2 Tamils reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 16:22 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians, one a 57-year old former manager of Mullaitivu branch of Peoples Bank, and the other a 29-year old owner of a Dehiwela eatery, are reported missing in Colombo since Monday, sources in Colombo said.
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106 civilians detained in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 15:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police detained 106 civilians when they went to police stations in the western province last Sunday to register their presence, civil sources in Colombo said. The civilians, 68 Tamils, 2 Muslims and 36 Sinhalese were detained for interrogation by the Terrorist Intelligence Division as they failed to prove their identity with required legal documents, police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara said.
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U.S. statement: 'we don't advocate talks with LTTE'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 14:25 GMT]
The United States, a member of the Co-Chairs for the Sri Lankan peace process following the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement brokered by Norway, in a statement issued after the Sri Lanka Army occupation of Ki'inochchi town in Vanni, said it does not advocate the Government of Sri Lanka to negotiate with the LTTE. "The fall of Kilinochchi represents an important point in the 25-year war that has divided Sri Lanka," the U.S. statement said.
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Indian espionage aircraft on recce mission over Sri Lanka - Paper

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 09:01 GMT]
A day after Sri Lanka Army occupied the town of Ki'linochchi, India's foreign intelligence agency and crucial adviser to the Government on foreign policy-making, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was engaged in a "secret aerial surveillance mission across the Palk Straits" on Saturday according to a report in the Indian media. The report quoted sources who claimed that an aircraft "with high-tech espionage equipment" belonging to the RAW's top-secret wing Air Research Centre (ARC) had taken off from the Chennai airport around 3:00 a.m., on Saturday. The report filed by India's largest selling English daily has buttressed the claims of Tamil Nadu politicians who have accused New Delhi of providing several kinds of strategic military help to the Government of Sri Lanka.
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Britain says Ki'linochchi's fall calls for progress on political solution

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 08:06 GMT]
The capture of the former administrative capital of the LTTE by Sri Lankan armed forces makes it even more urgent that all parties achieve progress on setting out a political solution that addresses the "legitimate concerns of all communities," said a statement issued by the British High Commission on January 06. Tamil political observers note that the statement has come after two noteworthy observations in December: the British Defence Attache in Colombo taking part in a trip to Sri Lankan military command in Vanni on 15 December, and the British Minister of State at the Foreign Commonwealth Office, at an adjournment debate in British Parliament, exposing the fact that his government still had faith in the APRC myth created by the Rajapaksa regime.
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RSF condemns attack on Tamil-owned TV station

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2009, 20:37 GMT]
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued today, condemned the attack on Maharajah Televsions Network (MTV) near Colombo by heavily armed men early morning Tuesday. "Violence and threats against such privately-owned media outlets and journalists trying to impartially report on the conflict must stop," the RSF release said, adding , "[t]he network is one of the country's few, and very popular, independent news sources." Several Sri Lanka Government Ministers and Government owned media have previously charged the network for being not "patriotic" enough in reporting the war between Sri Lanka military and the Liberation Tigers.
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SLA, LTTE clashes continue in Mukamaalai FDL

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2009, 19:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) suffered setbacks Tuesday in an attempt to enter Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Front Defence Line (DFL) areas in Mukamaalai while Jaffna-Kandy road was blocked for public transport for more than three and a half hours enabling ambulances to transport injured soldiers from Mukkamaalai FDL positions, sources in Thenmaraadchi said. Defence Ministry in Colombo, however, claimed that the SLA had advanced in Mukamaalai.
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Tamil family man shot dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2009, 11:16 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot dead 48-year-old family man Sunday evening at Checkadipulavu junction in Vavuniyaa division, 150 meters away from his residence when he was leaving home to Vavuniyaa town, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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White van armed men abduct two Tamil youths in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2009, 09:53 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in white vans abducted Sunday two Tamil youths in two separate incidents in Thirukkoayil and Kalmunai in Ampaa’rai.
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Peoples support will help surmount challenges: LTTE Political Head

