Sri Lankan military desecrates war cemeteries in Batticaloa - TNA parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 August 2007, 07:03 GMT]
Tamils returning to their villages after months in refugee camps in Batticaloa were frustrated to find out that the cemeteries of their LTTE war dead sons and daughters have vanished without any trace, said Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian P. Ariyanenthiran. Sri Lankan military has recently bulldozed and desecrated Tiger War Heroes Cemeteries in the district. The destruction of the largest war heroes' cemetery in Tharavai in Vadamunai region and the next largest cemetery at Thaa'ndiyadi in the western hinterland of the district "not only mark the SL forces' continued disrespect of the norms of the civlized world, but also reveal a colonization agenda in the near future," he charged.


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Oamanthai checkpoint to open five days

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 August 2007, 21:15 GMT]
International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) Kil'inochchi residential representative Katya Lawrence had informed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) administration that the entry/exit point between LTTE controlled Vanni and GoSL controlled Vavuniyaa town will be open for public for five days in a week, according to LTTE's NGO and U. N. Liaison Officer M. Pavarasan. Public will be able to use the gateway to Vanni from 9:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m, Monday to Friday, weekly.
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LTTE urges ICRC to restore opening days of Vavuniya entry point

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 August 2007, 06:52 GMT]
Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Thursday discussed the operation of the only entry/exit point between the LTTE controlled Vanni and GoSL controlled Vavuniya town. LTTE officials said they had asked the ICRC to keep the Oamanthai checkpoint open for seven days a week to enable the people of Vanni to get provisions and other commodities uninterrupted.
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2 Vadamaraadchi fishermen feared killed by SLN

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 August 2007, 18:17 GMT]
Two fishermen who went fishing on Vaththiraayan Sea in Vadamaraadchi east Monday early morning have not returned home until Wednesday 3:00 p.m. The fishermen are feared to have been shot dead by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), according to complaints made by family members to Federation of Vadamaraadchi Fisheries Cooperative Societies, the General Manger, T. Balasingham said. The efforts of fellow fishermen and society members to retrieve the bodies of the missing fishermen made Wednesday morning were unsuccessful, he added.
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Thuvarai Moaddai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 August 2007, 19:00 GMT]
The tank in the locality of Thuvarai trees
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Agro Technical Training program inaugurated in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 August 2007, 12:20 GMT]
Training for a group of thirty students in agro-technical field was inaugurated this week in Ariviyal Nakar, Ki'linochchi, as part of a programme implemented by the The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), a Sri Lanka Government registered NGO working in the NorthEast funded by FORUT, sources in Vanni said.
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Foundation laid for Batticaloa new market building

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 August 2007, 10:53 GMT]
The foundation stone for the new market to be constructed in Batticaloa Municipal council area was laid Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. in the presence of a number of officials including M.Uthayakumar, Commissioner of Batticaloa Municipal Council, Ignazio, Director of Planning, USAID, and Muralitharan Batticaloa-Ampara programme co-coordinator.
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53 School girls killed in 2006 SLAF bombing, remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 August 2007, 02:03 GMT]
The first anniversary of the death of fifty three school girls killed at Va'l'lipunam Chegnchoalai orphanage premises from an aerial raid by Kfir fast attack crafts belonging to the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on 14 August 2006, was observed throughout Vannni in Ki'linochchi and Mullaitheevu districts at 10:00 a.m Tuesday, sources in Vanni said.
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Three to be charged in Kadirgamar assassination- AG

