Tamil civilian abducted in Vaazhaichcheanai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 10:30 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted a newly-wed Tamil family man Tuesday around 3:30 p.m at Ko’ndaiyaangkea’ni area in Vaazhaichcheanai police division in Batticaloa district, according to the complaint lodged by his wife with Vaazhaichcheanai police.
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Tamil Diaspora must act to prevent humanitarian tragedy - MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 09:39 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament from Jaffna District, Selvarajah Gajendran, on Tuesday, urged the Tamil Diaspora to provide assistance to local aid agencies working among the IDPs in Vanni and to campaign in their host countries to exert pressure on the GoSL to remove restrictions on the transport of emergency supplies to Vanni and urge the International Community to support the Tamil people's right to live in peace in their homeland. The Sri Lankan government has ordered Government Agents to operate from Vavuniyaa and has actively discouraged even UN agencies from entering Vanni, the MP said.
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Tamil trader shot dead in Kaaththaankudi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 09:21 GMT]
Two unidentified gun men on motorcycle arriving at the shop of a Tamil trader Tuesday around 9:30 p.m at Poonochchimunai in Kaaththaankudi police division in Batticaloa district shot and killed him, Kaaththaankudi police said.
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Catholic commission in Vanni highlights IDPs plight

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 00:19 GMT]
Amid pouring rain and thundering blasts of artillery and mortar shells, more than 170,000 Internally Displaced Persons in Vanni are facing a great human tragedy, which is calculatedly concealed from the world outside, said Rev. Fr. James Pathinathan, the president of the Vanni branch of the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jaffna, in an urgent appeal to the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, on Tuesday. "If the International Community doesn't act at once, it will be too late," he told TamilNet after handing over the memorandum to the Residential Representative of the UNHCR in Vanni.
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25 Tamils arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 11:39 GMT]
Twenty five Tamil civilians were taken into custody Tuesday morning in a cordon and search conducted in Gampaha police division in the Western Province by the Sri Lanka Army and police with the assistance of homeguards.
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SLA restrictions affect cattle owners, farmers in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 09:56 GMT]
Cattle owners and farmers in Koara'laipattu South, Ea'raavoorpattu and Chengkaladi divisions of Batticaloa district have appealed to their respective Divisional Secretaries and Batticaloa Government Agent to help lift Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed restrictions in engaging in their livelihoods of dairy farming and agriculture. A threatening situation prevails in the remote villages of Batticaloa, especially against the cattle ownrs, as SLA soldiers manning the posts in Paduvaankarai region have stepped up deployment along jungle tracks and cattle posts used by cattle herders.
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TID interrogates Mano Ganesan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 08:02 GMT]
The leader of the Western Province People's Front (WPPF) and a Member of Sri Lankan Parliament Mano Ganesan is being questioned by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) Tuesday morning, informed sources in Colombo told TamilNet.
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Peradeniya Tamil undergrads agitate for release of student

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2008, 10:29 GMT]
Tamil students of the Arts Faculty of the Peradeniya University Friday handed over a memorandum to the Vice-chancellor requesting him to take immediate steps to release K. Umanath, a final year student, from police custody, enabling him to sit for his final examination scheduled to be held in three months, sources in Peredeniya said. Umanath is still being detained in Davulugala police station in Kandy district.
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Ten thousand Tamil voters deprived from voting in Sabaragamuwa election

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2008, 21:26 GMT]
Nearly 10,000 Up-Country Tamils who are eligible to vote were deprived from voting on Saturday at Ratnapura and Kegalle districts in Sabaragamuwa provincial council elections as they did not have National Identity Cards (NIC), a senior Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) member told media in Colombo.
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6 Tamil youths of north arrested in Nuwara Eliya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2008, 21:10 GMT]
Six Tamil youths, residents of Maangku'lam and Ki'llinochchi in Vanni and Nelliyadi in Jaffna district, arrested on August 19 while residing in a rented out house located in Elgin area in Nuwara Eliya-Lindula police division are being held in detention in the police station under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Police said.
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Sinhala student shot dead at Eastern University

