War and Peace- LTTE way: Taraki, 1991

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 January 2006, 00:08 GMT]
In the 12 June 1991 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior editor at TamilNet, writes on issues that dominated the early Premadasa period after the departure of IPKF as prevailing climate appeared ripe for peace talks. However, on the day the article appeared, two soldiers were killed in a Batticaloa landmine attack. Enraged soldiers massacred 150 Tamil civilians (13 June) in Kokkadichcholai. LTTE retaliated by killing 19 soldiers (20 June) in an ambush, leading to continued blood letting as Eelam War II (June 1990 to 1994) was fought without any hopes of peace talks.
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102 families seek safer areas outside Jaffna, Campus to reopen

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 January 2006, 18:44 GMT]
Following escalating violence and disruption to normal life by the activities of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Jaffna district, one hundred and two families have travelled through the Muhamalai checkpoints from Jaffna to safer areas in Vanni and other districts taking their belongings, Political office of the Liberation Tigers in Pallai said Sunday. More than 50 families are from the coastal areas of Vadamaradchy including Valvettiturai according to entries made in the Muhamalai customs offices of the Liberation Tigers.
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LTTE, SLMM meet in Sampoor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 January 2006, 17:23 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Sunday at a two-hour discussion held at LTTE district political secretariat in Sampoor at 10 a.m. with Mr. Arthur Tveiten, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) based in Trincomalee, registered complaints on the violations of the ceasefire agreement by the Sri Lanka security forces now taking place in the district, LTTE sources said.
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Give peace a chance- Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 January 2006, 01:28 GMT]
"In the dawning of the new year 2006, the Government of Sri Lanka, Liberation Tigers and all communities must resolve to give peace a chance," said Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Saundaranayagam, in a new year message delivered Sunday in Jaffna.
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FES donates computers to Sampoor School

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2005, 16:53 GMT]
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), German Non-governmental organization, through the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) handed over two computers and accessories worth more than two hundred thousand rupees to Sampoor Sri Murugan Vidiyalayam in Muttur east in Trincomalee district to promote computer education to students. FES is also providing Rs 200,000 to build a Children’s Park. The Park is expected to be declared open on Thaipongal Day in January 2006.
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920 Tamils arrested in major cordon, search operation in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 December 2005, 11:01 GMT]
Sri Lankan Military troopers and the Colombo Police have arrested 920 Tamils, including 105 Tamil women, in a joint cordon and search operation in Colombo between Friday midnight and Saturday noon, police said. The arrested were taken in busses to 8 different police stations and were being photographed, finger-printed and videoed by the Sri Lankan Intelligence agencies, informed sources said. The search operation was conducted in Tamil residential areas in Wellawatte, Bambalapitiya, Maradana, Kotahena, Grandpass and Mutuwal. Fifty three Tamils were detained after identity-registration in the operation code named "Strangers Night III," Police said.
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SLN withdraws passes from Punguduthivu fishermen

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 December 2005, 14:55 GMT]
Angered by the damages to the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) building caused by the residents of Punguduthivu when they protested against the rape of Tharsini (20), the SLN command has withdrawn fishing passes from Punguduthivu fishermen, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian said Friday. Mr Ponnambalam has written a letter to Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, Deputy Minister of Defence, requesting him to direct the SLN to immediately reissue the passes.
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SLN's restrictions strip Mannar fishermen of livelihood- Selvam

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 December 2005, 10:50 GMT]
Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Wanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Thursday appealed to Sri Lanka's President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse by a memorandum to take immediate steps to lift the ban on using boats with 30 HP engines and restrictions in taking kerosene by fishermen of Mannar district. He said the restrictions imposed by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) after the violent incidents of December 22 have deprived the livelihood of many local fishermen.


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TamilNadu CM cancels Rajapakse meeting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 19:16 GMT]
"Dinathanthi," a Tamil daily based in Tamil Nadu, India, in its print edition Thursday quoted India's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Navtej Sarna, as saying that the meeting scheduled for Friday between the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state, Ms. Jayalalitha Jayaram, in Chennai was cancelled due to the SL President's "full schedule in Delhi," and the Chief Minister not being available that day. Disclosing that the Sri Lankan President was scheduled to visit the bordering state of Kerala to attend a pooja at the Thiruvayoor temple on Friday, the paper said that the cancellation is more due to the increasing concerns being expressed in Tamil Nadu on the Sri Lankan Tamils' situation.
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Bishops, clergy to meet LTTE political head

