Swiss Tamil youth demonstrate in front of UN

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 00:01 GMT]
Tamils living in Switzerland marched from the Geneva Main Railway station to the United Nations Wednesday evening urging the international community to stop the genocidal war on the Tamils in Vanni in the island of Sri Lanka and to apply pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to bring about an immediate cease fire.
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Denounce Sri Lankan identity, readers show ways

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 23:26 GMT]
As a democratic move, based on principles of non-violence and non-cooperation, the Eezham Tamils should boldly denounce the Sri Lankan identity being imposed on them by the Sinhala government and the world of authoritarians, reads a significant theme of the opinion mails received by TamilNet in response to its request last Friday. “The move should begin from the diaspora for whom it is feasible now and it goes beyond any political or organizational affiliation. The diaspora ought to realize that what is more dangerous than the war camouflaged to be against the LTTE is the adamancy of India and international authoritarians not recognizing the national cause of Eezham Tamils”.
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LTTE recovers 13 SLA dead bodies in Kallaa'ru front

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 16:43 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials Thursday said their defensive formations put up stiff resistance against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) that attempted to advance through Kallaa'ru in Northwestern front, killing 40 SLA soldiers and causing injuries to 70. The Tigers have claimed that the SLA attempt to advance was thwarted after heavy fighting.
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SLA arrests 3 Tamil civilians in Ki'n'niyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 14:07 GMT]
Three Tamil civilians were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police at Chinnath-thoaddam in Ki'n'niyaa division in Trincomalee district Wednesday evening.
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Jaffna Lorry owners on token strike protesting attacks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 11:25 GMT]
More than 400 lorry owners carried out a token strike Thursday in protest against the attack by unidentified persons on several lorries Wednesday evening at Koa’ndaavil in Jaffna. The strike brought to standstill the transport of goods from Kaangkeasanthu’rai harbour to the government stores in Koa’ndaavil and Naavatkuzhi and the distribution services from these stores, sources in Jaffna said.
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Family man reported missing with Jaffna HRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 11:03 GMT]
A father of three children from Vadamaraadchi had gone missing from a private lodge in Kotahena, Colombo, according to the complaint lodged by his wife to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office. The man had obtained permission (pass) from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna before leaving to Colombo, she said in the complaint.
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Hospital bombed, 5 killed, 15 wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 08:56 GMT]
The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the surgical site of the Mullaiththeevu hospital, functioning as a makeshift hospital at Va'l'lipunam school, were damaged in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery fire Wednesday night and Thursday around 12:20 p.m., after the Sri Lankan government declared that the area where the hospital is situated is a "secure zone", medical authorities at the hospital said Thursday. Five civilians were killed within the hospital premises Thursday, according to Dr. T. Varatharajah, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS). The RDHS confirmed that the ICRC had verified that the Sri Lankan military had received the GPS coordinates of the hospital and said he was in constant touch with the ICRC, located just 1 km away from the hospital.
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66 civilians killed within 3 days - Mullai RDHS

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 08:11 GMT]
The roads of Va'l'lipunam and Theavipuram are full of blood and dead bodies are spotted all over the places in the area that has come under attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire. The carnage worsened after the SLA declared the area as "safe haven". On Tuesday, 16 civilians were killed, 20 reported killed Wednesday and around 30 civilians within the past 12 hours of Thursday, according to Regional Director of Health Service (RDHS) for Mullaiththeevu district. Dr.T.Varatharajah.
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Muslim trader shot dead in Poththuvil

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 07:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence unit men took away a Muslim firewood trader Wednesday around 2:50 a.m from his house in Poththuvil, Ampaa’rai district and shot him killed, his relatives said.
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SLA attacks civilians in 'secure zone', several killed, dozens wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 04:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unilaterally announced a "secure zone" for civilians Wednesday, but turned its Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers and Artillery guns towards the so-called secure zones in the early hours of Thursday, continuing the carnage, killing and maiming innocent civilians. The inhumane attack on Thursday has targeted an institution for disabled children, the 'Sweet Life Home' (Iniya Vaazhvu illam), and the tightly populated settlement in front of the children home, which is located at Va'l'lipunam. More than 100 civilians have been rushed to hospitals within the last 24 hours.
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Sri Lankan fighter jet reported missing in Northern frontier

