Australian Tamils call for an end to military occupation in Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 06:46 GMT]
Over 1200 Tamils from across Australia gathered in front of their national parliament on Monday, May 29, to raise the voices in concert with the global protest campaign organised by the Tamil Diaspora. Parliamentarians from all sides of Australian politics, religious dignitaries, people who had been to the homelands and others addressed the protesters between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. The parliamentarians expressed their conviction that the gathering had conveyed the level of support amongst the Diaspora for the Tamil cause. Some parliamentarians undertook to convey this message of support to the rest of the politicians.
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US Tamils call for stop to extra-judicial killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 02:48 GMT]
Pointing out that "Scandinavian Cease Fire Monitors have declared that members of GOSL forces and paramilitaries are involved in extra-judicial killings," a joint press release issued by Tamil organizations in the US Sunday warned, "If the CFA and the peace process are to be saved, extra -judicial killings and other violations of human rights of Tamils must end and those responsible be punished, and paramilitaries be disarmed," and called on the US Administration to "ensure that these are implemented immediately by the Government of Sri Lanka."


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Colombo imposes embargo on cement, steel, limits fuel supply to North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 09:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan defense authorities, on Friday, banned the transportation of cement and steel to North. Government Agents (GAs) in Jaffna and Vavuniya have been informed of the decision by the Defense Ministry in contravention of the provisions in the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement, political sources said. More than 20 lorries loaded with cement have been stopped at Omanthai checkpost Friday and are being held at the checkpost awaiting instructions from Defense Ministry, sources said.
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Diaspora Tamils to hold protests worldwide

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2006, 11:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora organisations in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in Scandinavian countries, are to hold rallies voicing protest Monday, 29th May, against the expected proscription of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the European Union next week, organizers of the protests said. Protesters will conduct peaceful demonstrations in front of the Parliaments in their respective countries, said leaflets calling expatriate Sri Lanka Tamils to join the protests.
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NEIAP Deputy Project Director assassinated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2006, 10:19 GMT]
Duputy Project Director (DPD) of the World Bank assisted North East Irrigated Agriculture Project (NEIAP), Ratnam Ratnarajah, 48, was shot and killed by paramilitary cadres near his residence in Sri Lanka Army controlled Kalviyankadu, north of Batticaloa town at 14:15 p.m. Informed officers close to the slain NEIAP official, said, Mr. Ratnarajah, a disciplined and committed Director, was receiving a series of threatening phone calls allegedly from paramilitary operatives, asking the Director to employ Karuna group paramilitary Markan's relatives in NEIAP clerical positions.
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STF orders shops closed in Batticaloa as punishment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 22:55 GMT]
"Special Task Force (STF) troopers went around the markets in Arayampathy and Kalavanchikudy areas in Batticaloa district Thursday around 12.30 p.m, assaulting many traders and forcing them to close their shops for five additional days, as punishment for their current two day voluntary shop shut down as a mark of respect for Col. Ramanan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Deputy Commander of Batticaloa district, who was killed on Sunday" said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian P. Ariyanenthiran.
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Col. Ramanan's remains buried with military honours in Thandiyady

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 01:18 GMT]
The remains of Col. Ramanan, the Deputy Head of the LTTE Military wing, assassinated by a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sniper at Vavunativu Forward Defence Line (FDL) Sunday the 21st May 2006 was buried with military honour at the Thandiyady Martyrs Resting Home Wednesday evening around 6.00 p.m, attended by several leading citizens, LTTE cadres and residents of Amparai and Batticaloa districts, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Tamils cannot depend on SL Government for security- TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, 15:02 GMT]
"Killings of Tamil civilians continue unabated in the NorthEast. Thousands have fled and many are fleeing their villages fearing safety to their lives due to harassment of security forces, and instead of taking constructive steps to allay fears of Tamil people, the Government of Sri Lanka is taking steps harmful to the welfare of Tamil people," said the leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group R. Sampanthan during a press briefing held at the Sri Lanka Parliament building Wednesday noon, sources said.
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Vigneswaran remembered in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 00:48 GMT]
Forty fifth day remembrance of late Mr.V.Vigneswaran, founder President of the Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples Forum was held at Trincomalee Town Hall Sunday. Mr.Vigneswaran was gunned down in the first week of April by unidentified armed men inside the premises of the Trincomalee main branch of the Bank of Ceylon along Dockyard Road in the security zone, sources said.
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TNA appeals for an even-handed approach