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 18:51 GMT]
Clergy and Bishops from various parts of the island are scheduled to meet with Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on Friday to discuss the current political situation following the slaying of senior Tamil politician Joseph Pararajasingam, sources in Colombo said. Bishops from Colombo, Kandy and Kurunagala were expected to attend the meeting with the Bishops of Jaffna and Mannar, the sources said.
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Solheim to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 18:15 GMT]
Minister of International Development in the new Norwegian Government and peace envoy, Eric Solheim, is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka from 23rd January to 26th January, said a press release issued by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued in Oslo Thursday.
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Pararajasingham slaying has endangered direct talks - TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 16:33 GMT]
Addressing the mourners who had gathered to pay the last tribute to the slain Tamil National Alliance MP, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, TNA parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah and M.K. Sivajilingam said that the Government of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan President, in his capacity as Defense Minister, are responsible for the continued engagement of paramilitary cadres and for the killing of the MP. "The whole affair of resuming the peace process has been placed at maximum risk by the brutal act," Mr. Sivajilngam told the gathering.
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Jaffna Catholic hierarchy mourns the death of Pararajasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 13:38 GMT]
The Bishop of Jaffna and the priests belonging to the diocese expressed profound sadness at the loss of Joseph Pararajasingham and said the act was unjustifiable and unacceptable to men of good-will. "Perpetrators of this inhuman act will, one day, stand trial in the presence of the creator," Bishop of Jaffna Thomas Soundaranaygam said in his message.
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STF soldiers fire into LTTE held area in East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 12:03 GMT]
Around fifty soldiers of the Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) Thursday morning 11:00 a.m. opened fire at random into paddy fields located inside the LTTE held area, dispersing more than a hundred farmers working in the fields. Only minor injuries were sustained by a few farmers in the gunfire, LTTE's Udumpankulam area Co-ordinator Mr. Veeramani told TamilNet.
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SLMM chief reiterates call for direct dialogue

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 09:35 GMT]
Hagrup Haukland, the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, in a press statement issued from Colombo on Thursday, condemning the claymore attack on the Sril Lanka Army vehicle on Tuesday as well as all other attacks, has called the parties for direct dialogue. The spiral of violence is not conducive to a such high-level meeting, he said, clarifying that his monitors were still operating in Jaffna-, Mannar-, Vavuniya-, Trincomalee-, Batticaloa- and Ampara districts. However, the Nordic monitors cannot operate in an insecure environment that has made the work increasingly difficult for his monitors, the SLMM chief has warned.
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Grenade attack on SLA sentry, soldiers assault civilians in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2005, 08:43 GMT]
Unidentified men lobbed a grenade at a Sri Lanka Army sentry, which is located in Mannar playgrounds Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m. No one was injured in the incident. More than hundred SLA soldiers, following the explosion, launched a search operation in areas, Moor Street, Sinnakadai and Uppukulam. The soldiers fired in air at random and assaulted civilian travellers waiting in the Mannar bus stand, sources said.
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Mannar observes hartal condemning Pararajasingham killing

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 18:44 GMT]
A general shutdown was observed in the Mannar district Wednesday, condemning the killing of the late Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham. Mannar District Tamil Resurgence Movement organized the hartal. Normal life in Mannar town and its suburbs was completely paralyzed, sources said.


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Kilinochchi pays tribute to Pararajasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 12:43 GMT]
"It is the occupying Sri Lankan forces that have unleashed violence on the Tamil people. Destructive effects of such crimes will likely boomerang on the Sinhala armed forces. The Sri Lankan Government is solely responsible for controlling its armed forces to bring back normalcy," said the Liberation Tigers' Political Head, Mr.S. P. Thamilchelvan, addressing the mourners who gathered to pay tribute to the slain TNA MP, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, at the Kilinochchi Cultural Hall Wedesday morning.
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Residents against new SLA camp in Barathipuram

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 11:39 GMT]
People of Barathipuram, a Tamil village between Muttur and Killiveddy, located at 58th milepost, have complained to Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district parliamentarian that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials are preparing to establish a new camp in their village. Mr.Thurairatnasingham promptly has sent his protest to the President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse requesting him to abandon the plan for the new camp, sources said.
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US urges immediate end to violence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 09:41 GMT]
Deputy Spokesman of U.S. Department of State Adam Ereli on Tuesday called on both sides in the Sri Lankan conflict to embrace peace and work together and said that the United States, as one of the Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka Donors Group, reiterates the Co-Chairs' message to the LTTE urging an immediate end to violence and encouraging the LTTE to engage positively with the Government of Sri Lanka in peace talks. The US statement comes as the Sri Lankan President Rajapakse left Tuesday to India in his attempt to woo India's support in favour of the Sri Lankan state.


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