SLA corrals 3 additional Jaffna buses for military use

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2008, 00:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commandeered three new buses from Koandaavil bus depot adding to the scarcity of serviceable buses available for public transport, further burdening the Jaffna SLTB officials reeling from fuel crisis, Jaffna transportation officials said. SLA handed back three buses, irrevocably damaged due to claymore attacks or misuse, officials at the Koandaavil depot said.
Full story >>

Hurdling chauvinism: Rohan Rajasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 20:25 GMT]
Expatriate Tamils in London are, this weekend, holding a remembrance ceremony for Rohan Rajasingham, an accomplished sportsman who strove against institutionalized Sinhala majoritarianism to better the conditions for aspiring Tamil sportsmen and women in Sri Lanka. Rajasingham passed away on January 8, 2008 after a brief battle with cancer, aged 50.
Full story >>

Rights violations in Batticaloa escalate

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 12:26 GMT]
Nearly one hundred incidents of human rights violations of arrest, abduction, forced disappearance and intimidation committed against government officials in Batticaloa district have been registered with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Batticaloa District office, according to Batticaloa HRC sources. In January 2008 alone 63 complaints of rights violations against government officials in Batticaloa were registered while a total of 37 complaints were lodged in February.
Full story >>

Search operation in Theakawatte, Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 12:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police Thursday launched a cordon and search operation in parts of the Vavuniyaa town following the recovery of a claymore mine weighing about 8 kg at Theakawatte in Vavuniyaa, media sources said.
Full story >>

India abetting Tamil genocide: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 10:49 GMT]
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko Tuesday said that the present attitude of the Indian Government amounted to assistance in Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils. He sought the withdrawal of the radars supplied to Sri Lanka and an end to all forms of military assistance from India to the Sri Lankan government. Accusing the Indian Government of "betraying the Tamils," the veteran leader in his reply to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's letter, pointed out that no sovereign nation would tolerate the dangerous action of a neighbouring country planting mines in the bordering seas.
Full story >>

Grenade attack on SLA sentry post in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 March 2008, 19:43 GMT]
Unidentified men on bicycle lobbed a hand grenade into a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry post located near Kalviyangkaadu junction on Jaffna- Point Pedro road Wednesday around 9:15 a.m. No one was injured as the grenade lobbed failed to explode.
Full story >>

Swiss Tamils condemn assassination of TNA parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 22:28 GMT]
Tamils in Switzerland held a demonstration and public rally in Geneva on Monday in condemnation of the assassination of K. Sivanesan, Jaffna district Tamil National alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian, allegedly carried out by a Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Army in Vanni on 06 March. The demonstrators called on the International Community to act against the systematic slaying of prominent Tamil leaders, including academics, journalists, civil society leaders by the Sri Lankan armed forces and the paramilitaries.
Full story >>

SLA shelling kills civilian in Poonakari, student wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 18:23 GMT]
A 24-year-old father of a child was killed Tuesday in Poonakari (Pooneryn) at Ellaikkal-ku'lam when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery attack on the residential area. A 16-year-old student of Chellaiatheevu School was wounded in the attack and admitted to Muzhangkaavil hospital. The artillery barrage lasted for 10 minutes from 10:10 till 10:20 a.m.
Full story >>

No LTTE base in Tamil Nadu: Indian PM's office

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 17:52 GMT]
Virtually bending over backwards the Indian Prime Minister's office Tuesday 'clarified' that National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan had never mentioned about the existence of LTTE bases in Tamil Nadu. On a temple visit to Kerala Sunday, Narayanan was widely quoted by Indian media reports as saying that Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been asked to "monitor the activities" of LTTE sympathisers since "Indian intelligence agencies" had come to know that both the states had "small pockets of the LTTE."
Full story >>

Come clean: CPI leader to Indian Government

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 17:46 GMT]
The National General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), D. Raja, launched an no-holds-barred attack on the Central Government during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament) on Tuesday. He deplored the Indian Government for "not uttering a word against the deployment of sea-mines by the Sri Lankan Government" in the Palk Straits and for giving training to the Sri Lankan army in a "clandestine" manner.
Full story >>

