Tamil students allege discrimination in University Admissions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 January 2006, 15:19 GMT]
Two Tamil female candidates who sat for the Sri Lanka Law College entrance examination have filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) application in the Supreme Court alleging discrimination against Tamil medium candidates. Both have begged the court to order for re-correction of their answer scripts, legal sources said. Meanwhile, fifteen Jaffna students filed another FR application challenging admission procedures to the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine, legal sources added.


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Hartal against civilian killings brings Vavuniya to standstill

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 January 2006, 10:40 GMT]
Normal life and business in Vavuniya town and suburbs came to a standstill Friday by a hartal (shut down) organised by Tamil Student's Union in protest against the killings of civilians in NorthEast by the Sri Lankan Armed forces, Intelligence operatives and paramilitaries. Very few vehicles plied the streets, shops remained closed, schools were closed, businesses and private institutions remained closed and the town was deserted. The hartal was peaceful, Vavuniya Police said.
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LTTE releases Sri Lanka Policeman

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 January 2006, 10:17 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eleam released Thursday one of the three Sri Lankan policemen held in custody since September 2005 for illegally entering into Liberation Tigers controlled area. S.Thangan, Deputy Head of the Political Wing handed over the policeman to Liaison Officer of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said. The policeman was handed over Sri Lankan Government Security Forces in Vavuniya, the SLMM said.
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Private tutor shot dead in Vavuniya, one wounded

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 January 2006, 12:51 GMT]
An unidentified gunman riding in a motorbike shot and killed a private tutory teacher on Goodshed Road, 1.5 km west of Vavuniya town around 5:00 p.m. Monday. The victim, Kamalachandran, who received seven 9 mm gunshot wounds, died on the spot. A friend of the victim was rushed to Vavuniya Hospital with serious wounds, Vavuniya Police said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Special Task Force (STF) soldiers were deployed at the site following the shooting incident.
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Norwegian Ambassador, SLMM Head to meet LTTE Political Head

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 January 2006, 11:11 GMT]
Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar, and the Head of Mission of the Scandinavian truce monitors, Hagrup Haukland, will be visiting Kilinochchi to meet the Political Head of the Liberation Tigers, S P Thamilchelvan on Tuesday, according to the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi. The LTTE is likely to press for urgent de-escalation of violence in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas of the NorthEast in the meeting viewed to be a preparatory meeting for the visit of Norwegian Development Minister Erik Solheim, expected to take place at the end of the January as announced by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.
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Nine SLN sailors killed, 10 wounded in Claymore blast in Chettikulam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 January 2006, 10:48 GMT]
Nine Sri Lanka Navy sailors were killed and ten wounded when their bus hit a Claymore mine in Chettikulam Thursday evening around 4:20 p.m., Sri Lankan naval sources said. The attack took place on Madawachi - Mannar Road. A Sinhala home guard was reported killed and a Muslim youth was wounded in SLN gunfire following the attack. Sri Lanka Army soldiers who cordoned off and searched the area have attacked civilian residents in Veerapuram village located close to the site of explosion. Tension prevails in the area, civilian sources said.
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Abducted men found dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 January 2006, 06:48 GMT]
The bodies of two men who were abducted by unidenfied persons, Sunday night were found with gun shot injuries at Skanthapuram cemetary, 6 km. southwest of Vavuniya, Monday morning, police said. Meanwhile, according to civilian sources in Vavuiya, the two victims were believed to be Sri Lankan Intelligence personnel, Ajith and Suresh, who worked at Omanthai checkpoint of the Sri Lanka Army.
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Claymore attack on SLA tractor in Vavuniya, 2 wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 January 2006, 07:23 GMT]
Two SLA soldiers were wounded in a Claymore attack on a SLA tractor at Thevakulam, near Ichankulam northwest of Vavuniya around 9:45 a.m. Thursday. One SLA sergeant with serious wounds was rushed to Vavuniya Hospital, Police said. Seven soldiers were traveling in the tractor.
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SLA's Deep Penetration Unit responsible for Claymore attack - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 January 2006, 13:40 GMT]
LTTE's Political Head of Mannar District, Mr. Iniyavan, said Wednesday that there were two Claymore mines bound to a tree and wired to a triggering device operated a few meters away from the spot where LTTE Vavuniya West Political Co-ordinatar Major Jeyanthan was killed with a civilian supporter riding in a motorbike Tuesday. "A deep penetration unit of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is known to operate from the Iranai Illuppaikulam SLA base," Iniyavan told TamilNet after showing the site to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) members Wednesday morning. The Claymore explosion that claimed the life of Maj. Jeyanthan, took place 4 km near Chinnavalayankattu, 47 km east of Mannar.
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Abducted PLOTE cadre's body found in Kepitikollawa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 January 2006, 01:01 GMT]
The body of Krishnasamy Thirunavukarsu, 26, also called Mani, a paramilitary operative of the People's Liberation Organisation of Thamil Eelam (PLOTE) who was abducted from his home in Veppankulam in Vavuniya Saturday, was found Wednesday morning at the Sinhala border village of Attambusgasgoda located 15 km southeast of Vavuniya town, Kepitigollawa Police said.
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LTTE official, civilian killed in Claymore attack

