Co-chairs request Colombo to provide diplomatic access to Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2008, 10:59 GMT]
The Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference for Sri Lanka Peace Process, the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Norway, jointly expressing "strong concerns" about the termination of the 2002 CFA by the Government of Sri Lanka, Saturday called on the GoSL to provide access to the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam in Ki'linochchi for representatives of the Co-Chairs and the facilitator, Norway. The Co-chairs also expressed deep concern about the human rights situation and protection of civilians in Sri Lanka, and called for continued monitoring of the human rights situation by such means as to assure an appropriate role for the United Nations.
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LTTE requests Norway to continue facilitation, urges IC's support for Tamil rights

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 January 2008, 05:51 GMT]
The Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General Lars Johan Solvberg on Thursday met Liberation Tigers Political Head B. Nadesan in Ki'linochchi, following the GoSL announcement of unilateral withdrawal from the Ceasefire. Noting that the GoSL has withdrawn from the CFA without any justifications, LTTE's political head said that the Tigers, even at this juncture, stood ready to implement every clause of the agreement and requested Norway to continue with its facilitation role with the support of the International Community. He urged the IC to recognize the right of the Tamil people to live with self-determination in their homeland and remove the bans it has placed on the LTTE.
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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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Indian PM's participation in SL independence day not fixed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 17:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogolloagama had to hastily retract on Friday his earlier claim that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will participate in the 60th Independence Day celebrations of Sri Lanka on February 4, 2008. A few weeks ago, Mr. Bogollagama told Parliament that Sri Lanka had invited Dr. Manmohan Singh to be the chief guest of the independence day function. The information that the dates of Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to Colombo have not been finalized was revealed a day after Bogollagama called the Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad to inform him about GoSL's decision to abrogate the almost six-year old CFA agreement with the LTTE, informed sources said.
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No military solution: Indian External Affairs Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 13:00 GMT]
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee ruled out any military solution to the Sri Lankan problem two days after the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) formally scrapped the five-year ceasefire with the LTTE. Mr Mukherjee stressed that the solution to the island nation's problem "had to be found through dialogue and discussion" and called upon the Lankan government to address the problem by "fulfilling the legitimate aspirations of the ethnic groups."
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Passenger ship service between Trincomalee-Jaffna to be suspended

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 11:42 GMT]
The passenger ship service between Trincomalee and Jaffna is to be suspended from January 7 due to repairs to be carried out in the vessel "Green Ocean." The last service from Trincomalee Harbour to Jaffna will take place on January 5 Saturday and from Jaffna to Trincomalee on January 6 Sunday, Trincomalee divisional secretariat sources said.
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Nordic countries regret Colombo's decision to abrogate CFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 17:58 GMT]
Foreign Ministers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, the Nordic countries that took part in the formation of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, issued a joint statement on Friday, stating that the withdrawal of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission from Sri Lanka would mean the end of an important mechanism that protected civilians and which gave a voice to the victims and their families. "The termination of the Ceasefire Agreement will only make it more difficult to find a way back to the negotiating table," the Foreign Ministers of the Nordic countries said in their joint statement regretting the unilateral decision by the GoSL to abrogate the ceasefire.
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Abrogation of CFA endangers respect for human rights - NPC

