Co-Chairs’ failure to condemn bombing will fuel violence - IFT

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2006, 16:22 GMT]
Geneva based Tamil diaspora federation, International Federation of Tamils (IFT), criticising the Co-Chair's "failure" to condemn the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) airstrike on the environs of Kilinochchi hospital which killed five people, the IFT warned the weak international response “will encourage Sri Lanka to continue such attacks with impunity.”
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Colombo emboldened by international support - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2006, 15:02 GMT]
Uncritical international support for the Sri Lankan government in its campaign against the Liberation Tigers contributed greatly to the collapse of the peace talks in Geneva last weekend, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its latest editorial. “When even the US publicly declares that it is backing Sri Lanka [against the LTTE], why wouldn’t Colombo have adopted the intransigent and belligerent stand it did?”
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Colombo falls short on shipment of essentials- GA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2006, 15:01 GMT]
The Government Agent of Jaffna, K. Ganesh, in a media report sent to local papers, said that nearly 25% shortfall in amount of required food and essential items sent by Colombo to Jaffna district was the main cause for the high prices and the difficulties residents are facing, having to stand in long lines to procure provisions, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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Colombo intensifies attacks in Vanni, Vaharai

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 22:34 GMT]
Four civilians were killed and six wounded in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery shelling in Vaharai in the East, and a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre was killed and two wounded in Pooneryn, Vanni, Friday, as SLAF intensified air raids across Northeast, sources in Kilinochchi said. The attacks continued despite Colombo's commitment to cease violence at the negotiating table in Geneva last weekend, and Co-chairs' indignation over the bombing of a house in Kilinochchi that killed five persons and damaged Kilinochchi Hospital.
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Kilinochchi raid violates International Humanitarian Law- TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 15:58 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a press release issued in Colombo Friday condemned the Thursday bombing raid by SLAF near Kilinochchi hospital as "serious violation of International Humanitarian Law," and said the bombing was "conducted with callous disregard for the safety and the security of Tamil civilian life and property." TNA also expressed disappointment that despite repeated attacks by GoSL against civilian life and property, "the International Community is unable to bring such attacks of the GOSL to an end."
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GoSL will attack Northeast over land, sea, air- Wickremenayake

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 10:31 GMT]
The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, said that his government has planned to launch offensives on the Tamil north and east provinces by land, sea and air, while speaking at a function held Friday at 11:00 a.m at the Prime Minister's office to announce financial assistance to the children of soldiers affected by the war, sources in Colombo said.


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Mannar Tamil youth arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 10:26 GMT]
Twenty seven year old Tamil youth Joseph Kumar Ramanakumar , a resident of Uppukulam, a village in Mannar district was arrested by the Slave Island Police in Colombo district on October 31 morning. The Colombo Fort Magistrate remanded him till November 06 when he was produced in court by the Slave Island Police.
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SLA mortar attack kills father, son in Vaharai, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 09:23 GMT]
A father and son were killed on the spot in a mortar attack launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from its Mankerny camp in Batticaloa on Vaharai, a village in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territory in Batticalo, Friday around 8:30 a.m. The shells launched continuously by the SLA on and around the temporary shelters of the internally displaced people (IDP) in this area fall and explode causing the IDPs to flee in fear in all directions, said sources from Vaharai.


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Tamil man shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 06:06 GMT]
A 36-year old man was shot dead by unidentified men inside his house at Aachikulam in Samalankulam in the northern Vavuniya, around 3:30 a.m., Friday, police said.
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Jaffna Bishop calls for urgent help to avert humanitarian disaster

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 00:30 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Savundara- nayagam, has sent an urgent telegram Thursday to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse requesting him to immediately open a landroute to Jaffna peninsula to allow the flow of desperately needed food and other essential materials to Jaffna residents, civil society sources in Jaffna said Thursday.
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Respect International Humanitarian Law, urges Hospital Director

