Addressing a press conference in Vavuniyaa on Tuesday, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called for immediate release of all political prisoners who are held without any charges in the Sri Lankan prisons. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, representing the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) said that the International Community, especially the countries that backed the internal LLRC mechanism of Colombo in the resolution passed at the UN Human Rights Council's Sessions in Geneva earlier this year, are primarily responsible for the fate of the Tamil Prisoners of War and political prisoners. Those who attended the funeral of Nimalarooban, braving the threats posed by the Sri Lankan military and intelligence operatives, told TamilNet that the victim had sustained fatal injuries on his head.

The slaying of Nimalarooban and the brutal assault of his fellow prisoners need to be perceived in a proper context, Mr Ponnambalam addressing the press at Vavuniyaa said.

Several politicians of political parties, including the TNA, TNPF and the DPF from South, came together at Taj Hotel in Vavuniyaa criticizing the Sri Lankan state for incarceration without legal proceedings and torture, and the International Community for its inaction after having called for the surrender of LTTE fighters 3 years ago. TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran presided the press conference.

One should take note that the slaying of Nimalarooban, illustrating the pathetic plight of the political prisoners, has come after the resolution in Geneva passed in March 2012 that had sought the Sri Lankan state to conduct investigations confined to the internal justice of the Sri Lankan state, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said.

"The reality today is that the situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated to a level where one cannot expect delivery of justice internally. There is no double opinion that the Tamil Nation has been denied of internal justice for more than 60 years. As far as Tamils are concerned, we have lost hope in expecting justice from internal mechanisms. However, today, even those who disagree with the State elsewhere among the Sinhala Nation, are also being targeted," the TNPF leader said.

"So, at this juncture, the countries that passed the resolution in Geneva in March this year, expecting justice from an internal mechanism, should reconsider their stance," Mr Ponnambalam said adding that if the IC failed in taking suitable actions, the situation would continue to deteriorate.

"Our stand is that it is the responsibility of the International Community to arrest the situation. Because, it was this same IC, that gave its full support to the war, proclaiming the LTTE as terrorists believing that the problem. They were providing support to the war expecting that the leaders in the Sinhala Nation would come forward to take constructive steps in resolving the ethnic question if the Tigers were removed from the picture under the label of terrorism," he said.

"Now, even after the war was ended three years ago, the atrocities against Tamils are continuing. The responsibility of arresting the situation falls therefore on the IC," Ponnambalam said.

On 29 June, Sri Lankan elite commandos of the notorious Special Task Force (STF) stormed the Vavuniyaa prison where Tamil Prisoners of War and political prisoners had taken three prison officers into their custody, demanding evidence of existence of one of their fellow prisoner who had been subjected to severe torture.

All the 122 prisoners who were inside the raided prison cell in Vavuniyaa last Friday were taken to Anuradhapura prison, where Sinhala prison guards and criminal inmates tortured them for more than 10 hours. 22 of these Eezham Tamil POWs were later transferred to Mahara prison and Nimalarooban, hailng from a poverty-stricken family in Nelukku'lam, a suburb of Vavuniyaa, was one of them.

He succumbed to the fatal caused during the torture at Mahara prison.

According to the family of the victim, he was only arrested on mere allegations that he was an LTTE member.

The family was struggling to access the body of the victim for burial. After a prolonged struggle to get the remains of the victim for burial, the body was released with several conditions.

On Monday, SL military and police commandos were heavily deployed in Vavuniyaa. Threats were issued to close relatives of the victim not to attend the funeral.

Although the military presence was reduced on the funeral day, several people remained in houses fearing reprisals from the SL military and its intelligence squads.

Apart from politicians and journalists from the NorthEast and from the South, university students and representatives of the grassroots organizations attended the funeral which took place Tuesday evening.

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Following the case filed by the wife of the missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, Homagama Magistrate today (19) released a notice ordering the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) parliamentarian Arundika Fernando to appear before court on June 16th. The notice has been released following the request made by the counsel appearing on behalf of the aggrieved party, Attorney-at-law Upul Kumarapperuma denoting that Arundika Fernando must be questioned regarding the statement he made to the media. In his statement he had stated that Eknaligoda is currently residing in France.

A tense situation erupted at the Open University in Nawala after a student had attacked a lecturer, sources told Ada Derana. The lecturer has been admitted to the Kalubowila Hospital with cut injuries. The student who attacked the lecturer is still within the university premises carrying the sharp object used in the attack, sources claimed. Despite police being notified not a single policemen has arrived at the scene, it is reported.

