Execution-style killings of students in Vavuniya, a war crime - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 November 2006, 09:15 GMT]
The Parliamentary Group of the Tamil National Alliance, condemning the execution style killing of four students of Agricultural Farm School by the Sri Lanka Army Saturday morning in Vavuniya where ten students including six girls were also wounded, said it was a serious war crime to be added to a long list of war crimes that targeted innocent Tamil civilians in NorthEast, the area of historical habitat of the Tamil people. Four key members of the the TNA, 2 MPs, an ex-MP and a to-be-nominated MP, have been assassinated during the past 2 years. The alliance consists 22 members of Parliament of the 23 Tamil members elected from the NorthEast.
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SLA, LTTE exchange mortar fire in Vavunathivu, Kommathurai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 November 2006, 07:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) exchanged mortar fire in Vavunathivu, 5 km southwest of Batticaloa town and Kommathurai and Black Bridge, 15 km northwest of Batticaloa Saturday evening and night. Details of civilian casualties or LTTE casualties were not available. 4 SLA soldiers were wounded and admitted to Polonnaruwa hospital. Meanwhile, a dead body was handed over to Valaichenai hospital by the SLA soldiers Saturday, medical sources said.
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Indian Foreign Secretary to visit Colombo Wednesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 November 2006, 03:27 GMT]
Mr.Shiv Shankar Menon, India's Foreign Secretary, is scheduled to arrive in Colombo on November 22 to hand over a special message from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse before the latter visits New Delhi, media sources in Colombo said. Mr.Shiv Shankar Menon is to meet Mahinda Rajapakse on 23 November.
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Army vows not to let food into Vaharai, says will capture region

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 November 2006, 19:41 GMT]
Despite a personal assurance given Thursday by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to Tamil parliamentarians that emergency food supplies would be permitted to reach tens of thousands of Tamil refugees facing starvation in LTTE-controlled areas, Sri Lanka Army at the border turned back convoys on Friday and Saturday. Saturday’s returning convoy was stopped by suspected paramilitary men and subsequently looted by refugees in government controlled areas. A local Army officier, has told civil officials not to send any more convoys, vowing the Army would not allow food into LTTE-controlled areas under any circumstances and saying the area would be captured soon.
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Two abducted youths found dead with cut wounds in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 November 2006, 16:46 GMT]
Two Tamil youths from Thirunelvely and Neervely areas in Jaffna, abducted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who arrived at the victims' houses in Buffel armored vehicles Friday night were found dead Saturday morning with severe cut wounds inflicted with a sharp instrument, civil sources in Jaffna said.
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Indian Premier writes to Vaiko: Colombo must meet legitimate Tamil rights through negotiations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 November 2006, 12:38 GMT]
Indian Prime Minisiter Dr. Manmohan Singh has written to Mr. Vaiko, the General Secretary of MDMK in Tamil Nadu state of India, sharing his concerns about the closure of A-9 highway and the loss of many innocent lives, mainly Tamils, including women and children, stating that it was a matter of "utmost concern and sorrow." India would reiterate to Colombo that it must find a political solution through negotiations and meet the genuine and legitimate rights of the Tamils, rather than adopt tactics that lead to the death of innocent people, Dr. Manhoman Singh said, adding that India has taken great care not to provide Sri Lanka with lethal hardware that could be used against Tamils.
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SLA massacres students, 5 killed, 8 wounded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 November 2006, 07:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers manning a checkpost close to Thandikulam Agriculture Farm School in Vavuniya entered the school premises, lined up the uniformed hostel students who were engaged in practicals and shot at them, killing four students, 3 Tamil and a Muslim, and wounding nine. The troopers manning a checkpost, at Soya Lane, 100 meters away from the school, stormed the premises after a Claymore blast killed five soldiers opposite the school around 9:45 a.m. Saturday. Fellow students said the troopers shot at them while they were pleading they were innocent students. A critically wounded student succumbed to his wounds at Anuradhapura hospital.
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Sri Lanka Navy, Sea Tigers clash in Mannar seas

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 November 2006, 04:26 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Navy Inshore Patrol Crafts were sunk and a third IPC vessel was damaged in a sea battle that broke out in the seas off Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled Vidathalthivu, 20 km north of Mannar, Saturday at 6:50 a.m., LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said. Meanwhile, sources in Mannar said civilians were fleeing Talaimannar as the battle raged off Talaimannar two hours later around 8:30 a.m.
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Diaspora Tamil elected councillor in Markham, Canada

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 November 2006, 00:57 GMT]
Logan Kanapathi, a Tamil Canadian has been elected Markham City Councillor in Canada’s Ontario wide Municipal Council elections held last Monday November 13, 2006. Toronto Star described his victory as “a new face for a new era." “Kanapathi achieved what no other Tamil Canadian had ever done: get elected to public office,” the paper said.
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Tamil parliamentarian in Colombo faces death threats

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 November 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Mano Ganesan, Western Province People's Front parliamentarian and an active member of the Civil Monitoring Committee on Abductions, Extrajudicial and Arbitrary Killings, Thursday said that he has been facing threat to his life. Mr. Mano Ganesan, is one of organisors of the monitoring committee, with the slain Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj.
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‘Everything on table, equal respect for all’ needed for peace - Murphy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 15:55 GMT]
Peace talks can succeed only if “everything is on the table and there is respect for all points of view,” Britain’s former Northern Ireland Minister said Thursday after meeting Tamil Tiger officials. Saying there is a “huge comparison” between the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka, Mr. Murphy said: “no one can win this kind of war. … we have the same message for the Sri Lankan government as the LTTE: keep searching for a solution, ensure the ceasefire agreement is one of integrity, renounce violence and ensure there is a proper look at everything that can bring peace.”
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Death Due To Starvation - first case reported in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 14:45 GMT]
The first reported 'death due to starvation' in the Jaffna peninsula occured Wednesday morning at Puloly in Pt. Pedro in Vadamardchi. The body of the dead man was recovered by his neighbours Wednesday evening and handed to Manthihai Hospital in Pt. Pedro through the Grama Sevaka of the area, Pt. Pedro sources said. Dr. C. S.Kathiravetpillai, the District Medical Officer of Health (DMH) pronounced the cause of death as 'death due to starvation'.


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"Intervene and avert major humanitarian crisis in Vaharai," TRO urges International Community

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 14:32 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) on Thursday appealed to the International Humanitarian Community to intervene adn avert a major humanitarian crisis in Vaharai. No food convoy has passed through the Pannichankerni Bridge to Vaharai since 5th November which has resulted in an acute food shortage. ICRC, World Food Program (WFP) and other international NGOs have not been allowed to provide emergency food provision, non food relief items (NFRI) and shelter materials. The International Community must pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to allow access for humanitarian agencies and food supplies, the TRO said.
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Children in Vaharai starving for 48 hours - Jeyanandamoorthy MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 13:13 GMT]
The children in Vaharai have been starving for 48 hours as no humanitarian supply has reached the region since November 05, Tamil National Alliance MP S. Jeyanandamoorthy who met Sri Lankan President with fellow TNA parliamentarians said Thursday evening. "Despite the fresh assurances from President of opening Valaichenai Vaharai Road at Mankerni entry point by Thursday noon, the road remains closed," the MP who returned from the parliament where TNA MPs staged a silent protest, told media. Meanwhile civil officials in Vaharai said that all food supplies including the latest emergency rice supplies from the Tigers, had dwindled.
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Operation USA: GoSL ‘blocking aid’ to Jaffna, Vaharai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 05:27 GMT]
Operation USA, a large American NGO, says it is “collecting funds and pushing the US Government and the UN to take firm action to help re-open humanitarian corridors” in Sri Lanka. Demanding access to internally displaced people (IDPs), the NGO said “a contributing factor to the current tension between the Sinhalese and Tamils is the inequitable distribution of tsunami relief aid by the Government of Sri Lanka.”
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Kilinochchi remembers Raviraj

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 00:07 GMT]
"Nadaraja Raviraj went to the doorsteps of his people, observed their living conditions, understood the daily struggle of our people, and exposed the atrocities and human rights violations committed against the Tamil people by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). His activities were a threat to the extremists who have succeeded in taking his life," said C. Ilamparithi, the Jaffna political head of Liberation Tigers, Wednesday in an event held to remember the slain parliamentarian, held at Kilinochchi Cultural Hall, 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, sources in Kilinochichi said.
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Collegues vow to carry on policies of slain MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 18:31 GMT]
Speaking in the presence of large number of civilians gathered in Jaffna on Wednesday to pay their last respects to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Late Raviraj Nadaraj, fellow parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran accused an armed group linked to Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) as directly responsible for the killing of Raviraj,sources in Jaffna said.
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NorthEast mourns for Raviraj

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 16:51 GMT]
The people of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaithivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Amparai and Trincomalee districts observed hartal (general shut down) Wednesday mourning the loss of Raviraj, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian allegedly assassinated by Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadres operating with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA). The shut down was organized to condemn Raviraj's assassination and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artilery fire killing of nearly forty-two Tamil civilians including children in Vaharai in Batticaloa.
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SLMM backs UN envoy on SL troops’ child conscription

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 15:05 GMT]
International monitors overseeing Sri Lanka’s shaky truce this week endorsed a UN envoy’s findings that government security forces were conscripting children for their paramilitary allies against the Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) says it also possesses evidence of military complicity.
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Jaffna bids farewell to slain MP, relatives reveal assassination attempt

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 13:17 GMT]
A key EPDP paramilitary operative with a handgun had been searching for Nadarajah Raviraj when the late Tamil parliamentarian visited his hometown last month, revealed relatives who attended the funeral of late MP in Jaffna. The entire Jaffna peninsula was at a standstill as the funeral procession paraded through the streets of Chavakachcheri to the cremation grounds located at Sri Lanka Army High Security Zone. Journalists were harassed by Sri Lankan soldiers after the funeral.
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