More than 1,200 HR violations in Jaffna peninsula in 2008 – HRC report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 16:04 GMT]
More than 1,200 human rights violations including extra judiciary killings, abductions, forced disappearances, death threats, torture and harassment by Sri Lanka armed forces and paramilitary men have been registered with Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office in the year 2008 alone, according to the HRC report to Colombo HRC Head Office. SLA soldiers and policemen have been directly accused in around 65 complaints made to HRC Jaffna. The above complaints have been made despite threats not to report these instances to HRC. Meanwhile, a four-member team of key HRC officials is presently in Jaffna to instruct SLA officials on matters related to human rights.
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Colombo, New Delhi fall back on lure in fighting the diaspora

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 2009, 20:23 GMT]
Frustration arising from failure in the military annihilation of the Eezham Tamil struggle led by the LTTE, mounting global opinion in favour of the oppressed, determination of the diaspora and electoral urgency in India are impelling the war partners in Colombo and New Delhi to explore alternative tactics in achieving their goals. While conferences are planned in Singapore and Bangalore to hoodwink the diaspora and Indian public, a member of India’s national security advisory panel wants Colombo and the Tigers to be pressurised to declare a ceasefire. “They must be compelled to accept an international mechanism, so that the civilians are rescued from the war zones. And, what is more, these civilians should be settled in welfare centres, manned by the UN agencies”, he said.
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Trinco Varsha killing; Tamil paramilitary groups blame each other

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 17:08 GMT]
Two paramilitary groups, Tamil Makal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) led by Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan and other by Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, who resigned from the TMVP and joined the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), are blaming each other for the abduction and killing of six-year-old girl student, Varsha Jude Reggie, according to Colombo media reports.
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Tigers seize weapons from SLFP Karuna camp in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 14:14 GMT]
An armed paramilitary person was killed and two T-56 assault rifles were seized Thursday night around 11:00 p.m. when an ambush team of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) carried out a surprise attac on a building at Ku'laththumadu in Vaakaneari in Vaazhaichcheani, according to a news release by the LTTE. The building, used as an office of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was a minor camp of Karuna group, the Tigers said. Dayamohan, the Batticaloa district political head of the LTTE told TamilNet last week that Karuna group had stepped up intimidations against the civilians in Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai districts in recent times.
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Youth shot dead in Vaakanea'ri, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 12:49 GMT]
A 26-year old youth was shot dead in Mu'rththaanai area in Vaaknea'ri, Batticaloa Thursday by member of a paramilitary allied with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Batticaloa said.
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Tissainayagam: always agitated against violence, fought for justice for oppressed

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 12:16 GMT]
In statement made to the Court Friday, senior Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam who has been held in detention for more than a year under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), said: "I was and am still an advocate against terrorism. I have criticized terrorism in whatever form. I never advocated violence, my objective was to generate non violent means of resolving the conflict, my research, writings and work was towards achieving this." Many international rights groups have called for the "unconditional release of Tissainayagam, who has been subjected to arbitrary court adjournments and is suffering ill health.” First anniversary of arrest and imprisonment of Tissaianayagam fell on 7th March.
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Injured mother, child reported missing after admission to Mannaar hospital

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 19:18 GMT]
A mother and her two-month-old child sustaining injuries in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling in Vanni and taken to Trincomalee by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and admitted to Mannaar government hospital 16 February had reported missing Wednesday night, according to complaints made by her relatives to Vanni Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians.
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Tamil woman abducted in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 06:16 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted 9 March a Tamil woman, a mother of three children, in Poththuvil police division in Ampaa’rai district, according to the complaint lodged by her relatives at Poththuvil police station. No action has been taken on the complaint yet, the relatives said.
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4 TMVP Karuna group men shot dead in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 10:52 GMT]
Armed men alleged to be Liberation Tigers launched an attack Friday around 2:05 a.m on the office of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) Kaurna paramilitary group located at 6th mile post, Cho'rikkalmunai in Chammaanthu'rai police division in Ampaa'rai district killing four men of the paramilitary group and injuring two of them, sources in Ampaa'rai said.
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Paramilitary, intelligence personnel arrested for abduction, ransom

