Paramilitary cadre reveals planned claymore attack prior to Geneva Talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 11:41 GMT]
A paramilitary cadre with instructions to eliminate a Brigade Commander of the Liberation Tigers and an Intelligence Wing official in Batticaloa before talks in Geneva, met the press Tuesday morning in LTTE controlled Kokkaddicholai. The 32-year-old paramilitary cadre, Vigneswaran, told media at Solayaham Conference Centre that he turned himself to the Tigers as he was unhappy to obey instructions issued by the Sri Lankan military.
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Ex-garrison town gets new school buildings

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 11:29 GMT]
German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) of the German Federal Government and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) announced that new buildings to house a school and a pre-school in Thattuvankotti, a village in close proximity to Elephant Pass are to be opened Wednesday at 10 a.m., marking an important milestone in the development of the village after the residents were displaced 1996.
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Diaspora Tamil Organizations welcome Geneva Joint Statement

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 February 2006, 12:21 GMT]
The International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a Geneva based consortium of Tamil diaspora organisations, in a press release issued Monday commended the facilitators Norway, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Liberation Tigers for bringing "relief to all peace loving people in the island." The press release also urged Mr Rajapakse to "use his power, influence and goodwill to prevail on those paramilitary cadres and get the seven TRO volunteers released immediately."
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Defence claims Tharsini case Cap belongs to Batticaloa SLA trooper

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 February 2006, 11:48 GMT]
When the murder case of Ilayathamby Tharsini, 20, who was raped and murdered on 18 December in Punguduthivu near Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) camp was taken up for hearing Monday, the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) claimed that the Military Cap which was found near the site of the well where Tharsini's body was found belonged to a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier currently assigned for duty at a SLA camp in Batticaloa, legal sources said.
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Paramilitary operatives: ultimate victims of covert warfare?

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 22:41 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) met in Geneva Wednesday and Thursday and reconfirmed their commitment to honour and uphold the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). The issue of paramilitary groups figured prominently in the discussions and the GoSL delegation undertook a commitment: that no armed group or person other than its security forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations in GoSL controlled territory.
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EPDP cadres roam Jaffna islet armed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 14:40 GMT]
Alalasundaram Satheesh, a cadre of Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), a paramilitary group working with Sri Lanka Government, armed with a hand gun and communications equipment belonging to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), was patrolling residential areas of Jaffna islet of Delft Friday night around 8 p.m., sources in Delft said. Residents remained indoors without venturing out to get provisions in local shops, local residents said.
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Bus shortage plagues northern region transport system

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 13:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has sent only five buses to Northern Region Transport Board (NRTB) instead of fifty as promised. The SLTB made an order with a foreign firm to import two thousand buses to be distributed among various depots in the island. Only three hundred out of 2000 buses have arrived in Colombo, sources said..


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SLA permits Sivarathri celebrations in Naguleswaram temple

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 17:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has given permission for devotees to spend day and night at historic Keerimalai Naguleswaram Temple to participate in religious observances on Maha Sivarathiri day, which falls on Sunday, according to Chief Priest and Trustee of the temple Sri K.Naguleswarakurukkal. The annual THER (Chariot) festival of the temple is also to be held Sunday coinciding with Maha Sivarathiri. The temple is located in the high security zone, sources said.
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Building Tamil Eelam State: Kristian Stokke

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 10:54 GMT]
"Sri Lanka’s third Eelam War created a political-territorial division of the island with a resultant dual state structure in the North-East. In the context of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement and based on earlier institutional experiments, the LTTE is currently engaged in a comprehensive process of state building within the areas they control," says Prof Stokke of Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, in an article which examines the emerging new Tamileelam state structure. He adds that only the "facilitation and dynamics of pro-democracy forces within the LTTE," will determine the transformation from "the"strong and centralized state," that currently exists.
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Avoid politicizing child rights issues - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 February 2006, 12:38 GMT]
Speaking in the second session of the first day of the talks in Geneva between the Liberation Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka on 22 February 2006, S P Thamilchelvan, the political head of the LTTE, said that the accusations directed at the Liberation Tigers on Under-age recruitment, although directly irrelevant to the Cease Fire Agreement, needs to be viewed in the context of two decades of war and the continued violation of the rights of children during this period.
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SLA fires artillery shell into LTTE territory

