Heroes Day celebrations held across Jaffna as jubilation triumphs fear

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 November 2006, 12:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers remained inside their camps in the villages in Vadamaradchy, Valikamam, Thenmaradchi sectors and the outskirts of Jaffna city following posters that warned soldiers to stay inside their camps Sunday. Villages that have remained gripped with fear due to forced disappearances and killings for many weeks, were decorated with red and yellow flags, and youths wearing tiger-striped uniforms were seen in many places in Vadamaradchy, residents said. Meanwhile, SLA soldiers in Jaffna town and the surroundings of University of Jaffna and Parameswara Junction on Palay Road conducted search operations.
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LTTE leader participates in Heroes commemoration event

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 November 2006, 08:22 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers, Velupillai Pirapaharan, took part in a commemoration event held in Vanni Saturday when the three-day long 'Tamil National Heroes Day' remembrance events were inaugurated. From 27 November 1982, when the first LTTE fighter Lt.Sanker was killed, until 20 November 2006, a total of 18,742 fighters have died, all of whom have been declared War Heroes by the LTTE. 818 LTTE fighters, 568 men and 250 women fighters of the LTTE, have been killed in a largely defensive war faced by the Tigers in 2006. The list also includes members of Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS) and selected members of other organisations.
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‘Everything on table, equal respect for all’ needed for peace - Murphy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 15:55 GMT]
Peace talks can succeed only if “everything is on the table and there is respect for all points of view,” Britain’s former Northern Ireland Minister said Thursday after meeting Tamil Tiger officials. Saying there is a “huge comparison” between the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka, Mr. Murphy said: “no one can win this kind of war. … we have the same message for the Sri Lankan government as the LTTE: keep searching for a solution, ensure the ceasefire agreement is one of integrity, renounce violence and ensure there is a proper look at everything that can bring peace.”
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Pirapaharan confers Maamanithar award to Raviraj

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 05:10 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Velupillai Pirapaharan, bestowed the title Maamanithar (Great Humanbeing) on the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj Friday. "As a parliamentarian he worked tirelessly for the Tamil nation... He shattered the false propaganda of the Sinhala state infusing his arguments with his legal expertise. He stood firm and fought injustice in the face of threats from paramilitary violence," Pirapaharan said in the statement conferring the award.
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Body washed ashore, buried in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 01:14 GMT]
The body of an unidentified male person washed ashore in Talaimannar coast Sunday was buried at the government expense Monday on the orders of the Mannar Additional Magistrate Mr.T.J.Pirapaharan, legal sources in Mannar said.
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Tamileelam Legislature enacts Child Protection Act

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 October 2006, 22:29 GMT]
Tamileelam Child Protection Act 2006 (Act No. 03 of 2006), enacted by Tamileelam Legislature Secretariat and which became effective on October 15, brings into law measures to protect the Rights and well-being of children from inception of life through adolescence, Head of Tamileelam Judiciary, E. Pararajasingham, told TamilNet Wednesday. The Act, containing 83 sections, makes education compulsory upto grade 11, mandates registration of all child births, outlaws enlisting of children under 17 years in Armed Forces, makes participation of under 18-year olds in armed combat illegal, and proscribes all forms of child labour.
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Two Tamil fishermen shot dead in Mannar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 October 2006, 12:36 GMT]
Bodies of two Tamil young fishermen who left Pesalai in Mannar district on Friday afternoon for fishing were found with several gunshot injuries Sunday morning inside their fibre glass fishing boat about 15 km off Pesalai coast. The victims have been identified as 19 year-old Savarian Robinson Koonja and Sahayam Ajith Croos of Ward No: 08 of Pesalai, fisheries sources said.


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Scrap CFA, oust Norway, Weerawanse urges SC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2006, 09:07 GMT]
Wimal Weerawanse, the parliamentarian and propaganda secretary of the Sinhala nationalist Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), welcoming the Monday verdict of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court (SC) ruling that the merged Northeastern province was unconstitutional, invalid and illegal, told the press in Colombo Monday that the SC should declare the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) illegal and oust Norway from its facilitator role.
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SLA arrests two Tamil youths in Mannar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 October 2006, 17:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested two Tamil youths at Uyirtharasankulam in Mannar district Friday evening when they were riding a motorbike towards their houses. Later they were handed over to the Mannar Police, sources said.


