SL Police raids TRO Colombo office

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 January 2007, 08:26 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police, without producing any warrant, raided the Colombo office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation Saturday morning and searched the office, NGO officials at the TRO office in Colombo told media. The raid on Colombo office by the CID, follows after the raids on Vavuniya and Trincomalee offices Friday. "The continuous harassment of TRO is having a tremendously negative impact on the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected people of the NorthEast," the TRO, the only organization working in some of the most severely affected parts of the NorthEast, said in a press statement Saturday.
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SLAF Kfir jets bomb Verugal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 January 2007, 12:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets bombed Verugal areas in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory in Trincomalee district Wednesday around 10:00 a.m. SLAF claimed that identified LTTE targets were bombed. Casualty information was not released.
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MP slams aerial bombardment on water refinery

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2006, 10:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), in its latest bombing raids in Vaharai on Thursday, completely destroyed a water refinery constructed by the UN agencies to remedy the drinking water shortage in the area near Verugal Murugan temple, charged S. Jeyanandamoorthy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian from Batticaloa. In a press communiqué issued on Friday, the MP said: "the bombardment on the water refinery is not only a Ceasefire violation but is a human rights violation and a war crime too."
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Vaharai IDPs rally, demand International relief, re-opening of A-15

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 December 2006, 11:28 GMT]
Thousands of Tamils, most of them Internally Displaced Persons in the Sri Lanka Army besieged Vaharai region, Friday at 10:00 a.m. marched from Vaharai school IDP camp towards the Vaharai Hospital in a prosession, and handed over an appeal addressed to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, calling on the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to allow the International Relief to reach Vaharai and re-open the A-15 access route, that has remained closed by the Sri Lanka Army for the last 2 months. The IDPs also raised concerns over the alleged move to select Sampoor region to set up a Coal Power Plant preventing the internally displaced people of the area from resettling in their own lands.
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80% tsunami displaced in NorthEast, still in temporary shelters- TRO

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 12:19 GMT]
"Almost 80% of the Tsunami displaced in some districts of the NorthEast of the island, which sustained 65% of the tsunami destruction and deaths, continue to languish in Temporary Shelter Camps or have been displaced once again due to military offensives, bombing, and shelling," said Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in its two-year tsunami report, issued in Colombo, Tuesday.
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Solheim extols Balasingham's integrity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2006, 02:07 GMT]
"I met so many other people in the Peace Process in Sri Lanka, of all communities. But I have to say that Bala is one of the very very few people who never lied to me in this peace process," said Erik Solheim, the Norwegian International Development Minister, addressing the large crowd assembled in Alexandra Palace UK to pay respect to late Anton Balasingham, advisor and theoretician for the Liberation Tigers, Wednesday.
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TNA urges GoSL, employers to respect Up-Country Tamils' contribution

