Colombo adopting Machiavellian approach to Karuna, inevitable- SLMM Head

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2006, 12:33 GMT]
On Colombo disarming Karuna Group as agreed in the Geneva-I talks, the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Ulf Henricsson asked, "Well, I think they (Security Forces) will have a lot of problems, if they do it [disarm Karuna]. Further I don't see any reason for the government to do it. To be honest. If you have a warring faction against you and if your enemy is split why should you try to stop that. Have you read Machiavelli?," in an interview appeared in the latest edition of Sunday Observer.
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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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Abducted Vaharai Co-op lorry drivers released

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 May 2006, 19:02 GMT]
Thevarajah 45 and Kanagasundram 53, lorry drivers of Vaharai Multi-purpose society in Batticaloa, abducted by armed cadres of Karuna paramilitary group on the 25th April at Palainagar on the Batticaloa-Colombo road, were released Tuesday, said sources from Batticaloa.
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Tiger Commandos attack paramilitary camps, 18 killed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 April 2006, 03:08 GMT]
18 paramilitary operatives of Karuna group were killed in an attack launched by an Elite Commando unit of the Liberation Tigers on three paramilitary camps in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled Kasankulam close to Thibulana, located 7 km east of Welikande in Batticaloa - Polannaruwa border Sunday. Arms were seized and ammunitions at the paramilitary camps in Kasankulam were fully destroyed by the LTTE commandos in the surprise attack that was planned and supervised by Special Commander Col. Bhanu, an LTTE official from Kokkaddicholai in Batticaloa district told TamilNet. 10 paramilitary cadres sustained serious wounds, 5 were captured by the Tigers. An abducted Vavuniya trader was saved.
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Colombo ‘in a military mindset’ – Balasingham

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 April 2006, 13:50 GMT]
With Sri Lanka’s government refusing to disarm Army-backed paramilitaries whose ‘shadow war’ against the LTTE is spiralling into increasingly cycles of revenge killings, the Ceasefire Agreement is ‘falling apart,’ the LTTE's Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Anton Balasingham, said this week. Colombo’s support for the paramilitaries and the escalated repression against Tamil civilians in government-controlled areas of the Northeast means "we can safely assume that Rajapakse administration has not given up the military option," he told The Sunday Leader newspaper.
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Aussie TV exposes paramilitary presence in SLA controlled areas in East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 April 2006, 02:31 GMT]
Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) Television’s Dateline program aired for the first time video footage from a training camp of paramilitaries from Karuna Group operating from Government controlled territory in Batticaloa. In the same program, Mr Gothabaya Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan Secretary of Defence and the brother of SL President Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, denies any knowledge of existence of paramilitaries. Previously, Mr Gothabaya Rajapakse had claimed that Sri Lanka forces could win a war against Tigers with Karuna Group's support.
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Santhiveli youth shot dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 April 2006, 10:17 GMT]
Mr. Easan, 24, from Santhiveli, was shot dead by paramilitaries belonging to Karuna Group inside his home at 2.30 p.m. Monday, local residents who witnessed gunmen arriving in a car said.
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Two LTTE cadres killed in paramilitary ambush in Vakaneri

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 April 2006, 05:29 GMT]
Two Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres were killed Thursday around 8:45 a.m. when paramilitary cadres launched an ambush with the support of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers inside the LTTE controlled Vakaneri, 40 km north of Batticaloa, LTTE officials in Batticaloa said. One of the cadres killed in the ambush was identified as Ithayaventhan.
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SL Army and Karuna can defeat LTTE – Defence Secy

