7 Tamils including 3 women arrested in South

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 07:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested seven Tamils including three women Wednesday in a cordon and search operation conducted in Kamburupitiya, a town in the southern province, police sources said. The arrestees, residents of estates located in Galle and Deniyaa, are detained and interrogated in Kamburupitya police station as they had failed to prove their identity and justify their presence in the location.
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Tamil youth abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 06:55 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in a white van forcibly abducted Tuesday around 9:30 p.m a Tamil youth from his house in Unit 3 Menik Farm, Cheddiku’lam in Vavuniyaa district, according to the complaint made to Cheddiku’lam police by his wife.
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SLA denies permission to Vanni IDP children to attend normal schools

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 04:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna refuse permission to the children held in two SLA detainment centres in Kaithadi to attend normal schools near the centre despite efforts by educational officials and UNICEF readiness to offer financial assistance, sources in Jaffna said. The SLA authorities say that there are security problems in transporting the children to the schools and back, the sources added.
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'Coercion is not the beginning for a lasting solution'

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 01:17 GMT]
“Intimidation and coercion of Tamils and their political leaders can never be a good beginning for any lasting solution. The fundamental point is that the powers don’t want to see parity to Tamils in the negotiation. They want to confirm Colombo’s position that there is a post-LTTE phase and the Tamils to negotiate from a post-defeat position. Above all, they don’t want to recognize the national liberation perspectives of the Tamil struggle,” writes an independent commentator in Vanni, who has long been sharing his insight with TamilNet. “What the powers actually expect is TNA disowning the LTTE and joining Rajapaksa club in hoodwinking a solution. The Eezham Tamils were at the receiving end of political deceit for ages and they have a good sense of smelling it out, even if it is international."
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Carnage continues, 131 civilians including 32 children killed Wednesday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 15:57 GMT]
131 civilians, including 32 children were killed in various types of attacks carried out by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) inside the safety zone throughout the day on Thursday, according to data collected from various local NGO workers and medical authorities within the civilian pocket besieged by the SLA. 49 of 252 wounded were children. SLA fired RPG shells, deployed long-range gunfire and mortar shells targeting the 4 km stretch from Puthumaaththa'lan to Valaignarmadam. 7 members of a family, including 4 children below the age of 10, were killed in RPG attack by the SLA in Maaththa'lan. 31 travellers were killed in gunfire and mortar attacks on Wednesday. Meanwhile SLAF bombardment claimed the lives of 27 civilians.
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Immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access before political engagement - TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 07:48 GMT]
S. Jeyananthamoorthy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Batticaloa district on Thursday said that the TNA had decided not to engage in talks with the Sri Lankan President or anyone representing the SL state before a conducive environment for such political engagement is created by an immediate ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access to the suffering people of Vanni. The TNA has clarified the reasons in detail in a press meet in Colombo, he said, condemning the abduction of the brother of Jaffna district MP Kajendran, barely 48 hours before the TNA was to decide its position on accepting an invitation for a meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Ullaik-kazhi / Ullaik-ka’li

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 00:15 GMT]
The backwaters of Ullam fish (Tenualosa ilisha)
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25 Tamil civilians arrested in Morawewa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 20:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and Police Tuesday conducted combined cordon and search operations in several Tamil villages in and around Morawewa division in Trincomalee district and took about twenty five Tamil civilians into custody following the attack on a patrolling group of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) that took place in the morning at Veappanku'lam which is located along Trincomalee-Anuradhapura highway about 15 miles from east port town.
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Website launched in Jaffna on Cancer Awareness Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 18:03 GMT]
Dr. A. Ketheeswaran, Director of Public Health Services Jaffna district, officially opened Tuesday a website located in the Pa’n’nai Cancer Treatment Centre in Jaffna in an event in which hundreds of students, medical experts and others took part. Dr. C. Jamunananthan, who is in charge of Cancer Prevention and Control, presided in the event in which a website to create awareness of cancer and ways of preventing and curing it was launched officially, sources in Jaffna said.
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RSF "outraged" at grenade attack on Jaffna Uthayan HQ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 14:26 GMT]
Reporters Without Borders (RF), a Paris-based media watchdog, expressed "outrage" at the grenade attack at the Uthayan Head Quarters building in Jaffna Tuesday night, and urged "the Sri Lankan authorities to carry out a thorough investigation with the aim of arresting those responsible and bringing them to trial." RSF noted that Senior Sri Lanka Government officials had recently told news organisations not to publish reports about civilian victims of the fighting in the northern district of Vanni or not to reproduce LTTE interviews, but that Uthayan and other newspaper, Valampuri, had nonetheless printed photos of children killed in Vanni.
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Jaffna University lecturer abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 09:32 GMT]
Selvarajah Raveendran, a lecturer of the Geography Department of the Arts Faculty of Jaffna and brother of Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Selvarajah Kajendran has been abducted by armed persons inside the high security area in Madiwela in Colombo while he was returning to the parliamentarian's residence Tuesday night, Police said. Meanwhile eyewitnesses said Mr. Raveendran was stopped by a police sentry for a routine check. A short while later a van arrived on to the scene and bundled him into the vehicle before speeding away, eye witnesses said. The incident took place barely 48 hours before the TNA was to decide its position on accepting an invitation for a meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse that was scheduled for Thursday evening.
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'Parliament proposes, Rammell dismisses'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 07:47 GMT]
It was the fourth occasion in recent times the British parliament was discussing Sri Lanka. Members cutting across party lines came hard on the Colombo government for nearly one and a half hours on Tuesday, for its attacks on civilians, failure in heeding international calls for ceasefire, humanitarian abuses and blockade of international monitoring. Many members demanded UN action, suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth and pressure on India to act in stopping the war. However, Bill Rammell, the British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs came out only with rhetorical assurances, sounded negative to substantial demands and accused the LTTE for preventing people from leaving.
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10 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 06:56 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos and home guards took into custody ten Tamil youths including two young women Tuesday morning in a search conducted in several areas in Colombo city including Pettah, Fort, Wellawathe, Colpetty, Mattakuliya and Grandpass, according to complaints made to Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan, by the arrestees’ relatives.
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19 Tamil civilians arrested in Matara

