யாழ் திரைகடலோடி

At 1:50 am Sunday, when most of Colombo was either sleeping or watching Sri Lanka’s cricketing heroes succumb to Australia in the final of the World Cup being played a dozen time zones away in Barbados in front of their junketing president, Mahinda Rajapakse, the Road Warrior-style air force of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam launched a raid on Colombo. Continue to read

ANOTHER PRE-EMPTIVE LTTE AIR STRIKE - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR--PAPER NO. 220 By B. Raman In an attempt to pre-empt an apprehended military offensive by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces on the territory controlled by the Lberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, the LTTE Air Force has carried out a successful air strike on the Palaly military base of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in the Jaffna peninsula. The Palaly military base serves as the headquarters for operations against the LTTE in the north. It is also the supply base for the thousands of soldiers stationed in the region. Any serious damage to the base could hamper …

http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/26/int14.htm COLOMBO: As the world prepares for yet another ‘scary’ report by the United Nations panel on global warming and climate change, a Sri Lankan specialist in the group says Tamil rebels and government troops are actually fighting over land due to be submerged as sea-levels rise. “A major part of Jaffna and other northern areas (of Sri Lanka) will be submerged when the sea-level rises. So people are fighting and dying over areas that may soon not be there,” Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, vice-chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told in an interview. Jaffna, seat of a revolt for an independent hom…

Sri Lankan born Kiwi girl takes GSK to court Shivangi Ambani-Gandhi Sunday, April 15, 2007 23:08 IST SYDNEY: In a modern day David and Goliath story, two New Zealand science students have embarrassed one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), with just a school science project. Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo have proved that the black current drink, Ribena, which made claims of having 7mg of Vitamin C per 100ml, in fact had no detectable Vitamin C content. GSK, the maker of Ribena, has been fined AUD 2,17,500 after admitting it mislead customers about the vitamin C content of the blackcurrant drink. The company appe…

Thoppi(gala) for Tigers With the security forces wresting control of the Chenkaladi-Maha Oya Road on Wednesday, the East, barring the isolated Toppigala jungles, has been cleared before the Sinhala and Hindu New Year. South of Chenkaladi, Illupayadichchenai and further down, Karadiyanaru and the Rukam town on the A-5 highway, have been cleared. The entire operation to wrest control of the Badulla Road from Chenkallady to Maha Oya and the adjacent Tiger bases, including the Karadiyanaru jungle, took 46 days, reminiscent of the month-long Vakarai operation. Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka has already recommended several promotions based on merit. Accordingl…

LTTE urges sports boycott of Sri Lanka. The Tamil Tigers Tuesday backed an Amnesty International awareness campaign that has embarrassed Sri Lanka's government during the cricket World Cup and urged a full sporting boycott of the country, AFP reported. Amnesty’s campaign to build support for international human rights monitoring in Sri Lanka, using the topical theme of cricket, has drawn the fury of the Colombo government as well as the main opposition Sinhala parties. Capitalising on the interest around the World Cup, Amnesty International last week launched a publicity campaign - using the slogan ‘Play by the Rules’ - to urge Sri Lanka’s warring parties to r…

LTTE air wing: How it began and what it means October 2005 shooting down of UAV should have set off alarm bells Repeated Sunday Times disclosures were buried in denials By Iqbal Athas An incident in the skies over Wanni in October 2005, just months after it came to be known that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had built an airstrip and acquired light aircraft, seems the first occasion when the guerrillas demonstrated their air capability. Yet, the implications of this encounter, strange enough, were buried in denials both from the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). These came after an Israeli built Searc…

Is Tamil Blood Cheap in the Eyes of Indian Government? TAMIL TRIBUNE, April 2007 (ID. 2007-04-u1-a-x) (This is an update to Reference 1 that discussed the killings of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy and Indian Government's refusal to take any effective action to stop it or even register a diplomatic protest with the Sri Lankan Government.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan Maritime Security Agency shot and killed a fisherman from northern India, twenty-one year old Shantilal Mangal, off the coast of Gujarat on Monday February 13, 2006. Indian External Affairs Ministry called Pakistan's…

Tamil National Leader Hon. V. Pirapaharan's Interview Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam, tells Anita Pratap. Q: What made you opt out of a conventional system and spearhead a liberation movement which you knew would be outlawed? A: The democratic parliamentary system, or what you refer to as the conventional political system in Sri Lanka, has always tried to impose the will of the majority on the minority. This system not only failed to solve the basic problems of our people but, in fact, aggravated our plight. For decades, the repression by the state has made the life of our people miserable. The non-violent democra…

