Terminate CFA, Buddhist monks demand

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 January 2007, 12:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Buddhist Monks' Front Thursday decided to submit a memorandum to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse demanding termination of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed on 22 February 2002 by then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and V. Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before it completes five year-term.
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SL Appeal Court to decide on CFA inquiry

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 January 2007, 17:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal Wednesday fixed the inquiry for 06 March into the petitions by the Sinhala extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party and the Buddhist nationalist all monks Jathika Hela Urumaya seeking the Sri Lanka judiciary to declare that the Ceasefire Agreement, signed on 22 February 2002, is null and void on the basis that it contravened the constitution of the country.
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US urges south to form basis for renewed talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 12:57 GMT]
"Attacks that deliberately target civilians are clear acts of terrorism," said US Embassy in a press statement Tuesday, condemning the attacks on civilian buses and stated that the "on going violence in Vakarai" has caused significant hardship to civilians. The US has urged the SLFP, UNP and the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) to "accelerate their concentration of the power sharing proposal" that can form the basis for renewed peace talks.
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Negotiate a new ceasefire, UNP tells Rajapakse government

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 January 2007, 22:43 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) Sunday appealed to the government of Mahinda Rajapakse to work out a fresh ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake made the request at a press briefing held Sunday.


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Sri Lanka military vows to ‘annihilate’ LTTE in east then north

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 January 2007, 14:02 GMT]
After taking control of the eastern province in the next two months, Sri Lanka’s military will recapture the areas held by the Liberation Tigers in the north of the island, the Army (SLA) Chief said this week.
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Battle for Vaharai

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 January 2007, 11:35 GMT]
Vaharai, a large backwater on Sri Lanka’s east coast, is an area with large fertile fields, lagoons and virgin forests in the northern part of the Batticaloa district. More than 15,000 residents and IDPs are now trapped in Vaharai as the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) conducts its brutal campaign to evict Tamils from the region, closing A-15 the main access road to the town, and imposing economic embargo, while Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) kfirs fly bombing raids terrorizing the civilians to flee. "They [LTTE] won't be able to keep the civilians for long. Food and medicine is in short supply," Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, the top military spokesman, told Reuters in a interview Friday.
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MP slams aerial bombardment on water refinery

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2006, 10:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), in its latest bombing raids in Vaharai on Thursday, completely destroyed a water refinery constructed by the UN agencies to remedy the drinking water shortage in the area near Verugal Murugan temple, charged S. Jeyanandamoorthy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian from Batticaloa. In a press communiqué issued on Friday, the MP said: "the bombardment on the water refinery is not only a Ceasefire violation but is a human rights violation and a war crime too."
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Ceasefire, dialogue imperative for recovery- Bill Clinton

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 13:09 GMT]
While noting that all must "recognize that peace is critical to any recovery process," Bill Clinton former President of the US, said in an op-ed column in the Tuesday edition of the Washington Post, that "tragically the tsunami has not had a similar impact on reconciliation in Sri Lanka, where the recovery will continue to be hampered until the parties resume a serious dialogue and reestablish ceasefire."
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We've lost a friend, says Norway

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2006, 03:01 GMT]
Norwegian special envoy for the peace process in Sri Lanka Jon Hansen-Bauer praised late Anton Balasingam for his invaluable contribution to the peace efforts, and said Norway will miss a much valued friend. Speaking at a memorial meeting in Oslo arranged at the Tamil Resource and Consultation Centre in Oslo Friday, the Norwegian Special Envoy said that it is through Mr. Balasingham he learned much about the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
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Anton Balasingham - The Times’ Obituary

