Abducted man beaten, dumped along Ea'raavoor roadside

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 July 2008, 17:07 GMT]
The 34-year old former employee of Ceylinco Insurance company, abducted by unknown gunmen in white van Thursday night near the Batticaloa village of Chinna Oo'ra'ni, was severely beaten and was later dumped near shrub jungle along Ea'raavoor-Punnakkuda road, the victim told Earaavoor Police.
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Grand finale for Pongku Thamizh in London

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 July 2008, 02:41 GMT]
Around 30,000 people attended the Pongku Thamizh (Tamil Upsurge) rally in London at the Rorehampton Vale sports ground on Saturday, choking traffic in one of the highways, said the organisers. A number of British parliamentarians cutting across party lines, international representatives of liberation movements, rights activists, and politicians from Tamil and Sinhala communities addressed the event, and sent messages in support of the event. Even by conservative estimates, nearly 150,000 Tamils of North America, Europe, Africa and Australia have so far demonstrated their support to the cause of Eezham during the last one-month through Pongku Thamizh 2008.
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Moothoor IDPs resettled in Veeramaanakar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 July 2008, 02:30 GMT]
A group of 135 members from 44 Tamil families who fled from the Moothoor east during the 2006 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives, and sheltered in temporary structures in several welfare centres located in Manmunai North, Aarayampathi and Kaluwaanchikgudi, were resettled in their village, Veeramanagar in Pattalipuram Grama Sevak division in Moothoor, divisional secretariat sources said.
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6 Tamil civilians arrested in Buttala

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 July 2008, 02:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in a joint cordon and search operation conducted along Buttala-Kathirkaamam road Saturday arrested six Tamil civilians Saturday, sources said. The search was triggered by the attack Friday morning on a passenger bus by a group of unidentified gunmen that killed four commuters and wounded 26 others.
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Tamil family man shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 July 2008, 11:48 GMT]
A Tamil civilian was shot dead Friday morning inside a hairdressing saloon located along Ferguson Road in Mukaththuvaaram in Colombo police division, according to complaints lodged with the Police by the victim's relatives.
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Family man abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 July 2008, 07:13 GMT]
A 34-year-old Tamil civilian was abducted Thursday night while he was on his way to the residence of his friend, according to a complaint registered with Batticaloa police by his wife. The victim, Sundaranathan Selvakumar, is a former employee of Ceylinco Insurance company and was currently engaged in contract business. According to eyewitnesses, two armed men who were riding in a white van without number plate, abducted him at gun point.
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Tamil Village Officer attacked in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 July 2008, 04:22 GMT]
A group of three armed persons attacked a Tamil Village Officer (GS) Friday night with knives and swords, causing severe injuries to him, Police said. The victim, T. Srikantha, was at his house located at Pa'ndaarikku'lam in Vavuniyaa.
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30 civilians arrested Katunayake HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 July 2008, 01:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police arrested thirty civilians including ten Tamils into custody during a cordon and search operation conducted from Thursday night till Friday morning the Katunayake High Security Zone (HSZ), sources in Colombo said. The Katunayake international airport, and military installations are located within the HSZ.
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'Conversations in a Failing State'

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 July 2008, 04:00 GMT]
Towards the end of 19th century, the renowned American writer Mark Twain visited Colombo. While he was admiring the plurality of colour in the native dresses, somewhere in Pettah, he saw native children coming out of an English school, in line, in white uniform and in the same hairdo. ‘What an ugly scene’, he wrote, being sad at the way colonial institutions depriving natives of their pluralism. More than a century later, Patrick Lawrence, another American, comes to Sri Lanka to record the net results, a failed nationalism and a failed state, as consequences of the loss of pluralism.
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Tamil woman arrested in Kotmale

