11 civilians arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2008, 15:24 GMT]
Eleven civilians including two Tamils and a Muslim were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Gampaha town on Wednesday. Police said they are being detained in the police station as they failed to prove their identity.
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Human skeleton found in Chemma'ni in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2008, 10:30 GMT]
Demining employees of Danish Demining Organization engaged in demining Tuesday found a human skeleton suspected to be that of a woman in the area on the eastern flank of Jaffna-Kandy road which includes Chemma'ni and Ariyaalai areas within Jaffna Municipality limits. The hair and dress found on the skeleton point that it may be the skeleton of a woman, Jaffna police said. People gone missing in Jaffna peninsula in the 1996, 1997 periods were suspected of being killed and buried in the above places.
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SLAF helicopter hit by artillery fire in Ma'nalaa'ru

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2008, 08:10 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Bell 212 helicopter, which was airlifting wounded Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from Ma'nalaa'ru (Ma'nalaa'ru) was hit by artillery fire on and was forced to make emergency landing at Anuradhapura SLAF base Tuesday evening, a well informed source in Anuradhapura said.
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Thondaman, Sivalingam receive suspended imprisonment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2008, 03:15 GMT]
Nuwereliya Magistrate Court served Tuesday a verdict of six months imprisonment suspended for three years and a fine of thousand rupees each for violating a court order, on Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) leader, Minister Arumugam Thondaman, Deputy Minister Muththu Sivalingam and Central Provincial Council member, V. Rathakrishnan, sources in Nuwareliya said.
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SAARC and Human Rights

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2008, 01:23 GMT]
A SAARC 'Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms' of the people of the region based on the same model as that of the European Union, as well as a 'Regional Mechanism on Human Rights' may be a way to fight the so-called terrorism because such a convention with a regional mechanism to implement it will prevent the root causes for violence arising in the first place. Countries like Pakistan and India, the two big brothers of the region should do better than abetting the war machinery of Sri Lanka that kills its own citizens. Aspirations of the peoples cannot be put down by Human Rights violations and State Terrorism, says Columnist Koanaamalai Manraadiyaar.
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Member of European Parliament envisages converting Tamils to Buddhism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 20:45 GMT]
"Frequently now I wonder whether Sri Lanka would have been a much more peaceful and much more homogeneous place if say 40% or so of the Tamil speaking population had been Buddhists and not exclusively Hindu or Christian. Is taking the Buddhist religion to Tamil people such a difficult task?" wonders Niranjan de Silva Deva-Aditya, Member of European Parliament (MEP) from U.K. and Honorary Ambassador-at-Large for Sri Lanka, in a statement after his recent visit to Sri Lanka as Vice-Chairman of the EU delegation. The Sinhala speaking MEP is tagged with a title, 'Vishwa Keerthi Sri Lanka Abhimani' (universally famous pride of Sri Lanka), bestowed onto him by the Buddhist clergy of Sri Lanka.
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SLA tightens restriction on travel, CDMA phone use, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 17:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, Major. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri announced fresh measures that would further curtail travel out of the peninsula and the use of CDMA wireless phones in the peninsula in a meeting held Wednesday morning in Thellippalai area in SLA Palaali High Security Zone (HSZ). Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, Heads of government departments and corporations and representatives of various organizations participated in the meeting.
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11 Tamil civilians arrested in Mt.Lavinia

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 16:14 GMT]
Eleven Tamil civilians were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted from 6:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. Wednesday in Mt.Lavinia area in Colombo division by the Police with the assistance of about one hundred members of the Civil Volunteer Force (CVF). Police used sniffer dogs and metal detectors to trace explosives in vehicles and in public places, sources said.
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Court demands submission of medical reports in Tissanayagam case

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 13:33 GMT]
Colombo Additional Magistrate Ms. Malini Abeyratne ordered Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) police to submit the medical examination reports of journalist Tissanayagam, Equality Press Manger Vadivel Yasikaran, and Valarmathi who underwent medical examination 27 May 2008, on the request made by Defence counsel K. V. Thavarajah when the three defendants were produced in Colombo Magistrate Court Wednesday, legal sources in Colombo said.
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NIC compulsory to travel south

