India: While taking action against LTTE, steps should also be taken to protect civilians

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2008, 09:30 GMT]
India's Defence Minister A K Antony was quoted by Press Trust of India (PTI) on Monday as saying: "While taking action against the LTTE, steps should also be taken to protect the civilian Tamils in Sri Lanka and ensure their safety and security." The statement by the Indian Defence Minister has come in the wake of reports that Indian military personnel were involved in providing military support to the Sri Lankan forces.
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History rejects military defeat of liberation movements- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2008, 18:22 GMT]
Responding to a question on year-end dead line set by the Government of Sri Lanka to defeat the Liberation Tigers, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Jaffna said, "We have been told many times and by many governments of Sri Lanka that the war will be won and that the LTTE will be defeated...I am yet to come across an instance when a national liberation movement in any part of the world has been militarily defeated," in an interview published in Colombo weekly the Sunday Leader 14th edition.
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Australian NGO Director warns of Humanitarian Disaster in the absence of foreign aid workers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2008, 09:42 GMT]
The extreme humanitarian situation of Internally Displaced Persons, including thousands of children, who are already malnourished, would deteriorate dramatically as clean water is not available for all the IDPs and they have been deprived of medicine by the Sri Lankan government, said Executive Director Paul O'Callaghan of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), which has 25 member organisations working in Sri Lanka over many decades. He has expressed fear of a blood bath as foreign aid workers of UN agencies and NGOs packed their bags following the orders by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to leave the Vanni region last week.
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2 Tamils abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2008, 19:24 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians were abducted in Colombo in two separate incidents. The latest abduction was reported from Colombo where a 35 year-old Sahathevan Uthayakumar, a native of Nalloor in Jaffna district had been missing since Friday morning. He had been residing in Sea Street along with his father. He had been working in Colombo as a motor mechanic. He was allegedly taken by force by some unidentified armed men when he was returning home after work, according to complaints made to the Police by his father.
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Outsiders quit Colombo, tells Defence Secretary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2008, 15:03 GMT]
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse told the State run Daily News Saturday that thousands who stay in Colombo "without any valid reason" should return to their villages as they are creating a huge security concern. "We must be prepared for this. That is why wer doing human control measures. People criticise us for fundamental rights violations when we do these things," paper quoted Gotabhaya as saying.
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A family's search for justice

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2008, 00:09 GMT]
From the day after the new year in 2006, when college-bound Ragihar was murdered execution style along with four of his 20-year old friends opposite the Dutch Bay sea beach in Trincomalee, his father Dr Kasippillai Manoharan, has made bringing the perpetrators to justice his life's mission. Dr. Manoharan's efforts drew death threats from Sri Lanka military, widely acknowledged to be responsible for the crime, forcing the family to flee Sri Lanka, and seek safety in the U.K. While the family struggles to begin a new life in an unfamiliar environment, Dr Manoharan's focus has turned to the new judicial paths available in the West to prosecute his son's killers.
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IDPs urge foreign aid workers not to leave Vanni, block convoy

