Paramilitary operative shot dead in Chengkaladi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 January 2008, 13:47 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed a paramilitary personnel belonging to Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) Wednesday night 7:05 p.m. at Siththaa'ndi in Ea'raavoor police division in Batticaloa district.
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Family man shot dead in Poththuvil

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2008, 13:57 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed a family man Sunday around 8:10 p.m in front of his house at Koamaari 01 in Poththuvil Police division in Ampaa’rai district. The killers fired at the victim when he came out of his house located near Tamil Makkal Viduthali Pulikal (TMVP) office, on hearing dogs barking outside, sources in Ampaa’rai said.
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Batticaloa candidates to be provided police protection

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2008, 13:14 GMT]
At a conference held Monday at Batticaloa district secretariat chaired by Mr.Sunderam Arumainayagam, the Government Agent(GA), the officals decided to provide protection to the candidates contesting in the March 10 local council election. Two policemen will be assigned for each candidate.
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2 TMVP members shot dead in Poththuvil

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2008, 17:37 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike shot and killed Sunday around 12.25 p.m, two members of the political wing of Tamil Makkal Viuthailai Pulikal (TMVP), as they were riding on another motorbike from Poththuvil to Thirukkoayil, in Ampaa’rai district. The killing occurred in Oo’ra’ni, Poththuvil, near the 330th mile post area, police said.
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Residents catch paramilitary robbers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2008, 10:12 GMT]
Residents of Naavatkudaa area in Batticaloa district way laid and caught five members of the paramilitary Pillayaan group Tuesday around 8:00 p.m. as the paramilitary group was about to rob a house in the area, police said. Kanagaratnam Athiravan, one of the five caught, is the person in charge of Kalladi Pillayaan camp. The public got together and caught the robbers, who carried three T-56 type assault rifles with them, and handed the robbers with their rifles over to the Kaaththaankudi police.
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UK urged to charge Karuna for war crimes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 November 2007, 14:09 GMT]
Karuna, a former Tamil Tiger commander and later the leader of TMVP paramiitary group that has been deployed by the Sri Lankan forces in their war against the Tigers, has been arrested in Britain on suspicion of immigration offences, including traveling on a false passport, British press reports said this week. International human rights groups are now calling on the UK government to investigate Vinayagamoorthi Muraleetharan (Karuna) for war crimes and are assembling evidence to see whether they can trigger a prosecution, reports said. Amid fears by rights groups that Karuna would be deported to Sri Lanka, some press reports said he had applied for asylum in Britain.
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Vaiko condemns India for providing military assistance to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 November 2007, 10:18 GMT]
Vaiko, the leader of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in a communique issued Saturday, called upon the international community to strongly condemn the killing of Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan who was slain in a targeted air attack in Ki'linochchi and condemned the Government of India for providing military assistance to Sri Lanka. An array of political leaders from Tamil Nadu, including K. Veeramani, Pandiyan, Ramdoss and Nedumaran have condemned the killing while Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi condoled the demise of Thamilchelvan, passing a subtle message that the Tamils of Sri Lanka haven't gone brotherless.
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HRW slams Sri Lanka’s support for Karuna Group

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 March 2007, 11:38 GMT]
Despite promises to investigate abductions of children by the pro-government Karuna group, Sri Lankan authorities have taken no effective action and abductions continue, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday. “The Karuna group’s use of child soldiers with state complicity is more blatant today than ever before, ” Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW said in a statement. HRW also accused the LTTE of recruiting child soldiers. “The Karuna group is doing the government’s dirty work,” Adams said. “It’s time for authorities in Colombo to stop this group from using children in its forces.”
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Tamil Nadu leaders express sorrow over Balasingham’s death

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2006, 15:33 GMT]
“I am unable to bear the sorrow over the death of my friend Mr Anton Balasingham, who I have known for many years. Balasingham grieved for his people dismissing his terrible illness as “merely a pebble compared to the vast ocean of tragedy faced by his people,” he captivated Tamils worldwide for his dedicated service to his people, developed, nurtured friendship with Norway and people like us, and kept the flame of self-respect of Tamils burning bright until his last breath,” said M. Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in a report of condolence issued Thursday. “I express my deep sympathies to his wife and friends," he added.
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HRW: Sri Lanka military complicit in forced child recruitment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2006, 12:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces must immediately stop assisting abductions of boys and young men by the Karuna Group and help those abducted return safely to their families, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. A HRW report to be published next month says the Sri Lankan military and police are complicit and, at times, directly cooperating with the Karuna Group. “We have clear and compelling evidence that government forces are helping Karuna forces abduct boys and young men,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate at HRW.
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Paramilitary threatens Tamil MPs from Batticaloa, Amparai to resign their seats before Monday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 November 2006, 07:35 GMT]
A paramilitary Karuna Group operative, identifying himself as Gunanan, operating from the office of the group located in Sri Lanka Army controlled Batticaloa town, has issued death threats to Tamil parliamentarians from the East, Tamil National Alliance said in a letter to the Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament Tuesday. If the 8 parliamentarians from Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai, did not resign their posts before coming Monday, November 27, they would be assassinated, the group has warned. 4 key members of the the TNA, 2 MPs, an ex-MP and a to-be-nominated MP, have been assassinated during the past 2 years.
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UN: Sri Lanka military ‘recruiting child soldiers’

