidates it will support. Speaking during a conference in India on Saturday, Yogeswaran said the TNA did not want to influence the outcome of the elections by backing a candidate pre-maturely and that the party would wait for both ‘anti-Tamil’ candidates, incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his challenger Maithripala Sirisena, to release their manifestos, The Hindu reported. The MP said the TNA will not boycott the election. “We will take part in the democratic process and exercise our democratic right,” he said. “As of now, Mr. Sirisena’s prospects look bright.” Meanwhile the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the largest constituent party of the TNA, said its members are “keen” to exercise their franchise and vote at the elections.
Two Tamil women have testified that their children were shot and killed by the Sri Lankan Army, as the Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons (PCICMP) began to collect testimonies from Vavuniya on Sunday. Uthayan reports the two mothers describing to the Commission how their children failed to return home from a visit to the Chettikulam hospital, and were shot dead near an army camp three days later.
The latest UNP member to cross over to the government side was a Uva Provincial Council member, Janaka Tissakuttiarachchi. Meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on Sunday, Tissakuttiarachchi pledged his endorsement, reports the Island newspaper. According to the paper, Tissakuttiarachchi told a press conference that two more UNP members would follow suit shortly. "We expected a Presidential candidate from the UNP and asked party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to contest the election," he reportedly said. "The UNP had no say in Sirisena’s campaign and it had been totally hijacked by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, who had ruined the country for 11 years," he added.
A student at the University of Jaffna was assaulted on Sunday evening, by four men who stated they were from Sri Lanka's military intelligence wing. The student, who is currently a second year undergraduate, was detained by the officers at 10pm local time and taken in front of university premises where the assault took place, reported the Uthayan newspaper. The officers then called a friend of the victim, a third year student, and demanded that he come immediately to the university in order to ensure his friend is released. The third year student, arrived with his friends and informed police...
Over 1,500 acres of land belonging to Tamil families in Mullaithivu have been transferred to Sinhalese families resettled in Kokkuthoduvay reports TamilNet . The provincial land commissioner was instructed by the Sri Lankan military governor of the Northern Province, General Chandrasiri, to sign lands to Sinhala families under a ‘Mahaweli Development Scheme’ , sources told the paper. The decision was announced in a closed door meeting with the military governor, Tamil officials and further members of the Sri Lankan military, despite over 3,000 unresolved cases filed by Tamils regarding land ownership issues in the area. The latest announcement has upset the original inhabitants of the area, said northern provincial councilor Thurairasa Ravikaran.
An overseas LTTE network was working against Sri Lankan interests, Mahinda Rajapaksa told crowds at an election rally in the south of the island. Urging the public to vote for the ruling coalition, the Sir Lankan president said that the ‘victory’ achieved at the end of the war would be maintained following the election, reports the Colombo Gazette . Rajapaksa added that people in Sri Lanka needed to continue to fight against terrorism and ensure that the LTTE does not raise its head in Sri Lanka again.
Amnesty International has called on Sri Lanka's candidates in the forthcoming presidential elections to respect international human rights obligations and prosecute those suspected of committing crimes under international law. In a statement released ahead of the presidential elections next month, the non-governmental organisation said it “calls on all candidates to make a firm commitment to end the widespread human rights violations that have plagued Sri Lanka for decades, eliminate the climate of impunity which facilitates these violations and abuses and combat ethnic, religious and gender-based discrimination and violence.” “Sri Lanka’s new president can demonstrate his commitment to respecting human rights and bringing an end to impunity by committing publicly to ensure the investigation of serious violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law and, where sufficient evidence exists, the prosecution of those suspected of committing crimes under international law, irrespective of the identity of the victim or the suspect including their rank, political status or influence.” Amnesty International highlighted areas of concern that it urged candidates to act on, including the Prevention of Terrorism Act, Buddhist hardline organisations and the culture of impunity on the island.
New York City Events across the USA marked Maaveerar Naal last month, in remembrance of those Tamils who gave their lives for the Tamil struggle. Remembrance events were held in California, Boston and New York City to mark the day, with hundreds of people in attendance. See photos from the events below.
The Sri Lankan navy reportedly fired shots in the air and threw bottles and stones at Indian fishermen from Ramneswaran, who were forced to return to shore without any catch, reports the Hindu . About 3,000 fishermen were fishing near Katchatheevu, when five Sri Lankan navy fast boats and a ship fired eight rounds in the air, said S Emirite, President of the Rameswaram Fishermen’s organisation. The navy personnel went on to throw stones and bottles at the fishermen from Tamil Nadu, before cutting the nets of twenty of the boats.
There is an international plan to isolate Sri Lanka economically and destabilise the government, said the minister for external affairs whilst adding that a ‘biased’ United Nations investigation into wartime atrocities would not deliver justice. In an interview with the Sunday Leader GL Peiris, said that there was “a concerted effort to get rid of a strong government,” and argued that ‘pro-LTTE’ diaspora were working with international actors to destabilise the country. “So it all adds up to a complete and coherent picture. And connected with that is the plan to isolate the country economically,” said Peiris commenting on statements made by the Global Tamil Forum on Aljazeera and alleged reports of international evidence gathering “with regard to command structure of the armed forces.”