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 18:14 GMT]
A final-year student from Kurunagala, studying at the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) at Vanthaa'rumoolai was shot and killed by unknown armed men Thursday around 9:15 p.m. Ea'raavoor Police said they were investigating whether the killing had any connection to an incident in which a Tamil girl was allegedly ragged at the EUSL, a few days ago.
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25 Tamil civilians arrested in Puththa'lam, Badulla

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 16:22 GMT]
35 people including 25 Tamil civilians were taken into custody in two separate cordon and search operations conducted by the police with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Army and civil volunteer groups in Badulla and Puththa'lam on Tuesday and Wednesday. Five Tamil youths were arrested in Badulla police division on Tuesday evening and 30 persons including 20 Tamils were arrested in Puththalam police division. The search operation conducted in Puththa'lam commenced on Tuesday night and concluded on Wednesday, civil sources said.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Vavu’natheevu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 12:16 GMT]
Five unidentified armed men who forcibly took away a Tamil civilian Wednesday around 12:00 p.m from his house in Koththiyaapuram in Vavu’natheevu police division in Batticaloa shot and killed him, sources in Batticaloa said. Four of the five armed men were clad in pants similar to those worn by Special Task Force (STF) commandos, the sources added.
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UNP Tamil candidate attacked by goons in Kegalle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2008, 02:54 GMT]
Goons alleged to be former minister Ranjith Soyza’s men waylaid and attacked five persons including Western People’s Front (WPF) chief candidate contesting on United National Party (UNP) ticket in Sabragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) election, Wednesday around 11:00 a.m. as they were traveling in a vehicle through Kavaththai town in Kegalle district. All five persons are admitted to Kavaththai hospital with serious injuries while two of them with injuries to the head are being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
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Tamil civilian abducted in Negombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2008, 12:06 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in a white van abducted a Tamil civilian Wednesday around 6:30 a.m. from his house on Christ Mawatte in Marawila in Negombo police division, according to the complaint lodged by his wife with Marawila police.
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Tamil man abducted in Negombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2008, 12:02 GMT]
A 31-year old Tamil civilian, R.F. Mariyakumar, was abducted Wednesday morning around 6:30 a.m. from his residence along Christ Mawatte in Marawila in Negombo police division by a group of unidentified armed men, according to a complaint lodged by the victim's with the Marawila Police, sources in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka officials complicit in Tamil Genocide? - Washington Times

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2008, 01:43 GMT]
Asserting that "[t]here is reason to believe that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has been complicit in a Srebrenica-like genocide or worse against Sri Lanka's Tamils on the installment plan. Since entering office in November 2005, he has been witness to the extrajudicial killings of more than 1,500 Tamils, torture, scores of kidnappings, countless arbitrary detentions and displacement of more than 250,000, a staggering percentage of Tamils who have not fled abroad seeking asylum," a commentary in the Washington Times, Wednesday issue, urged the U.S. Justice Department to lead a genocide investigation of Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Lt.Gen. Fonseka, and Basil Rajapakse.
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Taravai, Upput-taravai

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

The brackish soil wasteland
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Tamil family man abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 12:09 GMT]
Unidentified armed men operating from a white van abducted a married man Sunday afternoon 6:30 p.m. on Batticaloa –Kalmunai road in Koaddaikkallaa’ru area within Ka'luvaagnchikkudi police division in Batticaloa district.
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University of Jaffna observes silent protest in solidarity with civilians in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 09:40 GMT]
Hundreds of students and the staff of the University of Jaffna Tuesday morning gathered for a silent protest against the isolation of civilians in Vanni by the Sri Lankan government. The silent protest by the University society, expressing solidarity with thousands of displaced people in Vanni, comes after a long period of time marked with targeted annihilation of protesting voices in Jaffna.
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