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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ramarajan" data-source="post: 1603391" data-attributes="member: 86701">Internet FreedomIn June the government ordered the country's two largest Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict access to TamilNet, a pro‑LTTE news Web site. By year's end access was not restored. The government denied ordering the block. However, media sources reported interviews with employees from the ISPs alleging that they were acting on government orders.Beginning on April 17, unknown perpetrators purporting to be leaders of the Karuna group's "intelligence unit" sent a series of e-mails to the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies and various UN organizations threatening harm if information was not provided about the NGOs' personnel and operations. The Karuna group denied involvement, and the government has not identified those responsible for the e-mails.On October 30, unknown gunmen in Colombo shot and wounded Internet journalist Kumudu Champika Jayawardana of ethalaya.org, which was linked to a Sinhala-language Sirasa TV channel. A week before this incident, government politicians made a series of statements criticizing Sinhala-language news Web sites. According to the Free Media Movement, one of the Web sites mentioned by name, LankaeNews.com, received subsequent threats.Individuals and groups could generally engage in the expression of views via the Internet, including via e-mail. Because of the 2005 violent death of former editor of TamilNet Dharmaratnam Sivaram the editing and hosting of the Web site relocated to Geneva. However, several Web sites calling for the killing of "traitors to the Sinhala nation" were hosted in the country without government harassment. On April 22, the main opposition party, the United National Party, launched a Web site critical of the government.Academic Freedom and Cultural EventsThe government typically did not restrict academic freedom or cultural events. On May 11, however, unknown men allegedly affiliated with the EPDP posted a notice in Jaffna University threatening to kill several students and professors. As a result, Jaffna University students led a public protest until May 18. Unknown assailants killed three students in subsequent months.b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and AssociationFreedom of AssemblyThe law provides for freedom of assembly, and the government generally respected this right in practice; however, some restrictions existed. For example, the 2005 emergency regulations give the president the power to restrict meetings, assemblies, and processions. The law states that rallies and demonstrations of a political nature cannot be held when a referendum is scheduled; however, the government generally granted permits for demonstrations, including those by opposition parties and minority groups.On January 9, a mob of more than 50 men led by the Deputy Minister for Labor Mervyn Silva attacked participants at the first public assembly of the United People's Movement, an antiwar group composed of NGOs, opposition MPs, and their supporters. The rally promoted proposals calling for devolution of power to minority communities within a united country. In addition to attacking and severely injuring two journalists, Silva's mob disbanded the rally. Media sources and the rally organizers alleged that the order to attack came from the Presidential Secretariat. The government denied involvement. No charges were brought against Minister Silva or his men.On October 5, police used tear gas to disrupt a peaceful demonstration by several hundred students protesting the country's recent economic performance, the increase in inflation, and the lack of job prospects for recent graduates. According to media sources, police injured several students while breaking up the protest.Freedom of AssociationThe law provides for freedom of association, and the government generally respected this right in practice; however, some restrictions existed, such as those under the emergency regulations. The government often used informants to target individuals for arrests and interrogation based on their association.The LTTE did not allow freedom of association in the areas it controlled and reportedly forced people to attend its rallies.c. Freedom of ReligionThe law accords Buddhism a foremost position, but it also provides for the right of members of other faiths to practice their religions freely, and the government generally respected this right in practice. There was no state religion; however, the majority of citizens were followers of Buddhism.Foreign clergy may work in the country, but the government sought to limit the number of foreign religious workers given temporary work permits. Permission usually was restricted to denominations registered with the government. The authorities retroactively changed the rules to prevent registration of new Christian denominations.While the courts generally upheld the right of Christian groups to worship and to construct facilities to house their congregations, a 2003 Supreme Court decision ruled against recognizing a Roman Catholic group and determined that its medical services constituted "allurement." At the same time, the Supreme Court ruled that although the constitution supports the right of individuals to practice any religion, it does not support the right to proselytize.During the year there were several attacks by unknown assailants on Christian churches, pastors and congregants, including in March when a mob led by a prominent Buddhist monk destroyed the inside of a Protestant church, the Pathway to Grace, after months of intimidating its Pastor Nuwan N. Suriyarachchi and the members of the church. During the incident Suriyarachchi and his wife were forced to flee. Police did not stop the destruction. Suriyarachchi identified the responsible monk, although the local police commander held the pastor responsible for the disturbances because of his proselytizing activities. By year's end the government paid no compensation and made no arrests. According to AHRC, in late March the LTTE used intimidation and threats to forcibly relocate over 8,000 IDPs from the Roman Catholic Madhu Church in the eastern Mannar district. The church had been used by the IDPs as a safe haven from the conflict. The