LTTE welcomes US initiative, asks Sri Lanka to listen to IC

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 April 2009, 07:35 GMT]
The LTTE on Monday, in a significant statement, recognized and welcomed a refreshing attitude in US, different from the other countries. It pleaded the Sri Lanka government to listen to international opinion, to stop the war and enter into negotiations. But at the same time it warned Colombo of dire consequences if the war is continued. "The LTTE and the fight for our freedom will also continue. The methods may vary but Sri Lanka will never be able to live in peace as it imagines a military victory will bring. However, for the record, the LTTE would like to emphasize again that it is always ready to explore peaceful means to resolve the conflict”, the LTTE statement issued from the political headquarters in Vanni, read.
Full story >>

Karuna group shoots dead Tamil engineer in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 14:36 GMT]
Paramilitary Karuna group men gunned down a Tamil engineer Tuesday around 8:20 p.m after calling him out of his house in Yard Veethi in Kalmunai police division in Ampaa’rai district, his relatives said. There had been arguments between the victim and Iniya Barathi, Karuna group Amparai district head and a co-ordinator of President Mahinda Rajapakse, in recent times on matters related to road development contracts in Ampaa’rai, they said.
Full story >>

Taravai, Upput-taravai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 18:30 GMT]
The wasteland or brackish-soil fallow land

The brackish soil wasteland
Full story >>

Just, fair election impossible in East – UNP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 16:09 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians and supporters led by its General Secretary, Tissa Athanayake, staged a protest demonstration Tuesday around 2:30 p.m in front of the election office in Colombo calling for the removal of arms from the paramilitary Pillayan group and to conduct the election for the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) in a just and fair manner. Meanwhile, the UNP parliamentarian Laxman Kiriyelle has accused the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry for involvement in distributing blank polling cards and warned that the government is preparing itself for a large scale election rigging.
Full story >>

Not possible to remain mute spectators: Ramadoss to Indian PM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 March 2008, 09:16 GMT]
Labelling Sri Lanka "a failed state, a condominium of anarchy, and a shame on humanity" that "terrorized its own Tamil citizens," Dr. S. Ramadoss, leader of Paaddaa'li Makka'l Kadchi (PMK, Toilers' Party) and a constituent ally of the Congress-led Indian government, said that it was not possible to remain "passing by-standers to this human tragedy at our doorstep" in his letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday. "The sixty million Tamils in India cannot wait and watch while their sisters and brothers are being decimated across the Palk Straits and Gulf of Mannar," he said.
Full story >>

LTTE foils STF penetration in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 18:21 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters foiled an attempt by the Special Task Force (STF) to penetrate into their territory in the jungle near Kagnchikudichchaa'ru in Ampaa’rai district Thursday around 9:30 a.m, Amparai district political head of the Tigers, P. Kaviyarasan said.
Full story >>

Kārai-tīvu/ Kārainakar, Marukkāraṅ-kuḷam, Ceṅ-kārai, Kara-gaha-vala

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 00:06 GMT]
The island of Kārai shrubs

The tank or pond of Marukkārai shrubs/ trees

The (place of) Ceṅkārai shrubs

The jungle or thicket of Kara shrubs
Full story >>

Colombo to annul CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 15:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces as well as the Minister of Defence, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has decided to annul the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE). Sri Lankan Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwela, has confirmed that a cabinet decision to withdraw from the CFA has been taken on Wednesday. But, he did not provide a date for the GoSL withdrawal. The February 2002 agreement, in its paragraph 4.4, specifies that the agreement shall remain in force until notice of termination is given by either Party to the Royal Norwegian Government.
Full story >>

2nd Lt.Malathy Brigade completes 12th anniversary

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2008, 01:30 GMT]
One of the elite battalions of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 2nd Lt.Malathy Brigade, completed 12th Anniversary of its inauguration Tuesday. Constituted as a fully fledged military battalian within the overall organization of the LTTE, the women fighters of this brigade have carried out several outstanding military feats in the struggle, according to military observers in NorthEast.
Full story >>

Batticaloa flood victims need urgent help - MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 December 2007, 19:49 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Batticaloa District. S. Jeyananthamoorthy, appealed to the Batticaloa Aditional Government Agent, K Maheshan, to immediately take all necessary steps to provide relief assistance to the flood victims in the Batticaloa district. Continued torrential rain is falling in Batticaloa, Amparai and Polannaruwa districts for more than 24 hours, and most of the low lying areas in Batticaloa have become submerged resulting in a large number of civilians becoming displaced from their residences, sources in the region said.
Full story >>