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 00:03 GMT]
Dr.Sathanandan, Director of Kilinochchi General Hospital at Anandapuram which was subjected to Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) aerial bombardment on Thursday afternoon at 2:45 p.m.appealed to all parties to respect the International Humanitarian Law and avoid targeting hospitals, in an interview to the TamilNet, Thursday. "The humanitarian law calls on States both “to respect” and “to ensure respect” the Conventions," Dr Sathanandan said, adding that hospitals attend to the most urgent humanitarian needs of people and should be safeguarded from all forms of violence.
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India should lift ban on LTTE - Kuldip Nayar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 22:04 GMT]
Kuldip Nayar, the noted Indian journalist and head of the Indian Peace Mission to Sri Lanka called on India to lift the ban on the LTTE and engage it politically in order to bring lasting peace to the war-torn island, the Hindustan Times reported.
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Governor rejects appeals from stranded Government employees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 12:13 GMT]
Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Wijeyawickrema, Governor of the North East Province, rejected appeals from more than one thousand Tamil government employees stranded in Jaffna peninsula for the past three months to allow them to work in the province as an interim measure, civil society sources in Jaffna said Thursday.
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Jaffna residents stranded in Vavuniya, protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 11:29 GMT]
Stranded Jaffna peninsula residents, trapped in Vavuniya since Sri Lanka Army (SLA) closed A9, the land route to Jaffna peninsula from August 11, staged a demonstration Wednesday at the Vavuniya Secretariat demanding the authorities to send them to their homes and submitted an appeal to Ms. Charles, the Additional Government Agent of Vavuniya, said Vavuniya Secretariat sources.


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5 killed, SLAF attacks hospital surrounding in Kilinochchi, 500 patients flee hospital

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 09:07 GMT]
Five members of a family were killed when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets dropped 16 bombs within 500 meters east of the newly built Kilinochchi General Hospital at Anandapuram around 2:30 p.m. Thursday. One was seriously wounded. Around 500 patients warded in the hospital, among others mothers with newly born babies in their hands and severely wounded patients from earlier SLAF bombings, were forced to leave the hospital premises. Explosion shock shattered hospital window-glasses and fans fell down while the patients were having lunch in their beds, doctors told TamilNet. Tension prevailed in Kilinochchi town following the aerial attack.
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NECORD funded Mullaithivu hospital opens

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 08:23 GMT]
Dr. T. W. Jeyakularajah, Mullaithivu District Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services, presided over the opening ceremony of a section of the Mullaithivu hospital complex constructed at a cost Rs.110m funded by he Northeast Community Restoration and Development (NECORD), held Wednesday at 10:00 a.m at Maanthottam area along the Mullaithivu-Mulliyawalai road.
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Protest held in Colombo condemning abductions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 21:09 GMT]
Committee for Tracing the Abducted Persons held a demonstration in Colombo Fort railway station Wednesday 12:00 noon demanding the release of persons abducted in Colombo and the suburbs, and urging civil society to pressure the Sri Lanka government to take urgent steps to prevent future abductions, civil sources said.


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Upcountry Tamil workers demand wage increase

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 12:05 GMT]
Upcountry workers at Hatton Bogawantalawa tea-estate stayed away from work and picketed Wednesday, demanding increase in salary for estate workers, sources in Hatton said. A similar protest campaign was carried out in Talawakkele today. The work stoppage is a continuation of the protest campaign started at the Hatton bus depot Saturday, organizers of the protest said.
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SLAF Kfir jets bomb LTTE held villages in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 10:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers bombed civilian settlements nine times Wednesday around 7:15 a.m in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas of Kattumurivu in Kathiraveli in Batticaloa district. Casualties in this bombing are not yet known but 12 houses of civilians are said to be badly damaged.
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SLA fuel ban halts paddy cultivation in Mannar LTTE areas

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 03:12 GMT]
Farmers in villages held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannar district are unable to plough their fields due to fuelshortage, agricultural sources said. 90% of paddy fields will remain uncultivated unless Sri Lankan Army (SLA) lifts the ban on transport of petrol and diesel to the LTTE held agricultural villages through Uyilankulam checkpoint, civil sources said.
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