Two Mannar Tamils reported missing

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2006, 12:34 GMT]
Fourteen year old student, Anton Reginald of Murugan Kovil Road, Keeri, and Soosaippar Victor Cross, 44, of Pesalai in Mannar district are reported missing, according to complaints lodged with the Mannar regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) by their relatives, civil sources said.


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Eastern Muslims protest against Israel attack on Lebanon

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2006, 11:42 GMT]
Large number of Muslim people participated in a demonstration held Friday after Jumma prayers in Oluvil village in the Amparai district condemning the indiscriminate aerial and ground attack on Lebanon and Palestine by the State of Israel. Hundreds of Muslims went in a procession from the premises of Oluvil Jumma Mosque to Oluvil playgrounds and burnt the national flags of the United States of America and Israel, and the effigy of Israel Prime Minister, sources said.
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Swedish Envoy meets LTTE Political Head

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2006, 08:27 GMT]
"The International Community should exert pressure on Colombo to put an immediate end to military campaign in occupied Tamil territories, respect the status-quo, implement the CFA and engage in talks," LTTE's Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan told media after meeting Swedish Envoy Anders Oljelund at LTTE's Political Secretariat in Kilinochchi Friday. "The International Community should identify the one-sided exercises - the All Party Conference and the so-called expert panel - that are aimed at diverting attention from the real issues at stake," he further said.
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EU special envoy to visit Killinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2006, 00:03 GMT]
Mr.Andres Oljelund, special envoy of the European Union (EU), will fly to Killinochchi in LTTE held Wanni region Friday, and hold discussion with the LTTE political leadership over the question of monitors of the EU member countries serving in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), sources said. LTTE has given Royal Government of Norway until 1st September to replace the monitors from the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark and Finland which are also members of the EU.
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Navy convoy hits civilian vehicle, seven injured

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 July 2006, 13:10 GMT]
Seven civilians including a foreign woman married to a Sri Lankan were injured when a bus carrying sailors in Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) convoy crashed into their multi-passenger vehicle which was parked along the Inner Harbour Road in Trincomalee town to give way to the convoy. The accident took place Thursday evening around 4:00 p.m., police sources said.
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APC, an exercise to buy time?- Saravanamuttu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 July 2006, 11:00 GMT]
"There is no clear policy from government on the issue of a constitutional settlement or sense of urgency with regard to acquiring one even through the APC [All Party Conference] process, begging the question of as to whether the process is about being seen to be doing something and about buying time and not much else," writes Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Director of Colombo think tank, Center for Policy Alternatives, in a column that appeared in this Wednesday issue of Morning Leader.
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Court orders port workers to suspend work-to-rule

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 July 2006, 10:04 GMT]
The weeklong work-to-rule campaign by port workers which crippled the loading and unloading activities of the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) came to an end following an enjoining order issued by the Colombo District Judge restraining ten trade unions involved in the union action on an application filed by the SLPA, legal sources said.
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Indian Women Press Corps meet SL President

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 July 2006, 01:51 GMT]
Members of the Indian Women Press Corps led by Editor at Indian Express, Ms Coomi Kapoor, met with Sri Lanka's President, Mahinda Rajapakse, at Temple Trees Wednesday, political sources in Colombo said. The goodwill visit was arranged by the office of the President according to informed sources.
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Judge reprimands Allaipiddy Investigations Officer

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 July 2006, 19:59 GMT]
Kayts district court Judge, Mr. Jeyaraman Trotsky during Tuesday's hearing into the alleged Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) killings of civilians in Allaipiddy in Jaffna islets, warned high ranking police officer Mahes Perera and his investigation team that charges of contempt to court may have to be brought against them for failing to appear before the Court, legal sources said. Mr Mahes Perera and his team are tasked to inquire into the Allaipiddy killings and to submit the inquiry report.
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Claymore mine hits SLA convoy, 3 killed, 11 wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 July 2006, 07:02 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army Captain, a Lieutenant and a Lance Corporal were killed and 11 other troopers wounded when a bus carrying the troopers was ambushed with a Claymore mine near Maruthanarmadam Junction, 8.5 km northeast of Jaffna town at 11:05 a.m. Wednesday. Five of the eleven SLA troopers wounded in the ambush, were in serious condition, SLA sources said. The soldiers opened fire indiscriminately for fifteen minutes and beat up the civilians in the area after the attack. Three civilians were rushed to Jaffna hospital, residents said.
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One SLN soldier killed, four injured in claymore explosion in Sampaltivu

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 July 2006, 16:09 GMT]
Five soldiers of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) seriously injured when a route clearing patrol of the SLN hit a claymore mine placed along the road located near Salli Amman Temple in Sampaltivu village, about seven km off north of Trincomalee town Monday afternoon around 3.15 p.m. The area comes under the Uppuveli Police division, police said.
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Police silent on whereabouts of arrested Gurunagar youth