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 06:22 GMT]
Vavuniyaa police in mufti arrested Wednesday three paramilitary persons and three Sri Lanka military intelligence personnel for the abduction of the Assistant Manager of the Bank of Ceylon Vavuniyaa branch and a security officer Tuesday, demanding millions of rupees from the Bank as ransom, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The abductors later demanded the family members of the two abducted officers to pay a ransom of 900,000 rupees as Bank of Ceylon authorities refused to pay the sum originally demanded.
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Prominent Tamil Editor abducted in Colombo, later claimed 'arrested'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 05:08 GMT]
Armed persons and men in police uniform who arrived in three white vans Thursday morning abducted Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, 51, the prominent editor of Jaffna-based Uthayan daily and Colombo-based Chudaroli, eyewitnesses told TamilNet. The abduction comes six days after Mr. Vithyatharan was grilled by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Department (TID). The TID had questioned him Sunday for six hours on news and views that appeared in his papers on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) attacks on civilians in Vanni and about his interactions with the officials of the Tigers in the past. Police spokesman Gunasekara, who first said that the editor was abducted by unidentified men, hours later claimed that he had been arrested.
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Karuna to contest Batticaloa as UPFA candidate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 February 2009, 01:24 GMT]
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna who met the government high officials, principals and the public in Batticaloa district this week had told them they should help electing him and six of his associates in Batticaloa district contesting under United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ticket, Batticaloa residents said. The persons holding high offices in the government departments in Batticaloa are being replaced by Karuna's supporters, the residents alleged.
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Statement diplomacy of EU

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 2009, 15:26 GMT]
Significantly deviating from its earlier position of justifying war on 'terrorism', the EU Council Conclusions on Sri Lanka, Monday, stressed the need for Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE to comply with ‘provisions of international humanitarian law and principles of the laws of war’, treating them as equal parties engaged in war. Taking this stance, the EU called for an immediate Ceasefire. The EU also reiterated its intention to send a Troika as soon as possible. However, the rest of the EU conclusions are the usual rhetoric, ending with the never implemented GSP+investigation on Sri Lanka, political observers said.
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Pillayan group paramilitary person shot, injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2009, 09:37 GMT]
Unidentified armed men opened fire Thursday around 7:30 p.m on a TMVP Pillayan paramilitary group person near Arasadi police sentry post in Batticaloa police division, seriously injuring him.
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Indian High Commissioner visits Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 17:14 GMT]
Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad Tuesday paid his first official visit to Trincomalee and met the Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the paramilitary operative and UPFA nominated chief minister of the Eastern Province at the latter's office, which is located in the East Provincial Secretariat along Inner Harbour Road in Trincomalee town.
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Karuna group shoots dead Tamil engineer in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 14:36 GMT]
Paramilitary Karuna group men gunned down a Tamil engineer Tuesday around 8:20 p.m after calling him out of his house in Yard Veethi in Kalmunai police division in Ampaa’rai district, his relatives said. There had been arguments between the victim and Iniya Barathi, Karuna group Amparai district head and a co-ordinator of President Mahinda Rajapakse, in recent times on matters related to road development contracts in Ampaa’rai, they said.
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India mistaken on arms and talks - experts

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2009, 19:43 GMT]
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram’s call for the LTTE to surrender arms was not in keeping with international practice on conflict resolution, but an endorsement of the Sri Lankan government’s hardline position, scholars of conflict and peace said Monday. They pointed a number of successful peace processes, including those with the ANC, IRA and Nepal’s Maoists had proceeded without making arms surrender a precondition for talks. There had also been several peace processes involving the LTTE without this precondition, a scholar of Sri Lanka’s conflict pointed out. The Indian government was in effect supporting the Rajapakse government’s efforts to avoid negotiations on a lasting settlement by making talks conditional on a demand unacceptable to any party to a conflict, some academics opined.
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STF arrests Tamil woman in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2009, 18:36 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos arrested Friday morning a 24-year-old woman at her house in Ka’radiyanaa’ru police division in Batticaloa district, claiming that they had been informed that the woman is a former member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Batticaloa said. STF commandos and the paramilitary men operating with them are abducting and arresting young men and women who had been in the LTTE in Paduvaankarai area and now living a normal life, relatives of the abducted persons said.
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Sinhala mob stones ICRC office in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 February 2009, 10:03 GMT]
Unruly mobs surrounded and stoned the main office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the capital Colombo on Friday afternoon. The attack comes hours after a pro-government politician called for the expulsion of the ICRC chief Paul Castella following recent statements made by him on the ongoing conflict in the north between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE).
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Government party paramilitary men threaten Tamil daily editors in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 00:06 GMT]
Paramilitary men of a Tamil political party that is a member of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government of Sri Lanka threatened the editorial staff of the two Tamil dailies published in Jaffna for not giving prominence for the news related to their party activities or the reports issued by their party leader, according to the complaint made by the editorial staff to the Joint Media Association in Colombo, sources in Colombo said.
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