Paramilitary threatens Batticaloa Tamil MPs not to vote against budget, abducts family member

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 November 2007, 11:18 GMT]
Armed paramilitary men from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operated Pillayaan Group entered the house of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian T. Kagagasabai and abducted the Batticaloa MP's son-in-law around 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The group has threatened to kill the abductee if Mr. Kanagasabai voted against SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's budget on Monday. The abduction took place at the police-protected house of the parliamentarian at Ka'luthaava'lai. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Police has withdrawn the security provided to all Batticaloa district TNA MPs residences in Batticaloa on Sunday.
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TNA MPs condemn US action on TRO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 18:19 GMT]
"While the Government of Sri Lanka has imposed an effective economic embargo in Vanni, and the sustained bombardments of Sri Lanka Military have made situation difficult for International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) to work amidst the affected local residents in border villages of Tamil areas, United States has made the situation worse for the Tamil people, internally displaced and reeling under economic hardship, by stopping the humanitarian aid from the branches world-wide of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)," said Kajendran, parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance.
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Indian academic doubts IC's understanding of LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 15:14 GMT]
In a recently brought out publication, 'Sri Lanka: Search for Peace', by the New Delhi based Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, Professor P. Sahadevan, chairperson of the Centre for South Asian studies of the Jawaharlal Nehru University questioned the International Community's understanding of the nature and characteristics of the LTTE. The decision to ban the LTTE by the European Union last year, was a political mistake, Sahadevan writes while contending that the IC is the best bet to bring peace in Sri Lanka.
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Two Tamil young women detained in Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 11:20 GMT]
Two Tamil young women were arrested in Anuradhapura, capital town of the north central province in two separate incidents by Sri Lanka police and Sri Lanka Army, on Wednesday and Thursday, are now being detained in the Anuradhapura police station for interrogations by the Terrorist Intelligence Unit, police sources said.
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SLA arrests 22 Tamil youths in Chinnakku’lam IDP Centre

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 08:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) arrested 22 Tamil youths in Chinnakku’lam Centre for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Trincomalee district during a search operation conducted Saturday early morning, according to complaints made by the IDPs to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian K. Thurairatnasingam. The MP has registered complaints with Sea’runuva’ra police station and informed the matter to Vaakarai SLA Commander Berty Fonseka.
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STF recovers claymore mines, arrests youths in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 02:00 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) troopers on patrol recovered two claymore mines Thursday morning in Saththurukkondaan and Kaavaththamunai areas in Batticaloa District and arrested two Tamil youths, STF sources said.
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Eelam and Indian Security: Need for policy alternatives

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 23:33 GMT]
"The history of the past sixty years has brought us to a point that makes separation a necessary condition to renegotiate a union on an equal basis," writes Ampalam in the concluding part of his opinion column. "We live in a time witnessing the European nation states that gave birth to modern nationalism and fought two world wars, involving the entire world for the sake of their nationalistic competition, coming together as European Union. The Asean countries have set a similar agenda. Such wonders became possible when there were no conquests or outside interferences. Perhaps it is much easier to come together and achieve unity if the concerned parties are free to choose," he writes.
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Eelam and Indian Security: Averting a Catastrophe

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 03:30 GMT]
The isolation of the LTTE and active assistance for a military option against it by the International Community, may lead the LTTE and the people backing it with no option other than facing the situation. The repercussions are sure to threaten Indian security for a long time to come. The major responsibility lies with the governments concerned in avoiding a catastrophe to the already suffering masses of Sri Lanka. The gap between the Government of India and the LTTE is a serious impediment in bringing out a balance in the crisis management. A situation of having outraged people on either side of the Palk Strait is unaffordable to Indian security, writes Opinion Columnist Ampalam.
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'Rajapaksa sustains majority votes' - UPFA minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 November 2007, 18:18 GMT]
Addressing a live political discussion programme in the Sri Lankan state-run ITN (Independent Television Network) TV, Thursday night, the Sri Lankan Minister of Education, Susil Premajayantha, assured viewers that the SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa has sustained sufficient number of votes, more than 117, to pass the 2008 budget in the parliament, coming Monday. Mr. Susil Premajayantha, who appeared in the "Thulawa" programme, said that the Rajapaksa government was not dependent on the JVP to pass the budget.
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U.S. freezes TRO funds