The Sea Tigers have been in several battles recentl y The Sri Lankan air force says it has destroyed the headquarters of the Tamil Tiger rebels' sea force. An air force spokesman said the attack took place in the north-eastern district of Mullaitivu. The Tigers say a civilian area was bombed. "We now understand that the base was the headquarters of the Sea Tigers," Cap Ajantha Silva told the Associated Press news agency. On Monday the army said it had overrun four rebel bases in eastern Sri Lanka. 'Small boats' The headquarters of the Sea Tigers was still burning an hour after the attack, Cap Silva says. He said fighter jets had bombed th…

Sri Lanka: Looking beyond consolidation - Update No. 118 By Col R Hariharan (Retd.) [This up date may be read in continuation of SAAG Note No 367 "Sri Lanka: Revisiting LTTE's options Update No 114 " dated February 24, 2007 available at URL http://www.saag.org/notes4/note367.html] Consolidation in the East The consolidation operations of Sri Lanka Security Forces are now nearing the final stage. During the last four weeks Security Forces have made good progress both in Trincomalee and Batticaloa sectors. However, two recent incidents in the east have highlighted the type of threat the Security Forces and the public would face from the Liberation Tige…

Colombo battles to sidestep Human Rights focus - Thamilchelvan The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is trying to sidestep International Community's focus on Colombo's worst record of human rights abuses and institutionalized impunity for crimes against the Tamil people, by attempting to use the forum of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit against Tamil people's right to defend themselves, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan told TamilNet when asked to comment on Colombo's focus shift to LTTE's air capability, prior to the 14th SAARC Summit in New Delhi. "It is crucial that the voice of Tamil …

Sri Lanka army 'kills 23 rebels' The Sri Lankan army says it captured four Tamil Tiger bases and killed 23 rebels in clashes in the east of the island overnight. The fighting took place in the district of Batticaloa, military spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe said. There has been no comment from the Tamil Tigers. Some 4,000 people have been killed in escalating violence since late 2005, with tens of thousands of civilians being displaced. 'No confrontation' "There are 23 confirmed LTTE (Tamil Tigers) dead," military spokesman Brig Samarasinghe told journalists in the capital, Colombo. "We have captured four bases without c…

Hidden treasures of Palmyrah Sunday, April 01,2007 With so much emphasis being put on the development of the coconut industry in Sri Lanka, the benefits of the lesser known palmyrah, most commonly found in the north east and north west of the country was the focus of a presentation given by Professor E.R Jansz when he was awarded the distinguished gold medal at the Bernard Soysa Memorial Oration this past week. Jansz, a lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura, holds a PhD and has had a long and distinguished career in the field of chemistry with over 15 years dedicated to internationally published research. On Bernard Soysa, the fo…

Life in embattled Batticaloa PK Balachandran Batticaloa (Eastern Sri Lanka), April 1, 2007 Batticaloa district in 2007 has acquired a reputation which it did not have in the last 25 years of the military conflict in North East Sri Lanka. This relatively peaceful Eastern Sri Lankan district has become a very dangerous place to visit, making even seasoned journalists wonder if it is safe. The reason is the change in weaponry and tactics used in the conflict. There is now an overwhelming reliance on long distance fighting with artillery, 'arty' mortars, Multi-Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRL) and jet fighter bombers. And the shelling from the gro…

நித்திரை கொள்ளமுடியாமல் தவிக்கும் ராமனின் "அழல்" கருத்துக்கள்.. Paper no. 2182 26.03.2007 LTTE'S AIR STRIKE ON AIR FORCE BASE - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO. 209 by B. Raman (To be read in continuation of my article dated June 2, 2005, titled "The World's First Terrorist Air Force" available at http://www.saag.org/papers14/paper1398.html. It is annexed below) The Tamil Eelam Air Force (TAF) of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been in existence for at least nine years without the Sri Lankan intelligence having the least idea about its location and capability, went into action for the first time since its cr…

Columns - Situation Report -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Army holds jaya pirith, Tigers warn of bloodbath Both sides accuse each other of intensifying hostilities Foreign Ministry issues tough guidelines for visits by diplomats to North, East How the German envoy took Italian Ambassador to hospital By Iqbal Athas The LTTE mortar attack on diplomats, United Nations and Government officials twelve days ago has had its sequel. Colombo-based foreign diplomats have now been banned from undertaking visits to operational areas in the North and East without the express permission of the Ministry o…

