Do Sri Lanka's defense forces have conventional warfare capability?- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 00:34 GMT]
In an article in the Colombo-based Tamil daily, Virakesari, on March 27, 2005, Dharmaretnam Sivaram, analyzed the history of Sri Lanka's defense forces and argued that from the very beginning, the Sri Lankan forces' mission was to confront internal crises that the country's ruling elite feared as grave threats, without the strategic thinking required for conventional warfare or to confront external threats.
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Registering with SLA a must, Jaffna traders told

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 22:05 GMT]
Owners of all business establishments in Jaffna district including eating houses, lodges and restaurants have been instructed to register with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). SLA personnel have begun distributing necessary registration forms to these institutions, traders' sources said.


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Body of missing soldier found in Kilali

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 18:02 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who was reported missing Tuesday during training in the forward defence line in Kilali high security zone in Thenmaradchchi division along Jaffna-Kandy highway was recovered Wednesday from nearby shrub jungle by fellow army men, security sources said.
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SLA troops arrest youth

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 14:43 GMT]
A Tamil youth was arrested “on suspicion” by troops during a search in the general area of Matkeliya junction, Trincomalee Wednesday around 7.55 p.m, the Sri Lanka Army said. Without elaborating the Army claimed unarmed youths tried to attack the soldiers “using some paraphernalia.”
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LTTE officer’s funeral in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 14:42 GMT]
The body of Tamil Tiger officer killed in an accident in Vanni on Sunday was brought for funeral rites to his home village in Jaffna on Wednesday , the Sri Lanka Army said. The remains of Lt. Senthalan (Thurairajah Selvakumar) were taken to Arugalmadam at Lotus Road in Jaffna through the frontline checkpoint at Muhamalai.
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SLN arrests 7 Tamils in Kachchativu Island

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 13:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday night took into custody seven Sri Lankan Tamils, four women and three men when they were waiting in Kachchativu Island for an Indian boat to take them to Tamilnadu shore in South India. Mannar Magistrate Mr.N.M.M.Abdullah Thursday ordered them to be remanded till Friday, legal sources said.
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Competition for SriLankan, new Katunayake runway mulled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 13:39 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government is set to allow local private airlines to operate international flights using its air service agreements with other countries and thereby competing with the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, press reports quoted the aviation minister as saying. Sri Lanka is mulling adding another runway to its sole international airport, Katunayake. Meanwhile Indian officials may be drafted in to break a strike by air traffic controllers.
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STF trooper wounded in landmine blast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 12:25 GMT]
A trooper of the elite Special Task Force (STF) was injured when the vehicle he was driving was hit by a claymore land mine which detonated at around 9.30am near the 9th milepost on the Monaragala-Ampara Road, police sources said. The blast might have been linked to the presence of Karuna Group cadres in the following vehicle, which the STF was escorting, Police and the Army said.
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Missing SLA soldier's remains found near Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 10:31 GMT]
The body of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) corporal Sunderadagage Wickremesinghe, who disappeared from Kokuveli Vavuniya SLA camp on 2 Februaray 2005, was discovered in a decomposed state in Notchchimoddai jungles, security sources in Vavuniya said Thursday.
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Henrik Ibsen play in Sinhala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 May 2005, 17:07 GMT]
Norwegian author Henrik Ibsen’s famous play ‘The Master Builder’ is now being staged for the first time ever in Sinhala, while translations into Sinhala and Tamil of three of Ibsen’s most well-known plays, ‘The Master Builder’, ‘Hedda Gabler’ and ‘Pillars of Society’ will be launched this week, the Norwegian Embassy said this week.
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Balasingham urges action on aid

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 May 2005, 16:37 GMT]
Norwegian diplomats met on Wednesday with the Liberation Tigers’ Chief Negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, to discuss current developments in Oslo’s peace initiative in Sri Lanka, sources close to the LTTE in London said. Mr. Balasingham had welcomed the donor community’s commitment to a joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE for aid distribution, but called for an agreement to be finalised and signed, they said.
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Donors pledge $3bn, push peace process

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 May 2005, 16:19 GMT]
International donors wrapped up a key conference for Sri Lanka pledging $3bn in aid, but stressing the importance of progress in resolving the island’s protracted ethnic conflict to pave the way for its disbursement, press reports and officials said. The onus is on Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who has promised donors she would overcome Sinhala nationalist opposition to negotiate and sign a joint mechanism with the LTTE, to deliver. But amid escalating Sinhala right wing pressure, Tamil optimism is tempered by deep sceptism
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Indo-Lanka naval cooperation vital - Kadirgamar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 May 2005, 10:13 GMT]
Operational relations between the navies of the India and Sri Lanka countries were vital to the national security of both countries, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said this week.
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Auto-rickshaw driver shot and killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 May 2005, 14:44 GMT]
Two unidentified persons shot and killed Mr. Vishvalingam Arunkumar (23) at Thandavanveli in Arunagiri lane, Batticaloa town. The incident took place 50 m from a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) checkpoint at 6.20 PM on Monday. The attackers were speeding in a motorbike, sources said.
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RSF slams Colombo’s ‘lack of will’ on journalists’ murder

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 May 2005, 13:48 GMT]
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) has written to participants at the Sri Lankan Development Forum (SLDF) meeting in Kandy urging them to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to conduct a serious investigation into the 29 April murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki).


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SLA corporal killed by fellow soldier in Kilali

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2005, 15:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Corporal T.R.M.Bandara of Puttalam was shot dead by a fellow soldier during an altercation Sunday morning around 10 a.m. in Kilali camp located in the high security zone in Kilali in Jaffna district, security sources said.
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Krishanthy murder convict complains of death threat

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 May 2005, 16:39 GMT]
Lance Corporal Somaretna Rajapakse of the Sri Lanka Army who is serving death sentence in Krishanthy Cumaraswamy rape and murder case and a key witness in the several habeas Corpus applications currently under inquiry last week complained to the Jaffna Additional Magistrate that his life is in danger in the Bogambara prison, legal sources said.
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New HC bench to hear Mirusuvil massacre case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 May 2005, 16:12 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar (TAB) inquiry into the Mirusuvil massacre case has been fixed before a newly constituted three member-bench comprising Judges Mr.Upali Abeyaratne, Mr.D Wijesunthara and Mr.Sunil Rajapakse for July 25. Earlier the inquiry was scheduled to resume on 22 Monday, 2004. However the inquiry was put off indefinitely with the murder of Judge Mr.Sarath Ambepitya who was the chairman of the three-member bench, legal sources said.
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Boat massacre victims to be remembered in Nedunthivu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 May 2005, 12:31 GMT]
Nedunthivu based National Resurgence Consortium is organizing a memorial event to remember the killing, 20 years ago on 15 May, of thirty eight Tamil passengers, including a two year old child, travelling in boat called ‘Kumudhini’ from the island of Delft to the Kurikkatuvan Jetty on the island of Punguduthivu were hacked to death at sea by armed persons suspected to be Sri Lanka Navy personnel, sources in Jaffna said.
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Lack of normalcy eclipsed by joint mechanism debate - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2005, 13:26 GMT]
The serious lack of normalcy in the Tamil areas due to continuing military occupation and restrictions on civilians’ livelihoods, even three years after the mutual ceasefire agreement was signed, is leading to severe frustrations amongst the people, the head of the Liberation Tiger’s political wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan told Norwegian diplomats Friday. The extraordinary focus on a post-tsunami aid management mechanism is masking the severity of the obstructions to rehabilitation work and the day-to-day difficulties faced by ordinary people, Mr. Thamilchelvan told Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar, when they met in Kilinochchi.
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