920 Tamils arrested in major cordon, search operation in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2005, 11:01 GMT]
Sri Lankan Military troopers and the Colombo Police have arrested 920 Tamils, including 105 Tamil women, in a joint cordon and search operation in Colombo between Friday midnight and Saturday noon, police said. The arrested were taken in busses to 8 different police stations and were being photographed, finger-printed and videoed by the Sri Lankan Intelligence agencies, informed sources said. The search operation was conducted in Tamil residential areas in Wellawatte, Bambalapitiya, Maradana, Kotahena, Grandpass and Mutuwal. Fifty three Tamils were detained after identity-registration in the operation code named "Strangers Night III," Police said.
Full story >>

Christian prelates meet LTTE in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2005, 10:05 GMT]
Bishops and Senior Clergymen from different districts across Sri Lanka met with the Liberation Tigers leadership in Kilinochchi Peace Secretariat at 11.45 a.m. Friday. Discussions focussed on exploring ways to return normalcy to the NorthEast which has witnessed increasing levels of violence in the last few weeks, sources in Kilinochchi said. Prelates expressed their deep desire that peace return to NorthEast.
Full story >>

Rajapakse concludes visit to India

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 December 2005, 10:29 GMT]
The Prime Minister of India and the President of Sri Lanka reached bilateral understanding on identifying joint ventures, amongst others, for the development of the eastern port city of Trincomalee, and its surrounding region, according to the Joint Statement. Both countries are to prepare a Master Plan for realizing the project, the statement said. The statement stressed the importance of a negotiated settlement between the parties to the conflict through the internal processes that promote consensus and reconciliation, and said both sides emphasized the need for the strict observance of the ceasefire and immediate resumption of talks aimed at strengthening the ceasefire.
Full story >>

Bishops, clergy to meet LTTE political head

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 18:51 GMT]
Clergy and Bishops from various parts of the island are scheduled to meet with Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on Friday to discuss the current political situation following the slaying of senior Tamil politician Joseph Pararajasingam, sources in Colombo said. Bishops from Colombo, Kandy and Kurunagala were expected to attend the meeting with the Bishops of Jaffna and Mannar, the sources said.
Full story >>

Peace Group calls for early resumption of talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 18:22 GMT]
The National Anti-War Front (NAWF), in a statement issued in Colombo Thursday, called upon the Government of Sri Lanka to invite the Norwegian facilitators immediately to resume negotiations with the Liberation Tigers. NAWF also urged the militaries on both sides to meet with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), to explore ways to stop the violence.


Full story >>

SLMM chief reiterates call for direct dialogue

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 09:35 GMT]
Hagrup Haukland, the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, in a press statement issued from Colombo on Thursday, condemning the claymore attack on the Sril Lanka Army vehicle on Tuesday as well as all other attacks, has called the parties for direct dialogue. The spiral of violence is not conducive to a such high-level meeting, he said, clarifying that his monitors were still operating in Jaffna-, Mannar-, Vavuniya-, Trincomalee-, Batticaloa- and Ampara districts. However, the Nordic monitors cannot operate in an insecure environment that has made the work increasingly difficult for his monitors, the SLMM chief has warned.
Full story >>

Kilinochchi pays tribute to Pararajasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 12:43 GMT]
"It is the occupying Sri Lankan forces that have unleashed violence on the Tamil people. Destructive effects of such crimes will likely boomerang on the Sinhala armed forces. The Sri Lankan Government is solely responsible for controlling its armed forces to bring back normalcy," said the Liberation Tigers' Political Head, Mr.S. P. Thamilchelvan, addressing the mourners who gathered to pay tribute to the slain TNA MP, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, at the Kilinochchi Cultural Hall Wedesday morning.
Full story >>

SLA bars INGOs from entering NorthEast without MoD permission

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 01:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has temporarily barred all International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOS), excluding UNHCR, ICRC and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), from entering Liberation Tigers Controlled areas in the NorthEast, NGO sources in Colombo said. NGO officials speculated that the move was tactical and instituted in response to the deteriorating conditions in the NorthEast. Procedures to obtain MoD clearance is expected to be instituted soon, according to the same sources.
Full story >>

Rajapakse leaves for India on his first visit abroad

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 13:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, accompanied by his wife Shiranthi Rajapakse, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Ministers Ferial Ashraf,Jeyaraj Fernadopulle and the Secretaries to various Ministries, left for India Tuesday in his first visit abroad at the invitationof the Indian President Abdul Kalam, government sources in Colombo said.


