Sri Lanka Timeline - Year 2010

January 4	Sri Lanka Army’s de-mining Field Engineer troops till January 4, since the year 2002, cleared a total land extent of 450.41 square kilometres (450,402,744 square metres) of LTTE buried explosive devices, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines and Un-Exploded Ordnance (UXOs) from northern and eastern Districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Trincomalee,. Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are separately engaged in de-mining work in the same Districts. The extent of area de-mined by those NGO de-miners has not been included in the geographical extent figure as given above. At present, troops are continuing their de-mining work in Vedithalattivu (Mannar), Mankulam (Kilinochchi) and Thunukkai-Amathipuram (Mullaitivu) areas. Initial surveys have confirmed that about 600 square kilometres area still remains to be cleared of mines and UXOs. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) decided to support the Opposition consensus presidential nominee General (retired) Sarath Fonseka, an announcement by United National Party (UNP) which is leading the alliance in support of the General. While indications were that a majority in the TNA would back Fonseka in the January 26 poll, there had been no formal word till now from the TNA on their interactions with the former Army chief. Seeking the support of TNA at the upcoming presidential elections, Fonseka has offered to grant amnesty to all the detained LTTE cadres if he is elected.
January 5	President Mahinda Rajapakse stressed that he would never merge the North and the East under his administration. Chief Government Whip and Urban Development and Sacred Area Development Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament on January 5 that the 17^th Amendment to the Constitution is now defunct and there was no use in taking up its provisions. The Sri Lankan Parliament voted to extend the state of emergency in the country by another month.
January 6-7	The slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran’s father Thiruvengadam Velupillai passed away on January 6. A total number of 16,989 Internally Displaced People (IDP) have been resettled and around 82,940 war displaced are living in eight IDP centres in Vavuniya and two other camps in Jaffna.
January 7	The United Nations Human Right expert said that the execution video depicting alleged execution of Tamil prisoners by Sri Lankan soldiers is authentic and called for an inquiry into possible war crimes during the final stages of the conflict between the Government forces and LTTE militants. The direction pursued by the Government towards fulfilling the aspirations of the Tamil people is vastly different to that which is being followed by the TNA led by R. Sampanthan, Investment Promotion Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa told the Media at the Cabinet briefing. He said the Tamil people in the North are gradually being inducted into the democratic way of life. The High Security Zones established in Jaffna at the time of war are being gradually removed. Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said the LTTE and the TNA were part and parcel of the same team which tried to attain the Eelam goal through different means and they have gained a new life after their May 18 defeat with the General (retired) Sarath Fonseka group teaming up with the TNA. The TNA Parliamentarian K. Thurairetnasingam said the party is extending its support to Sarath Fonseka at the Presidential election after getting him to agree to a number of conditions.
January 9	Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told the BBC Sinhala that just over 11,000 LTTE suspects are in custody, following the release of 712 former LTTE combatants.
January 10	Thousands of LTTE suspects in Government custody will not be released soon, said Power and Energy Minister W. D. J. Seneviratne.
January 12	President Mahinda Rajapakse said Tamils would be given a greater say in matters of governance through devolution of powers to provinces and promised to create an upper House in Parliament by proposing an amendment in the Constitution.
January 13	The Sri Lankan Government is taking measures to thwart any attempt by the remaining LTTE cadres and its overseas supporters from resurrecting the vanquished terrorist outfit, the Foreign Ministry said. The Foreign Minister said that during the last four years the missions abroad mainly focused on dismantling the LTTE terror network abroad and countering their misinformation propaganda against the government while seeking to attract foreign investments and technical assistance for development work that continued in parallel. President Mahinda Rajapakse said he will present his own solution to the problem of the people of the North and East during his second term.
January 14	The Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils (NCET) on the Tamil festival day of Pongkal, announced initiation of three global committees: a Monitoring Committee to help and coordinate polls mandating Tamil Eelam as well as constitutions cum elections for people’s councils in various countries; an Exploration Committee to examine the possibilities of founding a diplomatic centre in Oslo to represent the people’s councils and a Representative Committee to discuss apex coordination or united functioning with other constructs that emerge with national thinking.