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 July 2006, 11:16 GMT]
Parents of Mariyaseelan Jeevakumar, 17, who was arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at his home on Friday morning are searching for the details of the whereabouts of their son, civil society sources said. Although the youth is said to have been handed over to Jaffna Police by the SLA, parents have not been informed of his arrest, even after more than two days, relatives of the youth said.
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Solution still possible, says departing French Ambassador

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 July 2006, 10:39 GMT]
Pointing that France's motto of "Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood," is adopted as founding principles of many countries, H. E. Jean Bernard de Vaivre, Ambassdor of France in Colombo, said that all parties should "seek a common solution, a solution which respects the different cultures, languages, religions and ways of life which exist in this country," in a press release issued on the national day of France.
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Slain Vavuniya PLOTE leader said Tamil nationalist

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 July 2006, 05:17 GMT]
A group of PLOTE members claiming to be pro-Tamil nationalists, in a media release issued in Tamil, have alleged that the PLOTE leader Bavan was assasinated by the Sri Lanka Army intelligence in collaboration with the PLOTE hierarchy. Bavan, the leader of PLOTE's military wing in Vavuniya, abducted and killed Thursday, was a leader who turned nationalist and opposed the paramilitary agenda against the PLOTE hierarchy, the cadres have claimed criticising the top hierarchy of the paramilitary organisation for collaborating with the Sri Lanka Army intelligence for getting rid of pro Tamil nationalist elements in the organisation.
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Gothabaya visits Jaffna, confers with Jaffna SLA commanders

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 July 2006, 08:56 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and the brother of the SL President, Gothabaya Rajapakse, on Sunday, paid a visit to the 51-2 Brigade Head Quarters in Jaffna town amid high security. Civilian traffic was blocked on the road when Mr. Rajapakse landed in the old Dutch Fort area of the town in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter and transported in an armoured vehicle towards the 51-2 HQ. Top officials of the SL Navy, Air Force and Army from Colombo were in Jaffna to confer future course of military actions, SLA sources said. The officials visited Forward Defence Lines in several locations in Jaffna Peninsula to give morale boost to the troopers.
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Daya Master discharged from hospital in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 July 2006, 06:34 GMT]
Daya Master, the Kilinochchi based media coordinator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who was admitted to the private Appollo Hospital in Narahenpitiya near Colombo with heart ailment, left for Kilinochchi on Saturday at 8:30 a.m., after doctors cleared him fit enough following satisfactory coronary angiography tests, hospital sources said. Several members of the Sinhala ultra-nationalist JVP led National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) Friday held a protest demonstration in front of Appollo hospital, calling for the arrest of the ailing Daya Master under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
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NMAT demands Daya Master's arrest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 July 2006, 04:38 GMT]
Members of the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT), an extremist Sinhala nationalist organization, protested in front of Appollo Hospital in Narahenpitiya, Colombo Friday 11:15 a.m. demanding the arrest of LTTE's Media Co-ordinator, Daya Master, who is recovering from chronic heart condition in the hospital, sources in Colombo said.
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12 Sri Lankan troops, 4 Tigers killed in Vakaneri, SLA trooper captured

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 July 2006, 06:27 GMT]
At least 12 Sri Lankan troopers were killed when Liberation Tigers confronted a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unit, comprising at least 100 soldiers, that had moved 5 km inside LTTE controlled territory in Batticaloa district. Four LTTE cadres were killed and six wounded in the fighting in Vakaneri, 37 km northwest of Batticaloa town. The bodies of twelve SLA soldiers were recovered by the Tigers, P. Dayamohan, the Batticaloa district LTTE political head told TamilNet. One Lance Corporal of the SLA has been captured alive by the LTTE. SLA sources in Colombo claimed that a group of SLA soldiers who were on a search and clear operation have gone missing in Vakaneri.
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Rajapakse initiative, an elaborate theatre to appease international community - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 July 2006, 14:16 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s initiative this week to come up with power-sharing proposal is “elaborate theatre to appease international demands, particularly India’s,” the Tamil Guardian said in its editorial this week. Arguing the ‘outbidding’ which undermined previous initiatives was “guaranteed” to happen again, given the lack of support from the UNP and the vehement opposition of the JVP and JHU, the paper said: “Rajapakse’s immediate priority is not to come up with a serious proposal to offer the Tamils, but to destroy his ruling party's main rival and consolidate his grip on parliament.”
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Swedish Red Cross provides $10m to tsunami housing effort

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 July 2006, 10:44 GMT]
"The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Sri Lanka Red Cross have contributed $US 10 million to Phase 2 of the Government of Sri Lanka’s Home Owner Driven Housing Programme (ODHP) which will help at least 10,000 tsunami affected families to rebuild or repair their homes," said a press release issued by the Red Cross offices in Colombo Thursday. The funds are being allocated from a $25m contribution Swedish Red Cross society has given to the IFRC for the housing program.
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