Missing VVT fisherman's body washed ashore

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2004, 12:40 GMT]
The decomposed body of Mr. S.Karunakaran (43) who was reported missing since Sunday when he fell into the sea while fishing in rough weather was washed ashore Wednesday in Kankesanthurai (KKS) located in the high security zone, Police said.
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Fisherman reported missing in VVT Seas

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2004, 15:30 GMT]
Mr.S.Karunakaran (43), father of four children, and a native of Trincomalee, currently residing in Valvettithurai (VVT) in Jaffna district is reported to have disappeared while fishing in VVT Athikovilady sea area, civil sources said.
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NESOHR chair addresses US event

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2004, 19:15 GMT]
Rev Father Karunaratnam, Chairman of the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR), delivered the key note address at the the Annual General Meeting of Ilankai Tamil Sangam (ITS), USA held in New York Saturday. He urged expatriate Tamils in the US to become politically more active to raise the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils in the US political fora. He described the human rights situation in the NorthEast and the efforts of the NESOHR to address rights issues. Two books related to Tamil struggle were also released at the event.
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PAFFREL, Sarvodaya hold dialogue on electoral reform

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2004, 11:10 GMT]
"Electoral laws in Sri Lanka need to be critically reviewed and reformed if future elections are to be free and fair," said Mr Bandula Kulatunge in a discussion meeting in held in Vavuniya organized by PAFFREL and Sarvodaya attended by several civil organizations, sources said.
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One killed, two injured in Colombo attack

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2004, 17:28 GMT]
A youth was shot dead and two were injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of Tamils suspected to be members of the paramilitary led by renegade Liberation Tigers commander 'Karuna' (Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan) in a predominantly Tamil suburb in Colombo Monday night around 8.30.
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Posters, gunmen threaten journalists in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2004, 09:55 GMT]
Posters appeared in several parts of Batticaloa town Monday attacking the Liberation Tigers and warning local journalists against reporting on the LTTE. The posters are in the name of the paramilitary led by renegade LTTE commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna). Meanwhile, the correspondent of a Tamil paper said that he was threatened by two gunmen Sunday evening around 6.30 in Batticaloa town. The paramilitary, 'Karuna Group' has been accused of murdering senior Tamil journalist Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan in Batticaloa in May this year.
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SLA issues Karuna Group leaflets in Batticaloa town

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2004, 10:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka army troops distributed leaflets condemning the Liberation Tigers and their leadership Wednesday night in Batticaloa town. The leaflets bear the name of the paramilitary led by renegade LTTE commander, Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna).
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Tamil youth shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 October 2004, 16:47 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot dead a Tamil youth Wednesday evening around 7 p.m. in Anpuvallipuram, a Tamil settlement, which is located about three km off the east port town, Police said.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Eravur

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 13:43 GMT]
Mr.Kathirgamathamby Ganeshamoorthy aged 43 was shot dead by unidentified men Tuesday early morning around 3.30 a.m in his house located in the village Iyankerny in Eravur division in Batticaloa district. He was a supporter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the assassins are suspected to be members of Karuna group, Tamil sources said.
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Ex TNA MP shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 12:53 GMT]
Mr.Kingsley Rasanayagam, ex Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa was shot dead Tuesday evening around 6.20 in the eastern town by unidentified gunmen. He resigned his seat soon after he was elected at the April 2004 election to Sri Lanka's Parliament. Mr. Rasanayagam was a close associate of renegade Liberation Tigers commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna). A Policeman who was providing security to him was injured when the gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire, Police said.
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UNP activists demonstrate in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 09:21 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians including hundreds of party cadres and activists joined in what is dubbed as “Kitchen Revolution," Tuesday in Kollupitiya junction, Slave Island junction, Hyde Park Corner, Maradana overhead bridge junction, Technical College junction and Kochchikade St Anthony’s Church junction, sources in Colombo said.
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"Home guards' release, goodwill gesture to SLMM"- Elilan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2004, 18:12 GMT]
"We released the two Sinhala home guards, Sarath Bandara and Chandana Piyasiri, as a goodwill gesture to the efforts taken by the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) for the release of ten cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," said Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE. The Thamileelam courts in Sampoor in Muttur east Saturday around five p.m. released the two home guards on cash and surety bail, legal sources said.


