Rajiv Gandhi assassination ‘a monumental historical tragedy’ – Balasingham

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 16:33 GMT]
In an exclusive interview with India’s NDTV, the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator and theoretician, Mr. Anton Balasingham, described the assassination in 1991 of Rajiv Gandhi as a “great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy.” Saying “we call upon the Government of India and people of India to be magnanimous to put the past behind and to approach the ethnic question in a different perspective” Mr. Balasingham said the event has to be seen in its political and historical context of the time, involving the military intervention of India and a war between the Indian Peace Keeping Force and the LTTE.
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Protest fast held in Pesalai church

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 09:19 GMT]
More than five thousand residents participated in the one day fast organized by the Inter-Religious Forum held Monday in the Church of Our Lady of Victory in Pesalai condemning the killing Tamil civilians sought refuge in the church Tuesday, civil society sources from Mannar said. Netherlands Ambassador in Sri Lanka also paid a visit to the site, sources said.
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Four Tamil civilians reported missing in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 09:10 GMT]
Three Tamil farmers of Bharathipuram in Killiveddy village located in the government controlled Serunuwara police division in Trincomalee district have been reported missing since Monday morning around ten a.m. after they went to Aathiamankerni area in search of their cattle. Another Tamil civilian was reported missing in Periyakulam in the government controlled Kuchchaveli Police division since June 25 after he went to the nearby jungle to bring firewood.
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Major General Kulatunga, Late Commander SFHQ-(W)

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2006, 18:18 GMT]
Defence correspondents in Colombo describe Major General Parami Kulatunge RSP USP USAWC, as a hardliner and a close associate of the SLA commander Sarath Fonseka who was seriously injured in a suicide attack in front of the Sri Lanka Military Head Quarters in April 2006. Maj.Gen.Kulatunga took over as the new Commander of Security Forces Headquarters - Wanni [SFHQ-(W)] in August 2004, the position he held when he was killed in a bomb explosion in Colombo Monday.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2006, 09:34 GMT]
Unidentified assailant using a 9mm pistol, shot and killed Batticaloa resident Mr Thurairajah Jogaraja, 34, at 6:30 p.m., Sunday, at his home in Onthachchimadam, Kalawanchchikudi, 20 km south of Batticaloa, said OIC Jayawardena of Kalawanchchikudi police.
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SLA arrested youth found dead in Trincomalee suburb

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2006, 08:28 GMT]
The body of one of the three Tamil youths arrested by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) during the cordon and search operation held Sunday evening was recovered with cut and gunshot injuries Monday morning along cemetery road in Bharathipuram, a suburb of east port town in the Uppuveli Police Division, civil sources said. The body has been identified as belonging to Baskaran, a mason by profession, from Kanniya Road, Anpuvallipuram. The whereabouts of other two civilians arrested by the SLA were not known, civil sources said.
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Senior SLA Commander killed in bomb blast

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2006, 02:59 GMT]
A senior top official of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Major General Parami Kulatunga, who holds the third position in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high command was killed in Pannipitiya, 15 km southeast of Colombo, in Homagama police division in Western Province, in a suicide bomb attack around 7:45 a.m. Monday, Police said. Maj. Gen. Kulatunga, Deputy Chief of Staff, has served as SLA Commander for Vanni High Command of the Sri Lanka Army.


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SL police, civilian injured in Mannar gunfire

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2006, 00:36 GMT]
One police constable was seriously injured when unidentified persons fired at the combined Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police sentry located in the Mannar public playground Sunday night at about 8.30 p.m. One of the two Tamil civilians in a three-wheeler were injured in the retaliatory fire by the security forces and the other was arrested by the Police, civil sources said.
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Muttur East students need educational facilities, LTTE tells UNICEF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 18:09 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has appealed to the UNICEF to make arrangement for displaced students due to recent military attacks by the Sri Lankan State armed forces on Muttur east villages to attend classes in schools located near their temporary shelters. Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE, made this request to the UNICEF Trincomalee head when the latter met him at Sampoor LTTE political secretariat Friday evening, sources said.
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Fishing ban lifted in Mannar, victims receive compensation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 16:15 GMT]
The ban imposed on fishing in Mannar Sea by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) will be lifted from Sunday, except for Pesalai and Pallimunai, Sri Lanka Government sources from Mannar said. The decision was taken at a discussion held Saturday evening in Sunny Village SLN camp where three Sri Lanka Government Ministers, Mannar officials and commanders of security forces participated, sources said.
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Durban Tamils protest against Sri Lanka's Rights violations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 11:34 GMT]
Representatives of the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of South Africa (TCC), members of organizations supporting human rights in South Africa, and expatriate Tamils staged a peaceful march and placard demonstration in front of the Durban City Hall, South Africa Friday 23rd June 2006. More than 200 people protested the human rights violations of the Sri Lanka Government against Tamil civilians and European Union’s proscription of the LTTE, organizers of the event said.
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Grenade attack on civilian house in Chenkalady

