Heavy fighting in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:59 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in Mu'l'likku'lam area in Mannaar Thursday morning around 6:30 a.m. The fighting continued throughout the evening. Seven SLA soldiers wounded in LTTE artillery fire were rushed to Anuradhapura hospital, medical sources said.
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3 STF commandos killed in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:44 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) ambushed a Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) outpost in Bakmitiyawa in Ampaa'rai district Thursday around 5:00 p.m., killing 3 STF commandos stationed at the post, LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said.
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Sri Lanka's War Secretariat?

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 13:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), in a 2000-word press release issued Thursday, took exceptions to the labelling of SCOPP as "the government’s War Secretariat," by Prof. Uyangoda, and as "Secretariat for Coordinating the War Process" by Sunday Times which highlighted SCOPP's "angrily incessant verbosity," in its story. Head of SCOPP adds, "our counterpart in Kilinochchi had shown itself indeed a War Secretariat, in celebrating the Black Tigers who had attacked the airbase at Anuradhapura," drawing moral equivalence between the 'behavior' of the two Secretatriats as part of SCOPP's rationale for defending Sri Lanka's rights abuses, among other accusations.
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Sri Lankan minister announces cabinet decision to proscribe TRO

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 November 2007, 04:49 GMT]
Leader of the House, and Health Minister in the ruling United People Alliance (UPFA) government of Sri Lanka, Nimal Siripala de Silva, said Thursday morning that a cabinet decision has been taken Wednesday to proscribe the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Sri Lanka, parliamentary sources in Colombo said. Mr. Nimal Sripala de Silva was responding to a question raised in the parliament by Wimal Weerawansa, the propaganda secretary of the JVP, on the efforts taken by the Sri Lankan government on restricting the activities of International NGOs inside Liberation Tigers controlled areas.
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Sinhala doctors unlikely to accept Jaffna vacancies- Director

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 18:59 GMT]
Although Sri Lanka Health Ministry has appointed 69 newly qualified doctors to Jaffna peninsula to fill the urgent shortage of doctors, the success of this effort is likely to be limited as more than 50 are Sinhalese, and due to the extraordinary situation prevailing in Jaffna peninsula many will decline to accept their positions, Dr. A. Ketheeswaran, Director of Public Health Service (DPH) Jaffna said. Further 24 of the new appointees are assigned to positions in the divisional hospitals, and DPH is finding it difficult to provide proper residential facilities, the director added.
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Tiger angle will be implied in Casablanca remake, says director

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 13:23 GMT]
In the US National Public Radio (NPR), "The World" program interview Tuesday in Trivandram, Kerala, director Rajeev Nath tells David Cohen that in the South Indian remake of the Oscar winning romantic classic "Casablanca" from 1942, in Malayalam retitled "Ezham Mudra," the Liberation Tigers' angle will be implied, not explicit. He says, "I am not touching their politics. I am not saying which is right or which is wrong." Ezham Mudra is expected to hit Indian theaters next spring.
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SLA, LTTE clash in Vavuniyaa-Mannaar border

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 10:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) clashed Wednesday morning around 8:00 a.m. in Thampanai area in Mannaar-Vavuniyaa border where the SLA launched a ground offensive, according to the military spokesman of the LTTE, Irasiah Ilanthirayan.
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Eelaventhan meets Harper, U.S. officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 13:32 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr Eelaventhan, currently visiting Canada and United States met with Canada's ruling Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and politicians from other parties during the early part of November, and also met with United States State Department officials on the 14th of November, briefing them on the worsening humanitarian conditions in Tamil areas of North East of Sri Lanka, and the deteriorating ground situation that is leading towards large scale confrontation between Sri Lanka Security forces and Liberation Tigers.
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SLA, SLN conduct war exercise in northern seas

