Looming humanitarian crisis in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 11:25 GMT]
45,338 additional persons have been displaced in Mannar, Vavuniyaa, Ki'linochchi, and Mullaitivu districts, due to the shelling and aerial bombardment by th Sri Lanka Security Forces in the last four weeks, adding to the Internally Displaced People (IDP) population of 107,048 in Vanni, said a report released by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). The report warned that the restrictions imposed by the Government of Sri Lanka to humanitarian agencies to attend to the IDP needs have created conditions for an imminent humanitarian crisis in Vanni.
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Scurried pact for oil off Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 13:22 GMT]
Cairn India, a subsidiary of Cairn UK Holdings Limited, on Monday signed a Petroleum Resources agreement to explore for oil and natural gas in the Mannaar Basin. The signing took place in front of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees between the Sri Lankan Minister for Petroleum and Petroleum Development Resources A.H.M Fowzie and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director of the Cairn India, Indrajit Banerjee, who gave USD one million as signature bond to Rajapaksa government, according to informed sources.
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HRW calls on GoSL to end illegal internment of IDPs in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 22:58 GMT]
The New York based Human Rights Watch has voiced against the illegal internment of around 400 Internally Displaced Tamils, who are languishing under Sri Lanka Army detention in a so-called 'welfare center' in Ka'limoaddai in Naanaaddaan division of Mannaar district. Since March 2008, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has detained civilians fleeing areas controlled by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Ka'limoaddai. The SLA has imposed severe restrictions on freedom of movement, instituting a daily pass system that limits to 30 the number of people who can leave the camp each day, and only if a family member remains behind to guarantee the detainees return in the evening.
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Sri Lanka Army chief says victory date now mid-2009

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 09:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka this week again revised his timetable for defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; to mid-2009, from an earlier estimate of June 2008. Saying that the LTTE had lost its conventional fighting capacity, he told international correspondents Monday that, within a year, most of the remaining Tigers would be dead. Saying that the objective of the LTTE was to capture the entire island and wipe out the majority Sinhalese community, he vowed: "we will not allow that at any cost, we will fight them."
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Fisherman reported missing in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2008, 00:57 GMT]
A fisherman from Moor Street in Mannaar city has been abducted around 9:00 a.m. Thursday, according to a complaint by his family with humanitarian institutions in Mannaar.
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Fishermen demonstrate against SLA restriction in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2008, 04:20 GMT]
More than 300 fishermen from PanangkaddukKoddadi area in Mannaar district launched a protest demonstration in front of Mannar Regional Secretariat Thursday around 10:30 a.m against the restrictions imposed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and submitted memoranda to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, S. Vino Noharathalingam and Mannaar Assistant Government Agent (AGA), requesting their help to solve their problems, sources in Mannaar said.
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Brigadier Balraj's body laid to rest in Mu'l'liyava'lai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 01:29 GMT]
The remains of Brigadier Balaraj, senior commander Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who passed away due to a sudden heart attack Tuesday, was laid to rest 6.30 pm Friday with full military honours in Mu'l'liyava'lai Heroes Cemetery the presence of thousands of public and hundreds of LTTE cadres.
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Police officer demands ransom from fishermen in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2008, 15:02 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Chief Inspector of Police who is serving as Officer-In-Charge of the Police (OIC) of the police post in Peasaalai in the island of Mannaar, has been demanding ransom from the fishermen of Peasaalai during the recent days, according to religious leaders in Mannaar. The OIC has gone door-to-door in certain areas of the village, demanding ransom ranging from SLR 20,000 to 500,000. The police officer has accused the fishermen of transporting 'banned goods' to LTTE controlled areas from Mannaar and warned them that they would be spared from charges of 'assisting terrorism,' only if they heeded to his ransom demand on time.
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12,000 Madu IDPs redisplaced, says report

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 April 2008, 12:34 GMT]
More than 12,000 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) from Madu have moved out to safer areas along villages located close to A-32 Mannar-Pooneryn highway north of Madu, a situation report from Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) issued this week said.
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As humanitarian crisis unfolds, Diaspora needs to help – paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 April 2008, 04:55 GMT]
Warning that, faced with determined resistance to its offensives into the Vanni, the Sri Lankan government, like previous ones, will intensify punitive attacks and measures against the Tamil population there, the Tamil Guardian newspaper this week called on the Diaspora to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis. “The embargo on food and medicine will be tightened further and civilian centers will be targeted more heavily. The Diaspora has long been the mainstay of relief efforts for the people of the Northeastern warzones. It needs to step forward yet again,” the paper said in its editorial.
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Restore peace, sanctity to Madu Church - Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2008, 07:15 GMT]
"Both parties engaged in war activities in the sacred area of Our Lady of Madu Church in Mannaar should immediately vacate the area creating a sanctified and peaceful atmosphere conducive to conduct religious practices," Rev. Justin Gnanapragasam, resident principal priest in Jaffna Bishop House said in an appeal sent Sunday to the Bishop of Mannar, sources in Jaffna said. The letter expressed concern for the forced relocation of the holy statue of Our Lady of Madu, and said all Christians share the grief with Bishop of Mannar.
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LTTE urges Norway to take steps to end military assault on Madu shrine