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 August 2007, 10:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Attorney General, Mr.C.R.de Silva, told the media Sunday on the second death anniversary of former foreign minister Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar that indictments against three Tamils now in remand will be filed soon after statements from three persons are obtained, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Chandrika Kumaratunge to meet Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2007, 02:11 GMT]
Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, former President of Sri Lanka for two terms from 1994 till 2005, returned to Colombo from UK Sunday and is scheduled to hold talks with Mr.Mangala Samaraweera, leader the Peoples Wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), regarding current political situation Monday evening at her Horagolla residence, media sources said.
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Heavy fighting in the seas off Pulmoaddai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 August 2007, 23:02 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Navy Fast Attack Crafts (FACs) were damaged and more than 20 Dvora gunboats were chased away by the Sea Tigers, the naval force of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), towards Trincomalee port Sunday night after a fierce sea battle off Pulmoaddai that lasted from 10:00 p.m. till 2:30 a.m. Monday, according to Sea Tiger officials in Vanni. Six Sea Tiger fighters were killed in action in the battle, the Tigers said. Meanwhile Sri Lankan military sources claimed that they had sunk a Sea Tiger vessel in the clash.
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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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Black July emblematic of Sinhala rule - paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 July 2007, 05:38 GMT]
In nearly a quarter century of conflict since the state-sponsored anti-Tamil riots of July 1983, despite the tens of thousands of lives that have been lost in the conflict, “there has not been an iota of change in the Sinhala leadership’s thinking – nor, for that matter, in the sentiments of the international community [on the ethnic question],” the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its editorial this week. Comparing the regimes of Presidents Junius Jayawardene, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapakse, the paper contends: “Black July is not just a historical event. Rather, it is an emblematic act of Sinhala rule."
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Sri Lanka blocks TamilNet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 June 2007, 15:32 GMT]
TamilNet has completed 10th year of its web publication on 7th June 2007. TamilNet is a globally based news agency, run by an independent group of persons, to cover news and views related especially to the North and East of Sri Lanka. TamilNet has earned its credibility for news reporting and has become an indispensable news source for analysts and opinion makers worldwide. Unsurprisingly, the Government of Sri Lanka has thought of rewarding the TamilNet on its 10th anniversary by surreptitiously blocking it to the public of Sri Lanka.
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‘The gun is silencing the pen’ – Jaffna journalists

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 May 2007, 11:49 GMT]
Following the recent murder of another journalist in Jaffna by suspected Army-backed paramilitaries, the Journalists Union there has appealed to the international community to defend media freedom in Sri Lanka. Despite international media watchdogs’ disquiet over threats to Sri Lankan journalists, paramilitaries are openly threatening media workers and civil society activists in the northern peninsula, reporters say. The journalists appeal was supported this week by an appeal to the government signed by the Tamil Nationalist Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka’s largest Tamil party.
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SLAF bombardment disturbs schools in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 May 2007, 09:19 GMT]
Primary school children in Mullaiththeevu and Vadamaraadchi districts in Vanni increasingly exhibit anxiety related psychological disorders, said a visiting consultant psychiastrist in the coastal town. On Thursday, two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) MIG fighter jets bombed Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu district in Liberation Tigers controlled Va:n:ni Thursday around 8:15 a.m.
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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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SLAF bombs fuel storage in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 May 2007, 08:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers Monday morning dropped bombs over a fuel storage at Vaddakkachchi around 7:30, Liberation Tigers officials in Kiliniochchi said. The fuel storage, located 8 km east of Ki'linochchi, belonged to the Chamber of Commerce of Private Businesses in Kilinochchi, they said.
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UK lawmakers urge LTTE de-proscription

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 May 2007, 23:47 GMT]
Amid signs of greater British involvement in efforts to end Sri Lanka’s conflict, the UK government was this week urged by ruling and opposition lawmakers to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers in the interests of a negotiated solution. At a landmark debate on Sri Lanka’s conflict in the British Parliament on Wednesday, leaders of a newly formed all party group representing the interests of the island’s Tamils urged the Blair government to lift the ban on the LTTE and also called for LTTE political leaders to be allowed to address the British parliament to better understand their views.
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Tiger planes hit Sri Lanka economy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 May 2007, 18:12 GMT]
Whilst Sri Lanka’s government has brushed aside the threat posed by the Liberation Tigers’ air attacks, the tourist industry is bracing for further setbacks as airlines pull out and other countries warn citizens to stay away. In addition to tourist arrivals falling further, Colombo’s potential as a passenger transit hub was been stymied, Hindustan Times reported. Defence spending is expected to soar as Colombo defends against the LTTE’s aircraft. Even before the recent raids, ratings agency Fitch had given Sri Lanka a rating of BB- with a negative outlook as the domestic security situation posed risks to economic stability and growth.
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