SL Intelligence, paramilitaries responsible for Manipay, Kodikamam killings - NESOHR

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 01:07 GMT]
NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) in the case histories of Manipay killing of three members of the same family and the killing of a 15 year old youth in Kodikamam, released this week, provides details of involvement of Sri Lanka Intellligence operatives and paramilitary cadres belonging to Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in the killings.
Full story >>

Journalist killed for reporting on paramilitary abuses- RSF

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 18:23 GMT]
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) in a press release issued Tuesday said that Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli was killed for writing about "abuses committed in his region by Tamil paramilitary groups," and that in Sri Lanka, "the impunity enjoyed by the instigators and perpetrators of these murders encourages more violence against the press."
Full story >>

Intelligence Chief Zacky in Jaffna to step up campaign

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 12:40 GMT]
Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) Brigadier Rizvy Zacky, a hardliner, has been recently posted as Brigadier General Staff Officer (GSO, Intelligence) at the Sri Lanka Army Head Quarters (SF HQ) Jaffna in a major reshuffle of the SLA and Intelligence apparatus. Execution-style killings of five students in Trincomalee and three women members of a family in Jaffna mark a stark change of pattern in the escalation of intensified serial killings of non-combatant civilians in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas in the NorthEast. The pattern of violence also marks the return of hardliners who seems to prefer terror to subdue a population.
Full story >>

LTTE, GoSL dialogue imperative for peace, says Burns

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2006, 16:17 GMT]
"We hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun. Now, we understand the Tamil community here has legitimate grievances, and legitimate issues that ought to be addressed by the government. And there out to be a dialogue, a better dialogue, between the government and the Tamil community," said US Undersecretary of Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, in a press briefing in Colombo Monday.
Full story >>

Kayts businessman shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 03:48 GMT]
A supporter of Liberation Tigers was shot dead in Kayts, an islet off Jaffna peninsula, by gunmen alleged to be belonging to paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) and Sri Lanka Security forces intelligence operatives at Friday 8 p.m., sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka continues to violate state obligations towards Tamils, say Tamil parties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 00:20 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka not only failed to carry out proper investigations into the assasinations of reputed Tamil leaders, parliamentarians, journalists and activists, but it has also failed to take appropriate actions to prevent the recurrence of such crimes against the ordinary Tamil civilians, all four Tamil parties in the Lankan parliament charged in a joint memorandum sent to SL President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday. The joint statement was issued by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Upcountry Peoples' Front (UPF) and Western Province Peoples' Front (WPPF) that jointly staged a protest campaign within the chambers of the Sri Lankan Parliament.
Full story >>

Nordic countries condemn attack on Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 07:30 GMT]
The contributing countries to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, have condemned the attack on the Batticaloa district office of SLMM on Friday 13 January. Four vehicles parked in front of the SLMM office were damaged in the explosion. Batticaloa office of the SLMM is located on Lake Road, 50 meters from the paramilitary Razeek Group camp, which is attached to a Sri Lanka Army camp. The area, a high security zone of the SLA, also houses other paramilitary camps and ex-militant offices of EPRLF (Varathar faction), PLOTE and EPDP.
Full story >>

Tamil MPs protest in parliament against killings in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 07:56 GMT]
Pandemonium prevailed in the Sri Lankan parliament Tuesday when it met for the first time in the new year 2006 following the protest held by parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Upcountry Peoples' Front (UPF) and Western Province Peoples' Front (WPPF) against the killing of parliamentarian Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, rape and murder of a girl, Tharshini, in Pungudutivu, killing of five Tamil students in Trincomalee and several Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan armed forces and the paramilitary groups and the arbitrary arrests of Tamil civilians in Colombo, parliamentary sources said.
Full story >>

Three women members of Maaveerar family shot dead in Manipay

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 January 2006, 02:33 GMT]
Two young sisters, Bojan Renuka, 30, and Bojan Shanuka, 23, and their mother Bojan Arthanageswary, 51, residents of a house in Mudaliyar Kanagasabai Road in Manipay, close to the Manipay Hindu College, Jaffna district, were shot dead Sunday night at 11.45 p.m. by gunmen, suspected to be Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence operatives and members of Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) paramilitary, who entered the house and sprayed bullets at the residents, sources said. The father, Nagendran Bojan, 55, and brother Bojan Ullasan, 26, sustained gunshot injuries and are receiving treatment at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, medical sources said.
Full story >>

Abducted man found shot dead in Kayts

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 January 2006, 08:27 GMT]
Tharmarasan Tharmaseelan, 37, who was abducted by unidentified men Saturday night, was found shot dead with his hands tied behind near a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) check post in Kayts town, north-west of Jaffna, Sunday morning.
Full story >>