January 15	The Government is to expedite legal proceedings relating to the LTTE suspects held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations. President Mahinda Rajapakse said that Sri Lanka still faces a severe threat from separatists though the LTTE has been militarily crushed and the country united after a 30-year war. The President further said that the Government would gradually ease security restrictions imposed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces as well as other parts of the country because the LTTE no longer posed a conventional military threat. The President dismissed all efforts that have been made so far to find political solutions to the country’s ethnic problem and said he will present his own solution after the forthcoming election.
January 20	The subtle aim of the TNA is to obtain a self governing unit for the North and East through Ranil Wickremasinghe’s intervention by getting a retired general elected to power, said vocational and Technical Training Minister Piyasena Gamage addressing a seminar attended by teachers at the A.N. Reception hall, Balapitiya on January 10, Daily News reports on January 20.
January 21	The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his concern over the escalating pre-election violence in the country in the run up to the presidential elections on January 26. According to Defence Ministry report, the Bishop of Jaffna Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Saundranayagam said, "Jaffna is returning to normal. The A-9 road has been re-opened and civilians can now use the road.
January 22	A federal court in the United States sentenced two persons, identified as Sathajhan Sarachandran (30), and Nadarasa Yogarasa (55), to 26 and 14 years of imprisonment respectively, in connection with their efforts to purchase USD one million worth of high-powered weaponry for the LTTE, a designated foreign terrorist organization in the US. A court in Sri Lanka has ordered the Police to immediately release 73 LTTE suspects. Earlier, a Sri Lankan Minister told journalists that the Government would not be able to release LTTE suspects as many trained suicide cadres are among them.
January 23	In an election rally organised in support of the common opposition presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka in Jaffna, two-minute silence was observed to honour the LTTE cadres killed during terrorist activities.
January 26	Poll started for the Presidential Elections in Sri Lanka at 7:00 a.m. (SST) amid heavy security. According to provisional figures, an average voter turnout of over 70 percent was recorded countrywide presidential election except in the North and East, election officials said. The election monitors say the voting has been peaceful for the most past except for some minor incidents in the North. The voting ended at 4:00pm (SST) without any major incidents.
January 27	The results released so far including the postal votes by the Elections Department, shows incumbent President, Mahinda Rajapakse has received 1,319,980 or 59.47 percent and his contender, General (Retired) Sarath Fonseka has received 860,816 votes or 38.78 percent. The Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon expressed relief on the relatively peaceful conclusion to Sri Lanka's first post-war national election.
January 28	Incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse was elected as the sixth Executive President of the country by a massive majority of over 1.8 million votes on January 26 election. He polled a total of 6,015,934 votes as against his closest rival General (Retired) Sarath Fonseka of the New Democratic Front (NDF) who polled 4,173,185 votes. The lack of sufficient transportation facilities for the IDPs to go to the polling canters was the major factor for the low voter turnout in the North, the monitoring groups said. The election monitoring group Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) said that at the Manik Farm, 5354 registered voters did not get the opportunity to exercise their ballot as the election officials refused to accept the temporary identity cards carried by the voters for voting in the morning hours. Issuing a statement the President's office said that he intends to build on the peace already achieved and move towards a full reconciliation program, to ensure that the country is respected around the world for justice and equality of rights.
February 1	Sri Lanka's coalition of Tamil parties, TNA, says it is ready to hold discussions on power sharing with the re-elected President Mahinda Rajapakse if they are given an opportunity. TNA leader R. Sampanthan said he is ready to discuss genuine power sharing proposals in a unitary State if invited by the President. The two main opposition parties that came together on one stage for the presidential elections are to contest on their own at the parliamentary elections. UNP parliamentarian Lakshman Kiriella said that the UNP will contest as the UNF under the Elephant symbol at the General Election to be held sometime before April. The defeated presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka has also expressed his intention to contest the parliamentary elections. However, he has not revealed which party he would represent.
