Sri Lanka should ignore Geneva Agreement- JHU

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 March 2006, 01:30 GMT]
"Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) has to be amended urgently. Sri Lanka Government delegation to the next round of talks in Geneva should strictly adhere to the principles promulgated in Mahinda Chintanaya," said Ven. Ellawala Medananda Thero, the leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the all monks Buddhist nationalist party, in a press meet held at the Buddhist Centre in Colombo Tuesday afternoon, sources said.
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Paramilitary operatives: ultimate victims of covert warfare?

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 22:41 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) met in Geneva Wednesday and Thursday and reconfirmed their commitment to honour and uphold the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). The issue of paramilitary groups figured prominently in the discussions and the GoSL delegation undertook a commitment: that no armed group or person other than its security forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations in GoSL controlled territory.
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EPDP cadres roam Jaffna islet armed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 14:40 GMT]
Alalasundaram Satheesh, a cadre of Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), a paramilitary group working with Sri Lanka Government, armed with a hand gun and communications equipment belonging to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), was patrolling residential areas of Jaffna islet of Delft Friday night around 8 p.m., sources in Delft said. Residents remained indoors without venturing out to get provisions in local shops, local residents said.
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Local elections in LTTE areas likely to be postponed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 14:28 GMT]
Commissioner of Elections is to decide on whether to hold local council elections in areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers in the NorthEast on March 30th only after holding two conferences, one with all the District Returning Officers who are the Government Agents of the province, and the other with the general secretaries of the registered political parties contesting the poll, sources said.
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Ceasefire Agreement is foundation of peace and must be implemented - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 10:19 GMT]
Describing the February 2002 ceasefire agreement (CFA) as the “most constructive achievement” of the Norwegian peace process and “the foundation upon which the process has to be built,” the Liberation Tigers’ Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Anton Balasingham said Wednesday the CFA had been agreed upon by both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE after “careful and meticulous scrutiny” and crafted with the skilled assistance of the Norwegian facilitators.
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ITAK fields Muslim candidates for Jaffna elections

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 February 2006, 14:04 GMT]
"To show that Muslims and the Tamils have been living in harmony in the NorthEast and to further reinforce the amity between the two peoples we are competing on the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) ticket for the forthcoming Jaffna Municipal Council elections," said Moulavi S. M. Shahil and S. M .Suhair in a press meet held in Jaffna Saturday afternoon.
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UPFA to contest three Jaffna local councils

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:26 GMT]
Ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is contesting three local councils in Jaffna district, Chavakachcheri, Point Pedro and Valvettithurai urban councils, and has submitted nomination papers for these councils, election officials in Jaffna said. For the Jaffna Municipal Council only three political parties Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) and PLOTE-EPRLF (Varathar wing) have submitted nominations.
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ITAK uncontested in Verugal local council

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2006, 11:41 GMT]
Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK) was elected uncontested in the Verugal Pradesiya Sabah in the Trincomalee district when submission of nomination lists for the thirteen local authorities closed Thursday at noon. Mr.Bandara Mapa, Assistant Commissioner of Elections said the Commissioner of Elections would take further steps regarding the appointment of chairman and vice chairman for the Verugal PS soon, election department sources said.


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TNA to contest local council poll in Mannar district

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 February 2006, 12:01 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to contest all the five local authorities, one urban council ( UC ) four pradesiya sabahs (PS), in the Mannar administrative district in the forthcoming local election, Mr.S.Vinoharathalingam, Wanni district TNA parliamentarian said Monday.
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Five parties to contest in Jaffna Local Council elections

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 11:26 GMT]
Five political parties have expressed interest to contest in local elections in Jaffna district, Jaffna election officials said. Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), and Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK- Federal party), are expected to contest in all regions in Jaffna district whereas All Ceylon Muslim Congress and Muslim Congress will compete only in Jaffna Municipal Council, sources said.
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Underage paramilitary recruit attests to SLA-Karuna link

