15,000 deprived of livelihood in Paduvaankarai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2007, 21:27 GMT]
Half of the affected agriculture-dependent families in Batticaloa district are from Paduvaankarai region, where the major cultivable land of the district, is situated. Forced to flee their paddy fields, standing ripe and ready for harvest, the families who returned under the Government of Sri Lanka's (GoSL) resettlement, could only witness the remains of the properties and livestock that had been looted by the Sri Lankan forces. Although four months have elapsed since their resettlement, the GoSL has not provided any assistance to the farmers to resume paddy cultivation.
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Disparity in condemning attacks on civilian targets, counterproductive - TNA MPs in Oslo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2007, 13:49 GMT]
"The recent condemnations on the attacks of civilian targets in Sri Lanka came only after witnessing attacks on a civilian target in the South. There was no condemnation by the International Community when Mannaar Coordinator of an International NGO, Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Pakiyaranjith, was slain in a Claymore attack in Vanni by the Sri Lankan DPU team. Why did the IC fail in condemning the indiscriminate air-attacks on civilian targets in Vanni?," asked the Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy and Jaffna district MP K. Sivanesan while talking to media in Oslo on Friday after a meeting with the Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer.
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3 returning expatriates reported missing from Katunayake

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 December 2007, 16:13 GMT]
Three Tamil men, returning from Saudi Arabia after two years employment, are reported missing after leaving Kattunayake International Airport Sunday, according to a complaint made to P. Rathakrishnan, Deputy minister and Upcountry Peoples’ Front parliamentarian for Colombo district by Mannaar district Peoples’ Association Coordinating Officer, Mohamed Fowmi, civil sources in Mannar said.
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2 civilians shot dead in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 December 2007, 11:22 GMT]
Two unidentified armed men on motorcycle shot and killed two civilians, Thursday around 7:00 p.m, two hours before the beginning of curfew, at Aalangkuzhaay area in Cha’ndilippay in Valikaamam, sources in Jaffna said. The victims were on their way to a shop in the area to buy provisions.
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School girl missing in Jaffna, 3 seek protection

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2007, 15:34 GMT]
A ten-year-old girl student of Changkaanai Hindu Primary School was reported missing since Tuesday after leaving to attend school in the morning, according to complaints registered with the Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commision (JHRC) by her family members Thursday. Meanwhile, three family men from different places in Jaffna peninsula sought protection with JHRC Thursday due to death threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitary men.
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Medical staff in Vanni protest against DPU Claymore attacks on ambulances

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2007, 11:50 GMT]
More than 700 medical staff in Vanni, including doctors, nurses, technical staff, midwives and minor staff from K'ilinochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts, Thursday morning staged a protest against targeted Claymore attacks by the Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) on ambulances and humanitarian vehicles. In August last year, a DPU attack on the ambulance of Nedungkea'ni claimed the lives of the doctor of Nedungkea'ni hospital, his wife, two nurses and the driver of the ambulance. On 25 November, the driver of the ambulance of Muzhangkaavil hospital was seriously wounded in a Claymore attack at Mudkompan in Poonakari (Pooneryn).
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Rehabilitation Centre for Women, Children established in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2007, 00:58 GMT]
Women and children seeking protection with Jaffna office of Human Rights Commission (JHRC) will be housed in the vacant Appeal Courts building in Kurugar effective Wednesday, civil society sources in Jaffna said. This centre will be looked after by the Child Protection Group operating in Jaffna peninsula.
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14 civilians, 2 SLA killed in Kebitigollawe Claymore attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 December 2007, 15:54 GMT]
Fourteen civilians and two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 23 wounded when a Sri Lanka Transport Board bus was caught in a Claymore explosion Wednesday around 8:00 p.m. at Abimanagama near Dhammanawa in Kebitigollawe division in the Anuradhapura district, 23 km southeast of Vavuniyaa, police said. The explosion comes amid tightened security in the area after a Claymore attack in June 2006 claimed the lives of 64 civilians.
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Civilian feared abducted in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 December 2007, 01:43 GMT]
A mason from Koaddaikkaadu in Koandaavil, Jaffna has failed to return home after leaving for work on Sunday morning, and is feared abducted, according to complains registered by his family members with Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC), Tuesday.
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Pregnant woman injured in SLAF bombing dies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2007, 18:05 GMT]
An eighteen-year-old pregnant mother, seriously injured in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) aerial bombing on civilian settlements in Tharmapuram on 25 November 2007, succumbed to her injuries Monday night in Ki’linochchi district hospital, sources in Ki’linochchi said.
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Rights groups condemn "Collective Punishment"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2007, 16:25 GMT]
Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based think-tank, and the Free Media Movement (FMM), a media watch group in Colombo, are considering taking legal action against Sri Lanka authorities for the mass arrest of more than 2000 Tamils in suburbs of Colombo this week, media reports in Colombo said. The arrests were made after the Government of Sri Lanka accused the Liberation Tigers of carrying out the two bomb attacks that killed 21 people and injured more than 40 in Colombo.
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Fisherman shot dead in Kurunakar, 3 seek protection with HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2007, 10:19 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle shot dead a fisherman Tuesday around 11:45 a.m, on Water Tank Road in Kurnakar, Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, three family men from three different regions in Jaffna peninsula sought protection with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna due to death threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries.
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NPC condemns mass arrests in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 14:42 GMT]
"Hundreds of Tamils residing in Colombo have been arrested in a crackdown reminiscent of the attempt to evict temporary Tamil residents from Colombo in June this year," said National Peace Council, a Colombo based peace group, in a press release issued on Monday. "The people who have been arrested include women with children. Some of them are Tamil workers from the central hills who have been living in Colombo for many years. When they are arrested in this manner, they stand to lose their livelihoods for which they do not obtain compensation. Others are people who have left the north and east where they cannot live peacefully and safely due to the war conditions in that part of the country."
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UN body condemns Sri Lankan airstrike on VoT

