Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

Justice to the victims of the anti-Sikh violence in Delhi seems far away even after 25 years.

THE crowd at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on November 7 perhaps symbolised what Jarnail Singh said at the launch of his book on the anti-Sikh violence of 1984, I Accuse. In the hall, packed to capacity, were only Sikhs except for a few journalists, when Jarnail Singh, who shot to fame when he hurled his shoe at Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a press conference a few months ago, asked desperately: Why has no one except members of the Sikh community come forward as witnesses in the carnage that took place across the capital in 1984? Why, even after 25 years, only Sikh groups have been raising their voices against the government`s inaction?

AMBEPUSSA, Sri Lanka Vinojan`s boyhood ended when Sri Lanka`s civil war reignited.

Fifteen at the time, he says he joined the separatist Tamil Tigers to save his older brother from forcible conscription, and became a reluctant fighter as the rebels fought their last, desperate battles for survival.

Now, having won the war, Sri Lanka is trying to make patriotic citizens out of child soldiers like Vinojan and others who just months ago were fighting against the nation.

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Oct 20 - The highway is open, prices are up and business is growing in post-war northern Sri Lanka, but traders say a legacy of tight security left by a 25-year conflict is holding back the region`s full potential.

The northern Jaffna district has been all but cut off from most of Sri Lanka since war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists broke out in 1983.

CHENNAI: In the wake of violent protests by lawyers, police have issued shoot-at-sight orders in Tamil Nadu against those trying to damage public properties and create disturbance to general public.

District SPs have been empowered to carry out the order, a release from the DGP`s office said on Friday night.

Appropriate action would be taken against those trying to damage vehicles or involving in other illegal activities, it said.

Knife crime claimed another two teenagers` lives at the weekend as a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old were stabbed to death in separate attacks.

The younger victim, Conor Black, died from a single wound to the shoulder outside a house party in Manchester in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The 17-year-old, Nilanthan Moorthi, was stabbed to death in South London after apparently being caught up in a clash between rival gangs.

His death brings the number of teenagers murdered so far this year in the capital to 23. Eighteen of those were stabbed.

Google today launches its controversial Street View mapping tool in Australia amid a backlash against the feature by privacy activists around the world.

Street View, accessed from http://maps.google.com.au/help/maps/streetview/, lets people explore the country at ground level for the first time with little more than a computer and an internet connection.

Google-branded Holden Astra cars with roof-mounted cameras began traversing our streets about November last year, taking tens of millions of detailed panoramic street-level photos.

Seven gang members who ambushed a rival with samurai swords and attempted to hack off his head have been sentenced to 63 and a half years in prison.

The Sri Lankan mobsters carried out the sickening attack in Braemar Ave, Alperton, leaving victim Arulmurugan `Arul` Sebamalai, 23, with his hand hanging from his wrist.

Police seized blood stained knives, baseball bats and pick-axe handles studded with bolts from the violent gang, who were led by Senthurrajah Thavapalasingham - nicknamed Psycho, 21.

Good hunting to the boys fighting to defen our homeland from the terrorists who want to steal it.

The story in Tuesday`s Post raises the possibility that fundraising amongst the Sri Lankan diaspora might not actually be as lucrative as the Tamil Tiger leadership would like.

Colonel Soosai, who commands the rebel navy wing known as the Sea Tigers, told three Canadian Tamil activists he was frustrated about the `insufficient activities of the branches in Canada and England,` according to a 12-page report. He said he was `expecting a huge sum` of money and that Tamil activists should `act accordingly,` says the document, written by the Tamil Tigers International Coordination Centre but seized by RCMP counter-terrorism officers in Toronto. The document is an account of a meeting that took place in a rebel-held region of northern Sri Lanka in 2004. Several senior guerrillas addressed the visiting delegation, including Col. Soosai, who complained that `most of the promises` made by foreign supporters `ended up as fictions.`

Stockholm, 26 May, (Asiantribune.com): The Stockholm Challenge Award 2008 has been awarded to Shilpa Sayura (Sea of knowledge) Project presented by Sri Lanka under education category. A total of 145 outstanding ICT projects from all over the world under six categories were selected as finalist.

All finalists were invited to Stockholm and participated in the Challenge Week, held from May 19 22 in Kista, North of Stockholm City. The Awards ceremony took place in the evening on May 22, in the Blue Hall, venue of the Nobel Banquet. The winning projects in each category were announced and presented with the Challenge Trophy and a check of 5.000 Euros.

The time was about 7.45 - 7.50 pm.on Tuesday May 13th.

Four young men on two cycles were traveling along the intricate labyrinth of inter-connected Olungaigal (by-lanes) of Karaveddy in the Vadamaratchy division of Jaffna peninsula.

It was dark as a power cut was on. Electricity is supplied on a rotational basis to different areas of the peninsula. There is a time-table according to which localities are given electricity for specific periods. power-cut time for Karaveddy had begun at 7. 30 pm.

By D.B.S.Jeyaraj

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Tamil political assassinations first began on July 25th 1975 it was a man on his way to worship at the Varadarajapperumaal Vishu temple at Ponnalai who was shot outside the kovil.

This was Jaffna Mayor Alfred Durayappa who though a christian by birth became a sort of theosophist in later life and used to worship at Hindu temples also.

Durayappa was the independent MP for Jaffna in 1960 March and July. He contested as an SLFP backed independent in 1970 and lost by a tiny margin of 56 to CX Martyn of the Federal party.

KILLINOCHCHI, The Tamil Tigers in a latest release by its Heroâ??s department claimed that they have lost 19,877 carders in their quest for a separate state for the Tamils in the Island nation of Sri Lanka.



The 19,877 carders include 15,691 males and 4196 females, Heroâ??s department further said. The period sited for the numbers from November 27, 1982 to 20 November 2007. The Tamil Tigers lost their first carder Lt. Shankar on November 27, 2007. That`s the day widely celebrated by the Tamils as Heroes` Day.