Police instructs Tamils in Moneragala to register details

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2007, 16:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Police has instructed all Tamil residents above the age of ten in estates Muppanavalli, Maragala, Kumarathola and Ulaanthawa in Moneragala district to register themselves with their photographs with the respective police stations immediately. Those who fail to comply with the directive would be punished, the police has warned, residents said.
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Sri Lanka ranked third in murders of journalists

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 16:49 GMT]
Press Emblem Campaign, an independent media watchdog based in Geneva, in a press release issued Monday said, Sri Lanka ranked third worldwide in number of journalists killed in 2007 in line of duty, behind Iraq and Somalia. "Sri Lanka ranks third, seven journalists killed this year against four last year due to the intensity of the civil war," the press release said.
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Withdraw Indian defence delegation to SL: Thirumavalavan, Vaiko

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 15:39 GMT]
The Indian Government should revive the stalled peace talks in the island instead of extending defence cooperation to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), said Thol. Thirumavalavan, General Secretary of the Tamilnadu-based Viduthalai Chiruthhaika'l Kadchi (VCK, the Liberation Panthers party) during a press meet in Chennai, Monday that was reported in sections of the Indian media. Meanwhile, Vaiko, leader of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) wrote a letter to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday urging him "to stop forthwith any form of military assistance or guidance to Sri Lanka."
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5 killed in attack on SLA outpost in Vavuniyaa - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 09:54 GMT]
Liberation Tigers on Tuesday said they attacked an outpost of the Sri Lankan forces at Veerapuram in Vavuniyaa at 1:30 a.m., killing five members of the armed forces of Sri Lanka. Tigers have seized a Light Machine Gun (LMG), a 40 mm Grenade Launcher and ammunitons, according to a Tiger military situation report issued to media.
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English proficiency vital for success in global world: LTTE Political Head

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 20:52 GMT]
"Eelam Tamils have excelled in military science and geo-political affairs at an International level. For our people to acquire skills and knowlege to succeed at the global level, opportunity and facilities to attain high levels of proficiency in English is critical," said B. Nadesan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in his commencement address at the English Language College (ELC) in Ki'linochchi, on Saturday. The ELC, a Tamils' Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)-funded college, was established on September 13, 2004 to produce educators to fulfill the shortage of competent of English teachers in the NorthEast.
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Elders' Home inaugurated in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 19:36 GMT]
In a simple yet emotionally-charged ceremony of significance, Mathivathani Pirapaharan, wife of LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan, inaugurated the new hostel block of the Anpuchchoalai Elders' Home in Ki'linochchi A'riviyal Nakar this Sunday. In one of her rare public appearances, she cut the ribbon and declared open the new wing of the Elders' Home. The event was well-attended by key Tamil Tiger functionaries.
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Inter-religious summit calls for power-sharing constitutional framework in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 17:06 GMT]
Religious leaders from Sri Lanka and a multi-religious delegation from six countries of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, who met in Jaffna last Wednesday and Thursday, said the decision to make Jaffna the location of the summit was to express solidarity with all those who continue to live in situations of violence and despair due to the conflict. "We saw the massive destruction of infrastructure and housing that occurred in previous phases of fighting, the loss of villages and fertile agricultural lands to High Security Zones, and the fear and insecurity in the lives of the people, especially youth, which is dehumanizing to all those affected."
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Moral support to Tigers not a crime –Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 16:49 GMT]
Extending moral support to the Liberation Tigers, on seeing the Tamils' sufferings in Sri Lanka was not a crime in any way, said Thol. Thirumavalavan, General Secretary of the Tamilnadu-based Viduthalai Chiruthhaika'l Kadchi (VCK, the Liberation Panthers party) according to news reports published in The New Indian Express, Monday. He added that providing moral support to the Tamil Tigers was not an offence even in countries like the UK, the US and Canada, where the organization is banned. "Tamils in these countries are conducting rallies, unveiling Pirapaharan's portrait and also running a radio service in their favour," he said.
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Flooding worsens IDPs' woes in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2007, 16:22 GMT]
Temporary structures located at Killiveddy and Iruthayapuram in Moothoor division sheltering displaced Tamil families have been inundated with floodwater due to heavy rain with gale force winds in Trincomalee district since Sunday. Families are now living with great difficulties under leaking roofs without enough food and other essential needs, civil sources said.
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VoT will rebounce from attack -Thamizhanpan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 December 2007, 22:43 GMT]
“Belligerent statements by close associates of Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa, threats against media personnel, and press censorship in the South, forewarned us of a possible attack on our media facilities. Fortunately, we took precautions against this, and our successful completion of the Heroes day program, inspite of Colombo violating international laws bombing our facility, is a testimony to the resilience of our staff,” said Thamizhanpan, director of Voice of Tigers, LTTE’s official broadcasting corporation, in an interview with a Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation, Tuesday.
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Colombo's anti-terror laws assist killings, abductions, torture- MRG

