Unfair promotion irks Sri Lanka military intelligence chief

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 August 2004, 02:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka army scources in Colombo Saturday dismissed speculation that head of military intelligence, Brigadier Kapila Hendawitharana, had submitted his retirement papers to army commander Lt. Gen. Shantha Kottegoda over the alleged covert support the spy chief had provided to renegade LTTE commander 'Karuna'. Brigadier Hendawitharana had sent in his retirement papers after his due promotion had been overlooked in favour of a junior who has been given a field promotion, the sources said.
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Calamity in Sri Lanka Parliament following assault attempt on Tamil MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 August 2004, 10:56 GMT]
Proceedings of Sri Lanka's Parliament were suspended Thursday after a ruling party MP triggered pandemonium in the house by attempting to assault Tamil National Alliance MP Mr. M. K Sivajilingam. Ruling party MP Mr. Mervyn de Silva rushed to assault the TNA parliamentarian who had walked up to the speaker's chair urging him to expunge from Hansard a statement by tourism minister Mr. Anura Bandaranaike that Mr. Sivajilingam was elected "by fluke and by accident".
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Man with alleged link to Karuna Group killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 August 2004, 05:22 GMT]
Mr.Kiruparatnam Vimalethiran, 32, believed to be a Sri Lanka military intelligence informant with links to the paramilitary 'Karuna Group' was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Mavadivembu, 22 kilometres north of Batticaloa Tuesday night. Police in the eastern town said Vimalenthiran was a petty criminal.
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Memorial for VVT massacre opened

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 August 2004, 19:15 GMT]
"Our leadership and our people have demonstrated that it will not be possible by any power to suppress our freedom struggle", said Mr C.Ilamparithi, Jaffna district Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political head speaking at the Valvettithurai massacre memorial meeting held Monday evening.
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BBC's Harrison leaves

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 August 2004, 00:04 GMT]
Frances Harrison, BBC's Colombo correspondent for the past four years and who is leaving Sri Lanka to her new assignment in Tehran, pointed out in one of her last reports filed that she was troubled by the hardships the family of a murdered Jaffna journalist went through: "As I leave Sri Lanka I have on my mind a journalist called Nimalarajan Mylvaganam. He worked for the BBC in the northern city of Jaffna," she said, adding that Nimalarajan's family had become part of her life during the first eighteen months of her assignement in Sri Lanka.
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HR Group meets to finalize Charter

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 August 2004, 12:49 GMT]
Northeast Secretariat of Human Rights (NESOHR), formed on the 9 July to monitor the human rights violations and implement actions to strengthen the human rights in the NorthEast, held its second meeting Sunday with Head of LTTE Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan attending, to finalize NESOHR' charter, LTTE's Peace Secretariat website said.
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Sri Lanka in precarious political uncertainty- Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2004, 18:44 GMT]
Warning that extended stalemate between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers may be leading Sri Lanka in a slippery slope towards war, Professor Uyangoda, in a political analysis column in Friday's Daily Mirror, says that "without partnership building premised on mutual trust and respect, there is no way for the UPFA [United Peoples Freedom Alliance] and the LTTE to return to the negotiation table in the foreseeable future."
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"LTTE will emerge victorious if SL Government launches war"- Ilamparithi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2004, 16:59 GMT]
"We are certain of victory if the Sri Lanka Government launches a war to occupy our traditional homeland," said Mr.C.Ilamparithi, Jaffna district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) addressing "Confluence (Sangamam)" event of the Jaffna District Tamil Resurgence Forum (JDTRF) held in Nelliyady, a residential town 25km northwest of Jaffna, Saturday.
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Karuna associate remanded in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2004, 02:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka army in Batticaloa Friday arrested a youth who identified himself as an associate of renegade LTTE commander 'Karuna'. The SLA, which found a 9 mm pistol in the youth's possession, handed him over to the Eravur Police. Batticaloa magistrate remanded him until 13 August later on Friday.
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Anura blames UNP for planting Karuna story

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2004, 00:44 GMT]
Minister and Sri Lanka President’s Advisor Mr.Anura Bandaranaike today castigated former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe for attempting to make him earn the wrath of the Liberation Tigers by planting a concocted story in Colombo media that he transported LTTE renegade leader Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna) to Singapore.


