SL Navy, EPDP cadres present at massacre site - Amnesty International

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 08:13 GMT]
The Amnesty International has slammed the Government of Sri Lanka as having a record of "disturbing pattern of incomplete or ineffective investigations" of the extrajudicial killings and said it has received credible reports that Sri Lanka Navy personnel and armed cadres affiliated with Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), were present at the massacre site on Kayts islet. Thirteen civilians were massacred in three spots on the Kayts islet controlled by the Sri Lanka Navy Saturday night. The EPDP, a paramilitary and a political party in the ruling UPFA alliance of the SL President Mahinda Rajapakse, had exercised tight control of the Jaffna islets before the Ceasefire Agreement.
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The remains of Sea Tigers laid to rest in Vanni Martyrs Homes

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2006, 11:05 GMT]
"The Thalayady sea battle in which four of our Sea Tigers sacrificed their lives is of great significance at a time when our people are being blatantly victimised in an undeclared war by the Sri Lanka Government (GoSL) armed forces and the paramilitaries. Though the loss of these four able Sea Tigers cause us deep grief, the Thalayady sea battle is crucial as an open declaration of the determination of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in asserting our sovereign rights to seas which had been recaptured at the cost of the lives of thousands of Tigers," said K. V. Balakumaran, a prominent senior member of the LTTE, Sunday evening in Puthukudirrupu.
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No relief supplies yet for Muttur displaced

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2006, 18:57 GMT]
Thousands of Tamil families, displaced due to bombing raids by Sri Lanka Air Force, and artillery attack by ground, naval wings of the State armed forces on April 24 and 25 on coastal villages in the Liberation Tigers controlled Muttur east in the Trincomalee district, have not been provided with dry ration relief as promised by the Government of Sri Lanka even after two weeks, civil society sources said. The displaced families are now sheltered in schools and welfare centers in Muttur east and Eachchilampathu division, Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district parliamentarian said Sunday.
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SLMM has no mandate to rule on Tamils sovereign rights - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 May 2006, 09:09 GMT]
"We entered the peace process based on a status-quo achieved in the battlefield in our territory. Nobody has the right to pass judgement on the sovereign rights of our access to the adjacent sea and airspace of our homeland," told LTTE's Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan after having an urgent meeting with the Head of the Scandinavian truce monitors on Friday. The ceasefire and the entire peace process between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is a process based on parity of status and military power of balance. The SLMM statement issued on Thursday was a serious statement affecting this framework, LTTE's Political Head told media.
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Colombo lacks realpolitik strategy- Furuhovde

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 May 2006, 04:32 GMT]
The present situation in Sri Lanka is mainly caused by Colombo's reluctant approach for a peace based on negotiations involving concessions. Central political players and its Military leadership still believe a military solution to the conflict is possible. This reflects a dangerous perception of reality and lacks a "Realpolitik strategic basis," required to handle Sri Lanka's war, wrote late Maj. Gen. (retd) Trond Furuhovde in a comment he wrote under the title "The troubled Sri Lanka" in Norwegian daily Adressa on January 30, a few days before Geneva-I talks. He touches on the geopolitical significance of the Sea route and the geographic location of the island Sri Lanka in his article.
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Protest condemning SLA atrocities cripples Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 02:28 GMT]
All government institutions, shops, schools and other institutions remained closed in the Jaffna peninsula Tuesday in response to the call made by the Jaffna district Consortium of public organisations to stage a mass 'Refrain from Duty' protest condemning the atrocities of Sri Lanka government (GoSL) and its armed forces and paramilitaries in the form of abductions, assassinations of innocent civilians and harassment's and restrictions in the Jaffna peninsula, said sources from Jaffna.
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International Community should protect Tamil media - TMF

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 May 2006, 11:04 GMT]
"The threats, attacks, and killings of Tamil journalists carried out by the Sri Lanka Security Forces and the collaborating paramilitary have reached unprecedented levels. The entire Tamil media is being targeted and intimidated by Security Forces," said the Tamil Media Forum in its memorandum to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse handed over to Killinochchi Government Agent (GA) Mr. T. Rasanayagam Thursday at 11.30 a.m, said sources from Kilinochchi.


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Jaffna pays last respects to Uthayan victims

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 May 2006, 10:52 GMT]
Normal activities in Jaffna peninsula came to a halt Thursday, as Jaffna residents participated in the protest hartal organised by the Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU), condemning Uthayan killings and the escalating killings of civilians by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and its paramilitaries in the Jaffna peninsula, said student organisers.
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SLTMA extends plea to save Tamil Journalists on Press Freedom Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 May 2006, 12:10 GMT]
"The killings of the two Uthayan staffs and the extensive damage to the Uthayan office and equipments by paramilitary cadres directed by the Sri Lanka government (GOSL), pose serious threat to the media in Sri Lanka," said the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) in its statement released Tuesday. The GoSL conducts "customary eyewash inquiries," into the killings of several Tamil journalists, the statement added.
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SLMM issuing clarifications under pressure, disturbing- LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 May 2006, 10:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers in a letter to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) chief General Henricsson sent Wednesday regarding the clarifications on a previous statement that confirmed complicity of Government in extra-judicial killings in NorthEast, said: "We assume that the SLMM still stands by the above conclusions...and that the clarification only refers to the generalization of SLMM's conclusions."
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Jaffna journalists pay tribute to Sivaram on first death anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 April 2006, 01:18 GMT]
"Sri Lanka Government (GoSL) has failed in its attempt to stifle the voice of the entire Tamils by killing Sivaram. Many young Tamil journalists are in the forefront, continuing his mission, informing the international community of the perils faced by Tamils in Sri Lanka. This is the greatest tribute we journalists can pay Sivaram," said Mr. S. Kathirgamathamby, president North Ceylon Journalists Association (NCJA) in his address at the first annual memorial day Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki), a senior editor of TamilNet, held at the Media Research and Training Center in Jaffna University Friday evening at 4 p.m.