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 July 2008, 17:11 GMT]
A Tamil woman arrested at Kotmale in Kandy district on Wednesday night for allegedly providing accommodation to a LTTE woman cadre has been served with detention orders by the Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry. The Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) is conducting further investigation, Kandy police sources said.
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13th anniversary of Navaali church massacre observed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 July 2008, 09:49 GMT]
Thousands of family members and friends participated in the 13th memorial mass and prayers held Wednesday in Navaali St. Peter's Church and Navaali Chinnakk Kathirkaama Murukan Koayil in remembrance of the 147 persons including women and children killed 9 July 1995 when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets dropped thirteen bombs on people who had sought safety in the above places of worship.
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Attempted German bargain at the cost of Sri Lanka's Human Rights

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 21:38 GMT]
Der Spiegel, a renowned German weekly news magazine, in its 23 June edition, has revealed that Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the permanent representative of the government of Germany in New York in February, agreed to a deal prior to the voting in U.N. General Assembly in May, where Germany would vote for Sri Lanka's re-election to the Human Rights Council, and Sri Lanka in turn will vote for German seat in the Security Council in 2010. The paper said Germany's deal with the Human Rights violator Sri Lanka was 'indelicate', despite Sri Lanka's defeat in the race.
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Displaced family man abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 17:24 GMT]
An internally displaced Tamil family man sheltered in the refugee camp located in Zahira College in Batticaloa police division was abducted Sunday evening by unidentified armed persons. 35 year-old Selvarajah Sritharan left the refugee camp to buy milk food to his one-year old child but he failed to return thereafter, according to a complaint lodged by his wife with the Batticaloa police. Zahira College is located about 1.5 km north of Batticaloa town.
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Mannaar Tamil youth abducted in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 17:06 GMT]
A seventeen year old Tamil youth, Kathirkaamar Vikneswaran, of Mannaar abducted by unidentified armed persons arrived in a white van from a refugee camp in Naagavil area in Puththa'lam police division, is still missising, sources in Puththa'lam said.
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Sri Lanka's rank critical in Failed States Index

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 16:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka, which was positioned 25th among the most failed states during the last two years, ranked this year as the 20th in the Failed States Index (FSI), compiled by the Washington based think-tank, Fund for Peace (FfP) and Foreign Policy magazine. Sri Lanka's score further dropped this year in almost all of the 12 indicators in the FSI. The country was ranked 2nd worst, next to Sudan in one of the indicators, 'Group Grievances'. Five of the eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, including Sri Lanka, accounting for one-quarter of the population of South Asia, are placed among the 35 critically failed states of the world in the FSI 2008 index.
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Tamil civilian abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 12:09 GMT]
A Tamil civilian employed as a security officer in a private office in Maamangkam area, within Batticaloa police division taken away by Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) men last Saturday, according to complaints lodged with the Batticaloa police and with the Batticaloa office of the Human Rights Commission by his relatives.
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CTTU extends support for General strike

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 02:42 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU ) in an official communiqué issued Tuesday called upon all it members to take part in the island wide general strike scheduled for July 10 in a show of support for the one-day token strike organized by the Marxist Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) with the blessings of main opposition United National Party (UNP).
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State of Emergency extended in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 18:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday after a full day debate adopted the motion to extend the State of Emergency for another by a majority of 97 votes. 111 parliamentarians voted for the motion and 11 against. The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP), splinter group of the JVP supported. Eleven parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted against the motion, parliamentary sources said.
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6 civilians arrested in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 18:39 GMT]
Six civilians, majority of them are Tamils were arrested at Munthal in Chilaw police division Monday night at a check point manned by the police and Sri Lanka Army at Karikaattu Veethi when they subjected a vehicle they were traveling for search. The police said they found camouflage army uniforms in the possession of some of the occupants, media sources said.
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Paramilitary 'safe houses' hinder peaceful PC election -JVP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 11:06 GMT]
Candidates contesting on behalf of opposition parties in the North Central Provincial Council election are reported to have expressed fear that 'safe houses' used by the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) paramilitary in villages Thiruchcheanai, Muthgala, Madurangala, Thuruvilla, and Mannampiddi where about 5,800 Tamils are living, would hinder peaceful election, media reports said quoting M.Palitha Upul Kumara, a former councillor of the NCPC. Mr. Upul Kumara, a resident of Mannampiddi, is contesting the election on the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) ticket.
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