Demonstration against abductions held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2006, 11:52 GMT]
The Committee for Investigation of the Disappeared, and the National Front Against War (NFAW) staged a protest demonstration Friday around 10:00 a.m at Peliyagoda circle on the Colombo-Negombo road calling for a stop to forced disappearances and to safeguard humanity, sources in Colombo said. The Protest was led by Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne, the patron of the Committee for Investigation of the Disappeared and the leader of the New Leftist Front party.
Full story >>

New TNA parliamentarian takes oath

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 11:36 GMT]
K.N.Sri Kantha of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was sworn in as new parliamentarian of the Jaffna district to fill the vacancy created by the assassination of Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj by unidentified gunmen in the heart of Colombo on 10th November, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Paramilitary threatens Tamil MPs from Batticaloa, Amparai to resign their seats before Monday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 November 2006, 07:35 GMT]
A paramilitary Karuna Group operative, identifying himself as Gunanan, operating from the office of the group located in Sri Lanka Army controlled Batticaloa town, has issued death threats to Tamil parliamentarians from the East, Tamil National Alliance said in a letter to the Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament Tuesday. If the 8 parliamentarians from Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai, did not resign their posts before coming Monday, November 27, they would be assassinated, the group has warned. 4 key members of the the TNA, 2 MPs, an ex-MP and a to-be-nominated MP, have been assassinated during the past 2 years.
Full story >>

MP accuses Government minister of complicity in Raviraj killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 November 2006, 00:09 GMT]
Colombo District Parliamentarian of United National Party (UNP) T.Maheswaran, addressing the parliament on Monday, accused a cabinet minister of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) of complicity in the assassination of late Raviraj Nadaraj, the Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian, parliamentary sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Tamil parliamentarian in Colombo faces death threats

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 November 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Mano Ganesan, Western Province People's Front parliamentarian and an active member of the Civil Monitoring Committee on Abductions, Extrajudicial and Arbitrary Killings, Thursday said that he has been facing threat to his life. Mr. Mano Ganesan, is one of organisors of the monitoring committee, with the slain Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj.
Full story >>

Kilinochchi remembers Raviraj

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 00:07 GMT]
"Nadaraja Raviraj went to the doorsteps of his people, observed their living conditions, understood the daily struggle of our people, and exposed the atrocities and human rights violations committed against the Tamil people by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). His activities were a threat to the extremists who have succeeded in taking his life," said C. Ilamparithi, the Jaffna political head of Liberation Tigers, Wednesday in an event held to remember the slain parliamentarian, held at Kilinochchi Cultural Hall, 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, sources in Kilinochichi said.
Full story >>

Collegues vow to carry on policies of slain MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 18:31 GMT]
Speaking in the presence of large number of civilians gathered in Jaffna on Wednesday to pay their last respects to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Late Raviraj Nadaraj, fellow parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran accused an armed group linked to Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) as directly responsible for the killing of Raviraj,sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

NorthEast mourns for Raviraj

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 16:51 GMT]
The people of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaithivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Amparai and Trincomalee districts observed hartal (general shut down) Wednesday mourning the loss of Raviraj, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian allegedly assassinated by Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadres operating with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA). The shut down was organized to condemn Raviraj's assassination and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artilery fire killing of nearly forty-two Tamil civilians including children in Vaharai in Batticaloa.
Full story >>

Jaffna bids farewell to slain MP, relatives reveal assassination attempt

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 13:17 GMT]
A key EPDP paramilitary operative with a handgun had been searching for Nadarajah Raviraj when the late Tamil parliamentarian visited his hometown last month, revealed relatives who attended the funeral of late MP in Jaffna. The entire Jaffna peninsula was at a standstill as the funeral procession paraded through the streets of Chavakachcheri to the cremation grounds located at Sri Lanka Army High Security Zone. Journalists were harassed by Sri Lankan soldiers after the funeral.
Full story >>

Stranded Jaffna residents await sea transport from Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 10:42 GMT]
300 Jaffna district residents, stranded in Vavuniya since the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) closure of the A9 route when clashes between the SLA and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) erupted August 11, were taken by bus Tuesday to Trincomalee to be sent by ship to Jaffna, Vavuniya Secretariat sources said.


