Technical Officer shot dead in Thenmaraadchchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 November 2007, 16:20 GMT]
Two unidentified motorcycle gunmen, following behind the Chief Technical Officer of Chaavakachcheari Predeshya Saba on his way home on motorcycle after work Wednesday evening, shot him dead at Yattaa’lai, Va’ra’ni where the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 52nd Brigade base is located, sources in Kodikaamam said. The officer had moved from his village Yattaalai to Inparuddi in Vadamaraadchchi due to continuous death threats by SLA and SLA-backed paramilitaries, the sources added.
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SLA tortured Jaffna student detained in Police custody

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 November 2007, 14:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna arrested a 19-year-old student of Jaffna St. Johns College Wednesday near Chemma’ni bridge check point and handed him Thursday, after severely torturing him, to Jaffna police, civil sources in Jaffna said. The student was admitted to Jaffna Teaching hospital Thursday with several wounds bearing hallmarks of torture, hospital administration said.
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SLA Brigadier shoots wife, mother of two succumbs to wounds

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 November 2007, 14:12 GMT]
Puththa'lam area Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Brigadier Chanda Rupasinghe was arrested by Sapugaskande Police in Kelaniya Police division Friday morning for allegedly shooting his wife and causing her death, Police said.
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Heavy fighting in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:59 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in Mu'l'likku'lam area in Mannaar Thursday morning around 6:30 a.m. The fighting continued throughout the evening. Seven SLA soldiers wounded in LTTE artillery fire were rushed to Anuradhapura hospital, medical sources said.
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Sri Lanka's War Secretariat?

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), in a 2000-word press release issued Thursday, took exceptions to the labelling of SCOPP as "the government’s War Secretariat," by Prof. Uyangoda, and as "Secretariat for Coordinating the War Process" by Sunday Times which highlighted SCOPP's "angrily incessant verbosity," in its story. Head of SCOPP adds, "our counterpart in Kilinochchi had shown itself indeed a War Secretariat, in celebrating the Black Tigers who had attacked the airbase at Anuradhapura," drawing moral equivalence between the 'behavior' of the two Secretatriats as part of SCOPP's rationale for defending Sri Lanka's rights abuses, among other accusations.
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Vara'ni resident seeks protection with Jaffna HRC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 19:19 GMT]
A civilian from Va’ra’ni area in Thenmaraadchchi sought protection with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office due to death threats and attempts of abduction by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and SLA-backed paramilitaries. The main commanding SLA base of the 52nd brigade is located in Vara'ni.
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Sinhala doctors unlikely to accept Jaffna vacancies- Director

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 18:59 GMT]
Although Sri Lanka Health Ministry has appointed 69 newly qualified doctors to Jaffna peninsula to fill the urgent shortage of doctors, the success of this effort is likely to be limited as more than 50 are Sinhalese, and due to the extraordinary situation prevailing in Jaffna peninsula many will decline to accept their positions, Dr. A. Ketheeswaran, Director of Public Health Service (DPH) Jaffna said. Further 24 of the new appointees are assigned to positions in the divisional hospitals, and DPH is finding it difficult to provide proper residential facilities, the director added.
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SLA, LTTE clash in Vavuniyaa-Mannaar border

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 10:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) clashed Wednesday morning around 8:00 a.m. in Thampanai area in Mannaar-Vavuniyaa border where the SLA launched a ground offensive, according to the military spokesman of the LTTE, Irasiah Ilanthirayan.
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Family man seeks protection with Jaffna HRC, flights to Ratmalana resumed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 04:55 GMT]
A family man from Valikaamam East sought protection with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna Tuesday due to death threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and SLA-backed paramilitaries. Meanwhile, two private firms resumed flights from Jaffna to Colombo which were suspended by SLA Monday due to security reasons, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA-imposed traffic restrictions hamper Jaffna bus service

