SLA permits opening of temples inside Point Pedro HSZ

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 17:28 GMT]
Doors of two Saiva temples located inside Point Pedro High Security Zone (HSZ) were opened for prayers and rituals again after being closed for more than two years, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Koddadi Siththivinaayagar Temple and Koadduvaasal Chandiga Parameswary Temple were closed for poojas and prayers from August 2006 when hostilities broke out between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers.
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3 civilians killed in DPU Claymore attack in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 16:25 GMT]
Three civilians, including a child, were killed in a Claymore attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) on Monday, Tamileelam Police officials said. The attack has taken place in Mu'l'liyava'lai, south of Mullaiththeevu.
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Women in protective custody, transferred to SLA detention centre, fear for safety

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 00:40 GMT]
The women and children who faced death threats in Jaffna from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and its paramilitary and placed under protective custody through the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in Jaffna at Kurunakar Rehabilitation Centre have been suddenly moved to the detention camp run by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) inside its High Security Zone in Thellippazhai. The women and children are being denied the opportunity of meeting their family members besides fear for their safety, according to legal sources in Jaffna. They have appealed to the team of Magistrates who visited the camp to relocate them to a protection facility in Jaffna city.
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Eezham Tamils' development: myths and realities

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 December 2008, 23:03 GMT]
A development-oriented analysis originated from the West and often exploited by the Sri Lankan state to justify its ethnic chauvinism is that the Tamils were far advanced in ‘development’ under the British and the crisis was a result of independent Sri Lanka equalizing development to all people. One can understand Sri Lankan state and its intellectuals harping on the theme. But it is utter ignorance of history, lack of serious research and wrong application of analytical tools in judging development on the part of the intelligentsia outside, in creating a misleading picture of the crisis in Sri Lanka through their 'model-based' approaches, writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi in the second part of the article, 'Development, Multiculturalism and Ethnonationalism in Sri Lanka.'
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'They went, saw and returned'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 07:58 GMT]
The meeting of the representation from Tamil Nadu led by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi with the Prime Minister of India on Thursday failed to achieve its basic objective of convincing the Indian government to take a stand against Colombo’s war on Tamils, revealed journalistic circles in Chennai. The silent listening of the Indian Establishment may have several meanings. Perhaps Dr. Manmohan Singh is not the authority to respond on this particular matter. But the message to Eezham Tamils is clear: either they ought to fight back the war thrust upon them, or face genocide, and probably they knew it long back, commented the circles.
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Ethnic filtering, registration at SLA checkpost in Mannampiddi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 05:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan soldiers manning the checkpost at Mannampiddi in Batticaloa have introduced a new scheme to register all Tamil and Muslim passengers who travel from eastern province into other provinces. Only Tamil and Muslim passengers are ordered to get down at Mannampiddi from buses and private vehicles for checking and registration, but not the Sinhalese, civil sources said.
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SLAF, SLA bombardment targets Ki'linochchi suburbs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 01:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Friday launched artillery fire towards Ki'linochchi town, its suburbs, Paranthan and Vaddakkachchi as Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers targeted Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) defence lines along the suburbs of Ki'linochchi, according to the sources in Vanni.
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The ploy of ‘development’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 00:07 GMT]
What is perhaps needed as a prerequisite for development in the context of the island of Sri Lanka is only a bold solution providing outlets to the national questions of the Tamils and the Sinhalese. But in their arrogance and greed, the international development enthusiasts are in such a hurry that they think of thrusting upon ‘development’ from the above, bulldozing the national question militarily. In the process they invite unwanted deep antagonism of a people who in fact are prepared in all other respects to welcome the development ventures of them, writes opinion columnist Chivanadi, in the first part of an article, Development, Multiculturalism and Ethnonationalism in Sri Lanka.
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'Thanks for food, but help to win our rights,' Vanni IDPs urge Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2008, 02:12 GMT]
Internally Displaced persons in Vanni who were receiving the humanitarian supplies sent by the people of Tamil Nadu, while expressing their gratitude for the timely help, urged the leaders of Tamil Nadu to help them to win their freedom by voicing for the political aspirations of Eezham Tamils. TamilNet correspondent recorded expressions from the IDPs who were gathered at Karaichchi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, one of 23 supply centres in Vanni, on Thursday.
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UNICEF: GoSL, TMVP bound by action plan to end child recruitment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 16:16 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka, the TMVP, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) signed an Action Plan on Monday to ensure that the recruitment and use of children by the TMVP comes to an end, and that all children currently with the TMVP are released and provided with reintegration assistance, UNICEF said in a press statement on Thursday. “This agreement shows a clear political commitment and is a very important step in putting an end to the recruitment and use of children by the TMVP,” said UNICEF’s Representative in Sri Lanka, Mr Philippe Duamelle.
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International treaty bans cluster munitions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 01:42 GMT]
Diaspora Tamils in Norway demonstrated in Oslo on Wednesday against the use of cluster bombs by the Sri Lankan government as 120 countries gathered in Oslo to sign a landmark treaty banning the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions internationally. Signatory states are required to promote universalisation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), to notify non-signatory parties of their treaty obligations, and to discourage non-signatory state parties from using cluster munitions.
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5 Tamil civilians arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 17:13 GMT]
Five Tamil youths, most of them residents of north and others from upcountry estates, were taken into custody in cordon and search operations conducted by the police and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with the assistance of local home guards from Monday evening till Tuesday morning in Kohuwela area in Colombo district.
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SLA, LTTE clash in Kumizhamunai, Tigers recover SLA body

