Jaffna students stranded in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 06:01 GMT]
About thirty Tamil students from Jaffna district who came to attend the All Ceylon English Day contest have been stranded in Colombo with out necessary transport arrangement. However the English Day contest was also cancelled due to the volatile security situation in the capital. These students arrived in Colombo before the war between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke out in the first week of August.
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Tamil man shot dead near Vavunatheevu SLA camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 22:14 GMT]
A Tamil man was shot dead by Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers near Vavunatheevu camp, 3 km. west of Batticaloa twon, at 7.35 a.m. Wednesday.
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Fisherman shot and hacked to death in Valaichchenai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 22:10 GMT]
A Tamil civilian Periyathamby Veluppillai, 27, a fisherman by profession and a father of two children of Kalmadu in Valaichchenai police area, was shot and hacked to death by soldiers of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and paramilitaries on Tuesday night around 8.00 p.m at Koraweli Road, Kannahipuram in Batticaloa district. He had been residing in 50 Housing Scheme in Kalmadu.
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SLMM blames Sri Lanka military for aid workers’ massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 11:15 GMT]
International ceasefire monitors Wednesday blamed the Sri Lankan military for the massacre of 17 local aid workers from international group Action Contre La Faim earlier this month, Reuters reported, quoting Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). Outgoing SLMM head Ulf Henricsson, called the killings a "committed act of assassination" and "one of the most serious recent crimes against humanitarian aid workers worldwide," AP reported.
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Abducted youth being trained in Polannaruwa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 11:05 GMT]
A number of youths from Amparai district abducted by Army-backed anti-LTTE paramilitaries are undergoing weapons training at military bases in Polannaruwa District, LTTE officials who met with the United Nations’ child agency, UNICEF, said this week. Many youth had been brazenly picked up by unmarked ‘white vans’ in Army-controlled parts of the eastern districts, they said, urging UNICEF to visit the training sites.
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Rajapakse seeking UK's help to secure India's support - Norwegian radio

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 09:07 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's meeting Wednesday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair is "presumably an attempt to secure India's support in favour of Sri Lanka's policy" on the ethnic question Norwegian state radio reported, citing Oslo's Special Envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer.
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Judicious political pressure saves journalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 07:42 GMT]
Political pressure from Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP), parties allied with Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse, including the paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and the timely action by the top leadership of the Asian Broadcasting Coorperation to mobilise political pressure saved the life of Kuruparan Nadarajah, the Tamil news manager of Sooriyan FM, who was being interrogated after being abducted by the Special Counter-terrorism Unit of Sri Lankan military intelligence, sources said.
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Abducted Tamil journalist released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 03:28 GMT]
Nadarajah Kuruparan, News Manager of Sooriyan FM Radio broadcast from Colombo, who was reported missing since Tuesday morning, was released in the early hours of of Wednesday. "I have returned home safely" said Kuruparan to his listners over the radio, with out elaborating further details about the abduction.
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Media Organizations demand release of abducted journalist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 12:51 GMT]
More than hundred journalists from print and electronic media demonstrated in front of in front of the Fort Railway Station, Colombo, condemning the abduction of Nadarajah Kuruparan, a veteran journalist and the News Manager of Suriyan FM Radio broadcast from Colombo, Tuesday noon.


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SLA offensive continues on Sampoor - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 11:22 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan Tuesday evening said Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was continuing it's offensive towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Sampoor in Trincomalee district. SLA has intensified artillery and mortar attacks as the two-pronged offensive movement of SLA troops was contained by the Tigers, he said. "If the Sri Lankan military aggression continued, it would set a full stop to the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement," LTTE's military spokesman has commented.
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Priests, public demand release of Allaippiddy Parish Priest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 09:46 GMT]
A token hunger strike and a special Mass were held Monday from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. at the St. Theresa's Church, Kilinochchi, demanding the release of Allaippiddy Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Jim Brown and his aide Venseslos Vincent Vimalathas who were abducted by the Sri Lanka Forces in Allaippiddy in Jaffna District on 20 August and condemning the killings of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Forces.


