Rajapaksa prorogues SL Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 17:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has moved on to prorogue the sittings of the Sri Lankan Parliament until June 05 according to an extra-ordinary gazette notification published Tuesday midnight. The move comes amid the increased media attention and the debate on SLA casualties in the Northern Front as four days were left for the Eastern provincial elections where oppositions parties including the SLMC, UNP and the JVP have protested against the armed paramilitary in the East. Meanwhile, in a specially arranged televised broadcast, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised the remote villagers in the east that they would get everything that they have aspired for.
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Kodikaamam police hands over youth’s body to Jaffna hospital

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 13:55 GMT]
Kodikaamam police handed over a youth’s body to Jaffna Teaching Hospital mortuary Monday night claiming that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Mukamaalai recovered the body among the troops killed in clashes in Mukamaalai battle front Monday, Kodikaamam police said.
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2 new parliamentarians sworn in

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 10:46 GMT]
Sarana Gunawardene and Dulip Wijesekara were sworn in as new parliamentarians from the Gampaha district Tuesday when the parliament met for the first time after the New Year recess. Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara administered oaths at the commencement of the session, parliamentary sources said.
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Vaiko condemns military soft loan, assails India's opposition to UN resolution on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 07:00 GMT]
Expressing "terrible shock" over the press reports that New Delhi was finalising a soft loan package of USD100 million for Sri Lankan military, Vaiko, the general secretary of Marumalarchchi Dravida Munneatta Kazhakam (MDMK) sent an urgent letter Monday to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to reconsider the decision and recalled earlier assurance given to him in April by Dr. Manmohan Singh that India was not giving any arms to Sri Lanka. At the same time, Mr. Vaiko expressed serious concern over India's opposition to the move initiated by European Countries to bring a resolution in the United Nations against the gross violation of human rights by the Sri Lankan government.
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SLA, LTTE clash in Naakarkoayil FDL areas

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 15:19 GMT]
Heavy clashes between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Naakarkoayil Northern Front Defence Lines erupted Monday early morning and lasted till evening. Both sides launched artillery shells, Multi-barrel rocket launcher and mortar fire engaging in heavy duel. A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter was seen flying between Naakarkoayil FDL area and Palaali SLA Military Base many times and roads from the battle front to Palaali remained blocked by SLA for a long time for public use while vehicles kept transporting injured and killed troops.
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Jaffna prison inmate on hunger strike

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 14:28 GMT]
A young family man from Point Pedro in Vadmaraadchi who had been placed in protective custody of Jaffna Prison due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries began a hunger strike Sunday, demanding improved basic facilities in Jaffna Prison or his release from the facility, fellow inmates said in Jaffna Court.
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8 SLA killed, 20 wounded in Mukamaalai FDL clash - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 08:54 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Monday said they defeated a fresh attempt by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to break into the LTTE Forward Defence Line, killing 8 SLA soldiers and recovering a dead body of one SLA soldier in Mukamaalai Monday around 10:00 a.m. The LTTE has seized a Light Machine Gun from the SLA in the confrontation where more than 20 SLA soldiers were wounded, the Tigers said.
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Tigers attack SLN point in Mannaar city

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 03:33 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) mounted a raid on a coastal point of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Koanthaippiddi in Mannaar city in the early hours of Monday around 2:00 a.m. and seized arms and ammunitions from the point, killing three SLN personnel, according to LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthiarayan. The LTTE unit which engaged in the attack has recovered the body of a slain SLN trooper, he said. Meanwhile, the Tigers also launched an artillery attack on the installations of the Sri Lanka Army and Navy in Mannaar.
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2 SLA soldiers die in accident

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 18:00 GMT]
Two soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were killed on the spot when the motor bike they were traveling crashed against a truck Sunday afternoon at Santhiveli in Eraa'vur police division in Batticaloa district, media sources quoted Eastern Deputy Inspector General of Police H.M.D.Herat as saying.
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Ethnic divide reflected in Sri Lanka media coverage

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 17:56 GMT]
The polarization between Sri Lanka’s ethnic communities is also reflected in coverage of the island’s protracted conflict and has rendered ‘the truth’ an inevitable casualty of war, several speakers argued last week at the annual conference in London of the International Association of Tamil Journalists (IATAJ). The day-long event at the University of Westminster was attended by one hundred invited participants and was addressed by journalists, academics and media activists, including Mr. Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, editor of the Uthayan newspaper, Mr Chandana Bandara, senior producer with the BBC’s Sinhala service and Mr. Bhagwan Singh of the Deccan Chronicle.
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41 civilians arrested in Ratmalana, 24 in Minuwangoda

