NorthEast Governor visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 May 2005, 16:10 GMT]
Governor of NorthEast, Mr.Tyronne Fernando, Thursday arrived in Jaffna by air on an official visit and attended a conference held in Jaffna Library Auditorium. A group of Tamil civilians held a protest against his visit in front of the venue holding black flags, sources said.


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‘Discipline collapsing in police force’ - AHRC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 May 2005, 17:13 GMT]
Discipline is breaking down in Sri Lanka’s police force, the Asian Human Rights Commission warned Wednesday, citing assaults and shootings of civilians by officers. “The cause of this collapse in discipline [is] the politicisation of the police force,” the Hong Kong-based group said. The AHRC also condemned Sri Lanka’s Police Chief for apparently condoning his officers’ use of excessive force against civilians.
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Sivaram: ‘Don’t raise false hopes amongst our people’

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2005, 18:35 GMT]
The last article published by Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram, the political columnist and military analyst abducted and murdered on Friday, was an appeal to his colleagues in the Tamil media. Urging them not to hype up the chances of a positive outcome with regards to the joint mechanism until it actually happens, Mr. Sivaram argued that the media has a duty to not to raise false hopes amongst the Tamil people and to keep the Sri Lankan state’s determination not to meet Tamil expectations in sight.The article, written in Tamil for the Colombo-based Virakesari newspaper appeared in its edition of Sunday April 24.
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Govt. of Sri Lanka is accountable for journalist's murder- US Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2005, 00:48 GMT]
"Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is accountable for the murder of journalist Mr D Sivaram," said a press release issued by a group of US Tamil Organizations, Sunday. "Sadly, the murder of Mr. Sivaram is not an aberration; it is consistent with a long history of state-sponsored murders of journalists and political opponents, and general contempt for freedom, democracy and the rule of law which have become the norm for Sri-Lanka," the release further said.
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Massive military expansion ‘without publicity’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 May 2005, 15:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka is to buy several powerful warships from Britain, Serbia and Uruguay, the Sunday Times reported this week. From Britain, the SLN is keen to buy warships to support major amphibious assaults on coastal targets. The SLN is also to buy two nearly 100-metre long Russian built missile frigates from Serbia and five fast gunboats from Uruguay. “What is known quite clearly is that millions of dollars are to be spent for military procurements,” the Sunday Times’ defence correspondent, Iqbal Athas, writes. “Without the glare of publicity, behind-the-scene manoeuvres to secure some big deals are under way.”
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Jaffna journalists protest over killing of Sivaram

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 April 2005, 16:41 GMT]
A large number of civilians and journalists protested in Jaffna town, Saturday morning, demanding the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure safety to Tamil media persons.
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Muttur residents protest against cement ban

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2005, 13:45 GMT]
A large number of Tamil civilians including men, women and children Thursday morning held a protest march from Ganeshapuram junction in the LTTE held Muttur east villages to the Sri Lanka Army held Kaddaiparichchan area in the Trincomalee district demanding that the ban imposed on the transportation of cement and other related building materials should be withdrawn immediately enabling the non-governmental organizations to continue the rebuilding of houses destroyed in tsunami disaster. The Muttur East Peoples' Union (MEPU) organized the protest, sources said.
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Four injured in Batticaloa shooting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 April 2005, 06:47 GMT]
A man said to be a former Sri Lanka military intelligence informant was seriously wounded when a gunman opened fire on him in Batticaloa town Sunday morning around 10.50. A Batticaloa jail employee and two children were also wounded in the firing. Police said the seriously wounded man is an ordinary civilian. The gunmen got away, according to Police.
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Demonstrations in Velanai, Sandilipay demand Joint Mechanism

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 April 2005, 17:02 GMT]
Large number of civilians participated in two protest marches held in Sandilipay in Valigamam division and Velanai in Kayts Division in the Jaffna district Thursday morning separately putting forward four demands including the establishment of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) and the Joint Mechanism to implement tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation programme in the northeast. Other demands were the resettlement of displaced families due to war in their own houses and lands and to bring to halt the killings of LTTE cadres, members of public and journalists, sources said.


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Where the truce promise rings hollow

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 April 2005, 14:26 GMT]
The cease fire agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers was greeted eagerly by the people of Batticaloa because it held out the hope that their daily lives would be spared of the tensions, fears, anxieties, stress and trauma which they suffered for two long decades of war. They were glad that they could lead normal lives again. Today the cease fire’s promise rings increasingly hollow to them as the Sri Lankan armed forces reintroduce war era measures, which are tinged indelibly with bitter memories of a past the people of Batticaloa wanted to put behind so that they could start their lives anew.
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Annai Poopathi death anniversary observed in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 April 2005, 14:20 GMT]
Seventeenth death anniversary of Annai Poopathi, who fasted unto death on 19 April 1988 after placing five demands to the Government of India, was observed in the NorthEast province Tuesday. Several hundreds of students, men and women participated in token fast held separately in the five divisions of the Jaffna district Tuesday, organizers said.


