UPFA to contest three Jaffna local councils

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:26 GMT]
Ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is contesting three local councils in Jaffna district, Chavakachcheri, Point Pedro and Valvettithurai urban councils, and has submitted nomination papers for these councils, election officials in Jaffna said. For the Jaffna Municipal Council only three political parties Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) and PLOTE-EPRLF (Varathar wing) have submitted nominations.
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Mannar civilian detained in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:23 GMT]
The Mannar Citizens Committee (MCC) has appealed to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to take steps to obtain the release of a Tamil civilian Mr.Jesuthasan Kamalathasan of Pesalai who is being detained at the Terrorist Investigative Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police, sources said. The Police following a grenade attack at the army post located near Mannar hospital premises on January 16 took him into custody. An SLA soldier was killed in this incident.
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NGOs in Kilinochchi demand release of TRO staffers

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 11:23 GMT]
The Kilinochchi Federation of NGOs staged a peace protest march Friday 17th in Kilinochchi at 10 am, demanding the release of the seven employees of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), abducted at gun point and held captive for more than 20 days in the Wellikanda region by paramilitaries. The marchers condemned the abductors and demanded that the TRO staffers be released immediately.
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LTTE delegation leaves Kilinochchi for Geneva

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 11:21 GMT]
Liberation Tigers delegation left Kilinochchi Friday morning to participate in negotiations with Government of Sri Lanka(GOSL) facilitated by the Norwegian Government in Geneva, Switzerland scheduled to be held February 22-23. Head of LTTE Political Wing, Mr Thamilchelvan, told the media before leaving Kilinochchi that the talks will discuss ways to implement February 2002 Truce agreement between the parties who are meeting for direct talk after more than three years. The delegation departed Kilinochchi grounds in a Sri Lanka Air Force( SLAF) helicopter around 9:00 am Friday.
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The Importance of ‘Rearbase’: Taraki, 1989

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 02:05 GMT]
In the 29 October 1989 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior editor at TamilNet, writes on the waning importance of a rear base in Tamil Nadu after the end of Eelam war I in 1987. "That a multipurpose comfortable rearbase would in the long term erode the conviction to fight and play into the hands of India was an opinion expressed in 1983. Finally the rearbase started becoming a factor that threatened to undermine the control various leaders had over their fighting cadres," Sivaram wrote.
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Three suspects arrested for transporting explosives to Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Mannar Police Thursday arrested three persons, two Muslims and a Sinhalese, in two separate incidents when they were allegedly transporting dynamite sticks from outstations to Mannar Island. The Police recovered 125 dynamite sticks from one incident and about 100 in the other, police sources said.
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UNP Colombo list rejected

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2006, 09:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s election office has rejected the nomination list submitted by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to contest Colombo Municipal Council. The nominations closed on Thursday noon at 12.
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Dissanayake released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 18:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, Wednesday, ordered the release of S.B.Dissanayake, a senior politician from United National Party (UNP), who was serving a two year jail term for his criticisms of Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, a media release from the President's office said.
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Tigers respond to Rajapakse's statement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 09:47 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on Wednesday, responded to SL President Mahinda Rajapakse's recent interview where he rejected the Tamil call for self-rule. "Homeland, nationhood and self-rule are the three basic and cardinal principles," that have been guiding the LTTE in its struggle to find a peacefully negotiated political arrangement, a statement from the LTTE reiterated. If Colombo adopts a political stand ruling out the Tamil homeland concept and insists on a resolution to conflict within the "Sinhala" constitution, the LTTE would be left with "no alternative other than to endeavour hard to respond effectively to the Tamil call for self rule," the statement said.
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State of Emergency extended till March 7

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 15:53 GMT]
Sri Lankan parliament Tuesday extended the State of Emergency for another month till March 7. Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Prime Minister and the Deputy Defense Minister moved the extension motion when the parliament resumed its sitting Tuesday. The State of Emergency was declared last year on August 13, the day after Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar, Foreign Minister was assassinated at his residence in Colombo. Since then the State of Emergency has been extended every month with the approval of the parliament, sources said.
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Judge orders SLN suspect to be produced in Tharsini murder case

