U.N. regrets Colombo's decision to withdraw from CFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 10:00 GMT]
The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday said he regretted the decision made by the Government of Sri Lanka to terminate the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Secretary-General said he was deeply worried that the withdrawal from the Agreement comes amidst intensifying fighting in the North and increasing violence across the country, including Colombo.
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Maheswaran's TV interview to drive Police investigations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 19:31 GMT]
The Colombo Additional Magistrate Ravindra Premaratne Thursday instructed the Police to conduct investigation into the killing of Mr. Thiagarajah Maheswaran, Colombo district parliamentarian of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), based on the latter's interview carried by Sakthi television in the "Minnal" programme prior to his death.
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Maheswaran’s remains cremated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 18:58 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians took over the casket containing Maheswaran’s remains from his family Thursday around 2:30 p.m. at his residence in Wellawatte and the cortege, and the funeral procession went along Galle Road and several areas in Colombo to reach Kanaththai cremation grounds in Borella. Homage was paid to the Tamil parliamentarian, who was assassinated while worshiping in Colombo Ponnampala Vaa'neasvarar temple on New Year Day, before the body was cremated.
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Silencing Tamil voices, genocidal tactic - Puleedevan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 17:31 GMT]
Director of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan, on Thursday charged that the Government of Sri Lanka, locked in a military mindset, has been eliminating Tamil politicians who voiced for Tamil rights, irrespective of their political alignment. Mr. Puleedevan was referring to the slaying of the Colombo Tamil parliamentarian T. Maheswaran of the United National Party on New Year's Day inside a Sivan temple in Colombo.
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SLA in Jaffna disrupts mourning events for slain MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 16:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on Thursday forced shop owners in Jaffna city to keep their shops that were shut down to mourn the slain former Jaffna district parliamentarian T. Maheswaran, who was assassinated on New Year day allegedly by SLA-backed paramilitary men while he was worshiping in a Saiva temple in Colombo.
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Holland Tamil reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 14:14 GMT]
A 22-year-old Tamil citizen of Netherlands, Ajith Anand, 22, who was visiting his parents in Colombo, has been reported missing since Wednesday night when he went to nearby Internet cafe, according to a complaint made by the family members to Wellawatte Police.
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Sri Lanka withdraws from CFA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 11:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Thursday evening officially conveyed in writing to the Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem in Colombo that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was withdrawing from the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA). The message was conveyed to the Ambassador at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in Colombo. The CFA formally ends on 16 January, the day after the Tamil festival Thaippongkal. GoSL has also suspended the Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA) with 14-days advance notification.
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2007: The year in review

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 07:34 GMT]
For the people of the NorthEast, 2007 was a grim year. Sri Lanka’s security forces and allied paramilitaries intensified their campaign of abductions (‘white van’ abductions), torture, and murder of Tamil civilians. Tamil civil society leaders bore the brunt of the counter-insurgency campaign. Jaffna remained an open prison with shortage of essential items, east falling under the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) control with thousands displaced as Colombo concocts colonization schemes to make east a Sinhala majority province.
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2 youths related to Maheswaran killing produced in Jaffna Court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 16:03 GMT]
Jaffna police produced two youths from Kurunakar, alleged to be involved in the assassination of Tamil parliamentarian Maheswaran, Wednesday before Jaffna Magistrate R. T. Vignarajah who directed the youths to be produced before Colombo Chief Justice. The two youths were arrested on information claimed to be found in the National Identity Card (NIC) of the youths injured in the shooting of Maheswaran and later arrested by the police, sources in Jaffna said.
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Colombo to annul CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 15:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces as well as the Minister of Defence, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has decided to annul the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE). Sri Lankan Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwela, has confirmed that a cabinet decision to withdraw from the CFA has been taken on Wednesday. But, he did not provide a date for the GoSL withdrawal. The February 2002 agreement, in its paragraph 4.4, specifies that the agreement shall remain in force until notice of termination is given by either Party to the Royal Norwegian Government.
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EU condemns Maheswaran assassination

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 13:24 GMT]
European Union, in a press release issued today condemned "unreservedly the assassination of Sri Lankan Parliamentarian Honourable Thyagarajh MAHESWARAN," and said it expects the "culprits to be arrested and taken to justice immediately." EU added in the release that it noted with "dismay the increasing level of violence which has marked the beginning of the year 2008 in Sri Lanka."
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Mano Ganesan sends back his security personnel to MSD

