09/11/2011
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Sunday Leader
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says the government must keep to its pledge to free all those detained in Jaffna following the recent violence over the sightings of the so called grease devils.
08/12/2011
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The Island
"It appears to us that a new and menacing element is crashing into the political scene, which element all responsible persons should determine to eradicate. If unchecked ,this deplorable violence cannot but harm and even destroy the democratic foundation on which our present society is built, whatever short term gain to one party or another....A special responsibility must lie on a government that law and order is maintained, and in particular that opposition demonstrators are not attacked by government supporters. For supporters of a government in power often feel that they can flout the law with impunity, and some leaders may even encourage them to do so. Similarly, there are always some police officers who are reluctant to be firm with those they believe to enjoy political patronage."
08/05/2011
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Daily Mirror
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) General Secretary and Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka asked what right the TNA had to question the number of seats allocated to Jaffna.
08/02/2011
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Newsclick
Ahilan Kadirgamar, spokesperson of the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum, suggests that the Tamil National Alliance's victory combined with international pressure after the Channel 4 Documentary and the UN Special Panel Report have brought upon added impetus for the Sri Lankan government to proceed with steps towards a "political solution" in that country. The peoples' mandate in the Northern Province in the local body elections held there in July this year, were clearly a rebuff to the Rajapaksa regime's efforts to limit the discourse to "development".
07/31/2011
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Lakbima News
Q: Will your government ever produce a political solution?
A: I think a political solution means you have to do a lot of things. We are doing a lot of things. This Constitution of Sri Lanka is far more advanced than any other Constitution in the world. Every right of the people, the women, the minorities, all races, everyone, is covered. The judiciary has supreme power, even going over the legislature. Every commission which can be created in the world is created in Sri Lanka in the Constitution. It’s all there in the book but practical things have to be done. When I go to Jaffna, I can’t use my language in any of the offices. Similarly, sometimes, it may be that a person coming to Colombo from Jaffna can’t use his own language. Funny thing is that we both have to use another person’s language, English, to communicate. There are also areas in which both communities are living where we have to find a way to implement. I have got a lot of complaints that when a Sinhala person goes to the land office in the Trinco kachcheri he cannot communicate in his own language.
07/24/2011
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BBC
Sri Lanka's biggest Tamil party wins local elections in the former war zone in the north and east, in a rare electoral setback for the government.
07/24/2011
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Reuters
KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Tamils in Sri Lanka's war-weary north elected the political proxy of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in local polls held for the first time since at least 1999, drubbing President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling party, election results showed Sunday.
07/23/2011
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Seattle PI
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Voters in Sri Lanka's northern Tamil heartland trickled to polling stations Saturday to elect local councils following the country's long civil war.
07/23/2011
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Daily Mirror
A large number of posters and election propaganda material continue to be on display in Jaffna and Kilinochchi in contravention of the Election Laws, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said.
07/17/2011
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The Sunday Leader
The Rajapaksas are determined to win the upcoming local government election in the North – by whatever means necessary.
The Northern election season commenced on an ominous note: a very public attack on a TNA meeting by a group of soldiers. That outbreak of violence and the authorities’ failure to apprehend the culprits set the tone for the Northern election campaign.