IDPs urge foreign aid workers not to leave Vanni, block convoy

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2008, 16:50 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons, who gathered Friday morning in front of the UNHCR office at Karadippoakku junction in Ki'linochchi, pleaded with the remaining officials of the UN and International NGOs not to leave Ki'linochchi as their presence was critical, not only for humanitarian assistance, but also to sustain a secure zone to escape. They said they feared that in the coming days Sri Lanka military will employ Colombo’s scorched earth policy to destroy key Vanni towns using aerial and artillery bombardment. Meanwhile, a group of IDPs blocked the convoy of NGO vehicles in a peaceful protest from 6:00 a.m, forcing the NGOs to abandon their trip on Friday.
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LTTE leader pays tribute to Black Tiger commandos on Vavuniyaa mission

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2008, 04:16 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan on Thursday paid his last respects to the ten Black Tiger commandos, who laid down their lives during the Tiger operation on the Vanni headquarters of the Sri Lankan forces (SF HQ). LTTE officials told media that the LTTE leader paid his last respects with garlanding the photographs of the Black Tigers and by lighting the flame of sacrifice at an undisclosed location in Vanni. The Tiger mission destroyed the infrastructure of the joint operations command of the Sri Lankan forces in Vanni in the early hours of Tuesday.
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Airstrike targeted SLN Eastern HQ - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 19:52 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Wednesday claimed that the Air Tigers carried out a successful air strike on the Eastern Headquarters of the Sri Lanka Navy located in the inner harbour of Trincomalee Tuesday at 9:15 p.m. At least 4 SLN sailors were killed and more than 35 wounded in the air strike, which inflicted heavy damage on the SLN base, the Tigers claimed.
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TID questioned Ganesan on his visits to Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 14:08 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) on Tuesday questioned Civil Monitoring Commission Convener and Western Peoples Front Leader Mano Ganesan for six hours from 11:00 a.m. The questions were based on his peace delegation visits to Ki'linochchi during the CFA period between 2002 and 2004. The TID wanted to know if he had developed any 'special relationship' with the LTTE during the these visits. Mano Ganesan has vehemently refused any 'special relationship' with LTTE and any link with any arrested 'terrorist suspects', according to a statement released Wednesday by his office in Colombo.
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TID interrogates Mano Ganesan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 08:02 GMT]
The leader of the Western Province People's Front (WPPF) and a Member of Sri Lankan Parliament Mano Ganesan is being questioned by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) Tuesday morning, informed sources in Colombo told TamilNet.
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NPM opposes granting police, land powers to PCs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 01:41 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM), an extreme Sinhala nationalist organization, said Friday that it would launch a struggle if the government accedes to the demand to devolve land and police powers to provincial councils. "Granting of such powers to provincial councils is tantamount to granting Tamil Eelam to Velupillai Pirapaharan,"said Dr.Gunadasa Amarasekara, President of NPM at a press briefing held in Colombo.
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Pongku Thamizh rally in France draws 7000

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 23:21 GMT]
Around 7,000 French Tamils thronged the venue of Pongku Thamizh rally at Place du Président Edouard Herriot close to the French Parliament in Paris Wednesday. A parliamentarian of the French Communist Party (PCF), Maxime Gremetz, who came out of the Parliament, appreciated the Tamils for voicing for their rights. In a spontaneous address to the audience, he said that the proscription imposed on Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) was unfair and the movement was essentially a freedom movement.
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Diaspora Tamils launch Pongku Thamizh 2008

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 June 2008, 13:41 GMT]
Diaspora Eezham Tamils on Saturday began rallying in support of the Eezham Tamils Right to Self-Determination in 'Pongku Thamizh,' which means 'Tamil Upsurge', an annual move aimed at Tamil awakening through cultural programmes. First country to mark the move was New Zealand, where Tamils gathered at Potters Park in Auckland for two hours on Saturday between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
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"Plucked peace flower"- Washington Times

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2008, 11:25 GMT]
In a commentary appearing in the Tuesday issue of Washington Times, Bruce Fein, Washington-based attorney for a Tamil Activist Group, and Chairman of the American Freedom Agenda, says that "the peace solution to Sri Lanka's descent into hell was discerned by [Ambassador] Mr. Blake - even if unwittingly - in an interview published in the Sunday Observer on May 25. The subtext affirmed the right of the Tamil people to determine their own political destiny without dictation by Tamil Tiger leader, Velupillai Prabharkaran, or by any other person or organization."
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Fein: Hold referendum to test support for Tamil Statehood