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 April 2006, 23:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the head of the international ceasefire monitors that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) could easily defeat the Liberation Tigers with the assistance of the Karuna Group paramilitaries, the Daily Mirror reported Tuesday. Paradoxically, Mr. Rajapakse, appointed to his post by President Mahinda Rajapakse, his brother, had two weeks ago also told the then head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that paramilitaries were not operating in government-controlled areas.
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Two paramilitary cadres shot, injured in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 April 2006, 18:08 GMT]
Ajith, and another paramilitary cadre belonging to Karuna group were shot by unknown gunmen while they were travelling through Karuvaakerni towards Valaichenai at 6.30 p.m., Sunday, sources in Batticaloa said.
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SL President pledges to end violence of Tamil armed groups - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 April 2006, 18:29 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapakse has assured the LTTE leadership, through the Norwegian facilitators, that he will do everything within his powers to implement the pledges given by the government at the first session of peace negotiations held in Geneva in February this year. The President has instructed the military authorities to take necessary action to disarm Tamil armed groups and to put an end to the violence perpetrated against the Tamil Tigers and their supporters in the government controlled areas in the northeast. The development was reported after a meeting between the Norweign Envoy Mr. Hanssen-Bauer and the Chief Negotiator of the LTTE Mr. Anton Balasingham Saturday.
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Two paramilitary cadres wounded in Panichchankerni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2006, 18:23 GMT]
Two Karuna Group paramilitary cadres were wounded in Panichchankerni, 60 km north of Batticaloa, Wednesday around 5:30 p.m., when Liberation Tigers launched a counter-attack on the paramilitary cadres penetrating into the Liberation Tigers controlled area, eyewitnesses said. A key paramilitary operative, Chooty, wounded in his stomach was transported to the Kirimichchai SLA camp in a motorbike which the withdrawing paramilitary cadres hijacked from a civilian traveller.
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SLA, paramilitary collusion can lead to talks breakdown- TNA MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 08:15 GMT]
"Escalation of paramilitary activities assisted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops in Valaichenai villages pose serious threat to peace process," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy, in a press release, issued Wednesday. Meanwhile, Mr Ariyanendran, another TNA parliamentarian, accused the SLA troops for assisting the paramilitaries in the cordon and search operation held in Valaichenia Tuesday, and urged the International Community to condemn this act which openly violated the commitments made by the Sri Lanka Government in Geneva talks.


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SLA soldiers, paramilitary cadres round up Valaichenai villages

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 06:39 GMT]
More than 150 Sri Lanka Army soldiers and around 50 paramilitary cadres belonging to three various paramilitary groups, Tuesday morning rounded up five villages in Valaichenai. The paramilitary cadres, brought in SLA vehicles around 5:00 a.m., summoned the people to Pechiyamman temple grounds and held a meeting where key operatives of Karuna Group warned the people against supporting the Liberation Tigers. Cadres from the ENDLF paramilitary group and a key operative of the EPDP group attached to the Sri Lanka Army camp in Valaichenai Harbour also took part in the show-down paramilitary operation, villagers said.
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Local election opens fault lines in ruling alliance

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 05:20 GMT]
The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its key constituent, Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), are engaged in battle of words to assert electoral dominance in the forthcoming local council elections, and this combined with the recent escalation in attacks against JVP members by UPFA supporters portend dangers of creating permanent fissures in the alliance, political sources in Colombo said.
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Paramilitary cadres stab Valaichenai man to death

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:38 GMT]
A young father of two children was found knifed to death in Valaichenai Saturday noon, Kalkuda Police said. The victim, Mr. Regikanth, was subjected to death threats from paramilitary operatives for some months, according to his relatives. A group of twenty armed men were waiting for Regikanth 300 meters from Valaichenai Police station while he was cycling from Karuvakerni towards his house in Kurinchinagar around 8:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the villagers.
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Provocations and smear campaign cast peace doubts - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:36 GMT]
The vitriolic language increasingly being used by the Rajapakse administration against the LTTE and the concerted smear campaign it has launched against the Tigers casts doubts on Sri Lanka’s commitment to the peace process, the Tamil Guardian argues in its latest editorial. “Protagonists who wish to strike peace deals seek to deescalate tensions, build mutual trust and demonstrate goodwill so as to make securing an agreement more likely. But the Rajapakse administration is doing the exact reverse of that,” the expatriate fortnightly said.
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CFA flawed, allows Tigers access to SLA areas for political work - Fonseka

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 20:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, at a ceremony held at the Army Headquarters in Colombo Friday said that there are many flaws in the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "The LTTE has exploited these flaws to enter the Sri Lanka government controlled areas to carryout political activities," charged the Sri Lankan commander.
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Sinhala nationalist extremists obstacle to peace – Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 20:21 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will view any further attacks by military-backed paramilitaries as an act of war and may postpone next month’s talks in Geneva unless the state fulfils the Ceasefire Agreement and disarms them, the LTTE’s Political Strategist and Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham said Tuesday. In an interview to Reuters at his London home, Mr. Balasingham also said President Mahinda Rajapakse should dump his Sinhala nationalist allies and seek support from the main opposition UNP party which led a government that held six rounds of talks with the LTTE in 2002-3.
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PNM alliance aims to split East from NEP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 11:10 GMT]
The Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an alliance of Sinhala nationalists, on Wednesday formed a "task force" named "Defenders of Eastern People's Rights" in collaboration with Sinhala nationalist parties, Muslim and Tamil groups in the East. The task force was formed after a meeting with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), MLM Ataulla's National Muslim Congress (NMC), K. Vigneswaran's Akila Ilankai Tamil United Front (AITUF), a break away party of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), and key operatives of Karuna Group, a PNM activist has disclosed to Colombo media. The task force aims to split the East from the North Eastern Province (NEP).
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