Tamil Nadu leaders express sorrow over Balasingham’s death

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2006, 15:33 GMT]
“I am unable to bear the sorrow over the death of my friend Mr Anton Balasingham, who I have known for many years. Balasingham grieved for his people dismissing his terrible illness as “merely a pebble compared to the vast ocean of tragedy faced by his people,” he captivated Tamils worldwide for his dedicated service to his people, developed, nurtured friendship with Norway and people like us, and kept the flame of self-respect of Tamils burning bright until his last breath,” said M. Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in a report of condolence issued Thursday. “I express my deep sympathies to his wife and friends," he added.
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Aid groups protest Sri Lanka’s obstruction of aid

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 11:54 GMT]
Several Western aid groups this week warned of a struggle to conduct humanitarian work in Sri Lanka’s Tamil areas, citing official bureaucracy that has paralysed their work. Speaking to AFP news agency, they protested the Sri Lankan government’s “strategy of preventing the presence of international actors” amid escalating conflict and said aid was being blocked from reaching Tamils in LTTE-controlled areas.
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2 Priests, 2 youths arrested for subversive activities in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 05:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police officials produced two catholic priests and two youths before Additional Magistrate M .Thirunavukarasu on Wednesday, accusing the four of indulging in activities defaming both the Goverment of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Sri Lanka Military, legal sources in Jaffna said. The magistrate however, instructed the police to contact the Attorney General and submit a report concerning the feasibility of filing charges against the accused.
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Colombo declines to receive bodies of dead soldiers, captured soldier talks to media

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 October 2006, 08:07 GMT]
The fighting formation of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forces, "boxed" an area of 10 square kilometers and defeated Sri Lankan offensive towards Vaharai Friday, LTTE Trincomalee Political Head S. Elilan said Saturday. Accusing Sri Lanka for violating the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) and the Geneva Agreement of disarming the paramilitary cadres, Mr. Elian said 400 Sri Lankan troops, including 80 paramilitary cadres, were involved in the Sri Lankan offensive. K.M.S. Ratnayake, a soldier from Sri Lanka's 6th Battalion of Gemunu Watch, was captured alive by the Tigers. Colombo has refused to accept 9 bodies of SLA soldiers killed in the encounter, Mr. Elilan said.
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Protest march held in Killinochchi condemning SL government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 21:59 GMT]
Hindu and Christian religious dignitaries of the Vanni district organised a peaceful protest march Thursday around 3.30 p.m condemning the Sri Lanka Government's (GoSL) for the closure of the A-9 route to Jaffna peninsula pushing its people to the brink of starvation and calling for the release of Rev. Jim Brown, catholic priest and his assistant who were reported disappeared after last being seen at the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) check point at Allaipiddy one month ago, said sources from Killinochchi.
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Two civilians shot dead in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 12:05 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen riding a motor cycle shot dead a postal employee on Karainagar road at Chankanai in Valigamam on Thursday around 7.30 a.m. and in a separate incident on Thursday morning another civilian was shot and killed on Valvettithurai-Pt. Pedro road at Vembady in Valvettithurai.
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Civilian killings soaring under Rajapakse - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 19:26 GMT]
Pointing out that the killings of Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan security forces and Army-backed paramilitary groups have shot up since President Mahinda Rajapakse assumed power last year, the Liberation Tigers said this week that in keeping with the agenda of Sinhala extremist forces, Rajapakse is determined to pursue the military option to the ethnic conflict. “All attempts by the LTTE to value, abide by and protect the CFA have been undermined by the military option pursued by the Rajapakse regime,” the LTTE said in a statement Monday.
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‘Our people are suffering’: St. Patrick’s Rector

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 11:31 GMT]
Saying food supplies were “urgently” needed in the Jaffna peninsula, the Rector of St. Patrick’s College this week called for the A9 highway to be opened and military restrictions on fishing to be lifted. Fr. Justin B Gnanapragasam also called for the military’s curfew in Jaffna to be lifted or at least confined to night time. “Our people are suffering immensely. Please keep them in your prayers,” he said in a letter to past pupils. Five thousand displaced people who sought shelter in St. Patrick’s are refusing to leave, disrupting classes which should have resumed by now, he said.
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Extra-judicial killings escalate in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 10:17 GMT]
62 individuals including Newspaper Manager Sivamaharajah, ex- Member of Parliament and 2 undergraduates were killed, and 53 civilians including a Catholic Priest and 10 students below the age of 18 have disappeared in Jaffna Peninsula in 35 days since August 02. The International agencies present in Jaffna are yet to voice their concerns for the increased dissappearances of children in Sri Lanka Army controlled Jaffna district, according to civil society leaders in Jaffna.
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Vatican appeals over missing Jaffna priest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 03:57 GMT]


