General shut down paralyzes normal life in Trinco

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 05:09 GMT]
Tamil speaking people observed a general shut down in Trincomalee town and its suburbs, Wednesday, putting forward 8 demands, including the immediate removal of the unlawfully erected Buddha statue in the vicinity of the central bus terminal, about five months, and to lift the military occupation of the town since then. Tamil civil groups in the east port town issued the general shut down call.
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SLA removes Mannar road blocks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 16:06 GMT]
Three checkpoints and road blocks established by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the heart of Mannar town were removed Tuesday by soldiers of SLA following protests by the Mannar Citizens' Committee (MCC) to Brigadier S.M.D.Rajapakse. MCC delegation led by Rev.Fr Emliyanuspillai met with Brigadier Monday afternoon and expressed their concern for making Mannar a garrisoned city, civil sources said.


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Trinco Civil society calls for general shut down Wednesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 05:03 GMT]
Tamil civil groups in Trincomalee have called for a general shut down ('Hartal') on Wednesday, 21 September, putting forward 8 demands, including the removal of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentries and mini-camps which are located in the vicinity of schools and places of worship in the eastern port town.
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SL Presidential elections to be held on November 17

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 September 2005, 12:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Presidential election is fixed for 17th November, 2005. The announcement was made by the Commissioner of Elections, Dayananda Dissanayake, Monday. The nominations will be accepted before the 7th of October. In the forthcoming elections, 13.3 million Sri Lankans will be eligible to vote, as reported by the elections department. There will be 60,000 policemen on duty, island-wide. The exercise will cost Rs. 90 million.


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SLA to intensify Pass system in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 September 2005, 10:44 GMT]
Tension has built up again in the coastal area in Point Pedro district, over SLA’s new order to intensify the "Pass System," among Tamil fishermen. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 524 Bridgade military officials in a meeting held Monday between 12 noon and 1 am at the brigade headquarters in Point Pedro presided by Col N. Ratnayake decided to reintroduce passes for Vadamaradchy fisherman through the fisheries Unions, SLA officials said.
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Buddha statue erected in Chunnakam SLA camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 September 2005, 22:14 GMT]
A new Buddha statue was erected, and an opening ceremony with special prayers was held Poya day, Saturday inside the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 513 brigade camp located in Chunnakam on Kankesaturai Road, residents of the area said.
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"An embodiment of antinomy," – Thamilchelvan on Kumaratunga's speeches in New York

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 September 2005, 14:39 GMT]
"The LTTE is still ready for immediate talks on the implementation of the CFA, outside the island," reiterated Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Political Head of the LTTE, in an exclusive interview to the TamilNet on Friday. "We see a lot of contradictions in the speeches of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, made abroad and in the south. The fact is the Tamil people have lost faith in Kumaratunga's statements, speeches and promises. It is high time the international community takes this into consideration," said LTTE's political head.
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SLA, Police cordon, search Batticaloa suburbs

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 September 2005, 14:24 GMT]
More than five-hundred soldiers of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police cordoned off and searched Sinna Urani and Iruthayapuram, two outer suburbs of Batticaloa town Friday from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., civilian sources said. SLA soldiers collected family details of selected households in the area. Policemen with paint-brushes painted number of family members with a number they assigned to households on the walls, sources added.


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SLA searches TNA MP's Mannar residence

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 September 2005, 00:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from Mannar camp encircled Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mr Vino Noharathalingam's residence at 5.15pm Thursday before entering the house, and searched all rooms in the house for suspicious material, the MP said in registering his complaint to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).
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Col. Sornam briefs INGOs, NGOs in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 September 2005, 18:03 GMT]
Colonel Sornam, Trincomalee district military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Tuesday addressed the delegates of the international and national level non-governmental organizations (INGOs and NGOs) in the Trincomalee district about the urgency to expedite rehabilitation of war and tsunami affected people and the reconstruction of devastated areas, sources said.