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 February 2006, 05:51 GMT]
An artillery shell fired from a Sri Lanka Army camp in Vadamaradchi fell inside the Liberation Tigers controlled area 1.5 km beyond the no-man zone border in Muhamalai Thursday morning around 4:50 a.m., officials at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi said. The artillery, launched from Nagarkovil SLA camp, landed between Satha Nagar settlement, a displaced people's settlement and an LTTE camp in the area, peace secretariat officials said.
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Auxilliary force training camp opening ceremony held in Thalaiyadi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 12:52 GMT]
Opening event of training camp for Sea Tigers' auxilliary force at the Lt.Col.Maravan camp in Thalaiyady, Vadamaradchy east was held at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, sources from Vadamaradchy said. More than one hundred auxilliary forces cadres from Thalaiyadi area are enrolled in this phase of training, according to officials of the Sea Tigers.
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LTTE Auxiliary Force cadre killed in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 05:44 GMT]
Six gunmen who entered the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled area in Pulipaynthakal, 500 meters beyond the no-go zone from Kiran, 25 km north of Batticaloa, shot and killed an LTTE National Auxiliary Force cadre around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, LTTE's Batticaloa Political Head Daya Mohan told media. The attackers, wearing military fatigues, had come from the Kiran SLA base, he added. The attack was reported three hours before the commencement of talks in Geneva aimed at implmenting the Cease Fire Agreement between the parties to the conflict, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE.
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Ashraff inclusion in Sri Lanka talks irks Southeastern Muslims

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 16:43 GMT]
The Consortium of South East Muslim Associations has called for a peaceful general shut down Wednesday condemning the Government of Sri Lanka for not allowing a separate Muslim delegation to participate in the two-day peace talk, which is to begin February 22nd in Geneva, Switzerland and for allowing Ms Ferial Ashraff as the sole spokesperson in the talks on behalf of NorthEast Muslims.
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Revised A/L results discriminate Tamil students- CTTU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 11:09 GMT]
Changes in the Advanced Level examination results announced by Sri Lanka's Department of Examinations have decreased the ranks obtained by Tamil medium candidates from the previously announced computerized results at national and district level thus depriving their chances of Tamil students to enter Medicine and Engineering, Mr.T.Mahasivam, president of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) said in a press release Tuesday. "Tamil medium students who have applied for university admission based on previous computerized results are now unable to apply under the revised results," the release said.
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Save the Children assists NorthEast early childhood development

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 02:10 GMT]
Save the Children in Sri Lanka (SCI-SL) Monday handed over a consignment of materials which included a vehicle, motor bikes, computers, scanners, generators, digital cameras and video equipments and computer chairs and related items worth four million rupees to the North East Provincial Education Ministry to develop its Early Childhood Development (ECD) Unit, civil society sources said.
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Lankan Deep Penetration Unit retreats leaving behind Claymore mine - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2006, 14:31 GMT]
A team of Sri Lanka Army soldiers who entered LTTE controlled Mahilankulam 25 km southeast of Mannar near Iluppaikulam withdrew from the site when intercepted by an LTTE patrol, Media Coordinator of the Liberation Tigers, Daya Master told media Monday evening. The Sri Lankan soldiers had left behind a claymore mine when they withdrew from the site, he added.
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SLN harassment on the rise, say Jaffna Fisheries Officials

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2006, 12:48 GMT]
Fishing boats, nets and other accessories belonging to more than hundred fishermen from Vadamaradchy North coastal villages were damaged by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers Sunday, Fisheries Union officials in Jaffna said. Fisheries union officials Monday morning handed over memoranda to several organizations in Jaffna urging them to take action to stop SLN from harassing the fishermen.
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Minister to facilitate reopening of Jaffna campus

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2006, 12:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Minister of Education, Mr.Susil Premajayanth, who met with a delegation of Deans of the Jaffna University led by its Vice Chancellor Professor Mr. C.Mohanathas during the weekend has assured the delegation that he will make every effort to bring normalcy to the areas surrounding the Jaffna Campus enabling the Jaffna Campus to reopen within two weeks, University sources said. The delegation also handed over a memorandum from the Jaffna University Students which outlined the problems faced by the students to the Minister.
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SLA strengthening security around key Jaffna bridges

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2006, 03:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has increased its efforts in strengthening defences in several key positions around the main bridges connecting different regions, Vadamaradchy, Thenmaradchy, Valigamam and Jaffna Islets, with new bunkers, new sentry points and additional concertina wire fences, sources in Jaffna said. Security sources speculated that SLA is planning to declare many of the newly strengthened areas as small High Security Zones (HSZs).
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