Indian Prime Minister to meet TNA leaders

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 August 2008, 14:58 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh arrived at Katunayake International airport at 12:45 p.m, Friday to attend the 15th SAARC conference. He was received by Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake and given a red carpet welcome. Later he was escorted by the Indian special guard forces to the helipad and flown to Colombo in an Indian helicopter.
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Jaffna/ Yaazhppaa'nam/ Yaazhppaa'nap Paddinam/ Yaazhppaa'naayan Paddinam

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 August 2008, 13:36 GMT]
The city of the bard / minstrel
The city of the lord of bards / minstrels
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Tamil student abducted, in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 August 2008, 13:11 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in a white van Wednesday around 10:00 p.m at the house of a sixteen-year-old student in Kalmunai police division in Ampaa’rai district, abducted him, according to the complaint made by his mother to Kalmunai police.
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Extortion threats to Tamil businessmen on rise in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 August 2008, 07:17 GMT]
Extortion threats to Tamil businessmen in Colombo and its suburbs by intimidation through phone calls have been stepped up during the recent weeks, Sri Lankan Deputy Minister and Parliamentarian of the Upcountry Peoples' Front (UPF) P. Rathakrishanan, has complained in a letter to Inspector General of Police (IGP), Jayantha Wickremasinghe, citing numerous complaints made to him and the police. The threats are being issued with visible caller ID at a time when Sri Lankan Defence ministry has implemented stringent measures on telephone usage.
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11 civilians arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2008, 15:24 GMT]
Eleven civilians including two Tamils and a Muslim were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Gampaha town on Wednesday. Police said they are being detained in the police station as they failed to prove their identity.
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SAARC and Human Rights

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2008, 01:23 GMT]
A SAARC 'Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms' of the people of the region based on the same model as that of the European Union, as well as a 'Regional Mechanism on Human Rights' may be a way to fight the so-called terrorism because such a convention with a regional mechanism to implement it will prevent the root causes for violence arising in the first place. Countries like Pakistan and India, the two big brothers of the region should do better than abetting the war machinery of Sri Lanka that kills its own citizens. Aspirations of the peoples cannot be put down by Human Rights violations and State Terrorism, says Columnist Koanaamalai Manraadiyaar.
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Member of European Parliament envisages converting Tamils to Buddhism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 20:45 GMT]
"Frequently now I wonder whether Sri Lanka would have been a much more peaceful and much more homogeneous place if say 40% or so of the Tamil speaking population had been Buddhists and not exclusively Hindu or Christian. Is taking the Buddhist religion to Tamil people such a difficult task?" wonders Niranjan de Silva Deva-Aditya, Member of European Parliament (MEP) from U.K. and Honorary Ambassador-at-Large for Sri Lanka, in a statement after his recent visit to Sri Lanka as Vice-Chairman of the EU delegation. The Sinhala speaking MEP is tagged with a title, 'Vishwa Keerthi Sri Lanka Abhimani' (universally famous pride of Sri Lanka), bestowed onto him by the Buddhist clergy of Sri Lanka.
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11 Tamil civilians arrested in Mt.Lavinia

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 16:14 GMT]
Eleven Tamil civilians were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted from 6:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. Wednesday in Mt.Lavinia area in Colombo division by the Police with the assistance of about one hundred members of the Civil Volunteer Force (CVF). Police used sniffer dogs and metal detectors to trace explosives in vehicles and in public places, sources said.
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Tamil youth shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 16:12 GMT]
Twenty four year-old Tamil youth Armugam Jaishankar was shot dead by unidentified armed persons arrived in a white van Wednesday evening around 4:30 p.m at Potkerni in Thampalakaamam police division in Trincomalee district.
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Tamil youth abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 16:08 GMT]
Twenty five year-old Tamil youth Kirubakaran Nitharshan was abducted Tuesday night from his house located in Nelukkulam in Vavuniyaa police division by a group of eight armed persons arrived in four motorbikes, according to complaints lodged by his wife Wednesday morning with the Vavuniyaa police and human rights groups.
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TNA parliamentarian’s bodyguard shot, injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 14:01 GMT]
Unidentified armed men opened fire on the bodyguard of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian, T. Kanagasabai, Wednesday around 5:15 p.m at his house in Eruvil area in Ka’luvangchchikudi police division in Batticaloa district. The seriously injured bodyguard was rushed to the hospital, initial reports from Batticaloa said.
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SLAF fighter jets bomb Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 01:07 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped at least four bombs Wednesday morning between 6:20 and 6:35 a.m. targeting Thiruvaiyaa'ru, 4 km east of Ki'linochchi. The aerial strike comes as the Sri Lankan government has rejected to respect the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in connection with the SAARC summit taking place in Colombo from 26 July to 04 August.
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17 Tamil civilians arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 20:35 GMT]
Seventeen Tamil civilians including three women were taken in to custody Tuesday in a cordon and search operation conducted in Wellawatte area in Colombo by the police with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). All of the detainees were natives of north and east provinces and had been working in shops and staying with their relatives, friends and some in lodges in Wellawatte to go abroad, human rights sources said.
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Tamil youth shot dead in Uppuve'li

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 17:07 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot dead an 18-year-old Tamil youth at Uppuve'li police division, a suburb in Trincomalee Monday night in his house.
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Tamil youth abducted in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 08:13 GMT]
Unidentified armed men on motorcycle abducted Monday around 5:00 p.m a Tamil youth at Vanneeyaar area in Kalmunai police division in Ampaa’rai district, according to the complaint made to Kalmunai police by his parents.
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2 Tamil youths abducted in Kotahena

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 02:49 GMT]
Two Tamil youths, who returned from Qatar in Middle East and had been staying in a lodge along Vivekananda Hill in Kotahena to go again for employment abroad, were abducted by a group of armed persons who allegedly posed as officials of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police last Friday afternoon around 12.30, according to complaints lodged with the Kotahena Police and other human rights groups on Monday by their relatives.
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1200 Tamils prisoners held in Welikade without inquiry

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 20:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's Supreme Court was told when the Fundamental Rights violation petition filed the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) was taken up for further inquiry Monday that about one thousand two hundred Tamil civilians are still being detained in Welikada prison without any inquiry. The counsel for the petitioner begged the court to take steps to release these Tamils, legal sources said.
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LTTE to hand over dead body of SLA DPU soldier

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 15:44 GMT]
LTTE officials in Ki'inochchi on Monday said a unit of the Peoples Force of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (PF-LTTE) had recovered the dead body of a Sri Lanka Army Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) soldier who was killed following the recent attack in Kokkaavil where Deputy Planning Director of Poonakari Divisional Secretariat, Santhalingam Vimalakumar, was slain in a Claymore attack on Friday. Meanwhile, four of the thirty dead bodies were handed over to the LTTE through the ICRC by the SLA, were not identified as belonging to LTTE fighters, the Tigers said.
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SLA offensive repulsed in Paalamoaddai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 15:19 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in Vanni told media Monday that a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) ground movement in Paalamoaddai in Vavuniyaa into LTTE controlled territory was repulsed by the Tigers after confrontations that lasted from 3:35 p.m. till 4:45 p.m. Five SLA soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the confrontations, according to LTTE officials.
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SLA fires artillery, MBRL from Northern Front

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 14:48 GMT]
A barrage of heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire from the Northern Front was launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sunday and Monday into Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Iyakkachchi, Pazhai and Vadamaraadchi East villages despite no provocation from the LTTE side, sources in Ki'linochchi said.
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