23 Muslim detainees released in Ea’ravoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 May 2008, 14:04 GMT]
Two of the 25 Muslims arrested and interrogated by the Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) following the STF firing on Muslim protesters 26 May in Ea’raavoor are continued to be held in detention while the rest have been released Thursday, sources in Ea’raavoor said.
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TMVP member injured in gun mishap in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 May 2008, 13:31 GMT]
The fire arm of a member of the paramilitary-cum-political party, Pillayan group (Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, TMVP) accidentally went off Friday around 9:00 a.m., injuring him while he was working in the Thampaanam TMVP Office located on Badulla Road in Batticaloa district, Ka’radiyanaa’ru police said.
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300 families displaced in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 May 2008, 10:32 GMT]
More than 300 families have temporarily displaced from the Tami - Musim border villages in Ea'raavoor. Although normalcy is returning, tension prevails in the border villages and the Sri Lankan armed forces are deployed along the main road and the traffic was restored, according to the Police. Several Tamil families who have sought refuge at Thannaamunai Church are yet to return. The Church was assisting the displaced families and there has been no government assistance, the refugees complained.
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STF interrogates 25 Ea'raavoor Muslims, curfew extended

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 May 2008, 10:44 GMT]
25 Muslim youths were arrested and interrogated by the STF after the elite commando unit opened fire on the protesters, killing a mother and wounding a youth, on Monday at Ea'raavoor. Two policemen were wounded in the episode, Police said stating that the STF opened fire only after they were shot by armed men among the protesters. Meanwhile, Muslim representatives alleged that at least 14 of the arrested youth have been subjected to torture as the police was attempting to get forced written statements from the youth.
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STF opens fire on Muslim protestors, mother killed, youth wounded

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 May 2008, 15:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) commandos in Ea'raavor opened fire on Muslim civilians who protested against the abduction of two Muslim youths by the TMVP paramilitary by blocking the Vaazhaichcheani Batticaloa main road Monday around 5:00 p.m., killing a mother and wounding a 24-year-old youth, according to initial reports. The protests intensified as another Muslim from Ea'raavoor, was abducted Monday by the paramilitary and subjected to torture inside a Coconut farm in Thannaamunai. He was freed by the Sri Lankan forces. Around 300 families of both the communities have displaced from the border areas. A police curfew was imposed at 6:00 p.m.
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Abductees not released, Ea’raavoor shut down continues

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 May 2008, 10:14 GMT]
The general shut down observed in the Muslim town Ea’ravvor in Batticaloa district demanding the release of the two Muslims abducted Thursday allegedly by TMVP Pillayan paramilitary group continued Monday with all shops, schools, banks, public and private institutions closed, sources in Ea’raavoor said. Though TMVP had promised to release the abductees earlier, they have not been released, Eastern Province Council member and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Eastern Province President, Baseer Seku Dawood, said.
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Ea'raavoor tense, 9 wounded, Police imposes curfew

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 May 2008, 10:46 GMT]
Muslims in Ea'raavoor on Sunday alleged that two more Muslims were abducted as they launched a shut-down protest against the paramilitary-cum-political party, the TMVP, that had promised to release two Muslims who were abducted on Thursday, when the group attacked Muslims after a key paramilitary operative of the group was gunned down in the Muslim town of Kaaththaankudi. Ea'raavor Police has clamped down a curfew from 2:00 p.m. Sunday till 5:00 a.m. Monday. Seven passengers and two conductors were wounded when Muslim youths stoned three Sri Lanka Transport Board buses in Ea'raavoor. Residents of Tamil village Iyangkea'ni in Ea'raavoor were seen fleeing.
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Pillayan group supporters attack Muslim traders in Thaazhangkudaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 May 2008, 07:40 GMT]
Supporters of Shanthan, the key TMVP Pillayan group operative killed Thursday in Kaaththankudi, attacked Saturday around 1:00 p.m Muslim traders from Kaththaankudi at Thazhalngkuda area in Kaaththaankudi police division in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, Ea’raavoor police had chased a group of Muslim youths who tried to attack the Tamils who had gone to Ea’ravvoor for purchase provisions Saturday, the sources added. Tension prevails both in Batticaloa and Ea’raavoor following these incidents.
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Kaaththaankudi returns to normalcy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 May 2008, 00:25 GMT]
The turbulent town of Kaaththaankudi in Batticaloa district is slowly returning to normalcy since the violent clashes and killings on Thursday and the business establishments and the markets in the area have once again started functioning, sources said.
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Shifts in world order alters dynamics of Sri Lanka’s conflict - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 12:14 GMT]
Whether Sri Lanka is or isn’t on the UN Human Rights Council is an irrelevancy as far as international dimensions of the island’s conflict are concerned, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued this week. “Rather than a ‘universal’ principle, the concept of ‘human rights’ has, in actuality, served mainly as a tool for the West-led international community to (re)order the world,” the paper said. Meanwhile, the rise of new poles in the international system is proving a challenge for the West’s post-Cold War efforts to construct a liberal order, the newspaper said in another recent editorial.
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Senior U.S. Human Rights official visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 07:54 GMT]
Barks-Ruggles, a key official of the U.S. Foreign Service, who earlier served in the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, where her portfolio included peace negotiations in Sri Lanka, visited Colombo on Thursday and met with several senior government officials, political and civil society leaders to address the concerns of the U.S. and others on Human Rights and to emphasize the importance of 'continuing the dialogue' between the U.S. and Sri Lanka, which have enjoyed '60 years of unbroken friendship,' according to a press statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo Saturday.
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Two Muslim youths abducted in Kalladi, tension prevails in Kaaththaankudi, Aaraiyampathi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 00:19 GMT]
Paramilitary personnel of Pillayan group abducted two Muslim youths Thursday afternoon 1:00 p.m. in Kalladi area, within Batticaloa police division. The victims, residents of Ea’raavoor had gone to Kalladi to pay electricity bills when they were abducted.
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Curfew in Kaaththaankudi, Aaraiyampathi lifted

