Rajapakse to intervene on estate strike

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 14:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse is to meet the leaders of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Ceylon Workers United Front (CWUF) and National Estate Workers Union (NEWU) Monday to find an amicable settlement to the plantation workers strike which entered sixth day Sunday, trade union sources said. The workers at tea estates are demanding a minimum daily wage of Rs 300 (US$3).
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MP accuses Colombo for "coward's war"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 09:12 GMT]
Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy, has condemned Colombo Sunday morning for attacking Tamil women and children refugees in Vaharai. The entire Vaharai region has been under siege for more than 3 months. 40 000 civilians are tightly packed in the area and the Government of Sri Lanka has imposed a war on the civilian population, Mr. Jeyanandamoorthy said. The MP called on the International actors, monitors and the Norwegian facilitators "not to show bias in their condemnation of the attacks that targeted civilians."
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Verugal offensive thwarted, 30 troopers killed, 1 captured alive - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 December 2006, 18:12 GMT]
Liberation Tigers officials in Vaharai told TamilNet Saturday night that Sri Lankan troopers who advanced into LTTE territory Saturday morning from Mahindapura camp, were defeated at 2:30 p.m. after 9 hours of stiff resistance by the Tigers. More than 30 troopers were killed, around 100 wounded, one soldier was captured alive and 9 bodies recovered by the Tigers. An artillery gun in Kallaru SLA camp was destroyed in LTTE artillery fire, LTTE officials claimed. The SLA troopers who had advanced 2.5 km into LTTE territory north of Vaharai, were hastely withdrawn after suffering heavy casualties.
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Mahinda tells Sri Lankans: "choose your side in the war"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 11:53 GMT]
Announcing tough new powers for the Sri Lankan military and the police, SL President Mahinda Rajapakse last issued a warning for citizens: “I ask this of all political parties, all media, and all people’s organizations,” he said Wednesday in a countrywide television broadcast asking the viewers to choose their side in the war between "terrorism" and "democracy" in a 'you're either with us, or against us,' patterned speech.
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LTTE denies shelling school, heavy fighting north of Vaharai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 11:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday morning launched artillery attacks towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Verugal, 14 km northwest of Vaharai and 27 km southeast of SLA captured Sampoor. Meanwhile, SLA troops that moved 5 km inside LTTE territory into Kattumurivu, southwest of Vaharai, have stationed in a school, following stiff LTTE resistance.
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Monks begin fast-to-death demanding proscription of LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 11:24 GMT]
Two Buddhist monks began a fast unto death protest Wednesday evening in front of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse's residence at Thangala, demanding that either the President or the Prime Minister should hand over to them the official document proscribing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Students, teachers wounded in artillery fire in Kallar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 11:02 GMT]
11 students and two teachers were wounded when artillery shells hit Somadevi Sinhala School around 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Sri Lankan military sources said the Tigers were targeting the Mahindapura SLA camp with artillery fire, but the shells had missed the target. Three soldiers were wounded, an hour later when the shells hit the SLA camp, according to the SLA.
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Rajapakse, Wickremasinghe meet to discuss MoU

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2006, 01:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Tuesday held a lengthy discussion at Temple Trees on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), and UNP on identified issues giving top priority to solve the ethnic conflict, according to news report of the State-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).
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CFA, buried

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 December 2006, 15:23 GMT]
Head of Sri Lanka's Peace Secretariat, Palitha Kohona, has told the visiting Norwegian Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer, that the Sri Lankan government was reviewing a proposal of proscribing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and had asked the Peace Envoy not to undertake his scheduled mission to Kilinochchi until a Government decision on Wednesday, according to media reports in Colombo. Analysts view the move as a step to effectively nullify the already defunct Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) that specifically prohibits all military offensives including aerial bombardment, offensive naval operations, assassinations, suicide missions and the activities by deep penetration units.
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Rajapakse, Wickremasinghe to meet Tuesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 December 2006, 10:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), are expected to hold discussions on Tuesday on deteriorating security situation and the prospect of peace process, political sources in Colombo said.