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 00:21 GMT]
Unidentified persons lobbed a grenade at the house of Mr.Ilayathamby Indrakumar located in Ellai Veethi Kanapathipillai village at Chenkalady in Eravur Police division in Batticaloa district Thursday night around 10 p.m. The house was severely damaged but the occupants escaped unhurt, police sources said.
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Mannar SLN Commander ordered to appear in Court

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 06:10 GMT]
"Within few minutes after the fire fight between the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was over in Mannar Sea on June 17th morning, four navy soldiers who returned from the shore in motorbikes lobbed grenades through the windows into the Church of Our Lady of Victory in Pesalai and fired at random on the church doors," said five witnesses giving evidence before the Mannar Additional Magistrate Mr.T.J.Pirapaharan Thursday. The Talaimannar Police led the evidence of the witnesses, legal sources said.
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Tamil businessman shot dead in Negombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 03:05 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen riding motor bikes shot and killed Sivarathnam Sasikumar, a businessman, Wednesday at 10:15 p.m. in Negombo. Sasikumar was going home with a friend when he was shot in the head and chest police said.


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Two civilians shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 17:44 GMT]
Two separately abducted Batticaloa residents, Kanthasamy Thavarajah, 20, and Shanmugam Jeyaratnam, 39, were shot and killed by their abductors, in two different locations at Santhiveli, 19 km north of Batticaloa Town, and Vinayagapuram, 32 km north of Batticaloa town, on Thursday police sources said.
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STF cordons, searches Amparai villages

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 11:00 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) soldiers of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) cordoned off and searched Akkaraipattu, Aalaiyadi Vembu, Vaachikuda, Naavatkuda and Kolavil areas of Amparai district from 4:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Thursday, security sources said. Soldiers had in their possession a target list of names and registration numbers of motorbikes, local residents said.
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SL parliament observes one-minute silence to Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Parliament Wednesday observed a one minute silence for those Tamil civilians killed by State armed forces and paramilitary groups working with them. Parliamentarians of all political parties including the Sinhala Nationalist Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the all monks party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) stood for one minute and observed silence, parliamentary sources said.
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TNA appeals to international community to ensure security to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 09:59 GMT]
"We wish to impress upon the International Community that the Sri Lankan State is failing in it duty to give adequate protection to the Tamil civilian population. We wish to impress upon the International Community that it should intercede and compel the Sri Lankan State to fulfil its obligations to the Tamil civilian population. The atmosphere of unbridled impunity now prevalent should be brought to an end," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in statement made in the Sri Lanka's parliament Wednesday on the rapidly deteriorating plight of Tamil civilian population in the North East region of the country, parliamentary sources said.
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Norway, Nordic countries to respond on 29 June - Brattskar in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 07:00 GMT]
The Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, on Wednesday, discussed with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan on LTTE's response to Norway's request of clarifications, issued on 08 June, from the parties to the Ceasefire Agreement. Confirming that the parties to the CFA, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE, have submitted their responses to the five questions posed by Norway, Mr. Hans Brattskar told media that Norway, as facilitator, has to take note of LTTE's point of view, although Norway regretted the LTTE's stand to the continued engagement of EU Member States from Nordic countries in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).
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SL Navy desecrated island's biggest church - Bishop

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 18:03 GMT]
The biggest church in Sri Lanka “has been desecrated by innocent blood being shed [in it] by unjust aggressors, the Sri Lanka Navy,” Bishop of Mannar, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, protested this week in a letter to the Vatican, through the Apostolic Nuncio to the island. “Today I buried the six civilians murdered by the Navy at Pesalai yesterday,” the outraged Bishop wrote Sunday. The local people are “mortally afraid of the Navy” and when they met the local Navy commander, 7,000 people of Pesalai begged to be allowed to flee to India or LTTE-controlled Vanni, he said.
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