White van armed men abduct 3 Tamil civilians in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2008, 14:27 GMT]
Armed men in military uniform arriving in a white van forcibly abducted Monday a father of three children at Mukaththuvaaram in Colombo, and in a separate incident a 30-year-old mother and her 5-year-old daughter are alleged abducted Tuesday from their house in Wathala, according to complaints made to Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan and Wattala police by the relatives of the abducted persons.
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Withdraw Indian radars from SL: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2008, 13:52 GMT]
Vaiko, General Secretary of the Tamil Nadu based Marumalarchchi Dravida Munneatta Kazhakam (MDMK), wrote to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week urging him not to attend the February 4 independence day celebrations at Colombo to be "carried on by the bloodstained hands of the Rajapaksa regime." He also appealed to Dr. Manmohan Singh to withdraw the Indian radars supplied to Sri Lanka and stop any further supply of military equipment.
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Indian PM to skip SL Independence Day Celebrations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2008, 10:43 GMT]
As Sri Lanka increased its military offensives against Tamils in the North following the abrogation of the ceasefire, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday virtually confirmed that he would not visit Colombo next month for the 60th anniversary of Sri Lanka's Independence Day on February 4. "I have not made up my mind", he said when asked whether he would be traveling to Sri Lanka next month during an interaction with journalists in New Delhi. According to reports in the Indian media, the immediate provocation for India's ire was Sri Lanka’s decision to abrogate the six year CFA without seeking to negotiate with the Tamils.
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Col. Charles laid to rest in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2008, 01:29 GMT]
The remains of Col. Charles, Head of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Military Intelligence, killed Saturday evening in a random Claymore attack by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit in Pa'l'lamadu in Mannar, was laid to rest with full military honours in Kanakapuram Heroes Cemetery Monday.
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Parcel bomb explodes in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 14:47 GMT]
A parcel bomb explosion was reported in Colombo High Security area, 50 meters away from the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Head quarters near Lake House building around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Two civilians were treated for shock. Nobody was injured in the attack, Police said.
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Sri Lankan minister killed in Claymore blast in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 05:52 GMT]
Sri Lankan Minister of Nation Building D. M. Dassanayaka, seriously injured in a Claymore blast near Ja-Ela junction, 18 km northeast of Colombo city, Tuesday around 10:35 a.m., succumbed to his wounds at Ragama teaching hospital, Police said. The driver of his pajero vehicle and a security guard also succumbed to their wounds while 8 others were wounded in the attack. Mr. Dassayanaka was on his way to the Sri Lankan parliament to take part in the first day of 2008 parliament session. Meanwhile, pandemonium reigned at the first meeting of the Sri Lankan parliament as main opposition UNP protested over the assassination of Tamil parliamentarian T. Maheswaran who was slain on New Year's Day.
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"Deepening media crisis in Sri Lanka"- IFJ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 03:45 GMT]
Expressing alarm at the comments at made by Sri Lanka's Army (SLA) Commander Major General Sarath Fonseka labelling some journalists and sections of the media as "traitors," the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is a press release issued Monday said, "the statement by Major General Fonseka and the allegations of death threats against journalists are indicative of a deepening media crisis in Sri Lanka."
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Colombo Cover-up

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 02:44 GMT]
James Ross, Legal and Policy Director of New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a hard hitting column appearing in the Tuesday edition of the Daily Mirror, said the Sri Lanka government has failed to "seriously investigate and prosecute those responsible for the horrific abuses of the past two years – the unlawful killings, the “disappearances,” the Karuna group’s abduction of children. The cover-up is the government’s determined effort to keep the issue off the international agenda."
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Colombo removing witnesses to impending carnage- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2008, 00:24 GMT]
Colombo abrogated the CFA to remove the presence of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) which was instrumental in exposing rights violations by all sides. "Government will want to rid the Northeast of any witnesses of the carnage that it intends to unveil on the Tamil people in the name of safeguarding the Sovereignty of the State," said Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam in an interview to TamilNet this week. He added that anti-Tamil actions by Rajapakse Government are taking place under the full glare of the International Community which is able to only make verbal condemnations, but remains largely ineffective to reign in on Colombo on the rights abuses.
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Jaffna GSs released after interrogation in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2008, 00:02 GMT]
Eleven Grama Sevaka (GS) Village Officers, from GS divisions in Vadamaraadchi, Thenmaraadchi, Valikaamam and the islets in Jaffna peninsula, flown to Colombo on New Year Day to Police Crime Branch (PCB) Interrogation centre ‘Fourth Floor’ by PCB officials, returned to Jaffna Sunday morning after being interrogated by Crime Branch officials in Colombo, sources in Jaffna said.
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198 Tamil youths arrested in cordon, search in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2008, 20:05 GMT]
198 Tamil youths were arrested in Colombo and suburbs during a large scale cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka armed forces Sunday, Senior Inspector General of Police M.K.Ilangakone said. The arrested included several young women.
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Annulled CFA compels need for Rights Monitoring: MRG

