SLN imposes ban on night fishing in Delft

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 February 2007, 11:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Delft, an islet of Jaffna, issued a directive Wednesday banning fishing and using boats on the Delft sea from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., fisheries society representatives in Delft said. Ninety percent of the total 7000 population of Delft depend on fishing for their livelihood, and are seriously affected by this ban on fishing.
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3 LTTE cadres, Home guard killed in Amparai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 February 2007, 01:30 GMT]
Three Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) cadres and a Home Guard were killed, and two other Home Guards wounded in a firefight at a remote boarder village in Amparai district, around 5:00 a.m. Police sources said.
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SLAF steps up aerial bombardment in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 February 2007, 07:16 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers Monday morning dropped 18 bombs in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Visvamadu in Mullaithivu district in Vanni.
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Trapped Vanni school teachers to be employed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 February 2007, 00:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander for Jaffna, Major Gen. G. S. Chandrasri, told the teachers of Vanni schools, trapped in Jaffna peninsula due to SLA closure of the A9 route in August 2006, that they will receive temporary assignments to teach peninsula schools. Major Gen Chandrasri met with nearly half of the 700 stranded teachers at a special centre at Kattuvan, located close to Palaly Military Base, around 7:00 p.m Monday, education officials in Jaffna said.
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Phone service to Jaffna reactivated

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 February 2007, 10:32 GMT]
More than 6,000 telephone land-line connections to the Jaffna peninsula and to Vanni which had been severed for more than a week began functioning from 5:00 p.m Monday, sources from Jaffna said. Calls from Jaffna peninsula to Kilinochchi using 228 area-code also resumed functioning.
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Auto-rickshaw driver shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 09:26 GMT]
A young auto-rickshaw driver was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Kulumadu junction in Vavuniya, around noon, Saturday, police said.
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266 Tamils arrested in search operation in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 07:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police said 266 Tamils, including 53 women, were arrested in a dawn to noon house-to-house search operation, conducted by hundreds of police and armed troops in Fort area and its suburbs in Colombo city, Saturday. They are detained in Fort Police Station and are being interrogated by specially appointed police investigation teams, the police said. The police said the arrested are permanent residents of Jaffna district.
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TE Law College releases book on 'Family Law'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 02:25 GMT]
"We are very proud that even after the Tamil community has been subjected to unprecedented hardships, people have held onto their strong cultural values. In the last 12 to 13 years only 154 families have sought separation or divorce in Vanni region. It is a remarkable statistic in a society that has been struggling for social changes for many years," K. V. Balakumaran, senior member of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) said Wednesday.
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Batticaloa GA visits Vaharai

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 February 2007, 00:44 GMT]
"Vaharai residents displaced due to the offensive of Sri Lanka army (SLA) will be resettled very soon, and displaced residents of Trincomalee district will follow soon after," said Sundaram Arumainayagam, the Government agent (GA) of Batticaloa district speaking to the press Thursday.
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Telephone link to Vanni, most of peninsula, cut off

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 20:36 GMT]
Telephone lines to Vanni and most of Jaffna have remained cut for more than four days since Saturday 10:55 p.m. Financial transactions in many branches of the banks have been paralyzed, fundamental services such as hospital ambulances, civil services and media, dependent on telephone communication have been severely affected. Vanni, without celluar link, remains completely cut off for communication. A group of Sri Lanka Army soldiers who visited Vavuniya Telecom Saturday evening had instructed the technicians to accompany them towards the communication exchange at Madukanda, 4 km southeast of Vavuniya town, and shut down the telephone link to Vanni.
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27 civilians arrested in Colombo north

