Curb activities of paramilitaries, SLMM urges SL Government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 July 2004, 12:01 GMT]
''The SLMM has strongly urged the government to take meaningful and effective action to curb the activities of paramilitary groups including that of Karuna faction and the EPDP'', Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde, Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission told LTTE Head of Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan, when both met in Kilinochchi Thursday morning, LTTE peace secretariat website said.
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Six new Parliamentarians sworn in

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 2004, 00:32 GMT]
Six new parliamentarians were sworn in when the fifth session of the Sri Lanka's thirteenth parliament began Tuesday morning at 10 a.m with Speaker Mr.W.J.M.Lokkubandara in the chair. Three of the parliamentarians were from the ruling minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the rest were from the main opposition United National Front (UNF), parliamentary sources said.
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Tamil MPs slam SLA, paramilitaries for threats to media

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 July 2004, 14:14 GMT]
“Journalist Nadesan was murdered because the Sri Lankan government did not disarm paramilitary groups working with the military as it agreed to do under the cease-fire agreement. A paramilitary group in Batticaloa killed Nadesan and is threatening other independent journalists with death. This group cannot roam Batticaloa with weapons and intimidate and murder journalists without the military’s permission”, said Mr. Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa speaking Tuesday during a debate in the Sri Lankan Parliament on the state of the media in the island.
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Batticaloa jail murder accused transferred to Moneragala

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 July 2004, 02:10 GMT]
Mahendran Puvitharan, the Batticaloa jail inmate accused of killing 'Satchi Master,' and another a key associate of renegade commander Karuna was transferred to a prison in Moneragala, Uva province, local media reported.
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SL President committed to peace despite Batticaloa fears - Dhanapala

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 July 2004, 12:54 GMT]
The delay in restarting peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers is due the preparation of the agenda, said Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, chairman of the GOSL peace secretariat, speaking to journalists at the conclusion of his visit to Batticaloa Friday. Speaking in Sinhala, he said the situation in the east is bad after Karuna split from the LTTE and that there is a concern that this could adversely affect the peace. President Kumaratunga, however, remains committed to taking forward the peace process, Dr. Dhanapala said.
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Key Karuna associate shot dead in Batticaloa jail

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 July 2004, 03:13 GMT]
A key associate of the renegade commander was assassinated inside the Batticaloa prison in the early hours of the morning Thursday. Police and army surrounded the prison as the gunman who shot dead 'Satchi Master' and another associate of Karuna climbed the jail roof with his handgun and a grenade. He surrendered to Police in the presence of the ICRC and truce monitors later around 10.45 p.m.
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Karuna cadre killed, two injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 July 2004, 12:56 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa said that a key associate of renegade commander 'Karuna' was killed in an ambush by one of their special jungle warfare units in Batticaloa Wednesday afternoon around 2.45 p.m. "We ambushed a small group of the paramilitary Karuna Group carrying small arms upon information provided by civilians. We recovered the body of a key person of the Karuna Group. A search is on to apprehend the others", an LTTE military officer said.
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Colombo promoting Karuna to destroy LTTE – US think tank

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 July 2004, 12:35 GMT]
Former LTTE Commander Karuna's defection was supported at the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government with tacit US approval, press reports quoted US geopolitical analysts as saying this week.
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Peace process in great crisis- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 11:12 GMT]
"The peace process is in great crisis. The Sri Lankan government should take constructive steps to stabilize the cease fire. But a cabinet minister in the government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is openly aiding 'Karuna' to attack us. The manner in which the GOSL and its armed forces are backing Karuna is jeopardising peace," said Mr. S.P Thamilchelvan, speaking to the press after meeting Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka Tuesday in Kilinochchi.
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Wounded LTTE official dies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 09:52 GMT]
Mr. Senathirajah, the head of the LTTE's political divison for Batticaloa town succumbed to his injuries Tuesday around 1.30 p.m. He was shot and wounded by gunmen suspected to be associates of renegade LTTE commaner 'Karuna' on 5 July.
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CFA is in jeopardy- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 03:30 GMT]
"...Ceasefire agreement [CFA] itself is in grave jeopardy, and without the ceasefire, there cannot be a peace process at all," said Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Jaffna district, when TamilNet caught up with him in Washington D.C. and asked him for his views on the steadily deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka. Gajendrakumar is currently on a U.S. tour meeting with U.S. officials and addressing Tamil expatriates in different States.
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Eastern lecturers ‘planning to flee’ - paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 00:01 GMT]
Frightened by possible death threats due to the increasing violence in the east, around ten senior lecturers of the Eastern University are planning to flee the country on Sabbatical leave, the Daily Mirror reported in its Tuesday edition.


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LTTE slams Colombo for open support to renegade

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 July 2004, 14:44 GMT]
Head of the Liberation Tigers' political division for Batticaloa, Mr. E Kousalyan, Sunday slammed the Sri Lankan government for "openly promoting" renegade commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna) by "providing him state radio facilities to attack the Tigers with the obvious aim of destroying the mutual goodwill on which the cease fire is based."
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Petersen says ‘too early’ to predict talks

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 July 2004, 12:09 GMT]
It is "too early" to say when the peace talks between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers would start again, Norway's Foreign Minister, Jan Petersen, said last week in an interview to The Hindu newspaper. Mr. Petersen expressed confidence that the two year old cease-fire would continue to hold but said “it would probably be unrealistic to think that we will not have any more incidents.”


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'Denial of rights basis of our struggle'- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 July 2004, 04:43 GMT]
"The denial of our human rights is the basis of our struggle. We have not effectively conveyed this message to the world... We will also bring about greater awareness of human rights and related international conventions among our people," said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the Liberation Tigers' political division, addressing the opening of the LTTE's Human Rights Secretariat Friday in Kilinochchi.
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Village official shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2004, 15:14 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen Friday shot dead a village officer in Kalladi Uppodai, on the southern outskirts of Batticaloa town. Mr. Kunjithamby Sivarasa 47, was killed at his home around 5.30 p.m. by two gunmen who came on motorbike, Police said. Mr. Sivarasa was the village officer for Karadiyanaaru in the LTTE controlled hinterland of the Batticaloa District.
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Two Karuna militants executed

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2004, 12:51 GMT]
Two militants belonging to the Karuna group were executed by the Liberation Tigers in Illupadichchenai in Batticaloa, local Tamil media said.


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Bubulla Vihare Chief Incumbent injured in grenade attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 July 2004, 17:12 GMT]
Venerable Lendigele Sudassi, Chief Incumbent of the Bodhirukkaharamaya Temple in Bubulla in Hingurakgoda where last Tuesday midnight the Hingurakgoda Police arrested fourteen suspected Karuna faction Tamil youths with automatic weapons, was seriously injured in a grenade attack that took place Thursday around 7.30 p.m., police said.
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Suspected Karuna cadres released on bail

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2004, 14:27 GMT]
The Hingurakgoda magistrate Tuesday released fourteen Tamil youth who were arrested with assault rifles and bombs by Sri Lanka Police in a village Buddhist temple in Hingurakgoda Monday evening. They were enlarged on personal surety bail, Police said. Possession of illegal weapons is a unbailable offense under Sri Lankan law.
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District Ayurveda Hospital opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2004, 03:31 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), speaking after the ceremonial opening Monday of the Trincomalee District Ayurveda Hospital said that he was pleased that the opening was held on Black Tigers Day which he said was an important day for the liberation struggle of Tamil people. The Ayurveda Hospital is located at Kappalthurai, a resettled Tamil village along the Trincomalee-Colombo highway, about eight km off the east port town.
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