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Another 'Karuna' associate shot dead in Welikanda

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 July 2004, 17:26 GMT]
A person identified as an associate the renegade LTTE commander V. Muralitharan alias Karuna, was shot dead Friday in the general area of Welikanda, 70 kilometres northwest of Batticaloa.
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RSF urges Norway to press for journalists' safety in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2004, 11:07 GMT]
Reporters Without Borders Thursday urged Norway to press Sri Lankan authorities to fight impunity with which journalists are attacked in the island, particularly on its east coast. ''Since the killing of a correspondent in Batticaloa region at the end of May, without any condemnation from a single minister, two other journalists have been forced to flee the area and take refuge in the capital'', RSF said.
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New Killings Threaten Ceasefire- HRW

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2004, 03:01 GMT]
Human Rights Watch, a U.S. based independent nongovernmental organization said in a media release Wednesday, "A spate of killings between factions of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) threatens Sri Lanka’s ceasefire...More than a dozen people have been murdered over the last month in apparently politically motivated killings attributed either to the LTTE or a faction led by the LTTE’s former eastern commander, Colonel Karuna, who broke away from the LTTE in March 2004."
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SLA commander ordered to appear in Jaffna courts

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2004, 00:48 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate Mr.R.T.Viknarajah Wednesday instructed his Registrar to issue notice on the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to appear in court on September 7 when it was brought to the notice of the court that the accused military officials in three Habeas Corpus (HC) applications failed to attend inquiry without reasons, legal sources said.


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Norway says peace hopes at new low

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 July 2004, 18:02 GMT]
Hopes that the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers would soon restart peace talks plunged Wednesday after a top Norwegian envoy said there is “little reason for optimism” and warned of a resumption of the protracted ethnic conflict.
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Helgesen meets SLMC leader

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 2004, 16:07 GMT]
Mr. Vidar Helgessen, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister is reported to have told Mr.Rauff Hakim, Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Tuesday that renegade Karuna's affair has become a stumbling block in taking forward the stalled peace talks between the Government Of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to SLMC sources.


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Dissidents within Karuna group killed associates –LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 July 2004, 15:01 GMT]
In a media release Sunday, the Liberation Tigers said that dissidents within the renegade Karuna group killed seven associates of Mr. Vinyagamoorthy Muraleetharan (“Karuna”) because of differences within the group. The dissidents then escaped and surrendered to the Tigers in the Amparai district on Sunday morning, the release said.
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Sri Lanka Police find eight dead in safe house

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 July 2004, 07:46 GMT]
Sr Lanka Police Sunday afternoon found eight bodies of persons believed to be close associates of renegade LTTE commander Karuna in a safe house in the interior of Kottawa, an outer suburb of Colombo. The house in Kristal Terrace, Malabe Road, Kottawa, Pannipittiya, was rented by the persons believed to be key Karuna associates two weeks ago residents said. A car belonging to the dead men was parked in front of the house, journalists said.
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Karuna associates said killed in Colombo attack

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 July 2004, 02:45 GMT]
More than six key associates of the renegade LTTE commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna) were killed in a pre-dawn attack on their safe house in the outskirts of Colombo Sunday, well informed sources in the eastern town of Batticaloa said. However, a senior Police officer in Colombo denied knowledge of any such attack in the city. But journalists from local and foreign media said they located the safe house that was attacked in the general area of Kottawa, an outer suburb of Colombo, around noon.
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Karuna meets with Sri Lankan ministers, US officials- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 July 2004, 00:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s tourism minister and brother of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mr. Anura Bandaranaike, escorted the renegade LTTE commander, Karuna, to Singapore to address US officials on combating terrorism, The Sunday Leader reported this week, quoting government sources. Another government minister and a close confidante of President Kumaratunga, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, is to meet with Karuna, the paper also said.
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