Colombo conspires Tamil - Muslim divide: Vaiko

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2008, 12:47 GMT]
The General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Vaiko, on Monday strongly condemned the Sri Lankan minister Keheliya Rambukwelle for distorting his comments made in Oslo in April, to sound anti-Muslim. It was part of the 'scheming machination' of the Sri Lankan government to divide Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka, especially in the East, said Vaiko in a statement issued in Tamil.
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"Plucked peace flower"- Washington Times

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2008, 11:25 GMT]
In a commentary appearing in the Tuesday issue of Washington Times, Bruce Fein, Washington-based attorney for a Tamil Activist Group, and Chairman of the American Freedom Agenda, says that "the peace solution to Sri Lanka's descent into hell was discerned by [Ambassador] Mr. Blake - even if unwittingly - in an interview published in the Sunday Observer on May 25. The subtext affirmed the right of the Tamil people to determine their own political destiny without dictation by Tamil Tiger leader, Velupillai Prabharkaran, or by any other person or organization."
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6 civilians killed in SLA claymore attack - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 June 2008, 18:09 GMT]
Six devotees including two children on their way to Naakathampiraan Temple in Maangku'lam were killed and 4 wounded, including 2 children, in a claymore mine explosion in Vanni Monday night. LTTE's Director of Peace Secretariat S. Puleedevan blamed the Deep Penetration Unit operated by the Sri Lanka Army for the attack on civilian target.
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3 white van abductions in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 June 2008, 16:31 GMT]
Three Tamils were abducted by unidentified men in Puththa'alm Saturday afternoon and Sunday, sources in Puththa'lam said. One was abducted by gunmen in a white van Sunday, and the other two Saturday afternoon while travelling in an auto-rickshaw, also by men who arrived in a white van.
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Youth shot dead, SLA imposes curfew in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 June 2008, 15:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) implemented a sudden curfew Monday afternoon in three coastal towns in the vicinity of Kudaakadal , within the Jaffna municipality area. The announcement of the curfew to be implemented from 5:00 p.m. Monday until 5:00 a.m. Tuesday in Kozhumpuththu’rai, Paasaiyoor and Kurunakar was made Monday noon through loud speakers fixed to three wheelers with the assistance of Fishermen’s Federation, sources said.
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Tigers counter-attack SLA ambush unit, seize weapons -LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 June 2008, 15:30 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials on Monday said their fighters in Vavuniyaa, who launched a counter-attack on a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) ambush unit that attempted to engage in covert operation close to LTTE Forward Defence Line at Kugnchukku'lam, have seized an assault rifle, claymore mines and other military accessories.
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SLMC responsible for inciting violence between communities – Amir Ali

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 June 2008, 13:44 GMT]
Rauff Hakeem, the leader of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), and Basheer Segudawood the chairman of the party are responsible for creating a conspiracy to initiate ethnic conflict between the Tamil and Muslim communities, charged Minister of Disaster Relief Services M.S.S.Ameer Ali at a conference held May 28 at Ea’raavoor police station attended by a number of senior government officials and media personnel.
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Hartal observed in Kaaththaankudi

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 June 2008, 08:48 GMT]
Kaaththaankudi came to a stand when traders observed a shutdown Monday in protest against the killing of the Muslim vegetable trader from Kaaththaankudi Sunday in Batticaloa. Following the interment of the remains of the victim Monday morning, more than 3000 Muslims protested condemning Pillayan paramilitary group and the government of Sri Lanka, sources in Kaaththaankudi said.
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Muslim mob injures 4 Tamils near Aarayampathi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 June 2008, 13:07 GMT]
Muslims from Kaaththaankudi armed with knives and machetes cut injured four Tamil building masons returning to Aarayampathi after work Sunday around 5:30 p.m, in the boundary area between Kaaththaankudi and Aaryampathi following the recovery of the corpse of a Muslim vegetable trader in Batticaloa Sunday around 1:30 p.m,. The Muslim mob, trying to enter into the Tamil village of Aarayampathi, is being held back police and Special Task Force (STF) commandos deployed in the said area.
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8 Tamil youths arrested in Dehiwela

