18 Tamil workers arrested in Haputale

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 14:21 GMT]
Eighteen upcountry Tamil workers including a woman of Haputale were arrested on Monday by the police when they were going for work to Porawantha estate. 17 of them are residents of Thangamalai estate and one is from Viharagale estate. The police stopped them at a check point located at Hinnarangolla and took them into custody although they produced their government national identity cards, media sources said.
Full story >>

A church in Madu destroyed, dreaded stage of ethnic cleansing, says TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 13:03 GMT]
The Sacred Heart Church of the Madu Shrine complex has been destroyed in SLA shelling after the priests had taken away the image of Our Lady of Madu last Thursday, reveal the photos taken by K. Baskaran, a photographer who visited the Madu church on Sunday. "Any desecration of Madu is likely to be understood as an effort of the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism to erase out the symbols of other religions and thus serving a spiritual blow which is the most dreaded stage in the process of ethnic cleansing," Vanni District Parliamentarian Selvam Adaikkalanathan told TamilNet Tuesday.
Full story >>

"Sri Lanka at the brink"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 12:26 GMT]
Advocating a "federal accommodation for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority," Dr Whitehall in an article on Australia's News Weekly says: "In the first eight months of 2007, an estimated 1,212 Tamils were murdered or disappeared, according to the Sri Lanka-based Law and Society Trust, which reports that Tamils to have been "overwhelmingly affected". Of these victims, 23 were aid and church workers, eight worked with the media, and 68 were children. Most of the abuses occurred in Jaffna, the historic capital of the Tamil region, which is now "occupied" by over 50,000 Sri Lankan troops. Many of the reported abuses have occurred within "high security zones" under the control of those troops."
Full story >>

Tamil civilian shot dead in Chilaapam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 02:28 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons shot dead a Tamil civilian in his house Tuesday early morning at Aa'ndimunai in Udappu in Munthal police division, media sources said. The area comes under Chilaapam (Chilaw) district in the northwestern province.
Full story >>

LTTE urges Norway to take steps to end military assault on Madu shrine

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 15:52 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head B. Nadesan on Monday sent an urgent letter to Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim, placing a request to the Royal Norwegian Government to take steps to immediately end the military assault of the holy Madu shrine in Mannaar district. "The international community together with the international institutions that are concerned about protecting the historical treasures of the world must be brought together and we hope the Royal Norwegian Government together with them will take the necessary actions to end the attacks on the church," Mr. Nadesan urged Norway.
Full story >>

STF shoots dead 2 Tamils in Vavu’natheevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 08:57 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandoes shot dead two Tamil civilians at 8:30 a.m in Paalcheanai area in Vavu’natheevu police division in Batticaloa district, following a Claymore attack on a STF road patrol unit in Paavatkodicheanai in Paalcheanai, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Lankan ploy of Buddhism for subversion in Tamil Nadu: Viduthalai Rajendran

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 06:08 GMT]
Circumstantial evidence supports the hand of the Lankan government’s National Intelligence Bureau in the Buddhist temple-building campaign in Tamil Nadu, observed political analyst TSS Mani in Win TV’s News and Views, reported Tehelka Magazine, on Saturday. It further quoted Viduthalai Rajendran, General Secretary of Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK), saying “ the temple-building a ploy to woo Indian Dalits and pit them against Sri Lankan Tamils on religious lines” A Sinhalese delegation of prominent Buddhist monks laid foundation stones for Buddhist places of worship in Tamil Nadu. Most of them are archaeological sites.
Full story >>

SLN arrests 5 Tamil Nadu fishermen in Nedunththeevu seas

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 01:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested five fishermen from Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu Saturday around 2:00 p.m Sunday when they were fishing in the seas between Nedunththeevu (Delft) and Kachchaitheevu. SLN handed over the fishermen to Nedunththeevu police who produced them before Kayts magistrate Ms. Joy Mahatheva Sunday.
Full story >>

Two pronged SLA offensive attempt thwarted in Vavuniyaa - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 14:57 GMT]
At least 9 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and more than 13 SLA soldiers wounded when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) confronted the SLA on two fronts at Paalamoaddai in Vavuniya - Mannaar border Sunday. Heavy fighting raged from 8:30 a.m. till 5:40 p.m. until the SLA troops were withdrawn, according to LTTE's Operations Command in Vavuniyaa. Due to heavy artillery barrage, the remaining 32 families in Koayil Kugnchukku'lam and Kungnchukku'lam have displaced from their villages.
Full story >>

