Elders' Home inaugurated in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 19:36 GMT]
In a simple yet emotionally-charged ceremony of significance, Mathivathani Pirapaharan, wife of LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan, inaugurated the new hostel block of the Anpuchchoalai Elders' Home in Ki'linochchi A'riviyal Nakar this Sunday. In one of her rare public appearances, she cut the ribbon and declared open the new wing of the Elders' Home. The event was well-attended by key Tamil Tiger functionaries.
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Anura Bandaranaike crosses over to opposition

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 December 2007, 10:51 GMT]
Anura Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan Minister of National Heritage and the brother of former SL President Chandrika Kumaratunge crossed over to opposition in Sri Lanka's parliament, ahead of the final vote on budget 2008.
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SL Supreme Court fixes inquiry into petitions challenging the CFA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2007, 13:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Friday fixed the inquiry for March 10 next year into the petitions filed by the Sinhala extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Sinhala Jathika Sangamaya (SJS) challenging the legality of the ceasefire agreement signed by the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremasinghe and Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 22 February 2002.
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TRO diligently complied with U.S. laws- President

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 November 2007, 19:09 GMT]
Dr. N. A. Ranjithan, President of TRO-USA, in an opinion column appeared in Cumberland Times-News, says, "As a charity registered in the U.S.A., TRO has diligently and faithfully been complying with the laws and all regulations related to registered charities. TRO-USA reiterates that it is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising for the Libertarian Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)...I am deeply concerned about the future of Tamils in Sri Lanka, persecuted by their own government and left without many friends in the world. Now that TRO accounts are frozen, I hope and pray that some other organization will step in to fill the void."
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Abduction fear pervasive, say TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 November 2007, 10:52 GMT]
In a press conference held Friday in the premises of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, R. Sampanthan, leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) expressed fear that a number of members of parliament (MPs) might be abducted prior to the voting on the Third Reading of the Budget to be held 14 December, parliamentary sources said.
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SLAF bombing victim in Mu'rika'ndi succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 12:24 GMT]
The 32-year old woman, seriously injured during bombing by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir fighter jets targeting a civilian settlement in Mu'rika'ndi located close to Ki'linochchi on 16 November morning, succumbed to her injuries Thursday evening, sources in Kilinochchi said. Doctors could not save her seriously injured legs, and the legs were amputated earlier.
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UNP welcomes ban on TRO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 03:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National party (UNP) has welcomed the government’s decision to ban the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), the Daily Mirror reported Friday. The UNP echoed the stance of the ultra-Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) with senior UNP official, Lakshman Kiriella, also telling a news conference that the government had failed to pursue the matter with commitment. Earlier this week, there was applause in Sri Lanka’s parliament as the government promised to consider banning the TRO and also the LTTE
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EPDP wants interim administration for North and East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 02:15 GMT]
The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), a pro-government paramilitary group-cum-political party, has proposed setting up an Interim Administration for the North and East as the way forward to resolve the ethnic conflict, the Daily Mirror reported. An interim administration for Northeast capable of effecting self-rule, especially towards restoring civil normalcy and the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of displaced people was the primary demand of the LTTE when it began the Norwegian-brokered negotiations with the then UNP government in 2002. The UNP rejected the notion, saying it would encourage then President Chandrika Kumaratunga to sack its Parliamentary government.
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SLAF Kfirs bomb tsunami settlement in Mu'rika'ndi

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 10:42 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force kfir fighter jets dropped eight bombs in two sorties Friday between 6:15 a.m. and 6:25 a.m. targeting a civilian settlement in Mu’rika'ndi located close to Ki’linochchi, seriously injuring a mother of three children and another civilian besides completely destroying a private boat building yard which makes boats for tsunami affected fishermen, sources in Ki'linochchi said. Five huts of tsunami victims and the house of Mu'rika'ndi Hindu Viththiyaalayam principal were damaged in the bombing.
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Muslim writer shot, injured in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 November 2007, 17:20 GMT]
Unidentified armed person shot and seriously injured a well known Muslim writer Monday evening with a pistol as he was returning from the Mosque near his house in Akkaraipattu police division in Ampaa'rai district, Akkaraipattu police said. The writer was rushed to Akkaraipattu hospital for surgery.
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Vaiko condemns India for providing military assistance to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 November 2007, 10:18 GMT]
Vaiko, the leader of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in a communique issued Saturday, called upon the international community to strongly condemn the killing of Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan who was slain in a targeted air attack in Ki'linochchi and condemned the Government of India for providing military assistance to Sri Lanka. An array of political leaders from Tamil Nadu, including K. Veeramani, Pandiyan, Ramdoss and Nedumaran have condemned the killing while Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi condoled the demise of Thamilchelvan, passing a subtle message that the Tamils of Sri Lanka haven't gone brotherless.
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British parliamentarian Liam Fox to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 November 2007, 16:46 GMT]
British parliamentarian Liam Fox who is the shadow Defence Minister of the main opposition Conservative Party is to arrive in Sri Lanka on November 5 on a three–day tour at the invitation of the government led by President Mahinda Rajapakse. Rohitha Bogollagama, the Sri Lankan foreign minister, has extended the invitation to him, the Sunday Leader reported.
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Rape by Sri Lankan troops resurfaces – in Haiti

