CMEV: 25 complaints, 18 major offenses on EPC elections day

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 May 2008, 10:22 GMT]
Centre of Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) in an update issued at 2:30 p.m. in Sri Lanka said it had registered 18 major offenses such as murder, attempted murder, assault, threat and intimidation, impersonation and ballot stuffing. Of the major offences, 13 were reported from Batticaloa, 03 from Ampaa'rai and 02 from Trincomalee district. The CMEV has urged the Sri Lankan Election Commissioner to annul the poll in the stations it had identified. The TMVP Pillayan Group supporters were seen removing voter ink from their fingers and returning to vote repeatedly in Thambiluvil in Ampaa'rai and there has been a mortar attack close to polling stations in which four civilians were wounded.
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Tamil youth reported missing in Potkea'ni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 10:53 GMT]
A nineteen year old Tamil, Arasaretnam Saranraj of Potkea'ni, a suburb in Thampalakaamam, a traditional village in Trincomalee district has been reported missing since Tuesday, according to complaints lodged with the Trincomalee regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Thursday.
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Election campaigns conclude in east

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 02:49 GMT]
Election campaign activities of political parties and independent groups in the east concluded from Wednesday midnight as directed by the Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake. The Commissioner of Elections has directed the law enforcement authority to remove all posters, cutouts and other election related printed matters displayed in public places with immediate effect, reports from the east said.
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Professor 'Tawney' Rajaratnam passes away

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 14:36 GMT]
Professor 'Tawney' S. Rajaratnam, who was the first head of the University College, Batticaloa, when it was founded in 1981, passed away in London Monday morning at the age of 80.
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2 new parliamentarians sworn in

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 10:46 GMT]
Sarana Gunawardene and Dulip Wijesekara were sworn in as new parliamentarians from the Gampaha district Tuesday when the parliament met for the first time after the New Year recess. Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara administered oaths at the commencement of the session, parliamentary sources said.
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945 military personnel injured in April - SL Prime Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 09:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, who opened the debate on the state of emergency in the Sri Lankan Parliament Tuesday morning said 945 Sri Lankan security personnel were wounded in April, from March 30 upto April 29. However, he put the death toll for the April at 120 killed in action. 56 civilians were killed and 145 wounded, including the bus bomb in Piliyandala. He said there were also Sinhalese who were involved in carrying out the attack on the civilian bus in Piliyandala.
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Court orders Colombo to expedite resettlement in Jaffna HSZ

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 17:54 GMT]
The Supreme Court Monday directed the Defense Secretary to expedite the resettlement of the first group of identified displaced farmers in their agricultural lands located in the high security zone (HSZ) in Jaffna district to start their cultivation in time. The SC issued the directive when the fundamental rights applications filed by Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Maavai Senathiraja and two farmers. All three petitioners are among the displaced persons from the high security zone, legal sources said.
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Ethnic divide reflected in Sri Lanka media coverage

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 17:56 GMT]
The polarization between Sri Lanka’s ethnic communities is also reflected in coverage of the island’s protracted conflict and has rendered ‘the truth’ an inevitable casualty of war, several speakers argued last week at the annual conference in London of the International Association of Tamil Journalists (IATAJ). The day-long event at the University of Westminster was attended by one hundred invited participants and was addressed by journalists, academics and media activists, including Mr. Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, editor of the Uthayan newspaper, Mr Chandana Bandara, senior producer with the BBC’s Sinhala service and Mr. Bhagwan Singh of the Deccan Chronicle.
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Diaspora children attend Europe-wide exams in Tamil

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 10:14 GMT]
13,300 children and students from the Tamil Diaspora on Saturday attended annual exams in Tamil language across various countries in Europe and in New Zealand. The exams, conducted by the Tamil Education Development Council (TEDC), a European trans-national Tamil initiative, are largely sustained through volunteer effort and from the contribution of Tamil educational institutions in Europe.
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Medical student of Jaffna University shot dead

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2008, 05:35 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a former medical student of Jaffna University from Pottpathi Veethi, Kokkuvil, in Jaffna at his house on Tuesday around 7:00 p.m, sources in Jaffna said. The victim is alleged to have been working for the Intelligence Unit of Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and said to have collaborated in the killings, and abductions in Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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University student feared shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 17:52 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a student of Jaffna University from Pottpathi Veethi, Kokkuvil, in Jaffna at the railway crossing near Jaffna University Tuesday around 7:00 p.m, initial reports said.
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Thanthai Chelva remembered on his 31st anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2008, 14:59 GMT]
The 31st death anniversary of the late Tamil leader and the founder of the Federal Party (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi -ITAK), Samuel James Velupillai Chelvanayakam (SJV) was held in Jaffna near the SJV memorial statue at 9:45 a.m Saturday presided by Rev. Dr. Jebanesan of the South Indian Council of Churches.
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Mavai Senathirajah meets Jaffna Military Commander

