Trincomalee put on red alert-EPC to meet on June 4

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 May 2008, 09:30 GMT]
Trincomalee town and its suburb have been put on red alert with the announcement of the augural session of the newly elected East Provincial Council (EPC) which is scheduled to be held on June 4 morning. Police and SLA soldiers in large numbers have been guarding all roads lead to the area surrounding the East Chief Secretariat complex where the Assembly Hall of the EPC is located along the Inner Harbour Road which leads to the Sri Lanka Naval Headquarters, sources from east port town said. The East Chief Secretariat complex was used earlier as the North East Chief Secretariat before the de-merger of two provinces.
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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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JVP trade unions to ignore Rajapakse invitation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2008, 15:49 GMT]
The National Trade Union Centre (NTUC) which has the backing of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the third largest political party in the current parliament decided not to attend the conference of trade unions summoned by President Mahinda Rajapakse on Wednesday to discuss the impact of the price increase of fuel. NTUC claims that 634 JVP backed trade unions in the country are its members, political sources in Colombo 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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Raviraj murder suspects further remanded

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2008, 22:31 GMT]
Colombo Additional Magistrate Ms Sujatha Alahaperuma Thursday ordered further remand for the two suspects in the Nadaraja Raviraj murder case till June 4th and directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to communicate immediately with the Attorney General to find out what action they should take against the suspects, legal sources said.
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Reserved hero: Brigadier Balraj

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2008, 09:00 GMT]
In over two decades of service with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Brig. Balraj, who passed away Tuesday after a heart attack, had been a courageous and skilled fighter and commander whose last years were spent institutionalizing the training of a new generation of LTTE field officers. Although he joined the LTTE later than many of the other top commanders, Brig. Balraj had risen rapidly through the ranks on the strength of his shrewdness on the battlefield and courage under fire, fighters who served with him said this week.
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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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Family man seeks protection with Jaffna HRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 16:18 GMT]
A 35-year old mason from Urumpiraai West sought protection with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Thursday due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries. He will be also placed in the protective custody in Jaffna Prison where nearly 300 persons are already placed in protective custody.
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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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Ground facts, Rights lobby cause Sri Lanka's UN debacle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2008, 00:27 GMT]
Despite determined lobbying by Colombo during and prior to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the stark history of gross rights violations by Sri Lanka Security forces, the unfolding ground situation including the exit of International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) from rights monitoring from the island, and intense lobbying by several Rights organization including three Peace Nobel laureates, have led to the ignominous defeat of Sri Lanka Wednesday in securing the sought after coveted spot in the Human Rights Council of the UN.
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JVP blames Rajapakse for east crisis

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 10:35 GMT]
The government led by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse should be held responsible for the burgeoning rift between communities in the east after the Eastern Provincial Council election, the politburo of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said in a statement on the current situation in the east.
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SLA, Police complicit in white van abductions- SL Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 02:18 GMT]
"I have received information that Sri Lanka Police personnel and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were involved in several white van abductions. Reluctance of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and other law enforcement officials to take timely steps to investigate these crimes is clear evidence of widespread violations of human rights and breakdown of law and order," said Sri Lankan Deputy Minister for Vocational Training and Industrial Education, P. Rathakrishnan, during a meeting with the relatives of the disappeared held late last week at the Colombo 14 offices of the Upcountry People's Front (UPF), Tamil daily Thinakkural reported in the Sunday edition.
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Kaaththaankudi shuts down in support of Hizbullah

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2008, 10:29 GMT]
Muslims in Kaaththaankudi on Saturday observed a protest shut down against the decision by the Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa in appointing the chief minister for the Eastern Province. Shops were shut down and mosques remained closed expressing support for M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, the Muslim candidate for the Chief Minister portfolio, despite requests to keep the mosques open for prayers. Meanwhile, at least 8 Muslim persons were attacked by Pillayan group paramilitary personnel, sources in Batticaloa said.
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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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'India gives full blessings to eliminate LTTE,' says SL Prime Minister

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 11:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, in a special interview to Thinakkural, a Colombo based Tamil daily, on Friday, claimed that the Indian government had given "full blessings" to the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa to "eliminate the LTTE." Mr. Wickramanayaka further proclaimed that there was no "ethnic conflict" in Sri Lanka. "The LTTE should lay their arms down if they want peace talks. We are not prepared for talks with them in the meantime," he further said.
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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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Rajapaksa to address Oxford Union in UK

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2008, 20:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to address Oxford Union in the United Kingdom Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., sources in London told TamilNet. Meanwhile, sources at the SL Presidential Secretariat in Colombo confirmed Mr. Rajapaksa's mission to London and said it comes on the invitation of the Oxford Union and the Sri Lanka Society of Oxford University.
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61 Tamils still held in Colombo, 254 remain in Boosa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 May 2008, 11:13 GMT]
About 61 Tamil civilians arrested in Colombo in several cordon and search operations last few weeks are still being detained in several police stations in Colombo, civil society sources said. 25 are being detained in police stations at Dehiwala, Wellawatte and Kohuwela, 15 at Weliveriya, and 21 are held in Kotahena. All detainees had valid national identity cards, but were taken into custody because of their Tamil nationality, media reports said quoting complaints forwarded by their relatives to P.Radhakrishnan, Colombo district parliamentarian representing the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF).
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UPFA wins 'rigged' EPC election

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 May 2008, 05:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling UPFA alliance wins the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) election with 18 seats and 2 bonus seats in the election held on Saturday with widespread rigging. The opposition UNP-SLMC alliance receives 15 seats, 1 seat for the JVP and 1 seat for Tamizh Democratic National Alliance. Meanwhile The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) observed that the Eastern Provincial election, was not at all ‘free and fair’. Despite the rigging, the opposition UNP-SLMC alliance wins the Trincomalee district where it had promised to resettle displaced Tamils in Champoor.
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Rajapakse to visit London

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 May 2008, 01:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse is expected to leave for the United Kingdom on Monday on a two day visit. He is scheduled to address the Oxford Students Union on Tuesday, according to media reports.
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