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 15:55 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) MIG fighter jet was shot in the skies over Vanni on Wednesday, according to initial reports from journalists outside Sri Lanka, who cited a highly placed source in Vanni Sri Lankan Forces Headquarters (Vanni SF-HQ). The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials were not available to comment on the reports.
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Elderly man recovered dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 13:05 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted Tuesday night an elderly man going from his home in Thaavadi in Jaffna to his brother’s house and dumped his body after having tortured him to death, on a road in Koa’ndaavil Arasadi area in Jaffna around 10:30 p.m. same night, during Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed curfew hours, sources in Jaffna said. Koappaay police recovered the victim’s body and handed it over to Jaffna Teaching Hospital mortuary.
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IC urged to act on humanitarian grounds to safeguard civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 12:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has cornered civilians in overcrowded areas in the suburbs of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) town, according to sources in Vanni. While artillery shells exploding in densely populated makeshift settlements have caused several civilian casualties, civilians are fleeing from indiscriminate bombardment from air and ground are forced to seek shelters throughout the day, civil sources from Vanni said. IDPs' representatives express fear that those who fall into the hands of SLA units are likely to be forcibly transported under close military supervision to detention centre style camps at locations isolated from mainstream communities, as evidenced in Mannaar and in areas north of the recently SLA-occupied Elephant Pass.
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Electricity supply to Jaffna peninsula faces crisis

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 05:56 GMT]
‘Agrico’, the private firm and the major electricity supplier to Jaffna peninsula Monday informed Colombo office of Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) that it will suspend operation as the contract signed with SLEB has not been renewed, sources in Jaffna said. The situation is further worsened by the inability of the Chinese firm, ‘Northern Power’ to supply electricity to the entire peninsula one year after the award of contract, sources added.
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Unidentified gunmen shoot 3 villagers dead in Buttala jungle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 19:54 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot at a group of Sinhala villagers in the Sadatissagama jungle in Buttala Sunday night, killing three and injuring three others, police sources said. One villager is reported missing. A group of eighteen Sinhala villagers went to the jungle to graze their cattle came under the attack, according to police.
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Unprecedented civilian carnage in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 18:44 GMT]
Fifteen civilians including 5 children were killed and 29 seriously injured in the relentless artillery barrage that Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) kept pounding the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Visuvamadu, Udaiyaarkaddu, Chuthanthirapuram and Maa'nikkapuram areas in Mullaiththeevu district Tuesday, sources in Vanni said. SLA continued its artillery barrage on the IDP settlements Monday from 11:00 a.m till 12:30 p.m in Chuthanthirapuram and Theavipuram areas in Vanni killing two IDPs and seriously injuring nine including children.
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'Lives lost yielding nothing to Colombo'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 17:59 GMT]
"It is not a question of whether Tamil Eelam will become independent. Rather, it is a question of how many lives, on both sides of the Tamil Eelam border, the Sinhala regime(s) are prepared to waste in the process," writes a reader, Mr. Poulson, in response to TamilNet's call for opinion last week. "The Sinhala polity is not interested in a ceasefire and nor are the strategic partners. Hence it must be forced upon them," he writes further in his situation analysis.
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Student reported missing released by SLA in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 15:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Oorezhu camp in Jaffna handed over Sunday a 16-year-old student of Aanaikkoaddai Mahaviththiyalayam gone missing on 18 December 2008 to his parents on condition that they should not disclose any information about their son being held by SLA for a month, sources in Jaffna said.
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Armed men attack elderly fisherman in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 08:48 GMT]
Five unidentified gunmen arriving in vehicles during Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed curfew hours Saturday night at the house of an elderly fisherman on Kurunakar Beach Road in Jaffna attacked him indiscriminately for refusing to hand his son over to the gunmen, sources in Jaffna said. Local residents took the seriously injured fisherman to Jaffna Teaching Hospital where he is under treatment.
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Sri Lanka denies FX crisis, banks on 'patriotic Diaspora'

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2009, 20:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to little more than enough for six weeks of imports. And Japan, traditionally the island’s biggest donor, is cutting aid globally. But while local economists say the situation is critical government will inevitably have devalue the rupee by 20% this year or accept a conditions-laced bailout package from the IMF, the Central Bank is adamant neither is necessary, the Sunday Times reported. Instead, the government is to launch a campaign on February 4, Independence Day, to attract Sinhalese expatriates to invest in Sri Lankan treasury bills and bonds.
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