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 10:16 GMT]
The GoSL withdrawal from the Ceasefire, resulting in the removal of the role played by the truce monitors, will reduce the flow of credible information to the world outside and deprive the hapless civilians with a credible authority to lodge complaints, said National Peace Council, a Colombo based peace group, on Thursday. Colombo's rejection of a UN Human Rights field presence, the inability of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to make meaningful progress in discharging their mandates, and the recent downgrading of the National Human Rights Commission, combine to place respect for human rights in Sri Lanka in further jeopardy.
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U.S 'troubled' by GoSL withdrawal from CFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 09:08 GMT]
The United States Department of State, in a statement issued on Thursday said, it is troubled by the Sri Lankan Government's January 2 decision to terminate the 2002 cease-fire agreement. Ending the cease-fire agreement will make it more difficult to achieve a lasting, peaceful solution to Sri Lanka's conflict.
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Sri Lanka withdraws from CFA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 11:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Thursday evening officially conveyed in writing to the Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem in Colombo that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was withdrawing from the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA). The message was conveyed to the Ambassador at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in Colombo. The CFA formally ends on 16 January, the day after the Tamil festival Thaippongkal. GoSL has also suspended the Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA) with 14-days advance notification.
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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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Colombo to annul CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 15:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces as well as the Minister of Defence, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has decided to annul the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE). Sri Lankan Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwela, has confirmed that a cabinet decision to withdraw from the CFA has been taken on Wednesday. But, he did not provide a date for the GoSL withdrawal. The February 2002 agreement, in its paragraph 4.4, specifies that the agreement shall remain in force until notice of termination is given by either Party to the Royal Norwegian Government.
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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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Batticaloa elections: Colombo's rehearsal for paramilitary politics

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 December 2007, 19:55 GMT]
In the backdrop of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government announcing local government elections in the Batticaloa district, three Tamil paramilitary-cum-political parties, the EPDP, PLOTE, EPRLF (Naba wing) and the yet-to-be-registered TMVP of Pillayan's group revealed that they had reached an agreement to form an electoral alliance after a meeting summoned at the Batticaloa office of the EPDP Saturday. A spokesperson of the paramilitary coalition told media that although the four outfits had agreed on principle, the final decision would be taken after consultations with their respective leaders and key operatives.
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TamilNadu leaders urge Indian PM not to visit Sri Lanka on independence Day

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 December 2007, 18:03 GMT]
Several Tamilnadu leaders, including K. Veeramani, President, Dravidar Kazhagam; Thol.Thirumavalavan, President, Viduthalaich Chi'ruththaika'l Kadchi; Suba. Veerapandiyan of Dravidar Iyakka Thamizhar Pearavai and Era. Janardhanan, President, Ulakath Thamizhar Pearavai took part in a demonstration opposite Chennai's Memorial Hall Monday to protest the Indian Prime Minister's proposed participation in Sri Lankan Independence Day celebrations in February 2008.
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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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VoT bombing victims remembered in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 December 2007, 03:40 GMT]
A memorial event was held Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in Ki’linochchi Cultural Centre to pay homage to the three editorial staff workers at the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio station and eight civilians, residents and travelers who lost their lives when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers attacked VoT, LTTE’s official broadcasting corporation located at 155 Mile Post, 3.5 km south of Ki'linochchi November 27th afternoon.
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TamilNadu leaders protest against Indian PM's participation in SL Independence Day

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 December 2007, 17:37 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reported intention to participate as the Chief Guest in the Sri Lankan Government's Independence Day Celebrations on February 4, 2008 has sparked large-scale dissent from political leaders in Tamilnadu. K. Veeramani, President of the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), on Friday announced his organization's decision to demonstrate against the proposed visit and called upon the Tamilnadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to intervene in this regard. Meanwhile, Thol.Thirumavalavan, President, Viduthalaich Chi'ruththaika'l Kadchi and Suba. Veerapandiyan of Dravidar Iyakka Thamizhar Pearavai have pledged their organizational support and participation to the demonstration.
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GoSL to ban Tigers, abrogate CFA, says Gotabhaya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 December 2007, 15:10 GMT]
Misquoting the failed talks between a delegation of Tamil Liberation Movements and Sri Lanka Government in August 1985 as "Thimpu Agreement," Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary and brother of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in an interview to state owned Daily News said that the Sri Lankan government would "give a solution" to the Tamil people after proscribing the LTTE, abolishing the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's statement comes as Sri Lankan forces were preparing for an all out war with the Tigers in the North.
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Jaffna passengers question safety of air travel

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 December 2007, 01:50 GMT]
Increasing number of technical problems that have plagued air crafts belonging to the local air lines that fly between Jaffna and Colombo, has raised concern among Jaffna travellers about the safety of their flights, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna residents and few foreigners patronizing Expo Air and Aero Lanka have expressed fears of ageing unsafe air crafts that are over-used without adequate maintenance.
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