Armed men abduct Tamil trader in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2008, 14:48 GMT]
Armed men who arrived in a white van in a Colombo suburb have abducted a 65-year-old Tamil trader, Govindasamy Rajanathan, from his residence on Galpotta Lane in Koddaagncheanai (Kotahena), a suburb of Colombo Friday early morning, according to a complaint made to the Civil Monitoring Committee. The victim's family has also lodged a complaint at Kotahena Police.
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Eastern Provincial Council Election scheduled for May 10

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2008, 11:03 GMT]
Election for the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) is to be held 10 May and nominations are to be accepted from 27 March to 3 April, according to a Sri Lanka Government gazette notification published Thursday. This is the first election to take place after NorthEast was demerged on the Supreme Court verdict of 16 October 2006.
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Tamil civilian shot dead at Aandanku'lam

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2008, 08:19 GMT]
Unknown gunmen Thursday night around 7:00 p.m. shot dead a 35-year-old Tamil civilian at Aandanku'lam in Uppuve'li division in Trincomalee district. Aandanku'lam is located along Trincomalee-Kandy road, about 4 km off Trincomalee city.
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215 Tamil civilians in detention camps in Boosa

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2008, 04:40 GMT]
138 Tamil civilians including nine women are currently being detained in Boosa detention centre under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER). 77 Tamil civilians including 6 women are being detained in PTE detention centre located in Chaitiya Street in Colombo city, media reports quoting civil sources said.
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UPFA-TMVP secures Mayor post in Batticaloa MC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2008, 16:10 GMT]
Paramilitary TMVP group Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP) candidate, who jointly contested in the elections for the Batticaloa Municpal Council with Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), was appointed Mayor of Batticaloa Municipal Council (MC) in the TMVP committee meeting Wednesday, TMVP Secretary, Kailasarasa said. Daughter of Sathiyamoorthy Rajan, the assassinated Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary candidate in 2004 general elections, Pirabakaran Sivakeertha, known as Pathmini, polled 4,722 preferential votes and was appointed Mayor of Batticaloa MC.
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8 days, 35 explosions, SLA suffers casualties in Mannaar: LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2008, 16:03 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Operations Command Mannaar on Wednesday said that 35 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops have been either wounded or killed in booby trap explosions in no-go zones between the LTTE and SLA FDLs in Mannaar from 02 March to 10 March in 35 separate incidents. Members of SLA Deep Penetration Units (DPU) and troops deployed in attempts to break into LTTE FDLs are the ones who were caught in Tiger booby traps according to the LTTE.
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Stop Indian military aid to Sri Lanka: Tamil Nadu leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2008, 14:44 GMT]
New Delhi unabashedly rolling the red carpet to Sri Lankan military chief Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka has caused a furore among Tamil Nadu politicians who have urged the Indian Central Government to "stop all military aid to the genocidal government of Sri Lanka." Paddali Makkal Kadchi (PMK, Toilers' Party) founder-leader S Ramadoss and Viduthalai Chiruththaikal Kadchi (VCK, Liberation Panthers Party) President Thol Thirumavalavan accused the Central Government of sabotaging Tamil aspirations on the Sri Lankan issue by lending support to the military-backed genocide of the Eelam Tamils.
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SLA unloads ammunition consignments in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2008, 11:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vessels carrying large consignments of weapons to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are reported being unloaded Tuesday and Wednesday in Kaangkeasanththu'rai (KKS) harobour, informed sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, convoys of covered SLA heavy vehicles were seen going from KKS harobour to the Northern Front Defence Line (FDL) areas in Mukamaalai and Naakarkoayil in Vadamaraadchi east day and night on both days.
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RSF: Tamil journalists beaten in detention to extract confessions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2008, 02:26 GMT]
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Wednesday, accused Sri Lanka Police for arresting five Tamil journalists on false information and beating them during detention, and said that the Police action was intended to extract confessions from the detainees. RSF urged Sri Lankan authorities to explain why the journalists are still being held.
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Take back Kachchatheevu: Indian Parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 16:31 GMT]
In a rare display of unity and concern, members of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament), cutting across party lines, urged the Centre to take back the Kachchatheevu island from Sri Lanka in the wake of continued killing and arrests of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lanka Navy. This is the first time when the demand to immediately take back the Kachchatheevu island has been made at the national level.
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Dinamani: Tamil Nadu should shape Center’s policy towards Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 15:02 GMT]
Referring to Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s letter to the Indian Prime Minister which protested Sri Lanka Navy (SLN’s) hostile actions including regular incidents of firing against Tamil Naadu fishermen fishing near Kachchatheevu, Dinamani, a mainstream Tamil Nadu daily, in an editorial on Tuesday assailed India’s insensitivity and Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s meek response to the serious violations of the SLN.
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Tamil civilian abducted in Moneragala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 12:38 GMT]
A Tamil youth Sellarasa Jeyakanthan who was released by the Moneragala Magistrate Tuesday was abducted by unknown persons in a three wheeler on his way home from courts. He was one of those arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted in the area earlier by the government security forces.
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Body with gunshot wounds recovered in Paalaiyoothu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 12:37 GMT]
Body of a Tamil youth was found Wednesday at Paalaiyoothu, a suburb in Trincomalee with gunshot injuries. The victim is said to be a resident of Paalaiyoothu and was reported missing from Tuesday, sources said.
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SLA, LTTE clash in Pa'ndivirichchaan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 12:26 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) confronted Sri Lanka Army (SLA) that attempted to advance from Periya Pa'ndivirichchaan Wednesday at 1:00 a.m. The SLA movement was thwarted following an intensive fighting that lasted for 30 minutes, according to the LTTE Operations Command in Mannaar.
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British parliamentarians call for UK to rein in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 04:30 GMT]
A group of Parliamentarians from all of Britain’s main political parties Tuesday condemned the assassination last week of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP K Sivanesan and, lamenting the recent exit of the international panel overseeing rights abuses probes in Sri Lanka, called on the UK government to take all possible steps to ensure that Government of Sri Lanka plays by accepted international rules.
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LTTE ending use of child soldiers - US

