Colombo court releases Tamil journalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 10:34 GMT]
Mr.Sarath Karunaratne, Fort Magistrate Wednesday afternoon allowed an application by the Fort Police to arrest those who had assaulted Mr.Yathurshan Premachchandran, a trainee journalist of Colombo Tamil daily Sudar Oli when he was engaged in covering the demonstration held by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tuesday afternoon in front of the Colombo Fort Railway Station, legal sources said.
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JVP demonstrates against direct talks between GoSL and LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 17:18 GMT]
More than five thousand activists of the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna held a two hour demonstration in front of the Fort Railway Station in Colombo Tuesday afternoon opposing the direct talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Mr.Tilvin Silva, General Secretary of the JVP, speaking at the conclusion of the demonstration said that the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka is at stake with the continued presence of Norwegian facilitators in the island in the name of monitoring Cease Fire Agreement signed by the then UNP government and the LTTE.
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Tamil journalist in Colombo assaulted by JVP, arrested under ER

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 16:34 GMT]
Mr.Yathurshan Premachchandran, a photojournalist of Colombo Tamil daily "Sudar Oli" was handed over to the Fort Police in Colombo after being assaulted by a group of JVP activists Tuesday afternoon around 4:00 p.m. The journalist was assisting his senior journalist in covering a JVP demonstration held in front of Fort Railway Station. Mr. Premachandran has complained that he was also attacked by the Police, according to media sources. The Fort Police has handed over the journalist to the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) alleging him to be a member of the Liberation Tigers, sources added.
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Tamil man arrested for filming Wickramasinghe's office

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 11:33 GMT]
Security officials at Sri Lanka's Opposition Leaders Office in Colombo arrested a 47-year-old Tamil man Tuesday around 11:30 p.m. for filming Opposition Leader Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe's office located at Cambridge Place in Colombo, Police said.
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USAID announces launch of Tsunami Warning System Program

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 10:00 GMT]
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced the launch of the United States government’s Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS), a two-year, USD 16.6 million effort program that will contribute to the development of integrated early warning and mitigation systems that allow countries in the Indian Ocean region to detect and prepare for tsunamis and related coastal hazards, according to a press release issued by the United States Embassy in Colombo on Tuesday.
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Protesters in Colombo urge Indian Government to halt SSCP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 07:04 GMT]
The People's Movement Against the Sedusamudram Ship Canal Project staged a demonstration opposite the Indian High Commission in Colombo on Tuesday from noon till 1:00 p.m. The demostration was led by the movement's organiser Attorney-At-Law E. Thambiah with the participation over thousand protestors which he described as a gathering irrespective of ethnicity, religion and region. The anti Sedusamudram protestors urged the Indian Government to stop the project immediately as it created adverse impact on the shipping and the enviornmental aspects of Sri Lanka.
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Police refuse information on journalist arrested under ER - FMM

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2005, 16:52 GMT]
A Tamil journalist, Mr. Subramanium Ramesh, the Mawathagama correspondent for the Tamil language daily "Veerakesari", was arrested under Emergency Regulations sometime in the afternoon of 19 August 2005, said Free Media Movement in a news alert. FMM officials had called the officer in charge of Kurunagala police several times, but failed to obtain any information about the journalist. The Sri Lankan Police has been refusing to provide details on the arrest, the organisation said in the news release issued from Colombo on Monday. Meanwhile, The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance has urged the Minister of Media Dilan Perera and the Police chief Chandra Fernando to release the Journalist.
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Unidentified men attack one civilian in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2005, 15:50 GMT]
Unidentified men attacked 42 year old T.Ramesh Rajah, owner of a cinema hall in Moor Street, Mannar Sunday night around 10 p.m.in his house with pointed weapons causing grievous cut injuries. He was first admitted to Mannar hospital then transferred to Anuradhapura hospital. As his condition became critical he was transferred to Colombo National Hospital for emergency treatment, sources in Mannar said.
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NE Human Rights Secretariat calls for withdrawal of ER and PTA

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2005, 11:03 GMT]
North East Secretariat on Human Rights, in a press release issued on Monday called upon the international community to excercise pressure on Colombo to withdraw the Emergency Regulation (ER) which was recently reimposed in Sri Lanka. Also noting that the existing Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) itself is a serious human rights violation, the secretariat said that the two pieces of legislation in force together will lead to a repeat of the large scale human rights violations. Since July 1st, more than 3000 arrests have been reported in the South, according to the press release. It also noted that the increased military presence in Trincomalee is continuing in spite of protest by the Tamils.
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Protest campaign to be held in Colombo against India's SSCP

