British statement fails to condemn Sri Lanka - BTF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2008, 10:43 GMT]
The Tamils in UK feel confused by a British statement that acknowledges the apparent recognition by the GoSL of its responsibility to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the conflict and its continued co-ordination with humanitarian agencies, at a time when foreign aid workers of the UN and International Non-Governmental Organisations have been expelled from Vanni by the government of Sri Lanka, said a statement issued by the British Tamils Forum (BTF) on Saturday.
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Tissainayagam, PTA, and Humanitarian Crisis in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2008, 11:45 GMT]
The action taken by the Sri Lankan Government to indict Tissainayagam, for stating the truth and exercising the right of fair comment he enjoys as a journalist, make it impossible for any dissent from the governments point of view to be published by the press in Sri Lanka. Tissainayagam is the first journalist to be caught up under the Draconian twins, the Prevention of Terrorism Act No:48 of 1979 (PTA) as amended, and the Emergency Regulations (EMR).
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Portending danger for potable water in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 August 2008, 09:50 GMT]
The news of re-opening the cement factory at Kaangkeasanthu'rai (KKS) in the Jaffna Peninsula has been received with serious concern by academics and environmentalists from Jaffna. According to them, the factory, when it was functioning earlier, was a health hazard to the densely populated surroundings. It affected horticulture as crops were covered by cement dust. Above all, exploitative quarrying of limestone has already portended the possibility of seawater coming inside and polluting the entire groundwater table of the peninsula.
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Looming humanitarian crisis in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 11:25 GMT]
45,338 additional persons have been displaced in Mannar, Vavuniyaa, Ki'linochchi, and Mullaitivu districts, due to the shelling and aerial bombardment by th Sri Lanka Security Forces in the last four weeks, adding to the Internally Displaced People (IDP) population of 107,048 in Vanni, said a report released by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). The report warned that the restrictions imposed by the Government of Sri Lanka to humanitarian agencies to attend to the IDP needs have created conditions for an imminent humanitarian crisis in Vanni.
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Restrictions imposed on foot pilgrimage to Kathirkaamam Murugan Temple

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 May 2008, 21:23 GMT]
Religious institutions and volunteer organizations will not be allowed to provide water, food and medical facilities to devotees who enter Yala sanctuary in their final phase of foot pilgrimage through villages in eastern province to attend Murugan temple festival in Kathirkaamam this year, civil society sources said. Government security forces are to escort the devotees from the entrance of the Yala sanctuary to the Murugan Temple. Security forces will also monitor the activities of the devotees and ensure their security when they walk through the Yala National Sanctuary, sources added.
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Army bars Gen. Janaka Perera for criticizing war

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2008, 18:56 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government this week ordered the Army to bar a celebrated former general from henceforth setting foot into its camps. The move comes after Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera criticized the Rajapaksa government’s conduct of the war against the Tamil Tigers. Saying that the government’s self-imposed deadlines “were not realistic”, Gen. Perera last month questioned the wisdom of waging protracted war against the LTTE and warned that battle fatigue would set in and sap the military’s will to fight.
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No foreign monitors for eastern polls - Bogollagama

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2008, 19:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Thursday that there would be no independent monitoring of the forthcoming elections to the Eastern Provincial Council. Meanwhile, whilst addressing a strategic think tank in London earlier this week, Mr. Bogollagama was challenged by the Times newspaper over his government’s bar on foreign media, a statement issued Thursday by the British Tamil Forum, an expatriate lobby group, said.
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Vavuniyaa MP requests relief for rain affected farmers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2008, 02:56 GMT]
Vavuniyaa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.Sivasakthi Aanandan appealed to the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Services to compensate farmers of the districts of Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannaar and Vavuniyaa for the loss of their crops due to the recent torrential rain. Many of the affected farmers depend on the income from the crops, and are under severe economic hardship, the MP said in his appeal.
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Hurdling chauvinism: Rohan Rajasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2008, 20:25 GMT]
Expatriate Tamils in London are, this weekend, holding a remembrance ceremony for Rohan Rajasingham, an accomplished sportsman who strove against institutionalized Sinhala majoritarianism to better the conditions for aspiring Tamil sportsmen and women in Sri Lanka. Rajasingham passed away on January 8, 2008 after a brief battle with cancer, aged 50.
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Two Tamil civilians abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 October 2007, 11:40 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians were abducted in suburbs of Colombo, one in Wellawatte Tuesday night, and the other Kotahena Friday, according to complaints with the police and the Civil Monitoring Committee on Missing Persons.
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May Day observed in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 May 2007, 10:41 GMT]
Hundreds of residents of different parts of Vanni participated in the May Day events held Tuesday in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts, sources in Kilinochchi said. Three separate regional events were held in Kilinochchi district, and the event in Kilinochchi town was held in the Kilinochci Co-operative Hall at 10:00 a.m.
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Detained Jaffna undergrad files FR petition

