Lasantha killing, a savage assault on media independence - TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2009, 13:56 GMT]
Condemning the assassination of Editor of The Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickrematunga, and extending deepest condolence to his family, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a press release issued today said, "Mr. Wickrematunga has been an ardent critic of the incumbent government," and "the manner of the assassination of Mr. Wickrematunga bears the same hallmarks as the manner of the assassination of the much respected late TNA parliamentarian Hon. N. Raviraj. The TNA has little doubt that Mr. Wickrematunga was targeted by those who were embarrassed by his exposure of the truth and their excesses of high office."
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Raviraj murder suspects further remanded

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2008, 22:31 GMT]
Colombo Additional Magistrate Ms Sujatha Alahaperuma Thursday ordered further remand for the two suspects in the Nadaraja Raviraj murder case till June 4th and directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to communicate immediately with the Attorney General to find out what action they should take against the suspects, legal sources said.
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Mavai Senathirajah meets Jaffna Military Commander

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2008, 03:06 GMT]
Mavai Senathirajah, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, arrived in Jaffna Friday to participate in the 31st Memorial Day of S.J.V. Chelvanayakam Saturday. The first TNA member to return to Jaffna since the assassination of TNA Jaffna MP, Nadarajah Raviraj, in 2006, he met Maj. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, at the latter’s request Friday in Palaali SLA military complex, the MP told media.
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Court extends remand for suspects in Raviraj, Maheswaran killings

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 April 2008, 02:46 GMT]
Suspects in the killings of former Colombo district parliamentarian Thiyagarajah Maheswaran and former Jaffna district parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj were ordered further remand till April 21 and April 23 by the Colombo Magistrate's Court when they were produced in court separately Tuesday, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Diaspora groups demand international action over MP’s slaying

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 02:52 GMT]
Tamil Diaspora organisations Friday condemned the killing of Tamil parliamentarian K. Sivanesan Thursday in a fragmentation mine attack blamed on Sri Lankan commandos and called for international action against the Colombo government. Pointing out that Mr. Sivanesan is the latest Tamil MP to be murdered by suspected Army-backed paramilitaries or members of the security forces in recent years, expatriate organisations from Australia, Canada and Britain called for the Sri Lankan government to be held accountable and for international sanctions to be imposed.
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TNA condemns Sivanesan killing

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2008, 14:38 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a statement issued Friday strongly condemned the killing of its Jaffna district parliamentarian K.Sivanesan on Thursday at Maangku'lam along A9 highway. TNA has been expressing its deepest sorrow and distress over the killing of Mr. Sivanesan in a claymore explosion, the statement added. "Mr. Sivanesan worked hard for the emancipation of the Tamil people, against social injustice and for the development of co-operative movement. He won the hearts of Tamils by his unwavering stand on the freedom struggle by his deed and speech. He dedicated himself from the young age for the liberation of his people," the TNA statement said.
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Withdraw Indian radars from SL: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2008, 13:52 GMT]
Vaiko, General Secretary of the Tamil Nadu based Marumalarchchi Dravida Munneatta Kazhakam (MDMK), wrote to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week urging him not to attend the February 4 independence day celebrations at Colombo to be "carried on by the bloodstained hands of the Rajapaksa regime." He also appealed to Dr. Manmohan Singh to withdraw the Indian radars supplied to Sri Lanka and stop any further supply of military equipment.
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2007: The year in review

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 07:34 GMT]
For the people of the NorthEast, 2007 was a grim year. Sri Lanka’s security forces and allied paramilitaries intensified their campaign of abductions (‘white van’ abductions), torture, and murder of Tamil civilians. Tamil civil society leaders bore the brunt of the counter-insurgency campaign. Jaffna remained an open prison with shortage of essential items, east falling under the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) control with thousands displaced as Colombo concocts colonization schemes to make east a Sinhala majority province.
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Mano Ganesan sends back his security personnel to MSD

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 13:09 GMT]
Stating that under-numbered guards from Ministerial Security Division (MSD) cannot provide meaningful security to him, the Western Province Peoples Front leader and Convener of the Civil Monitoring Commission, turned down a latest offer of increasing the security guards by three by the MSD, after the assassination of fellow Tamil parliamentarian T. Maheswaran. By slashing down the number of security personnel, the MSD is not only putting the parliamentarian's life in danger, but also endangering the lives of remaining security personnel, Mr. Mano Ganesan said in a media release. The MP has earlier said he was preparing to leave Sri Lanka.
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Maheswaran killing, disturbing erosion of democracy- FMM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2008, 12:50 GMT]
The Free Media Movement (FMM), a Colombo-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Tuesday, strongly condemned the assassination of United National Party (UNP) MP T. Maheswaran, and said the murder adds to the "incredible number of political killings and the suppression of those who seek to bring to light gross human rights abuses," in Sri Lanka, and FMM is "mindful that the Sri Lankan Police have been unable and unwilling to bring the killers of other high profile political figures."
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Maheswaran MP assassinated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2008, 04:37 GMT]
Colombo district Tamil parliamentarian of the opposition United National Party, T. Maheswaran, was shot at Ponnambala Va'neasvarar temple at Kochchikkadai in Colombo Tuesday around 10:00 a.m., while he was paying homage at the shrine, and succumbed to his injuries at Colombo hospital. The shooting, which also claimed the live of his bodyguard, comes a few hours after the parliamentarian had said that he would reveal details on how abductions and killings in Jaffna are managed by the Sri Lankan establishment through the EPDP paramilitary, from Colombo. Eleven days ago, the government of Sri Lanka had reduced the Ministerial Security Division guards provided to the MP from Eighteen to two.
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Mano Ganeshan to leave Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 December 2007, 14:14 GMT]
Mano Ganeshan, the leader of Western People's Front(WPF) and Colombo district parliamentarian speaking to media said that he has decided to leave Sri lanka due to security reasons. Mr.Ganeshan said that the decision to go abroad was due to the recent withdrawal by Government of Sri Lanka (GOSl) the 10 security personnel and the security back up vehicle provided to him.
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Protecting Rights defenders, a challenge to Diplomatic missions- Ganesan