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 November 2007, 15:10 GMT]
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday announced that it would freeze the U.S.-held assets of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). A press release, issued by the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka charged that the TRO has acted as a front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Colombo losing political war- Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 16:22 GMT]
In an incisive and pessimistic article in Wednesday's edition in a Colombo daily, Professor Jeyadeva Uyangoda, Head of Department of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo, says, Colombo, with its militaristic approach to finish "LTTE terrorism once and for all," is fast losing the political war, has "heightened alienation of the Tamil citizens from the Sri Lankan state," erased distinction between the State and the regime marking an "authoritarian drift in governance in which liberal democracy is seen as an unaffordable luxury, and even a threat," and self-destructively "mirror-imaging the LTTE particularly in the area of human rights and humanitarian issues."
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SLN restricts Police vehicular access to Colombo harbour

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 15:30 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence (MoD) has issued a directive to the Sri Lankan Police establishment in Colombo to acquire permission from the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) before entering the harbour using Police vehicles.
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U.S. editorial advocates confederation, urges arms embargo against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 12:12 GMT]
Advocating arms embargo against Sri Lanka, Boston Globe in an editorial appeared Wednesday, quoted Human Right Watch's letter to members of the U.S. Congress that "there has been a significant jump in abuses by government forces such as indiscriminate shelling, extrajudicial executions, and forced disappearances," recommended that "arms sales to Sri Lanka be conditioned on that government improving its human rights record and accepting a United Nations monitoring mission to protect civilians caught in the conflict," and pointed out "current US policy contradictions," in U.S. donating military hardware to Sri Lanka Navy while urging Sri Lanka to seek a negotiated peace.
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"Disappearances and killings will continue" - Fonseka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 November 2007, 03:15 GMT]
Disappearances and killings of will continue as long as ‘anti-terrorist’ operations are continuing, Sri Lanka’s Army commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said this week in a interview to British investigative reporters. Asked about human rights abuses in the newly captured Eastern province, the commander replied: “This area is not a normal area. So people getting killed and some people going missing will happen as far as the anti-terrorist operations are continuing.”
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Bodies of two youths handed over to Mannaar hospital

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 November 2007, 11:53 GMT]
Mannaar Police Tuesday afternoon handed over bodies of two youths with gunshot injuries recovered at Chirunaavatku'lam area in Mannaar division in search operation by the Sri Lankan armed forces after a reported clash between the Sri Lanka Army and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday dawn around 4:00 a.m.
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Dambulla court releases 22 Tamil youths

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 November 2007, 11:51 GMT]
The Dambulla Magistrate Monday released 22 Tamil youths who were arrested on November 6 when they failed to prove their identity with valid government documents. The Magistrate warned them that they should be armed in future with necessary documents to prove their identity.
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SC fixes inquiry into Palaali HSZ case filed by farmers

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 November 2007, 17:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Monday fixed the inquiry for March 10 next year into the fundamental rights violation petition filed by a group of farmers seeking the court to make an order allowing them to cultivate their traditional paddy lands now being occupied by the Sri Lanka Army in the name of high security zone in Jaffna district since 1990, legal sources said.
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TamilNadu Police arrests Vaiko, Nedumaran in Chennai

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 November 2007, 16:03 GMT]
Tamil Nadu police arrested Pazha Nedumaaran, the leader of Tamil Nationalist Movement (TMM), Vaiko, the leader of Marumalardchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (MDMK) and several other leaders of parties supporting the Eelam Tamils, including Indian National League, Monday in Chennai when they led a demonstration march condemning Sri Lanka Government (GoSL) for assassinating Brigadier S. P. Tamilchelvan, the Political Head of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in an aerial bombing on November 02. They were arrested for defying a ban imposed by the Tamil Nadu Government on the rally.
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SLA hands over 5 bodies in Vavuniya, Muslim man shot dead

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 November 2007, 20:18 GMT]
Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) handed over five bodies Sunday morning to Vavuniyaa General hospital claiming them to be Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres, killed in an attack at Vavuniyaa SLA Front Defence Lines, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Tamil youth shot dead in Seruvila

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 November 2007, 16:23 GMT]
Unidentified armed men Friday night shot dead a Tamil youth, Krishnapillai Amaladas, 25, at Thanganagar located in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled Seruvila division, down south of Trincomalee district. His body was handed over to the Serunuwara government hospital for post-mortem and inquest, Serunuwara police sources said.
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