SLA soldier loses leg in Naakarkoayil clash - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 18:20 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Northern Front Operations Command Saturday said an attempt by a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unit to advance towards their Forward Defence Line (FDL) positions in Naakarkoayil Friday morning was thwarted before the SLA unit managed to approach the FDL. An SLA soldier lost his leg in the clash. Four Claymore mines were among the military items recovered by the Tigers in the clearing mission inside the no-man zone.
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UNP welcomes ban on TRO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 03:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National party (UNP) has welcomed the government’s decision to ban the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), the Daily Mirror reported Friday. The UNP echoed the stance of the ultra-Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) with senior UNP official, Lakshman Kiriella, also telling a news conference that the government had failed to pursue the matter with commitment. Earlier this week, there was applause in Sri Lanka’s parliament as the government promised to consider banning the TRO and also the LTTE
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EPDP wants interim administration for North and East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 02:15 GMT]
The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), a pro-government paramilitary group-cum-political party, has proposed setting up an Interim Administration for the North and East as the way forward to resolve the ethnic conflict, the Daily Mirror reported. An interim administration for Northeast capable of effecting self-rule, especially towards restoring civil normalcy and the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of displaced people was the primary demand of the LTTE when it began the Norwegian-brokered negotiations with the then UNP government in 2002. The UNP rejected the notion, saying it would encourage then President Chandrika Kumaratunga to sack its Parliamentary government.
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Sri Lanka’s ban on TRO ‘final nail’ in coffin of peace process

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 01:10 GMT]
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisations (TRO) has condemned the Sri Lankan government’s banning of the charity, saying the Rajapakse regime had done so with the “ulterior motive of unleashing untold hardships on the Tamil people as part of [the government’s] continuing discrimination and oppression of the Tamil people.” The TRO, which has been the largest - and for long periods the sole - NGO assisting the hundreds of thousands of Tamils displaced by the conflict, said in a statement this week “With the banning of the TRO the final nail in the coffin of the peace process has been hammered home.”
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Technical Officer shot dead in Thenmaraadchchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 November 2007, 16:20 GMT]
Two unidentified motorcycle gunmen, following behind the Chief Technical Officer of Chaavakachcheari Predeshya Saba on his way home on motorcycle after work Wednesday evening, shot him dead at Yattaa’lai, Va’ra’ni where the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 52nd Brigade base is located, sources in Kodikaamam said. The officer had moved from his village Yattaalai to Inparuddi in Vadamaraadchchi due to continuous death threats by SLA and SLA-backed paramilitaries, the sources added.
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Sea Tigers open fire on coastal sentry in Peasaalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 November 2007, 06:32 GMT]
Six gunboats of Sea Tigers, the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), Friday morning at 7:50 approached Peasaalai in Mannaar and opened fired from their vessels from a close distance of 75 meters, on coastal naval and police sentry posts, Police said. The LTTE claimed to have caused damage to two SLN water jet boats and said there was no Tiger casualties. However, military officials in Colombo, who use to put the Tiger casualty figures high after the Anuradhapura operation and the recent setback in Mukamaalai, claimed that 17 Tigers were killed in the clash.
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Shanthan granted bail

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 23:19 GMT]
Kingston Crown court has granted Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar, 50, also known as AC Shanthan, bail Thursday afternoon, a BBC report said. Shanthan was arrested on charges under UK Terrorism Act 2000.
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Heavy fighting in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:59 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in Mu'l'likku'lam area in Mannaar Thursday morning around 6:30 a.m. The fighting continued throughout the evening. Seven SLA soldiers wounded in LTTE artillery fire were rushed to Anuradhapura hospital, medical sources said.
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3 STF commandos killed in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:44 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) ambushed a Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) outpost in Bakmitiyawa in Ampaa'rai district Thursday around 5:00 p.m., killing 3 STF commandos stationed at the post, LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said.
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Sri Lanka's War Secretariat?