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2009, 08:23 GMT]
Pointing out that Ki'linochchi was where Sri Lanka military has suffered previous historic debacles, LTTE Political Head B. Nadesan, in an interview with TamilNet on Monday dismissed the occupation of the town as an insignificant setback in the context of a liberation struggle, and said, Tamil people’s support has always been LTTE’s strength, and with the moral backing of the global Tamil community the movement will surmount current and future challenges. "We have taken forward our struggle for more than 30 years, solely relying on the support of our people," and reiterated that the Tigers were spearheading the Tamil struggle, which was based on legitimate political aspirations as defined by the democratic mandate in the elections of 1977.
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Indian Naval Personnel to Mullaiththeevu: Thirumavalavan lambasts New Delhi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 January 2009, 18:08 GMT]
Thirumavalavan, a Tamil nationalist leader and the president of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) in Tamil Nadu, on Monday condemned the Indian Government for "betraying the entire Tamil people" by sending civil clothed Indian naval personnel to Mullaiththeevu through the Chennai international airport. Addressing the media in Chennai, he said that New Delhi was "totally responsible" for the "ruthless genocide" of Tamils in Sri Lanka. "Even the future generations of Tamils will never forgive the Indian Government for disrespecting the sentiments of 100 million Tamil people," he warned.
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TNA accuses Colombo of war crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 21:06 GMT]
Describing several recent escalation in incidents where Sri Lanka Armed Forces have targetted Tamil civilian during festive days between Christmas and Thaipongal, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a press release issued today, said that the "stringent economic, food and medical embargos on the war affected areas," ..."are not only War Crimes in contravention of the Geneva Conventions but are also a part of a policy of Genocide that the Sri Lankan State has been carrying out against the Tamil people." The release also noted with disappointment of the silence of the international community "whilst the Genocide of the Tamil people is taking place," and continuing military assistance of the international states to the Sri Lankan State "using various pretexts."
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Lift ban on the LTTE: Tamil Nadu BJP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 19:11 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition party in India, has given clear indications of the necessity for lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam according to news reports in the Indian media. Vaithiyalingam, a senior BJP leader and member of the party's national general council, proposed this idea. In an exclusive interview to a Tamil biweekly, he said that although his party did not believe in violent measures, it was unfair to impose the ideas of a Gandhian struggle on the people of Tamil Eelam.
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SL Police arrests 13 Tamil civilians in Uddappu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 15:21 GMT]
Thirteen Tamil civilians, including a woman, were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation in Uddappu, a Tamil village in Munthal police division in Chilaw district, civil sources in Chilaw said. The operation was conducted Saturday morning from 4:00 a.m. for six hours.
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53 SLA killed, 80 wounded, arms seized in Paranthan - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 14:09 GMT]
At least 53 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed, more than 80 sustained injuries and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) recovered 2 dead bodies of the SLA soldiers in heavy fighting that erupted Sunday when the SLA launched an offensive push through 2nd Mile Post on Paranthan Mullaiththeevu Road on two fronts. LTTE officials further said they seized arms including AK-LMGs, PK-LMGs, Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers (RPGs) and at least ten T-56 assault rifles.
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SL Police arrests 10 Tamils in Colombo, 8 in Kandy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 12:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took ten Tamils into custody Sunday morning in cordon and search operations conducted around Fort, Aattupattitheru, and Valaithoddam in Colombo city, sources in Colombo said. The operation was conducted on information received by the police after the explosion at Bankshall Street Saturday afternoon that injured three persons.
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STF commando shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 09:06 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa shot and killed Saturday around 10:30 p.m a Special Task Force (STF) commando in Munaikkaadu in Kokkaddichchoali police division in Batticaloa district, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said. STF commandos opened fire in retaliation in which a civilian was seriously injured.
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'Annals of history'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2009, 19:44 GMT]
The message of "veiled racism" in Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s remarks Friday in his telecast address announcing the capture of Ki'linochchi town, betrayed the true intentions of him and his ilk, camouflaged in saintly wordings against separatism, terrorism, racism, North-South war etc, to hoodwink the outside world, writes a regular academic commentator to TamilNet from Colombo. "Unfortunately, those who claim to be at the helm of the international community, even though very well aware of the impossibility of the Sri Lankan state to satisfy Tamil aspirations, refuse to acknowledge the logic and legitimacy behind the ethnonational demand of Tamils to have political sovereignty to save themselves from genocide," he further writes.
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White van armed men abduct Tamil woman in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2009, 18:16 GMT]
A Tamil young woman was abducted by unidentified armed persons who arrived in white van Thursday afternoon around 12:30 p.m. when she was staying in her relative's house at Barathipuram in Vavuniyaa police division, according to complaints lodged by her mother with the police Friday.
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Tamil Nadu signals protests against New Delhi's inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2009, 15:58 GMT]
Condemning the inaction by the Indian Central Government, even after the unanimous declaration by the State Assembly of Tamil Nadu to demand immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka, the Communist Party of India Tamil Nadu branch on Saturday announced it would launch a protest on January 06 in Tamil Nadu's capital city Chennai. Meanwhile, Pazha. Nedumaran, the leader of the Tamil National Movement has called for black flag protest against the Indian Prime Minister who is scheduled to visit the annual congregation of Non Resident Indians (NRI) on January 08. Meanwhile, the leader of VCK, Tholmavazhavan has said New Delhi's ignorance stands exposed as it failed to satisfy even the simplest demand to send its foreign minister to Colombo to stop the war.
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