SLA blocks resettlement in Valikaamam HSZ

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 August 2008, 01:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has refused to allow resettlement in areas inside the High Security Zone (HSZ), but has given permission to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to settle in the no-man's area adjoining the Front Defence Line (FDL) area in Valikaamam north, sources in Jaffna said.
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Hindu priest files FR petition in Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 July 2008, 15:28 GMT]
Chief priest of the Colombo-Grandpass Sri Gnanavairavar Swami Temple Balakrishna Ayer Ravishankara Kurukal filed a Fundamental Rights Violation petition in the Sri Lanka's Supreme Court seeking the court order the government to allow Hindus to organize the annual Aadi Amaavaasai (anniversary when children remember their late father) rites along the shore of Muhathuwaaram Sea beach in Colombo without interruption by the security forces. The preliminary inquiry into the FR petition filed by the Chief priest Thursday has been fixed for July 28, legal forced said.
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Former IGP sworn in as Governor of Northern Province

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 07:24 GMT]
Victor Perera who retired on June 30 from the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Thursday took oaths before President Mahinda Rajapakse as the first Governor of the Northern Province. This is the first time a retired IGP has been appointed for the post of the governor of a province in the country.
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Collecting Bank account details, violation of privacy, court says

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 01:40 GMT]
Sri Lankan Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, while presiding over a Fundamental Rights submission on Monday, said that privacy of individuals was fundamental and warned those responsible for abuses such as asking for bank account numbers from civilians during search operations. Counsel M.A. Sumenthiran had submitted to court that directions given by the court were not being carried out during search operations. The CID officers were asking for bank account numbers from the civilians during the operation.
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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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Fein seeks action against Sri Lanka officials

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2008, 05:41 GMT]
Bruce Fein, a Washington Times columnist, and a functionary in the Ronald Reagan administration, who is currently in Toronto, told a Toronto newspaper, that he is seeking support to "gathering evidence against two brothers of current Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse (one a U.S. citizen) and that nation's army chief, Sarath Fonseka," who he claims are responsible for "daily atrocities" in Sri Lanka.
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CPA: Trincomalee HSZ violates international law

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2008, 01:00 GMT]
Asserting that "sustainable solutions are required to reduce tension, discrimination and deprivation of communities," the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based political, humanitarian think-tank, in a report on the current status of issues related to land in Trincomalee, said that, "[u]nfortunately, the various policies adopted by the authorities have had the opposite effect." Noting that 7,338 people will lose their homes due the 'reduced' High Security Zone (HSZ), the report said, "a serious review needs to be taken of the necessity of incorporating such a large extent of land into the HSZ."
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Fein: Hold referendum to test support for Tamil Statehood

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 May 2008, 18:15 GMT]
Bruce Fein, Attorney for a US-based Tamil Activist Group, in responding to a statement by Ambassador Robert Blake to Sunday Observer saying that from his discussions with Tamils he knows that "over 95 percent of them [Tamils] support a solution within a framework of a united Sri Lanka," challenged the Ambassador to hold a referendum to prove his assertion of percentage Tamil support, and added that "[i]f statehood prevails, the Ambassador should be the first to concede Prabhakaran’s superiority in discerning the political aspirations of the Tamil people."
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Reserved hero: Brigadier Balraj

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2008, 09:00 GMT]
In over two decades of service with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Brig. Balraj, who passed away Tuesday after a heart attack, had been a courageous and skilled fighter and commander whose last years were spent institutionalizing the training of a new generation of LTTE field officers. Although he joined the LTTE later than many of the other top commanders, Brig. Balraj had risen rapidly through the ranks on the strength of his shrewdness on the battlefield and courage under fire, fighters who served with him said this week.
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IGP Victor Perera to retire next month

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2008, 18:10 GMT]
Victor Perera, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is to retire by the end of June. He has sent in his retirement papers to the National Police Commission for approval, reports from Colombo said.
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2,000 Sri Lankan soldiers killed last year – Fonseka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 01:46 GMT]
Over two thousand Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and four thousand wounded in the battles of 2007, the commander of the SLA, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told a conference at Army Headquarters last week, the Sunday Times reported. He claimed over five thousand Tamil Tigers were also killed last year. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government has forbidden military officials from giving interviews and launched a hunt for those leaking details to the media. The government has instructed ambulances transporting wounded soldiers from Ratmalana airport to hospitals in Colombo not to use their sirens, the paper said.
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Northern Front impregnable, say NTT panelists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2008, 10:49 GMT]
Colombo was forced into staging Mukamaalai offensive to ensure safety to troops in Jaffna which had fallen within the range of artillery, panelists said during a Political Analysis segment of National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), participated by LTTE military spokesperson, Irasiah Ilanthiraiyan, and Chief-Editor of Viduthalaip Pulika'l, LTTE's official organ, S. Ravi, in the programme moderated by K. Veera, this week. Panelists added that Colombo's assertion that LTTE is moving troops between different Northern fronts is a figment of their imagination, and refuted the claim that the Sri Lanka Air Force has caused detrimental impact to LTTE's war machinery.
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Mannaar Bishop demands open declaration of Madu as Peace Zone