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 06:43 GMT]
Deniyaya police arrested nineteen Tamil civilians, most of them residents of North and East, in a cordon and search operation conducted Monday in Deniyaya town in Matara district, sources in Matara said.
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SL ministers taking side harm communal harmony in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 01:46 GMT]
Mistake and oversight of government officials in re-allocating an already leased out land have caused a conflict between two Tamil speaking communities in Mannaar. Two ministers of the Colombo government, taking sides, but failing in sorting out the issue is adding to the tension, sources from Mannaar said.
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Uthayan office in Jaffna attacked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 23:57 GMT]
The main office of Uthayan Tamil daily in Jaffna came under grenade attack Tuesday night around 11:10 p.m., the administration of the paper told media in Colombo. Tamil media circles added that the attack had come after verbal instructions by the top officials of Rajapaksa government not to publish stories related to civilian casualties in Vanni or reproduce the contents of interviews given by the LTTE officials to news agencies and media. Uthayan and Valampuri newspapers have recently printed photos of children being killed in the Sri Lankan attacks inside 'safety zone' in Vanni.
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Saiva delegation visits IDP detention camps in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 17:39 GMT]
A five member Saiva delegation group led by Nallai Aatheenam Chief Priest, Srila Siri Somansunthara Parmaachchaariya Suvaamika’l, visited the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Koappaay and Kurunakar Tuesday where it gave goods to the detained Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who had fled the war in Vanni to Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. This is the first visit to the SLA detention centres in Jaffna by a Saiva organization and the members of the group expressed concern that many needs of the IDPs remain unfulfilled.
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More than 1,200 HR violations in Jaffna peninsula in 2008 – HRC report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 16:04 GMT]
More than 1,200 human rights violations including extra judiciary killings, abductions, forced disappearances, death threats, torture and harassment by Sri Lanka armed forces and paramilitary men have been registered with Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office in the year 2008 alone, according to the HRC report to Colombo HRC Head Office. SLA soldiers and policemen have been directly accused in around 65 complaints made to HRC Jaffna. The above complaints have been made despite threats not to report these instances to HRC. Meanwhile, a four-member team of key HRC officials is presently in Jaffna to instruct SLA officials on matters related to human rights.
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SL armed forces bar Tamils travelling to Colombo by Yarl Devi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 11:59 GMT]
Complaints have been lodged with human rights organizations that Sri Lanka armed forces are imposing severe restriction on Tamil people from traveling to Colombo and southern parts of the country from Mannaar and Vavuniyaa areas. The Yaldevi express train service is being conducted from Colombo upto Madawachchi due to security reason.
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Sri Lanka guilty of Genocide - Prof. Sornarajah

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 11:20 GMT]
"Every indicia of genocide is satisfied by the conduct of successive Sri Lankan governments, the oppression accentuated in intensity by the present government which has unleashed immense terror through its armed forces on a people in the name of suppression of terrorism. The chauvinism of successive Sri Lankan governments since independence targeted the Tamil people for oppression. These acts supply the objective factors necessary for the satisfaction of the crime of genocide," says Professor Sornarajah, Pierre Genest Visiting Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, in a position statement released this week, adding "there is a duty incumbent on every state to ensure the protection of the Tamil people. It is important that this duty be taken seriously so that such scourges on humanity are not repeated elsewhere."
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