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LTTE details civilian killings by Sri Lankan forces and paramilitaries after Geneva Talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 April 2006, 07:41 GMT]
103 civilians, including six children, have been killed by Sri Lankan forces and its paramilitaries since Geneva Talks on 24 February untill April 27, according to a report issued by the Political Head Quarters of the Liberation Tigers Friday. 12 Tamil civilians were killed on February 27, March 5, 6, 9, 20, 22, 24, 25, and 28, and the first attack on SLA posts after the Geneva Talks in February took place on April 8th after the assasination of Trincomalee district Tamil activist Mr. V. Vigneswaran. "Readers can now make their own conclusion about who is responsible for deteriorating situation following the Geneva talks," the report issued by the LTTE concluded.
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A9 reopens, prices of fuel, food increase

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 April 2006, 12:23 GMT]


A9 highway was announced open Thursday morning. However, the prizes for fuel and other critical items have gone up as people had begun purchasing items for storage fearing a long term closure of A9, sources from Jaffna said.
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Muttur east attacks on civilian targets totally unjustifiable, Elilan tells Henricsson

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 April 2006, 09:04 GMT]
Trincomalee Political Head of the Tigers, S. Elilan, who met Major General Ulf Henricsson, the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Thursday in Sampoor in Trincomalee, said the three pronged attack launched by the Sri Lankan forces on civilian targets in Muttur east following the bomb blast that injured Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka is not justifiable. 18 civilians were killed, more than thirty wounded and many thousands displaced by indiscriminate airstrike and artillery fire by the Sri Lankan forces on Muttur east.
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SLA obstruction of travel, an act of oppression - Jeyanandamoorthy MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 21:51 GMT]
"Obstructing people in the North and East travelling to and from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas as retribution for a bomb blast in the Colombo Sri Lanka Army (SLA) headquarters is an act of outright oppression of the Tamils in the north and east," said S. Jeyanandamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) M.P for Batticaloa, in his statement to the press Wednesday.
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International Community has failed to exert pressure on Colombo - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 20:03 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on Wednesday, called on the International Community to strongly condemn the "genocidal attempt" on the Tamil people in Muthur east in Trincomalee district. "The International Community is turning a blind eye," while Colombo has openly declared a war and is carrying out "reprehensible murders" of Tamil civilians in the Tamil homeland. The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has violated gravely the ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the LTTE, said the statement issued by the Head Quarters of the Political Division of the Tigers. More than 40,000 people have displaced, terrorized and are languishing as refugees, the statement said.
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TNA urges International Community to act

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 15:59 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday condemned the GoSL and its peace secretariat for "duplicitous behavior" and "carrying on a malicious and false campaign to mislead the international community," and urged the International Community to "realize this reality and take the appropriate action to compel the Sri Lankan State to act in a responsible way in the interest of the peace process," in a press release issued in Colombo Wednesday.
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Air strike, artillery fire, acts of provocation- LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 12:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka security forces began air attacks and artillery fire without any provacation from the Liberation Tigers, Mr. S.Puleedevan, Secretary General of the LTTE’s peace secretariat in Kilinochchi told TamilNet. He accused the Sri Lanka Government of carrying out the attacks after blocking the Muttur east area, and issuing false reports. "Colombo is issuing false reports accusing the Tigers of an attack on a Sri Lanka Navy vessel. There was no such attack, the accusations are baseless," he said.
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GoSL duplicity incompatible with peace process - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 April 2006, 07:56 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), which has been inciting violence with it's paramilitaries in total violation to the ceasefire agreement and working hard to sever the relationship between the LTTE and the international community, has shattered all the goodwill gestures, said S.P. Thamilchelvan, Political Head of the Tigers in a letter to the Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer on Tuesday. The Political Head of the LTTE also said that the International Community should come forward to pressure the GoSL, to calm the current tense situation and bring to an immediate end to the violence.
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Colombo expects EU to ban LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 April 2006, 07:46 GMT]
Head of Sri Lanka Government's Peace Secretariat, Dr. Palitha Kohona told media in Colombo that the EU was considering imposing a ban on the LTTE. Responding to a question at a press conference held at the Sri Lankan Information Department Sunday morning, Dr. Kohona, said that the "recent conduct" of the LTTE is a minus point for the Tigers as the EU was evaluating the events taking place in the North and East.
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