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 15:52 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head B. Nadesan on Monday sent an urgent letter to Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim, placing a request to the Royal Norwegian Government to take steps to immediately end the military assault of the holy Madu shrine in Mannaar district. "The international community together with the international institutions that are concerned about protecting the historical treasures of the world must be brought together and we hope the Royal Norwegian Government together with them will take the necessary actions to end the attacks on the church," Mr. Nadesan urged Norway.
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Thousands march in Mannaar, urge protection for Madu shrine

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 April 2008, 09:01 GMT]
More than five-thousand people of Mannaar city gathered at St. Sebastian's Cathedral Wednesday morning for an special prayer service and staged a peace march towards the District Secretariat and handed over an appeal, urging the warring parties, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) to respect the area of Madu Shrine as a 'Zone of Peace'. "Shells are falling within the Church premises several times and many of those staying there have been compelled to leave, while priests and the other church workers who are still remaining, live in fear and are being forced to seek shelter in bunkers," an appeal from the Bishop of Mannaar said.
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Not possible to remain mute spectators: Ramadoss to Indian PM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 March 2008, 09:16 GMT]
Labelling Sri Lanka "a failed state, a condominium of anarchy, and a shame on humanity" that "terrorized its own Tamil citizens," Dr. S. Ramadoss, leader of Paaddaa'li Makka'l Kadchi (PMK, Toilers' Party) and a constituent ally of the Congress-led Indian government, said that it was not possible to remain "passing by-standers to this human tragedy at our doorstep" in his letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday. "The sixty million Tamils in India cannot wait and watch while their sisters and brothers are being decimated across the Palk Straits and Gulf of Mannar," he said.
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Devotees flock to Naagathambiraan temple in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2008, 00:31 GMT]
Annual March Pongkal festival at the historic Naagathambiraan Temple in Pu'liyampokka'nai near Kilinochchi was held Friday and continued throughout night to early hours Saturday morning, sources in Vanni said. Thousands from Vanni attended the event, but sources said, with travel ban through A9 from the north through Mukamaalai, and from the south via Oamanthai, the number of devotees attending the festival was significantly lower than the crowds of past years.
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India installs new radar systems

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 18:29 GMT]
The Indian Air force has installed sophisticated radar systems for aerial surveillance at the Sundaramudayan seashore in Ramanathapuram according to reports available from Sri Lankan defence reports and the Indian media. A Sri Lankan defence report cited Y. R. Rane, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command (India), as saying that "the new radar has eight antennae which could cover the entire Gulf of Mannar region. It had the capability to track objects such as ships, barges, trawlers, small boats and others in the Indian territorial waters off Mandapam coast."
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LTTE, SLA clash in 2 fronts in Mannaar district

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 February 2008, 15:07 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters fought against Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and foiled an SLA attempt to enter LTTE territory Thursday around 11:00 a.m at Mui’l’likku’lam in Mannaar district, after 45 minutes of fierce fighting, Mannaar LTTE Operation Command said.
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Priests deny SLA's "Shramadana" story

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 08:22 GMT]
Rev. Fr. S.K. Devarajah, the parish priest of St. Sebastian Cathedral in Mannaar in a statement issued Thursday, said that "the Sri Lankan Army occupied this church premises on their own," and added that his visit to the St. Anthony’s Shrine on the 11th of February 2008 was to ask the SLA permission to hold Lenten Pilgrimage in the shrine, and not to request the SLA command to conduct Shramadana (voluntary work). Colombo media and SLA had earlier reported that the SLA troopers were in the church compound cleaning the premises on the Priest's request when LTTE shells fell on the premises.
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India imparts secret training to SLA

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2008, 08:25 GMT]
According to a report in the 'Times of India', a high-level team from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) were "brought stealthily into Pune five days ago for advanced intelligence training at Indian Army's various high-security institutions." The team is expected to be briefed on advanced electronic warfare, command, control, communications and computer intelligence at the Military Intelligence Training School and Depot (MITSD), the only institution of the Indian Army which imparts training in all aspects of intelligence.
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LTTE, SLA clash in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2008, 11:05 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) drove Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops back to their positions in a fight at Pa’ndivirihchchaan in Mannar district Saturday which began at 5:30 a.m Saturday and lasted till 4:20 p.m, Mannaar LTTE Operations Command said. The SLA troops fled back carrying the dead and wounded, LTTE said.
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