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 May 2008, 18:15 GMT]
Bruce Fein, Attorney for a US-based Tamil Activist Group, in responding to a statement by Ambassador Robert Blake to Sunday Observer saying that from his discussions with Tamils he knows that "over 95 percent of them [Tamils] support a solution within a framework of a united Sri Lanka," challenged the Ambassador to hold a referendum to prove his assertion of percentage Tamil support, and added that "[i]f statehood prevails, the Ambassador should be the first to concede Prabhakaran’s superiority in discerning the political aspirations of the Tamil people."
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Pirapaharan felicitates late Commander Balraj

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 13:51 GMT]
Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in his condolence message following the demise of Brigadier Balraj, elaborated the characteristics that he admired in Brigadier Balraj as an exceptional military leader. Balraj was at the center of many of LTTE's Himalayan victories, he said and remembered him as the "heroic military leader, who trained, guided and fought with our fighting formations and conventional brigades."
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LTTE leader pays last respects to Commander Balraj

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 08:50 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan on Wednesday paid his last respects to Brigadier Balraj, a senior and a special commander of the LTTE, who passed away on Tuesday of a sudden heart attack in Vanni.
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Thanthai Chelva remembered on his 31st anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2008, 14:59 GMT]
The 31st death anniversary of the late Tamil leader and the founder of the Federal Party (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi -ITAK), Samuel James Velupillai Chelvanayakam (SJV) was held in Jaffna near the SJV memorial statue at 9:45 a.m Saturday presided by Rev. Dr. Jebanesan of the South Indian Council of Churches.
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LTTE leader pays tribute to Sivanesan MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 18:46 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers, Velupillai Pirapaharan, on Saturday, paid tribute to the slain Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance MP Kiddinan Sivanesan in the Vanni. LTTE's Intelligence Wing Chief Poddu Ammaan, Political Head B. Nadesan and the Head of Financial Division Thamizheanthi were also present with LTTE leader to pay homage to the slain MP at an undisclosed location in Vanni.
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Karaveddi civilians pay homage to slain MP Sivanesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 00:25 GMT]
Amidst tension in the village of Keava'lai in Karaveddi East due to heavy presence of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers, thousands of civilians paid homage Friday to the slain Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian K.Sivanesan assassinated Thursday in a claymore mine attack allegedly carried out by a Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Army, south of Maangku'lam on A-9 Road in Vanni. The body of the slain parliamentarian was taken to his home town in Karaveddi East to enable the public to pay their last respects.
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Pirapaharan confers Maamanithar title to Sivanesan

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2008, 16:58 GMT]
Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) has conferred Maamanithar (Great human being) title, the highest national civilian honour by the LTTE, posthumously to K. Sivanesan, the Tamil national alliance parliamentarian who was assassinated Thursday in Vanni in Claymore attack allegedly carried out by the Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit. Honouring Mr. Sivanesan, the LTTE leader said: "Mr. Kiddinan Sivanesan is a unique individual who functioned selflessly, honestly, and with courage. He is simple, courteous and loving. He is a sincere politician who possessed high ideals. He labored tirelessly for the advancement and welfare of the workers."
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India's Peace and War

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 01:24 GMT]
The now defunct Ceasefire Agreement in Sri Lanka was mooted and shadow-managed by the BJP government, according to Indian journalist, M.R. Narayan Swamy. Wickramasinghe and Pirapaharan were aware of this top secret mission of India, supervised by Vajpayee's Advisor Brajesh Mishra, but not J.N. Dixit who succeeded him with the change of government in May 2004. Dixit had to learn it from Wickramasinghe. The CFA signed in February 2002 was unilaterally withdrawn by the Sri Lanka government in January 2008. Swamy's revealing and the chronology of events implicate the Congress establishment and the ego war of the Chanakyas (Machiavellis) of New Delhi in belligerency returning to Sri Lanka.
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LTTE refutes SLAF claims of air strike on Tiger leadership

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 13:11 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan Wednesday evening refuted the claims by the Sri Lanka Air Force that it had hit a location of the leader of the LTTE Velupillai Pirapaharan Wednesday morning. Stating that Colombo was spreading false propaganda, Mr. Ilanthirayan said the SLAF attack targeted civilian settlements at Vaddakkachchi twice between 11:10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. and in the evening between 5:15 and 6:00 p.m.
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Sri Lanka withdraws from CFA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 11:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Thursday evening officially conveyed in writing to the Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem in Colombo that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was withdrawing from the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA). The message was conveyed to the Ambassador at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in Colombo. The CFA formally ends on 16 January, the day after the Tamil festival Thaippongkal. GoSL has also suspended the Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA) with 14-days advance notification.
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Colombo to annul CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 15:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces as well as the Minister of Defence, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has decided to annul the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE). Sri Lankan Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwela, has confirmed that a cabinet decision to withdraw from the CFA has been taken on Wednesday. But, he did not provide a date for the GoSL withdrawal. The February 2002 agreement, in its paragraph 4.4, specifies that the agreement shall remain in force until notice of termination is given by either Party to the Royal Norwegian Government.
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