"Allow Raviraj's casket to be taken through A9," family requests SL President

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 10:14 GMT]
Assassinated Jaffna District TNA parliamentarian's widowed wife Sasikala Raviraj, Saturday morning when Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mr. Mangala Samaraweera visited the parlour, made an appeal to open the A9 Muhamalai exit-entry point in order to take her husband's remains to his hometown Chavakachcheri for cremation. The funeral is scheduled to be held on Wednesday in Chavakachcheri in Jaffna. Hundreds of mourners from all ethnic communities, political leaders, religious dignitaries and social activists gathered in Colombo to pay their last respects to the assassinated Jaffna district Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj.
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Canadian opposition MPs condemn Vakarai bombing, MP slaying

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 05:40 GMT]
Canadian Parliamentarians, Albina Guarnieri, P.C., M.P., Member of Parliament, Mississauga East Cooksville, Dan McTeague, P.C., M.P. for Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge, and Omar Alghabra, Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Mississauga— Erindale, have written letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and issued press releases condemning the killings in Sri Lanka.
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Pirapaharan confers Maamanithar award to Raviraj

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 05:10 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Velupillai Pirapaharan, bestowed the title Maamanithar (Great Humanbeing) on the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj Friday. "As a parliamentarian he worked tirelessly for the Tamil nation... He shattered the false propaganda of the Sinhala state infusing his arguments with his legal expertise. He stood firm and fought injustice in the face of threats from paramilitary violence," Pirapaharan said in the statement conferring the award.
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U.S. deplores Raviraj assassination

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 14:56 GMT]
The United States has deplored the assassination of Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj. The U.S. Embassy in Colombo expressed deepest sympathy for the loss to the family of Mr. Raviraj, to his parliamentary colleagues, and to the people of Sri Lanka, who have been "unjustly robbed of his energy and talent." The press statement further said "it is critical that crimes such as the murder of Nadarajah Raviraj not go unpunished."
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GoSL should take responsibility for Raviraj's assassination - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 14:03 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Friday in Colombo to the press, "Raviraj's assassination is a clear attempt by the paramilitary operating with the Sri Lanka Army to stifle the Tamil parliamentarians' voice in and out of the Parliament to inform the International Community of the Sri Lanka Government's genocide against the Tamils." Sampanthan further said, "Almost an year has passed since the assassination of Batticaloa parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingam and the Sri Lanka government is yet to bring the killers to book. This reveals the covert connections the government has with them."
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LTTE Political Head condemns Raviraj assassination in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 11:02 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan condemned the assassination of Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj and accused the Sri Lankan state as responsible for the systematic slaying of humanitarian and democratic voices of Tamils. "Mr. Raviraj was slain in Colombo where he voiced against the abductions and killings carried out by the Sri Lankan military and it's paramilitaries," he said.
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Tamil Parliamentarian Raviraj assassinated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 03:43 GMT]
Nadarajah Raviraj, 44, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian was shot in Colombo around 8:30 a.m. Friday. The MP succumbed to his wounds at Colombo National Hospital. A lawyer turned politician, former mayor of Jaffna, Mr. Raviraj, elected twice, has been an outspoken parliamentarian who voiced against the extra-judicial killings and forced disapperances in NorthEast and Colombo. The parliamentarian took part in a demonstration Thursday against the Sri Lanka Army shelling in Vaharai where 47 Tamil civilians, Internally Displaced from Trincomalee, were killed, Wednesday.
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Stop genocide against Tamils - TNA appeals to UN

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 01:20 GMT]
19 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians led by Mr. R. Sampanthan, Leader of the TNA Parliamentary group and Member of Parliament for Trincomalee district, protested Thursday at 11:00 a.m in front of United Nations office in Colombo condemning the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) bombing of Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Vaharai and Kathiravelli, killing 53 civilians and seriously injuring 127, sources in Colombo said. The protesters urged the United Nations to urgently intervene to stop the "genocide against Tamils let loose by the Sri Lanka government."
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Protest held in Colombo condemning abductions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 21:09 GMT]
Committee for Tracing the Abducted Persons held a demonstration in Colombo Fort railway station Wednesday 12:00 noon demanding the release of persons abducted in Colombo and the suburbs, and urging civil society to pressure the Sri Lanka government to take urgent steps to prevent future abductions, civil sources said.