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Gotabaya Rajapakse narrowly escapes Bomb blast

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 December 2006, 06:41 GMT]
Gotabaya Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan Secretary of Defence and brother of SL President Mahinda Rajapakse, narrowly escaped a bomb blast in Colombo Friday morning. A security guard providing escort to the convoy was killed in the attack. Seven security commandos were among the 14 wounded in the attack, suspected to be a suicide mission, Police said. Lt. Col. (retd.) Gotabaya Rajapakse, who advocates a military solution to the Tamil national problem, was on his way to a defence meeting with Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse when the attack took place.
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"Cool reception" in Delhi for Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 15:46 GMT]
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s visit to India this week was overshadowed by Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s Heroes’ Day address declaring a resumption of the struggle for independence. Sri Lankan and other media have made much of Delhi’s call for negotiations to end Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war, suggesting it was a rebuff for the LTTE’s ‘call for Eelam.’ But experienced political journalists saw India focusing on a different set of concerns – that of the hardline Sri Lankan government’s conduct vis-à-vis the Tamil minority.
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Sri Lanka rejects Vaharai safe haven proposal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 04:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse, clashed with international diplomats Tuesday over the humanitarian crisis in the Northeast, the Morning Leader newspaper reported Wednesday. Mr. Rajapakse had resisted the suggestion by German Ambassador Jurgen Weerth of a safe haven for civilians in the Vaharai area, the paper said. He had also defended the closure of the A9 highway, blocking supplies to 600,000 people in Jaffna. Last week the Co-Chairs – US, EU, Japan and Norway – demanded Sri Lanka open humanitarian access routes and set aside safe areas for civilians.
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Rajapakse dismisses Pirapaharan’s comments

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2006, 11:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Tuesday dismissed Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s declaration Monday that Colombo’s intransigence has compelled Tamils no option but an independent state. Rajapakse, who is visiting India this week said he had not heard the speech. “But I have not taken it seriously. Because he has always been saying these things.” President Rajapakse’s comments come after belligerent and contradictory comments by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, government defence spokesman Rumbekwella and government Peace Secretariat chief Palitha Kohana.
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Bishop calls for urgent transport of food to Jaffna via A9

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 November 2006, 16:18 GMT]
Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundara nayagam, in a letter addressed to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse Sunday, urged the President to follow through on his proposal to send food and other essentials to Jaffna through A9 highway. The Bishop said he would like to believe that the proposal is "a humble and good gesture on the part of the Government. to build trust and confidence with the Tamil people," and as a "genuine desire of the GOSL to attend to the Humanitarian needs of the people."
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India wants Northeast merger to stand - report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 November 2006, 07:43 GMT]
India has again called upon Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to honour the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement and give legal force to the Northeast merger, The Sunday Leader newspaper reported this week. Even before the Supreme Court’s ruling in October that the merger of the North and East in 1987 was ‘null, void and illegal’, Delhi had already expressed its opposition to the move, a view echoed by the Co-Chairs – US, EU, Japan and Norway – last week.
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Mahinda Rajapakse leaves to India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 November 2006, 15:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse left Saturday afternoon to India on a four day visit. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse is scheduled to inaugurate the Asian Mayors Conference in Dehra Dun in Uttaranchal State in North India Sunday. Tamil mayors from Chennnai, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Saleem, Tiruchi and Coimbatore in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu will be boycotting the Asian Mayor's meeting, media reports in Tamil Nadu said.
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Include abducted workers in CoI's list, TRO appeals to Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 November 2006, 04:23 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) appealed to Sri Lanka's President, Mahinda Rajapakse, to include the case of the seven abducted TRO workers missing since 29 and 30 January, to be included in the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI), in a press release issued from TRO's Colombo office Friday.
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Indian Foreign Secretary meets Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 November 2006, 17:49 GMT]
Indian Foreign Secretary Mr. Shiv Shankar Menon Thursday evening met with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and conferred with him about the current political and conflict situation in Sri Lanka, political sources in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka rejects Co-Chairs’ condemnation, continues attacks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 November 2006, 12:25 GMT]
Unfazed by strong condemnation by international donors of rights abuses and truce violations by its military, Sri Lanka’s government Wednesday continued air strikes and bombardment against the Liberation Tigers. Saying the donors had been “mislead” by international truce monitors and a UN envoy, government defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella insisted that national security took precedence over the ceasefire and that the international community recognised this.
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