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 13:31 GMT]
Sivaraj Paheerathan, Jaffna university undergrad, currently being detained after the arrest by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on August 18, 2006 under the Emergency Regulations (ER), filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka Friday seeking to declare that his fundamental rights have been violated as his arrest and detention are illegal. The petition requested the Court to order the State to pay compensation of Rs.150,000 as relief, legal sources in Colombo said.
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White Pigeon British office condemns Mullaitivu air attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 April 2007, 20:25 GMT]
The United Kingdom branch of White Pigeon condemned the mid-day bombing by the Sri Lanka Air Force MiGs of the Puthukkudiyiruppu office where two civilians were killed and four injured, in a press release issued from UK Wednesday. The NGO highlighted that today is 2nd Annual UN declared "International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action."
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Jaffna students denied permission to attend Trinco contest

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 March 2007, 00:05 GMT]
Tamil medium students selected from schools in Jaffna district to participate in the rescheduled 2006 North East Provincial Tamil Language Day competition scheduled to be held in Trincomalee on Saturday and Sunday have not been given permission to travel by sea to the east port town, education officials in Jaffna said.
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SLA readies for Manalaru offensive, Tigers warn of bloodbath

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 March 2007, 12:07 GMT]
"We are aware that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has amassed military hardware close to Manalaru in preparation for a major offensive towards Mullaitivu area. Consequence of this offensive will be a catastrophic bloodbath across Sri Lanka," said Mr. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE Political Wing, speaking to TamilNet after meeting the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar and Norwegian Embassy official Erik Nuremberg, in Kilinochchi Monday.


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Oxfam funds construction of rice-mills in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 February 2007, 03:59 GMT]
Two small scale rice-mills funded by Oxfam were opened for operation in Sevanagar in Mullaitivu, and Selvapuram in Kilinochchi during the first half of February. The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), an NGO registered with the Government of Sri Lanka, and operating in the NorthEast, is the implementing agency for the mills, TECH officials said.
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JHU tells JVP: CFA already dead, meaningless to demand abrogation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 February 2007, 12:42 GMT]
The ceasefire agreement CFA) signed by Ranil Wickremasinghe, the then Prime Minister and Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) five years ago on 22 February 2002 had already dead with the capture of Mavilaru by the Sri Lankan security forces last year. "Hence there is no point in demanding the government to abrogate the CFA,"said Venerable Omalpe Sobitha Thera, general secretary of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU).
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SLN arrests two fishermen in Vadamaradchy East seas

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 February 2007, 09:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Friday attacked two fishermen, fishing in deep seas from Vadamaradchy east coast, and arrested both with their boats, the fisheries union officials in Mullaitivu said. The officials added that two other fishermen had witnessed the incident and had fled to safety.
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SLA intensifies shelling from Muhamalai, Manalaru

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 February 2007, 15:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up its artillery barrage on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas in two separate Front Line positions Friday evening, one from SLA Northern Front Defence Line (FDL) towards Muhamalai, Kilali and Vadamaradchi east and the other from Manalaru SLA camp in Mullaitivu district towards LTTE held areas, sources from Kilinochchi said.


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SL Government troops conduct search operation in Kuchchaveli

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 February 2007, 12:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka government security forces Monday morning launched combined cordon and search operation covering fishing hamlets, Kallaruwa, Pudavaikattu, Pulmoddai and other coastal areas of Kuchchaveli divisional secretariat division north of Trincomalee town, sources said.
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