Rajapakse wants referendum on abolishing CFA – state media

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 13:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse plans to hold a referendum to decide whether the Sri Lankan government should continue to abide by the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), state media reported Sunday, quoting “a high ranking official of the Presidential Secretariat.” The official was quoted by the Sunday Observer as saying “President Rajapaksa is keen to obtain a fresh mandate from the people on the CFA. The President is interested in looking at the proposed abolition of the CFA in a 'democratic manner', enabling the voters to decide on the fate of the CFA.”
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SL Forces reintroduce fishing ban in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 March 2007, 11:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Armed Forces stationed along the coastal belt of Vadamaradchy reinstated the ban on fishing from Wednesday morning on Vadamaradchy north and east seas until further notice, fisheries society sources said.
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SL Forces lift fishing blockade in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 March 2007, 12:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Command in Jaffna allowed fishing in coastal areas in Vadamaradchy north and east with specific restrictions starting from Saturday, fisheries society sources in Jaffna said. Fishermen were allowed fishing during day-light hours, within one 1km from the shores, and can only use non-motorized boats, sources added.
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Rights questions bedevil Bogollagama UK, US visit

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 March 2007, 12:55 GMT]
"The five year old Ceasefire Agreement is in tatters and the Government [of Sri Lanka] seems more and more determined to pursue a military solution. But what are the costs? With widespread reports of abductions and disappearances, extra-judicial killings and torture, today's Sri Lanka is beginning to look like Pinochet's Chile," says Allan Little, BBC's Hard Talk, in his introduction to an interview with Rohitha Bogollagama. The foreign minister has completed his visit to UK and is currently in US, and his visit is plagued by questions regarding the worsening Human Rights situation in Sri Lanka.
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UK calls for truce, backs Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 March 2007, 23:13 GMT]
British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wednesday called for the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) to be implemented as a first step towards ending Sri Lanka’s conflict. “The only realistic way to get a solution is to come back to the 2002 agreement and make sure that it is implemented,” Mr. Blair said. Meanwhile British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told her Sri Lankan counterpart, Rohitha Bogollagama, “there can be no military solution alone to the conflict.” The emphasis on ‘alone’ is seen by some as British preparedness to endorse the Colombo’s war against the Tigers, provided a political solution is offered also.
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Struggle will continue until CFA is annulled-JVP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 March 2007, 20:27 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said that its struggle will continue until the Sri Lanka government annuls the ceasefire agreement (CFA) it signed with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "We successfully obtained a ruling on the demerger of NorthEast province after nineteen years. We will also succeed in cancelling the ceasefire agreement very soon,"Wimal Weerawanse, parliamentary group leader of the JVP addressing a meeting last Sunday in Matara in the southern province said.
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Anuradhapura SLA commander killed in ambush

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 March 2007, 14:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army commander of the Anuradhapura Saliyapura Gajaba Regimental HeadQuarters, Colonel Jayantha Shurawera, and three of his men inlcuding a Major, and four national park employees were killed in a gunfire ambush inside the Wilpattu wildlife sanctuary around 10:30 a.m. Friday, military officials in Colombo said.
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JVP, JHU to appeal court order on CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 March 2007, 10:09 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and all monks' party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Wednesday said they will appeal the order of the Court of Appeal dismissing their petitions seeking the cancellation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed by the then Sri Lanka' Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe with Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on 22 February 2002, legal sources in Colombo said. Justice S.Sriskandarajah Tuesday said the petitioners have no valid legal reasons to seek the cancellation of the CFA and the court has no jurisdiction to order such act.
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Appeal Court dismisses petitions challenging CFA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 March 2007, 10:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal Tuesday rejected three petitions, one by the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the other two by all monks' party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), challenging the legal validity of the Ceasefire agreement signed on 22 February 2002 by Ranil Wickremasinghe, then Prime Minister of the United National Party (UNP) government of Sri Lanka and Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), legal sources in Colombo said.
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American Tamils call for Recognition of Tamil Sovereignty for NorthEast Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 11:46 GMT]
Pleading to the international community that "the just aspirations of the Tamils should not be held hostage by fictitious claims of protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a failed state," a consortium of Tamil organizations in the US, in a press release issued Monday, urged the International Community to "recognize the current de-facto Tamil state should their authentic representatives exercise the right to external self-determination," and called upon fellow Americans "to stand with the Tamil Americans in support of the inalienable right of self-determination."
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TNA appeals to international community to back Tamil self-determination

