Vavuniya stranded to be sent to Jaffna in November

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2006, 01:06 GMT]
More than 2500 people stranded in Vavuniya who came from Jaffna Peninsula to Vavuniya and other area for various reasons before the closure of A-9 road on August 11, will be sent to Jaffna by ships from November 1 onwards, Sivanathan Kishore, Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian for Vanni district, said Thursday quoting the Commissioner of Essential Services.
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IFJ condemns bombing of VoT radio station

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 October 2006, 16:51 GMT]
The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the bombing of the official radio station of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Voice of Tigers (VoT), by the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) in Vanni last Tuesday. The IFJ, reminding the Sri Lankan government of its "absolute obligation" under the Geneva Convention to respect the safety of journalists, said it hoped the attack does not set a "terrible precedent" for further "targeted attacks" on media outlets. The SLAF attack on Thamileelam Vanoli tower in Kokkavil, destroyed the main transmitter and tower of the station that broadcasts three services, the VoT, a Sinhala service and a Tamil commercial service from Vanni.
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Nimalarajan remembered by Jaffna Journalists

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 October 2006, 00:05 GMT]
North Lanka Journalist Association (NLJA) assisted by Jaffna journalists observed 6th death anniversary of Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, BBC correspondent and a senior journalist, Thursday, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Members of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) are widely believed to have been responsible for the 19 October 2000 killing.
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Tigers ready for talks, Colombo should end offensives, air-strikes - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 October 2006, 10:08 GMT]
"Colombo drew first blood, launching major offensives and air-strikes into our territory in Vaharai, and in Vanni mainland, even after we made it clear that we were serious about the talks in Geneva, extending our full support and providing necessary assurances following the call by the International Community to engage in talks and cease all violence," LTTE's Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan told TamilNet after meeting Japanese delegation headed by Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi at the LTTE Political Head Quarters in Kilinochchi Wednesday. Tigers are prepared for talks in Geneva, Mr. Thamilchelvan said.
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SLAF bombs broadcast tower in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2006, 10:38 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers Tuesday destroyed the main broadcast tower and transmitter of the Thamileelam Radio that broadcasts the official broadcast of the Liberation Tigers, the Voice of Tigers (VoT), Thamileelam Vanoli, a commercial Tamil service and a Sinhala language broadcast. Political Head of the LTTE, S.P. Thamilchelvan, who visited the broadcast station along the A9 Road in Kokkavil, 15 km south of Kilinochchi, charged the Sri Lankan Government for attacking the broadcast station with a "planned agenda to suppress the freedom of expression prior to the talks scheduled in Geneva."
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Military installations "legitimate targets" when Colombo bombs locations far off FDLs, says LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2006, 13:24 GMT]
LTTE's Military Spokesman, Irasiah Ilanthirayan, ruling out the possibility of "suicide mission" as the mode of attack on Sri Lanka Navy in Habarana Monday, declined to reject Tigers regarding the military targets outside the Forward Defence Line (FDL) localities as legitimate targets if and when Sri Lankan military continued to engage in aerial bombardment and artillery shelling far beyond the defence line localities into LTTE territory.
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Staff boycott work after monk goes berserk inside Secretariat

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 October 2006, 22:11 GMT]
The staff of the Manmunai North Divisional Secretariat in Batticaloa boycotted duties for an hour from 10:00 a.m. Friday condemning the cantankerous behavior of the Buddhist Monk, Ampitiya Sumanarathna Thera, inside the Secretariat at 9:30 a.m., shouting and swearing at the working staff. Officials said the belligerent Thera falsely accused the staff of reneging on providing funds allocated to renovate the Sri Mangalaramaya Vihara where he is the chief priest, Secretariat sources said.
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SLAF Kfir jets drop 48 bombs on Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 October 2006, 18:48 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers, in one of the biggest bombing raids in the heart of Vanni, dropped at least 48 bombs in two sorties on Muttayankattu village in Mullaithivu district, Friday between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m., Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) officials in Kilinochchi said. Muttayankattu is located 10 km southeast of Puthukudiyiruppu.
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NGOs to testify before Select Committee