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 11:05 GMT]
A 15-year-old boy, recruited by the paramilitary cadres of Karuna Group, later sent on vacation, and who managed to move with his family into the Liberation Tigers held area in Ayithiyamalai, addressed a press meet at Solayaham in LTTE controlled Kokkaddicholai Friday. The underage youth, Arulraj, has revealed details on how he was abducted, transported to Thivuchenai and trained at the training camp of the paramilitary group at Thivuchenai in Welikande. Arularj, who was on leave, managed to escape as his "guardian", an EPDP cadre Rama Ranjan, who accompanied him to Batticaloa from Welikande, was gunned down by unidentified gunmen in mid-January.
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SL Intelligence, paramilitaries responsible for Manipay, Kodikamam killings - NESOHR

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 01:07 GMT]
NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) in the case histories of Manipay killing of three members of the same family and the killing of a 15 year old youth in Kodikamam, released this week, provides details of involvement of Sri Lanka Intellligence operatives and paramilitary cadres belonging to Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in the killings.
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Journalist killed for reporting on paramilitary abuses- RSF

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 18:23 GMT]
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) in a press release issued Tuesday said that Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli was killed for writing about "abuses committed in his region by Tamil paramilitary groups," and that in Sri Lanka, "the impunity enjoyed by the instigators and perpetrators of these murders encourages more violence against the press."
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EPDP threatens Jaffna government workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2006, 12:42 GMT]
In a letter addressed from the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) office, Sridhar Theater, Jaffna, to selected government officers, the EPDP threatened with death those who defy EPDP's call to attend a meeting in Vathiri, Karaveddy on 23 January, sources said.
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Transport operator shot dead in Thenmaradchy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 15:01 GMT]
Unknown gunmen shot dead a Tamil businessman and seriously injured his relative near Puttur junction along A9 road between Kodikamam and Chavakachcheri in Thenmaradchy around 4.30 p.m. Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. Gunmen entered his business in Puttur junction and escaped after shooting at close range.
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Kayts businessman shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 03:48 GMT]
A supporter of Liberation Tigers was shot dead in Kayts, an islet off Jaffna peninsula, by gunmen alleged to be belonging to paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) and Sri Lanka Security forces intelligence operatives at Friday 8 p.m., sources in Jaffna said.
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Nordic countries condemn attack on Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 07:30 GMT]
The contributing countries to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, have condemned the attack on the Batticaloa district office of SLMM on Friday 13 January. Four vehicles parked in front of the SLMM office were damaged in the explosion. Batticaloa office of the SLMM is located on Lake Road, 50 meters from the paramilitary Razeek Group camp, which is attached to a Sri Lanka Army camp. The area, a high security zone of the SLA, also houses other paramilitary camps and ex-militant offices of EPRLF (Varathar faction), PLOTE and EPDP.
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Ex-EPDP cadre shot dead in Nelliadi

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 January 2006, 04:45 GMT]
Navaratnarajah Jegatheeswaran, 26, from Rajakiramam in Karaveddy, Jaffna was shot dead at 8.30 a.m. Sunday by unknown gunmen riding in a motorbike along Nelliady-Kodikamam road, sources from Jaffna said. Jagatheeswaran was formerly a member of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) and left the organization some time ago, Karaveddy residents said.
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Three women members of Maaveerar family shot dead in Manipay

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 January 2006, 02:33 GMT]
Two young sisters, Bojan Renuka, 30, and Bojan Shanuka, 23, and their mother Bojan Arthanageswary, 51, residents of a house in Mudaliyar Kanagasabai Road in Manipay, close to the Manipay Hindu College, Jaffna district, were shot dead Sunday night at 11.45 p.m. by gunmen, suspected to be Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence operatives and members of Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) paramilitary, who entered the house and sprayed bullets at the residents, sources said. The father, Nagendran Bojan, 55, and brother Bojan Ullasan, 26, sustained gunshot injuries and are receiving treatment at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, medical sources said.
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Abducted man found shot dead in Kayts

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 January 2006, 08:27 GMT]
Tharmarasan Tharmaseelan, 37, who was abducted by unidentified men Saturday night, was found shot dead with his hands tied behind near a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) check post in Kayts town, north-west of Jaffna, Sunday morning.
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