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 13:09 GMT]
Stating that under-numbered guards from Ministerial Security Division (MSD) cannot provide meaningful security to him, the Western Province Peoples Front leader and Convener of the Civil Monitoring Commission, turned down a latest offer of increasing the security guards by three by the MSD, after the assassination of fellow Tamil parliamentarian T. Maheswaran. By slashing down the number of security personnel, the MSD is not only putting the parliamentarian's life in danger, but also endangering the lives of remaining security personnel, Mr. Mano Ganesan said in a media release. The MP has earlier said he was preparing to leave Sri Lanka.
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91 civilians still held in Boosa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 12:22 GMT]
Ninety one civilians including eighty nine Tamils and two Sinhalese are still being detained in Boosa detention camp located in Galle, south of Colombo, without any charges. Eight of them are Tamil women, and most of them are residents of Nugegoda, a suburb in Colombo.
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U.S. condemns Maheswaran assassination, Slave Island attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 10:04 GMT]
The United States embassy in Colombo Wednesday issued a press statement condemning the assassination on January 1 of Thiyagarajah Maheswaran, United National Party Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament. The statement also condemned the deadly attack on Wednesday in the Slave Island area of Colombo that killed and injured numerous persons, including members of the Sri Lankan armed forces and civilians.
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Claymore attack in Colombo targets SLA bus, 5 killed, 24 wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 04:11 GMT]
Two SLA soldiers and three civilians were killed, 10 SLA soldiers and 14 civilians were wounded Wednesday around 9:30 a.m. in Colombo's High Security nerve center at Slave Island, 200 meters from Sri Lanka Army headquarters and the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) headquarters, where a Claymore mine was triggered targeting a bus carrying SLA soldiers, Police said. The attack comes a day after a leading Tamil parliamentarian of the opposition UNP, Thiyagarajah Maheswaran, was assassinated inside Ponnampala Va'neasvarar temple while attending New Year's prayers.
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Clinton presidency worries Colombo- Balakumaran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2008, 18:41 GMT]
Apart from U.S. policy related implications, the significance to Sri Lanka of Senator Clinton's statement on "terrorism" can be assessed from the shock waves the statement generated in Sri Lanka's South, said K.V. Balakumaran, a Senior member of LTTE's Political Wing, during a political analysis segment, Nilavaram, presented in National Television of Tamileelam (NTT) this week. Hillary Clinton had earlier urged a more nuanced approach to armed non-state actors, and identified Tamil Tigers as one of the groups deserving such consideration.
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Wickremasinghe shortens New Delhi visit

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2008, 15:37 GMT]
Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party, meeting with Indian leaders in New Delhi has cut short his visit and is expected to return to Colombo Wednesday morning following the murder of fellow UNP parliamentarian Mr.Maheswaran in Colombo Tuesday morning in a Hindu temple, media sources said.
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Maheswaran killing, disturbing erosion of democracy- FMM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2008, 12:50 GMT]
The Free Media Movement (FMM), a Colombo-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Tuesday, strongly condemned the assassination of United National Party (UNP) MP T. Maheswaran, and said the murder adds to the "incredible number of political killings and the suppression of those who seek to bring to light gross human rights abuses," in Sri Lanka, and FMM is "mindful that the Sri Lankan Police have been unable and unwilling to bring the killers of other high profile political figures."
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Maheswaran MP assassinated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2008, 04:37 GMT]
Colombo district Tamil parliamentarian of the opposition United National Party, T. Maheswaran, was shot at Ponnambala Va'neasvarar temple at Kochchikkadai in Colombo Tuesday around 10:00 a.m., while he was paying homage at the shrine, and succumbed to his injuries at Colombo hospital. The shooting, which also claimed the live of his bodyguard, comes a few hours after the parliamentarian had said that he would reveal details on how abductions and killings in Jaffna are managed by the Sri Lankan establishment through the EPDP paramilitary, from Colombo. Eleven days ago, the government of Sri Lanka had reduced the Ministerial Security Division guards provided to the MP from Eighteen to two.
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Batticaloa elections: Colombo's rehearsal for paramilitary politics

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 December 2007, 19:55 GMT]
In the backdrop of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government announcing local government elections in the Batticaloa district, three Tamil paramilitary-cum-political parties, the EPDP, PLOTE, EPRLF (Naba wing) and the yet-to-be-registered TMVP of Pillayan's group revealed that they had reached an agreement to form an electoral alliance after a meeting summoned at the Batticaloa office of the EPDP Saturday. A spokesperson of the paramilitary coalition told media that although the four outfits had agreed on principle, the final decision would be taken after consultations with their respective leaders and key operatives.
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