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Two Mankerni civilians wounded in firing

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2004, 10:30 GMT]
Mr.Vethanayagam Suthakaran aged 20 and Mr.Sellathurai Ananthan aged 40, were shot and wounded by unidentified persons Thursday night around 10.30 p.m. at Mankerni, 64 km off Batticaloa town, police sources said.
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Tigers kill two Karuna associates, wound six

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 08:09 GMT]
Two associates of renegade Liberation Tigers' commander, 'Karuna', were killed and six wounded when an LTTE special forces group attacked the house in which they were staying in a village near the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa district border in the early hours of Monday morning around 2 a.m. Police said. LTTE troopers left behind the 'Karuna Group' cadres who were killed and wounded in the pre-dawn attack in Nagastenne, an interior Sinhala village about 68 kilometres northwest of Batticaloa.
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Peace talk delays, diversionary tactic of SL Govt.- Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 00:33 GMT]
Charging that Sri Lanka Government's deliberate delaying of peace talks as a diversionary tactic, Leader of Sri Lanka Opposition and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing a group of political and business leaders on the eve of an official trip to India Friday, warned that if the Sri Lanka Government does not genuinely make efforts to advance the peace process it will lose a valuable opportunity for resolving the ethnic conflict. He said further that unless negotiations are undertaken immediately the economy will be adversely affected.
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U.S Congressman speaks on Sri Lanka violence

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 02:06 GMT]
Republican Iowa Congressman James A. Leach, chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific of the House International Relations Committee, expressed concern about the rising level of political violence in Sri Lanka and called for a resumption of the peace talks between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in a statement before the U.S House of Representatives issued October 7 and distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.
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Sinhala nationalist party faces further crises

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2004, 01:34 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a key Sinhala Buddhist nationalist group in Sri Lanka’s Parliament, said Friday that it had removed the party’s lay general secretary, Mr. Champika Ranawaka. The JHU was plunged in crisis following the resignation of its national organizer earlier in the day. Meanwhile, Mr. Ranawaka said that he was not going to accept the decision by the monks to remove him from the party. The JHU crisis has been further exacerbated by reports that it’s general secretary (clergy), Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero, is supporting the ruling party.


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Shadow war endangering CFA- paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 11:13 GMT]
"Attempts by the Sri Lankan armed forces to use renegade commander Karuna to destabilize the east, have resulted in the continuation of killings that started in Batticaloa and extended to Colombo. Military analysts have characterized this scenario as a shadow war between the LTTE and the Sri Lanka Army. This situation should be brought under control immediately to avoid breakdown of ceasfire," said Thinakkural in its editorial Thursday.
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Leading Buddhist monk MP resigns

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 09:08 GMT]
Ven. Kolannawe Sri Sumangala Thero, MP, the National Organiser of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, resigned his seat in Sri Lanka’s Parliament Friday. Informed sources close to the JHU said long simmering contradictions between the party’s lay leadership and monks who were elected to Parliament led to Ven. Kolannawe Sri Sumangala’s resignation. Mr. Tilak Karunaratna, who led the party when it was known as Sihala Urumaya, left the JHU recently and joined the United National Party earlier this week.


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Suspected Karuna associates kill civilian

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2004, 10:00 GMT]
A civilian was shot dead by gunmen suspected to members of the paramilitary lead by renegade Liberation Tigers commander ‘Karuna’ Sunday night around 8 in Omadiyamadu, an interior village near the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa district border, Police said. The man was identified as Mr. Vannamani Dharmarajah, 40. Valaichenai Police said that they had no further details of the person.


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