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 October 2006, 00:46 GMT]
Non-governmental organizations (NGO) identified as potential threats to national security are to be called to testify before the parliamentary select committee appointed to inquire into the activities of NGOs, said Mr.Wijitha Herat, Chairman of the Select Committee. Wijitha Heart is a parliamentarian representing the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
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Co-chairs must act to stop war- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2006, 18:30 GMT]
"Co-chairs and the International community should go beyond making statements by taking concrete steps to pressure the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to stop waging an aggressive war and to compel the GoSL to engage in meaningful talks with the Liberation Tigers," said Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, at a press meet held Thursday morning in Colombo Renuka Hotel, TNA sources in Colombo said.
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LTTE captures SLA soldier, locates 75 dead bodies of Lankan troopers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2006, 13:48 GMT]
LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan Wednesday evening told media that the Tigers had repulsed the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive Wednesday. SLA troopers who broke through the LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) positions in Kilali and Muhamalai were defeated, leaving around 75 dead bodies of Sri Lankan soldiers inside the LTTE territory in Kilali. A soldier was captured alive by the Tigers, he said. Three tanks were damaged and one destroyed, according to LTTE military spokesman. Meanwhile, SLA sources in Colombo claimed 35 were killed and more than 300 wounded in the Sri Lankan offensive.
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Oxfam funds housing for war, tsunami affected in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2006, 02:41 GMT]
Oxfam Planning Director in Batticaloa M. Yogeswaran laid the foundation stone for the housing scheme in Santhipuram, Kaluthavalai in the Manmunai South Eruvilpattu Regional Secretariat where Oxfam will construct 22 houses each worth 850,000 rupees, civil sources said. Oxfam is filling the void left by other Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) which withdrew their commitments due to recent violence, Yogeswaran added.


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Retired school principal shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 October 2006, 07:56 GMT]
Former principal of the Mahajana College in Thellipalai, Mr.C.Nagarasa, 67, was shot dead by two unidentified men, at his home near Thurkai Amman Temple, around 7:00 a.m., Saturday. Sri Lanka Army maintains a camp about 50 metres from Mr Nagarasa's house.
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Navalady families' tsunami woes continue

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 October 2006, 00:24 GMT]
Families of tsunami destroyed Navalady in Batticaloa District picketed in front of the offices of the Batticaloa Municipal Council, Manmunai North Regional Secretariat and Kacheri Planning Secretariat Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., demanding permanent housing, civil society sources in Batticaloa said. More than 250 families have been living with only basic facilities in make shift tents in Thiraimadu, Batticaloa for the past two years.


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Sri Lanka doubles defence spending

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 October 2006, 10:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka's hardline government plans to double defence spending next year, Reuters reported Thursday. Defence spending will rise 100 percent next year to 139.6 billion rupees from 69.5 billion budgeted for 2006, the appropriation bill seen by Reuters ahead of its presentation to parliament showed.
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SLAF bombs Vanni as Special Envoy meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2006, 11:07 GMT]
Three Kfir jet bombers of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) flew over Vanni and attacked Pooneryn as Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer met the Liberation Tigers Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi to discuss the modalities for creating a conducive environment for talks, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said. Mr. Thamilchelvan told media after the meeting that Colombo was continuously engaged in "offensive aggression," despite the assurances given to the Norwegian facilitators following the call by the Co-Chairs to cease all violence. Tigers were still extending support to unconditional talks as urged by the International Community, the LTTE political head told TamilNet.
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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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USAID to reassess programs in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 08:40 GMT]
Newly arrived Mission Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development Rebecca W. Cohn has said that the USAID is reassessing all its existing programs in Sri Lanka to determine the most appropriate direction for U.S. foreign assistance in the coming years, in light of the renewed conflict. "It’s important to work in a participatory way and involve the people we are assisting in the decisions regarding the projects we undertake," she was quoted as saying by the US Embassy in Sri Lanka, in a press release issued in Colombo Tuesday.
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SLMM, LTTE meet in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 21:41 GMT]
Representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) visited the sites damaged by the shelling and air-raids by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in the LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa district, and met S. Seelalan, the deputy Political Head of the LTTE for Batticaloa district, and Manoj, the Head of the Planning division, at Thenaham Thursday, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said.
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TNA parliamentarian protests against human rights violations by SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 21:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and the M P for Vavuniya, Sivanathan Kishore registered strong protest with the Vanni Military Commanding Officer Major. Gen. Edrisinge on Friday for not issuing ‘arrest receipts’ for persons arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniya, said sources. He added in his protest that the SLA which conducted massive cordon and search operations in Vavuniya in the recent past, has failed to notify the relatives of the persons arrested by them during these search operations and condemned the practice of releasing abducted residents, blind folded on to the streets, as serious violations of human rights, added the sources.
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