Preparations ahead of Geneva talks should focus on people's plight - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2006, 07:58 GMT]
"One of the key issues in the February 2002 Cease Fire Agrement was ensuring a safe life to the civilians in Sri Lanka military controlled areas of the Tamil homeland," Liberation Tigers Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan told media, following a preparatory meeting with the Ambassadors of Norway and Swtizerland, at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi Thursday. "It is therefore vital that the team participating in the talks, study the ground situation prevailing in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas," he added.
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Acceptance of nomination to local authority elections to begin

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 February 2006, 18:17 GMT]
Twenty five District Returning Officers will accept nomination lists from registered political parties and independent candidates from February 9 Thursday morning till noon on February 16 Thursday for forthcoming elections to three hundred and thirty local authorities in the island, Department of Elections announced.
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"Federal model, a durable solution to Sri Lanka's conflict"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 February 2006, 12:20 GMT]
"A federal constitution offers a reasonable accommodation in a conflict where one side is committed to a unitary state and the other a separate state," a declaration passed at the National Symposium organised by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on The Future of Sri Lanka and The Federal Idea held at the BMICH on 6th February 2006, said. Over a thousand participants agreed to the declaration, the organizers said.
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Muslim council appeals for release of abducted TRO workers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 February 2006, 17:29 GMT]
The Kinniya Jemiyathul Ulama Sabah (Islamic Theological Council) Tuesday appealed for the immediate release of the abducted workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). The abduction would pose serious threat to take forward the peace process, a statement issued by the Kinniya Jemiyathul Ulama Sabah Tuesday said.


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Jaffna SLA investigates public complaints

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 February 2006, 03:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 51-2 brigade command has voluntarily set up an investigating committee to look into complaints against its own soldiers filed at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) by Jaffna district residents after December 2005, SLA sources in Jaffna said. As the first phase, HRC has provided a set of 23 complaints of harassment, torture and property thefts by the SLA soldiers from its files to the SLA commanders.
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Political parties finalize nomination lists for local polls

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 11:51 GMT]
The Writ Application filed by the Peoples Action for the Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), a poll monitoring body in Sri Lanka, seeking the Court of Appeal to postpone the scheduled local government election for a period of six months is to be taken up for inquiry Monday (February 6) while the leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling party and its allies, Sri Lanka Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party and few small parties are to finalize their deal at a meeting scheduled to be held on the same day at Temple Trees presided by President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, political sources said.
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USAID, CPA hold symposium on federalism

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 11:23 GMT]
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Monday held a symposium titled "The future of Sri Lanka and the federal idea," at Bandaranaike Memorial Center, Colombo, engaging more than 500 participants in a discussion on the history of the Sri Lanka's conflict, past attempts at negotiated settlements, and the basic facts about devolution of power and federalism, a press release issued by the US embassy in Colombo said Monday.
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Norwegian NGO condemns abduction of aid workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 11:12 GMT]
FORUT, a Norwegian non-Governmental Organizaton that works in Sri Lanka, said in a press release issued 2 February that it "condemned strongly the abduction of 10 workers from TRO in eastern Sri Lanka," and urged the "Government of Sri Lanka to give highest priority to the investigation of these abductions."
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Protest against kidnappings shuts down Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 09:12 GMT]
Entire Batticaloa district, on Monday, observed a shut down protest against the abductions of the seven humanitarian staffers of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO). The protest, called by the employees of local and foreign NGOs, who abstained from work, also drew support from private businesses and public services. Shops and banks remained closed. Public offices and schools wore a deserted look. The fate of seven TRO staffers, who were abducted while travelling on the A11 Batticaloa - Polonnaruwa road, the Main Supply Route (MSR) of the Sri Lanka Army one week ago, is not yet known.
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Halo Trust employee missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 14:43 GMT]
An employee of Halo Trust, an NGO engaged in mine clearing operations in Jaffna, is reported missing from Saturday night, sources from Jaffna said. Gunaratnam Logithas, 23, from Kaithady in Jaffna district, was travellling to Chavakachcheri from his home in his motorbike when he was reported disappeared.
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Karunanidhi to apprise Delhi on Sri Lanka Tamil issues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Leader of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, said in a letter dated 1 February to Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanithi, President of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhaham of Tamil Nadu, for his early attention to meet India's Prime Minister and Mrs Sonia Ghandi and to release a statement to the media on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) harassment of NorthEast Tamils, UPF media section said.
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Vavuniya SLA trooper kills himself