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 December 2007, 15:01 GMT]
In an appeal addressed to all Diplomatic Missions in Colombo, Mano Ganesan, Leader of Western People’s Front and Convener of Civil Monitoring Commission, said Friday, that it is a challenge Western Democratic Governments which have expressed "human rights as the most core issue" in Sri Lanka, to urgently move to protect defenders of human rights and humanitarian workers. Ganesan recently charged that Colombo, by withdrawing his security personnel, is creating a climate for getting him assassinated.
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Raviraj murder inquiry fixed for January 2

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 December 2007, 19:24 GMT]
The Colombo Additional Magistrate Sujatha Alahakoon Friday fixed the inquiry into the murder of Nadarajah Raviraj, Jaffna district parliamentarian, for January 2, legal sources in Colombo said. Mr.Raviraj was killed on November 10, 2006 at Naharenpitya in Colombo. The police took two suspects, Nalaka Mathan Veera and Anura Shantha, into custody on suspicion.
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Colombo withdraws security, Mano Ganesan fears for his life

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2007, 01:04 GMT]
Mano Ganesan, founder of Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) and a Rights award winner from the U.S. Government, in a press release issued Wednesday said that Sri Lanka Government has withdrawn eight of the ten Security personnel, and that he fears Sri Lanka Government is creating a climate for getting him assassinated. Pointing out that the official organ of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), has described him "as an arms supplier to the LTTE, drug trafficker and collaborator with the under world criminals," Ganesan said, Colombo is orchestrating attacks against him from communal elements.
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"Separation inevitable if power continues to polarize with ethnic hegemony" - Mano Ganesan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 October 2007, 13:07 GMT]
Mano Ganesan MP, the leader of the Western Province People's Front (WPPF) and the convener of the Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC), engaged in monitoring abductions, addressing the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, at the UN office in Colombo, on Thursday, said that the Tamils would be forced to seek separation as the only alternative if the Sri Lankan government failed to satisfy the "Sri Lankan dream," which he described as a dreamland with political power sharing between all the ethnic communities, where there are no places for war, abductions, extra judicial killings and where there is no room for polarization of political power with ethnic hegemony.
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Tamil sovereignty, basis of peace talks - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 September 2007, 17:37 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), in a statement issued Monday, urged the UN General Assembly which has gathered for its 62nd session in New York, USA, to recognize the concept of the sovereignty of the Tamil people and support the peace process in accordance with this principle. The LTTE statement characterized the confidence of some members of the International Community on Sri Lanka's latest All Party Representative Committee (APRC) which has not brought any constructive outcome to date, as a misplaced confidence.
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Ad Hominem

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 February 2007, 00:28 GMT]
Allan Rock, Special Representative for United Nations Committee on Children and Armed Conflict, came under scathing personal attack in Sri Lanka Government controlled media for his report implicating Colombo for complicity in child recruitment. Ad hominem, a fundamental fallacy much detested in the field of rhetoric, and legal and scientific debate, has become a common tool in Sri Lanka Government's arsenal in confronting bad publicity in matters that have drawn negative international attention.
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British forensic officers study Raviraj exhibits

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 January 2007, 15:48 GMT]
A team of Britain’s Scotland Yard has left Sri Lanka after ten days of forensic and telephone analysis work with police investigating the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Nadarajah Raviraj in November. The British police are taking a number of exhibits back with them for further forensic tests, a statement by the UK High Commission in Colombo said Saturday.
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"Colombo on genocidal war path" - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 23:50 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, in his address on International Human Rights Day held in Kilinochchi Sunday, stated that the Sri Lankan Government, depriving the Tamil people of their fundamental birthrights such as the "right to life, right to national identity and the right to homeland," and disabling the Ceasefire Agreement with its presently introduced "Prevention of Terrorism" act, was on a "genocidal war path," violating not only human rights laws, but also the Geneva humanitarian laws by carrying out bombardments on hospitals and schools. "Tamil people stand deceived by the membership conferred on the Sri Lankan state to the newly formed Human Rights Council."
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