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Fonseka promises to return lands to Tamils
ENS,
jan 4.
COLOMBO: The opposition Presidential candidate, Gen.Sarath Fonseka, has told the Tamils of Jaffna that he will give back lands and buildings which the army had taken from them, when the areas in which they were located were designated as High Security Zones (HSZ).
He was speaking at a public meeting in Jaffna on Saturday.
According to the Weekly Virakesari a third of the land area in the Jaffna peninsula had been converted in HSZs in the last thirty years. But the Tamilnet website puts it at 26 percent. The one and only airport in the peninsula is also in the Palaly HSZ.
About 30, 338 families had been evicted as a result of these areas being designated as HSZ. Among the affected are 16,027 farming families and also 4,436 fisher families living on 81 kilometers of coastline.
As a result of the designation, 47 schools and 246 places of worship had to be closed.
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Published: Sun Jan 3 21:19:53 EST 2010
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Sunday Leader’s editor defends controversial Fonseka interview
hindu,
jan 4.
Editor of Sri Lanka’s English weekly, Sunday Leader, who carried the controversial December 13 interview with the commander turned politician Sarath Fonseka, added a new dimension today with her insistence that she had quoted the retired General `perfectly accurately’.
In a detailed report under the title `Her Story’, the Editor of the paper Frederica Jansz said, “The article which, perfectly accurately, quoted the General as saying he had heard that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had given an illegal order asking Brigadier Shavendra Silva (later promoted General) to not accomodate surrendering LTTE cadres, became more than a news story.
It became a political phenomenon and the allegations, denials, retractions and recriminations that followed are history.
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Published: Sun Jan 3 16:02:29 EST 2010
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Political storm over STF ‘circular’
sana,
jan 4.
COLOMBO: A Police Special Task Force ‘circular’ or leaflet sent out in support of President Mahinda Rajapaksa ahead of the January 26 Presidential election has sparked a political explosion. In a letter to Police chief Mahinda Balasuriya, the opposition common candidate, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, has asked that immediate action be taken to remove the officers who had issued or endorsed the circular from their present duties. “I also hold you responsible for the unlawful actions of your subordinate officers, as you have failed in your sacred duty in ensuring impartiality of the Police Force,” Gen. Fonseka said in the letter.
Inspector General Balasuriya said the document in question had not been signed. When pointed out that the leaflet resembled a circular and that it bore endorsements by officers and the seal of Special Task Force (STF) units, the IGP said: “Anybody can fake a document.”
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Published: Sun Jan 3 16:04:39 EST 2010
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