Two paramilitaries injured in Kallaru

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 December 2006, 21:11 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and injured two cadres of Karuna paramilitary group on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm on Kallaru main road near Sinnapillayar temple in Kallaru in Batticaloa district..
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Avoid criticism, pay ransom, paramilitaries tell Tamil dailies

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 December 2006, 12:34 GMT]
Following a 7th December press release by the Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) that "pro-government militia led by Tamil warlord Karuna" has issued death threats to distributors preventing the circulation of the papers in Batticaloa, paramilitary TMVP office in Colombo placed conditions as they attempted to negotiate with the management of Colombo Tamil dailies of allowing circulation of papers in Batticaloa SLA controlled areas, Tamil media sources in Colombo said.
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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.
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Four youths abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2006, 11:38 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted four youths at gun point Monday around 11:00 p.m from Santhiveli, Palayadi Thona area in Batticaloa district while they were sleeping at their houses, according to a complaint made Thursday by the relatives of the abducted at Earavur police station, Eravur police said.


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UN: Karuna denies child recruitment, commits to collaborate with UNICEF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 17:45 GMT]
Vinyagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna), who leads the paramilitary Karuna Group operated by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), has contacted the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, on Monday, regarding the listing of his group to the UN Security Council, according to a press release issued by the UN office in Colombo. The move, comes following a report by Allan Rock, the Special Advisor to the UN Special Representative, who accused the Sri Lankan military for recruiting children to the ranks of the paramilitary group, in November when he concluded a 10-day mission to Sri Lanka. Tamil Tigers in October outlawed the recruitment of under-17s.
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RSF calls for free circulation of Tamil papers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 12:43 GMT]
Reporters without Borders (RSF), in a press release issued Thursday, called on the Government of Sri Lanka to facilitate free circulation of Tamil newspapers, Thinakural, Virakesari and Sudar Oli in areas controlled by the Government. RSF said that "pro-government militia led by Tamil warlord Karuna" has issued death threats to distributors preventing the circulation of the papers in Batticaloa.
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Four partly burnt bodies recovered in Habarana

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2006, 12:49 GMT]
Kekirawa police recovered four dead bodies partially burnt in a paddy filed at Ganewella area in Kekirawa police division in Habarana Tuesday around 5:00 a.m. The bodies have been transferred to Polanaruwa hospital.
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Two civilians killed in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 December 2006, 10:29 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot killed a Tamil civilian Friday night at Menkamam, a Tamil village in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled Muthur region in Trincomalee, said Muthur police who are investigating into the killing.


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Widen focus beyond child soldiers to humanitarian issues, Rock tells UN

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 December 2006, 03:47 GMT]
In the wake of his visit to Sri Lanka in November, the Special Envoy of the UN Under Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflicts, Ambassador Allan Rock, has recommended that the United Nations widen its focus from only recruitment and use of child soldiers at present to include the killing of children and the denial of humanitarian access for children. As part of his visit, Ambassador Rock observed the situation facing children in areas under embargo by the Sri Lankan security forces.
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HRW: Sri Lanka military complicit in forced child recruitment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2006, 12:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces must immediately stop assisting abductions of boys and young men by the Karuna Group and help those abducted return safely to their families, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. A HRW report to be published next month says the Sri Lankan military and police are complicit and, at times, directly cooperating with the Karuna Group. “We have clear and compelling evidence that government forces are helping Karuna forces abduct boys and young men,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate at HRW.
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Two Karuna group cadres shot, injured in internal gunfight

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 November 2006, 18:17 GMT]
Two cadres of Karuna paramilitary group were seriously injured in an internal fight ending in an exchange of gunfire Thursday around 3:30 p.m at Vinayagapuram in Valaichenai, Valaichenai police said. Some cadres of Kauna paramilitary group have been hiding due to differences of opinion within the group, and their opponents who had come in search of them started the firefight, the police added.
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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.
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Abducted man succumbs to gunshot wounds in Amparai

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 November 2006, 08:35 GMT]
Alleged paramilitary gunmen of Karuna Group abducted a young family man from his house in Amparai district Thursday evening and later shot him causing serious injuries near the Thambiluvil Samurdhi office. The victim, a father of two children, had been lying unattended the whole night and was taken by the residents around 6:00 a.m Friday to Akaraipattu hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
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SLMM backs UN envoy on SL troops’ child conscription

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 15:05 GMT]
International monitors overseeing Sri Lanka’s shaky truce this week endorsed a UN envoy’s findings that government security forces were conscripting children for their paramilitary allies against the Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) says it also possesses evidence of military complicity.
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India trains jet bomber support crews

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 09:46 GMT]
India is training a third batch of six Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel at Chandigarh, Punjab to support Colombo’s plans to expand its jet bomber fleet, the Times of India reported this week. Sri Lanka plans to purchase four more jet bombers from Russia and, in preparation, SLAF personnel are being put through three months of instruction. The latest group began training on October 14, despite outrage in Tamil Nadu over the targeting of civilians by SLAF bombers in which over a hundred people have been killed this year.
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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.
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UN: Sri Lanka military ‘recruiting child soldiers’

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 13:15 GMT]
A United Nations official Monday accused Sri Lankan government security forces of recruiting child soldiers on behalf of an allied paramilitary group which is also fighting Tamil Tigers. The special advisor to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Allan Rock, told reporters in Colombo that he had evidence of direct involvement of troops in forcibly enlisting children for the paramilitary group.
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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.
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GoSL should take responsibility for Raviraj's assassination - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 14:03 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Friday in Colombo to the press, "Raviraj's assassination is a clear attempt by the paramilitary operating with the Sri Lanka Army to stifle the Tamil parliamentarians' voice in and out of the Parliament to inform the International Community of the Sri Lanka Government's genocide against the Tamils." Sampanthan further said, "Almost an year has passed since the assassination of Batticaloa parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingam and the Sri Lanka government is yet to bring the killers to book. This reveals the covert connections the government has with them."
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Tamil Parliamentarian Raviraj assassinated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 03:43 GMT]
Nadarajah Raviraj, 44, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian was shot in Colombo around 8:30 a.m. Friday. The MP succumbed to his wounds at Colombo National Hospital. A lawyer turned politician, former mayor of Jaffna, Mr. Raviraj, elected twice, has been an outspoken parliamentarian who voiced against the extra-judicial killings and forced disapperances in NorthEast and Colombo. The parliamentarian took part in a demonstration Thursday against the Sri Lanka Army shelling in Vaharai where 47 Tamil civilians, Internally Displaced from Trincomalee, were killed, Wednesday.
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