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), in a 2000-word press release issued Thursday, took exceptions to the labelling of SCOPP as "the government’s War Secretariat," by Prof. Uyangoda, and as "Secretariat for Coordinating the War Process" by Sunday Times which highlighted SCOPP's "angrily incessant verbosity," in its story. Head of SCOPP adds, "our counterpart in Kilinochchi had shown itself indeed a War Secretariat, in celebrating the Black Tigers who had attacked the airbase at Anuradhapura," drawing moral equivalence between the 'behavior' of the two Secretatriats as part of SCOPP's rationale for defending Sri Lanka's rights abuses, among other accusations.
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SLA, LTTE clash in Vavuniyaa-Mannaar border

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 10:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) clashed Wednesday morning around 8:00 a.m. in Thampanai area in Mannaar-Vavuniyaa border where the SLA launched a ground offensive, according to the military spokesman of the LTTE, Irasiah Ilanthirayan.
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Eelaventhan meets Harper, U.S. officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 13:32 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr Eelaventhan, currently visiting Canada and United States met with Canada's ruling Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and politicians from other parties during the early part of November, and also met with United States State Department officials on the 14th of November, briefing them on the worsening humanitarian conditions in Tamil areas of North East of Sri Lanka, and the deteriorating ground situation that is leading towards large scale confrontation between Sri Lanka Security forces and Liberation Tigers.
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SLA, SLN conduct war exercise in northern seas

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 12:17 GMT]
Thousand of troops of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) together with a number of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) shallow water vessels conducted a three hour war rehearsal Monday morning beginning at 6:00a.m. in Araali, Valigaamam, sources in Jaffna said.
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Thileepan statue destroyed in Nalloor, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 05:23 GMT]
A gang of unidentified men went on rampage Sunday night, during the curfew hours, demolishing the statue of Lt. Col. Thileepan (Rasiah Parthipan) located behind the historic Nalloor Kanthaswamy Koayil on Point Pedro Nalloor road, sources in Jaffna said.
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TRO denies U.S. accusations, says proscription will harm Tamil people

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 20:23 GMT]
Expressing dismay over U.S. Department of Treasury's action against the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), and reiterating that TRO is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," the TRO, in a press release issued Sunday, stated categorically that "all funds received are utilized according to the wishes of the donor, in line with the stated mission of TRO, to assist the tsunami and war affected populations of the NorthEast. None of these funds are, or have ever been found to have been, misappropriated for use by any other organization or used inappropriately by TRO itself."
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TNA MPs condemn US action on TRO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 18:19 GMT]
"While the Government of Sri Lanka has imposed an effective economic embargo in Vanni, and the sustained bombardments of Sri Lanka Military have made situation difficult for International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) to work amidst the affected local residents in border villages of Tamil areas, United States has made the situation worse for the Tamil people, internally displaced and reeling under economic hardship, by stopping the humanitarian aid from the branches world-wide of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)," said Kajendran, parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance.
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Indian academic doubts IC's understanding of LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 15:14 GMT]
In a recently brought out publication, 'Sri Lanka: Search for Peace', by the New Delhi based Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, Professor P. Sahadevan, chairperson of the Centre for South Asian studies of the Jawaharlal Nehru University questioned the International Community's understanding of the nature and characteristics of the LTTE. The decision to ban the LTTE by the European Union last year, was a political mistake, Sahadevan writes while contending that the IC is the best bet to bring peace in Sri Lanka.
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Eelam and Indian Security: Need for policy alternatives

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 23:33 GMT]
"The history of the past sixty years has brought us to a point that makes separation a necessary condition to renegotiate a union on an equal basis," writes Ampalam in the concluding part of his opinion column. "We live in a time witnessing the European nation states that gave birth to modern nationalism and fought two world wars, involving the entire world for the sake of their nationalistic competition, coming together as European Union. The Asean countries have set a similar agenda. Such wonders became possible when there were no conquests or outside interferences. Perhaps it is much easier to come together and achieve unity if the concerned parties are free to choose," he writes.
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Eelam and Indian Security: Averting a Catastrophe

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 03:30 GMT]
The isolation of the LTTE and active assistance for a military option against it by the International Community, may lead the LTTE and the people backing it with no option other than facing the situation. The repercussions are sure to threaten Indian security for a long time to come. The major responsibility lies with the governments concerned in avoiding a catastrophe to the already suffering masses of Sri Lanka. The gap between the Government of India and the LTTE is a serious impediment in bringing out a balance in the crisis management. A situation of having outraged people on either side of the Palk Strait is unaffordable to Indian security, writes Opinion Columnist Ampalam.
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'Rajapaksa sustains majority votes' - UPFA minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 November 2007, 18:18 GMT]
Addressing a live political discussion programme in the Sri Lankan state-run ITN (Independent Television Network) TV, Thursday night, the Sri Lankan Minister of Education, Susil Premajayantha, assured viewers that the SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa has sustained sufficient number of votes, more than 117, to pass the 2008 budget in the parliament, coming Monday. Mr. Susil Premajayantha, who appeared in the "Thulawa" programme, said that the Rajapaksa government was not dependent on the JVP to pass the budget.
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