Providing moral support to Eelam, not a crime- Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2008, 18:53 GMT]
"Any move to suppress those expressing moral support to Tamil Eelam and LTTE is violation of all tenets of democracy and humanism, and will border on fascism," Viduthalai Chiruththaikal Katchi (VCK, Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol. Thirumavalavan said on Friday addressing a conference organized by his party in Chennai labeled "Redeem the Freedom of Expression."
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Rupavahini producer injured in knife attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2008, 12:56 GMT]
Lal Hemantha Mawalage, news producer at state-run Television station, Rupavahini, has been admitted to the Colombo General Hospital after being attacked with machete and knives by unknown assailants at 11:30 p.m. Friday while walking in Athurugiriya in Colombo, sources in Colombo said. Mr Mawalage suffered injuries to both hands and body, according to his relatives. The attackers are suspected to be allied to non-cabinet Minister of Labour Mervin Silva who was involved in an altercation at Rupavahini on 26 December.
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15 civilians arrested in Buttala still in custody

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 January 2008, 03:12 GMT]
Fifteen civilians arrested at Buttala in Badulla district in Uva province on Wednesday evening in a combined cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police are still being detained in police stations and interrogated. Of the arrested, 12 are Tamils and three are Sinhalese youths, police said.
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3 SLA killed, 6 wounded in Ma'nalaa'ru skirmish - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2008, 03:38 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and six wounded Thursday evening when Liberation Tigers counter-attacked SLA soldiers who mounted an attack on Tiger positions at Ma'nki'ndi Malai, according to the operation command of the LTTE in Ma'nalaa'ru. Meanwhile, the Tigers said they had seized weapons from the SLA in a separate clash at Ceylon Theatre area in Ma'nalaa'ru.
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Youth abducted in Kotahena

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2008, 01:00 GMT]
A Tamil youth from Batticaloa district, a resident of Poaratheevu, recently captured from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), was abducted in Kotahena, Colombo on the 14 January by group of five men operating in a white van with license plate number 2534899, the relatives of the youth stated in a complaint lodged with P.Rathakrishnan, Deputy minister and an Upcountry United Front (UPF) parliamentarian.
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18 Tamils arrested in Polonnaruwa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2008, 10:52 GMT]
Eighteen Tamil civilians were taken into custody by the police at Polonnaruwa and its border villages during a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army from Wednesday night till the dawn of Thursday.
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Yala sanctuary to be closed again

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2008, 10:46 GMT]
Yala sanctuary in the southern province is likely to be closed down for tourists again with the drop of foreign tourists following claymore explosions and attack that took place recently. The Yala sanctuary was re-opened in the beginning of January this year after several months' closure due to violence. Meanwhile more than eight thousand soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army are reported to have been deployed in about 12 villages in the Moneragala district to curb the movement of armed groups in the jungle area.
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13 Tamils arrested in Kalpity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 11:20 GMT]
The Chilaw Police Wednesday arrested 13 Tamil civilians in Kalpity coastal village in a cordon and search operation conducted from Tuesday night. Majority of them now detained and interrogated at Kalpity police station are residents of Mannaar and Jaffna, sources said.
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GOSL to unveil monument for Indian soldiers

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2008, 12:17 GMT]
A monument to soldiers of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) who lost their lives, while serving under the Indo-Sri Lanka peace accord in North East of Sri Lanka, is to be opened on February 4, Sri Lanka's Independence day, sources in Colombo said. The monument is located near the Sri Lanka Parliament Complex. Several Indian Military officials have previously made statements to the Indian media of the indifference Sri Lanka had shown towards casualties India suffered during the peace keeping operation.
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Extortion of money from Tamils in Colombo on the increase

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2008, 11:54 GMT]
Extortion of money from affluent Tamils residing in Wellawatte, Bambalapitya and Dehiwala in Colombo has been on the increase in recent days, according to media reports. Gangs posing as police officers and CID personnel have been waylaying Tamils walking along roads in evening in these areas threatening them with death if not yielded to their demands.
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UK: world must act to protect threatened peoples

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2008, 08:27 GMT]
In a keynote speech Monday during his official visit to India, Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, called for the shaping of a “new world order” in which the international community intervenes where populations are being threatened by "genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes or crimes against humanity, and the state is unwilling or unable to halt or prevent it." The world has "a responsibility to protect" Mr. Brown said. Last week, in a British Parliamentary debate on Sri Lanka, junior Foreign Minister Kim Howell called for a new ceasefire and for UN monitoring of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
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4 Tamils arrested in Moneragala

