UN Rights rulings ‘not binding’ on Sri Lanka – Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 11:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court says rulings by the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) in Geneva can be ignored if they go against the country’s constitution or the legal framework, the BBC reported Friday. The UNHRC had pointed out that as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Sri Lanka has accepted the UN body’s authority to rule on breaches of the Covenant. Chief Justice (CJ) Sarath Nanda Silva also observed that Sri Lanka’s leaders “should be more responsible in signing international treaties affecting the country’s sovereignty,” the BBC Sinhala service reported.
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Tamil Councillors to stage peace vigils across London boroughs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 06:58 GMT]
British Tamil Councillors and Associates (BTCA) will be holding peace vigils across 32 London boroughs on the Inernational Day of Peace on Thursday, September 21, urging for "Peace with Dignity" for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the cross-party Council members from Greater London region said in a Press Release. The organisation has called for a "peaceful resolution that recognizes the Tamil people's right to self-determination and fulfills the legitimate aspirations."
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SL Prime Minister lays conditions for peace talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 00:18 GMT]
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Prime Minister and acting Minister of Defence, laid conditions for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to take part in future peace talks with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). "LTTE must first lay down their arms if they want to start peace negotiation with our government. There will not be any place for peace talks in our agenda if this condition is not met," said Mr. Wickremanayake addressing the 25th anniversary of the Land Reform and Development Organization held at Sethsiripaya in Colombo Thursday, political sources in Colombo said.
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Humanitarian supplies through land routes crucial - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 11:40 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan met Friday with the new Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, retired Maj. Gen. Lars Johan Sølvberg. Mr. Thamilchelvan, talking to press, after the meeting, said that the Tigers discussed the humanitarian crisis as the top priority issue. The closure of A9 is "not a mere violation of the Ceasefire Agreement, but an offence against humanity, denying basic supplies to hundreds of thousands of people," Mr. Thamilchelvan said.
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SLN arrests 70 Trinco Tamils in Talaimannar coast

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 11:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Thursday evening arrested seventy members of seventeen Tamil families from Trincomalee district when they were waiting for fishing boats along the coast of Talaimannar to flee to South India, civil sources in Mannar said. The SLN also arrested two boatmen who were to take the refugees by Mannar Sea. The arrested civilians were handed over to Talaimannar Police for inquiry by the SLN, police sources said.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Valaichchenai

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 10:13 GMT]
Unidentified men shot dead a Tamil civilian Thursday night around 10:35 p.m. at Karuwakerni in Valaichchenai police division in Batticaloa district. The victim has been identified as Niranjan Vasantharajah, 28 and a father of two children, police sources said.
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SLA bars civilian travel through Uyilankulam checkpoint

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 16:08 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday refused passage for stranded Tamil civilians in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannar territories and in areas controlled by the Sri Lanka government to cross over through Uyilankulam SLA check point, civil sources said.
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Trinco district secretariat employee shot dead by unidentified men

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 15:06 GMT]
Unidentified armed men Thursday morning around 11.30 a.m. shot dead a Tamil government servant working in the Trincomalee district secretariat when he was going to his office crossing the Trincomalee playground in a motorbike. The incident took place behind the Mc Heyzer Stadium located in the playground.
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Terrorised Tamil traders flee to India - report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 12:20 GMT]
Several Tamil traders and businessmen have fled Sri Lanka following a spate of killings and abductions, IANS reported Thursday quoting officials and refugees. Sinhalese gangs in Trincomalee are targeting prominent Tamils and many ordinary Tamils in the capital were gripped by a "fear psychosis" the agency reported, quoting activists as saying the recent violence has led to one of the most traumatic periods for the island's Tamil community.
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Education of students in LTTE held Mannar villages affected

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 05:23 GMT]
About 4850 students studying in 26 Tamil schools in villages located in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas have been badly affected. The second term examination for these students scheduled to be held in August was not held as the education authorities were unable to transport question papers and related learning materials due to the closure of the Uyilankulam checkpoint by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) since August 11.
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International community must ensure Sri Lanka honours CFA and paves way for talks- LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 00:03 GMT]
Welcoming the call by the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donor community for the Colombo government to abide by the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) and implement the pledges it made in Geneva, the Liberation Tigers said Wednesday it is the responsibility of the Norwegian facilitators and international community to ensure the Rajapakse government adheres to the territorial demarcations, terms and conditions of the CFA and thereby creates a conducive atmosphere for talks.
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Another foreign aid worker shot dead

