APRC is dead, says UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 August 2007, 00:43 GMT]
After the Tuesday meeting of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) on Constitutional Reforms was abruptly halted and adjourned indefinitely due to demands from Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) members, and failed to "finalise a draft report by today to keep to a deadline set by the United National Party UNP," the opposition UNP spokesperson said the "APRC process is dead in the water," the Morning Leader reported in the Wednesday edition.
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A few devotees attend Maaviddapuram CAR festival

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 August 2007, 16:54 GMT]
Only around two thousand devotees entered through Sri Lanka Army (SLA) checkpoint in Thellippazhai to attend the Thear festival of the historic Maaviddapuram Kandasamy temple located inside the Valikaamam north High Security Zone (HSZ). After the SLA offensives in 1990 civilians living close to temple and surrounding areas were evicted, and in 1999 the area was demarcated to fall within the HSZ, despite protests from Chaiva organizations.
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Right to Protect

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 August 2007, 01:01 GMT]
Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group, in the eighth Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture at International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) , Colombo, 29 July said "The State has a primary responsibility to protect the individuals within it. Where the state fails in that responsibility, through either incapacity or ill-will, a secondary responsibility to protect falls on the wider international community. That, in a nutshell, is the core of the responsibility to protect (R2P) idea" and that "Sri Lanka is anything but an R2P."
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Japan's aid not conducive to peace in Sri Lanka - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 July 2007, 19:38 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has said that the decision by Sri Lanka's major donor country Japan, to continue economic aid to Sri Lanka, will soften the International pressure on the SL government to seek a political solution and strengthen Colombo to pursue the military option. Pointing out Sri Lanka President's categorical statement that there would be no change in his policy on a "unitary structure of a government" with the "district as the unit of devolution," Mr. Sampanthan dismissed the efforts of All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) as "no more than a mere pretense" to show some action is being taken towards political solution.
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JVP MPs demonstrate outside British High Commission

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 May 2007, 07:02 GMT]
A group of JVP parliamentarians led by Wimal Weerawansa, the propaganda secretary, with hundreds of supporters and district organizers of Jathika Viumukithi Peramuna (JVP), demonstrated Wednesday afternoon outside the British High Commission in Colombo. The protest voiced opposition for interference by Britain and condemned the debate held in the House of Commons in London regarding the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, sources in Colombo said.
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UK, USA, assuming Policeman role in Sri Lankan affairs - Wimal Weerawanse

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 May 2007, 01:05 GMT]
"Britain and the USA have assumed the role of policemen in the affairs of Sri Lanka," the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) propaganda secretary, Wimal Weerawanse accused at an adjournment debate in Sri Lanka parliament Tuesday, parliamentary sources in Colombo said.
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2 civilians shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 May 2007, 00:02 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen killed two civilians in ka'luvaagnchikkudi and Ea’raavoor police divisions Monday night, sources in Batticaloa District said.
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3 Tamil IDPs shot dead in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 May 2007, 09:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers lying in ambush along a lake at Siththaa'ndi in Ea'raavoor police division in Batticaloa district shot dead three Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) including a woman, who had gone Sunday to check their cultivation.


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LTTE: Sri Lanka’s accusations of credit card fraud is ‘attempt to distract from rights abuses’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2007, 09:08 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, responding to allegations by the Sri Lankan Embassy in London that the Liberation Tigers were involved in organised crime in Britain involving the cloning of credit cards, dismissed the accusations and slammed them as an attempt by the Colombo government to distract international attention from widespread human rights abuses by its armed forces. Mr. Thamilchelvan said Sri Lanka's accusations which sought to implicate the hardworking and law-abiding Tamil Diaspora, stemmed from the "same chauvinism that caused the island’s protracted ethnic war."
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HRW urges Pope to discuss human rights with Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2007, 08:48 GMT]
The Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams, Tuesday, urged Pope Benedict XVI, to raise the deteriorating human rights crisis in Sri Lanka with Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is visiting Vatican this week. Sri Lankan military and police forces, as well as proxy armed groups, are engaged in serious violations of the laws of war and human rights, reiterated Human Rights Watch in the letter.
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Punguduthivu body may belong to Fr.Brown, say Jaffna clergy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2007, 02:06 GMT]
The Catholic clergy of Jaffna peninsula suspect that the mutilated torso found at Punkuduthivu sea on 14 March 2007 packed in a military sand bag tied with a grindstone by barbed wire, likely belongs to the disappeared Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, sources close to the church in Jaffna said. The church has appealed to the Jaffna Magistrate to facilitate sending blood samples to an authorized lab in Colombo to perform DNA tests to identify the suspect body.
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Sinhalese appointed East's Chief Secretary

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2007, 02:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed Mr.Herat Abeyeweera as the Chief Secretary of the de-merged Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) on the recommendation of Provincial Governor Rear Admiral (retired) Mohan Wijayawickrema. The new appointment has come into effect from April 1 Sunday to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Mr.R.Thiakalingam who held the post for two months since the de-merger of the North East Provincial Council (NEPC).
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Colombo battles to sidestep Human Rights focus - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 April 2007, 15:58 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is trying to sidestep International Community's focus on Colombo's worst record of human rights abuses and institutionalized impunity for crimes against the Tamil people, by attempting to use the forum of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit against Tamil people's right to defend themselves, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan told TamilNet when asked to comment on Colombo's focus shift to LTTE's air capability, prior to the 14th SAARC Summit in New Delhi.
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Thanthai Chelva's 109th anniversary commemorated

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 16:04 GMT]
Mr. S.J.V.Chelva- nayakam, founder of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) and fondly called by Tamils as "Thanthai" (father) was remembered on his 109th birthday as Jaffna Bishop of South Indian Diocese Rt Rev.Jebanesan, Thanthai Chelva Trustee, garlanded the statue of late leader Mr.Chelvanayakam located near the Duraiappah stadium in Jaffna within the High Security Zone (HSZ) at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, sources in Jaffna said.
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Air-strike, a warning to SLAF- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 March 2007, 13:25 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan, stating that the air strike by the Tigers on the nerve centre of the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) in Katunayake was "a one hundred percent successful mission," Thursday told media in Kilinochchi that the "precision air strike" by the Tigers on the SLAF was a "clear message" to the Sri Lankan state, to end the sustained bombardment of the Tamil homeland. "Within the last 6 months alone, the Sri Lankan Air Force has carried out at least 2 sorties every other day for more than 90 days. Hundreds of Tamil civilians have been killed, many wounded, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced due to the repeated bombardment," he added
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TNA urges Australia not to send back 85 Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 March 2007, 08:59 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarians urged the Australian and Indonesian governments, in press communiqué released on Wednesday, not to send back the 85 Tamils intercepted by the Australian Navy in Australian Sea on 22 February citing that if they were sent back their lives will be in danger from the Sri Lankan armed forces and collaborating paramilitary groups.
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SLA readies for Manalaru offensive, Tigers warn of bloodbath

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 March 2007, 12:07 GMT]
"We are aware that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has amassed military hardware close to Manalaru in preparation for a major offensive towards Mullaitivu area. Consequence of this offensive will be a catastrophic bloodbath across Sri Lanka," said Mr. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE Political Wing, speaking to TamilNet after meeting the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar and Norwegian Embassy official Erik Nuremberg, in Kilinochchi Monday.


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VoT begins satellite transmission using Eurostar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 16:47 GMT]
Voice of Tigers, the official radio broadcast of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), began satellite broadcast to South Asian countries from Vanni starting from today, LTTE sources from Kilinochchi said. "We are holding the inauguration ceremony on the 69th birthday of late Anton Balasingham as a mark of respect for his contribution to the progress of Tamil media. I also wish to thank all the staff at VoT for making the station a voice of Tamils," said Head of LTTE's Political Wing, S.P. Thamilchelvan speaking at the event.
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SLA shoots dead civilian in Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 12:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on a foot patrol along A9 highway, 300 meters from Chavakachcheri town in Thenmaradchy, shot dead a civilian at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, sources said. The soldiers panicked and opened fire when the man suddenly emerged from a lavatory adjoining his house, relatives said.
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Youth shot dead in Trincomalee suburb

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 February 2007, 01:11 GMT]
A Tamil youth was shot dead by unidentified armed men riding a motorbike near the victims house in Thuwarakandu area in Chelvanayakapuram, a suburb in Trincomalee Sunday afternoon, sources in Trincomalee said.
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