Muttur residents protest against SLA's embargo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 May 2005, 05:53 GMT]
A large number of Tamil civilians participated in protest marches held Wednesday in areas of LTTE controlled Muttur east and Eachchilampathu division in the sourthern Trincomalee district, demanding the immediate removal of ban on transporting cement, building materials and fuel through Sri Lanka Army (SLA) checkpoints at Kaddaiparichchan and Mahindapura, sources said.
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‘Joint mechanism, trust fund part of peace process’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2005, 20:37 GMT]
The proposed Joint Mechanism and the Trust Fund for post-tsunami management are part of efforts to resume the Sri Lankan peace process, the European Union’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Wouter Wilton, said Wednesday when he met with the Liberation Tigers in Kilinochi.
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LTTE urges UNHCR over refugees in India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2005, 20:31 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Wednesday urged the UN's Refugee Agency to take steps to ensure the safe passage of Tamil refugees in India seeking repatriation to their homes in Sri Lanka. The matter was discussed when the Head of the LTTE Political Wing, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, met with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Sri Lanka, Mr. Rajiv Kapur, in Kilinochchi on Wednesday.
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HRW laments Tamil killings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2005, 04:57 GMT]
Saying that ongoing killings and abductions throughout Sri Lanka have created “a climate of fear among Tamils across the country,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) Tuesday called for “the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into the killings and abductions in order to identify those responsible and recommend measures to end the abuses.”
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Army intelligence not to be questioned in Sivaram killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 May 2005, 23:03 GMT]
The senior police officer tasked with investigating the abduction and murder last month of Tamil political columnist and military analyst, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, said Tuesday that he would not interview military officials simply on the basis of allegations. Senior Superintendent of Police, Crime Division, Sarath Lugoda, was apathetic over the high profile murder, listeners to his interview by the BBC (Sinhala) service said.
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Trinco LTTE political activists threatened by soldiers- Elilan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 May 2005, 17:20 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in the Trincomalee district that a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had threatened two cadres of the LTTE when they were engaged in political activities in Orr's Hill area, a suburb in the east port town Tuesday afternoon, sources said.
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"Horrendous consequences if peace process collapses"- TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 May 2005, 10:39 GMT]
"The forces who opposed negotiations with the LTTE are forces committed tocontinuing the present structure of governance in this country, who want a unitary structure of government to continue, who want majority hegemony to continue. If these forces succeed, the peace process must inevitably collapse with all its horrendous consequences," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a recent one-day debate on the current state of the peace process, parliamentary sources said.
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Sri Lanka builds ten Dvoras with German engines

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 May 2005, 18:18 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy is building ten new Israeli-designed Dvora gunboats using German-built engines, Tamil press reports said this week. But allegations of kickbacks being received in the purchase of the engines have surfaced recently, the Virakesari reported last week.
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The Idea of Eelam- Taraki

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 13:59 GMT]
In the 14th March 1990 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, popular journalist and military analyst, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, provided insight into how the concept of Eelam in its various interpretations were adopted or dismantled as the basis of the armed struggle of different Tamil liberation movements.
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Methodist Church donates boats to tsunami-hit fishermen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2005, 18:17 GMT]
The Methodist Church of Sri Lanka handed over four fishing boats with engines and fishing gear to tsunami affected fishermen in Kallady and Verugal Muhathuwaram in the Eachchilampathu division in the down south of Trincomalee district.
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Woman killed in Grenade attack on LTTE Batticaloa office

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2005, 17:11 GMT]
Mrs. Sinnathamby Annapillai (65) was killed Saturday 7.15 pm when unidentified men lobbed a grenade at the Periyakallaru LTTE political office located 500 metres from Special Task Force (STF) camp in Periyakallaru. There were no LTTE officials in the office at the time of the attack, sources said.


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Sri Lanka's future in peril, Jaffna editorials say

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2005, 13:32 GMT]
Saturday editorials in Jaffna's popular dailies, Uthayan, Namathu Eelanaadu and Valamapuri, carried ominious messages reflecting an unpredictable and potentially explosive future facing the Tamil people as well as Sri Lanka. Quoting LTTE Head of Political Wing, Thamilchelvan who said recently, "If Sinhala leadership continues to impose majoritarian hegemony on Tamil people without pursuing peaceful solutions to satsify Tamil aspirations, there will soon be an end to this state of affairs," Eelanaadu editorial Saturday said.
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JVP again blasts joint mechanism, JHU warns - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 14:55 GMT]
The Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) strongly and totally rejected the joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE - charging it would be unconstitutional, undemocratic and create chaos not only in the country but in the whole South Asian region, the Daily Mirror reported. The hardline monks party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), has “vowed to do everything possible to stop the government from signing the joint mechanism,” the paper said.
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Child soldier figures wrongly quoted- Save the Children

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 07:48 GMT]
Mike Aaronson, Director General of Save the Children UK, in a letter to LTTE's Head of Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, expressed regret that the figures for child soldiers including girl soldiers have been "wrongly quoted" in a recent report released by the UK based organisation. The report stated that 50 000 child soldiers, including 21,500 girl soldiers are involved in the conflict in Sri Lanka.
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Do Sri Lanka's defense forces have conventional warfare capability?- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 00:34 GMT]
In an article in the Colombo-based Tamil daily, Virakesari, on March 27, 2005, Dharmaretnam Sivaram, analyzed the history of Sri Lanka's defense forces and argued that from the very beginning, the Sri Lankan forces' mission was to confront internal crises that the country's ruling elite feared as grave threats, without the strategic thinking required for conventional warfare or to confront external threats.
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LTTE officer’s funeral in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 14:42 GMT]
The body of Tamil Tiger officer killed in an accident in Vanni on Sunday was brought for funeral rites to his home village in Jaffna on Wednesday , the Sri Lanka Army said. The remains of Lt. Senthalan (Thurairajah Selvakumar) were taken to Arugalmadam at Lotus Road in Jaffna through the frontline checkpoint at Muhamalai.
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STF trooper wounded in landmine blast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 12:25 GMT]
A trooper of the elite Special Task Force (STF) was injured when the vehicle he was driving was hit by a claymore land mine which detonated at around 9.30am near the 9th milepost on the Monaragala-Ampara Road, police sources said. The blast might have been linked to the presence of Karuna Group cadres in the following vehicle, which the STF was escorting, Police and the Army said.
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Sri Lanka's President invites JVP, CWC for talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 12:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga has invited two members of her ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) - the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) and Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) - for talks at her official residence Thursday, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported. The meeting comes as the JVP seemed to back away from its confrontationist course with President Kumaratunga on thedonor-backed notion of sharing aid with the LTTE and amid speculation the matter had created a rift within the Marxist-cum-ultranationalist party.
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Has Kumaratunga tamed the JVP?

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 May 2005, 23:30 GMT]
Piqued by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s criticism of its vehement opposition to sharing aid with the Liberation Tigers, yet wary of being portrayed as the prime obstacle to desperately needed international assistance, the ultra-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) Wednesday put a brave face on its humiliation Monday. In a stark departure from its trademark fiery rhetoric, the Marxist party’s politburo was muted, conciliatory and almost philosophical.


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Balasingham urges action on aid

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 May 2005, 16:37 GMT]
Norwegian diplomats met on Wednesday with the Liberation Tigers’ Chief Negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, to discuss current developments in Oslo’s peace initiative in Sri Lanka, sources close to the LTTE in London said. Mr. Balasingham had welcomed the donor community’s commitment to a joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE for aid distribution, but called for an agreement to be finalised and signed, they said.
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