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2005, 09:32 GMT]
Two protest campaigns against the implementation Sedusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) by the Government of Indian are to be conducted in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital Tuesday and Wednesday this week. One protest campaign will be held in front of the Indian High Commission in Colombo on August 23 and the other in front of the Fort Railway Station on August 24. People's Movement Against SSCP and the Green Movement of Sri Lanka are organizing the campaigns.
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SC begins inquiry into presidential controversy

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2005, 06:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka's two main political parties, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) are scheduled to inaugurate their presidential election campaigns this week in Colombo, expecting that the 5-member bench of the Supreme Court would decide in favor of such election should be held this year.
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Kadirgamar's widow, daughter at odds over ashes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 August 2005, 15:54 GMT]
The Late Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Mr. Lakhsman Kadirgamar's ashes were scattered over the Kalutura river early morning at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, in what Kadirgamar's eldest daughter, Ms. Ajita Kadirgamar Perera, described to the press as a "blatant disregard" of the Minister’s family.
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SLTMA condemns grenade attack on newspaper office

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 August 2005, 04:07 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) in a news release Saturday said it strongly condemned the grenade attack on the Uthayan newspaper’s office in Wellawatte, Colombo, calling it a “cowardly act,” and urged the Sri Lankan government to take prompt action to stop such attacks.
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Advertising office of Colombo Tamil daily attacked

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2005, 12:56 GMT]
Unidentified persons Saturday evening around 5:30 p.m. lobbed two grenades inside the advertising office of the Tamil daily Sudaroli located in Perara Mawatta, Wellawatte, in Colombo. The grenades did not explode. Three employees were inside the office at the time of the attack. None was hurt, Wellawatte Police said.
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Kadirgamar’s neighbour unaware of assassins' presence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2005, 22:42 GMT]
Mr. Lakshman Thalayasingam, the occupant of the house from where Kadirgamar's assassins are believed to have operated, said at the preliminary inquiry at the Colombo Magistrate's Court on Tuesday that he wasn't aware of Foreign Minister Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar’s assassination until the soldiers alerted him around 1:00 a.m. on August 13th.
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TNA MP casts doubt on assassination theory

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2005, 12:01 GMT]
Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, speaking during the debate on the motion for the extension of the State of Emergency in Sri Lankan parliament on Thursday, said that the killing of Lankan Foreign Minister, Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, had taken place at a time when the international community had changed its position in favor of contributing funds direct to the NorthEast. This has created a reasonable suspicion on the theories about the assassination that Colombo wants the International Community to believe, he said.  
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Tamil youth kidnapped and killed in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2005, 11:08 GMT]
A Tamil youth, Mr. Satheeskumar, residing in Armour Street in Colombo, was abducted Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m and was found dead Friday morning with gunshot injuries behind a bush at Kahathoduwa in Homagama, 22 kilometers southeast of Colombo. The youth, estimated to be 25 years of age is a native of Pungudutheevu division 11 in Jaffna, Police said.
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LTTE, SLMM discuss deteriorating situation in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2005, 10:30 GMT]
Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Mr. Hagrup Haukland and the Liberation Tigers' Political Head Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan met Thursday in Kilinochchi and discussed the deterioting situation in the NorthEast. Mr. Thamilchelvan, talking to press after meeting the truce monitors, said that he has conveyed in "clear terms" to Colombo that abiding by the CFA agreement on which the whole proces has been based upon for more than three and a half years is the "immediate need of the moment." Mr. Thamilchelvan accused the Sri Lankan armed forces in Jaffna for violating CFA agreement by "abducting" a disabled LTTE cadre who was on vacation for medical treatment with his parents.
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"War is not an option" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 09:42 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Wednesday they are committed to ceasefire and would return to the Norwegian peace process if the February 2002 truce agreement was implemented in full. In an interview to Reuters, LTTE’s Political Head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, said the Tigers are ready to defend the Tamils from attack. "War is not an option," he told Reuters. "But if war is thrust upon the Tamil people, we will have no option but to face it... So it's in the hands of the Sri Lanka government", he said.
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Two policemen shot, Jaffna tense

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 08:01 GMT]
Two Sri Lankan policemen were shot and injured at Kaladdy in Kokkuvil, a suburb of Jaffna, Wednesday around 11:30 a.m, Police said. One of the two wounded policemen, in critical condition, was airlifted to Colombo Hospital. The Sri Lanka army in Jaffna deployed additional troops in Jaffna town, the areas surrounding the University of Jaffna and Jaffna Teaching Hospital following the incident, sources said.
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