Paramilitary operatives clash in Aaraiyampathi, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 18:18 GMT]
Five supporters of Tamil Democratic National Alliance (TDNA) were seriously injured by paramilitary operatives of Tamil Makkal Viduthali Puligal (TMVP) Monday afternoon in Thaa'langkudaa in Aaraiyampathi division of Batticaloa district.
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NPC condemns Rev Fr Karunaratnam assassination

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 12:08 GMT]
The assassination of Rev. Father M X Karunaratnam, Chairman of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), who succumbed to injuries sustained in a remote controlled claymore mine attack that had targeted him within the LTTE controlled territory where he lived and worked is a shocking and callous act. Fr Karunaratnam died in close proximity to his residential prayer and counseling centre which was a haven to those who suffered the travails of the ongoing war. As head of NESoHR which was set up in July 2004, as part of the 2002 Peace Process, Fr Karunaratnam worked tirelessly to strengthen the human rights protection mechanisms in the North East of Sri Lanka, the NPC said.
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Silence is eloquence: last remarks of Rev Fr Karunaratnam

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 11:32 GMT]
Barely two weeks before he was killed in a Claymore attack, allegedly carried out by a Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army, Rev M X Karunaratnam was interviewed by the National Television of Tamileelam (NTT). While answering questions on the Madu Shrine controversy, he said, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was entirely responsible for politicizing the issue of the Shrine as it had attempted to achieve a militarily favourable situation by choosing to launch its offensive drive through Madu, a greatly revered Catholic holy pilgrim center. The Reverend Father also explained the silence of Vatican and the Sinhala bishops.
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Condemn Colombo for targeting Human Rights defenders: LTTE urges IC

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 06:51 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan State has targeted a human rights defender who worked for the welfare of the people," Political Division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), charged in a statement issued on Monday, and urged the international human rights bodies and the international community to condemn the continued gross human rights violations of the Sri Lankan state, and take actions without further delay to bring an end to the continuing human rights violations by the State.
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Threat to Jaffna journalists from SLA, paramilitaries

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 04:20 GMT]
Journalists in Jaffna face continued threats to their lives and harassment from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, severely impacting news coverage, and the deteriorating media freedom may lead to a complete breakdown of newspaper publications in the North, sources close to Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians told TamilNet Sunday.
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NESoHR condemns Fr Karunaratnam's assassination

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 April 2008, 20:38 GMT]
Expressing "profound shock and loss," officials at the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), in a press release issued Sunday, condemned the assassination of NESoHR's chairman, Fr. M. X. Karunaratnam, and said, he "worked tirelessly championing the Human Rights of the Tamil people. He travelled to the United States, Canada and Geneva meeting with Foreign Governments and Organizations concerned in Human Rights. Rev. Fr. Karunaratnam pioneered the work of NESoHR in the field of psychological counseling of the war and tsunami affected people in the Tamil Homeland."
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NESoHR Chairman Fr. Karunaratnam killed in DPU attack

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 April 2008, 07:57 GMT]
Rev. Father M X Karunaratnam, the chairman of the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), was killed in a Claymore attack carried out by a Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army on Sunday, according to initial reports from Tamileelam Police. The attack took place on Mallaavi - Vavunikku'lam Road in Vanni around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, according to initial reports.
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JVP dissident parliamentarians meet Buddhist prelates

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 April 2008, 05:05 GMT]
Eleven dissident parliamentarians of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led by Wimal Weerawanse Sunday morning paid homage to the Dalada Maligaawa in Kandy, capital of the central province for the first time after the split in the party. Later they met the Mahanayake Thera of Malwatte Chapter and Asgiriya Mahanayake Thera separately and explained their position in the current politics following the split in the JVP, reports from Kandy said.
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Sinhalese appointed Secretary of Education for East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 April 2008, 15:03 GMT]
Condemning the hurried appointment of Uppul Weerawardene as the secretary of Ministry of Education in Eastern province, P.Ariyanarenthiran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament told TamilNet t that the appointment is further evidence of the Government of Sri Lanka's mission of continued Sinhalization of the east.
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Tamil woman arrested at politico's funeral in Ratnapura