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 04:22 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) “is eliminating the recruitment and use of child soldiers,” the US State Department said this week in its annual human rights report. The LTTE had not complied with its promise to end the practice by end of 2007, but its policy of recruiting one person from each family targeted those 18 years or older, the report said. Sri Lankan government forces were complicit in conscripting children for the TMVP (Karuna Group), “which used coercion, extortion, rape, and murder to force children and adults to join their ranks,” the report said.
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Koaralaippattu North residents not issued NICs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 02:45 GMT]
More than sixty percent of the people residing in the area belonging to 16 Grama Sevaka (GS) divisions under the administration of District Secretariat of Koararalippattu North, Batticaloa, have not received their National Identity Cards (NIC), according to statistics released by the Secretariat. Without the NICs, youths are targets for arrest by Sri Lanka security forces, civil society sources said.
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Shaping India's policy on Sri Lanka: a reader's response

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 01:08 GMT]
"Those who watch the current developments sense a race against time on the part of India in achieving something militarily in Sri Lanka. At times it looks as though it is India’s war," writes a reader from Tamil Nadu in response to the LTTE's statement on Monday. "The Refuse-to-Retire advisors cum analysts of India, whose writings often reek of revenge, sometimes back came out with enticing hints that the target is only the leadership of the LTTE, and thereafter India will protect the Tamils. Have these advisors ever seen in their lifetime India proving its credibility in safeguarding Tamil rights in Sri Lanka or for that matter, at least India winning a diplomatic war with Sri Lanka?"
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CPI responds to LTTE statement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 23:53 GMT]
The government of India should not provide any military help to Sri Lanka, said T. Pandian, the secretary of Tamil Nadu branch of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in an interview to the BBC Thamizhoasai on Tuesday. "The Sri Lankan government is engaging its armed forces against the Tamils in an uncivilised way. In such a situation, receiving the Sri Lankan military chief in India or Indian military officials visiting Sri Lanka to advice them should be avoided. The Sri Lankan government is unjust in every respect. Instead of condemning, it is despicable for Indian government to have any relations with it. Even if there was any before, that should be terminated now."
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Nilaave'li

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 19:47 GMT]
A Tamil youth abducted by unknown persons Monday night was found dead with gunshot injuries at 7th mile post at Nilaave'li village along Trincomalee-Kuchchaveli road Tuesday morning. The victim has been identified as Sivagnanam Kulasingham, 34, and a father of three children, Uppuve'li police said.
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