Swiss Tamils protest SLA violence againt NE women

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 July 2006, 19:57 GMT]
Members of Swiss Tamils Women's Association held a protest rally in front of UNICEF offices in Zurich Monday against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) violence on women in NorthEast, Tamil sources in Switzerland said. The protesters appealed in a Memorandum addressed to the Government of Switzerland and UNICEF to condemn the SLA violence, and to pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to take steps to stop the violence immediately, spokesperson Nirmala Pararajasingham 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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Police registration made mandatory to Hill Country, Colombo Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 June 2006, 13:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government announced that Tamils living in Colombo and suburbs, and in hill country will be required to register with Sri Lanka Police nearest to their residences, in a Press conference held in Colombo district Administrative Secretariat, sources in Colombo said. Deputy Inspector General of Police, Pujitha Jeyasundera, detailed the procedures to be followed by Tamil residents in fulfilling this new requirement.
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US Tamils to protest in front of UN in New York

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 June 2006, 09:57 GMT]
US-based Tamil organizations are to jointly conduct a peace march in front of the United Nations Head Quarters in New York Friday, between 2.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. to protest against the violence on Tamil civilians by the Government of Sri Lanka and the paramilitaries, a leaflet sent to Tamil Americans said.
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Kalmunai Municipal Council's first meeting held

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 June 2006, 17:31 GMT]
"We should administer the newly created Kalmunai Municipal Council as an example to show the unity of Muslims and Tamils in the town," said Deputy Mayor Mr.I.L.Kamardeen addressing the first meeting of the council Thursday morning. The Mayor Mr.Abdul Rahim Asmir did not attend the meeting due to illness, sources said.
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US paper advocates "loose Confederation" for Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 June 2006, 10:45 GMT]
"The international community should press the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers alike to come to the negotiating table in Oslo and work out a loose confederation that retains Sri Lanka's unity, grants the Tamil northeast self-governing autonomy, and puts an end to the island's long agony," said Boston Globe in an editorial that appeared in its Thursday edition.
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Rationale for LTTE olive branch missed - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 June 2006, 10:07 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers’ extension of an olive branch to India has, amid the ensuing media frenzy, been widely misunderstood, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said in its editorial this week. Pointing out that amid rising violence against Tamil civilians, “twenty years [after first doing so], India is again intervening to protect the Tamils from the Sri Lankan state,” the paper said: “securing the island’s Tamils and ensuring their rights are restored and safeguarded is a goal behind which both the LTTE and India are separately, but simultaneously, once again aligned.”
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State funeral for Major General Kulatunga

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 03:16 GMT]
The funeral of Major General Parami Kulatunga, is expected to take place with full State honors at 6:00 p.m. at the Borella Kanatte cemetary Wednesday, Sri Lanka Government sources in Colombo said. The funeral cortege will begin its journey from Maj.Gen.Kulatunga's brother's house in Kelany Maithri Mawatte to the Kanatte cemetary, sources said.
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Rajiv Gandhi assassination ‘a monumental historical tragedy’ – Balasingham

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 16:33 GMT]
In an exclusive interview with India’s NDTV, the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator and theoretician, Mr. Anton Balasingham, described the assassination in 1991 of Rajiv Gandhi as a “great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy.” Saying “we call upon the Government of India and people of India to be magnanimous to put the past behind and to approach the ethnic question in a different perspective” Mr. Balasingham said the event has to be seen in its political and historical context of the time, involving the military intervention of India and a war between the Indian Peace Keeping Force and the LTTE.
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Durban Tamils protest against Sri Lanka's Rights violations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 11:34 GMT]
Representatives of the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of South Africa (TCC), members of organizations supporting human rights in South Africa, and expatriate Tamils staged a peaceful march and placard demonstration in front of the Durban City Hall, South Africa Friday 23rd June 2006. More than 200 people protested the human rights violations of the Sri Lanka Government against Tamil civilians and European Union’s proscription of the LTTE, organizers of the event said.
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TNA appeals to international community to ensure security to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 09:59 GMT]
"We wish to impress upon the International Community that the Sri Lankan State is failing in it duty to give adequate protection to the Tamil civilian population. We wish to impress upon the International Community that it should intercede and compel the Sri Lankan State to fulfil its obligations to the Tamil civilian population. The atmosphere of unbridled impunity now prevalent should be brought to an end," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in statement made in the Sri Lanka's parliament Wednesday on the rapidly deteriorating plight of Tamil civilian population in the North East region of the country, parliamentary sources said.
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Independent Tamil homeland, a reality, not a myth -Elilan