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2006, 06:52 GMT]
In an obituary Friday, The Times of London described Mr. Anton Balasingham, the theoretician and chief negotiator of the LTTE who passed away Thursday, as “the one man the Tigers could trust with their destiny in what looked like being a breakthrough in talks.” At one stage in the Norwegian peace process, the British broadsheet noted, Mr. Balasingham had steered the Tigers away from their demand for independence. However, it said, “everybody underestimated the determination of hardcore Sinhalese organisations like the JVP and hardline Buddhist clergy to scuttle any deal that gave the Tamils even a hint of autonomy.”
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New regulations mandate "written approval" for peace facilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 05:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, in his public address on 06 December, stated that his government had decided to "reactivate the provisions of the The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)." On the same day he announced that he had defined "terrorism" in new regulations called Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations (PPTSTAR) which makes explicit reference to the PTA. The facilitation process has to be conducted as an "approved transaction," and upon "written approval" from Colombo, according to the PPTSTAR.
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"Colombo on genocidal war path" - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 23:50 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, in his address on International Human Rights Day held in Kilinochchi Sunday, stated that the Sri Lankan Government, depriving the Tamil people of their fundamental birthrights such as the "right to life, right to national identity and the right to homeland," and disabling the Ceasefire Agreement with its presently introduced "Prevention of Terrorism" act, was on a "genocidal war path," violating not only human rights laws, but also the Geneva humanitarian laws by carrying out bombardments on hospitals and schools. "Tamil people stand deceived by the membership conferred on the Sri Lankan state to the newly formed Human Rights Council."
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UK to remove Sri Lanka from asylum "whitelist"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 December 2006, 11:36 GMT]
Asylum & Appeals Policy Directorate attached to the British Home Office, Friday said it would remove Sri Lanka from the list of countries designated for non-suspensive appeals under Section 94 of the 2002 Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, in the light of the deterioration in the situation in Sri Lanka.
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SLA fired artillery shells hit school, 13 refugees wounded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 December 2006, 06:29 GMT]
Thirteen refugees, including a 4-year-old child, were wounded when Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells hit a school in Paalchenai, 8 km north of Vaharai Saturday, around 11:20 a.m., as SLA intensified a ground offensive from Eachilampattu, via A15 trunk road towards Verugal, 15 km northwest of Vakarai amid indiscriminate artillery barrage. Nine wounded refugees from the school where IDP families were staying, were rushed to Vaharai hospital, medical sources said. Heavy fighting was reported between Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka Army at Eachilamapattu.
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Re-opening of landroutes, non-negotiable humanitarian priority - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2006, 10:15 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, Friday told media after meeting Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer in Kilinochchi, that the re-opening of A9 and A15 landroutes constituted basic humanitarian priorities for the survival of the civilian population. "It is critical that the International Community addresses the issue of Colombo's cooperation in re-opening of A9 and A15 landroutes ensuring the Tamil people their top-most basic humanitarian need," Mr. Thamilchelvan said. Tamil people are at the verge of losing hopes in Norwegian facilitators, the SLMM and the International Community for failing to condemn Colombo for refusing to re-open the landroutes, he said.
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GoSL considering proscription, reimposition of PTA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2006, 00:36 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is considering seriously to proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) and re- impose the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) again, Ratnasri Wickramanayake, the Premier and Deputy Defense Minister of Sri Lanka, announced in Parliament Tuesday, while addressing allocation of funds to the Ministry of Defense in the new budget for the year of 2007, Parliamentary sources said.
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130 billion rupees defence budget approved in Sri Lankan Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2006, 15:00 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army, Navy and Air Force commanders, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, who narrowly escaped a suicide attack last Frdiay, were present at the Sri Lankan Parliament Tuesday when it approved the defence budget allowing an increased defence spending by 43% to USD 1.3 billion. The Sri Lankan parliament would adopt the budget for 2007 on Wednesday while the Sri Lankan cabinet is expected to decide on re-imposing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) that has not been invoked since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Sri Lanka civil liberties ‘already under strain’ – US Ambassador

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2006, 01:09 GMT]
Asked about the salience of a Patriot Act-style law for Sri Lanka, US Ambassador to Colombo, Robert O' Blake, told the state-owned Daily News: “civil liberties, frankly, are already under strain here (in Sri Lanka). So, I wouldn't want to suggest other things that might further imperil them.” He pointed out that the US Patriot Act was operating in tandem with strong respect for civil liberties there. Mr. Blakes’s comments were published in Tuesday’s edition of the Daily News as the Colombo government says it preparing to revive the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) – breaching the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement.
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CFA, buried

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 December 2006, 15:23 GMT]
Head of Sri Lanka's Peace Secretariat, Palitha Kohona, has told the visiting Norwegian Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer, that the Sri Lankan government was reviewing a proposal of proscribing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and had asked the Peace Envoy not to undertake his scheduled mission to Kilinochchi until a Government decision on Wednesday, according to media reports in Colombo. Analysts view the move as a step to effectively nullify the already defunct Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) that specifically prohibits all military offensives including aerial bombardment, offensive naval operations, assassinations, suicide missions and the activities by deep penetration units.
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LTTE officials dismiss conflicting press reports

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 07:01 GMT]
Director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat S. Puleedevan and Military Spokesman of the LTTE, Irasaiah Ilanthirayan Thursday jointly dismissed press reports that cited SLMM officials as saying that the Tigers had conveyed a message to Colombo following the policy address by the LTTE leader. "Our National Leader, in his policy address, has clearly explained everything that was needed to be conveyed to Colombo," Mr. Ilanthirayan said. The LTTE leader, Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, in his policy address on Heroes' Day had accused Colombo for having conducted the funeral rites of the Ceasefire Agreement without tearing it apart.
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