LTTE, Muslim leaders meet in Muttur

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 January 2006, 15:03 GMT]
A discussion between the leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Trincomalee and a twenty-member delegation of Muslim religious and civil leaders in Muttur division was held Saturday afternoon in the LTTE district political secretariat in Sampoor in Muttur east in the presence of the members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), sources said. The discussion centered on exploring ways to resolve differences and to promote mutual understanding between the two communities. The meeting follows in the wake of the formation of an armed Muslim group in Muttur division.
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Hartal against civilian killings brings Vavuniya to standstill

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 January 2006, 10:40 GMT]
Normal life and business in Vavuniya town and suburbs came to a standstill Friday by a hartal (shut down) organised by Tamil Student's Union in protest against the killings of civilians in NorthEast by the Sri Lankan Armed forces, Intelligence operatives and paramilitaries. Very few vehicles plied the streets, shops remained closed, schools were closed, businesses and private institutions remained closed and the town was deserted. The hartal was peaceful, Vavuniya Police said.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Muttur

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 17:01 GMT]
Mr.Thambipillai Selvarajah (48) a mason by profession was shot dead by unidentified men Wednesday night around 7.30 p.m. close to the market in Muttur town in Trincomalee district. He was the second Tamil civilian shot dead by unidentified persons in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled Muttur town since Tuesday morning and the third in the Trincomalee district, police sources said.


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LTTE, GoSL to hold talks on truce implementation in Geneva

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 08:23 GMT]
Liberation Tigers said Wednesday that they have agreed to hold talks in Geneva with the Government of Sri Lanka on "smooth implementation" of the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement. Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Anton Balasingham, told reporters that the talks, expected to begin in mid-February, would be limited to the implementation of the truce which has come under increasing strain recently. Talks on further matters could only take place after complete cessation of the Sri Lankan military's violent repression of the population in Government held areas of the Northeast, he said.
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Intelligence Chief Zacky in Jaffna to step up campaign

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 12:40 GMT]
Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) Brigadier Rizvy Zacky, a hardliner, has been recently posted as Brigadier General Staff Officer (GSO, Intelligence) at the Sri Lanka Army Head Quarters (SF HQ) Jaffna in a major reshuffle of the SLA and Intelligence apparatus. Execution-style killings of five students in Trincomalee and three women members of a family in Jaffna mark a stark change of pattern in the escalation of intensified serial killings of non-combatant civilians in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas in the NorthEast. The pattern of violence also marks the return of hardliners who seems to prefer terror to subdue a population.
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Civil group calls for probe into Pesalai civilian killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2006, 20:40 GMT]
Pesalai Parish Pastoral Council and Mannar Citizen Committee through a joint memorandum Monday appealed to Sri Lanka's President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse to order an impartial inquest into the killing of four innocent civilians including a three-year old child by soldiers of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on December 23, and to pay compensation to the dependants of those killed, sources said.
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LTTE, GoSL dialogue imperative for peace, says Burns

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2006, 16:17 GMT]
"We hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun. Now, we understand the Tamil community here has legitimate grievances, and legitimate issues that ought to be addressed by the government. And there out to be a dialogue, a better dialogue, between the government and the Tamil community," said US Undersecretary of Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, in a press briefing in Colombo Monday.
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Meesalai trader shot dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2006, 12:03 GMT]
The owner of an eating house in Meesalai, Thenmaradchy district, was shot dead along the A9-highway near the Chavakachcheri market by two men riding in a motorbike at 1.30 p.m. Monday, sources in Jaffna said. A young woman was seriously injured when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers randomly fired at the civilians after the shooting incident.
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US Tamils question timing of Ambassador Lunstead's speech

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2006, 00:41 GMT]
Questioning Ambassador Lunstead's "reckless exercise at a time of great risk to the peace process, and just a few days before Mr. Erik Solheim’s visit, which everyone was looking to as the only way of defusing an extremely dangerous situation," US Tamils, in a memorandum to Secretary of State, Dr Condoleezza Rice and to Mr Nicholas Burns, the U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, said they hoped that Mr. Burns, who will be in Sri Lanka during Mr. Solheim’s visit, "will clarify to everyone what US policy is at this critical time, and help revive the peace track."
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3 SLA troops injured in Vadamaradchy grenade attack, civilian beaten