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 11:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s ongoing military campaign leaves Tamils with no option but to seek self-determination and self-rule, the country’s largest Tamil party said Friday. In a statement to mark the fifth anniversary of the Ceasefire Agreement between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called on the international community to recognise the Tamil struggle pointing out that in the past five years, “the Sri Lankan government has utterly failed to alleviate the sufferings of the Tamil people. Neither has it contributed meaningfully to a lasting solution to the national conflict.”
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Marginalisation of CFA compells Tamils to resume freedom struggle - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 February 2007, 16:54 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in a statement marking five years since the signing of 22 February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), said the CFA formulated with the full support of the international community, had transcended the parameters of Sri Lanka’s majoritarian constitution, recognizing Tamil Eelam’s de facto existence and the balance of power between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE. However, the international community’s insistence on a solution that does not infringe on the "territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka," is deeply frustrating for the Tamil people, the statement said.
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JHU tells JVP: CFA already dead, meaningless to demand abrogation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 February 2007, 12:42 GMT]
The ceasefire agreement CFA) signed by Ranil Wickremasinghe, the then Prime Minister and Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) five years ago on 22 February 2002 had already dead with the capture of Mavilaru by the Sri Lankan security forces last year. "Hence there is no point in demanding the government to abrogate the CFA,"said Venerable Omalpe Sobitha Thera, general secretary of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU).
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4000 killed in 15 months - SLMM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 February 2007, 09:54 GMT]
Nearly 4000 people have lost their lives during the past 15 months in contrast to less than 130 deaths during the first 3 years following the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) of 22 February 2002, between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the truce monitors said Thursday in a statement marking the fifth year of the signing of the CFA between the GoSL and the LTTE.
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NPM urges Rajapakse to nullify CFA with LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 February 2007, 18:37 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM) Sunday made an urgent appeal to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse to nullify the ceasefire agreement (CFA) signed by Ranil Wickremasinghe, the then Prime Minister and Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of LTTE, before the CFA completes five-year period on February 22, sources in Colombo said.
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Prayer campaign to force CFA abrogation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 February 2007, 06:13 GMT]
A special prayer is to be held at Kandy Dalada Maligawa Saturday in support of the demand that the government should abrogate the ceasefire agreement signed on 22 February 2002 before it completes five-year period next week. Buddhist monks in large numbers are expected to participate in the prayer campaign, sources in Kandy said.
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Abrogate CFA before February 22, demands Bhikku Front

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 February 2007, 02:16 GMT]
The Sri Lanka National Bhikku Front (SLNBF) is considering intensifying agitation if the government fails to abrogate the ceasefire agreement (CFA) before 22nd February, Venerable Dambara Amila Thera, President of the SLNBF told media persons Friday evening at Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo where Buddhist priests have been fasting on rotation.
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LTTE responds to UN report on Children and Armed Conflict

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 February 2007, 11:34 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a report issued by the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi, Wednesday stated that the LTTE which runs a civil administration with "extensive civil services," in which it's members take part, was entitled as a "functioning defacto-state" to recruit those above the age of 17. The Tigers were prepared to observe the minimum age of 18 when this practice has been accepted as an international standard by all the states, the LTTE statement said. The statement is the LTTE's response to the report made following the mission of Allan Rock, Special Adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict on Sri Lanka.
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Buddhist monks to fast demanding abrogation of CFA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 February 2007, 22:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka's National Bhikku Front (NBF), an organization of Buddhist monks, is to launch a fasting campaign Monday in Colombo demanding the Sri Lanka President to abrogate the ceasefire agreement (CFA) signed by the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Colombo said.
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Indian Envoy's help sought in resettling displaced civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 January 2007, 09:25 GMT]
A delegation of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians met the Indian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka Alok Prasad and his deputy Manickam in Colombo at 10:00 am Thursday morning at the official residence of the envoy and appealed to him for help in resettling the recently displaced Tamil civilians in East, TNA sources in Colombo said,
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