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 12:17 GMT]
Thousand of troops of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) together with a number of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) shallow water vessels conducted a three hour war rehearsal Monday morning beginning at 6:00a.m. in Araali, Valigaamam, sources in Jaffna said.
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Thileepan statue destroyed in Nalloor, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 05:23 GMT]
A gang of unidentified men went on rampage Sunday night, during the curfew hours, demolishing the statue of Lt. Col. Thileepan (Rasiah Parthipan) located behind the historic Nalloor Kanthaswamy Koayil on Point Pedro Nalloor road, sources in Jaffna said.
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Sajitharan released, family transported to Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 13:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Monday, after the budget voting, secured the release of S. Sajitharan, the son-in-law of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Batticaloa district, who had been abducted by the paramilitary Pillayaan Group. Mr. Sajitharan and the remaining members of the family of the TNA parliamentarian T. Kangasabai were transported from Batticaloa to Colombo and handed over to the MP, according to the TNA sources in Colombo. Mr. Kanagasabai, warned by the paramilitary operative Pillayaan not to vote against the budget, was not present in the parliament during the final voting on Sri Lankan budget Monday.
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UPFA budget passed with 16 majority votes

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 11:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Monday evening adopted the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) budget for 2008, the third budget of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, with a majority of 16 votes. 118 members voted for the budget and 102 voted against, parliamentary sources said.
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Uthayan staffer, family man feared abducted in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 11:13 GMT]
A proof-reader of Uthayan Tamil daily in Jaffna is feared abducted Friday morning on his way home after night duty at Uthayan office, his parents complained at Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office. Meanwhile, a family man from Thumpa’lai, Point Pedro in Vadamaraadchi has gone missing since Friday and a 26-year old youth from Jaffna Monday sought protection to his life with HRC Jaffna due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and SLA-backed paramilitaries, sources in Jaffna said.
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17 Tamil civilians arrested in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 10:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Police in a cordon and search operation conducted Saturday from dawn to dusk in four Tamil villages in Puththa'lam district took 17 Tamil residents into custody. Four of them are still being detained at Munthal police station and being subjected to interrogation by the Terrorist Intelligence Division as they failed to prove their identity and valid reason for their stay in the location.
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Colombo court releases Tamil youth arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 07:24 GMT]
A Tamil youth arrested by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army stationed in Kodikaamam on June 27 last year was released by the Colombo Chief Magistrate Friday after 16 months in remand under the Emergency Regulations.
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TNA seeks GoSL response on abduction before budget voting

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 November 2007, 06:31 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan Monday morning urged the Speaker in Sri Lankan Parliament to prevail upon the Government of Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to secure the release of S. Sajitharan, the abducted son-in-law of Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian T. Kanagasabai, enabling the MP and other Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarians to vote on the Budget. Three of four Batticaloa district parliamentarians of the TNA were not present in the parliament Monday morning following threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operated paramilitary, Pillayaan Group.
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TRO denies U.S. accusations, says proscription will harm Tamil people

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 20:23 GMT]
Expressing dismay over U.S. Department of Treasury's action against the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), and reiterating that TRO is NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," the TRO, in a press release issued Sunday, stated categorically that "all funds received are utilized according to the wishes of the donor, in line with the stated mission of TRO, to assist the tsunami and war affected populations of the NorthEast. None of these funds are, or have ever been found to have been, misappropriated for use by any other organization or used inappropriately by TRO itself."
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Tamil prisoners end fast in Batticaloa prison

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 17:36 GMT]
28 Tamil prisoners who began a protest fast Saturday morning by climbing on the roof of Batticaloa prison and demanding immediate release, ended the protest Sunday around 7:30 p.m, after talks held with the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) officials who met the protestors in Batticaloa prison, prison officials said.
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TNA sends SOS to foreign diplomats

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 16:00 GMT]
The Parliamentary Group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has urged the foreign diplomats in Colombo, including the U.S. Embassy, the British High Commission, the Indian High Commission, the Embassy of Japan and the Embassy of Norway, Sunday evening to persuade the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to secure the timely release of the family member of the Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian T. Kanagasabai, abducted by the paramilitary Sunday in Batticaloa, and to ensure a threat-free environment for the Tamil parliamentarians in exercising the democratic rights of the people they represent in the Sri Lankan parliament.
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Trader shot dead, Hindu priest abducted, tortured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 12:26 GMT]
A Tamil business man was shot and killed Saturday morning by unidentified armed men, while a Hindu priest, abducted Friday by armed men, was severely tortured, and is fighting for his life, civilian sources said.
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