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Nine killed in attack on paramilitary camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 April 2005, 02:22 GMT]
At least nine were killed in an attack on the camps of a paramilitary group in Sorivil in the Welikanda area, 80 kilometres northwest of Batticaloa Thursday morning, civilians in the area said. "We can neither confirm nor deny the reports of the attack", a senior military officer in the east said. The bodies of nine paramilitary cadres who were killed in the assault were lying near a river in Sorivil (Soruwila in Sinhala), an interior village in the Polannaruwa district. The ENDLF/Karuna Group set up five camps in the area recently, according to civilians in the area. Three paramilitary camps in Vannathuraiyadi near Sorivil were attacked. The other camps had supplies, according to villagers.
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Kilinochchi protest condemns delay in Joint Mechanism, ISGA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 April 2005, 09:38 GMT]
Large number of Tamil civilians participated in the protest march held Monday morning in Killinochchi condemning the Government of Sri Lanka for its delay in establishing the joint mechanism to provide relief and rehabilitation to tsunami affected people and for the delay in setting up the interim self governing authority (ISGA) in the northeast. It also condemned the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for carrying out a shadow war in the east, sources said.
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Jaffna protest demands withdrawal of state troops

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 April 2005, 10:24 GMT]
Large number of Tamil civilians participated in a protest march held in Jaffna town Wednesday demanding the withdrawal of State armed forces enabling the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced families in their own lands and houses now being occupied by Sri Lanka government soldiers and restore normalcy in the peninsula, sources said.
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NESHOR delegation meets UN officials in Geneva

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 April 2005, 19:05 GMT]
A delegation of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) led by its Deputy Chairman Mr.K.Sivapalan met with Mr.Miloon Kothari, United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Special Rapporteur to Adequate Housing at the UN headquarters in Geneva Monday, sources in Geneva said.
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LTTE Political Head meets with Director General of Italian Foreign Ministry

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 April 2005, 07:27 GMT]
Exploring the framework of the Joint Mechanism draft as accepted by the LTTE, in a meeting with Mr. Claudio Pacifico, the Director General of the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome on Friday, Political Head of the LTTE Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan noted that the inclusive and coordinated mechanism involving International NGOs, local civilian based organizations and the district level Government officials was key to the success of the internationally praised relief operations led by the LTTE initiated Task Force after the December 26 tsunami.
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Security Forces' harassment of civilians on the rise, SLMM told

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 April 2005, 14:16 GMT]
Citing a recent incident where a navy soldier had entered the house of a Tamil civilian and harassed and intimidated him under the pretext of holding inquiry, Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday requested the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the east port town to take immediate steps to stop the intimidation and harassment of Tamil civilians by members of government security forces, sources in Trincomalee said.
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LTTE's Vavuniya political office bombed

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 March 2005, 02:14 GMT]
Three persons were injured in grenade attack on the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Vavuniya town Monday morning around 5.30. Police said. The wounded were a security guard at an adjacent weaving centre and two civilian employees at the LTTE political office. The unidentified assailants got away, Police said.
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Sri Lanka army SF suspected in murder of civilians – LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 March 2005, 15:23 GMT]
Two civilians were knifed to death Saturday night in the Kudumbimalai area, about forty kilometres northwest of Batticaloa, a spokesman for the Liberation Tigers said. “We strongly suspect the hand of Sri Lanka army Special Forces in the murder. Evidence points in that direction. The two men were persons who had volunteered from the Sithaandy village to help us stop the plunder of sand and timber from their area”, he said. Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) claimed Sunday that six were killed in clashes between LTTE troopers and a paramilitary group in Batticaloa on Saturday.
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Commission on eastern killings to record evidence

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 March 2005, 12:32 GMT]
The commission appointed by Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga to inquire into attacks on the Liberation Tigers in the east will record evidence from 28 March to 8 April 2005, according to a media release by the President’s officer in Colombo Monday. The commission on “alleged attacks on LTTE” will record evidence “to ascertain the circumstances and/or the motive leading to the attacks on those alleged to be LTTE Cadres”, according to the release. Tigers dismissed the commission as “eyewash” last week, pointing to the fate of four Presidential commissions that inquired into massacres of Tamil civilians in the east by Sri Lankan armed forces.
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