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 19:41 GMT]
Premaratne Bandara, a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper attached to the Kolluveli SLA camp, fatally shot himself at 4.30 p.m. Saturday, Vavuniya police said. Mr Bandara belongs to the armoured vehicle division of the SLA, military sources said.
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"Sri Lanka, an Asian Gaza strip"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 15:58 GMT]
Describing Sri Lanka's people as "talented, educated and ready for the globalization experience," and extolling Sri Lanka's virtues as a country that "could mature into a gem like Switzerland or Singapore, that it could offer the rest of the world an exemplary measure of hope," Prof Tom Plate of University of California, Los Angeles, says that two decades of conflict has converted the tourist postcard island into an Asian Gaza strip and that "things are getting worse. Its new, recently elected President, Mahinda Rajapakse, is demonstrating astonishing ineptitude," in an article that appeared on a UCLA Asia Media news journal, 3rd February.
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SLA mines injure Mannar elephants

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 15:37 GMT]
Three wild elephants which have sustained injuries from landmines buried in Ganshapuram along Sri Lanka Government controlled Mannar-Vavuniya Road Wednesday morning have crossed over into the jungles at the Madhu side. Wild Department officials and veterinary surgeons are reported to have refused to enter the forest located in the Liberation Tigers controlled area to treat the elephants, sources said.
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TRO abductions, GoSL response may stall Geneva talks - TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 14:10 GMT]
"We are concerned that the continued deterioration of ground situation in the NorthEast and the abduction of TRO staff members by paramilitaries can potentially prevent Liberation Tigers' participation in Geneva talks," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians after a meeting with Head of the LTTE Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi at 11 a.m. Saturday. "Colombo has openly attempted to discredit the LTTE by making misleading statements to the International Community on the recent abductions of TRO staff by the paramilitary cadres," they added. The meeting lasted for more than three hours sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Abductions, threat to peace, say US Congressmen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 12:48 GMT]
United States Congressmen Sherrod Brown and Patrick Tiberi, in a letter to the Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Ms Christina Rocca said that the "situation surrounding the remaining abductees [seven TRO staffers] greatly threatens any peace negotiations that are in process unless the matter can be resolved quickly."
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Action, not words is needed - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 20:43 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s tardy response to the kidnapping of ten aid workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) have raised serious doubts about the prospects of peace talks, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. Arguing that “last week’s optimism [about talks] was premature and, as many Tamils now feel, sorely misplaced,” the expatriate publication said “this incident has demonstrated exactly what the future of negotiations with President Rajapakse and his government is likely to be.”
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Protest against Batticaloa abductions held in Mannar

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 12:26 GMT]
A protest demonstration attended by residents of Mannar and workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) was held Thursday in Mannar demanding the immediate release of abducted TRO workers in the Batticaloa district. At the conclusion of the demonstration Mr.S.Jesuthasan, Mannar District Director of the TRO handed over memorandum to the district head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), District Government Agent, district heads of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, UNHCR, and the Bishop of Mannar Diocese, sources said.
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Underage paramilitary recruit attests to SLA-Karuna link

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 11:05 GMT]
A 15-year-old boy, recruited by the paramilitary cadres of Karuna Group, later sent on vacation, and who managed to move with his family into the Liberation Tigers held area in Ayithiyamalai, addressed a press meet at Solayaham in LTTE controlled Kokkaddicholai Friday. The underage youth, Arulraj, has revealed details on how he was abducted, transported to Thivuchenai and trained at the training camp of the paramilitary group at Thivuchenai in Welikande. Arularj, who was on leave, managed to escape as his "guardian", an EPDP cadre Rama Ranjan, who accompanied him to Batticaloa from Welikande, was gunned down by unidentified gunmen in mid-January.
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STF opens fire at hartal observers in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 05:45 GMT]
Several civilians sustained minor injuries when Special Task Force (STF) soldiers opened fire at civilians observing hartal in Thirukovil area in Akkaraipattu Friday morning. The incident took place near Akkaraipattu-Pottuvil highway, sources said.
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