3 Media persons honoured in Karaveddi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 15:50 GMT]
Three senior media persons were honoured for their services by the Art and Cultural Department of Karaveddi Regional Secretariat in Vadmaraadchi, and were presented with awards by the Goverenment Agent of Jaffna in an event held Tuesday, sources in Vadmaraadchi said. This is the first event of its kind taking place in Jaffna peninsula where journalists and media men live in constant threat to their lives from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and the SLA-backed paramilitaries.
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SLA suspends issue of travel passes to Jaffna civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 09:49 GMT]
Citing security reasons regarding the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference scheduled to commence by the end of July, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers manning the civil administrative centres in the North have temporarily suspended the issue of passes for general public to travel out of the peninsula for the past three days, sources said.
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CTTU extends support for General strike

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 02:42 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU ) in an official communiqué issued Tuesday called upon all it members to take part in the island wide general strike scheduled for July 10 in a show of support for the one-day token strike organized by the Marxist Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) with the blessings of main opposition United National Party (UNP).
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SLAF attacks paddy fields again, civilian wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 06:25 GMT]
A 24-year-old man, father of two, was wounded Tuesday morning when two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked Kugnchup-paranthan and the adjacent paddy fields along Paranthan - Poonakari (Pooneryn) road. TamilNet correspondent who visited the attack site said that the bombardment has caused extensive damage to the agricultural lands in the 5th canal. The road was also damaged in the attack. The SLAF bombers came again in the afternoon and attacked the same area with deep bombs leaving large craters.
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SLAF bombing raids destroy civilian properties in Vaddakkachchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 02:13 GMT]
At least 15 houses sustained serious damage while a large number of valuable trees including 29 coconut palms were completely destroyed during the aerial bombardment during the air raid by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Sunday afternoon in Vaddakkachchi. The attack has disturbed normalcy in the village.
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Protection seekers in Jaffna face uncertain future

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 00:21 GMT]
Nearly three hundreds civilians who sought protection with Jaffna Human Rights Commision (JHRC) and kept in protective custody within Jaffna prison premises are facing danger of being removed against their wishes as a result of the activities of a local judge, sources in Jaffna said. Continued threats from in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence and paramilitary operatives forced many civilians to surrender to the HRC from various parts of the peninsula during the past two years. The SLA has earlier forced protection seekers at Jaffna prison to sign a letter, stating that they were LTTE members, before accommodating them to the centre at Thellippazhai.
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SLA artillery shells target IDPs in Iluppaikkadavai

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 01:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops are conducting continuous artillery attacks targeting civilian settlements in Illuppakkadavai in Mannaar district since Saturday morning and a number of shells have exploded along roads usually made use of by the general public and as well as in the vicinity of Illuppaikkadavai junction, residents said.
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SLA permits paddy cultivation upto Chemma'ni

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 00:23 GMT]
After a lapse of nearly 12 years, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers in the North have recently granted permission for the resumption of agricultural activities in the paddy fields in Ariyaalai, a suburb within Jaffna Municipal council. This was earlier identified as an area where civilians believed to have disappeared during 1996/1997 were murdered and buried. The SLA has now permitted cultivation in the large swath of land area lying along A9 Highway, from Ariyaalai Junction up to Chemma'ni including the old railway crossing in Naavatkuzhi, a spokesperson for the Federation of Ariyaalai Farmers said .
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Courts instruct DIG to curb abduction, killings in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 15:16 GMT]
Trincomalee High Court Judge M. Ilancheliyan Friday instructed the Sri Lankan Deputy Inspector General of Police for Trincomalee district in writing to take immediate steps to curb abduction, killing and unlawful detention of civilians according provisions of Human Rights Protection enshrined in the constitution of Sri Lanka, legal sources said.
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Tigers target SLAF bomber over Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 14:37 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) MiG-27 fighter jet was forced to return after it sustained damage in anti-aircraft fire over Ki'linochchi area in Vanni Sunday afternoon, LTTE officials told media in Vanni. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) officials in Colombo, admitting that an aircraft had a troubled landing at Katunayaka military airbase in Colombo after carrying out an air strike, said that the fighter jet had 'skidded off' the runway while landing.
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Civilians wounded in SLAF bombardment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 12:17 GMT]
At least four civilians were wounded at Vaddakkachchi, around 7 km from Ki'linochchi Sunday at 4:20 p.m. when two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked a residential area twice, Tamileelam Police officials told media in Ki'linochchi. 15 houses have sustained serious damage in the aerial attack.
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Robberies escalate in Jaffna, lone woman killed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 11:38 GMT]
Unidentified armed men who arrived in motorbikes Friday night, during the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed curfew hours, robbed cash and jewelery worth hundreds of thousands rupees worth after killing 55-year-old lone woman at Urumpiraay East in Jaffna, police said. Despite law enforcement authorities' assurances of preventive measures, the robberies in Jaffna during curfew hours are escalating at an alarming rate.
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DS officials in Vanni seek guarantees for their safety

