Security tightened in Colombo during Vesak celebration

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2008, 11:16 GMT]
Areas where pandals and lantern erected to mark the Vesak Day celebrations are located in Colombo city have been declared high security zone by the Police from Sunday. Members of public visit these areas are being subjected to severe body checks before entering the area for sightseeing, media sources said.
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2 Tamil civilians abducted in Bambalapitiya, Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2008, 18:47 GMT]
A Tamil youth was abducted from his house located along Milagiriya Street in Bambalapitya in Colombo Friday night around 10:00 p.m. The victim is a native of Batticaloa and had been temporarily staying in Bambalapitya, according to complaints lodged with the Bambalapitya Police by his relatives.
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Torture of Boosa Tamil detainees alleged

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 17:36 GMT]
Colombo High Court Judge Wednesday directed the prison authorities to produce three of the four Tamil suspects in Chandrika Kumaratunga attempted murder case before Colombo Judicial Medical Officer for medical examination when their lawyers submitted to court that they were subjected to torture and inhuman treatment by police officials in Boosa detention camp, legal sources said.
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'India gives full blessings to eliminate LTTE,' says SL Prime Minister

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 11:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, in a special interview to Thinakkural, a Colombo based Tamil daily, on Friday, claimed that the Indian government had given "full blessings" to the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa to "eliminate the LTTE." Mr. Wickramanayaka further proclaimed that there was no "ethnic conflict" in Sri Lanka. "The LTTE should lay their arms down if they want peace talks. We are not prepared for talks with them in the meantime," he further said.
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Bomb explosion targets Police bus in Colombo, 10 killed, 95 wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 07:00 GMT]
A motorbike fitted with a bomb rammed into a bus carrying riot control police personnel, few hundred meters away from the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat, Friday noon, killing 10 persons, 7 policemen and 3 civilians, and injuring 6 Sri Lanka Army soldiers, 30 policemen and 59 civilians. The explosion has taken place on Lotus Road inside the High Security area near the Hilton Hotel. 12 wounded policemen were in critical condition, according to medical sources in Colombo hospital.
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3 Tamil youths abducted in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 May 2008, 17:04 GMT]
Three Tamil youths were abducted by unidentified men in three separate incidents in Thampalakaamam, Kanthalaay and Thirukadaloor in Trincomalee district Wednesday night, according to complaints lodged with the police and the Trincomalee regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) by their relatives.
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Eastern CM swearing-in put off

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 May 2008, 13:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President had initially decided to appoint Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan, the de-facto leader of the paramilitary-cum-political party, the TMVP, as the Chief Minister for Eastern Province, informed sources in Colombo said. However, due to strong objection from Muslim ministers supporting M.L.A.M.Hizbulla for the post, there were discussions on the issue at Temple Trees till late Thursday evening. The swearing-in ceremony scheduled for Friday has been postponed, sources said.
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Remains of Maheswari Velayutham flown to Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2008, 13:11 GMT]
The remains of Maheswari Velayutham, the advisor of EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, shot and killed Tuesday, was flown to Colombo in a special aircraft with security arrangements Wednesday around 7.30 p.m, along with her family members and relatives, sources in Jaffna said. Her remains will be interred in Borella Saiva crematorium Thursday, the sources added.
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JHU opposes granting land, police powers to EPC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2008, 10:18 GMT]
The all-monks Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JUH), which has 9 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament, has said that it would oppose granting "internal security and land allocation powers" to the newly elected Eastern Provincial Council (EPC). The All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) has not suggested anything about granting land and police powers to EPC at any stage, said Venerable Ellawela Methanananda Thera, leader of the JHU addressing media on Tuesday in Colombo. He added whether Pillaiyan or Hisbullah comes as chief minister, EPC should take immediate steps to "resettle all Sinhalese earlier chased out of the province."
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No CFA in future, says Sri Lanka's PM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 18:50 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government would not sign any ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at any stage as the time has come to wipe out terrorism from Sri Lanka completely, said Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, at an event held Tuesday in Colombo.
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Upcountry Tamil youth abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 17:49 GMT]
An upcountry Tamil youth, Selvathurai Kannan, 28, was abducted from his residence in Aattupatitheru in Colombo by unidentified armed men Saturday night, his relatives said in a complaint filed with teh Colombo police. The abductors came in a van and forcibly removed him from his house, according to complaints.
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JNP to be inaugurated Wednesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 10:53 GMT]
The inaugural event of the new political party Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP), formed by dissident parliamentarians of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led by Wimal Weerawanse, is to be held in Colombo Wednesday, May 14, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), party sources in Colombo told the media. The symbol of the new party is "Crown" and its color "Gold."
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Rajapaksa to address Oxford Union in UK