Democratic Party leader Gen. Sarath Fonseka yesterday vowed to make his party the second force in the local political arena, claiming that it had already taken third place. Addressing a gathering, after presenting appointment letter to his party's electoral organisers and candidates for the forthcoming provincial council elections, the former army commander said that more than the government, it was the Opposition which feared his party. Citing an example from Pakistan, Fonseka said that the present opposition, led by former cricketer Imran Khan, had started out with only one member in parliament and in a few years it had become the main Opposition. "Likewise, the DP also expects to go on its political journey with the support of the people," he said.

The government says administratively the 13th Amendment to the constitution is a "white elephant" and past experiences have proven this. In a live Twitter interview today, President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga said that the 13th Amendment must be viewed from the angle of the citizen. "It's no secret that administratively it's a white elephant. Pres Rajapaksa will always honour the Constitution. 13 A has to be viewed from people's standpoint. Devolution must be to the village. Power must be devolved to the lowest possible level, the village - the Gramarajya or Panchayat. Sub nat'l level PCs haven't served purpose," he said. He also rejected the assertion that the actions of the government contravene the recommendations of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

MP Duminda Silva arrived in Parliament a short while ago for the first time in 18 months following the shooting incident in Kolonnawa that resulted in the death of former MP Baratha Lakshman Premachandra in 2011. The UPFA Parliamentarian was hospitalised with gunshot wounds to the head following the incident in Kolonnawa on October 8, 2011. MP Silva was further treated in Singapore where he made his recovery and returned to the island. Charge sheets were filed against 13 suspects including MP Duminda Silva over the murders of four persons including former Parliamentarian and Presidential Adviser Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

A group of young Sri Lankan cricket fans have reportedly assaulted a group of Tamil activists who were staging a peaceful protest against the Sri Lankan government at the entrance of Oval grounds in England. The incident has occurred after the Sri Lanka national cricket team gained victory over Australia in Champion Trophy. Over 100 Tamil activists including children have participated in the protest and they have been issuing leaflets, which indicated that people should boycott the matches played by the Sri Lankan cricket team as the Sri Lankan government is involved in the genocide of the Tamil ethnics. The fans who came out excited after victory of Sri Lanka over Australia has attacked the demonstrators, who were wearing yellow T shirts and holding LTTE flags, with bottles and stones. Several demonstrators have sustained injuries following the assault.

Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday intercepted and arrested 80 illegal migrants bound for Australia in the seas off the eastern coast. A fast Naval Patrol Craft attached to the Eastern Naval Command has intercepted a multi-day fishing vessel with the 80 people onboard in the seas off of Batticaloa this morning, the Navy said. The arrested migrants are being brought to the Trincomalee Harbor to be handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for further investigations. Despite Sri Lanka Navy's efforts and Australia's recent measure of returning the boat people back to home country, would-be asylum seekers continue attempting to migrate to Australia.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the Northern Province should be opened up for all communities to live in without further delay. That would be of pivotal importance to promote bonding among the people in the post-war era. The Defence Secretary emphasised that the Sinhalese shouldn't be deprived of their right to buy land in any part of the country, including the Northern Province comprising the administrative districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya. The outspoken official said that the Sinhalese and the Muslim public servants too, should be allowed to serve in the Northern Province as well as in the predominantly Tamil areas of the Eastern Province.

For the first time since the end of the military annihilation of the LTTE in May 2009, and a raging debate within Sri Lanka on the way to go about redressing the political and social grievances of the island nation's Tamils, India has expressed dismay over reports suggesting that Colombo is mulling over a review of the key issues related to devolution of powers to the provinces. At an interactive session with a delegation of the Tamil National Alliance, the legislative representative group of the Sri Lankan Tamils in the North-Eastern province, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is reported to have told them that reports of the Rajapaksa regime reneging on its commitment to New Delhi on a political package for resolution of the concerns of the Tamil community in the island nation are disturbing.

Sri Lanka's external affairs minister has pleaded with Tamil refugees in Australia who fled the nation's bloody civil war to come home - having quietly slipped into Canberra for talks on combating people smugglers. G.L. Peiris told Fairfax Media in an exclusive interview Sri Lanka is now perfectly stable, with an economic boom in the once devastated northern Tamil regions running at three-times the national average. But he warned smugglers sending record numbers of Sri Lankans by boat to Australia were making "unconscionable profits" and cared nothing for the people they put on unseaworthy vessels. "Sri Lanka is today a land at peace, it is a perfectly stable society. The northern province is developing at about 22 per cent, when the average population of the country is between 6 or 7 per cent," Professor Peiris said.

Two suspects have been arrested by the police rearding the warehouse fire which broke down at the Colombo harbor recently. They have been arrested by the Colombo Crime Division. The fire broke down on the 24th May around 1.00 am. Ports authority Fire brigate with the help of the military and the CMC was able to put out the fire.