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 08:28 GMT]
Expressing fear of being targeted by claymore attacks while serving the civilians in Vanni, two Divisional Secretaries (AGAs) presently working in Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts have requested the Government Agents (GAs) of the two districts to be transferred from their present postings. The two divisional secretaries while condemning the killing of their colleague Nanthakumar have pointed out that they face severe hardships in providing services for the public in their administrative areas and have requested the Government Agents of the two districts to ensure their safety.
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LTTE leader pays homage to Black Tigers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 06:47 GMT]
LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan participated in the Black Tigers commemoration day events held Saturday in Vanni. 356 Black Tigers have laid down their lives, 254 of them in sea operations, during the last 21 years since 05 July 1987, when the first Black Tiger Captain Miller, drove an explosive laden truck on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops garrisoned at Nelliyadi Central College in Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna. Last year, Black Tiger commandos stormed the Sri Lankan airbase in Anudradhapura in LTTE's first combined Black Tiger and Tamil Eelam Air Force attack, destroying more than 10 air crafts.
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SLA continue artillery barrage on LTTE territory across Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 01:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA), from its artillery bases along Jaffna lagoon coast, continue artillery fire on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territory across the lagoon from Friday night. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopters stepped up surveillance mission in the lagoon area as well as on the coastal areas in Vadamaraadchi as Tigers observed Black Tigers Day on Saturday.
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Slain journalist Thevakumar's remains cremated in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 July 2008, 12:23 GMT]
The remains of Paranirupasingam Thevakumar, Jaffna correspondent of Sakthi Radio and Television, hacked to death May 28 in the outskirts of Jaffna town, was cremated Saturday according to Saiva rites. The remains of Thevakumar were exhumed 37 days after his demise from Koththaththu'rai burial grounds at Araali West and cremated with permission granted by Mallakam Court magistrate on appeal made by the slain journalist's wife.
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SLA extends curfew hours in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 July 2008, 10:41 GMT]
According to sudden announcement made Friday by Palaali command of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) the night time curfew in Jaffna peninsula has been extended by an additional two and a half hours to a total of ten hours.
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UPFA fields disabled soldier against Janaka Perera

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 July 2008, 10:06 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who lost his two legs in an LTTE ambush in which a veteran SLA Commaner Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and eight others including Lieutenant General Wijaya Wimalarathne were killed in Jaffna in 1992, is one of the candidates contesting on the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ticket in the North Central Provincial Council against the main Opposition United National Party (UNP) which is led by its chief ministerial candidate Major General (retd) Janaka Perera, reports said.
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Sri Lanka, a case of political inequality

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 16:38 GMT]
Striking a sharp contrast to Colombo's portrayal of Eezham struggle as a terrorist issue, Frances Stewart, the director of the Oxford based Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE), looks at the crisis as a case of inequalities in political power between the Tamils and Sinhalese. In an interview that appeared in Human Rights Tribune, on Thursday, she said: "Horizontal inequalities have political, economic, social and cultural dimensions… Inequalities in political power, which are very important, where one group may have total dominance of the political system, and another group does not have any access, which is the situation more or less in Sri Lanka."
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Ejected IDP family denies wrongdoing

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 12:39 GMT]
A widowed Tamil woman and three children displaced from Trincomalee district and living in an interim camp in Kalviyangkaadu, Batticaloa, and recently ejected from the camp by the village officer (GS) of the area for immoral conduct, has called for justice from Human Rights Commission (HRC).
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