Bishops, clergy to meet LTTE political head

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 18:51 GMT]
Clergy and Bishops from various parts of the island are scheduled to meet with Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on Friday to discuss the current political situation following the slaying of senior Tamil politician Joseph Pararajasingam, sources in Colombo said. Bishops from Colombo, Kandy and Kurunagala were expected to attend the meeting with the Bishops of Jaffna and Mannar, the sources said.
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Peace Group calls for early resumption of talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 18:22 GMT]
The National Anti-War Front (NAWF), in a statement issued in Colombo Thursday, called upon the Government of Sri Lanka to invite the Norwegian facilitators immediately to resume negotiations with the Liberation Tigers. NAWF also urged the militaries on both sides to meet with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), to explore ways to stop the violence.


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STF soldiers fire into LTTE held area in East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 12:03 GMT]
Around fifty soldiers of the Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) Thursday morning 11:00 a.m. opened fire at random into paddy fields located inside the LTTE held area, dispersing more than a hundred farmers working in the fields. Only minor injuries were sustained by a few farmers in the gunfire, LTTE's Udumpankulam area Co-ordinator Mr. Veeramani told TamilNet.
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Grenade attack on SLA sentry, soldiers assault civilians in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 08:43 GMT]
Unidentified men lobbed a grenade at a Sri Lanka Army sentry, which is located in Mannar playgrounds Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m. No one was injured in the incident. More than hundred SLA soldiers, following the explosion, launched a search operation in areas, Moor Street, Sinnakadai and Uppukulam. The soldiers fired in air at random and assaulted civilian travellers waiting in the Mannar bus stand, sources said.
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Solheim calls for urgent talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 11:25 GMT]
Norwegian Development Minister Mr. Erik Solheim on Tuesday expressed concern at the recent acts of violence including shooting of civilians near Jaffna University, attacks on Sri Lankan Military personnel and civilians, Claymore attacks, violence against Muslims and the assassination of parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham during Mass on Christmas Eve, and urged the two parties to meet urgently to strengthen the CeaseFire Agreement. Attending a one-year Tsunami remembrance event in Oslo on Monday, Erik Solheim has gone on record saying that "Norway was even prepared to take the parties to the moon" if that was the only venue left for talks.
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US urges immediate end to violence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 09:41 GMT]
Deputy Spokesman of U.S. Department of State Adam Ereli on Tuesday called on both sides in the Sri Lankan conflict to embrace peace and work together and said that the United States, as one of the Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka Donors Group, reiterates the Co-Chairs' message to the LTTE urging an immediate end to violence and encouraging the LTTE to engage positively with the Government of Sri Lanka in peace talks. The US statement comes as the Sri Lankan President Rajapakse left Tuesday to India in his attempt to woo India's support in favour of the Sri Lankan state.


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Pirapaharan pays tribute to slain TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 22:43 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, on Tuesday, paid tribute to the slain senior Tamil politician Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham in the Vanni. The body of the Tamil National Alliance paraliamentarian, who was shot inside Batticaloa St. Mary's Co-Catherdal during Christmas mass on Sunday, was taken to LTTE controlled Kokkadicholai on Monday and to Kilinochchi on Tuesday. The funeral service of the MP is to take place in the church where he was slain Thursday after receiving Holy Communion from Bishop Kingsley Swampillai.
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Kallady tsunami victims get permanent houses

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 12:36 GMT]
Thirty permanent houses constructed by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) with the financial assistance from the Operation-USA, an international non-government organization, were handed over to tsunami affected families in Kallady, at an event held Monday to mark the first year remembrance of tsunami disaster. Kallady is a remote village in the Eachchilampathu division, down south of Trincomalee district.
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US Tamils call for sanctions against SL Government

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 11:24 GMT]
Expressing anger and sadness at the killing of Senior Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham, US based Tamil Organizations, in a press release issued Monday, pointed out that "Tamils killings are never investigated...and armed forces in Sri Lanka operate with complete impunity," and urged the international community to "show political and moral courage and impose sanctions on the government of Sri Lanka in order to put an immediate end of this deliberated and calculated violence."
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All five Jaffna victims identified as civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 10:48 GMT]
The young woman, who was shot and killed by the SLA soldiers and dressed up with denim trousers last Saturday, was identified as a heart patient, Ms Parameswari Somasundaram, 26, who had come to Jaffna Hospital for treatment from Konavil in Kilinochchi. Two other remaining bodies were also identified as belonging civilians from Kanakarayankulam and Pallai. Two bodies were earlier identified as belonging to a night watcher and a garage worker in Kottady. The Sri Lanka Military spokesman in Colombo had claimed that the five persons were gunmen who were shot by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and that troopers had recovered weapons from the victims.
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SLMM member denied entry to tsunami event