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2008, 03:06 GMT]
Mavai Senathirajah, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, arrived in Jaffna Friday to participate in the 31st Memorial Day of S.J.V. Chelvanayakam Saturday. The first TNA member to return to Jaffna since the assassination of TNA Jaffna MP, Nadarajah Raviraj, in 2006, he met Maj. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, at the latter’s request Friday in Palaali SLA military complex, the MP told media.
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Remains of Fr. Karunaratnam interred in Vavunikku’lam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 19:10 GMT]
Thousands of people stood in tearful reverence when the remains of Rev. Father M X Karunaratnam, the chairman of the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), slain in a Claymore attack by a Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army on Sunday, were interred in Vavunikku’lam Annai Vea’laangka’n’ni church cemetery Tuesday evening.
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Homage paid to slain Fr. Kaunaratnam in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 13:28 GMT]
More than a thousand people participated in the special Holy Mass Tuesday in Jaffna Cathedral (Kognchegnchi Maathaa Koayil) in Jaffna, paying homage to Rev. M. X. Karunaratnam, killed in a Claymore attack in the Vanni. Rev. Karunaratnam tirelessly strove to expose the human rights violations in Sri Lanka to the International Community and its various organizations including Vatican, Jaffna Bishop House Principal Priest, Rev. Justin Gnanapragasam who conducted the Holy Mass, said in his speech. People in Jaffna peninsula, for the first time since August 11 2006, assembled in large numbers at one place to participate in an event.
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No faith on PAFFREL: UNP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 11:46 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) has said that it has no faith in the leading election monitoring mission in the country, the Peoples' Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL). A senior UNP leader, Ravi Karunanayake said that the UNP will not recognize PAFFREL as an independent monitoring mission as the party has doubts over its recent statements and actions. "We do not consider them as independent monitoring group," Mr. Karunanayake said.
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3 civilians wounded in DPU Claymore attack on MPCS lorry

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 11:08 GMT]
Three civilians including the driver of a lorry loaded with supplies to the Cooperative Society in Poonakari (Pooneryn) from Vavuniyaa, was attacked by a Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Army in the early hours of Tuesday at 1:30 a.m. at Aanaivizhunthaan on Akkaraayan - Vanneari Road. The lorry, carrying essential supplies worth 2.3 million Sri Lankan Rupees to the Poonakari Multi Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS), which serves to the Internally Displaced People from Poonakari and Mannaar, was destroyed in the attack, according to the General Manager of the Poonakari MPCS, T. Ratnakumar, told TamilNet.
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Holy Mass to pay homage to slain Fr. Karunartam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 06:48 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop House issued Monday a request to all priests and people of Christian faith in Jaffna peninsula to attend the special Holy Mass paying homage to Rev. Father X. M. Karunaratnam killed in Claymore attack by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) Sunday in Vanni. The mass will be held Tuesday at 4:00 p.m in Konchchonchi Maatha Koayil also known as the Periya Koayil (Big Church), located in Jaffna city.
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Norway condemns killing of NESoHR Chairman

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 06:33 GMT]
The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo on Tuesday said that Norway condemned the killing of Rev. Fr. M.X. Karunaratnam, the chairman of the NorthEast Secretariat On Human Rights (NESoHR), who was slain in a Claymore attack that targeted his vehicle. The killing further adds to the already far too high civilian toll of the ongoing conflict, the press statement said. NESoHR was launched, in July 2004, as part of the Norwegian-facilitated 2002 Peace Process to strengthen the human rights protection mechanisms in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka.
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TNA condemns Father Karunaratnam slaying

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 04:32 GMT]
Father Karunaratnam was actively engaged in Human Rights related work, and as Chairman of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights, played a prominent role in the exposure of the grave human rights violations to which the Tamil Civilian population in the Vanni area were continuously subjected, said R.Sampanthan, the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance and Maavai S.Senathirajah, the general secretary of Ilankai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) in a press statement issued on Tuesday. "We deeply mourn the loss of Rev Father Karunaratnam who indefatigably served the legitimate interests of the Tamil Civilian population in the Vanni."
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