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 June 2008, 12:18 GMT]
Eight Tamil youths, seven from upcountry and one from Jaffna, were arrested in Dehiwala last Wednesday and are being detained in Dehiwala Police station. Police officers are conducting inquiries to ascertain their identities and the background. Those who can prove their identity would be released and the rest would be remanded with the permission of the court, police said.
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Court remands two train commuters arrested in Puththalam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 June 2008, 11:59 GMT]
Puththalam Magistrate Friday ordered remand till June 11 for two youths, a Tamil and Muslim, who were taken into custody by the police while they were traveling in a train bound for Colombo from Puththalam between Munthal and Mathurankuli railway stations, sources said. They were produced in court as they failed to prove their identity and the permanent address, sources said.
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SLA appropriating Tamil IDPs' properties in Ampaa’rai district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 June 2008, 09:38 GMT]
The appropriation of the properties of the Internally Displaced People (IDP) and a Non-government organization in the Tamil areas in Ampaa’rai district by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Special Task Force (STF) Friday is a premeditated government plan to prevent the displaced from resettling in their traditional villages, K. Pathmananthan, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Thikaamaduva in Ampaa’rai district, said.
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Complicit in silence- Kumar David

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 May 2008, 22:38 GMT]
Pointing out that Rajapakse regime's "human rights record renders it undeserving of a seat on the UNHR Council," Prof. Kumar David, in a column in Lakbima, notes that a more worrying side to this state of affairs is that "significant majority of Sinhalese people are willing to look aside and allow human rights violations to proliferate, so long as the victims are Tamils, or persons suspected of LTTE sympathy, or journalists who expose military setbacks and lies, or as tit-for-tat replies to LTTE bomb blasts...the complicity of silence, on the part of a people in the crimes of its regime, the decay that will eventually corrode the fabric of that whole nation will be hideous."
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Tamil youth shot dead in Serunuwara

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 May 2008, 12:15 GMT]
Yogarajah Kaliappu, 23, a Tamil married youth and a father of one child, was shot dead by unidentified armed persons while being warded in the Serunuwara government hospital in Trincomalee district Saturday around 1:00 p.m., civil society sources said.
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Tamil youth reported missing in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 May 2008, 11:44 GMT]
27 year old Alagiah Muthulingam, a father of two children, who left Puthukkuddiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu district on May 12 to meet relatives in Vavuniyaa is reported missing, according to complaints lodged by his wife with the Vavuniyaa Police and the regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Friday, reports from Vavuniyaa said.
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Court discharges Tamil undergraduate in Jeyaraj murder inquiry

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 May 2008, 04:37 GMT]
A twenty nine year old Tamil undergraduate arrested along with his father and mother in connection with the killing of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle was discharged on Thursday by the Mount Lavinia Magistrate when the police informed court that they had no evidence to associate the student in the killing, legal sources in Colombo said. His mother was later granted bail. However his father is still being kept on detention orders, legal sources added.
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28 SLA killed, 52 wounded in Mannaar, Vavuniyaa - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 May 2008, 20:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials on Friday said they confronted Sri Lanka Army in Mannaar and Vavuniyaa fronts throughout the day thwarting the repeated attempts by the SLA to advance into LTTE territory. A ground movement by the SLA from Ma'likaiththidal towards Theanudaiyaan in Mannaar, launched at 5:30 a.m. Friday was defeated around 12:40 p.m. 25 SLA soldiers were killed when they again launched the move at 1:00 p.m. 47 SLA soldiers were wounded in the confrontation that lasted till 6:15 p.m. when the SLA was pushed back, the Tigers said. Meanwhile, 3 SLA soldiers were killed in a confrontation that lasted for 90 minutes from 4:10 p.m.
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3 SLA troops killed, 7 injured in clashes in Vavuniyaa FDL

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 May 2008, 16:52 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters repulsed more than eight attempts by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops to advance into LTTE held areas in Paalamoaddai and Kunchchukkulam areas in Vavuniyaa Front Defence Line (FDL) positions from Friday 3:00 a.m until evening, LTTE Vavuniyaa Field Command said. 3 SLA troops were killed and 4 seriously injured in clashes at Kunchchukku’lam between 4:00 p.m and 5:30 p.m, while 3 troops lost their legs in the combat Friday early morning at Paalamoaddai between 3:00 a.m and 3:30 a.m, the source added.
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TMVP member injured in gun mishap in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 May 2008, 13:31 GMT]
The fire arm of a member of the paramilitary-cum-political party, Pillayan group (Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, TMVP) accidentally went off Friday around 9:00 a.m., injuring him while he was working in the Thampaanam TMVP Office located on Badulla Road in Batticaloa district, Ka’radiyanaa’ru police said.
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Development untenable without peace - Nadesan

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 May 2008, 11:42 GMT]
"Development is possible only when there is permanent peace. To achieve peace the International Community (IC) should engage seriously in restoring the status quo which the IC itself has disturbed in recent times, and should pressurise the Sri Lankan government to come to terms with a negotiated settlement," said Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B. Nadesan, in an exclusive interview to TamilNet on Friday, while responding to a question on LTTE's position on International involvement in Colombo's 'development-agenda'. "Recognition of Tamil sovereignty and right to self-determination are key issues in creating a climate for a negotiated settlement," Nadesan added.
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