Vaharai starves

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 10:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers staffing Mankerny check post continuously refuse to allow food being taken to the Internally Displaced People (IDP) in Vaharai area creating urgent humanitarian crisis with severe shortage of food, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian P. Ariyanenthiran accused Tuesday. Four lorries with emergency food items had procured permission from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) permission, Mankerny SLA still denied permission to proceed to Vaharai saying that the area was under attack, Mr P. Ariyanenthiran said.
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Stranded Jaffna residents await sea transport from Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 10:42 GMT]
300 Jaffna district residents, stranded in Vavuniya since the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) closure of the A9 route when clashes between the SLA and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) erupted August 11, were taken by bus Tuesday to Trincomalee to be sent by ship to Jaffna, Vavuniya Secretariat sources said.


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India trains jet bomber support crews

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 09:46 GMT]
India is training a third batch of six Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel at Chandigarh, Punjab to support Colombo’s plans to expand its jet bomber fleet, the Times of India reported this week. Sri Lanka plans to purchase four more jet bombers from Russia and, in preparation, SLAF personnel are being put through three months of instruction. The latest group began training on October 14, despite outrage in Tamil Nadu over the targeting of civilians by SLAF bombers in which over a hundred people have been killed this year.
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Trincomalee to observe 3-day general shut down

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 01:01 GMT]
Tamil People Force (TPF), a civic organization in Trincomalee, appealed to the district residents to observe three day general shut down commencing from Wednesday condemning the killing of TNA parliamentarian Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj in Colombo and killing nearly sixty five Tamil civilians including children in Vaharai in Batticaloa, sources in east port town said.
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Hartal observed in Batticaloa, Amparai to protest Raviraj killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 22:33 GMT]
General shut down was observed in Batticaloa and Amparai districts on Tuesday as a mark of protest against the killing of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Jaffna district Nadarajah Raviraj and remembering his services to the society, civil sources in Batticaloa said. The hartal organized by Batticaloa-Amparai Tamil National Forum and Student Consortium.
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British special envoy arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 17:48 GMT]
Paul Murphy, special envoy of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair Tuesday arrived in Colombo to discuss ways in which the Britain could support the Norwegian peace process. Mr. Paul Murphy is a former Northern Ireland Minister.
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Sri Lanka Army moves into Tiger territory in fresh offensive

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 15:52 GMT]
Sri Lankan troops have moved into Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled Vakarai region, beyond no-go zone, Tuesday morning, amid heavy artillery shelling, according to civil sources in Vakarai.
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Three SLA troopers killed in claymore attack in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 14:20 GMT]
Unidentified persons detonated a claymore device Tuesday afternoon killing three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers at Mathottam area in Uylankulam Murungan in Mannar district, Murungan police said.


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Up-country Tamils shun work mourning Raviraj's assassination

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 11:55 GMT]
Tamil workers shunned work Tuesday in the central Sri Lanka, and a complete shut down was observed in all the up-country towns, as a mark of protest against the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Raviraj and the Vaharai killings of Internally Displaced People (IDPs), Hatton sources said. P. Chandrasegaran, Minister and the leader of Up-country People's Front (UPF) organised the protest.
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People of Jaffna pay last respects to Raviraj

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 10:20 GMT]
People of Jaffna peninsula, in their thousands, paid their last respects to the remains of Ravirarj, the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for Jaffna district, whose body was flown from Colombo to Palaly air base in Jaffna Tuesday around 11:00 a.m and later kept at Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) at Nallur. Special Commissioner JMC S. Sarvanabavan took charge of Raviraj's remains around 11:30 a.m which was kept in the JMC precincts for people to pay their last respects.


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Thousands pay homage to Raviraj in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 01:58 GMT]
"Raviraj was a leader who fought for Tamils' rights and gave a democratic voice to their struggle. The Sri Lanka Government should hold itself responsible for Ravraj's assassination," said Rajitha Senaratne, United National Party parliamentarian for Colombo, addressing a public meeting organised by the Anti-War Front at Vihara Mahadevi Park in Colombo held Monday evening around 4:20 p.m held to pay homage to the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Raviraj, sources Colombo said.
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UN: Sri Lanka military ‘recruiting child soldiers’

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 13:15 GMT]
A United Nations official Monday accused Sri Lankan government security forces of recruiting child soldiers on behalf of an allied paramilitary group which is also fighting Tamil Tigers. The special advisor to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Allan Rock, told reporters in Colombo that he had evidence of direct involvement of troops in forcibly enlisting children for the paramilitary group.
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Three day shut down in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 09:24 GMT]
All shops, schools, banks, public and private institutions remained closed and all transport ceased for the third day Monday as residents of Vavuniya district observed complete shut down condemning the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna Parliamentarian Raviraj and in protest against the Sri Lanka government's (GoSL) economic embargo on the Jaffna peninsula by the closure of A9 landroute.


