Sri Lanka’s armed forces are massing troops and have weapons for further ground offensives against the Tigers while continuing their bombardment of LTTE-controlled areas and the LTTE has put its forces in Vanni on high alert.

"We are aware that the Sri Lanka Army has amassed military hardware close to Manalaru in preparation for a major offensive towards Mullaitivu area,” Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, Head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, said Monday.

“The consequence of this offensive will be a catastrophic bloodbath across Sri Lanka," he said.

“We warn that Colombo is courting national disaster by misinterpreting our patience for military weakness,” he said.

“Despite provocations from Colombo, we have desisted from engaging offensively against the Sri Lankan forces. We have exercised tolerance at high cost. We sincerely believe that the International Community has realized our tolerance has reached its limits.”

Mr. Tamilselvan was speaking to reporters after meeting Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar in Kilinochchi Monday.

“Our forces have been placed on high alert across Vanni,” he said. “Colombo would plunge the entire island into a bloody war by engaging its troops in this dangerous exercise.”

Apart from the buildup in Manal Aru, correspondents say the Army is massing weapons and troops in Muhamalai in the Jaffna peninsula and also at Vavuniya and Omanthai.

The military’s hectic preparations come as the fifth anniversary of the 2002 ceasefire, which exists only on paper now, was marked by vehement protests by Sinhala nationalists urging hardline President Mahinda Rajapakse to tear up the agreement.

The Sri Lankan military has already declared its intent to clear the eastern province of the LTTE before attacking the Vanni, a large swathe of territory the Tigers control in the island’s north.

Emboldened by a series of retreats by the Tigers in the face of its offensives in the east over the past eight months, the Sri Lankan government has announced plans to attack Thoppigala where long-standing LTTE bases are located in thick jungles.

At the same time the military is moving vast quantities of weapons and ammunition to forward areas close to the Muhamalai frontline in the Jaffna peninsula and is doing the same near Omanthai in Vavuniya district.

Muhamalai and Omanthai are the two main entry points to the LTTE-controlled Vanni region, which President Rajapakse vowed in a speech to mark Independence Day, Feb 4, to capture within the year.

In Jaffna the military has extended hours of curfew. In addition to the 11-hour night curfew, during the day civilians are barred from major roads comprising supply routes to the Muhamalai frontline from the Palaly base complex.

The military has also imposed a peninsula wide ban on fishing until further notice.

Tuesday last week the Army began moving heavy weapons including at least fifteen Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) to the Muhamalai forward areas. Weapons and troops have been moving to the area continuously for several days, reports said.

Meanwhile the Sunday Times reported a continuing military build-up by the LTTE in and around the Jaffna peninsula also.

Newly trained LTTE cadres were being deployed in rear defences and other localities while regular cadres were being moved to frontline defended localities at Muhamalai, the paper said.

In the Batticaloa district, the military’s announcement that ‘the fall of Thoppigala is imminent’ has triggered the flight of several thousand Tamils into government-controlled areas.

An estimated 70,000 people who fled earlier Sri Lankan offensives are already struggling in squalid refugee camps.

In the run up to the publicly declared push for Toppigala, Sri Lankan troops have also begun limited operations against LTTE positions south west of Trincomalee.

Artillery and helicopter gunships have attacked LTTE camps in the jungles near the massive eastern naval base.

The military has stepped up artillery bombardment and airstrikes on western parts of Batticaloa district and the Vanni.

Villages in the LTTE-held hinterland west of the lagoon that separates it from government-controlled town are being bombarded regularly, displacing ever-increasing numbers of civilians.

Amid daily artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) bombardments, Air Force jets are bomb areas further south in Vanni.

The Tigers are shelling Sri Lankan positions in Jaffna and Batticaloa in response.

This week a group of foreign Ambassadors visiting Batticaloa narrowly escaped LTTE shells which hit the military base their helicopter landed on.

US Ambassador Robert Blake and Italian Ambassador Pio Mariani,were slightly wounded when four shells exploded near the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter they had alighted from. Reports said Mr. Blake’s arm was grazed by a stone or shrapnel and Mr. Mariani suffered a small cut to his scalp.

The LTTE said Sri Lanka had failed to notify it in advance of the movement of foreign diplomats into the Northeast warzones as is customary practice and had launched artillery attacks from the airfield prompting its counterfire.