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 10:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police, assisted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in two separate cordon and search operations, took into custody 65 civilians for questioning. 41 were arrested in Ratmalana in search operation conducted Sunday for about five hours from 5:00 a.m. 24 civilians were arrested in Minuwangoda from Saturday night till Sunday early morning, reports from Colombo said.
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2,000 Sri Lankan soldiers killed last year – Fonseka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 01:46 GMT]
Over two thousand Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and four thousand wounded in the battles of 2007, the commander of the SLA, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told a conference at Army Headquarters last week, the Sunday Times reported. He claimed over five thousand Tamil Tigers were also killed last year. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government has forbidden military officials from giving interviews and launched a hunt for those leaking details to the media. The government has instructed ambulances transporting wounded soldiers from Ratmalana airport to hospitals in Colombo not to use their sirens, the paper said.
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Large-scale search operation in Colombo: 84 taken to station, 15 detained

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2008, 18:00 GMT]
Around 300 Tamils were taken into Jinthuppiddi grounds following a large-scale search operation conducted by the police with the assistance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) covering Kathiresan Street and Jinthupity Street in Colombo Saturday morning. 84 persons were taken in two buses to Pettah police station and fifteen of them were detained there for interrogations Saturday evening, Police said.
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Northern Front impregnable, say NTT panelists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2008, 10:49 GMT]
Colombo was forced into staging Mukamaalai offensive to ensure safety to troops in Jaffna which had fallen within the range of artillery, panelists said during a Political Analysis segment of National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), participated by LTTE military spokesperson, Irasiah Ilanthiraiyan, and Chief-Editor of Viduthalaip Pulika'l, LTTE's official organ, S. Ravi, in the programme moderated by K. Veera, this week. Panelists added that Colombo's assertion that LTTE is moving troops between different Northern fronts is a figment of their imagination, and refuted the claim that the Sri Lanka Air Force has caused detrimental impact to LTTE's war machinery.
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Trader, student, seek protection with HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 May 2008, 14:19 GMT]
A student from Brown Road in Kokkuvil, Jaffna, and a family man from Raamaavil, Kodikaamam in Thenmaraadchi sought Friday protection with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries, HRC sources said.
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Jaffna GA opens NIC Office in Veala’nai

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 May 2008, 03:39 GMT]
“A resident in Jaffna peninsula may live without food, clothing and shelter for some days but cannot survive even for a day without the National Identity Card,” Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh said, in his speech in the opening ceremony of the special office for the issue of National Identity Card (NIC) at the Veala’nai Divisional Secretariat Thursday.
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SLA increases security measures in interior Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2008, 18:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has begun launching sporadic small-scale cordon and search operations with police assistance in interior areas of Jaffna peninsula as attacks on SLA have increased in the recent past, sources in Jaffna said. Since large number of troops being moved to the Northern Front Line Defence (FDL) areas, the SLA has been employing fewer men in the search operations with police assistance.
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3 Tamil youths arrested in Dehiwela

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2008, 18:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested Thursday morning three Tamil youths in a joint cordon and search operation launched from 6:00 a.m to 9:30 a.m in Dehiwella, a suburb of Colombo. The youths, from Ki’linochchi, Point Pedro and Kayts of ages between 22 and 24, did not possess valid evidence to prove the reason for their presence in the area, Galkisse police said.
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Two SLA soldiers killed in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2008, 18:18 GMT]
Liberation Tigers officials in Ampaa'rai told media Thursday that two Sri Lanka Army soldiers, including a Sergeant, were killed in a booby trap explosion in Kagnchikudichcha-aa'ru in Ampaa'rai Wednesday around 8:00 p.m. and two soldiers sustained serious injuries when they approached an LTTE position in the jungle.
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Colombo has failed to honour Kachchatheevu agreement after 1983 - CPI

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2008, 07:02 GMT]
Communist Party of India (CPI) National Secretary D Raja on Tuesday made a special mention during the Zero Hour in the Indian Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament of India stated that the agreement on Kachchatheevu and the historical waters between the Government of India and the Government of Sri Lanka, signed in 1974, didn't work after 1983. Mr. Raja said there is a grey area in the agreement with regards to the right of access to the island by the Indian fishermen and said that the agreement should be reopened and renegotiated in order to protect the rights of fishermen.
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