Karuna seeks Devananda's support for comeback

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2008, 11:02 GMT]
Amid reports of a renewed infighting among the factionalised TMVP paramilitary in the East, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, a former Tiger commander who turned leader of the paramilitary group operated by the Sri Lanka Army, Wednesday met the EPDP paramilitary leader and Sri Lankan Minister Douglas Devananda, seeking the latter's support to strengthen his position in the East, which is under the grip of the UPFA-installed chief minister and paramilitary leader, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, who was a former confidante of Karuna.
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US Ambassador says 'honoured' to meet paramilitary leader

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2008, 05:23 GMT]
US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O' Blake says he was honoured to meet the leader of the Army-backed paramilitary group TMVP (Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal) which Human Rights Watch has condemend for widespread human rights abuses in the eastern province - of which Pillayan was appointed chief minister. Mr. Blake said he is "pleased that [Pillayan] assured me he too is committed to demobilizing the paramilitaries" the Sunday Times reported. The same column in the paper reported that TMVP cadres are once again being used to support the Sri Lankan security forces' counter-insurgency in the east.
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Eyewitness to desecration of temple arrested under fabricated charges - UPF Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2008, 10:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan police in Grandpass, Colombo, arrested last Thursday a 29-year-old Tamil man who is the main eyewitness to the desecration of a Hindu temple by a Buddhist monk at de-Mel Watte in Colombo on 03 September. Up-Country People's Front parliamentarian and a Deputy Minister in UPFA, P. Rathakrishnan has condemned the act as a move by the police to intimidate a key witness. The Tamil community viewed the arrest as a fabricated charge, he said.
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SL Police detain 10 civilians in Batticaloa after slaying of TMVP operative

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2008, 19:05 GMT]
Sri Lankan forces and TMVP paramilitary men on Saturday detained 10 Tamil civilians in a cordon and search operation jointly conducted by them in Tha'lavaay area, after a TMVP operative was slain Friday night at the office of TMVP at Tha'lavaay.
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TMVP office attacked in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2008, 10:26 GMT]
Attackers who arrived in a motorbike Saturday night around 8:30 p.m., lobbed a grenade on the office of paramilitary-cum-political party TMVP, located along Bagalow Road in Periyakallaa'ru. The attackers escaped from the site where a police post is situated 50 meters close to the TMVP office. Four persons who were inside the office narrowly escaped unhurt, Police said.
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Unemployed graduates commence fasting campaign in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2008, 04:57 GMT]
A fast-to-death campaign organized by the Association of Graduates of Eastern Province (AGEP), the third such campaign within the past three months, commenced Thursday morning outside Batticaloa district Zonal Education office, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Sri Lanka parliament extends emergency

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 14:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday adopted a motion moved by the government led by President Mahinda Rajapakse to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of 99 votes. 110 parliamentarians voted in favor for the motion to extend the emergency. Eleven parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted against the motion. Parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) abstained, parliamentary sources said.
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SLFP to decide on holding elections to 5 PCs

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2008, 18:18 GMT]
The central working committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is to meet during the weekend to decide its political strategy about the question of holding elections to the Western, Southern, North Central, Uva and Central Provincial Councils in the south within next three months. The meeting has been summoned in the wake of the outright victory for the UPFA in Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) and North Central Provincial Council (NCPC) last Saturday, political sources said.
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Hand grenade lobbed at the house of Eastern Province Councilor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2008, 15:56 GMT]
Unidentified men hurled a hand grenade Sunday early morning 2:00 a.m. at the residence of Eastern Province Council (EPC) member, S.M.Zubhair Hadjiar located along Ea'raavoor Girls School and bolted away. The grenade fell within the premises of the home close to the entrance and exploded. Zubhair escaped unhurt in the explosion and the house was undamaged.
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UPFA victory endorses war - GoSL spokesman