Colombo not forthright in paramilitary issue- SLMM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 January 2006, 01:59 GMT]
"The [Sri Lanka] government claimed that it had nothing to do with this [Karuna] group and was not aware of their existence. But when we visited the spot in the east and asked the Sri Lankan army where we could find Karuna, they told us where to go. So it was clear that the local army knew where he was," said Sunday Leader, a Colombo weekly, in the Sunday edition, quoting Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Spokesperson Helen Olafsdottir as saying in an interview to the paper.
Full story >>

LTTE condemns attack on SLMM office

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 January 2006, 14:19 GMT]
Expressing concern about the attack on the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) offices, and relief that no one was hurt in the attack, Head of the Liberation Tigers Political Wing, S P Thamilchelvan, in a letter to the Head of the SLMM, Mr Hagrup Haukland, Saturday said: "Our leadership views this attack as an attempt to wreck the ceasefire agreement. Our leadership also expresses the continued support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to the SLMM to implement the ceasefire agreement in its fully intended meaning and to rectify the deteriorating ceasefire environment. "
Full story >>

SLMM office attacked in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 January 2006, 01:11 GMT]
Unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade at the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) office located on Lake Road in Batticaloa Friday night around 11:30 p.m. No one was wounded in the attack, Batticaloa Police said. Three vehicles parked outside the SLMM office were damaged in the attack. The SLMM office is located inside Sri Lank Army High Security Zone near a SLA base that also houses the paramilitary Razeek Group.
Full story >>

Disarm paramilitary, stop Claymore attacks - SLMM

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 January 2006, 10:59 GMT]
The Scandinavian truce monitors, who condemned the Claymore attack on Sri Lanka Navy personnel in Chettikulam on Thursday, have blamed the Government of Sri Lanka emphasizing that the current situation also stems from "the fact that alternative armed elements have been able to operate freely in the East" in Sri Lanka Army controlled areas. While urging Colombo to "face up to its responsibility" to disarm the paramilitaries, the truce monitors said that the LTTE involvement in Claymore attacks cannot be ruled out. The SLMM appealed to both the parties to come up with firm confidence building measures with the "truthful aim of reaching a peaceful solution."
Full story >>

Ex-Razeek group cadre shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 January 2006, 06:17 GMT]
Unindentified gunmen shot and killed a paramilitary cadre of the EPRLF group, Sinnavan, Friday at 10:45 a.m. at Kallady, 2 km south of Batticaloa town, Police said. Sinnavan was a former cadre of Razeek Group, a paramilitary group, that has lost its significance in the counter-insurgency operations waged by the Sri Lankan military against the Liberation Tigers in Sri Lanka's east coast.
Full story >>

NZ Peace Group condemns Pararajasingham killing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 January 2006, 13:10 GMT]
Global Peace and Justice, an Auckland based civil society group, condemned the killling of Mr Pararajasingham and said: "This is yet another conflict where the people of New Zealand can have an international impact beyond its size. We look forward to swift government action to contribute to justice and peace in Sri Lanka," in a press release issued in New Zealand, Sunday.
Full story >>

Peace Group calls for urgent talks on CFA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 January 2006, 12:24 GMT]
Peace Support Group (PSG), a group consisting of civil society peace activists, expressed "deep sorrow and concern" at the escalation of violence in the NorthEast, reiterated the necessity to "return to direct talks as a matter of the utmost priority," and called upon the Government of Sri Lanka and Liberation Tigers "to affirm their commitment to the maintenance of law and order in the areas under their control, and take all steps to prevent a return to armed hostilities," in a press release issued in Colombo Monday.
Full story >>

Australia condemns CFA violations in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 January 2006, 11:23 GMT]
In a media release issued on the 8 December, Mr Alexander Downer , Australia's Minister of Foreign Affairs said, "Australia is deeply concerned about the recent escalation in violence in the North and East of Sri Lanka, and condemns in particular the two attacks in Jaffna on 4 and 6 December by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," and called upon "both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to take appropriate steps to bring an end to the current violence and to work towards the implementation of the letter and spirit of the Ceasefire Agreement as a crucial step in seeking a just and sustainable peace settlement."
Full story >>

SLA attack on LTTE sentry said repulsed

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 January 2006, 18:54 GMT]
The deep penetration unit of the Sri Lanka Army, backed by paramilitary groups, entered the no-man zone in Vavunatheevu and attacked the LTTE sentries in the area at 7:30 p.m. Monday night, but the LTTE returned fire and the attackers withdrew, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said, quoting Mr. Thayamohan, the political head of the LTTE for Batticaloa-Amparai.
Full story >>

LTTE supporter shot dead in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 January 2006, 05:46 GMT]
Body of Iyathurai Baskeran, 27, displaced from Kudathanai Vadamaradchy East was discovered in Katkovalam, a coastal village south of Point Pedro, at 11.30 p.m. Friday with gunshot wounds, sources from Point Pedro said.
Full story >>