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 13:48 GMT]
Pointing out that the "primary cause of the current violence has been due to the refusal of the Sri Lankan State to implement key provisions of the CFA that obligates the State to disarm and dismantle Paramilitary armed groups in the Northeast of Sri Lanka," the Tamil National Alliance in a press release issued Monday, urged "that no action be taken which casts the blame on one side," cautioning that "such a step can irretrievably harm the legitimate interests of the long-suffering Tamil people," and appealed to the European Union and the International Community for a "more even-handed approach."
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Sri Lanka government can still avert new war - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 11:39 GMT]
"The objective conditions for an outbreak of war are developing. Yet, there is still a space in which meaningful steps could be taken by the Sri Lankan Government to contain the violence of the paramilitaries and the excesses of the armed forces and create a congenial environment for de-escalation,” the Liberation Tigers’ theoretician and chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham said this week in an extensive interview with the Sunday Times newspaper.
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Senior PLOTE operative 'Farook' talks to media in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 May 2006, 16:01 GMT]
A senior People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) operative, Sinnathamby Ganeshalingam, alias Farook, who was reported missing in December last year in Vavuniya, talked to the media this week in an undisclosed remote village in Vanni. Ganeshalingam claimed that he has begun a settled peaceful life in Liberation Tigers controlled Vanni with his wife Shantha, and refuted earlier reports that he was abducted by the Tigers. He said he left the paramilitary group after PLOTE leadership began to develop close relationships with the hardline elements in Sri Lankan military and extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
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UNICEF's indifference to Children's killings, regrettable- Sithamparanathan

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2006, 03:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Jaffna district, Ms Pathmini Sithamparanathan Friday accused the UNICEF Colombo office for issuing a irresponsibly crafted, perfunctory press release that avoided even mentioning the names of the child victims of Allapiddy extrajudicial killings, said sources in Jaffna. Amnesty International had said it received credible reports that Sri Lanka Navy personnel and armed cadres affiliated with Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), were present at the massacre site on Kayts islet.
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TNA candidate, companion shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 11:08 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate contesting the forthcoming Navithanveli Predeshya Sabha polls, and his companion riding with him in a motorbike on the Kalmunai Central Camp Road, Thursday noon around 1.30 p.m, said sources in Kalmunai. The shooting occured in a location about 300 meters from the police sentry post at Central Camp 11th village in Kalmunai.
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Religious heads protest in Kilinochchi against civilian killings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 18:17 GMT]
"International community and Human Rights agencies including UNHCR, UNICEF are keeping silent while Tamil men, women and children are being killed daily in NorthEast of Sri Lanka," said Janab. S. M. Shaheel, Islamic religious leader, participating in a non-violent sit-in demonstration staged in front of the UNHCR office in Kilinochchi Wednesday from 8.45 a.m to 1:00 p.m., said sources in Kilinochchi.
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SL Navy, EPDP cadres present at massacre site - Amnesty International

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 08:13 GMT]
The Amnesty International has slammed the Government of Sri Lanka as having a record of "disturbing pattern of incomplete or ineffective investigations" of the extrajudicial killings and said it has received credible reports that Sri Lanka Navy personnel and armed cadres affiliated with Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), were present at the massacre site on Kayts islet. Thirteen civilians were massacred in three spots on the Kayts islet controlled by the Sri Lanka Navy Saturday night. The EPDP, a paramilitary and a political party in the ruling UPFA alliance of the SL President Mahinda Rajapakse, had exercised tight control of the Jaffna islets before the Ceasefire Agreement.
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General shut down paralyses Tamil areas in Ampara

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 06:32 GMT]
General shut down was observed in the Ampara district Wednesday in response to the call by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), condemning the extra judicial killings of Tamil speaking civilians in the Northeast province. Normal life in Kalmunai, a major town and several villages, Thirukovil, Thambiluvil, Alaiyadivembu, Akkaraipattu, Karaitivu, and Paandiruppu in the district was completed disrupted, TamilNet sources said.
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Claymore blast kills STF elite trooper in Thirukovil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 06:22 GMT]
A Special Task Force (STF) elite trooper was killed when a claymore mine targetted on the STF foot patrol exploded around 8.30 a.m. along the Main Street in Thirukovil around 8:30 a.m., Wednesday, Kalmunai Police sources said.
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Examination centre shifted from Muttur east for student safety

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 17:44 GMT]
The Department of Examination Tuesday decided to locate a new centre in the Eachchilampathu Sri Sembaga Maha Vidiyalayam for students from the LTTE held Muttur east villages to sit for the GCE Advanced Level Examination this year. Earlier GCE A/L students had been asked to sit for the examination in the centre usually located in Chenaiyoor Central College in the Muttur east. GCE A/L examination is to commence on May 22 through out the island, sources said.
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Potkerni families flee army harassment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 17:26 GMT]
Large number of resettled war-affected families in Potkerni, a hamlet in the Thampalakamam division Tuesday started fleeing after a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and home guards had entered their houses ransacking the property, Tuesday, civil sources said.
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