Full story >>

Trincomalee to observe 3-day general shut down

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 01:01 GMT]
Tamil People Force (TPF), a civic organization in Trincomalee, appealed to the district residents to observe three day general shut down commencing from Wednesday condemning the killing of TNA parliamentarian Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj in Colombo and killing nearly sixty five Tamil civilians including children in Vaharai in Batticaloa, sources in east port town said.
Full story >>

Hartal observed in Batticaloa, Amparai to protest Raviraj killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 22:33 GMT]
General shut down was observed in Batticaloa and Amparai districts on Tuesday as a mark of protest against the killing of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Jaffna district Nadarajah Raviraj and remembering his services to the society, civil sources in Batticaloa said. The hartal organized by Batticaloa-Amparai Tamil National Forum and Student Consortium.
Full story >>

Three SLA troopers killed in claymore attack in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 14:20 GMT]
Unidentified persons detonated a claymore device Tuesday afternoon killing three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers at Mathottam area in Uylankulam Murungan in Mannar district, Murungan police said.


Full story >>

Up-country Tamils shun work mourning Raviraj's assassination

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 11:55 GMT]
Tamil workers shunned work Tuesday in the central Sri Lanka, and a complete shut down was observed in all the up-country towns, as a mark of protest against the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Raviraj and the Vaharai killings of Internally Displaced People (IDPs), Hatton sources said. P. Chandrasegaran, Minister and the leader of Up-country People's Front (UPF) organised the protest.
Full story >>

People of Jaffna pay last respects to Raviraj

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 10:20 GMT]
People of Jaffna peninsula, in their thousands, paid their last respects to the remains of Ravirarj, the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for Jaffna district, whose body was flown from Colombo to Palaly air base in Jaffna Tuesday around 11:00 a.m and later kept at Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) at Nallur. Special Commissioner JMC S. Sarvanabavan took charge of Raviraj's remains around 11:30 a.m which was kept in the JMC precincts for people to pay their last respects.


Full story >>

Thousands pay homage to Raviraj in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 01:58 GMT]
"Raviraj was a leader who fought for Tamils' rights and gave a democratic voice to their struggle. The Sri Lanka Government should hold itself responsible for Ravraj's assassination," said Rajitha Senaratne, United National Party parliamentarian for Colombo, addressing a public meeting organised by the Anti-War Front at Vihara Mahadevi Park in Colombo held Monday evening around 4:20 p.m held to pay homage to the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Raviraj, sources Colombo said.
Full story >>

Three day shut down in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 09:24 GMT]
All shops, schools, banks, public and private institutions remained closed and all transport ceased for the third day Monday as residents of Vavuniya district observed complete shut down condemning the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna Parliamentarian Raviraj and in protest against the Sri Lanka government's (GoSL) economic embargo on the Jaffna peninsula by the closure of A9 landroute.


Full story >>

Raviraj assassination, a black mark on Sri Lanka - UNP parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 November 2006, 18:08 GMT]
United National Party MP for Kalutura district, Rajitha Senaratne, addressing an all party press meet Sunday in Colombo said the assassination of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadarajah Raviraj in Colombo has challenged the people who voice for peace in the South. The assassination has created a black mark on Sri Lanka and has paved a way for the International Community to intervene in the domestic affairs, the MP said. The Anti-War National Front (AWNF) in Colombo has called for a Hartal in Colombo on Monday protesting against the assassination, extra-judicial killings and abductions taking place in Colombo and its environs.
Full story >>

Raviraj worked for Tamil, Muslim unity- Muslim Federation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 15:55 GMT]
The Federation of All Mosques and Organizations in Eastern Province (FAMOEP), in a statement issued Saturday, expressed its deep sorrow over the death of Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj, and said "Muslims of North East revere Raviraj as a Tamil leader who had given an important place in his heart for the well-being of Muslims." The statement was signed by FAMOEP President Alhaj Moulavi S.L.M.Haniffa.
Full story >>

Colombo's Law, order machinery collapsing- Rights Groups

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 14:58 GMT]
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expressed shock at the "further intensification of violence in Sri Lanka with the assassination of a Member of Parliament, Nadarajah Raviraj...and the killings of the civilians at Vakarai in the Batticaloa district," a UK-based Tamil Rights group said Raviraj's killing in the Capital indicated "chaotic law and order situation and the lack of human protection in Sri Lanka," while California-based Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) described Vaharai killings as a "war crime", in statements issued to the press in the aftermath of the assassination of Tamil parliamentarian, Friday.
Full story >>