The Vatican’s representative to Sri Lanka this week appealed to the humanity of those responsible for the disappearance of a Catholic priest in the northern Jaffna peninsula while Jaffna Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam said he is yet to get a response to even his second appeal to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaske over Father Jim Brown’s disappearance. The church-run Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR) in Jaffna joined calls for a proper investigation.
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Priests, public demand release of Allaippiddy Parish Priest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 09:46 GMT]
A token hunger strike and a special Mass were held Monday from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. at the St. Theresa's Church, Kilinochchi, demanding the release of Allaippiddy Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Jim Brown and his aide Venseslos Vincent Vimalathas who were abducted by the Sri Lanka Forces in Allaippiddy in Jaffna District on 20 August and condemning the killings of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Forces.


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Catholic priest reported missing in Allaipiddy, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 13:17 GMT]
Rev.Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, Age 34, Parish Priest Allaippiddy, Jaffna is reported missing since 20 August 2006, according to a news release issued by the NorthEast Secretariat of Human Rights.
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Relatives blame SLA for aid workers’ executions

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 11:36 GMT]
Relatives of some of the aid workers shot dead execution-style in Muttur town blamed Sri Lankan security forces Tuesday whilst diplomats were skeptical of government claims the Tamil Tigers were responsible. Correspondents with Reuters news agency interviewed relatives of some of the seventeen staff of international aid group Action Contre La Faim (ACF). The father of one aid worker said another son was amongst five Tamil students shot, also execution-style in Trincomalee earlier this year.
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"Hundreds of Tigers" in Muttur - residents

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2006, 19:18 GMT]
Intense fighting is underway in Muttur in Trincomalee district as hundreds of heavily armed LTTE cadres who have taken control of the town centre laid siege to four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps on its periphery, residents said Wednesday evening. An effort by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) to land reinforcements on Muttur jetty was routed by LTTE fighters battling SLN troops at one end, reports said. Sri Lanka’s military insisted however that the Army was in control of the town and that the ‘desperate’ LTTE was retreating before its counter-attack.
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Jaffna Bishop's silver jublee commemorated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 July 2006, 12:19 GMT]
Special prayers were conducted at the Jaffna Holy Mother Mary Church to celebrated the 25 years of service to the Catholic Community and to the Jaffna residents by Jaffna Bishop Rev Father Thomas Saundaranayagam at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, sources from Jaffna said.
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Young woman shot dead in Jaffna town

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2006, 13:53 GMT]
A young woman was shot dead by unidentified gunmen, riding a motorbike, in front of Nathan cinema at Kanthapasegaram road in the Jaffna town centre, around 1:15 p.m., Friday, police said.
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SLA attack on bus driver triggers Jaffna transport workers strike

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 July 2006, 09:41 GMT]
Members of Jaffna district transport workers union held a peninsula-wide work boycott Monday protesting against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) attack on a bus driver, conductor and passengers Sunday along the KKS-Jaffna road, transport union officials said. The assaults took place following the grenade attack on SLA soldiers by unknown gunmen at Kokuvil junction on Sunday. The passenger bus from Tellipalai was detained for more than four hours near the Kokuvil junction, affected passengers said.
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US Tamils urge UN action against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 July 2006, 02:28 GMT]
Several hundred Tamil Americans, including several catholic priests, assembled in front of the United Nations Head Quarters in 42nd St & 1st Ave, New York city Friday afternoon to protest against the violence committed by Sri Lanka Security forces on Tamil civilians in the NorthEast and to urge the United Nations to pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to negotiate in good faith with Liberation Tigers towards a just and fair solution to the national question.
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New Rs 9.3m building for Kalmunai Fatima College

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 10:39 GMT]
The Bishop of Trincomalee-Batticaloa Diocese Rt.Rev.Dr.Kingsley Swampillai Saturday laid the foundation stone for a modern school building to be constructed at an estimated cost of 9.3 million rupees at Kalmunai Carmel Fatima College by the Kalmunai Rotary Club with the funding of London Burnham Beaches' Rotary Club, school officials said.
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Two SLA soldies injured in Point-Pedro attack die

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 10:21 GMT]
Two of the SLA soldiers including a corporal who suffered serious injuries, when their road patrol came under attack in Thunnali, Wednesday evening, died Thursday in Palaly military hospital, sources said. The third SLA soldier injured in the attack is undergoing emergency treatment at the military hospital in Palaly.
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