Full story >>

All five Jaffna victims identified as civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 10:48 GMT]
The young woman, who was shot and killed by the SLA soldiers and dressed up with denim trousers last Saturday, was identified as a heart patient, Ms Parameswari Somasundaram, 26, who had come to Jaffna Hospital for treatment from Konavil in Kilinochchi. Two other remaining bodies were also identified as belonging civilians from Kanakarayankulam and Pallai. Two bodies were earlier identified as belonging to a night watcher and a garage worker in Kottady. The Sri Lanka Military spokesman in Colombo had claimed that the five persons were gunmen who were shot by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and that troopers had recovered weapons from the victims.
Full story >>

NorthEast remembers victims on Tsunami Anniversary

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 December 2005, 17:34 GMT]
Rev. Fr. James Pathinathar declared St. Peters Church in Mullaitivu a Tsunami Memorial as thousands gathered in Mullaitivu and Maruthankerni coast in Liberation Tigers held areas to mark the first anniversary of the devastating tsunami Monday. Mourners paid floral tributes, garlanded and placed food offerings in makeshift burial sites of their loved ones. A year after the disaster, promises of International reconstruction aid remains largely unused amidst Colombo's objections to allow aid flow to the NorthEast.
Full story >>

Colombo's bona fides for peace, suspect- TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 December 2005, 17:11 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a press release issued Monday said the assassination of Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham raises serious doubts in regard to the genuineness of the Government's commitment to the honest and purposeful pursuit of the peace process. "We consider it our duty to point out that the assassination of Mr. Pararajasingham, a Tamil leader unequivocally committed to the resolution of the Tamil question by peaceful means is a serious blow to the credibility of the peace process," the statement said.


Full story >>

"How will International Community respond?"

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 December 2005, 13:27 GMT]
"A critical question looming large in Tamil Peoples' mind is how the International Community is going to express its reaction to the Government of Sri Lanka on the slaying of the senior Tamil democratic leader, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham," Jaffna daily Uthayan said in its editorial Monday. The paper described the slaying of Joseph Pararajasigham as an attempt to "throttle the voice of Tamil Nationalism."
Full story >>

4 men, 1 woman killed, 3 SL troopers wounded in Jaffna attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 December 2005, 15:12 GMT]
Dead bodies of four men and a woman have been brought to the Jaffna Hospital at 10:30 p.m., medical sources in Jaffna said. The bodies, yet to be identified, have been recovered near Jaffna Fort where a firefight between unidentified gunmen and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers was reported at 6.10 p.m. Saturday. Three SLA soldiers were njured in the firefight, one of them seriously. The trooper with serious injuries was air lifted to Palaly military hospital, sources said. Meanwhile Sri Lanka military sources in Colombo claimed that those killed in Jaffna were armed men who ambushed their troopers. Tension prevails in Jaffna.
Full story >>

LTTE firm on venue, Co-chairs "committed and impartial"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 December 2005, 10:38 GMT]
"The Tamil leadership is firm and will oppose Colombo's effort on imposing geographical limitations and preconditions on the venue of talks on the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement and thereby alienating the Liberation Tigers from European countries," the LTTE Political Head Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan told media after a two-hour-long meeting with the Co-Chairs' representatives held in Kilinochchi Saturday. Head of the EU Delegation to Sri Lanka, Ambassador Julian Wilson, speaking to the media, reiterated the Co-Chairs statement on Monday and urged the parties to "start talks on Ceasefire Agreement's Implementation immediately," adding that Co-Chairs were "committed" and "impartial."
Full story >>

Indian High Commissioner meets TNA delegation

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 16:51 GMT]
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Friday met with the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Ms Nirupama Rao and discussed at length the current situation, concerns on potential breakdown of CeaseFire Agreement (CFA), and the urgent need to restart the peace process. The TNA delegation impressed upon the High Commissioner the need for peace talks to commence without further delay, Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group leader said in a press release Friday.
Full story >>

Co-Chairs representatives to meet LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 15:20 GMT]
A top level diplomatic team representing the Co-Chairs of the peace process in Sri Lanka are scheduled to visit Kilinochchi and meet the LTTE's Political Head Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan on Saturday to discuss the situation following the recent escalation of violence in Jaffna and Mannar districts, sources in Kilinochchi told TamilNet.
Full story >>

SLA attacks on Jaffna civilians increase, NGO closes office

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 12:58 GMT]
Two civilians, Ms K Malar (31) and K Rajathurai (64) were seriously injured and were admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired indiscriminately after the SLA sentry near the Multipurpose Cooperative building in Chavakachcheri came under grenade attack at 1.30 p.m. Friday, sources said.
Full story >>

Press freedom under threat in Jaffna, IFJ warns

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 December 2005, 21:27 GMT]
President of The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Christopher Warren, in a statement issued Thursday, warned that the "clamp down on media freedoms in Jaffna following incidents of journalists being beaten, arrested and news paper offices being searched," is just the beginning which will result in a total clampdown.


Full story >>

WPPF leader meets Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 December 2005, 16:36 GMT]
Leader of Western Province People's Front (WPPF), Mano Ganeshan, met with Head of LTTE's Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan, in Kilinochchi Thursday morning sources in Kilinochchi said. "Forming a united front of all Tamil parties to secure a formidable bargaining position in Sri Lanka parliament was the basis of our discussion today," Mr.Ganeshan told the reporters after his meeting.


Full story >>