Justification for Tamil statehood compelling under international law- Fein

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 15:10 GMT]
Accusing a Sri Lanka website of "surrender[ing] the honorable role of scrutinizing and criticizing [Sri Lanka] government to become an obsequious courtier daily genuflecting to the GOSL and the Tamil quislings Karuna and Pillaiyan group," Bruce Fein, an attorney based in Washington D.C, in responding to questions posed by the website, challenged the site to publish a list of Americans killed or threatened by the LTTE, saying "[O]ne statutory requirement is proof that an organization threatens Americans or impairs the national security of the United States."
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Abducted Wellawatte Tamil trader released in Wattala

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 14:52 GMT]
The 49-year old Tamil trader abducted by a group of six persons who arrived in white colored van in front of a hotel located in Wellawatte, Colombo Thursday night around 8:00 p.m., was released Saturday morning around 4.40 a.m. at Wattala, in sources in Colombo said. The victim was forced into the van and the abductors drove away from the scene while hotel employees and several pedestrians witnessed the incident.
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24 Village-divisions in Trincomalee deserted due to conflict

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 14:47 GMT]
A preliminary report released by the Department of Census and Statistics in Colombo revealed that villages in 24 grama niladhari (village level) divisions in the Trincomalee district have been deserted due to the displacement of residents following the conflict. 20 GN divisions are Tamil areas. Other four are Sinhala divisions, media sources said.
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Memorial services for Maheswaran held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 14:12 GMT]
A number of memorial services, alms giving and blood donation events were organized Friday throughout Jaffna peninsula to pay homage to the slain former parliamentarian and cabinet minister Thiyagarajah Maheswaran. The various events to mark the 45th day of his death was held in a number of Hindu temples in the peninsula including all Hindu temples in his birth place Kaarainakar.
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Tamil youth arrested at Avissawella

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 07:06 GMT]
Avissawella police arrested a Tamil youth while he was traveling in a bus from Colombo to Bandarawela Thursday, Police sources said. The youth was taken into custody and is still being detained at the Avissawella police station.
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TMVP threatens Muslim journalist in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 February 2008, 00:53 GMT]
A Muslim, Parliamentary Journalist attached to Thinakkural Tamil daily office in Colombo, received Friday threats from Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) paramilitary group in a letter to his office address, warning him not to write news against their organization and that they will kill him if he does not heed the warning, the journalist said.
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Suspects remanded in attempted murder of Sarath Fonseka

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2008, 12:27 GMT]
Colombo Fort Magistrate Mr.Namal Bandara Thursday ordered further remand till February 27 for two suspects in the suicide attack attempt made on Sri Lanka Army Commander Sarath Fonseka on August 25, 2006 near the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Army. The army commander escaped. But 11 soldiers of the SLA were killed and 25 injured, legal sources said.
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Court orders enhanced security to Mano Ganeshan

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2008, 11:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal Thursday made an interim order directing the defense authority to immediately provide at least eight security personnel with a back-up vehicle to Mr.Mano Ganeshan, Colombo district parliamentarian and leader of Western Peoples Front. The petitioner was directed by the court to report and confirm on March 3 whether he had been provided with the security as ordered by the court.
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Producers of documentary on Women Tigers showcase new film

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2008, 05:00 GMT]
Sabiha Sumar's "Dinner with the President: A Nation's Journey," which she made with her husband, political columnist Sachithanandam Sathananthan, is the story not only of an unusual and intimate dinner with Pervez Musharraf but chronicles a series of gatherings with the constituencies of modern Pakistan, reports Salt Lake Tribune, citing the showing of the documentary at Sundance festival, Utah held 17-27 January. Sri Lanka born Dr Sathananthan, currently in self-exile in India, and his Pakistani wife Sabiha Sumar, produced a 1996 documentary "Suicide Warriors" based on the lives of women cadre amongst the LTTE's women's brigade, some of whom belong to the elite Black Tigers.
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India, Sri Lanka sign agreement on Trinco Thermal power plant