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 November 2007, 07:31 GMT]
The United Nations has asked Sri Lanka to prosecute ‘to the fullest extent of the law’ 108 Sri Lankan soldiers with the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti for sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of minors, including prostitution, the Sunday Times reported. The number is one of the biggest single withdrawal of soldiers from a UN peacekeeping mission. During the conflict numerous local and international NGOs protested both frequent rapes by security forces and the climate of impunity in which they occur.
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Thousands pay homage to slain LTTE political cadres in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 09:43 GMT]
Thousands of Kilinochchi residents, and LTTE officials and cadres gathered at Ki'linochchi Cultural Hall Saturday morning to pay their last respects to the five political cadres slain along with Brigadier S. P. Tamilchelvan, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head, in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) aerial bombing on ki'linochchi Friay. Tamileelam Police Chief P. Nadesan and Senior Commander Col. Balraj paid homage at the event, sources in Ki'linochchi said.
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Sri Lanka knocks ABC's radio services off the air

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 October 2007, 06:31 GMT]
One of the main sources of breaking news in Sri Lanka, five FM Radio services, operated by Asian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), has been silenced by Government of Sri Lanka in the early hours of Friday, following the controversy over a news report that alleged five civilians were gunned down near Wirawila airbase, on Wednesday, in the Southern Province Hambantota district, the electorate of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Sri Lanka parades fallen Tigers’ naked bodies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 October 2007, 16:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka armed forces Tuesday paraded the naked bodies of Tamil Tiger commandos killed during their devastating attack on a key northern airbase in the early hours Monday, agency reports said. Amid media coverage of the grisly scenes, the military Wednesday claimed the LTTE troopers’ bodies were stripped in order to search for “hidden suicide devices.” The Army claimed the bodies were wrapped in polythene, but photographs of the subsequent procession show the naked bodies being exposed for the public to view. The military also said Wednesday it has now buried the LTTE troopers’ bodies.
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Welikade detainees call off fast-unto-death campaign

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 October 2007, 10:40 GMT]
Tamil detainees at Welikade remand prison in Colombo have called off their fast-unto-death campaign on Saturday 6.00 p.m, after the visitng UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, assured them that their cases will be resolved within 3 months.The fasting detainees, since Wednesday, have been demanding Ms. Louise Arbour, to visit the Welikade prison, look into their plight and exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to expedite their cases that have been postponed fortnightly and not been heard for more than a year. She met five of the 86 fasting prisoners.
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UNP drops federalism

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 October 2007, 11:15 GMT]
The decision by Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) to ditch the federal constitutional model as a solution to the island’s protracted ethnic conflict makes it the last of the major southern parties to embrace Sinhala nationalism again. In doing so, the former ‘pro-peace’ party may finally have resolved its ethnic dilemma.
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2 killed, one injured in SLA shooting in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 September 2007, 12:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers opened indiscriminate firing following a Claymore attack Tuesday around 9:00 a.m on its road patrol unit at Chiththangkea'ni in Jaffna, killing a civilian woman, a youth and seriously injuring another youth, sources in Jaffna said. Two SLA troops were injured in the Claymore attack.
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Kumaratunge to visit New York

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 September 2007, 05:19 GMT]
Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, former President of Sri Lanka, is scheduled to leave for New York Tuesday morning at the invitation of Bill Clinton Foundation. Her US visit coincides with President Mahinda Rajapakse trip to New York. Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge held the Executive Presidency post from 1994 till 2005, for two terms.
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