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 14:21 GMT]
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has condemned the air strike on the Voice of Tigers radio station that killed five of the station’s staff. A total of more than ten people are reported to have been killed in the attack. “I condemn the bombing of the Voice of Tigers radio station,” the Director-General declared, “regardless of the content of the broadcasts aired by the Voice of Tigers, there can be no excuse for military strikes on civilian media."
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Colombo lacks sincerity in investigating Fr. Jim Brown's disappearance - Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 12:05 GMT]
The Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundranayagam, who is on a mission to Vanni, on Sunday said that the manner in which Colombo was handling the investigation on the disappearance of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, seemed like an eyewash exercise without any sincerity, being conducted to "hoodwink the International Community" into believing that investigation was continuing. "Two weeks ago, a CID officer from Colombo came to meet me. He only knew Sinhala. I was shocked to realize how he could conduct investigations without working knowledge in Tamil and English to collect evidence on the disappearance of Fr. Brown," the Bishop said while briefing media on the prevailing situation in Jaffna.
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Claymore attack kills SLA trooper, injures 2 in Vadamaraadchchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 05:23 GMT]
Unidentified persons triggered a Claymore device Saturday around 8:00 p.m at Oo’ra’ni area in Valveddiththu’rai killing one Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper and seriously injuring two in an attack on a convoy of SLA vehicles passing through. The device, hidden along the route to Palaali SLA Head Quarters through Valvai and Achchuveali near an SLA camp, was activated by the attackers.
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Muslims appeal to Rajapaksa to address community grievances

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 December 2007, 00:02 GMT]
Mosques Federation of Eastern province, during a meeting held by the Federation in Polannaruwa Friday, appealed to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take immediate steps to address dangers faced by the Muslim community, sources in the eastern province said.
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Sri Lankan forces arrest 1,500 Tamils in South, detention camps overcrowded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2007, 12:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan armed forces have arrested around 1,500 Tamil men and women in wide scale cordon and search operations within the last 48 hours in Colombo and other districts in South, Tamil parliamentarians told media in Colombo on Sunday. 351 of the arrested persons in Colombo, currently detained at Boosa detention camp, complained that many of them were arrested despite documenting their identity and that they have not been provided proper food and drink for the last 48 hours. 51 of the detainees, at Boosa, were females.
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2 civilians shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 November 2007, 05:43 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen following a youth riding a bicycle from his house Thursday morning at Maasiappiddi, Changkaanai in Valigaamam, opened fire on him causing serious injury. The youth, rushed to Thellippa'lai government hospital, later succumbed to his wounds. Meanwhile, unknown armed men shot and killed an employee of a liquor shop Thursday around 4:30 p.m at Brown Road-Naavalar Road junction, in the centre of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.
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TRO diligently complied with U.S. laws- President

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 November 2007, 19:09 GMT]
Dr. N. A. Ranjithan, President of TRO-USA, in an opinion column appeared in Cumberland Times-News, says, "As a charity registered in the U.S.A., TRO has diligently and faithfully been complying with the laws and all regulations related to registered charities. TRO-USA reiterates that it is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising for the Libertarian Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)...I am deeply concerned about the future of Tamils in Sri Lanka, persecuted by their own government and left without many friends in the world. Now that TRO accounts are frozen, I hope and pray that some other organization will step in to fill the void."
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