As battle intensifies once more, 150,000 are forced to live in ramshackle camps Randeep Ramesh in Batticaloa Friday March 30, 2007 Sitting beneath a palm tree, Loganathan points to his new "house": a brown tent with blankets for a floor just outside Batticaloa, a town on Sri Lanka's east coast straddling a blue lagoon. The 34-year-old Tamil labourer says his family have been sheltering under the tarpaulin since November when a mortar shell landed in his garden, which was about 62 miles away from the refugee camp he now calls home. His nine-year-old daughter lost her arm in the blast and his five-year-old son's back was scarred by the shrapnel. "The army…

Sri Lanka 'complicit' in child-soldier recruitment Amal Jayasinghe AFP March 29, 2007 CHILD SOLDIERS: The Sri Lankan government has been condemned by a human rights group for failing to probe the recruitment of child soldiers and of even being complicit in their forced recruitment by the pro-government Karuna group. ( ) COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka came under fresh attack Thursday for failing to probe the recruitment of child soldiers as the government faced more allegations of abductions and extra-judicial killings. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) offered new evidence of state complicity in the forced recruitment of child soldiers by the "Karuna …

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forces thwartted a pre-dawn attempt by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and paramilitary cadres of Karuna group from Chenkalady Black Bridge SLA camp in Batticaloa district Wednesday around 3:30 a.m, to advance into Koduvamadu area in LTTE held territory in Batticaloa, sources in Batticaloa said. LTTE recovered the bodies of two paramilitary members killed in the retaliation besides eight T-56 rifles, unconfirmed sources in Batticaloa said. The four injured paramilitary members were first rushed to Chenkalady hospital and later transferred to Batticaloa Teaching hospital. They were identified as Thutchan, Varman, Nesan …

Sri Lanka says drives Tiger rebels from eastern HQ By Simon Gardner COLOMBO, March 28 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops have driven Tamil Tiger rebels from a key stronghold in the island's restive east, the military said on Wednesday, as the government probed how a rebel plane managed to bomb a base in the capital. Troops seeking to evict Tiger fighters from the eastern district of Batticaloa found late on Tuesday a complex of bungalows they say was a hurriedly abandoned rebel headquarters whose occupants fled to nearby jungle. "We have captured a Tiger headquarters in Kokkadichcholai, south of Batticaloa," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasingh…

Ready for talks with LTTE anytime: Sri Lankan govt. Colombo, March 28 (AP): Sri Lanka's Government said it was ready to hold peace talks anytime with the Tamil Tigers, following two days of dramatic attacks by the rebels, including their first airstrike and a suicide bombing outside a military camp. The attacks Monday and Tuesday killed 11 people and wounded 36. ``We must try to bring a comprehensive and substantial peace,'' Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogolagama told reporters Tuesday. ``Our government believes that we need to talk, we need to explore all avenues,'' he said, adding that if the rebels agreed to negotiation, ``we can have it tomorrow.'' …

Tamil Tigers unveil latest tactic By Roland Buerk BBC News, Colombo Whatever you may think of their goals and methods, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have always been innovative. Experts say the technology was rudimentary but effective It was they who refined the suicide bomber, and used them to devastating effect. And what other insurgent groups can boast a naval wing? The rebels have boats armed with guns, known as the Sea Tigers. Now they have confirmed what Sri Lanka's government had suspected for a long time - they have an air capability too. The first mission of what the rebels are calling the Tamil Eelam Air Force, or TA…

The island nation of Ceylon is in labor. Tamils ruled themselves before colonization and its time they reclaim what was lost in the past once again. Priya Raj, 26 March 2007. Since independence, the future for Sri Lankan Tamils was of uncertainty. When colonial rules took over the mother island, she had two children with their own states and marked territories, Sinhale and Tamil. They had their small differences but the mother island took care of them both with pride and love. She was a beautiful lady in the Indian Ocean. She was called fondly with so many names and even called the paradise on earth. She was full of resources and charm. She neve…

Way back in 1983, Velupillai Prabhakaran, on the alert, rode a bicycle through Jaffna to oversee a spot near the university his colleagues had picked to ambush Sri Lankan troops. Few people knew him then, and fewer had heard of the Tamil Tigers. A quarter century later, the same man, now a legend, has made history by using Tamil ingenuity to transform two light aircraft into stealthy bombers to target the air base of his enemy right in the heart of Sri Lanka. From the humble bicycle then to the breathless display of air power in 2007 - this is the extraordinary achievement of a man who has presided over a sharp and intelligent growth of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil…