Tens of thousands attend Tamil resurgence event in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 September 2005, 12:11 GMT]
Around one hundred thousand people from various parts of Vanni mainland took part in the Tamil national resurgence event held in Kilinochchi on Thursday. The event was held in support of the July 27 Vavuniya Convention and was organised by the Tamil Resurgence Task Force. The entire township was decorated with felicitation arches and yellow and red bi-colour flags with a festive appearance. "This event would inform the world that time is ripe for us to decide our own destiny," Mr. M. Sivabalan, president of the Task Force told TamilNet. The event ceremonially began at 4:00 p.m. in Kilinochchi common playground.
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LTTE launches village level civil force in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 14:21 GMT]
Hundred-and-twenty persons passed out in the first batch of special trained village level civil force in Ganeshapuram Central Grounds on Tuesday in LTTE controlled Muttur East in the Trincomalee district. LTTE's Special Commander of Trincomalee, Col. Sornam, particiapted as the chief guest in the passing out ceremony of the first batch that completed a forty-five days' training. Deputy Head of the Tamileelam Police for the Trincomalee district, Mr. Semmanan, who presided the event said that training is being given to five thousand villagers in the district.
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Three-wheeler driver arrested at Uyilankulam army checkpoint

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 14:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Tuesday morning arrested a Muslim person Mohamed Sultan Mohamed Sahabdeen at the Uyilankulam checkpoint with the three-wheeler he was taking it to LTTE controlled Nachchikudah in the Mannar district. Mannar Magistrate Mr.N.M.M.Abdullah ordered remand for the suspect till Thursday (September 1) when the Mannar police produced him in court Wednesday evening, legal sources said.
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Two more gunfire incidents in east

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 11:16 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army soldiers patrolling the streets in Valaichenai and Kiran were fired upon by unidentified attackers in two separate incidents Wednesday noon. The shooting incidents were reported on Pethalai Road in Valaichenai, 39 km north of Batticaloa town and at Korakallimadu, a hamlet near Kiran. SLA soldiers opened fire following the gunfire by the unidentified attackers. Casualty figures were not immediately available.
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LTTE cadres, civilians attacked in Vaharai, one dead, three injured

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 09:03 GMT]
An LTTE cadre, Mr. Reagon, was killed and three persons including two civilians were injured when a group of Sri Lanka Army soldiers and paramilitary cadres, who had moved into the LTTE held area Kirimichchai in Vaharai from the SLA held Panichchankerni, shot at LTTE cadres and civilians, LTTE's Political Head in Batticaloa Mr. Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. The attack took place around 10:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials in Batticaloa refused to provide any detail of their knowlegde of the incident. In the meantime, civilians close to Panichankerni SLA base witnessed a group of attackers with military fatigues enter the SLA base following the attack.
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JHU holds talks with Rajapakse on presidential poll

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 August 2005, 16:44 GMT]
A delegation of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), all monks' party Monday held talks with Prime Minister and the presidential candidate of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, in an attempt to reach a consensus on its five-point formula to support him in the presidential poll. The talks centered on reaching consensus with Mr.Rajapakse on two main demands that he should accept unitary constitution to continue and not to hold peace talks with the LTTE, Venerable Athuraliya Ratana Thera of the JHU said.
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JVP to lay demands for their support in presidential poll

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 August 2005, 12:13 GMT]
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sinhala nationalist-cum-Marxist party is to lay twelve demands to reach a consensus with Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, presidential candidate of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP) in turn of its support at the presidential poll. The JVP would announce its demands at news briefing scheduled to be held Monday, party sources said.
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Thenmaradchchi residents complain of army harassment

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 August 2005, 12:10 GMT]
Members of the Sri Lanka Army Intelligence Unit stationed in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district are reportedly harassing the residents whom they consider supporters of LTTE, human rights activists have complained to civil authorities.
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TNA delegation meets UK envoy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 15:48 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance parliamentary delegation Wednesday morning met with Mr. Stephen Evans, British High Commissioner in Colombo and exchanged views on the proposed talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) regarding the implementation of the ceasefire agreement to its word, current position of the P-TOMS following the Supreme Court's interim order, the urgency of establishing the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) and the future political scenario in the south which is expected to be followed with the order of the Supreme Court on the presidential election date controversy on Friday, TNA sources said.
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LTTE releases 21 underage youths to parents