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29 reported missing in Colombo - Civil Monitoring Committee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 October 2006, 08:33 GMT]
The Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC), formed recently in Colombo by involved Tamil and Sinhala politicians, to monitor extra judicial killings, abductions and disappearances, based on the records registered so far, reported Friday that 29 persons were still missing in Colombo. Six persons were reported killed. Eight persons were released, according to the list compiled from the details become public and from the people who are willing to talk.
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Co-chairs must act to stop war- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2006, 18:30 GMT]
"Co-chairs and the International community should go beyond making statements by taking concrete steps to pressure the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to stop waging an aggressive war and to compel the GoSL to engage in meaningful talks with the Liberation Tigers," said Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, at a press meet held Thursday morning in Colombo Renuka Hotel, TNA sources in Colombo said.
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Jaffna terrorized, held hostage by fear- TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 18:22 GMT]
150,000 school children, 7,000 University students and 3,000 Technical College students remain unable to attend schools, campuses for more than 40 days in the Jaffna peninsula where the residents are "terrorized and held hostage by fear," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian of Jaffna District, N. Raviraj, at a press conference held in Renuka Hotel Colombo at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. TNA MPs from five districts addressed the press.
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Rajapakse wants protests postponed, Tamil doctor abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 01:49 GMT]
A protest shut-down, scheduled to be held Tuesday against the recent abductions of Tamil civilians and businessmen in Colombo, organised by representatives from seven political parties, was called off Monday following Rajapakse government's "requests", during the weekend, urging the organisors to postpone the shut-down, informed political circles in Colomb said. Meanwhile, a Tamil medical doctor and owner of three medical businesses in Colombo, was allegedly abducted in his car in Maradana in Colombo Monday.
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March for Peace campaign to be held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 August 2006, 19:21 GMT]
A broad coalition of people against violence and war is to participate in a "March for Peace," organized by the National Anti-war Front (NAWF), that will begin at Hyde Park in Colombo at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, culminating in a peace rally at the Viharamahadevi open Air Theatre at 3.00 p.m, said a press release issued by the NAWF Chairman, Dr Kumar Rupesinghe.
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Allow free movement to civilians seeking safety, TNA appeals to Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 August 2006, 20:04 GMT]
Pointing out that the imposition of curfew in Jaffna Peninsula resulting in denial of legitimate right of civilians to move to safer areas is a severe violation of fundamental human rights, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members appealed to Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse to "issue directions that no restriction whatever be imposed on civilians moving to safer and more secure places in order to ensure their personal safety and security," in a letter issued in Colombo Saturday, TNA sources said.
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Mobilization campaign against Violence and War

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 09:37 GMT]
A series of mass meetings and broad mobilisation of people against violence and war, to be organized by the National Anti-war Front (NAWF) , will be held from the August 17th to 21st September 2006, said NAWF Chairman, Dr Kumar Rupesinghe, in a memorandum circulated to the media in Colombo Thursday. A press conference to publicize this campaign labelled "All-Together," is being held Thursday at 3.30pm at Nippon Hotel, Slave Island, Colombo.
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Pandemonium in SL parliament, JVP wants LTTE banned in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Speaker Mr.W.J.M.Lokkubandara Tuesday morning adjourned the sitting of the parliament when pandemonium reigned following heated arguments and fisticuffs between a group of parliamentarians of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) over the matter of observing two minute-silence for the Sinhalese civilians killed in Kebbitigollawa claymore mine explosion, and not for Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan troops elsewhere in the NorthEast, parliamentary sources said.
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Tamils cannot depend on SL Government for security- TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, 15:02 GMT]
"Killings of Tamil civilians continue unabated in the NorthEast. Thousands have fled and many are fleeing their villages fearing safety to their lives due to harassment of security forces, and instead of taking constructive steps to allay fears of Tamil people, the Government of Sri Lanka is taking steps harmful to the welfare of Tamil people," said the leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group R. Sampanthan during a press briefing held at the Sri Lanka Parliament building Wednesday noon, sources said.
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More families flee from SLN controlled Jaffna islets

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2006, 12:56 GMT]
Following the Allaipiddy assassinations and the consequent evacuation of the village by its entire population, more than ten families from its neighbouring villages Velanai and Suruvil fled Sunday in fear seeking refuge in schools and churches in Jaffna, said sources in Jaffna. The Jaffna islets are under the total control of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN).
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TNA urges International Community to act

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 15:59 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday condemned the GoSL and its peace secretariat for "duplicitous behavior" and "carrying on a malicious and false campaign to mislead the international community," and urged the International Community to "realize this reality and take the appropriate action to compel the Sri Lankan State to act in a responsible way in the interest of the peace process," in a press release issued in Colombo Wednesday.
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