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 January 2006, 12:43 GMT]
Major Jeyanthan, Liberation Tigers Vavuniya West area political head and a civilian, Mr. Vinotharan Thevarasa, were killed when a Claymore mine exploded hitting the motorbike in which they were riding in LTTE controlled area at Chinnavalaiyankattu, 45 km east of Mannar town, LTTE sources said. The Claymore mine was allegedly exploded by a group of Sri Lankan soldiers around 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, according to the sources.
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PLOTE cadre abducted in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 January 2006, 05:46 GMT]
Krishnasamy Thirunavukarsu, 26, also called Mani, a paramilitary operative of the People's Liberation Organisation of Thamil Eelam (PLOTE), was abducted by unknown persons at 10.30 p.m. Saturday from his home in Veppankulam in Vavuniya, Police sources in Vavuniya said. Reports from Vavuniya said, the intruders announced themselves as Vavuniya Police and when Mr Thirunavukarasu opened the door, he was subdued and driven off in a vehicle.
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Pararajasingham slaying has endangered direct talks - TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 16:33 GMT]
Addressing the mourners who had gathered to pay the last tribute to the slain Tamil National Alliance MP, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, TNA parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah and M.K. Sivajilingam said that the Government of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan President, in his capacity as Defense Minister, are responsible for the continued engagement of paramilitary cadres and for the killing of the MP. "The whole affair of resuming the peace process has been placed at maximum risk by the brutal act," Mr. Sivajilngam told the gathering.
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SLMM chief reiterates call for direct dialogue

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 09:35 GMT]
Hagrup Haukland, the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, in a press statement issued from Colombo on Thursday, condemning the claymore attack on the Sril Lanka Army vehicle on Tuesday as well as all other attacks, has called the parties for direct dialogue. The spiral of violence is not conducive to a such high-level meeting, he said, clarifying that his monitors were still operating in Jaffna-, Mannar-, Vavuniya-, Trincomalee-, Batticaloa- and Ampara districts. However, the Nordic monitors cannot operate in an insecure environment that has made the work increasingly difficult for his monitors, the SLMM chief has warned.
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Pirapaharan pays tribute to slain TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 22:43 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, on Tuesday, paid tribute to the slain senior Tamil politician Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham in the Vanni. The body of the Tamil National Alliance paraliamentarian, who was shot inside Batticaloa St. Mary's Co-Catherdal during Christmas mass on Sunday, was taken to LTTE controlled Kokkadicholai on Monday and to Kilinochchi on Tuesday. The funeral service of the MP is to take place in the church where he was slain Thursday after receiving Holy Communion from Bishop Kingsley Swampillai.
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Refugee homes gutted by fire in Pesalai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 16:05 GMT]
Eleven temporary shelters with cadjan roof tops, out of more than one hundred such huts in the open refugee camp (ORC) located in the premises of the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation in Pesalai in Mannar district, were gutted by fire Tuesday afternoon around 2.30 p.m. The families have lost all their belongings and have been given shelter in the Vettrimatha Church, which is now housing several families driven out of the One Hundred Housing Scheme following the claymore mine attack on Sri Lanka Navy personnel, sources said.
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Senior PLOTE operative shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 December 2005, 12:36 GMT]
A senior paramilitary PLOTE cadre, Mr. Veerappan Thripupathy, 52, alias Thiruppathy Master, who was shot and seriously wounded by an unidentified gunman, succumbed to his injuries at Vavuniya hospital. Another PLOTE cadre, wounded in his hands, is to be transferred from Vavuniya Hospital to Anuradhapura hospital for security reasons, police said. Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) soldiers and police officials rushed to the spot and conducted investigations following the incident that took place at Rambaikulam 1 km southeast from Vavuniya at 5:30 p.m.
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Co-Chairs representatives to meet LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 15:20 GMT]
A top level diplomatic team representing the Co-Chairs of the peace process in Sri Lanka are scheduled to visit Kilinochchi and meet the LTTE's Political Head Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan on Saturday to discuss the situation following the recent escalation of violence in Jaffna and Mannar districts, sources in Kilinochchi told TamilNet.
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Mannar Police releases four fishermen, detains three

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 07:21 GMT]
Three internally displaced fishermen from Jaffna district, arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), while being engaged in fishing in Pallimunai in Mannar area, are still being detained in the Mannar police station for further investigation regarding the firefight that took place between the Sri Lanka Navy and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Thursday morning. They are among the seven arrested by the SLN following the firefight. The other four fishermen including two students who are residents of Pallimunai were released Thursday night around 11:30 p.m. to the relatives in the presence of Mannar Parish Priest Rev.F.A.Gnanapiragasam.
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Vavuniya undergrads boycott in support of Jaffna students

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 13:02 GMT]
Undergraduates from Vavuniya campus boycotted classes Tuesday to protesting against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) aggression including physical assault and indiscriminate firing on students at the Jaffna campus, sources in Vavuniya said. Vavuniya students accused the SLA of violating students right to non-violent protest and demanded that SLA immediately withdraw from the Jaffna Campus area.
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