Jeyaraj Fernandopulle killed in bomb blast

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 03:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Minister of Highways & Road Development, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, was killed in a bomb blast at the public playground in Weliweraya, located in the Gampaha district of Western Province, around 8:00 a.m. Sunday. 13 persons were killed and 60 wounded in the attack that took place while the minister was waving a flag to start off a marathon race in connection with the Tamil and Sinhala New Year celebrations. 16 of the wounded have sustained serious injuries, Police said.
Full story >>

Two new MPs to be sworn in on Tuesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 02:23 GMT]
Two new parliamentarians Solomon Cyril, representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and M. Naushad from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), are to be sworn in April 8 to fill the vacancies in the districts of Jaffna and Ampaarai when the parliament meets on Tuesday, parliamentary sources said.
Full story >>

JHU monks, oppressors not freedom fighters- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 01:46 GMT]
Protesting against the statement in a Washington Post article that linked "militant monks in Sri Lanka's ruling elite with nonviolent Buddhist protesters in Tibet and Burma," Roger Severino, Legal counsel for Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said "saying that Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) fits the tradition of monks across Asia who have embraced political causes" confuses oppressors with freedom fighters.
Full story >>

Tamil, Muslim civilians arrested in Gampaha, Katunayake

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2008, 18:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police arrested two Tamil civilians and five Indians at Katunayake area in a cordon and search operation Thursday evening, sources in Colombo said. In another search operation conducted in Gampaha town from Thursday evening until early Friday morning two youths, one Muslim and one Tamil, were taken into custody, media sources said.
Full story >>

Military convoys hinder civilian use of public roads in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2008, 01:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA), have been blocking the public from using key roads in Jaffna while transporting troops and weapons to the Northern Front Defence Lines (FDLs), causing severe hardships for the public who are kept waiting for several hours until the convoys pass through, sources in Jaffna said. Requests by civil society organizations to SLA authorities in Jaffna to reduce hardships to the public remain unattended, sources added.
Full story >>

Our Lady of Madu statue reaches Theavanpiddi

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 15:45 GMT]
The fleeing reverend priests and sisters with the statue of Our Lady of Madu reached St. Sebastian Church at Theavanpiddi, located around 70 km northwest of Madu, Thursday night, according to Bishop's House in Mannaar. Theavanpiddi is situated north of Iluppaikkadavai in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled Manthai West DS division.
Full story >>

Our Lady of Madu reaches Theavanpiddi

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 15:45 GMT]
The fleeing reverend priests and sisters reached St. Sebastian Church at Theavanpiddi, around 70 km northwest of Madu, Thursday night, according to Bishop's House in Mannaar. Theavanpiddi is situated north of Iluppaikkadavai in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled Manthai West DS division, which belongs to Mannaar Diocese.
Full story >>

Moothoor resettled lack basic facilities-TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 11:29 GMT]
Resettled families sheltered in schools at Pallikudiruppu and Amman Nagar in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district are undergoing serious difficulties without basic facilities and other relief, since their return, K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian said in a complaint to Resettlement Minister Rishard Badiudin. About 200 families have been resettled in Pallikudiduruppu and 70 families at Amman Nagar close to Arafat Nagar, about one km off from Moothoor east.
Full story >>

The temporal and spiritual conquest of Tamils: Mahinda's book of dreams

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 07:18 GMT]
More than security concerns, the sentiments of Tamil Christians and their mistrust of Sri Lankan State seem to be the impelling force behind the decision of taking away Our Lady of Madu from her abode. Those who could look at how Kathirkaamam was confiscated from the predominance of Tamils and how the ancient temples behind the Tamil Saiva myth are inside ‘High Security Zones’, could understand the fear of Tamil Christians. The question is whether the International Community and India, which contribute to the military option, don’t understand or don’t want to understand the fact that if there is anything to be defeated militarily in Sri Lanka, it is the chauvinism of the Sri Lankan State.
Full story >>

'Sinhala regime transforming holy land into battlefield': LTTE Political Head

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2008, 19:59 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B Nadesan in a statement issued Thursday from Ki'linochchi strongly condemned the indiscriminate shelling on the Madu Church and urged the International Community and Human Rights organizations to condemn the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) for 'barbarically' transforming a sacred shrine that offered refuge to displaced people into a battlefield. He criticized GoSL for unleashing its army on an area that was ought to be free of war according to war ethics and UN conventions.
Full story >>

No foreign monitors for eastern polls - Bogollagama

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2008, 19:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Thursday that there would be no independent monitoring of the forthcoming elections to the Eastern Provincial Council. Meanwhile, whilst addressing a strategic think tank in London earlier this week, Mr. Bogollagama was challenged by the Times newspaper over his government’s bar on foreign media, a statement issued Thursday by the British Tamil Forum, an expatriate lobby group, said.
Full story >>