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2008, 20:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to address Oxford Union in the United Kingdom Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., sources in London told TamilNet. Meanwhile, sources at the SL Presidential Secretariat in Colombo confirmed Mr. Rajapaksa's mission to London and said it comes on the invitation of the Oxford Union and the Sri Lanka Society of Oxford University.
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Tamil detainees allege sexual abuse after transfer from Magazine Prison - MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2008, 20:17 GMT]
68 Tamil detainees, hurriedly transferred from New Magazine prison in Colombo Saturday around 8:50 p.m. by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) interrogators, were verbally abused, tortured and subjected to sexual abuse at the notorious Boosa Prison in Galle, according to complaints made by the parents to Tamil parliamentarian Chandrakanth Chandranehru. Expressing shock at the gross violation of Human Rights, the parliamentarian has promised the parents to bring the matter to the attention of relevant quarters. Sri Lanka's Commissioner General of Prisons, Major General (ret) Vajira Wijegunawaredena on Monday denied the allegation.
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2 Jaffna youths, one Up-Country youth abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2008, 17:59 GMT]
Three Tamil youths, two of them from of Jaffna and one from Badulla were abducted on Saturday from their lodges located along Kathiresan Street in Fort area in Colombo by unidentified armed men. The two youths from Jaffna had been staying in Colombo to go abroad and the upcountry Tamil youth had been a betel vendor.
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Popular economics teacher Varathan, relative reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2008, 09:34 GMT]
S.S.Varatharajan, popularly known as Varathan in the private tuition sector for teaching economics subject was abducted Sunday morning in Fort police area by a group of unidentified persons while he was going from a tuition centre in Wellawatte to another in Kotahena. Later, one of his relatives Muthukumar Sritharan, 49, was also abducted by persons who came to Varathan's residence in Police uniform, according to complaints lodged with the Wellawatte police.
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ICRC Jaffna branch issues figures of victims receiving assistance

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2008, 09:06 GMT]
The ICRC has managed to airlift 1,500 of the patients in Jaffna in need of urgent and special treatment to Colombo, after September 2006, when the A9 highway which links Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the island was closed down, the Jaffna branch of the organisation assisting the victims of war said in a media release issued to media in Jaffna. The ICRC also provides year round assistance to 23 hospitals. The ICRC was contributing to more than 50 health assistance projects in the districts of Noth and East.
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30% inflation dogs Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 May 2008, 11:41 GMT]
Noting that "[t]hirty percent inflation has never been heard of in this country [Sri Lanka] and does not exist anywhere but in banana republics," Dr Harsha De Silva, lead Economist at the Colombo-based regional Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy and regulation think-tank, LIRNEasia, said in an interview that the "terrible economic management of the recent past" will hurt the "urban poor who would be unable to meet their minimum dietary requirements to avoid hunger due to the unaffordable cost of living."
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61 Tamils still held in Colombo, 254 remain in Boosa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 May 2008, 11:13 GMT]
About 61 Tamil civilians arrested in Colombo in several cordon and search operations last few weeks are still being detained in several police stations in Colombo, civil society sources said. 25 are being detained in police stations at Dehiwala, Wellawatte and Kohuwela, 15 at Weliveriya, and 21 are held in Kotahena. All detainees had valid national identity cards, but were taken into custody because of their Tamil nationality, media reports said quoting complaints forwarded by their relatives to P.Radhakrishnan, Colombo district parliamentarian representing the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF).
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Rajapakse to visit London

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 May 2008, 01:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse is expected to leave for the United Kingdom on Monday on a two day visit. He is scheduled to address the Oxford Students Union on Tuesday, according to media reports.
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