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 11:07 GMT]
27 civilians including three women, majority of them Tamils, were arrested Tuesday in Colombo north police division in the western province during a search operation on vehicles plying to and from Kandy and Colombo, conducted by the police. They have been detained in Gampaha police station and are being interrogated, sources in Colombo said.
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Irate civilians smash travel office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 10:41 GMT]
More than six hundred prospective passengers who were planning to travel out of Jaffna peninsula by private planes and queuing outside the air line office on Stanley Road on Monday, turned angry when they were told that only one hundred would be given tokens for issue of air tickets. The irritated civilians smashed the windows of the air line office and also caused damages to air-line property inside the building, sources in Jaffna said.
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TRO staffers disappearance reaches one-year anniversary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 01:07 GMT]
Seven staffers of Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), an NGO registered with the Government of Sri Lanka, were abducted on 29th and 30th January 2006, by armed paramilitiaries inside Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled area in Polannaruwa. In a press release issued from Colombo offices, the TRO said: "To date the Sri Lanka Police have yet to conduct any meaningful investigation or inquiry into these disappearances. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka investigated this case and made a report to its head that has never been released."


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UNP dissidents, SLMC join UPFA government, appointed ministers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 January 2007, 09:28 GMT]
The first major cabinet reshuffle of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government took place Sunday morning in the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat. Dissident parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) joined the Sri Lankan government. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) led by Rauff Hakeem also joined the government. UNP dissident Karu Jayasuriya becomes Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister, Milinda Moragoda, the new Minister of Tourism and G.L.Peiris, Minister of Export Promotion and International trade. Mangala Samaraweera loses his Foreign Ministry portfolio. Rohitha Bogollagama has been appointed new Foreign Minister.
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Attack boats enter Harbour of Colombo, SLN claims destroying 3 boats

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 January 2007, 02:24 GMT]
Three to five attack boats Saturday morning entered the outer harbour waters of Colombo Harbour and launched attacks on Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vessels. Big explosions were heard, according to the crew members of a cargo ship. SLN claimed to have attacked and destroyed 3 "suspicious boats" moving towards restricted waters off Colombo, around 5:40 a.m. Shock waves from the explosion slightly damaged a Panama registered container vessel PELOPONESIAN PRIDE, approaching the harbour. A search operation was launched by the Sri Lanka Navy and the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) after the explosions, that comes 3 months after an attack on Galle Harbour.
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6 reported missing in Chavakachcheri, SLA bans bikes in town

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 15:14 GMT]
Six Tamil youths who were in Chavakachcheri town Tuesday were reported missing after Sri Lanka Army troopers launched an extensive search and cordon operation in the town Tuesday, arresting and releasing more than one hundred youths, after a bomb attack that killed an SLA soldier and 2 civilians.
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Sri Lanka allocates oil exploration in Mannar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 January 2007, 06:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka has given one of eight blocks to explore for oil in Mannar to India and another to China, reports said this week. Sri Lanka is planning to allocate the rest of the six blocks in three months. A Norway-based company was originally handling the exploration process, but the Sri Lankan government has bought the information off it and passed it to an Australian firm for interpretation instead, the reports said. Colombo has already sold two sets of the available data to India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and British Gas.
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Subdued Pongu Tamil celebrations held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 January 2007, 15:25 GMT]
Sixth anniversary celebrations commemorating Pongu Tamil event was celebrated in a simple ceremony held on Wednesday in Jafna university premises near the University library, student union officials in Jaffna campus said..In the function attended by a large number of undergraduates, a number of academics including heads of departments and Deans of the various faculties lit the flame of sacrifice, and placed floral wreaths near the sign board containing Pongu Tamil declaration.
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Remains of Eelanatham Journalist cremated in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 January 2007, 11:43 GMT]
The event paying final tribute to 'Patriot' Late V. Aruljothinathan, the senior most journalist of Eelanatham Tamil daily, was held at Eelanatham office at Jeyanthinagar in Kilinochchi Wednesday around 2:00 p.m, presided by V. Sudarmani, deputy head of Eelanatham.
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Sinhala civilian slain, Tamils threatened in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 January 2007, 07:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troopers and police personnel Thursday morning threatened Tamil civilians at Mathavadikulam, a suburb located 3 km south of Vavuniya town, after a gang shot and killed a Sinhala civilian Wednesday night. The SLA soldiers warned Tamil residents that they would be chased away from the area, residents complained. The killing follows the slaying of 6 Tamil civilians Tuesday night in Vavuniya. Tension prevails in Mathavadikulam and Moonrumurippu.
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