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IFJ concerned for safety of news director Kuruparan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 09:24 GMT]
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), in a media release issued on Tuesday, said it was shocked by news of the disappearance Nadarajah Kuruparan, the news director of popular Tamil language radio station Sooriyan FM, whose car was found abandoned in Colombo only hours after he was seen leaving for work. Kuruparan's disappearance is "particularly worrying considering the current precarious climate in Sri Lanka," the IFJ President Christopher Warren said. "This is further evidence of the dangerous environment for journalists that has developed in Sri Lanka," IFJ president said.
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Sampoor battle: toll mounts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 08:18 GMT]
Sri Lankan military Tuesday continued its new offensive for the second day against the Tamil Tiger controlled region of Sampoor in the Trincomalee district. Around 50 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers had been killed and 108 wounded so far, LTTE officials claimed Tuesday afternoon. They said 12 LTTE fighters have been killed and 15 injured. But the military says it has killed 66 Tigers and lost 13 troops. A civilian, wounded on Monday, succumbed to injuries Tuesday. 21 fleeing IDP's have been killed during the past 30 hours in artillery and aerial bombardment, according to LTTE officials.
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‘War not way to peace’ - India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 04:58 GMT]
As Sri Lanka’s military launched a new offensive against the Liberation Tigers this week, India re-iterated that war was not the way to resolve the island’s conflict. “We do not believe that war is the way out...We do not think violence, whether from LTTE's side or an armed conflict, can resolve any issue,” press reports quoted India’s Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran as saying in Delhi Monday. Meanwhile, The Hindu newspaper reported that, worried over the violence in Sri Lanka, peace-facilitator Norway and India “are engaged in quiet consultations to defuse the situation.”
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Tamil News Manager abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 02:50 GMT]
Nadarajah Kuruparan, News Manager of Sooriyan FM Radio broadcast from Colombo and the programme leader of popular weekly programme, Viluthukal, in Sooriyan FM, is reported missing since Tuesday morning around 4:30 a.m., Dehiwale Police said. Mr. Nadarajah Kuruparan, a senior Tamil news editor, was on his way to work in his car, when he was reported missing 300 meters away from his house, on Pinthali Road. Journalist associations and Free Media Movement in Colombo held an urgent protest calling for the release of Kuruparan in front of Colombo Fort Tuesday from 12:30 p.m. till 13:30 p.m.
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Dozens killed in new Sri Lankan offensive on Sampoor

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 11:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military launched a major offensive Monday to capture Tamil Tiger controlled Sampoor in the Trincomalee district. Bombs and shells have killed at least 20 civilians and wounded 26 more, LTTE sources in Sampoor told TamilNet. At least 11 SLA soldiers were killed and 79 wounded, AFP reported. The objective of the offensive was to capture Sampoor and Thoppur area, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told The Associated Press. The LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan told Reuters the Sri Lankan government was trying to resume a full-scale war.
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Only a phased peace process will work - Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 06:10 GMT]
A lasting solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic question can only emerge out of a protracted peace process with interim agreements, rather than a quest for an up-front final solution, one of the country’s leading political scientists argued this week. "Protracted ethnic conflict always requires a protracted peace process. The peace process should [aim] for an interim settlement rather than a big-bang solution. We may have to go through a series of interim managements," said Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, Head of Department of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo.
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76 Tamils arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 05:27 GMT]
Seventy-six Tamils, including 8 women were arrested during a combined search operation by Sri Lankan Military troopers and Police in Colombo and its suburbs, Sunday. Road blocks were put up on main roads leading to Colombo centre and all vehicles were throughly checked, police said.
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Despair of one displaced village

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2006, 15:20 GMT]
The experience of the residents of Vellaveli, a village in the eastern Batticaloa district, is a microcosm of that of over 200,000 people who have this year joined the hundreds of thousands of long-term displaced in the island. Driven from their homes by a Sri Lankan military offensive, the rice farming families face starvation and debt-riddled ruin.
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7 SLA soldiers wounded in Claymore explosion in Muthur

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2006, 08:03 GMT]
At least seven Sri Lanka Army soldiers, wounded in a Claymore attack at Selvanagar, a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled gateway towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Muthur East, Sunday around 9:30 a.m., were rushed to Polonnaruwa hospital, Police sources said.
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