February 2	Sri Lanka Police arrested a suspected LTTE cadre in connection with the 2006 bomb attack on a bus in Kebithigollewa in North Central Province. The USAID has announced USD three million in new funding to support International Organization of Migration's (IOM) operations of return and resettlement of some 77,000 IDPs in Northern Sri Lanka. A total of 1200 IDPs would be resettled at Poonagari in Kilinochchi the Ministry of Disaster Relief Services and Resettlement said.
February 3	Sri Lanka Police have arrested 37 suspects under Emergency Regulations over the alleged assassination attempt on President Mahinda Rajapakse and his family by supporters of the main opposition candidate General (Retired) Sarath Fonseka. Two Tamil persons have been arrested in connection with supplying the arms found in a Buddhist temple, Bodhirukkaramaya, in Maligawatta.
February 4	Addressing the nation on the first Independence Day since the end of the war President Mahinda Rajapakse said that the people of the North and East suffered for thirty years without their democratic rights and he was able to grant them democracy. The President speaking in Tamil asked the Tamil people to live together with the rest of the country without any divisive policies. "Let us discuss our issues among ourselves and resolve them. One country, one people, one law. That is our way, the only way," he added.
February 8	Sri Lankan Military Police arrested the former Army Chief, former Chief of Defence Staffs and defeated Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka at his office for committing military offences. The Government has accused Fonseka of plotting to assassinate the President and overthrow the Government by a coup. Sri Lankan Government has admitted 2000 Internally Displaced children living outside the welfare camps to 59 regular public schools in Vavuniya.
February 8-9	President Mahinda Rajapakse dissolved the Parliament with effect from midnight of February 9 under the powers vested in him under Article 70 (1) of Chapter 11 of the Constitution. The election is likely to be held on April 8 and the new Parliament would meet on April 22. Elections will be held to select 196 members of the Parliament and 29 would be chosen from the national lists of political parties and/or independent groups.
February 10	The total number of resettled IDPs from Mannar, Vavuniya and Trincomalee till February 4, 2010 is 134,352, stated the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights.
February 14	Already 175,000 persons have already been re-settled in the north and 2216 people who were displaced will be re-settled in Karachchi area of Kilinochchi, said Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, Rishad Bathiudeen. Resettlement of people has been completed in four Grama Seva (Village Service) divisions at Oddusudan in Mullaitivu. Another 3,000 persons will be resettled at Mulleyaveli from February 15. The Government of China donated more machinery and equipment worth 17 million Yuan (285.4 million SNR) to Sri Lanka for the infrastructure development of the war-damaged North.
February 15	Despite the killings of top LTTE leaders, including its former chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, and the decimation of the rebels, the concept of Tamil Eelam has not died out amongst those harbouring it, Sri Lankan Army Chief Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya warned. The LTTE operated 11 bank branches in Northern Sri Lanka with claims of prompt service and various loan facilities prior to its annihilation in May 2009. The international election monitoring group, the Commonwealth Expert Team, issuing its final report on 2010 Presidential Elections in Sri Lanka said it was generally well-administered on Election Day but there were shortcomings in the pre-election period due to incidences of inter-party violence. Sri Lanka's common opposition Presidential candidate General (retired) Sarath Fonseka, who was defeated by a margin of 18 percent at January 26, 2010 Presidential Elections filed a petition at the Supreme Court on February 16 challenging the re-election of incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse.
February 20	The Sri Lankan Government said that it will set up community villages to rehabilitate former LTTE cadres. Over 11,000 former cadres of the LTTE are currently sheltered in 18 State-run rehabilitation centres.
February 21	The breakaway former TNA Batticaloa District Parliamentarian Thangeswari Kathiraman announced that she will be contesting the upcoming General Election under the ruling UPFA.
February 22	Sri Lanka would re-establish judicial system in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts from next month replacing two decades of 'Kangaroo Courts' run by the now vanquished LTTE outfit.
February 24	The Government has resettled another batch of 1161 IDPs in their original villages in the North. The defeated presidential candidate and former Army Chief General (retired) Sarath Fonseka signed his nomination papers to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on April 8,2010.