In separate incidents, two dead bodies have been found in Kokkaddicholai and Oorani, in the Eastern Province this week, reports Batti News. In Kokkaddicholai, 32 year old Arunasalam Kirubakaran was found hanging on Thursday, said the Eastern Province based website. Meanwhile, Batticaloa police reported they recovered the body of 55 year old Suntharanathan Santhirakumar in Oorani. Police are reportedly investigating both cases.
A Tamil prisoner in Batticaloa died on Thursday, after allegedly slipping and falling whilst cutting branches off a tree within court premises. Forty-five year old Paramanananthamoorthy Shanmuganathan was taken to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital for treatment, however died shortly afterwards, reports BattiNews .
The Sri Lanka Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is to meet with India's National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval, in New Delhi next week for "high-level" talks, reports The Hindu . Sources in New Delhi, confirmed the meeting however did not "get into the details", the paper added. The meeting follows talks between the two countries at the Second Annual Defence Dialogue held in Colombo earlier this month. See here for more.
The opposition party UNP denied that a deal had been reached between the TNA and the UNP, stressing that the party would not agree "to any conditions of any political party", the Colombo Gazette reports. "There is an attempt to give the impression the UNP has reached a deal with the TNA which could be seen as unpatriotic," the paper quoted UNP MP Kabir Hashim as saying. See related article: UNP rejects any political solution beyond 13A (14 Oct 2014) UNP leader seeks support from Fonseka (09 Oct 2014)
The Sri Lankan navy has reportedly damaged the fishing nets of some 20 Indian boats, who were fishing near Katchatheevu, reports PTI . Fishermen Association president S Emerit stated that 535 boats had left Rameswaram to go fishing, when Sri Lankan navy personnel in 5 navy vessels approached them near Katchatheevu. The Sri Lankan troops then proceeded to snap the nets of 5 boats and threatened the fishermen at gunpoint, said Emerit. The latest incident comes as the Sri Lankan navy handed over 94 Tamil Nadu fishermen to the Indian Coast Guard, releasing them from custody. Earlier this week, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the Sri Lankan navy's treatment of Tamil Nadu fishermen. See our earlier post: Tamil Nadu CM seeks Modi intervention for release of fishing boats held by Sri Lanka (16 October 2014)
Teachers in Neduntheevu have been forced to pay thousands of rupees for festivities thrown during Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to the region earlier this week, reports Colombo Telegraph . Rajapaksa had visited the Neduntheevu Maha Vidyalaya on the 14 October, where he opened the “Mahindodaya laboratory” at the school. Teachers at the school have been ordered to pay Rs. 7000 each by the school administration, for the festivities thrown during Rajapaksa's visit. The events thrown cost Rs. 108,000 over the Rs. 200,000 budget, said Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin.
The high court in Vavuniya has been without a judge since the retirement of the previous judge nearly two months ago, reports the Uthayan . Due to the absence of a judge, several important cases, including a large number of cases under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) are being postponed, law sources told the daily. Relatives of detainees held under the PTA say they are required to go back and forth from the court as a result of the continuous postponements. The head of the Vavuniya Lawyers Association, Kanthasamy Thayaparan told Uthayan that administrative activities are also being...
Tamil Nadu’s former chief minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa has been granted bail by India’s Supreme Court. Jayalalithaa was forced to resign her position as chief minister last month after being sentenced to 4 years in prison for corruption. Her lawyers had argued for her release on bail due to her health condition and are appealing her conviction. The Supreme Court ordered her to "complete all paperwork" relating to the appeal against her conviction within two months in the Karnataka high court, warning it would not give her "a day more" if she failed to complete the necessary procedures.
The Sri Lankan military inaugurated science lessons for 300 students in Mullaitheevu on Tuesday, reports the army.lk . The student science course, to be taught in Tamil, was sponsored by Singapore. Earlier this week the Sri Lankan army laid the corner stone for a new garment factory that would be constructed in Mullaitheevu. Photograph:army.lk The cornerstone to the foundation was laid on Sunday to coincide with other development projects organised by the Sri Lankan Army to be launched in the North, reports army.lk.
Northern Provincial Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan has spoken out against the abuse of Tamil political prisoners in Sri Lanka's prisons, and has called for their immediate and unconditional release. In a press release on Thursday, Ms Sasitharan expressed her horror at the 'savagery', violence and abuse, which Tamil political prisoners are subjected to and vowed to mobilise to protest against their ongoing detention. Full text of press release below: "The Northern Provincial Council has passed countless motions calling for the unconditional release of Tamil political prisoners locked up for years under the suspicion of the same government of Sri Lanka which claims to have achieved peace and reconciliation after the war, but there has been no visible progress. That Tamil youth are massacred and tortured in jail is known by all, since 1983 and continuing to the present day. The sudden deaths of Tamil political prisoners in prison are frequently justified or covered up by the state.