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2008, 13:39 GMT]
The curfew imposed in Kaaththaankudi and Aaraiyampathi areas in Batticaloa district Thursday, following the killings of three Muslims in revenge by paramilitary and the slaying of a key operative of the TMVP Pillayan group, was removed Friday around 6:00 a.m. Tension continues in the areas as final rites of the victims were held in their respective religious cemeteries while all shops, government and private institutions remained closed, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Batticaloa Bishop holds meeting to defuse tension

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 21:39 GMT]
A special conference was held Thursday afternoon 5:00 p.m.at the residence of Batticaloa Bishop’s to ease the tension prevailing in Kaaththaankudi, Batticaloa District in the aftermath of Thursday morning shooting incidents in the area that has so far claimed the lives of five men, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Muslims shot dead in revenge by paramilitary after the killing of key operative

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 10:30 GMT]
Following the killing of a key paramilitary operative Shanthan and his associate of the TMVP Pillayan Group in the Muslim town of Kaaththaankudi around 11:40 a.m. Thursday, gunmen from the paramilitary group opened fire on Muslim travelers in the pre-dominant Tamil village Aaraiyampathi, 1.5 km south of the Muslim town, killing three Muslims, Police said. Four persons, including two Sinhalese were wounded. Tension prevails in Kaaththaankudi and Araiyampathi. Sri Lankan police and Special Task Force commandos have been deployed in the area. A local curfew was imposed and additional forces were sent to the border village, Police said.
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Five EPDP cadres injured in TMVP attack in Vaazhaichcheanai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 23:35 GMT]
A group of operatives belonging to the paramilitary-cum-political party, the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) armed with swords and machetes, attacked and seriously wounded five members of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Monday might 9:30p.m. in Vaazhaichcheanai outside the Pentecostal church, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Hand grenade lobbed at the house of UNP candidate in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 May 2008, 02:21 GMT]
Unidentified men lobbed two hand grenades Sunday night about 8:30 p.m. in Kalkudaa, Batticaloa district targeting the residence of Arumugam Jeagan who contested on behalf of United National Party (UNP) during the recently concluded Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) Elections, Kalkudaa police said.
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EPC councillor Maunagurusami quits politics

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 May 2008, 01:17 GMT]
Former Batticaloa District Secretary and Government Agent P. Maunagurusami of Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) recently appointed by the Elections Commissioner for one the bonus seats in Eastern Provincial Council (EPC), announced Saturday that he was quitting politics.
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Pillayan sworn in as CM for Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 14:16 GMT]
Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the de-facto leader of the paramilitary-cum-political party, the TMVP, was sworn in as the Chief Minister for Eastern Province as M.L.A.M Hisbullah, who was competing with Chandrakanthan for the CM post, announced that he and two of his elected associates had decided to function separately. Mr. Hizbullah, who claimed that the swearing-in was unconstitutional boycotted the swearing-in ceremony which took place at the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat around 6:30 p.m. in front of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Bomb explosion targets Police bus in Colombo, 10 killed, 95 wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 07:00 GMT]
A motorbike fitted with a bomb rammed into a bus carrying riot control police personnel, few hundred meters away from the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat, Friday noon, killing 10 persons, 7 policemen and 3 civilians, and injuring 6 Sri Lanka Army soldiers, 30 policemen and 59 civilians. The explosion has taken place on Lotus Road inside the High Security area near the Hilton Hotel. 12 wounded policemen were in critical condition, according to medical sources in Colombo hospital.
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