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Raviraj assassination, a black mark on Sri Lanka - UNP parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 November 2006, 18:08 GMT]
United National Party MP for Kalutura district, Rajitha Senaratne, addressing an all party press meet Sunday in Colombo said the assassination of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadarajah Raviraj in Colombo has challenged the people who voice for peace in the South. The assassination has created a black mark on Sri Lanka and has paved a way for the International Community to intervene in the domestic affairs, the MP said. The Anti-War National Front (AWNF) in Colombo has called for a Hartal in Colombo on Monday protesting against the assassination, extra-judicial killings and abductions taking place in Colombo and its environs.
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Sri Lanka Army intensifies artillery barrage on Vakarai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 November 2006, 11:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Sunday morning intensified multi-barrel and artillery attacks from four different bases towards Liberation Tigers controlled Vakarai causing thousands of Internally Displaced Tamil families from Vakarai, Panichchankerni and Alamkulam to flee on foot, civil sources in Vakarai said. The already scuttled transport was brought to a halt by the intensified attack, reported between 3:30 and 8:30 a.m. The artillery barrage comes amid condemnations from the International Community against the attack on refugee camp in Kathiraveli, 15 km north of Vaaharai, where tens of Tamil civilians were killed and more than a hundred wounded.
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Raviraj worked for Tamil, Muslim unity- Muslim Federation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 15:55 GMT]
The Federation of All Mosques and Organizations in Eastern Province (FAMOEP), in a statement issued Saturday, expressed its deep sorrow over the death of Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj, and said "Muslims of North East revere Raviraj as a Tamil leader who had given an important place in his heart for the well-being of Muslims." The statement was signed by FAMOEP President Alhaj Moulavi S.L.M.Haniffa.
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Colombo's Law, order machinery collapsing- Rights Groups

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 14:58 GMT]
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expressed shock at the "further intensification of violence in Sri Lanka with the assassination of a Member of Parliament, Nadarajah Raviraj...and the killings of the civilians at Vakarai in the Batticaloa district," a UK-based Tamil Rights group said Raviraj's killing in the Capital indicated "chaotic law and order situation and the lack of human protection in Sri Lanka," while California-based Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) described Vaharai killings as a "war crime", in statements issued to the press in the aftermath of the assassination of Tamil parliamentarian, Friday.
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"Allow Raviraj's casket to be taken through A9," family requests SL President

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 10:14 GMT]
Assassinated Jaffna District TNA parliamentarian's widowed wife Sasikala Raviraj, Saturday morning when Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mr. Mangala Samaraweera visited the parlour, made an appeal to open the A9 Muhamalai exit-entry point in order to take her husband's remains to his hometown Chavakachcheri for cremation. The funeral is scheduled to be held on Wednesday in Chavakachcheri in Jaffna. Hundreds of mourners from all ethnic communities, political leaders, religious dignitaries and social activists gathered in Colombo to pay their last respects to the assassinated Jaffna district Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj.
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Canadian opposition MPs condemn Vakarai bombing, MP slaying

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 05:40 GMT]
Canadian Parliamentarians, Albina Guarnieri, P.C., M.P., Member of Parliament, Mississauga East Cooksville, Dan McTeague, P.C., M.P. for Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge, and Omar Alghabra, Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Mississauga— Erindale, have written letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and issued press releases condemning the killings in Sri Lanka.
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Pirapaharan confers Maamanithar award to Raviraj

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 05:10 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Velupillai Pirapaharan, bestowed the title Maamanithar (Great Humanbeing) on the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj Friday. "As a parliamentarian he worked tirelessly for the Tamil nation... He shattered the false propaganda of the Sinhala state infusing his arguments with his legal expertise. He stood firm and fought injustice in the face of threats from paramilitary violence," Pirapaharan said in the statement conferring the award.
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