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 February 2006, 11:56 GMT]
Acting Judge of Jaffna District Court, Ms Srinithi Nanthisekaran, Monday, directed the Kayts Police to produce the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldier whose Navy cap with legible identification number was found near the well where the body of Ilayathamby Tharsini (20) was found on 18 December in Punguduthivu, legal sources in Jaffna said.
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UNICEF welcomes sharp decline in under-age youths joining LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 February 2006, 00:46 GMT]
UNICEF representatives expressed satisfaction in the sharp decline of the number of under-age youths joining the ranks of the Liberation Tigers after the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, during a meeting held with the LTTE's Child Protection Unit at the LTTE Peace Secretariat building Sunday, LTTE officials said.
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Kumarapuram massacre victims remembered

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 17:06 GMT]
People of Kumarapuram, a village in Killiveddy area, Saturday observed the 10th death anniversary of twenty four Tamil civilians, including children massacred by a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army ( SLA ) on 11th February 1996. Thirty Tamil villagers were seriously injured in the incident. Kumarapuram, which lies about 32 km south of Trincomalee town by sea, comes under the administrative limit of the Muttur Divisional Secretariat.
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Minister assures phased troop reduction near NorthEast schools

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 13:54 GMT]
Mr. Susil Premajayanth, Minister of Education, at a meeting with a Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) delegation held Thursday evening at his ministry office in Colombo, assured the CTTU officials that he would take action to reduce the presence of State armed forces and sentry points from the vicinity of schools in the North East in stages. He said that Sri Lanka government has to implement any changes regarding SLA troops without provoking the extreme elements in the South, CTTU officials attending the meeting said.
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Kidnappers release businessman in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 09:34 GMT]
The Tamil millionaire businessman Anandan Vadivel, who was kidnapped in Colombo on Wednesday, was left at a private hospital by the kidnappers Friday night, family members said.
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Vavuniya youth reported missing

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 19:01 GMT]
Sithamparanathan Thamileesan, 24, from Vavuniya, has been reported missing since his departure to Colombo on December 15th, his relatives said in a complaint to the Vavuniya Human Rights Commission (HRC), officials of HRC said.
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TRO expresses dismay, concern over Govt. allegations of non-cooperation

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 13:28 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) expressed "dismay and concern" over allegations made to the media by Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, and Cabinet spokesperson Priyadharsana Yapa, that TRO was not helping with ongoing investigations. TRO refuted these statements as politically motivated propaganda by the Sri Lanka Government aimed at discrediting the TRO, TRO officials told TamilNet. TRO said in a press release issued Friday from Colombo that it is fully cooperating with the investigations, and has provided detailed account of the actions taken by TRO from the time of abductions.
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Eastern Muslims protest against Prophet Mohamed cartoons

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 12:35 GMT]
Several hundred Muslims Friday held demonstrations after Jumma prayers in front of mosques in Sammanthurai, Maruthamunai and Ninthavur protesting against publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohamed, first published in newspapers of Denmark and later carried by newspapers in several European countries, sources in the east said.
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Businessman's kidnappers demand 20 million rupees ransom

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 07:14 GMT]
The kidnappers of a Tamil businesman, Vadivel Anandan, who was abducted Wednesday night in Colombo, have demanded a 20 million Lankan rupees ransom for his release, family members told media Friday. The abductors, who allowed the businessman to call his family members for two minutes on Thursday, have threatened not to divulge any information to the Police.
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Missing TRO worker asked to appear at Welikanda Police station

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2006, 11:41 GMT]
In a letter addressed to the Gramasevaka Officer in Palugamam, Police in Kaluwangikudi has asked the one of the seven TRO staffers, abducted by unknown gunmen last week and still missing, to appear at the Welikande Police station on the 10th February 10 a.m., Friday, TRO sources in Colombo said.
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