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Remand extended for Sivaram murder suspect

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 September 2005, 10:57 GMT]
The suspect in the slaying of journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram, Sriskandarajah, was remanded till 27th September by the Kaduwela Chief Magistrate and Additional District Judge Champa Janaki Rajaratna on Wednesday, legal sources said.


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Paramilitary leader killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 September 2005, 04:52 GMT]
The leader of the Razeek Group, Mr. Sivaguru Navaratnarajah, 38, known as 'Kanthy', was killed in a grenade attack by unidentified attackers Wedensday morning. The attack took place at 6:25 a.m. inside the high security zone in Batticaloa town where Razeek group's well fortified military camp attached to Sri Lanka Army base at Lake Road is located. 'Kanthy' was rushed to Batticaloa Hospital with serious injuries and died at the hospital, Police said. He was in charge of Razeek Group since 'Razeek', the feared leader of the group was killed in 1999. SLA soldiers and police opened fire, cordoned off and searched the area following the attack, civilian sources said.
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Norwegian polls indicate change of Government

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 12:09 GMT]
The Norwegian Labour Party led three-party Red-Green coalition has won the public elections in Norway. The change of Government will not directly impact the peace process in Sri Lanka although the ministerial portfolios are expected to change in about a month, sources in Oslo said.
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Election Commissioner holds talks with heads of armed forces, Police

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 September 2005, 16:58 GMT]
Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake, Commissioner General of Elections Monday morning held discussions with the heads of three armed forces, Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) regarding the security to be provided during the forthcoming presidential election which is expected to be held during the second week of November this year, Deputy Commissioner of Elections Mr.W.Siriwardene said.
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SLA behind group fights in Jaffna, charges Ilamparithi

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 September 2005, 16:53 GMT]
Mr.C.Ilamparithi, Jaffna district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Monday charged that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and its intelligence operatives are behind the group clashes, which are on the increase in recent weeks in the Jaffna district. He said this in an interview with Tamilnet from the new district political office of LTTE now located in the LTTE controlled Pallai division.


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Peace process faces difficult future - paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 September 2005, 10:13 GMT]
Reflecting growing anxieties amongst Sri Lanka’s Tamils in the wake of the Sinhala nationalist forces gathering behind Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, the Tamil Guardian newspaper warned this week that the peace process “will face an ever more uncompromising Sinhala bloc.” The island’s political developments, moreover, reflect the polarised sentiments amongst the island’s communities, the English-language paper’s editorial column argued.
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LTTE official journal launched on Internet

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 September 2005, 15:47 GMT]
"Viduthalaipulikal" - the LTTE journal has been made available on the Internet as from Sunday. A complete set of the Tamil journal dating back from 1984 is now accessible on the Internet for readers, according to LTTE sources in Kilinochchi.
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Srimavopura attacks threaten civilian travel in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 September 2005, 15:38 GMT]
Representations have been made to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee to ensure safety to Tamil and Muslim civilians who travel to and from north of Trincomalee passing through Srimavopura, a suburb an about one km north of the east port town from being attacked by Sinhala mobs. Civil groups have complained to the SLMM that Tamil and Muslim civilians are attacked at Srimavopura junction by Sinhalese gangs in the presence of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and policemen of the Sri Lanka Police (SLP), sources said.
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Mannar town, suburbs under strict SLA surveillance

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 September 2005, 17:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police instituted strict surveillance of Mannar district by establishing several roadblocks and sentry points in several key roads and junctions. Residents of Mannar town were perturbed Saturday morning when they were subjected to severe body checks passing through newly set up roadblocks and checkpoints, residents said.


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SLA opens access routes, blocks transport of Tamil paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 September 2005, 13:28 GMT]
After complaints from Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) opened the six access routes to LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa district Saturday, but blocked transport of the Tamil daily "Batticaloa Eelanatham" into Sri Lanka Government controlled areas at the Pattiruppu bridge, Manmunai and Iranguthurai checkpoints, sources in Batticaloa said.
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