Five of 19 abductees surrender to Eravur Police

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 14:47 GMT]
Five of the 19 passengers abducted by Karuna paramilitary cadres from the Saravana Travels private bus on its way from Kathankudy to Colombo on December 20 at Korakalimadu in Eravur police division in Batticaloa, escaped Monday evening, and surrendered Tuesday at Eravur police station.


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Karuna office destroyed in Amparai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 14:40 GMT]
Unidentified persons launched Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) Monday around 9:45 p.m on the office of Karuna paramilitary group located at 15th Colony in Amaprai district, completely destroying it, Amaparai sources said. The attackers first lobbed hand grenades and followed with RPGs.


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Eastern University staff continues boycott

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2006, 14:43 GMT]
The acadamic and non acadamic staff of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) continued their boycott for the 10th concecutive day demanding the release of abducted Vice Chancellor Prof. S. Ravindranath who is believed to be held by the paramilitary Karuna Group in Colombo from 15 December.
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Two shot dead, six seriously injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2006, 09:56 GMT]
Unidentified armed men opened fire on persons returning from a funeral Saturday around 11:00 p.m, killing two on the spot and seriously injuring six, at Puthukudiruppu in Batticaloa, sources from Batticaloa said. The injured were first rushed to Kathankudy hospital and later transferred to Batticaloa Teaching hospital in a critical condition.
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Karuna group cadre shot, injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 December 2006, 17:59 GMT]
Unidentified armed men opened fire Friday around 9:45 p.m on the office of Karuna group on New Muhathuvaram Road in Batticaloa injuring one Karuna group member, Batticaloa police said. There were more than eight Karuna group members inside the office at the time of the shooting, the police added.


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Child Protection Authority empowered - LTTE Political Wing

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2006, 11:19 GMT]
The LTTE Political Wing, in a press statement issued on Friday, said the Tiger leadership had taken decisive steps to stop the practice of underage recruitment. The Tigers have strengthened the Child Protection Authority with certain powers to investigate future allegations of underage recruitment and to take immediate action to release them, the statement said. The statement also made reference to Tamileelam Child Protection Act 2006 (Act No. 03 of 2006), which was enacted in October by the Tamileelam legislatature, making education compulsory upto grade 11. The Act has outlawed recruitment of under-17s and participation in combat of under-18s.
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Indian Prime Minister receives TNA leaders

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2006, 07:48 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh Friday received five Tamil National Alliance leaders R. Sampanthan, Mavai Senathiraja, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Selvam Adaikalanthan and Suresh Premachandran at his office in New Delhi. TNA MPs told media that the meeting was very cordial and that they had brought focus to the humanitarian crisis in Vaharai and Jaffna where food is used as tool of war by Colombo. Dr. Manmohan Singh emphasized that he had conveyed to Colombo that there could be no military solution to resolve the Tamil national problem and that it should address the political aspirations of the Tamil people through a negotiated settlement.
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Abducted VC's mother appeals for son's release

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2006, 19:55 GMT]
Mrs. Saraswathy Sivasubramaniam, 75, the mother of abducted Vice Chancellor of Eastern University appealed to the abductors to release his son without harm when TamilNet talked to her and her extended family in South London Thursday. "For the last 28 years my son and his family have been living in Batticaloa, the foremost thing in his mind was the development of Batticaloa, especially modernizing the agriculture in Batticaloa," she said. Prof. Raveendranath is 55.
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Armed men abduct 19 youths in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2006, 09:07 GMT]
Armed men clad in military fatigues abducted 19 youths, 16 boys and 3 girls, from a private bus en route to Colombo from Kattankudy at Korakallimadu in Kiran, in Batticaloa district around 9:00 p.m., Wednesday. The abductions have taken place on Katankudy - Polonnaruwa route, heavily guarded by Sri Lanka Army soldiers. Parents of six children have lodged complaints with the Police.
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Karunanidhi praised for message on Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 December 2006, 18:31 GMT]
S.P. Thamilchelvan, head of Liberation Tigers Political Division, in his concluding telecast address to expatriate Tamils in Alexandria Hall in London Wednesday to pay last respects to theoretician and political advisor of the LTTE Mr. Anton Balasingham, thanked Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, for the comfort he gave to Tamils worldwide by being the first voice to deliver condolence message from Tamil Nadu, and to Ms Adele Balasingham for her three decade long service to welfare of Tamil women and for her motivating support to her husband's service as the "Voice of Tamil Nation."
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One killed in RPG attack on paramilitary office in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 December 2006, 17:43 GMT]
A paramilitary cadre of Karuna Group was killed and another wounded when unidentified gunmen armed with Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers attacked the office of the group in Kalmunai town, located 36 km southeast of Batticaloa. The paramilitary office, located between a police post and the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) camp in Kalmuani, was completely damaged in the attack that took place around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
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Humanitarian situation worsens in Vaharai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 December 2006, 13:30 GMT]
More than 20 000 civilians continue to stay in temporary refugee camps at schools and surrounding houses in villages Kathiraveli, Vammivedduvan and Palchenai in Vaharai region amid acute shortage of food and humanitarian supplies, a local NGO official told TamilNet. Many families from Vaharai were forced to leave behind their grandparents who were unable to walk long distances.
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Eastern University shuts down in protest against forced disappearance of VC