UNP candidate in Jaffna shot dead

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2007, 17:20 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen following a prominent member of United National Party (UNP), shot him dead Friday around 5:30 p.m as he was riding on his motor cycle in Chuzhipuram area in Valikaamam. Muthukumar Sivapalan, was rushed to Moo’laay hospital with serious injuries and later transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, sources in Jaffna said. During the last election campaign, Mr. Sivapalan had strongly worked against the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) led by Douglas Devananda, a cabinet minister in the present Sri Lanka government, Tholpu’ram residents said.
Full story >>

Four shops robbed in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2007, 01:05 GMT]
Four business establishments located in the heart of Kalmunai city, in Amparai District, were broken into, and the contents and cash looted by unidentified robbers at 3:30 am Tuesday, police said.
Full story >>

TRO denies U.S. accusations, says proscription will harm Tamil people

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 20:23 GMT]
Expressing dismay over U.S. Department of Treasury's action against the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), and reiterating that TRO is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," the TRO, in a press release issued Sunday, stated categorically that "all funds received are utilized according to the wishes of the donor, in line with the stated mission of TRO, to assist the tsunami and war affected populations of the NorthEast. None of these funds are, or have ever been found to have been, misappropriated for use by any other organization or used inappropriately by TRO itself."
Full story >>

Sri Lanka builds police station on Kausalyan’s cemetary

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 November 2007, 13:38 GMT]
Sri Lankan authorities have razed a Tamil Tiger cemetery in the island’s east and built a police station on it, international ceasefire monitors said in a recent report. The Thaandiyadi cemetery, in which large numbers of LTTE cadres, including Mr. E. Kaushalyan, the popular political head of the LTTE in Batticaloa-Amparai district, who was killed by Army-backed paramilitaries whilst traveling through government-controlled territory during the peace process in 2005, has been razed. At least one other LTTE cemetery has had the grave markings razed, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said.
Full story >>

Rights group launches campaign against attacks on Journalists in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 October 2007, 08:03 GMT]
Expressing concern on the level of prevailing impunity of the killings of media personnel in Sri Lanka, the Asian Human Rights Commission, citing 11 cases where 12 Tamil media personnel were killed since 31 May 2004 till 29 April 2007, on Tuesday urged the public to write letters to the concerned Sri Lankan authorities demanding impartial investigation in order to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice. "Not a single person has been brought before the court," in the 11 cases, the AHRC noted and urged the public to forward a copy of their appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
Full story >>

"Separation inevitable if power continues to polarize with ethnic hegemony" - Mano Ganesan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 October 2007, 13:07 GMT]
Mano Ganesan MP, the leader of the Western Province People's Front (WPPF) and the convener of the Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC), engaged in monitoring abductions, addressing the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, at the UN office in Colombo, on Thursday, said that the Tamils would be forced to seek separation as the only alternative if the Sri Lankan government failed to satisfy the "Sri Lankan dream," which he described as a dreamland with political power sharing between all the ethnic communities, where there are no places for war, abductions, extra judicial killings and where there is no room for polarization of political power with ethnic hegemony.
Full story >>

Farmer shot dead in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 September 2007, 16:42 GMT]
Unknown gunmen on a motorcycle followed a farmer riding home on his motorcycle and shot him dead around 01:05 p.m Monday with a pistol in front of Aalaiyadivempu Divisional Secretariat, located on Chaakaamam road in Akkaraipattu in Amparai district, Akkaraipattu police said.
Full story >>

Claymore attack kills chocolate salesman in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 September 2007, 12:08 GMT]
A salesman of a private company succumbed to his wounds after a Claymore mine exploded hitting his van at Chava'lakkadai along Ampaa'rai Ma'ndoor road Friday at 2:15 p.m., Police said. His driver and helper were also wounded in the explosion, and are warded at Ampaa'rai hospital.
Full story >>

12 Muslim houses torched in Akkaraippattu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 September 2007, 14:28 GMT]
A gang of ten Sinhala thugs armed with sharp instruments entered through the borders of Oluvil, and Pa'l'lakkaadu and set fire to 12 Muslim homes in Ashraff town in Akkaraippattu police division in Amparai district Monday evening around 6:00 p.m., local residents said.
Full story >>

Census in East after civilian displacement

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 August 2007, 13:02 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian blamed the Government of Sri Lanka Thursday, for conducting a census in Batticaloa district after Tamil people were driven out of the district due to the military offensives, said R. Sampanthan, MP, the Parliamentary Group Leader of TNA, Batticaloa district members of Parliament, T. Kanagasabai, S. Jeyananthamoorthy, Miss. K. Thangeswary and P. Ariyaneththiran, Amparai district MP, K. Pathmanathan and Jaffna district MP Suresh Premachchandran, in a joint press communiqué issued Thursday.


Full story >>