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 09:59 GMT]
People traveling from north to south in Sri Lanka cannot pass through Mathavaachchi Sri Lanka Army (SLA) check post if they do not have their National Identity Cards (NIC). Passport, driving license, and documents of identification related to professions were earlier accepted in place of NIC. People without NIC are now being sent back by the SLA in Mathavaachi check post, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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NPC urges GoSL to relax embargo on peace envoys visit to Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 01:28 GMT]
National Peace Council, a Colombo-based peace group, on Tuesday said that the absence of positive responses by the International Community to the offers of talks and ceasefires was indicative of a credibility problem. Urging both the parties reassess their past behaviour and to find ways to rebuild their credibility, the NPC said the ceasefire offer by the LTTE, regardless of its motivations, is not to be lightly rejected and urged the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to relax its embargo on peace emissaries going into the Vanni.
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SLAF fighter jets bomb Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 01:07 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped at least four bombs Wednesday morning between 6:20 and 6:35 a.m. targeting Thiruvaiyaa'ru, 4 km east of Ki'linochchi. The aerial strike comes as the Sri Lankan government has rejected to respect the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in connection with the SAARC summit taking place in Colombo from 26 July to 04 August.
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17 Tamil civilians arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 20:35 GMT]
Seventeen Tamil civilians including three women were taken in to custody Tuesday in a cordon and search operation conducted in Wellawatte area in Colombo by the police with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). All of the detainees were natives of north and east provinces and had been working in shops and staying with their relatives, friends and some in lodges in Wellawatte to go abroad, human rights sources said.
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IDPs skeptical of resettlement in SLA HSZ in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 17:24 GMT]
The decision taken by authorities, to resettle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the High Security Zones (HSZs) of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Valikaamam north, in the high level meeting held Monday at Palaali SLA head quarters is unlikely to succeed, IDP Welfare society persons said. The committee, appointed by Colombo Supreme Court to explore resettling IDPs in the HSZs of Jaffna peninsula, which met Monday at Palaali SLA head quarters, decided to take steps to resettle at least some of the IDPs in places which are not at present occupied by SLA.
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Colombo snaps outside communication with Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 15:52 GMT]
Sri Lankan Telecommunication Department has cut off the telephone numbers with +9421228 format (Ki'linochchi lines) for the last few days, disabling the only available mode of communication to the outside world from Vanni at a time when more than 100,000 civilians have displaced in Ki'inochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts due to the Sri Lanka Army offensive. Fundamental services such as hospitals, civil services and media dependent on telephone communication have been severely affected, according to civil sources in Ki'linochchi.
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Resettling IDPs in SLA HSZ in Valikaamam discussed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 10:18 GMT]
The committee appointed by Colombo Supreme Court to explore resettling Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the High Security Zones (HSZ) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Valikaamam north in Jaffna peninsula met Monday at Palaali SLA head quarters, and decided to take steps to resettle the IDPs in places which are not at present occupied by SLA, sources in Jaffna said.
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1200 Tamils prisoners held in Welikade without inquiry

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 20:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's Supreme Court was told when the Fundamental Rights violation petition filed the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) was taken up for further inquiry Monday that about one thousand two hundred Tamil civilians are still being detained in Welikada prison without any inquiry. The counsel for the petitioner begged the court to take steps to release these Tamils, legal sources said.
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SLA fires artillery, MBRL from Northern Front

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 14:48 GMT]
A barrage of heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire from the Northern Front was launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sunday and Monday into Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Iyakkachchi, Pazhai and Vadamaraadchi East villages despite no provocation from the LTTE side, sources in Ki'linochchi said.
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7,400 telephone links remain cut in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 04:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Telecommunication (SLTC) Jaffna office announced that the Ministry of Defence in Colombo has to make the final decision on the applications of 400 customers in Jaffna peninsula who had obtained the newly demanded police clearance to use their Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless phones that remain suspended for the last two months on instructions of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna due to 'security reasons'.
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TIC urges Colombo to reciprocate LTTE's ceasefire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 July 2008, 19:55 GMT]
In a press release issued Sunday, Tamil Information Center (TIC), a UK-based peace advocacy organization, urged Sri Lankan Government "to view the LTTE’s ceasfire offer as positive, and reciprocate it by making a similar announcement giving rise to a real ceasefire leading to an end to the armed conflict and the beginning of confidence building between the parties, peace talks and agreement on substantive issues that lie at the heart of the conflict."
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