DIG Vaas Gunawardena who is in remand over the alleged involvement in an abduction and murder of a businessman has been interdicted, the Police Spokesman stated. DIG Gunawardena, who is a suspect in the abduction and murder of a businessman in Dompe was taken from the Colombo National Hospital to the Prison Hospital on June 15 after falling ill while in custody. The DIG was further remanded until June 25 by the Colombo Additional Magistrate A.M. Shabdeen. Bambalapitiya-based businessman Mohamed Siyam was abducted and murdered in the Dompe area on May 22.

Tamil National Alliance MP C Yogeswaran on Sunday demanded that immediate steps be taken to stop the aggressive and meticulously planned sinhalicisation of Punaanai East, situated 52 km northwest of Batticaloa city. During the times of the LTTE, the presence of the Tiger forces from Kudumpimalai in the South to Vaakarai in the North had thwarted the earlier attempts of sinhalicisation. In the absence of LTTE, sinhalicisation is now rapidly taking place along Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa border, where Punaanai is situated. Besides occupation of Sinhalese families, Punaanai has also witnessed various instances of Sinhalicisation including the statue of the Chief deity of a Pi'l'laiyaar temple going missing and demolition of Saivite temples under the guise of archeological excavations.

The Principal of the Anuradhapura Niwanthaka Chetiya College had been allegedly assaulted by the son of the SLFP Pradeshiya Sabha member Anil Pushpananda today. The assailant, an Advanced Level student in the college had allegedly assaulted the Principal when he asked the students to attend additional classes during the holidays.

The Registration of Electors (special provisions) bill that ensures voting rights to displaces persons in the North passed in parliament with amendment a short while ago. The Supreme Court ruled that the special bill that gives voting rights to the displaced in the North is consistent with the constitution, Speaker announced in parliament on June 5. The issue of whether it is in accordance with the constitution that those who were internally displaced in the North could cast their votes according to the areas they resided in before being displaced was brought up to the Supreme Court for interpretation. Deputy Solicitor General Arjun Obeysekera who was present for the Attorney General pointed out that internally displaced persons can, with a certificate from the Grama Sevaka, cast his vote for the area of residence prior to being displaced.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution has opened up a dialogue in the media and the public space. It is a characteristic of democracy. Some say the 13th Amendment is needed; some say it is not required. However, Police powers and Land powers referenced in the Amendment are not required at this juncture, Prime Minister and Buddhasasana and Religious Affairs Minister D.M. Jayaratne said. The Prime Minister made these comments at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office yesterday. He said giving Police and Land powers will create needless issues in a small country like Sri Lanka. "This would lead to many problems in the future. The 30-year war in Sri Lanka was brought to an end under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, the new High Commissioner of India to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka arrived in Colombo today, the Indian High Commission said in a release. Mr. Y.K. Sinha is a seasoned diplomat and during his career of 32 years, has handled several important assignments at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi and in Indian diplomatic missions in the Middle East, Europe, South America and the Permanent Mission of India at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Before coming to Sri Lanka, he was Additional Secretary in the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. He was Ambassador of India to Venezuela from January 2007 to August 2009 and Consul General of India in Dubai from August 2003 to December 2006. Earlier, he served as Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from March 2002 to July 2003.

Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Sarath Fonseka said today the fact that President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself had to call the victimised teacher to assure her that justice will be done goes to prove that there is no justice in Sri Lanka. Mr. Fonseka was referring to the incident where a UPFA member of the North Western Provincial Council had allegedly humiliated a female teacher for disciplining his daughter on Friday. At a ceremony to appoint DNA electoral organisers, Mr. Fonseka said the provincial councillor should have praised the teacher for advising his daughter.

Sources close to the main coalition party of ruling alliance, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), say that the controversial Provincial Councilor of the North Western Provincial Council has submitted his resignation to the party. North Western Provincial Council member Ananda Sarath Kumara forced a female teacher in charge of discipline at the Navagattegama Navodya Vidyalaya to kneel down before him in her classroom as a punishment for warning his daughter that her school uniform is too short. The politician has been arrested and remanded until June 27th. He has sent his resignation from the remand prison, sources said.

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday said that the UPFA would be very strict when nominating candidates for the Central and Wayamba Provincial Council elections. The two councils would be dissolved very soon, he said. Some of those elected at the previous Provincial Council elections on the UPFA ticket had been charged with murder, rape, assault robbery, arson and misconduct and party would be very careful as to whom nominations would be given, Rambukwella said. Such politicians, he said, had tarnished the good name of the party, which had won praise from the masses and was known as the party which could deliver. "We will not allow the aforementioned people to contest on the UPFA ticket and will carefully filter those who are seeking nominations," he said.