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 June 2006, 11:02 GMT]
"Tamils as a people entitled to right to self-determination and the freedom of Tamil homeland is not a myth but a reality. The hardline Sinhala leadership in the South would come to know this soon," said Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) addressing a gathering of Tamil civilians who participated the civil defence training programme in several villages in the Muttur east Monday, sources in Trincomalee said.
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Tamil protest mars UK tourism push

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 June 2006, 03:05 GMT]
A major effort by Sri Lanka to promote tourism from Britain did not make much headway last week as British television and newspapers simultaneously gave considerable coverage to the spiraling violence in the island and highlighting fears of a slide back to war. Moreover, the grand finale of a ten-day festival promoting Sinhala culture held in Trafalgar Square Saturday drew a novel protest by Tamil youth organizations in London – traditional Tamil arts being performed for the public while volunteers distributed leaflets highlighting the bloodletting underway in the distant island.
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TRO's main storage facility robbed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 June 2006, 19:43 GMT]
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organization's (TRO), Batticaloa main storage facility located at Old road, close to the Batticaloa railway station, inside the heavy security military controlled zone of Batticaloa Town, was robbed Thursday night at around 11.15 p.m., said Kesavan, the Batticaloa district head of TRO.
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DPU agent killed, one captured, two trapped in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 June 2006, 00:18 GMT]
Two Sri Lankan Deep Penetration Unit attackers, who fled Illuppadichenai, a Liberation Tigers controlled territory 17 km west off Batticaloa, were chased by the Tigers, after a Claymore attack Thursday 9:30 p.m. The DPU personnel went hiding into the Pankudaveli jungle close to the Batticaloa lagoon. Later, Sri Lanka Army dispatched a DPU rescue team of two, from Eravur towards the Pankudaveli jungle across the Batticaloa lagoon, in boats. LTTE cadres gunned down one of the two rescue DPU team members and the other was captured alive by the Tigers around 2:20 a.m. Friday, Batticaloa District Political Head Daya Mohan said.
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Young Mayor assumes duties in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 June 2006, 17:46 GMT]
21 year-old youth Mr.Abdul Rahim Asmir of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Thursday assumed duties as the first Mayor of the Kalmunai Municipal Council, and 52 year old Mr. Ismalebbe Kamardeen of Maruthamunai as Deputy Mayor at an event held in the Municipal Council building Thursday. "I will discharge my duties as the first citizen of the Kalmunai promoting better understanding between Muslims and Tamils and also would be taking concrete steps to develop the town," said the new Mayor in his address.
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64 killed, 94 wounded in Claymore blast in Kebitigollawe

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 June 2006, 03:30 GMT]
64 passengers, including fifteen children and a Buddhist monk, were killed and around 94 wounded when a civilian bus was caught in a claymore mine blast near Kebitigollawe, 23 km southeast of Vavuniya, around 7:50 a.m. Thursday, police sources said. Wounded survivors were rushed to Kepitigollawe and Anuradhapura hospitals. The majority of victims are Sinhalese, officials said.
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Samaraweera receives "unusually high-level" reception in Norway

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 15:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has received a high-level reception, unusual for a Foreign Minister, according to International Development Minister Erik Solheim, who said Wednesday that Norway has to maintain close relationship with the parties to the conflict if it was to achieve any progress in the peace process. Mangala Samaraweera, once an opponent of Norwegian facilitation in Sri Lanka, was received by His Majesty King Harald V while Norwegian Tamil activists protested outside the Royal Palace in Oslo.
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One-sided pressure will not work- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 09:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is prepared to demonstrate the power of balance and the parity of status beyond any doubt to the Sinhala polity, if the the deteriorating relationship between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE forces us to do so, said LTTE's Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi responding to a question on Oslo meeting, sources in Kilinochchi said. The Sri Lankan delegation walked out from the Oslo meeting on a dispute on parity of status.
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LTTE delegation leaves Zurich

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 01:39 GMT]
The LTTE delegation led by Head of Political Wing S.P.Thamilchelvan left for Kilinochchi from Zurich airport Tuesday afternoon after meeting several Swiss government officials, Tamil sources in Switzerland said. The delegation arrived in Switzerland Sunday after completing discussions with the Norwegian facilitators and with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Friday and meeting with the LTTE's Constitutional Affairs Committee Saturday. The non-cabinet level Sri Lanka delegation left Oslo mid-day Thursday after refusing to meet with a similar level group from the LTTE delegation.
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