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 17:59 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers were injured in a grenade attack by unknown assailants in Thumpalai, Point Pedro at 3 p.m. Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. The soldiers severely beat a civilian worker during a cordon and search operation conducted by the SLA in the surrounding areas.
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ICRC help sought for night ambulance service in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 14:53 GMT]
Provincial health authorities in the Jaffna district have sought the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide ambulance facility to transport people who need emergency medical attention during nights to nearby hospital under the prevailing unstable situation in Jaffna district, civil society sources said.


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Retired technical officer shot dead in Thunnalai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 20:51 GMT]
A retired technical officer in Thamaraikulam area Thunnalai Karaveddy was shot to death inside his home by unknown gunmen at 10.50 p.m. Saturday, sources in Jaffna said.
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Two civilians killed in police fire, policeman wounded in grenade attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 08:57 GMT]
Two civilians were killed when policemen opened fire following a grenade attack at Chettikulam, where a policeman was wounded. The civilians killed were attackers, the Police claimed.
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SLN bans night use of Jaffna, Islet jetties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 03:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has strengthened security and banned the use of fishing jetties, small harbors in Jaffna peninsula and in Jaffna islets during night hours, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Civilian movement near Mavalithurai jetty, in Delft (Nedunthivu) islet off Jaffna coast, regularly used by passenger boats, and jetties off Gurunagar coastal areas have been strictly prohibited duirng nights, the SLN's directives said.
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Sri Lanka continues to violate state obligations towards Tamils, say Tamil parties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 00:20 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka not only failed to carry out proper investigations into the assasinations of reputed Tamil leaders, parliamentarians, journalists and activists, but it has also failed to take appropriate actions to prevent the recurrence of such crimes against the ordinary Tamil civilians, all four Tamil parties in the Lankan parliament charged in a joint memorandum sent to SL President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday. The joint statement was issued by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Upcountry Peoples' Front (UPF) and Western Province Peoples' Front (WPPF) that jointly staged a protest campaign within the chambers of the Sri Lankan Parliament.
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SLMM re-opens Trinco office, resumes monitoring

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 19:28 GMT]
Monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Trincomalee district Friday morning returned to their office, which is located along the Inner Harbor Road in the east port town. The office was closed on the orders of the SLMM headquarters since Tuesday evening following a cycle- bomb attack on a convoy of the Sri Lanka Navy injuring about eleven sailors and government troops killed two Tamil civilians and injuring six others in retaliation.
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Grenade attack on STF's Buffel vehicle in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 18:02 GMT]
Unknown men riding in a motorbike hurled grenades at a Special Task Force's (STF's) Buffel armoured vehicle Friday night 6.30 p.m. at Pandiruppu in Kalmunai, Kalmunai police said.
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SLA trooper killed civilian in close range, says NESOHR

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 13:11 GMT]
North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESHOR) in a case report released Friday, said it had uncovered evidence that Mr Murugesu, 68, was killed by shots fired from close range. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had claimed earlier that gun had gone off accidentally killing the victim.
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"The Tamils are getting a lesson in realpolitik"

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 11:35 GMT]
The United States’ singling out of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the spiral of violence in Sri Lanka has undermined the neutrality of the Co-Chairs of the peace process and will fuel the military repression from which thousands of Tamils are fleeing, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. In an editorial titled ‘Interests, not values’ the expatriate newspaper also criticised the US for not supporting efforts to get investment and reconstruction assistance to the war-devastated northeast, whilst blaming the LTTE for the continuing dearth of funding for the region.


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Tamil businessman abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 10:17 GMT]
A Mannar businessman involved in dried fish trade was abducted by an unknown group who came in a white van Friday morning at 8 a.m. in Crow Island Modara, Colombo, sources in Colombo said.
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