STF vacates Batticaloa MC building complex

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 17:14 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) handed over Tuesday Batticaloa Muncipal Council (MC) building complex after 18 years of occupation by the Sri Lankan armed forces, to Batticaloa MC Commissioner, M. Uthayakumar. The entrance gate of Batticaloa Magistrate Court and District Secretariat hitherto guarded by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has been opened to public after 18 years, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Fuel crisis hits Jaffna public transport

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 14:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) which supplies fuel and oil to Jaffna Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) informed Thursday that it may have to suspend supplies to Jaffna SLTB if the arrears of 51 million rupees due is not paid, Koa'ndaavil SLTB head office sources said.
Full story >>

Claymore ambush kills SLA soldier in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 06:41 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier was killed and two wounded Tuesday morning around 7:10 a.m. in a Claymore ambush at Ka'limoaddai near Parikaarika'ndal in Naanaaddaan division of Mannaar district, according to Sri Lankan military sources.
Full story >>

Tigers strike inside Mannaar HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 03:27 GMT]
The city of Mannaar was shaken Monday night by outgoing artillery barrage when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) mounted an attack inside the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone in Thirukkeatheesvaram area, adjacent to SLA garrison in Tha'l'laadi, breaking the Forward Defence Line (FDL). 15 wounded SLA soldiers were rushed to the public hospital in Mannaar in the early hours of Tuesday and later transferred to Anuradhapura. Telephone links were disturbed and tension prevailed in the city as fighting raged from Monday 10:50 p.m. till 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The warring parties are yet to release details of the latest confrontation inside the HSZ.
Full story >>

3 SLA killed in sniper attack - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2008, 18:11 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Operations Command in Mannaar told media in Vanni that Tiger snipers gunned down 3 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at Iththikka'ndal in Paalaikkuzhi on Sunday between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.
Full story >>

2 students reported missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2008, 15:17 GMT]
Two students, aged 11 and 15, are reported missing since Sunday after having left on bicycles their homes in Kokkuvil East in Jaffna, according to complaints lodged by their mother with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Monday. The students, after first visiting their relatives at Kantharmadam in Jaffna, had proceeded on bicycle to another relative’s house in Chaavakachcheari in Thenmaraadchhi, the mother said in her complaint.
Full story >>

Boston Globe advocates "Self-rule in a confederal structure for Tamil region"

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2008, 10:01 GMT]
Pointing to Sri Lanka's documented pattern of "abductions of civilians by security forces," and Rajapakse Government's complicity in "large scale disappearances," Boston Globe in an editorial Monday said: "[t]he bottom line is Sri Lanka's conflict is political, and it must be resolved by political means. A lasting solution will require that the central government grant meaningful self-rule to the Tamil region, perhaps in a confederal structure that maintains the unity of the country. Continuing attempts to resolve the conflict militarily can only produce more suffering and more war."
Full story >>

Abductions escalate in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2008, 09:48 GMT]
Armed men in police uniform arriving in a van bearing registration number 250 7363 Sunday around 7:00 a.m at Sangamiththa Mawata in Colombo abducted a Tamil youth who had come from Jaffna with his mother to go abroad, according to the complaint made by the his mother to Kotahena (Koddaagncheanai) police. Meanwhile, a Tamil student of Moratuwa University, abducted on March 4 from Colpetty in Colombo, is still missing. Abduction of Tamils in Western Province by armed men in white van have escalated in recent days despite the global attention on Sri Lanka's Human Rights violations.
Full story >>

Civilians call for transfer of Aalaiyadiveambu STF Commander

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2008, 01:11 GMT]
Civilian groups in Aalayadiveampu in Akkaraipattu police division, Ampaa’rai district, are agitating for the immediate transfer of the Thirukkoayil Special Task Force (STF) commander after he failed to attend a special meeting convened Saturday by higher officials to discuss sexual abuse of women by unidentified armed men, local sources said.
Full story >>

SLA soldier killed, 2 injured in claymore ambush in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 March 2008, 11:36 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army was killed and two others injured when a claymore mine targeting a three-wheeler transporting soldiers exploded Sunday morning at Marakkaalai in Vavuniyaa, sources in the town said.
Full story >>