Swiss Tamil children hone language, religion skills

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 May 2007, 04:02 GMT]
3858 Tamil children sat for proficiency tests in Tamil and religion in forty two test centers in 17 of the 23 cantons in Switzerland Saturday conducted by the Swiss Tamil Educational Service (TES), a volunteer organization administered by expatriate Tamils, sources in Switzerland said. The examinations are being conducted for the 13th consecutive year, according to TES officials.
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Respect human rights, resume negotiations, Holy See tells Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 April 2007, 16:27 GMT]
Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State, held a meeting with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday, after Pope received Mr. Rajapaksa among the audience. Cardinal Secretary of State, conveying the concerns of the Pope, reiterated to Mr. Rajapaksa, the need to respect human rights and resume the path of dialogue and negotiation as the "only way to put an end to the violence," that is bloodying the island of Sri Lanka.
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SL President leaves for Italy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 April 2007, 09:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday morning around 11:00 a.m. left Colombo on a three-day official visit to Italy. Three Catholic ministers in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Messrs: Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Milroy Perera and Felix Perera also accompanied Mr.Rajapaksa, Presidential Secretariat sources said.
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Jaffna residents reluctant to return due to insecurity- Bishop

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 April 2007, 11:02 GMT]
"Of the more than 55,000 residents of Jaffna peninsula who left the peninsula in ships and planes seeking safety and refuge outside the peninsula, nearly 65% of them have not returned because of the escalating number of killings, abductions, forced disappearances, threat to lives, intimidation, harassment and restrictions in the peninsula," Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam said, in a statement to media Sunday, following his participation along with the representatives of the People's Committee for Justice and Peace (PCJP) in meeting with the Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Maj. Gen. Chandrasiri.


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Pirapaharan confers Maamanithar award to Poet Naavannan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 April 2007, 06:27 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Velupillai Pirapaharan, Saturday bestowed the title Maamanithar (Great Human being) posthumously on poet Naavannan, Marusaleen Soosainayagam, who passed away on April 15 last year in Vanni at the age of 58. Mr. Pirapaharan honoured the late poet, a Catholic who hailed from Mannar, for his literary contribution to the Tamil struggle.
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Punguduthivu body may belong to Fr.Brown, say Jaffna clergy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2007, 02:06 GMT]
The Catholic clergy of Jaffna peninsula suspect that the mutilated torso found at Punkuduthivu sea on 14 March 2007 packed in a military sand bag tied with a grindstone by barbed wire, likely belongs to the disappeared Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, sources close to the church in Jaffna said. The church has appealed to the Jaffna Magistrate to facilitate sending blood samples to an authorized lab in Colombo to perform DNA tests to identify the suspect body.
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SLA blocks Maundy Thursday prayer in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2007, 00:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers stopped hundreds of Catholic worshippers assembled at St James Church in Sillalai Parish in Jaffna district from celebrating Maundy Thursday, and ordered them to leave the Parish for not obtaining prior permission to hold the ceremony, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA arrests 6 Tamil youths in Muthur welfare center

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 April 2007, 00:20 GMT]
Six youths staying at the St. Antony's Church Welfare Centre in Muthur in Trincomalee district were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on 31 March midnight, civil society sources in Mannar said. Although the SLA told the parents that that the youths are being taken for interrogation, the youths have not been released yet. The parents of the arrested appealed to the human rights organizations to obtain their sons release.
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6 Jaffna residents, abducted within last seven days, still missing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 00:08 GMT]
Six civilians, arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) or abducted by SLA and SLA-backed paramilitaries between Wednesday 14th March to 21st, have disappeared without any trace, sources in Jaffna said. The disappearnces occured in Alvai, Kudathanai in Vadamaradchy, and Velanai, Punkankulam and Chulipuram in Valagamam.


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Bishop calls for urgent help to Batticaloa IDPs

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 March 2007, 10:23 GMT]
"Around 1,53,000 Internally Displaced People from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas, are suffering without sufficient food, drinking water and other basic facilities for the last four or five days. The International community and humanitarian organizations should step in immediately to help the destitute people," Rt. Rev. Kingsley Swampillai, the Bishop of the Trincomalee-Batticaloa diocese of the Catholic Church said to media, explaining the dire situation in Batticaloa district and conveying his open appeal, Sunday.
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SLA blocks annual foot pilgrimage of Mannar Christians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 March 2007, 12:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) refused permission to about hundreds of Christian devotees to continue their annual foot pilgrimage to Calvary located in Komarasankulam in Vavuniya citing security reasons Wednesday morning. Devotees returned to Mannar after they were stopped at Murunkan on their way to Vavuniya. The SLA also turned down appeals made by Mannar Bishop Rt.Rev. Rayappu Joseph, church officials said.