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 December 2006, 13:39 GMT]
Students and academic staff of the Eastern University in Vantharumoolai, 17km north of Batticaloa, have shut down the University in protest against the reported forced disappearance of their Vice Chancellor in High Security area in Colombo, Friday. Vice Chancellor Professor S. Raveendranath, a founder member of the EUSL, was forced to submit resignation of his post in October to the University Grant Commission (UGC), to secure the release the Dean of the Arts Faculty, Bala Sugumar, who was abducted by the paramilitary demanding the resignation of the Vice Chancellor. The resignation, pending approval by the UGC, had forced the VC to function from Colombo till he was reported disappeared.


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3 Karuna paramilitary cadres shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 December 2006, 07:42 GMT]
Unidentified armed men using pistols shot dead on the spot Monday around 8:30 a.m three cadres of Karuna paramilitary group standing along the Main Road near Chenkalady market in the Earvur police division in Batticaloa, sources in Batticaloa said. One civilian, standing by and seriously injured in the shooting was first rushed to Chenkalady hospital and later transferred to Batticaloa Teaching hospital for further treatment.


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Relatives appeal to abductors for VC's release

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 December 2006, 00:06 GMT]
Relatives of the abducted Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof. S. Raveendranath issued an urgent appeal Sunday requesting those who had abducted Prof. Raveendranath to kindly release him. Dr Malaravan, son-in-law of the VC said that the members of Raveendranath's family will ensure that the Professor will resign his post of Vice Chancellor at the Eastern University.
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Eastern University Vice Chancellor reported missing

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2006, 05:41 GMT]
S. Raveendranath, the Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL), who was forced to resign his post recently following threats from paramilitary Karuna Group that abducted a Deen of the EUSL demanding the resignation of the Vice Chancellor, was reported missing since 1:30 p.m. Friday, Dehiwale Police in Colombo said. The VC was reported missing in High Security area in the Bauddhaloka mawatta.
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Tamil Nadu leaders express sorrow over Balasingham’s death

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2006, 15:33 GMT]
“I am unable to bear the sorrow over the death of my friend Mr Anton Balasingham, who I have known for many years. Balasingham grieved for his people dismissing his terrible illness as “merely a pebble compared to the vast ocean of tragedy faced by his people,” he captivated Tamils worldwide for his dedicated service to his people, developed, nurtured friendship with Norway and people like us, and kept the flame of self-respect of Tamils burning bright until his last breath,” said M. Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in a report of condolence issued Thursday. “I express my deep sympathies to his wife and friends," he added.
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JVP quits from APC deliberation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 10:53 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has withdrawn from the deliberation of the All Parties Conference (APC) in protest to the report of eleven-member experts panel report. The decision to quit the APC was announced by Somawanse Amerasinghe, leader of the JVP at a press briefing held Tuesday, electronic media sources said.
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"Colombo on genocidal war path" - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 23:50 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, in his address on International Human Rights Day held in Kilinochchi Sunday, stated that the Sri Lankan Government, depriving the Tamil people of their fundamental birthrights such as the "right to life, right to national identity and the right to homeland," and disabling the Ceasefire Agreement with its presently introduced "Prevention of Terrorism" act, was on a "genocidal war path," violating not only human rights laws, but also the Geneva humanitarian laws by carrying out bombardments on hospitals and schools. "Tamil people stand deceived by the membership conferred on the Sri Lankan state to the newly formed Human Rights Council."
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Karunanidhi orders explosives probe amid Delhi’s denials

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 02:24 GMT]
After police in Tamil Nadu found a vehicle carrying a huge quantity of explosives meant for Sri Lanka, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today ordered officials to ascertain whether any business house was exporting explosives without the Centre's knowledge. A Sri Lankan Government request for supplying the explosives, dated October 10, 2005, was carried by the vehicle's driver Ravi Verma, PTI said. According to the papers, the consignee for the explosives was a Sri Lanka naval base in Colombo.
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