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 December 2005, 17:07 GMT]
Soldiers manning the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) check point Monday morning refused permission for a woman monitor of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) based in Mannar to attend the one year tsunami remembrance religious event held at Madhu church in the LTTE held area, sources said.
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Rajapakse, SL Military Intelligence responsible for MPs murder - IFT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 December 2005, 16:39 GMT]
The Geneva based International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a consortium of more than 150 expatriate Tamil organizations, on Sunday urged the International Community, to condemn without delay, the brutal murder of the Tamil Parliamentarian and human rights activist Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham during the midnight Christmas cathedral service. The Federation urged the International Community to hold Sri Lanka government and President Mahinda Rajapakse responsible for the murder. IFT said Joseph Pararajasingham was a pragmatist, advocating for over a decade, even before the signing of the CFA, a direct dialogue between the government and the LTTE.
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LTTE confers "Maamanithar" title to Pararajasingham

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 December 2005, 15:17 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Velupillai Pirapaharan, bestowed the title Maamanithar (Great Humanbeing) on the slain Senior Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham Sunday. "Steadfast and honest, he is an excellent political leader. The Tamil people affectionately hailed him as a formidable fighter for human rights. His extra-ordinary attachment to the Tamil cause gravitated all towards him. The demise of Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham is an irreparable loss to the Tamil Nation," Pirapaharan said in the statement conferring the award.
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SLN soldier's body washed ashore in Mannar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 December 2005, 14:36 GMT]
The body of Mr.G.S.Paranavitharene, a Petty Officer attached to the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) who had been reported missing since December 22 following a firefight between the LTTE and SLN in Pallimunai Sea was washed ashore near South bar in Mannar in decomposed state Sunday morning, Mannar Police said.


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Identity of Jaffna victims raises questions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 December 2005, 12:43 GMT]
One of the five bodies recovered by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital claiming to be those of LTTE fighters, after the firefight near Jaffna Fort Saturday, was identified as belonging to Krishnar Vimaleswaran (31), a watcher at Jaffna Central College, located 300 meters from where the bodies were found. Relatives identified another body as belonging to Balasingham Santhirakanthan (24) who owns a motorbike repairshop in Kottadi Jaffna.
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LTTE firm on venue, Co-chairs "committed and impartial"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 December 2005, 10:38 GMT]
"The Tamil leadership is firm and will oppose Colombo's effort on imposing geographical limitations and preconditions on the venue of talks on the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement and thereby alienating the Liberation Tigers from European countries," the LTTE Political Head Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan told media after a two-hour-long meeting with the Co-Chairs' representatives held in Kilinochchi Saturday. Head of the EU Delegation to Sri Lanka, Ambassador Julian Wilson, speaking to the media, reiterated the Co-Chairs statement on Monday and urged the parties to "start talks on Ceasefire Agreement's Implementation immediately," adding that Co-Chairs were "committed" and "impartial."
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Co-Chairs representatives to meet LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 15:20 GMT]
A top level diplomatic team representing the Co-Chairs of the peace process in Sri Lanka are scheduled to visit Kilinochchi and meet the LTTE's Political Head Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan on Saturday to discuss the situation following the recent escalation of violence in Jaffna and Mannar districts, sources in Kilinochchi told TamilNet.
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Vaiko meets Indian Premier, Defence Minister in New Delhi

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 13:54 GMT]
Vaiko, the General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) from the Tamil Nadu state in India, met Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi Friday at 5 p.m. Following the meeting with the Indian Premier, Vaiko also met the Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday evening. When contacted by TamilNet, the MDMK chief Vaiko described his meetings with Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee as cordial and constructive. Sri Lanka was trying to trap India to get embroiled into Sri Lanka's conflict as it did in the eighties, Vaiko said, adding that he had cautioned the Indian leaders that Sri Lanka's moves are inimical to Tamil interests.
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Mannar Police releases four fishermen, detains three

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 07:21 GMT]
Three internally displaced fishermen from Jaffna district, arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), while being engaged in fishing in Pallimunai in Mannar area, are still being detained in the Mannar police station for further investigation regarding the firefight that took place between the Sri Lanka Navy and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Thursday morning. They are among the seven arrested by the SLN following the firefight. The other four fishermen including two students who are residents of Pallimunai were released Thursday night around 11:30 p.m. to the relatives in the presence of Mannar Parish Priest Rev.F.A.Gnanapiragasam.
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Mannar LTTE office burnt down

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 04:11 GMT]
The office of the LTTE Mannar district administrative unit was found Friday early morning burnt and damaged by unidentified persons. This office is located along Moor Street in Mannar town, sources said.
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