Court rejects police request to remand, releases suspect on bail

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2007, 16:22 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate Mackie Mohamed Thursday refused an application by the Cinnamons Garden Police to remand a Muslim resident of Sammanthurai who was arrested by a mobile squad of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on suspicion that he was a terrorist suspect. The court ordered the release of the suspect on personal bail in a sum of Rs: 50,000/= with two sureties.
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ICRC officials meet Boosa detainees

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2007, 14:28 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) said in a press release issued Thursday evening that representatives of the ICRC visited the Boosa detention centre and inspected the condition of 469 detainees who were arrested by the government security forces following two bomb blasts that took place in Colombo on November 28. Nearly 2000 civilians were arrested and most of them were released later, the press release said.
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India offers joint air-defence exercise to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 December 2007, 16:46 GMT]
The top-level visiting Indian defence delegation to Sri Lanka to review the ongoing bilateral defence cooperation has offered assistance in the form of "joint air-defence exercises" to face any threats posed by the aerial capability of the Tigers, according to highly placed sources in Colombo. Indian Defence Secretary Vijay Singh who called on Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in Colombo early this week has made the offer. The delegation arrived in Colombo last Sunday and left the island Wednesday after meeting with the Commanders of the Sri Lankan Army, Air Force and Navy.
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SLA, LTTE artillery duels intensify in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 December 2007, 10:35 GMT]
Heavy artillery duel between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) beginning Thursday morning continued even after midday while unrelenting rain poured down in the peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. Residents in the peninsula are apprehensive of an impending offensive operation by the SLA as intensive artillery fire both on land and sea reverberates amidst pouring rain. Meanwhile, the Tigers said an attempt by the SLA to advance towards their Forward Defence Line in Naakarkoayil was thwarted, killing two SLA soldiers and recovering the dead body of a SLA soldier with an assault rifle.
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Colombo reduces security of two more Tamil MPs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 December 2007, 10:08 GMT]
The security provided to T. Maheswaran, the Colombo district parliamentarian of the opposition United National Party (UNP) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP N. Srikantha, has been reduced by the Government of Sri Lanka Thursday despite the parliamentarians calling for additional protection under the present volatile situation. Mr. Srikantha's Ministerial Security Division (MSD) guards were reduced to four from nine, meanwhile Mr. Maheswaran's MSD security was reduced to two from Eighteen.
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Colombo withdraws security, Mano Ganesan fears for his life

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2007, 01:04 GMT]
Mano Ganesan, founder of Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) and a Rights award winner from the U.S. Government, in a press release issued Wednesday said that Sri Lanka Government has withdrawn eight of the ten Security personnel, and that he fears Sri Lanka Government is creating a climate for getting him assassinated. Pointing out that the official organ of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), has described him "as an arms supplier to the LTTE, drug trafficker and collaborator with the under world criminals," Ganesan said, Colombo is orchestrating attacks against him from communal elements.
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U.S. links Colombo’s rights record to military sales

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 22:32 GMT]
H.R.2764 bill of the 110th Congress of U.S.A., Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008 barred sales of military equipment to Sri Lanka saying: “no defense export license may be issued, and no military equipment or technology shall be sold or transferred,” until conditions related to improved Human Rights record are met by the Government of Sri Lanka. The bill passed the House in June, and is voted on for amendments in the Senate Tuesday. An amendment to the bill, however, allowed equipment sales for the “limited purposes of maritime and air surveillance and communications.”
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Claymore attack targets train engine in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 19:22 GMT]
Unidentified attackers triggered a Claymore mine targeting the engine of the Trincomalee - Colombo night mail train Tuesday night at 8:45 p.m. at Kanthalaay in Trincomalee district, Police said.
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Sri Lanka ranked third in murders of journalists

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 16:49 GMT]
Press Emblem Campaign, an independent media watchdog based in Geneva, in a press release issued Monday said, Sri Lanka ranked third worldwide in number of journalists killed in 2007 in line of duty, behind Iraq and Somalia. "Sri Lanka ranks third, seven journalists killed this year against four last year due to the intensity of the civil war," the press release said.
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Withdraw Indian defence delegation to SL: Thirumavalavan, Vaiko

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 15:39 GMT]
The Indian Government should revive the stalled peace talks in the island instead of extending defence cooperation to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), said Thol. Thirumavalavan, General Secretary of the Tamilnadu-based Viduthalai Chiruthhaika'l Kadchi (VCK, the Liberation Panthers party) during a press meet in Chennai, Monday that was reported in sections of the Indian media. Meanwhile, Vaiko, leader of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) wrote a letter to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday urging him "to stop forthwith any form of military assistance or guidance to Sri Lanka."
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English proficiency vital for success in global world: LTTE Political Head