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 April 2008, 05:15 GMT]
Ratnapura police Thursday arrested a Tamil woman attending a funeral event of a leading member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Police said she was taken in for questioning on suspicion that she being a member of the LTTE, reports from Ratnapura said.
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Senior SLA Commander injured in LTTE sniper fire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 April 2008, 15:47 GMT]
Lt.Col.Jagath Ratnayake, Commander of the 4th Gemunu Watch division of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) responsible for the Forward Defense Lines (FDLs) at Muhamaalai was seriously injured by sniper fire of the Liberation Tigers, Sinhala daily Lankadeepa reported. The Commander was first transported by Military helicopter to Palaali Military Hospital, and later transferred to Colombo National Hospital, according to the same paper.
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Masked men enter TNA MP's house in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2008, 13:28 GMT]
Masked men in black uniform entered the house of Tamil parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran, a prominent leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in the early hours of Wednesday, forced the care-taker of the house into a room saying that they were from the CID, and dug several holes at in the backyard. After they left, Police came to the house, went directly to the backyard without talking to the caretaker and finally detained him till Wednesday noon at Wattala police. Mr. Premachandran, expressing suspicion that some elements 'clothed with legal authority' have acted with the 'sinister motive' to cause disrepute to him, has lodged a complaint with the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
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Two new parliamentarians sworn in

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2008, 10:28 GMT]
Solomon Cyril of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) from Jaffna district, and M.Naushad of the United National Party (UNP) from Ampaarai district, were sworn in as new parliamentarians Wednesday in Sri Lanka's parliament. Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara administered oaths to them when the parliament resumed its sitting Wednesday morning, parliamentary sources said.
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SL Parliament begins debate on emergency extension

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2008, 10:23 GMT]
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Wednesday tabled a motion seeking an extension of the State of Emergency now in force since August 2005, for another month, parliamentary sources said. Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara was in the chair when the debate on the motion began. Wickremanayake said during March, 93 members of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and police died in the fighting with the LTTE.
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A church in Madu destroyed, dreaded stage of ethnic cleansing, says TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 13:03 GMT]
The Sacred Heart Church of the Madu Shrine complex has been destroyed in SLA shelling after the priests had taken away the image of Our Lady of Madu last Thursday, reveal the photos taken by K. Baskaran, a photographer who visited the Madu church on Sunday. "Any desecration of Madu is likely to be understood as an effort of the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism to erase out the symbols of other religions and thus serving a spiritual blow which is the most dreaded stage in the process of ethnic cleansing," Vanni District Parliamentarian Selvam Adaikkalanathan told TamilNet Tuesday.
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Two new MPs to be sworn in on Tuesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 02:23 GMT]
Two new parliamentarians Solomon Cyril, representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and M. Naushad from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), are to be sworn in April 8 to fill the vacancies in the districts of Jaffna and Ampaarai when the parliament meets on Tuesday, parliamentary sources said.
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Moothoor resettled lack basic facilities-TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 11:29 GMT]
Resettled families sheltered in schools at Pallikudiruppu and Amman Nagar in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district are undergoing serious difficulties without basic facilities and other relief, since their return, K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian said in a complaint to Resettlement Minister Rishard Badiudin. About 200 families have been resettled in Pallikudiduruppu and 70 families at Amman Nagar close to Arafat Nagar, about one km off from Moothoor east.
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No foreign monitors for eastern polls - Bogollagama

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2008, 19:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Thursday that there would be no independent monitoring of the forthcoming elections to the Eastern Provincial Council. Meanwhile, whilst addressing a strategic think tank in London earlier this week, Mr. Bogollagama was challenged by the Times newspaper over his government’s bar on foreign media, a statement issued Thursday by the British Tamil Forum, an expatriate lobby group, said.
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1342 to contest in Eastern Provincial Council elections

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2008, 17:25 GMT]
1342 candidates representing political parties and independent groups are to contest in the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) in the districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampaa’rai. Meanwhile, three nominations in Batticaloa, four in Trincolamalee and seven in Ampaa’rai districts were rejected by the Election Officer while 91 were accepted, sources in Batticaloa said.
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'British assent to genocide in the East': readers' feedback

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 April 2008, 13:44 GMT]
Camouflaged with the provincial elections in Sri Lanka's East, under military and paramilitary terror, is the Sri Lanka's agenda to dismember the homeland of Tamil speakers that include Tamils and Tamil Muslims. The elections with a possible boycott of TNA, as a result of the intimidation of main Tamil opinion, is going to confer 'unholy legitimacy' to the government to complete its genocide and subordination of Tamil speakers in the East. It is unfortunate that the British provide a 'tacit assent' to this agenda, by discussing the elections rather than condemning it, writes a reader from UK, responding to a British press release on a meeting between British and Lankan foreign ministers.
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