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 17:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has imposed new traffic restrictions covering key main roads in the peninsula to facilitate safe passage to SLA convoys, severely impacting revenues of the Northern Sri Lanka Transport Service (NSLTS), transportation officials in Jaffna said. SLA orders all public traffic to stand still, sometimes nearly for three hours, and stops all vehicular traffic in main arteries between Palaly, Jaffna and the Forward Defense Lines (FDLs) in Vadamaraadchy east during movement of convoys.
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Eelaventhan meets Harper, U.S. officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 13:32 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr Eelaventhan, currently visiting Canada and United States met with Canada's ruling Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and politicians from other parties during the early part of November, and also met with United States State Department officials on the 14th of November, briefing them on the worsening humanitarian conditions in Tamil areas of North East of Sri Lanka, and the deteriorating ground situation that is leading towards large scale confrontation between Sri Lanka Security forces and Liberation Tigers.
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SLA, SLN conduct war exercise in northern seas

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 12:17 GMT]
Thousand of troops of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) together with a number of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) shallow water vessels conducted a three hour war rehearsal Monday morning beginning at 6:00a.m. in Araali, Valigaamam, sources in Jaffna said.
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Thileepan statue destroyed in Nalloor, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 05:23 GMT]
A gang of unidentified men went on rampage Sunday night, during the curfew hours, demolishing the statue of Lt. Col. Thileepan (Rasiah Parthipan) located behind the historic Nalloor Kanthaswamy Koayil on Point Pedro Nalloor road, sources in Jaffna said.
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Sajitharan released, family transported to Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 13:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Monday, after the budget voting, secured the release of S. Sajitharan, the son-in-law of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Batticaloa district, who had been abducted by the paramilitary Pillayaan Group. Mr. Sajitharan and the remaining members of the family of the TNA parliamentarian T. Kangasabai were transported from Batticaloa to Colombo and handed over to the MP, according to the TNA sources in Colombo. Mr. Kanagasabai, warned by the paramilitary operative Pillayaan not to vote against the budget, was not present in the parliament during the final voting on Sri Lankan budget Monday.
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Uthayan staffer, family man feared abducted in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 11:13 GMT]
A proof-reader of Uthayan Tamil daily in Jaffna is feared abducted Friday morning on his way home after night duty at Uthayan office, his parents complained at Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office. Meanwhile, a family man from Thumpa’lai, Point Pedro in Vadamaraadchi has gone missing since Friday and a 26-year old youth from Jaffna Monday sought protection to his life with HRC Jaffna due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and SLA-backed paramilitaries, sources in Jaffna said.
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Colombo court releases Tamil youth arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 07:24 GMT]
A Tamil youth arrested by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army stationed in Kodikaamam on June 27 last year was released by the Colombo Chief Magistrate Friday after 16 months in remand under the Emergency Regulations.
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TNA seeks GoSL response on abduction before budget voting

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 06:31 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan Monday morning urged the Speaker in Sri Lankan Parliament to prevail upon the Government of Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to secure the release of S. Sajitharan, the abducted son-in-law of Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian T. Kanagasabai, enabling the MP and other Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarians to vote on the Budget. Three of four Batticaloa district parliamentarians of the TNA were not present in the parliament Monday morning following threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operated paramilitary, Pillayaan Group.
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TRO denies U.S. accusations, says proscription will harm Tamil people

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 20:23 GMT]
Expressing dismay over U.S. Department of Treasury's action against the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), and reiterating that TRO is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," the TRO, in a press release issued Sunday, stated categorically that "all funds received are utilized according to the wishes of the donor, in line with the stated mission of TRO, to assist the tsunami and war affected populations of the NorthEast. None of these funds are, or have ever been found to have been, misappropriated for use by any other organization or used inappropriately by TRO itself."
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Trader shot dead, Hindu priest abducted, tortured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 12:26 GMT]
A Tamil business man was shot and killed Saturday morning by unidentified armed men, while a Hindu priest, abducted Friday by armed men, was severely tortured, and is fighting for his life, civilian sources said.
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Paramilitary threatens Batticaloa Tamil MPs not to vote against budget, abducts family member

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 11:18 GMT]
Armed paramilitary men from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operated Pillayaan Group entered the house of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian T. Kagagasabai and abducted the Batticaloa MP's son-in-law around 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The group has threatened to kill the abductee if Mr. Kanagasabai voted against SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's budget on Monday. The abduction took place at the police-protected house of the parliamentarian at Ka'luthaava'lai. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Police has withdrawn the security provided to all Batticaloa district TNA MPs residences in Batticaloa on Sunday.
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