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 December 2006, 15:23 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the employers of the plantation sector, must act responsibly to address the plight of the plantation sector workers, the majority of whom, economically and socially the most marginalised Tamils of Indian origin, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Monday, expressing solidarity with the plantation workers in the up-country. "It cannot be denied that these plantation workers, through their sweat and toil, have continuously made a steadfast contribution to the country's economy."
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Declare Vaharai a safe zone ­-Trinco MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2006, 00:23 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Trincomalee district, K. Thurairetnasingam, urged the International Community and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to convince the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), to demarcate a safe zone in Vaharai where thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDP) from Trincomalee district who had fled their homes due to SLA onslaught are currently trapped.
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Sanctioning Impunity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2006, 13:20 GMT]
“Memories of psychological trauma, physical pain from torture, and the loss of dignity while I was incarcerated in prison for one year in 1993 after I was arrested under PTA, still haunt me. Nightmares have returned after I heard that PTA has been reimposed. All local and international organizations concerned of human rights should exert pressure on Colombo to repeal the act," "Mahes", 38, a father of three children, from Valaichchenai said Monday.
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Leaked Expert panel's reports trigger controversy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 December 2006, 13:19 GMT]
The 17-member panel of "Legal/Constitutional Experts" tasked by Sri Lanka' president Mahinda Rajapakse to aid the sub committee on Constitutional Reforms to formulate proposals for constitutional changes, in June 2006, failed to agree to produce a single set of recommendations, and instead produced four separate, competing reports which were leaked to the media. The exercise widely believed by the Tamils and noted Think-tanks in Colombo, as a project by Colombo to buy time while engaginng in military offensives in the East, has triggered controversy in ruling circles, as Colombo attempted to distance itself from recommendations in the main reports.
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Monitors urge parties to refrain from violence in Vaharai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 11:33 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), in an statement issued from Colombo Tuesday, urged the Parties, the GoSL and the LTTE, to refrain from "any further viloence" in Vaharai area. Restriction of SLMM access by GoSL forces to areas where violations may have taken place is in itself a violation of the CFA and more importantly prevents the SLMM from working according to is mandate, charged the statement. "The LTTE has failed to protect civilians in Vakarai by restricting their movements," the SLMM statement accused the Tigers.
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New regulations mandate "written approval" for peace facilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 05:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, in his public address on 06 December, stated that his government had decided to "reactivate the provisions of the The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)." On the same day he announced that he had defined "terrorism" in new regulations called Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations (PPTSTAR) which makes explicit reference to the PTA. The facilitation process has to be conducted as an "approved transaction," and upon "written approval" from Colombo, according to the PPTSTAR.
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UN demands protection of Vaharai civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 05:34 GMT]
United Nations Office of the Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Colombo, in a press statement Tuesday called on the parties, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), to adhere to their responsibilities under international humanitarian law and said: "it is imperative that direct shelling where civilians reside stops and the civilian population must be granted full and unhindered freedom of movement, away from military operations."
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TRO appeals for SLMM, ICRC access to Vaharai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 12:48 GMT]
Pointing out that "over 30 shells have landed close to the Vaharai Hospital in the past few hours and 6 TRO Camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the area have received direct hits from shells resulting in 17 deaths, including a 6 month old baby, and 67 injured," Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), in a press release issued from its Colombo office Sunday, appealed to the Humanitarian Organizations and the International Community to pressure Government of Sri Lanka to allow access to the ICRC and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to the Vaharai area.
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Jaffna Bishop urges firm action from Co-chairs

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2006, 12:55 GMT]
Robert O. Blake, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka paid a sudden visit to Jaffna Thursday and met with Jaffna Bishop Rev. Thomas Soundaranayagam at the Bishop's House, and discussed the current situation in the Jaffna peninsula, source in Jaffna said. The Rev. Bishop stressed on the urgent need for the Co-chair countries to exert due pressure on the Sri Lanka government (GoSL) to restore peace in Sri Lanka, Bishop's House sources said.
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Re-opening of landroutes, non-negotiable humanitarian priority - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2006, 10:15 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, Friday told media after meeting Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer in Kilinochchi, that the re-opening of A9 and A15 landroutes constituted basic humanitarian priorities for the survival of the civilian population. "It is critical that the International Community addresses the issue of Colombo's cooperation in re-opening of A9 and A15 landroutes ensuring the Tamil people their top-most basic humanitarian need," Mr. Thamilchelvan said. Tamil people are at the verge of losing hopes in Norwegian facilitators, the SLMM and the International Community for failing to condemn Colombo for refusing to re-open the landroutes, he said.
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Engage in peace talks, Thondaman tells Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2006, 11:52 GMT]
"Sri Lanka Government should give up the idea of proscribing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who fight for the rights of the Tamils and engage in peace talks instead," said Arumugam Thondaman, the leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and a minister in the Sri Lanka government (GoSL), in a statement released Tuesday in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka reinstates Prevention of Terrorism Act

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2006, 09:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Rathnasiri Wickramanayake, announcing a cabinet decision, Wednesday said the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) would be implemented in full force. The PTA, introduced in 1979 as a temporary measure, and permanently enacted in 1982, was not applied following the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The cabinet decision, viewed as a major breach of the CFA, gives excessive powers of arrest and detention to the Sri Lankan armed forces.
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GoSL considering proscription, reimposition of PTA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2006, 00:36 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is considering seriously to proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) and re- impose the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) again, Ratnasri Wickramanayake, the Premier and Deputy Defense Minister of Sri Lanka, announced in Parliament Tuesday, while addressing allocation of funds to the Ministry of Defense in the new budget for the year of 2007, Parliamentary sources said.
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130 billion rupees defence budget approved in Sri Lankan Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2006, 15:00 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army, Navy and Air Force commanders, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, who narrowly escaped a suicide attack last Frdiay, were present at the Sri Lankan Parliament Tuesday when it approved the defence budget allowing an increased defence spending by 43% to USD 1.3 billion. The Sri Lankan parliament would adopt the budget for 2007 on Wednesday while the Sri Lankan cabinet is expected to decide on re-imposing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) that has not been invoked since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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