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 09:09 GMT]
Bishop of Mannaar, Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, on Saturday told media that the warring parties should openly declare the Madu Shrine and its environs as Peace Zone in order to bring back Our Lady of Madu statue to the Holy Shrine. Meanwhile Sri Lankan Defence ministry in its official news on Sunday quoted Sri Lanka Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka as saying: "those who were in charge of the statue have the responsibility of bringing it back". The SL defence ministry added that Madu "would be declared as a security zone," without specifying what it meant with the term, 'security zone.' Vicar General Rev. A. Victor Soosai on Saturday visited the Shrine for an inspection.
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53% of Sri Lanka's external military training provided by India, TPM protests

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2008, 15:10 GMT]
Addressing the large demonstration of the Tamil Protection Movement (TPM) opposite the Memorial Hall in Chennai Thursday, Viduthalai Chi'ruththaika'l Kadchi (VCK, Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol. Thirumavalavan, who condemned the Indian government for giving a red carpet welcome to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, charged that one of the primary objectives of Fonseka 's recent visit was to seek a substantial increase in the number of Sri Lankan forces being trained in India. "There has been a three hundred percentage increase in the number of training slots offered to Sri Lankan armed forces personnel between the year 2006-2007 and 2007-2008," he charged.
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U.S. Rights report fortifies moral, legal entitlement of Tamil state- Fein

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 17:11 GMT]
Contrasting U.S. State Department’s institutional bias in favor of governments, and Bush administration’s willingness to overlook abuses by foreign governments in the name of fighting terrorism, with the recent U.S report on Human Rights in Sri Lanka, Bruce Fine, an attorney for a Tamil activist group in the U.S., in a statement released to the media Wednesday, asserts that, “[t]he fact that the United States would savage the human rights record of the GOSL [Government of Sri Lanka] means that its [Sri Lanka’s] actual terrorism record is far more gruesome than represented. The report thus fortifies the moral and legal entitlement of Tamils to a separate statehood.”
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India abetting Tamil genocide: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 10:49 GMT]
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko Tuesday said that the present attitude of the Indian Government amounted to assistance in Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils. He sought the withdrawal of the radars supplied to Sri Lanka and an end to all forms of military assistance from India to the Sri Lankan government. Accusing the Indian Government of "betraying the Tamils," the veteran leader in his reply to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's letter, pointed out that no sovereign nation would tolerate the dangerous action of a neighbouring country planting mines in the bordering seas.
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Stop Indian military aid to Sri Lanka: Tamil Nadu leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2008, 14:44 GMT]
New Delhi unabashedly rolling the red carpet to Sri Lankan military chief Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka has caused a furore among Tamil Nadu politicians who have urged the Indian Central Government to "stop all military aid to the genocidal government of Sri Lanka." Paddali Makkal Kadchi (PMK, Toilers' Party) founder-leader S Ramadoss and Viduthalai Chiruththaikal Kadchi (VCK, Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol Thirumavalavan accused the Central Government of sabotaging Tamil aspirations on the Sri Lankan issue by lending support to the military-backed genocide of the Eelam Tamils.
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India risks indictment in war crimes, cautions LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2008, 20:05 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) from its Head Quarters in Vanni on Monday released a statement condemning the Indian 'State welcome' extended to Sri Lanka Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka and the statements made by Indian military chiefs in this context. "The Indian State must take the responsibility for the ethnic genocide of the Tamils that will be carried out by the Sinhala military, re-invigorated by such moves of the Indian State," the statement said. "LTTE wishes to point out to the Indian State that by this historic blunder, it will continue to subject the Eelam Tamils to misery and put them in the dangerous situation of having to face ethnic genocide on a massive scale."
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Happy, but not content: Sarath Fonseka on Indian military help

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 March 2008, 17:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who is on a six-day official visit to India, on Tuesday admitted that both the countries enjoyed a sound military relationship according to reports in the Indian media. "Militarily we have very good relationships for long time and we hope to continue relationships that we are having right now. We are very happy with that," he told mediapersons after inspecting a Guard of Honour at the Indian Defence Ministry headquarters. "The relations between both countries are good at the political level but need to be increased at the military level," he said having met his Indian counterpart Gen. Deepak Kapoor on Tuesday afternoon.
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Suspects in attempted murder case of SLA commander remanded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 March 2008, 16:06 GMT]
Colombo Fort Magistrate, Mr. Namal Bandara Balalle, Thursday ordered further remand till March 12, for the two suspects in the attempted murder of Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sarath Fonseka, legal sources in Colombo said.
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