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2008, 16:50 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons, who gathered Friday morning in front of the UNHCR office at Karadippoakku junction in Ki'linochchi, pleaded with the remaining officials of the UN and International NGOs not to leave Ki'linochchi as their presence was critical, not only for humanitarian assistance, but also to sustain a secure zone to escape. They said they feared that in the coming days Sri Lanka military will employ Colombo’s scorched earth policy to destroy key Vanni towns using aerial and artillery bombardment. Meanwhile, a group of IDPs blocked the convoy of NGO vehicles in a peaceful protest from 6:00 a.m, forcing the NGOs to abandon their trip on Friday.
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5-Day Bishops' Conference to discuss peace in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2008, 11:46 GMT]
The Bishops' Conference of Catholic Church of Sri Lanka is expected to discuss the volatile situation prevailing in the north, east and other parts of the country and to explore ways in which the Church could contribute to peaceful resolution when it commences its five-day sitting on September 18. Bishops of seventeen dioceses in the island including Jaffna, Mannaar, Trincomalee and Batticaloa are also to attend the conference.
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Ban Ki-moon 'helping LTTE' – Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 15:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline government Thursday criticised United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for expressing deep concern about Tamil civilians in the Vanni region. Sri Lankan human rights ministry official Rajiva Wijesinghe told reporters that there were no civilian casualties in the Colombo government’s ongoing offensive and that the UN Chief’s comments were helping the LTTE.
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Bomb explodes again on railway track in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 14:17 GMT]
A bomb went off at Orugodawatte in Colombo along the main railway line Thursday around 7:15 p.m. Police said the explosion was similar to that reported Wednesday evening. There were no reports of casualties.
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Police locate 7 dead bodies in Moneragala jungle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 14:12 GMT]
Seven bodies of male persons with gunshot injuries were found in Aayiththiyamalai jungle in Moneragala district. A group of persons who went to Aayithiamalai jungle first saw two bodies in a trailer. Later they searched around the area and found five more bodies lying on the ground, Police Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police Ranjit Gunasekara told media in Colombo.
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White van gunmen abduct Tamil youth in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 11:39 GMT]
A Tamil youth was abducted by a group of armed men who arrived in a white van on Monday evening from a shop located along China Street in Fort, Colombo, where he had been working for several years. The abducted youth is from Pungudutheevu, an islet located to the west of Jaffna peninsula.
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Police arrests 56 Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 09:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police in the city of Colombo arrested fifty-six Tamils in two separate cordon and search operations conducted from Wednesday evening till Thursday dawn in Mt.Lavinia and Dam street in Colombo. Thirty-two were arrested in Mt.Lavinia and twenty-four in Dam Street in Colombo, sources in Colombo said.
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Explosion along railway track in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 15:11 GMT]
Coastal train services in Western Province were canceled after a bomb went off along the railway line between Dehiwela and Mount Lavinia near De Saram Road Wednesday around 7:45 p.m., Police said. No one was wounded in the blast.
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Foreign aid workers start leaving Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 09:55 GMT]
Vehicles with foreign aid workers of OXFAM, Save the Children, World Vision, Danish Refugee Council, ZOA, International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and a group of persons belonging to UN agencies were lined up at Oamanthai exit point, according to the sources in Vanni and Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, a UN spokesman in Colombo confirmed that they have started to pull out from Vanni, but declined to give the time-frame chosen for the total pull-out.
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Tissa arrest "illegal" under CFA provisions - Counsel

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 05:41 GMT]
Mr Anil Silva, the Counsel for senior Tamil journalist Tissainayagam, said during the hearing that the under the provision of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) the Government of Sri Lanka gave undertaking not to search or arrest as authorized by the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), and the Sri Lanka has reneged on this promise. Mr Silva further urged the Attorney General' department to withdraw the indictment as this action would discredit the Government for reneging on the provisions of the CFA, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Tamil youth abducted in Wattala

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 15:29 GMT]
A 25-year-old Tamil youth John Anthony of Jampettah Street in Colombo was abducted by four armed men Monday evening when he was returning from the Wattala sea beach with his fiancé. His fiancé was later released at Matale but not the youth, according to complaint made by his fiancé at the Wattala police station Tuesday, police sources said.
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Tiger attack devastates Vanni SF HQ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 07:25 GMT]
The joint attack carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Air Tigers, artillery batteries and Black Tiger commandos, has devastated the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) installations inside the Vanni Sri Lankan forces Headquarters, according to an informed military source in Vavuniyaa. According to officials figures, 11 Sri Lankan military and police personnel were killed and 33 wounded, including two Indian radar operators. Six civilians were also admitted at Vavuniyaa hospital with injuries.
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Indian radar operators wounded in Vanni SF HQ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 06:16 GMT]
Two Indian radar operators working for Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) sustained injuries in the attack carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Sri Lankan forces Vanni Headquarters located in Vavuniyaa. SLA sources in Vavuniyaa said 26 military personnel were wounded in the mission.
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Vanni SF HQ attacked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 00:53 GMT]
The joint headquarters of the Sri Lankan forces in Vanni, situated in Vavuniyaa town, came under attack for more than 2 hours by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in the early hours of Tuesday. According to the casualty figures released by the Sri Lankan military sources, 9 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, 2 Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel and 1 policemen were killed and 26 wounded. At least 10 LTTE Black Tiger commandos had infiltrated into the Vanni headquarters of the SL forces, causing destruction to the military facilities. LTTE's aircrafts bombed the SF HQ of Vanni around 2:30 a.m., before the Black Tigers launched the attack. Vavuniyaa town is at standstill.
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