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 February 2008, 16:01 GMT]
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), India’s largest power producer, and Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) officially agreed Wednesday in Colombo that Vealoor in Trincomalee north will be the site for the establishment of the coal-fired power plant, sources in Colombo said. Although a Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the two parties in December 2006, the proposed project had stalled for nearly a year due to India’s disinclination to agree on Champoor in Trincomalee district, the site originally selected by Sri Lanka, diplomatic circles in Colombo said.
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Forensic report to Court on Friday on Sripathi death

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 February 2008, 11:27 GMT]
Government Analyst is to submit the forensic report conducted at the site of accident in regard to the death of Mr.Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, Gampaha district parliamentarian, to the Colombo magistrate court Friday, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Tamil civilian from Ratnapura reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 February 2008, 01:59 GMT]
A familied man from Happugastanne, Ratnapura, who moved to Colombo five months ago to Colombo and living in Grandpass has gone missing since Sunday, the victim’s relatives reported to Deputy minister Rathakrishnan Wednesday morning.
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Sri Lanka breaches Tamil residential, monetary rights in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 16:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police in Maradana, Colombo, is embarked upon issuing time stipulated temporary residential 'visas' to all Tamils living in their police jurisdiction while Mukaththuvaram police insists the Tamil residents in their area to provide their personal bank account details in addition to other information, Attorney-at-Law Sumanthiran told the panel of Judges of the Colombo High Court Wednesday. Appearing on behalf of Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the Attorney pointed out that it was against the Sri Lankan law for the police to collect such particulars or to limit the time of residence. He added that the procedure will be counted as a gross violation of human rights.
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Court directs AG to look into grievances of Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 12:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Wednesday directed the Attorney General (AG) to appoint a committee to look into the grievances, harassment and hardships suffered by Tamil people in Colombo and its suburbs due to the arrest and checks carried out by the government security forces, legal sources said. The Court issued the directive when a Fundamental Rights violation petition filed by the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) came up for inquiry.
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Priests deny SLA's "Shramadana" story

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 08:22 GMT]
Rev. Fr. S.K. Devarajah, the parish priest of St. Sebastian Cathedral in Mannaar in a statement issued Thursday, said that "the Sri Lankan Army occupied this church premises on their own," and added that his visit to the St. Anthony’s Shrine on the 11th of February 2008 was to ask the SLA permission to hold Lenten Pilgrimage in the shrine, and not to request the SLA command to conduct Shramadana (voluntary work). Colombo media and SLA had earlier reported that the SLA troopers were in the church compound cleaning the premises on the Priest's request when LTTE shells fell on the premises.
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4 Tamil passengers arrested at Habarana

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 February 2008, 18:19 GMT]
Four Tamil passengers were taken into custody Tuesday afternoon when they were traveling in a van from Trincomalee to Colombo at Habarana, a town located close to Dambulla in the north central province along Trincomalee-Kandy highway, police sources said.
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SL Police arrests 7 commuters in Colombo bound train

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2008, 11:09 GMT]
Seven commuters were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Police Sunday night at the Lunuwila station from the Colombo bound from Puththa'lam. Majority of them are said to be Tamil civilians.
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India imparts secret training to SLA

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2008, 08:25 GMT]
According to a report in the 'Times of India', a high-level team from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) were "brought stealthily into Pune five days ago for advanced intelligence training at Indian Army's various high-security institutions." The team is expected to be briefed on advanced electronic warfare, command, control, communications and computer intelligence at the Military Intelligence Training School and Depot (MITSD), the only institution of the Indian Army which imparts training in all aspects of intelligence.
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Sooriyaarachi to be laid to rest Wednesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2008, 21:51 GMT]
The remains of former Port Development Minister and Sri Lanka Freedom Party-Mahayana Wing (SLFP) (M) Coordinator Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, who was killed in a car accident Saturday at Thambuththegama, Anuradhapura was kept in Jayaratne Funeral Parlour in Borella Sunday morning for viewing by public to pay their homage, and was later taken to his residence in Kandana, sources in Colombo said.
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Minneriya police arrest 8 passengers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2008, 10:53 GMT]
Eight persons, including 3 women who were travelling in a van from Batticaloa to Colombo were arrested by Sri Lanka Police at Minneriya, around 10 a.m., Sunday, police sources said.
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