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Claymore mine recovered in Murunkan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 October 2006, 12:11 GMT]
A minor employee of the Murunkan general hospital was arrested Thursday in connection with the discovery of a live claymore mine in a by-lane along Mannar-Madawachchi (A-14) highway at 7:30 a.m. in the Murunkan police division. The suspect, Sebastian Vethanayagam, 41, father of four children, was produced in Mannar courts Friday morning after interrogation, legal sources said.


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Mannar Tamil student released on surety bail

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2006, 13:31 GMT]
A Tamil student arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday afternoon during a search operation following the discovery of a ten kilo weighed claymore mine at a site located closed Uyilankulam SLA camp was allowed in surety bail by the Additional Mannar Magistrate T.J.Pirapaharan.
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Arrested Kalpity fishermen to appear in Mannar Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2006, 00:02 GMT]
Thirty one Kalpity fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) based in Talaimannar on September 21 for allegedly entering the high security zone in six trawlers were ordered remand and by the Mannar additional magistrate T.J.Pirapaharan, and are to appear in court Tuesday , legal sources said.
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Skeleton of male person recovered from Thalvupadu sea shore

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2006, 12:31 GMT]
A human skeleton recovered from Thalvupadu sea shore in Mannar district Sunday evening was handed over to the Mannar general hospital by the Mannar Police. On a tip off from members of the public the Mannar Police rushed to the coast and recovered the skeleton said to be of a male person.
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Norwegian peace envoy arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 October 2006, 17:43 GMT]
Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Jon Hanssen Bauer arrived in Colombo accompanied by Norwegian foreign ministry officials Sunday afternoon by Sri Lankan Airlines flight, sources in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka sets new conditions for talks - reports

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 22:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government has imposed new conditions for talks with the Liberation Tigers, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, chief spokesman on defence matters told the Sunday Times. The paper says the conditions are: “a specific time frame should be provided by the LTTE to resume and conclude peace talks; the LTTE should give an assurance to the international community and Donor Co-chairs of the peace process that it will not use sea routes to smuggle into Sri Lanka any military hardware and the LTTE should make a commitment that it would not resort to any violence during the period of the talks.”
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Thileepan, Shankar commemorated in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 23:22 GMT]
The nineteenth death anniversary of Lt. Col. Thileepan, a political leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who fasted unto death in 1987, and the fifth death anniversary of Col. Shankar, a senior commander and the founder of the Tiger air-wing, who was killed in a Sri Lankan Deep Penetration Unit triggered Claymore mine in Vanni in 2001, were commemorated in NorthEast on Tuesday. Hundreds of people took part in token fasts. Temple and church bells were rung at 10:48 a.m. The leader of the LTTE, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, paid homage to Thileepan and Shankar at a commemoration event.
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SLN arrests youth with welding sticks in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 18:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Sunday night arrested a Tamil youth on a charge of allegedly transporting a consignment of welding sticks to Vidathaltivu in LTTE controlled territory in Mannar district. Twenty two boxes of welding sticks were also recovered by the SLN when they were on patrol duty along Pallimunai coast.
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37 Trinco Tamil civilians arrested along Mannar coast

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 21:16 GMT]
Thirty seven members of seven Tamil families were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Sunday morning when they were waiting for a boat along the coast of Talaimannar in Mannar district to flee to South India to seek refugee. All of them have been residents of Trincomalee. After preliminary investigation the SLN authorities handed them to Talaimannar Police for further action.
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India-bound refugees detained

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 17:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) detained three boats with 40 Tamil civilians, including women and children, in Mannar sea, while fleeing to Tamilnadu in South India, Thursday evening. Navy fired warning shots to stop the boats when the boatmen failed to obey the orders of the SLN patrol craft.
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SLN arrests 70 Trinco Tamils in Talaimannar coast

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 11:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Thursday evening arrested seventy members of seventeen Tamil families from Trincomalee district when they were waiting for fishing boats along the coast of Talaimannar to flee to South India, civil sources in Mannar said. The SLN also arrested two boatmen who were to take the refugees by Mannar Sea. The arrested civilians were handed over to Talaimannar Police for inquiry by the SLN, police sources said.
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