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Documentary on Black Tigers premiered in Oslo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 March 2007, 13:05 GMT]
For the first time the Tamil Tigers have allowed a foreign film team to "hand-pick, follow, interview and dig deep," into the lives and faiths of two female Black Tigers, according to the producers of a documentary film titled "My daughter the terrorist," which made its World Premiere to a full house at Parkteatret in the Norwegian capital Oslo Monday.
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SLN bars pilgrims from attending Kachchathivu festival

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 March 2007, 04:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) denied permisssion to Tamil Catholic pilgrims to participate in the annual festival of the St. Antony’s church in Kachchathivu, an isle situated in the Palk Straits between Sri Lanka and India about 15km southwest of Delft (Nedunthivu) islet, scheduled for this weekend, sources in Jaffna said. Pilgrims from India and Sri Lanka in thousands visit this isle every year, meet their kith and kin and barter goods from both countries.
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Mannar Education Officer succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 12:39 GMT]
Divisional Education Officer in Mannar, Christian Rajakone, 47, succumbed to injuries early morning Thursday at the Kilinochchi hospital, hospital sources said. Rajakone sustained in the claymore mine attack by the Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Tuesday in the LTTE held area in Mannar district.
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Prisoners call off protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 00:15 GMT]
The Tamil political prisoners at Magazine Prison, Colombo, who started a fast-to-death campaign on 21 February demanding their release, called off their action temporarily on Monday following assurances given by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarians to assist them, sources in Colombo said.
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SLA alleges discovery of arms at Kopay Training College

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 18:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Palaly announced Saturday that troopers conducting a sudden search in the premises of Kopay Training college on Friday found a T-56 type rifle concealed in the roof of the students hostel. Last week the troops claimed that telecommunication equipment and hand grenades were found in a room in a catholic church near the residence of Bishop of Jaffna. Civil society sources, however, suspect that the claims are without substance, and intended to silence the dissenting voices of the Catholic clergy and the Education officials in Jaffna.
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Police commandos, Tigers exchange gunfire in Murunkan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 18:01 GMT]
Murunkan Police reported exchange of gunfire between a road patrol of Police commandos and a group of Liberation Tigers Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. at Pannavedduvan, 32 km southeast of Mannar. Police said that a Tiger cadre was killed and that the Tigers had taken the body of their dead cadre, but clamied to have located a T-56 automatic rifle after the clash. Five hours later, at 3:00 a.m. Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells towards LTTE controlled Arippu, 20 km northwest of Pannavedduvan.
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SLA troops enter vacated Vaharai hospital

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 January 2007, 12:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army sources in Colombo claimed Friday afternoon that their troops have entered the Vaharai hospital without facing any resistance from the Tigers. Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman, verifying that the Tigers had relocated their positions in Panichchankerni where the SLA had obstructed the land route to Vaharai village, said LTTE had no combatants in Vaharai village where the hospital is located. Meanwhile, thousands of civilians who crossed through Kadjuwatte exit and entry point were escorted to Mankerni Catholic school and provided midday meal.
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Aerial attack on Padahuthurai, a crime against humanity - Bishop

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 January 2007, 10:22 GMT]
The Bishop of Mannar Diocese, Rt Rev Rayappu Joseph, who visited Padahuthurai hamlet, which was completely destroyed by indiscriminate aerial bombardment by the Sri Lanka Air Force Tuesday morning, has condemned the bombardment and said the attack had destroyed the settlement of the Internally Displaced persons. There was no military installation of the LTTE in the area, the Bishop told media. The Bishop, calling the bombardment "a crime against humanity," urged the International Community to send independent observers to NorthEast. Death toll has risen to 15, including 7 children below age nine , a pregnant woman, her child and husband.
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Jaffna Bishop urges all to "turn aside from hatred and enmity"

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2006, 19:50 GMT]
In a Christmas message wishing "all the clergy, faithful, and all men and women of Good–will of Sri Lanka, a joyous Christmas and Peace in the New Year," the Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundaranayagam, said: "Jesus Christ came into the world to bring Peace and Brotherhood and Sisterhood. The Angels chorused “Glory to God in the highest and Peace to men of good will," But men continue to wage war and make division and dissension in the society and in the world.
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