Rajapaksa-allied squad brutally attacks two independent candidates in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 September 2013, 19:17 GMT]
Two candidates of an independent group, contesting the provincial council elections in Jaffna district under Padlock symbol, were brutally attacked in the early hours of Thursday allegedly by EPDP operatives with the facilitation of the occupying Sri Lankan military at Ma'ndaitheevu junction while they were returning from the islets towards Jaffna city. The driver of the three-wheeler in which they were travelling, escaped by jumping into the sea, while the candidates were brutally attacked. The three-wheeler was set on fire by the attackers. The attack has taken place while Indian election monitors and international media personnel were present in the city. The two candidates were attacked as they were dividing the vote bank of the UPFA in Vadduk-koaddai and the vote bank of the EPDP in the islets.

The victims were, 29-year-old Prakalathan Swaminathan and 30-year-old Thesarajeev Kanakasundaram.

They were returning to Jaffna after concluding their election propaganda in Ma’nkumpaan and at Veala’nai of Ooraaththu'rai (Kayts) island Wednesday night.

A squad comprising of EPDP and SL military operatives was continuously following them in a harassing manner during their meetings, the victims have complained.

Mr Balasubramaniam, a former associate of notorious UPFA operative Ankayan Ramanathan, the district organiser of the UPFA in Jaffna, who was not given the chief-candidate nomination in the UPFA list, had split from the Ankayan group and joined the independent group under the Padlock symbol. This group is also allegedly backed by Ms Vijayakala Maheswaran of the UNP among the voters in the islets.

The commander of the SL military in Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, is backing the candidates of UPFA’s Ankayan Ramanathan.

The squad freely passed through the SL military check posts at Ma’ndai-theevu junction after the attack, according to the victims, who have been admitted at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

One of the candidates admitted at Jaffna hospital

Two rebel leaders reported killed in Chechnya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2013, 23:57 GMT]
Russian security forces claim to have killed two key Chechen rebel leaders, along with nine other rebels, BBC reported on Friday. The two commanders, brothers Khusein and Muslim Gakayev, were considered the regions “most wanted men”, were reportedly killed during a clash with the security forces. The killings follow a “counter-terrorist operation” that has been on in the South of Chechnya since Wednesday, UPI cited Moscow backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who is largely considered by Chechen nationalists as a quisling.

The death of the Chechen rebel leaders is considered a significant military victory by Russian counterinsurgency forces.

The First Chechen War that lasted from December 1994 to August 1996, that involved the loss of anywhere between 50000 to 100000 Chechen lives, resulted in the creation of a de facto independent Chechnya.

The Second Chechen War, that was started by Russia in 1999 under the pretext of responding to the invasion of Dagestan by Islamists, resulted in the restoration of Russian federal control over Chechnya, involving the deaths of about 30000-50000 Chechen civilians. Russia declared the counterinsurgency operations to have ended in 2009.

After the killing of several Chechen nationalist political leaders, Russia appointed its paramilitary strongman Ramzan Kadyrov as a President of Chechnya, giving the province little autonomy.

However, low intensity insurgency has been ongoing in Chechnya ever since 2009.

Likewise, the Russia backed Chechen leader Kadyrov has been accused of severe misuse of power, extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions.

Sri Lankan diplomat Dayan Jayatilleka has in the recent past called on Sri Lanka to apply Russia’s Kadyrov model to the occupied homeland of the Eezham Tamils.