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 02:16 GMT]
NorthEast Secretariat On Human Rights (NESOHR) released twenty-one youths of ages between 15-17 years to their parents 3 months after joining the Liberation Tigers, Tuesday at their offices located at Karadippoku junction 2km north of Kilinochchi town along A9 highway, officials of NESOHR said. Mr Thiagarajah, LTTE liason officer for NGOs, Rev Fr Kanagaratnam, president, and Ms Malathy Naguleswaran of NESOHR were present during the handover of youths which took place throughout the day.
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JVP demonstrates against direct talks between GoSL and LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 17:18 GMT]
More than five thousand activists of the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna held a two hour demonstration in front of the Fort Railway Station in Colombo Tuesday afternoon opposing the direct talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Mr.Tilvin Silva, General Secretary of the JVP, speaking at the conclusion of the demonstration said that the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka is at stake with the continued presence of Norwegian facilitators in the island in the name of monitoring Cease Fire Agreement signed by the then UNP government and the LTTE.
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Tamil journalist in Colombo assaulted by JVP, arrested under ER

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 16:34 GMT]
Mr.Yathurshan Premachchandran, a photojournalist of Colombo Tamil daily "Sudar Oli" was handed over to the Fort Police in Colombo after being assaulted by a group of JVP activists Tuesday afternoon around 4:00 p.m. The journalist was assisting his senior journalist in covering a JVP demonstration held in front of Fort Railway Station. Mr. Premachandran has complained that he was also attacked by the Police, according to media sources. The Fort Police has handed over the journalist to the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) alleging him to be a member of the Liberation Tigers, sources added.
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Fifteen Tamil girls arrested in Mannar released

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 12:10 GMT]
Fifteen Tamil girls arrested Monday early morning in a combined search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Police in a house which is located in the village of Thullukuddiruppu in Mannar district were released when they found innocent during interrogation. The girls were arrested on wrong information received by the Sri Lanka Navy, said the Mannar Police in its report furnished in the Mannar Magistrate Court Tuesday afternoon, legal sources said.
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Ex-SLA soldiers urged to help solve disappeared cases

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 05:31 GMT]
The North East Secretariat on Human Rights has appealed to ex-Sri Lankan military officials living overseas to come forward to help solve the cases of over 70 Tamil youths who were disappeared in the 1990s in Mandaithivu-Alappiddy-Mankumban areas, according to an interim report obtained by TamilNet's Kilinochchi correspondent.
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SLA bans transporting school building materials to LTTE held areas in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2005, 16:32 GMT]
Construction work of new buildings in two schools in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas in the Mannar district has come to a halt due to the ban imposed by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on the transportation of building materials through Uyilankulam and Madu road army checkpoints, sources said.
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STF soldiers attack cloth dealer in Thirukkovil

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 August 2005, 13:23 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) soldiers attacked Mr. R. Selvarajah Pragalathan, 22, a cloth dealer who had come from the Liberation Tigers controlled area to Sri Lanka Army controlled Akkaraipattu town to purchase cloths. Mr. Pragalathan, was attacked by STF soldiers stationed at Kanjirankuddah checkpost in Thirukkovil on Sunday evening around 3:00 p.m.when he was on his way back to his village, sources said.
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LTTE women's political wing office in Vavuniya attacked

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 August 2005, 01:19 GMT]
Three LTTE women officials were injured when unidentiefied attackers lobbed a grenade through the backdoor of the LTTE Women's political office located in Vairavapuliyankulam, 1.5 km west of Vavuniya town Saturday night at 10:55 p.m., Police said. This is the fourth time that an LTTE office in Sri Lanka Army controlled Vavuniya town has been subjected to attack, sources close to LTTE in Vavuniya said.
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Direct talks 'pointless' - JHU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2005, 07:18 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the ultra Sinhala nationalist, all Buddhist monks' party, in a strongly worded statement on Friday opposed the direct and high level talks being scheduled between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE should "lay down its arms" and "denounce" Tamils' right to secede, before holding any direct talks with the GoSL in future, the party said.
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SLA soldiers guard police stations in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 August 2005, 13:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army has decided to provide security to all police stations in the Jaffna district with immediate effect. Twenty soldiers are deployed in the premises of each police station. The Police has suspended traffic duty in major towns in the Jaffna district and also stopped investigating complaints in regard to minor offences, police sources in Jaffna said.
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LTTE agrees to participate in talks on Ceasefire Agreement

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 August 2005, 07:39 GMT]
The LTTE leadership has informed the Norwegian Government of its decision to participate in talks with the Sri Lanka government on issues relating to the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement. Mr. Anton Balasingham, the political advisor and the chief peace negotiator of the Liberation Tigers, told TamilNet that the LTTE leadership has accepted the Norwegian invitation to "participate in a review of the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement in order to find practical ways of ensuring full compliance by both parties."
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