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 13:15 GMT]
A United Nations official Monday accused Sri Lankan government security forces of recruiting child soldiers on behalf of an allied paramilitary group which is also fighting Tamil Tigers. The special advisor to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Allan Rock, told reporters in Colombo that he had evidence of direct involvement of troops in forcibly enlisting children for the paramilitary group.
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Son shot dead, father injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 10:43 GMT]
Armed men, carrying T56 assault rifles shot and killed, Milred Roy Weld, 39, and seriously wounded his father Milred Weld, 64, at around 9 p.m., Wednesday, while the two were resting after taking dinner at their home on Semakkalai Road in Jeyanthipuram, 1.5 km north of Batticaloa town, police sources said. Local residents alleged that the attackers were soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Jeyanthipuram camp. The Weld family belongs to the Burgher community in Batticaloa.


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Agitation planned across Tamil Nadu districts against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 June 2006, 14:07 GMT]
Tamileelam Supporters' Co-ordination Committee (TSCC), based in Myloapore, Chennai, in a communique issued Sunday said that wide spread protests being organized in Chennai and other capitals of Tamil Nadu districts on 16 June calling all parties to join hands to condemn the attacks by the "Sinhala army on Eelam Tamils," and to raise voices exposing the plight of the Tamil refugees fleeing the NorthEast seeking sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.
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Fifteen thousand Tamils in Muttur east flee for safety

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 07:38 GMT]
More than fifteen thousand Tamil people of about four thousand and five hundred families from Chenaiyoor, Kaddaiparichchan, Koonitheivu, Soodaikuda, Kadatkaraichenai, Santhoshapuram and several hamlets in the Muttur east Wednesday morning gathered in the village Pattalipuram in Muttur east fearing of more air strike and artillery fire. These families started walking toward Pattalipuram while SLAF Kfir jet resumed its bombing Wednesday early morning.
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SLA soldiers, paramilitary cadres round up Valaichenai villages

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 06:39 GMT]
More than 150 Sri Lanka Army soldiers and around 50 paramilitary cadres belonging to three various paramilitary groups, Tuesday morning rounded up five villages in Valaichenai. The paramilitary cadres, brought in SLA vehicles around 5:00 a.m., summoned the people to Pechiyamman temple grounds and held a meeting where key operatives of Karuna Group warned the people against supporting the Liberation Tigers. Cadres from the ENDLF paramilitary group and a key operative of the EPDP group attached to the Sri Lanka Army camp in Valaichenai Harbour also took part in the show-down paramilitary operation, villagers said.
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TamilNadu parties ready to lend support to Tamil struggle- Ramdoss

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 January 2006, 12:21 GMT]
"While the Tamil National struggle in Sri Lanka has assumed new dimensions in its progress towards its goal, parties in Tamil Nadu are spiritually bound to provide unflinching support to Eelam Tamils. We are mobilizing our supporters in India to show our strength and unequivocally express our support," said Leader of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Dr Ramdoss, when Sri Lanka's Leader of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Periyasamy Chandrasekaran met him Saturday. Mr Chandraseakaran is currently on a two week long visit to Tamil Nadu to meet political leaders sympathetic to Tamil struggle, media co-ordinator for UPF in Colombo, Prabha, said.
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TNA requests India to release 'VAIKO'

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 July 2002, 17:22 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance has appealed to the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu state government to release Vaiko Y.Gopalasamy, leader of the Makkal DMK and others who have been arrested. "The arrest of 'VAIKO' on the ground that he was supportive of the LTTE and his being remanded causes deep anguish to the Tamil people in Sri Lanka," said in a statement issued by the TNA Friday.
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Tumultuous welcome in Jaffna for Tigers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 April 2002, 11:58 GMT]
(News Feature) Residents in Jaffna gave the Liberation Tigers who entered the northern town Monday a tumultuous welcome, press reports in the northern peninsula said Tuesday. Over fifty thousand people thronged the Sri Lanka Army held northern side of the Muhamalai crossing point to meet the fifteen cadres from the LTTE’s political section, the Uthayan reported. Violence broke out as troops blocked the crowds from reaching the crossing point, the paper, Jaffna’s largest circulating daily said in a front page report Tuesday.
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Muslim protesters jeer UNP leader

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 August 1999, 07:56 GMT]
Crowds of Muslim protesters jeered as the Sri Lanka's opposition leader Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe passed through Sammaanthurai, 48 kilometres south west of Batticaloa, this morning. The leader of the United National Party (UNP) was on his way to address a party rally in Kalumnai, organised by 'My Own' Mustapha, an influential businessman-politician who broke away from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) recently.
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