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2008, 14:59 GMT]
Minority Rights International (MRG), a London-based international human rights organization, in a press release issued Friday, expressed "deep concern over the Sri Lankan government’s announcement on Wednesday that it was formally withdrawing from a cease-fire agreement," and said, it will "lead to more human rights abuses against minority Tamils and Muslims," and added: "[T]here is now going to be a greater void in monitoring and reporting of human rights abuses in the conflict zone. The need for international human rights monitors is now ever more crucial."
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Dhanapala quits

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2008, 13:08 GMT]
Advisor to Sri Lanka President on Peace Process, Jayantha Dhanapala, quit his position following the termination of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) by the Rajapakse Government on 2nd January, media reports from Colombo said. "Close confidants of Dhanapala said he was embarrassed by the turn of events, with the government pressing for a military victory after scoring several battlefield successes against the rebels last year," an AFP report said.
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New Deputy IGP appointed for North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 21:55 GMT]
Poojitha Jayasundera, until recently was serving as Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) of Kurunegala District, has been appointed as the new DIG for Jaffna, media reports in Colombo said.
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Indian PM's participation in SL independence day not fixed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 17:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogolloagama had to hastily retract on Friday his earlier claim that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will participate in the 60th Independence Day celebrations of Sri Lanka on February 4, 2008. A few weeks ago, Mr. Bogollagama told Parliament that Sri Lanka had invited Dr. Manmohan Singh to be the chief guest of the independence day function. The information that the dates of Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to Colombo have not been finalized was revealed a day after Bogollagama called the Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad to inform him about GoSL's decision to abrogate the almost six-year old CFA agreement with the LTTE, informed sources said.
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Kumar Ponnambalam remembered on eighth anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 13:33 GMT]
Eighth year anniversary of Kumar Ponnambalam, president of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Wellawatte, a Tamil suburb of the capital Colombo around 11.15 a.m. 5 January 2000, was commemorated in U.K. and in Vanni in simple ceremonies.
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Passenger ship service between Trincomalee-Jaffna to be suspended

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 11:42 GMT]
The passenger ship service between Trincomalee and Jaffna is to be suspended from January 7 due to repairs to be carried out in the vessel "Green Ocean." The last service from Trincomalee Harbour to Jaffna will take place on January 5 Saturday and from Jaffna to Trincomalee on January 6 Sunday, Trincomalee divisional secretariat sources said.
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Nordic countries regret Colombo's decision to abrogate CFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 17:58 GMT]
Foreign Ministers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, the Nordic countries that took part in the formation of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, issued a joint statement on Friday, stating that the withdrawal of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission from Sri Lanka would mean the end of an important mechanism that protected civilians and which gave a voice to the victims and their families. "The termination of the Ceasefire Agreement will only make it more difficult to find a way back to the negotiating table," the Foreign Ministers of the Nordic countries said in their joint statement regretting the unilateral decision by the GoSL to abrogate the ceasefire.
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STF officer, 2 bodyguards killed in Ampaa'rai ambush - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 12:41 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam officials in Ampaa'rai claimed that a Sri Lankan Special Task Force officer and two of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush on their vehicle 15 km west of Poththuvil in Ampaa'rai Friday around 3:00 p.m. Meanwhile, sources in Colombo said one STF Sub Inspector, identified as Herath, was wounded together with four STF commandos in the attack.
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Abrogation of CFA endangers respect for human rights - NPC

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 10:16 GMT]
The GoSL withdrawal from the Ceasefire, resulting in the removal of the role played by the truce monitors, will reduce the flow of credible information to the world outside and deprive the hapless civilians with a credible authority to lodge complaints, said National Peace Council, a Colombo based peace group, on Thursday. Colombo's rejection of a UN Human Rights field presence, the inability of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to make meaningful progress in discharging their mandates, and the recent downgrading of the National Human Rights Commission, combine to place respect for human rights in Sri Lanka in further jeopardy.
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