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2008, 23:54 GMT]
Five Up-Country Tamils were arrested by Sri Lanka Army on Saturday at Thanamalwila area in Moneragala division were being detained at Sooriyawewa police station and subjected to interrogation. They were arrested in a cordon and search operation.
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'Canadian Tamil Village' foundation stone laid

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2008, 05:03 GMT]
The foundation stone laying ceremony for a project costing $625K to build 250 houses and associated village infrastructure for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Raasapuram, Mulankaavil in Kilinochchi district was held Thursday at 12:45 p.m., sources from Kilinochchi said. The foundation stone was laid by the Government Agent (GA) of Kilinochchi District Mr. Vethanayakam, and Mr. Thangan, Deputy Head of Political Division.
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APRC: key to peace or an albatross?

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2008, 01:02 GMT]
J.R. Jayawardena's Government claimed that the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution passed in August 1987 fulfilled the promises made in the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, to 'devolve power' to the Tamil people. The Liberation Tigers dismissed the legislation outright, and said it allowed "perpetuation of the domination, oppression and exploitation of the Tamil masses by the racist Sinhala state," and N. Satyendra, a constitutional scholar and attorney who represented ex-militants in Sri Lanka trials, ridiculed the legislation as a "comic opera."
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SLAF bombing raid injures 3 civilians in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 17:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLA) fighter jets dropped 12 bombs in 3 sorties Friday morning on civilian settlements in Va'l'lipunam in Vanni, injuring three civilians including a woman, besides completely destroying a settlement, sources in Vanni said. An event enrolling new students to Grade I in Udaiyaarkaddu Mahavithtiyaalayam was disrupted when the bombs fell and exploded near by. Chentha'lir Children Home for girls, relocated from Mullaitheevu coast to Va'l'lipunam after Tsunami, narrowly escaped the air-strike.
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iTRO urges countries to allow diaspora help

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 00:02 GMT]
International Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, iTRO, based in U.K., in a press release issued this week following the unilateral abrogation of Cease Fire Agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka, appealed to the Governments of the West "to allow space for the Tamil Diaspora to provide much needed humanitarian assistance to their people. International organizations have been restricted in their ability to access the affected areas and deliver the necessary relief and the GoSL has restricted food, medicine, fuel and construction materials to the Vanni. As a result in many areas TRO is the only organization with access to the war and tsunami affected populations," the release said.
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Norwegian Tamils march against abrogation of CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 21:56 GMT]
Abrogation of the CFA by the Government of Sri Lanka has removed the only reporting body of human rights and humanitarian law violations that take place in Sri Lanka, said K. Sivapalan, a senior attorney-at-law from Trincomalee, addressing four hundred participants, mainly members of the Tamil diaspora, who participated in a march carrying torches towards the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo, expressing solidarity with the Tamils in the homeland Wednesday evening.
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British Group urges Tamils to boycott Sri Lankan Airlines

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 12:21 GMT]
British Tamil Forum (BTF), an umbrella community organization, in a press conference held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Central London to coincide with the Thai Pongal day Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. urged Tamils to boycott Sri Lankan Airlines, Sri Lanka's national carrier, claiming that its profits fund Colombo's war against Tamils. Ivan Pedropillai, chairing the meeting said, the abrogation of the CFA by the government of Sri Lanka is a precursor to an "unfettered and all out war on the Tamils living in the North of Sri Lanka. The Tamils from Sri Lanka cannot and will not continue to pay in Foreign Exchange for this deplorable war upon their own kith and kin."
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SLA disrupts Thaippongkal Day in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 10:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops in Kaithadi in Jaffna forcibly took more than 600 local residents Tuesday early morning, disrupting their Thaippongkal rituals, to the playgrounds and schools in the area and held them for interrogation until evening. The SLA troops also assaulted the people going along Jaffna-Kandy road in Kaithadi during the extensive SLA cordon and search operation conducted in Kaithadi area on Thaippongkal Day.
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Tamils respect Pirapaharan's single-minded commitment- civil activist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2008, 18:12 GMT]
Prominent Tamil civil society activist, Shanthi Satchithanandam, discussing her views on Pirapakaran's role in the Tamil National struggle, says: "Pirapaharan is the single most dedicated leader who gave voice and form to the demands put forward by Tamil political leaders of the 50s, 60s and 70s," in an interview to Vikalpa, a citizen journalism initiative in Sri Lanka built on the effort pioneered by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based think-tank.
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