LTTE announced that it would not allow new displaced families to seek shelter at Madhu Church and that the remaining IDP families would be relocated to alternative displacement sites in other LTTE-controlled areas.On May 13, unidentified gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed Buddhist monk Handungamuwe Nandarathna Thero in Mahadivulweva of the government-controlled Trincomalee district. A popular religious figure and an outspoken war critic, he preached in both Tamil and Sinhalese and ordained a Tamil as a monk.Muslims faced increasing discrimination by the government, particularly in obtaining permits for the construction of mosques in Colombo, according to Muslim community leaders.Muslims from Muttur and Tamils, including newly returned IDPs, reported that the government used their land to set up security zones and Buddhist shrines and restricted access to the main sources of their livelihood, including fishing, agriculture, and forest collecting. The government exacerbated ethnic and religious tensions in the east by installing a large Buddha statue at the center of the city of Trincomalee where residents are almost entirely Tamil-speaking and non-Buddhist. Government officials also replaced a Hindu temple with a Buddhist shrine in Eachchalampattu, and erected large Buddha statues on top of ancient Hindu temple ruins, including some located in now predominantly Muslim areas, and reserved tracts of land in highly visible locations for Buddhist religious and cultural symbols in the Muslim-dominated Pottuvil area in the east.Most of the 46,000 Muslims expelled from Jaffna in 1990 by the LTTE remained displaced and lived in or near welfare centers, many in the Puttalam area. It appeared that attacks by the LTTE against Muslims were not religiously motivated but were instead part of an overall strategy to clear the north and east of persons not sympathetic to the cause of an independent Tamil state. The LTTE made some conciliatory statements to the Muslim community, but most Muslims viewed the statements with skepticism.Societal Abuse and DiscriminationHarassment and intimidation of Christians and attacks on their property and places of worship by Buddhist extremists opposed to conversion continued. For example, on October 6, police interrupted a Catholic mass in the Rosa Mystica Church at Crooswatta in Kotugoda parish, 15 miles north of Colombo, following violence and threats of further violence led by a chief Buddhist monk at a nearby temple. The local police chief defended the actions of the Buddhist monk, stating that the Christian activities offended Buddhist religious sensibilities.There were multiple reports of rising tensions between members of the Muslim and Tamil communities in the east, largely as a result of the intimidation and harassment of Muslims by the Karuna group.There were no reported cases of anti-Semitism.For a more detailed discussion, see the 2007 International Religious Freedom Report.d. Freedom of Movement, Internally Displaced Persons, Protection of Refugees, and Stateless PersonsThe law grants every citizen "freedom of movement and of choosing his residence" and "freedom to return to the country." However, the government severely restricted this right on multiple occasions. For example, on June 6, police and government security forces rounded up approximately 300 Tamils living in lodges and hostels in Colombo, including many women, children, and the elderly. After registration at police stations, the Tamils were forced onto buses and sent north to Vavuniya. Following a Supreme Court injunction against the action, the government apologized and allowed the deportees to return to Colombo. The government arrested 48 Tamils on October 6 in lodges in Wellampita, a Colombo suburb.The war with the LTTE prompted the government to impose more stringent checks on travelers from the north and the east and on movement in Colombo. Tamils were subject to onerous restrictions on fishing in Jaffna and Trincomalee.The government required Tamils, especially those living in Jaffna, to obtain special passes issued by security forces to move around the country. Citizens of Jaffna were required to obtain permission from the army's Civil Affairs unit, or in some cases from the EPDP, in order to leave Jaffna. According to several sources, the waiting list was over five months long. Curfews imposed by the army also restricted the movement of Jaffna's citizens.Security forces at Army checkpoints in Colombo frequently harassed Tamils. After the government assumed effective control of the east, both the government and the Karuna group operated checkpoints which impeded the free movement of residents, especially Tamils.The government maintained its closure of the A‑9 highway from Kandy to Jaffna. The road closure restricted the movement of passengers and supplies through the LTTE‑controlled Vanni region, including LTTE headquarters in Kilinochchi. On November 29, the defense secretary issued a verbal directive prohibiting civilians from traveling from LTTE to government-controlled areas at the A-9 crossing point at Omanthai without special clearance from the government agents in the Tiger-held Vanni. Commercial flights to the Vanni remained suspended, and the LTTE refused to guarantee the safety of civilian flights and of passenger and supply ships operated by the ICRC or the government.Limited access continued to certain areas near military bases and HSZs, defined as areas near military camps, barracks, or checkpoints where civilians could not enter. HSZs extended up to a four‑kilometer radius from the fences of most military camps. Some observers claimed the HSZs were excessive and unfairly affected Tamil agricultural lands, particularly in Jaffna. In Trincomalee, the president announced the creation of a new HSZ on the land previously inhabited by Tamils before fighting between government security forces and the LTTE caused the Tamils to abandon their homes. The Supreme Court dismissed lawsuits challenging the Trincomalee HSZ under the rationale that allowing them to proceed would inspire more lawsuits than the government could reasonably handle. In addition, the court held that government security measures could not be the subject of a private lawsuit. By year's end, no plan for compensation existed.</blockquote>

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