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 19:32 GMT]
Minority Rights Groups International (MRG), an accredited non Governmental organization with the United Nations, in a report released Thursday said, after the promulgation of broad anti-terror laws in December 2006, Sri Lanka "has not hesitated to use these laws, and the country's human rights situation deteriorated. Under a general climate of impunity, 2007 has largely been marked by intense warfare, mass displacement, killings, abductions and torture in Sri Lanka."
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Eelaventhan loses membership in SL parliament

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 18:55 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) national list parliamentarian M.K. Eelaventhan was not allowed to take part in the third voting of the 2008 Budget in the Sri Lankan parliament Friday. Sergeant At Arms at the Sri Lankan parliament asked the senior Tamil MP to leave the parliament as he had lost his membership in the House due to his nonattendance for more than three months, parliamentary sources said.
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Paramilitary releases Batticaloa TNA MPs relatives, secretary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 18:46 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army operated paramilitary Pillayan Group Saturday night released P. Sriskandaseya, the brother of Batticaloa Tamil National Alliance MP P. Ariyanethran, Arunasalam Sivapalan, the nephew-in-law of parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy and Ira. Nagalingam, the secretary of the parliamentarian K. Thangeswari.
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India armed rival groups as Tigers disarmed – IPKF General

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 18:39 GMT]
Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, ordered an Indian General to kill LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan in cold blood when the latter attended a meeting under a white flag in September 1987. In a new book, the then chief of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), Major General (retd.) Harkirat Singh, says he refused to carry out the order as “good soldiers do not shoot an adversary in the back.” He also says that as the Tigers began disarming in 1987, but India’s intelligence service, RAW, on Rajiv Gandhi’s orders, began arming anti-LTTE militant groups, triggering inter-Tamil violence.
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Court directs IGP to expedite release of Tamil detainees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 13:19 GMT]
The Supreme Court Friday directed the Inspector General of Police to take immediate steps to release all Tamil civilians detained in police stations and Boosa detention centre found not involved in any crime after inquiry and to produce others in courts. The three-member bench of the Supreme Court chaired by Chief Justice Sarath Silva issued this directive in a Fundamental Rights Violation petition filed by the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) against the mass arrest of Tamil civilians soon after the Nugegoda bomb blast, legal sources in Colombo said.
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FARC, PFLP 'not terrorists', Danish judges rule

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 05:09 GMT]
Seven Danes who sold T-shirts with the logos of Colombian and Palestinian militants have been acquitted of supporting terrorist groups, the BBC reported Thursday. They had pledged five Euros from each sale to the FARC in Colombia or the PFLP, both of which are classified as terrorist groups by the European Union. But Danish judges ruled that while the groups took part in murders and kidnappings, they were not guilty of terrorism. The company said it would seek the return of its confiscated funds so that it could send the money to a FARC radio station and Palestinian poster shop.
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SLA soldier killed, 11 wounded in artillery attack in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 04:43 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier was killed and 11 troopers were seriously wounded Friday night when artillery shells fired by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) hit a Forward Defence Line post of the SLA at Nochchikku'lam located in Mannaar Town division around 8:45 p.m., Police said.
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14-year old missing, 3 family men seek protection with HRC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2007, 02:56 GMT]
Koa’ndaavil Orphanage authorities made representation in Jaffna Courts Friday that a 14-year-old boy from their institution had gone missing since 6 December. Meanwhile, three family men from various places in Jaffna peninsula sought protection with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries.
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Eelam demand came well before LTTE - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 December 2007, 16:41 GMT]
The international community’s continued insistence on reinforcing the state in Sri Lanka is intensifying the cycle of Sinhala oppression and, thus, Tamil resistance, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week in an editorial subtitled “the international community mistakenly hopes war [against the LTTE] will bring peace to Sri Lanka.” Pointing out that that Tamil demand for Eelam emerged in the seventies through the TULF, well before the LTTE’s armed struggle escalated, the paper said the Tamils’ “insistence on Eelam is not some romantic whim, but a longstanding expression of rejection of Sinhala rule.”
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Stung by rights criticism, Sri Lanka summons US, UK, EU and other ambassadors

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 December 2007, 16:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's militaristic government said Friday it had hauled in the envoys of countries calling for UN human rights monitoring of the island's dirty war against the Tamil Tigers, AFP reported. The ambassadors of the United States, the European Union, France, Korea and Sweden were summoned for a dressing down by foreign ministry secretary Palitha Kohona, AFP quoted the ministry as saying. Diplomats from Canada and the Netherlands will also be summoned Friday, the ministry said, adding a complaint over remarks made at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week will be forwarded to New Zealand's Delhi-based envoy.
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