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 20:44 GMT]
A relief worker for the Seattle-based non-profit group World Concern has been killed in the Trincomalee district, where six weeks ago 17 aid workers were shot dead execution-style by Sri Lankan forces, reports said Tuesday. Ragunathan Ramalingam, a Tamil, was shot Monday while returning to the World Concern office on a motorcycle.
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Rupavahini in ‘cultural censorship’ - FMM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 18:38 GMT]
A local media watchdog Wednesday slammed Sri Lanka’s government for abruptly ending a television series after altering the dialogue in the last episode that was broadcast. The Free Media Movement (FMM) said it “condemns this cultural censorship” and asked Sri Lanka Rupavahini Cooperation (SLRC) to resume broadcasting the ‘Sudu Kapuru Pethi’ programme, whose story line, written in 2003, is set in island’s ethnic conflict. According to a BBC Sinhala service report, the SLRC says the teledrama ‘disgraced’ the Sri Lankan security forces at a time of war.
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Resolute backing for Norwegian facilitation, says Erik Solheim

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 13:40 GMT]
Erik Solheim, the Norwegian International Development Minister, Wednesday told Norwegian state radio NRK that Norway had International Community's resolute backing and the mandate of the parties to the conflict for resuming the talks, after attending a cruicial meeting of the Co-Chairs in Brussels Tuesday. The radio, in its "World Today," programme said experts on the Sri Lankan issue were of the opinion that the EU proscription of the Tamil Tigers was a "big mistake." The EU ban contributed to the worsening of the already fragile situation into bloody confrontations this summer, the Radio said.
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Uthayan ‘worst hit’ of Sri Lanka’s media - RSF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 05:10 GMT]
The leading Jaffna daily, the Uthayan, is the “worst hit media” in Sri Lanka’s conflict, said Tuesday, voicing outrage about new armed attacks on the paper, in which gunmen burst into its offices in the Army-controlled town and threatened the journalists present twice in the space of three days.
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GoSL, LTTE should cease violence, resume talks - Co-chairs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 23:46 GMT]
The Co-Chairs are particularly concerned that even major cases of human rights’ abuses are not successfully investigated or prosecuted. "As in any modern state, the culture of impunity must stop," the Co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference on Sri Lanka said Tuesday. "There should be no change to the specific arrangements for the north and east which could endanger the achievement of peace," the statement alluded in response to the moves in the South aimed at de-merging the NorthEast.
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Stable ceasefire ‘essential pre-requisite’ for peace moves - India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 13:23 GMT]
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday India's efforts would be to ensure that the current ceasefire holds in Sri Lanka as a pre-requisite for a durable solution to the island's crisis, IANS reported.
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LTTE launches counter attack on STF in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 10:06 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) repulsed an attack launched by the Sri Lanka's Special Task Force with artillery fire in an attempt to move towards LTTE held areas from Kaluwanchchikudy-Paddiruppu Bridge from Tuesday morning around 6.30 a.m. Artillery shells fired by the STF fell and exploded in the villages Palugamam, Porativu and Munaitivu in the LTTE held areas.
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Sri Lanka pushing island to "full scale war" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 09:33 GMT]
Continuing offensives by the Sri Lankan military will compel the Liberation Tigers to switch from defensive operations to launching their own offensives, the LTTE said Wednesday. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said the Sri Lankan military’s offensives and continuing forcible occupation of Tamil areas had rendered the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) "meaningless" but "since the facilitators and the international community are eager to strengthen peace efforts, the LTTE is also continuing to examine options for strengthening the CFA."
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Vantharumoolai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 06:57 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot and killed a 35 year-old farmer, father of two children Monday night around 8.30 p.m. in his residence located along Moonkilady Road in Vantharumoolai village in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district. The dead who had been also working as a tractor-driver were identified as Nagappan Shanmukarajah.
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