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 20:52 GMT]
"Eelam Tamils have excelled in military science and geo-political affairs at an International level. For our people to acquire skills and knowlege to succeed at the global level, opportunity and facilities to attain high levels of proficiency in English is critical," said B. Nadesan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in his commencement address at the English Language College (ELC) in Ki'linochchi, on Saturday. The ELC, a Tamils' Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)-funded college, was established on September 13, 2004 to produce educators to fulfill the shortage of competent of English teachers in the NorthEast.
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Inter-religious summit calls for power-sharing constitutional framework in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 17:06 GMT]
Religious leaders from Sri Lanka and a multi-religious delegation from six countries of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, who met in Jaffna last Wednesday and Thursday, said the decision to make Jaffna the location of the summit was to express solidarity with all those who continue to live in situations of violence and despair due to the conflict. "We saw the massive destruction of infrastructure and housing that occurred in previous phases of fighting, the loss of villages and fertile agricultural lands to High Security Zones, and the fear and insecurity in the lives of the people, especially youth, which is dehumanizing to all those affected."
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VoT will rebounce from attack -Thamizhanpan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 December 2007, 22:43 GMT]
“Belligerent statements by close associates of Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa, threats against media personnel, and press censorship in the South, forewarned us of a possible attack on our media facilities. Fortunately, we took precautions against this, and our successful completion of the Heroes day program, inspite of Colombo violating international laws bombing our facility, is a testimony to the resilience of our staff,” said Thamizhanpan, director of Voice of Tigers, LTTE’s official broadcasting corporation, in an interview with a Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation, Tuesday.
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CID enter house of Reuters photo journalist as telephone repairmen - FMM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 December 2007, 10:24 GMT]
Colombo based media watchdog, the Free Media Movement, on Sunday said it was disturbed to learn that officers of Criminal Investigation Division (CID) had entered the house of senior Reuters photojournalist Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi at Sarojinee Watta, Ratmalana at 11am on 11th December and questioned his wife at length about his activities in the manner that they would interrogate a suspect of a serious crime. The episode was aimed at instilling fear and anxiety in the mind of not just Mr. Lokuhapuarachchi but all journalists who investigate and report on the conflict in Sri Lanka, the FMM said.
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Indian military delegation to arrive in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 December 2007, 10:14 GMT]
A high-powered Indian defence delegation is to arrive in Colombo Monday on a three-day visit. The delegation, comprising experts in air defence, would review matters relating to ongoing bi-lateral defence co-operation, with a special focus on air-defence, between the two countries, according to Colombo weekly Sunday Times.
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Colombo's anti-terror laws assist killings, abductions, torture- MRG

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 19:32 GMT]
Minority Rights Groups International (MRG), an accredited non Governmental organization with the United Nations, in a report released Thursday said, after the promulgation of broad anti-terror laws in December 2006, Sri Lanka "has not hesitated to use these laws, and the country's human rights situation deteriorated. Under a general climate of impunity, 2007 has largely been marked by intense warfare, mass displacement, killings, abductions and torture in Sri Lanka."
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India armed rival groups as Tigers disarmed – IPKF General

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 18:39 GMT]
Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, ordered an Indian General to kill LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan in cold blood when the latter attended a meeting under a white flag in September 1987. In a new book, the then chief of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), Major General (retd.) Harkirat Singh, says he refused to carry out the order as “good soldiers do not shoot an adversary in the back.” He also says that as the Tigers began disarming in 1987, but India’s intelligence service, RAW, on Rajiv Gandhi’s orders, began arming anti-LTTE militant groups, triggering inter-Tamil violence.
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Court directs IGP to expedite release of Tamil detainees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 13:19 GMT]
The Supreme Court Friday directed the Inspector General of Police to take immediate steps to release all Tamil civilians detained in police stations and Boosa detention centre found not involved in any crime after inquiry and to produce others in courts. The three-member bench of the Supreme Court chaired by Chief Justice Sarath Silva issued this directive in a Fundamental Rights Violation petition filed by the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) against the mass arrest of Tamil civilians soon after the Nugegoda bomb blast, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Stung by rights criticism, Sri Lanka summons US, UK, EU and other ambassadors

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 December 2007, 16:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's militaristic government said Friday it had hauled in the envoys of countries calling for UN human rights monitoring of the island's dirty war against the Tamil Tigers, AFP reported. The ambassadors of the United States, the European Union, France, Korea and Sweden were summoned for a dressing down by foreign ministry secretary Palitha Kohona, AFP quoted the ministry as saying. Diplomats from Canada and the Netherlands will also be summoned Friday, the ministry said, adding a complaint over remarks made at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week will be forwarded to New Zealand's Delhi-based envoy.
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3 Tamil civilians arrested in Uddapu, Gampaha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 December 2007, 19:06 GMT]
The Police took into custody three Tamil civilians in two separate cordon and search operations conducted at Uddapu in Chilaw district and Gampaha town in Colombo district Wednesday. Police said they were detained in police stations as they failed to prove their identity and valid reason for the their stay in the locality.
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