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 16:04 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) fighters on Tuesday recovered a dead body of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and seized a AK-LMG in the clearing mission after repulsing the SLA that attempted to advance from Kumizhamunai towards A'lampil in Mullaiththeevu, Tiger officials told media in Vanni.
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SLA soldier killed, 1 wounded in mine explosions in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 12:15 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) sources in Batticaloa said Wednesday that a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier seriously wounded in a mine explosion Monday on Vadamunai - Welkande Road succumbed to his injuries and another SLA soldier lost his leg in a second explosion on the same road on Wednesday.
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TNA MP urges global community's awareness on Sri Lanka's use of cluster munitions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 11:24 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Gajendran, who represents Ki'linochchi district (Jaffna electorate), Wednesday urged the global community to "unreservedly condemn" the Sri Lankan government for deploying cluster munitions against civilians in Vanni in its air strikes and artillery attacks. Appreciating the Norwegian initiative which has led to the landmark treaty on baning the cluster munitions, the TNA parliamentarian said the Sri Lankan forces were deploying cluster munitions against civilians after expelling the international witnesses and blocking foreign journalists from entering Vanni.
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NESoHR: 16 cluster bombs dropped on refugee camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2008, 16:44 GMT]
North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), in its monthly report for November said there were five major air strikes and shelling attacks on civilians in Vanni in November. On Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) indiscriminate bombardment on IDP camp in Uzhavanoor in the early hours of Saturday, the NESoHR said the SLAF had dropped 16 cluster bombs on the settlement.
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'Knowing friends and enemies'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2008, 15:14 GMT]
“Exploiting the Mumbai carnage and the mood of indignation in India, the Colombo government is calling for the collaboration of India in labeling and isolating all Tamils as terrorists, just because they demand for their rights. Mr. P. Chidambaram, the new Home Minister of India, carrying Indian as well as Tamil identities needs to be additionally alert in what has to be done”, read Tuesday’s editorial of Janasakti, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of India. Meanwhile, an Eezham Tamil foreign national and a political analyst, now living with the IDPs in Vanni, responded to TamilNet with his remarks on current development, especially after 26 November, 2008.
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Blow to demining efforts in Sri Lanka: NPA pulls out

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2008, 11:01 GMT]
"We have given up," said the General Secretary of the Norwegian Peoples Aid, Petter Eide, on the organisations decision to pull out from Sri Lanka. Stating that the NPA was blackmailed and harassed by the Sri Lankan authorities, he said: "We don't want to be there [in Sri Lanka]. We have decided to pull out because the authorities have made our work impossible," reported NTB, Norway's leading news agency on Monday. The organisation celebrates the success on cluster-bomb-ban-treaty to be signed in Oslo on Wednesday.
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Police shoots dead Tamil youth in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2008, 14:04 GMT]
Ea’raavoor police in Batticaloa district shot and killed a Tamil youth Sunday around 6:00 p.m whom they had taken into custody during the search conducted Saturday in Aiyangkea’ni during the police-curfew, Aiyangkea’ni residents said. The police claimed that they opened fire on the youth when he tried to hurl a hand grenade on them when they to took him to recover weapons at Tha’lavaay in Aiyangkea’ni according to information revealed by the youth during interrogation.
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7 SLA deserters escape from army custody

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2008, 13:22 GMT]
Seven soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) escaped from Panagoda army camp located in Kalutara district Saturday midnight. They were deserters and were being detained in the army camp after being arrested in a search operation. Several hundred deserters are currently being detained in the Panagoda army camp.
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