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2008, 06:58 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has claimed that the people of the Sabaragamuwa Province and North Central Province have "fully endorsed" the stand and policy of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in "defeating terrorism" as the ruling alliance won the elections in Sabaragamuwa with a majority of more than 125,000 votes (55.38%) against the UNP, which secured 40.53% of the votes. In North Central Province, the UPFA polled 56.37% and the UNP 37.64%, 100,000 less than the UPFA.
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UPFA supporters obstruct voters from estate areas - CaFFE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2008, 08:57 GMT]
Several Estate houses have been set on fire by UFPA supporters at Yatiyanthota Weoya and there is continuous obstruction of voters coming from estate areas into polling booths, according to a situation update by the Campaign for Free & Fair Elections (CaFFE), which has deployed more than 1200 monitors in both the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces. However, voters have been participating enthusiastically in the elections since early morning, the CaFFE report further said.
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42% voter turn out in NCP, SP elections in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2008, 08:28 GMT]
The voter turn out was at 42 percent in the provincial elections in North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces, based on the data up to Saturday noon, according to the sources at the Sri Lankan Election Commissinoers office. Although no major incident reported, there were reports of UPFA mobs snatching National Identity Cards of voters and TMVP paramilitary personnel engaged in chasing away UNP supporters.
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Violence marks election campaign in North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 16:13 GMT]
The election campaign in Sri Lanka's North Central and Sabaragamuwa provincial elections to be held on August 23 came to an end Wednesday midnight with scores of election related violence that topped up to 250 reported incidents from both provinces including a murder, arson, attempted murder and intimidations. Ten political parties and eight independent groups are contesting in Polonnaruwa while 11 parties and seven independent groups are contesting in Anuradhapura. More than 21,000 police are being deployed in the provinces as well as Sri Lanka Army soldiers.
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JVP says UPFA machinery geared for poll rigging

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 09:07 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Wednesday charged that the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government machinery of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been fully geared for mass scale rigging in the forthcoming elections to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) and North Central Provincial Council (NCPC), scheduled to be held On August 23 Saturday.
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Polling stations to be declared security zone

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 August 2008, 12:03 GMT]
Five hundred meters surrounding each polling station in the North Central Province (NCP) and Sabaragamuwa Province (SP) are to be declared high security zone on the Election Day, August 23. This is consequent to the increase of violence preceding the elections to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) and North Central Provincial Council (NCPC) scheduled to take place in five days. Elections Commissioner has also decided to strengthen the security of polling station by deploying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, sources said.
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Pillaiyan group threatens Tamil voters in Polonnaruwa - CaFFE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 August 2008, 10:45 GMT]
Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE), a monitoring organization said Sunday that it has received several complaints alleging that Tamil Paramilitary group Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP ) has been engaged in preventing opposition parties, United National Party (UNP) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) from holding election meetings in Tamil villages in the south of Polonnaruwa electorate and also intimidating Tamil voters not to vote for such parties in the forthcoming elections to the North Central Provincial Council (NCPC) that is scheduled to be held on August 23.
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Anarchy reigns in Sabaragamuwa - JVP

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 August 2008, 05:22 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Sinhala nationalist party, alleged at a press briefing in Ratnapura Thursday that the government has unleashed anarchy in the Sabaragamuwa province against opposition parties contesting in Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) election which is scheduled to be held on August 23
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UNP chief ministerial candidate injured in attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2008, 05:51 GMT]
Film actor cum politician Ranjan Ramanayake, United National Party (UNP) chief ministerial candidate in Sabragamuwa Provincial Council election, was injured Wednesday night when persons alleged to be supporters of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) attacked the convoy of UNP vehicles in Gal-Ela area in Ratnapura district, in Sabaragamuwa province. Two police officers of the police security team accompanying the convoy were also injured, sources in Colombo said.
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JVP demonstrators attacked in Ratnapura

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 10:35 GMT]
An unidentified group of persons Saturday morning is alleged to have attacked a demonstration held by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) activists in Nivitigala town in Ratnapura district against the increasing violence by government elements thus disrupting electioneering of the opposition parties contesting the forthcoming election to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council. Sabaragamuwa province comprises two districts, Ratnapura and Kegalle.
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JVP demonstrators attacked in Ratnapura

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 06:43 GMT]
An unidentified group of persons Saturday morning is alleged to have attacked a demonstration against increasing violence by Sri Lanka Government government elements, held by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) activists in Nivitigala town in Ratnapura district, sources said. The attack disrupted the election campaign of the opposition parties contesting the forthcoming election to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council, according to Ratnapura residents.
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