The statement of the LTTE marking the unhappy 5th Anniversary of the CFA is a noteworthy document, coming as it does at this juncture of the current conflict cycle. It is no doubt, a partisan account, but it represents a rather well stated case.

It seeks to give a comprehensive account of events of the past six years or so; engages international humanitarian law in its critique of the conduct of the government and the international community; and reiterates assumptive principles of process such as parity of status, balance of power, and international guarantees (and also, by sleight of hand, ‘authentic representative’ as opposed to ‘sole representative’) that underpin the CFA of 2002.

It also contains a succinct restatement of the historical dimensions of the Tamil struggle through peace means to armed conflict; and indicates in outline the substantive parameters of a negotiated settlement acceptable to the LTTE by reference to other international peace agreements.

In the absence of Lakshman Kadirgamar, it is difficult to imagine whether the response of the government, if there is one, would meet the LTTE’s document on the same intellectual plane, but that is to anticipate events.

In any event, it is the latter set of issues relating to substance that are more interesting.

Clearly, the LTTE wants a resolution to its self-determination claim that goes the way of secession, or graduated secession and earned sovereignty as its invocation of the Machakos Protocol from the Sudan peace process and the Ahtisaari proposals for Kosovo seems to indicate.

Theirs is a freedom struggle for a territory and people entitled to self-determination as articulated in common Article 1 of the human rights Covenants of 1966 and customary international law.

If that was not enough, having met with a repetitive history of duplicity and rejection with regard to federal autonomy, they are now in a position to assert sovereign statehood by virtue of control over territory and population and capacity to enter into international agreements.

The LTTE is the ‘authentic representative’ by virtue of not only the indirect democratic mandates gained by the TNA, but also by having delivered to the Tamil homeland the trappings of a de facto State.

All this is fine as the articulation of a position. But in practice, there are several obstacles that may prove very difficult to overcome in the LTTE’s quest to place itself in the position of the SPLM/A in Southern Sudan or the KLA in Kosovo.

As a matter of international law, the preponderance of the debate on self-determination is about the development of the right to internal self-determination within existing States in meeting collective claims such as those of the Tamils of North-eastern Sri Lanka.

Unilateral secession is without question actively discouraged in international law.

In turn, this is an aspect of the ongoing development of democracy as a principle of international law, wherein internal self-determination is advanced as inherent to emerging entitlements of democratic self-government within States.

This is where the 2003 Oslo Declaration with its reference to internal self-determination was an outstanding contribution to good sense as a framework for peace in Sri Lanka, but which both parties abandoned on zero sum calculations.

In this context, the LTTE’s own conduct with regard to human rights, democracy and political pluralism in the Northeast creates difficulties for itself in engaging international law in its cause.

On the other hand, as the examples of Southern Sudan and Kosovo demonstrate, international politics is more often than not, more important in strategising secession than rigid concepts of international law.

Nothing in international law entitles the Kosovars or the Southern Sudanese to the strategic autonomy and progressive sovereignty deals they have achieved, but for the odium and international revulsion that Serbian nationalists and Khartoum Arab-Islamists had brought upon themselves by their treatment of the former.

The adroitness of the LTTE statement lies precisely here.

What appears to be a plaintive lament about the international community’s abandonment of the Tamils is in fact a strategically skilful and legally astute ploy designed to exploit the fundamental weakness of the Colombo regime.

That is, Colombo’s reliance on the notoriously fickle support of the international community in the pursuit of a military solution that is accompanied by serious and systematic human rights violations and no ideas on a political settlement.

Staying this course on the part of Colombo, would have a very high probability of legitimising the case for a level of autonomy so extraordinary that even if the LTTE never quite circumvents the geopolitical considerations in realising full legal sovereign statehood, the Northeast would certainly reach a kind of state-like character ipso facto.

The LTTE therefore has studied its situation in comparative context and learnt the lessons well.

If there is such a thing as a policy-making mind in this administration, it would do well to keep these considerations in mind.

Asanga Welikala is a Research Associate with the Legal & Constitutional Unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Colombo. The views expressed here are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of CPA.

The full text of the LTTE’s statement is available at http://www.ltteps.org/?view=1877&folder=17

More than two hundred journalists, trade union workers demonstrated at the Fort Railway Station in central Colombo on February 6 to condemn the growing harassment and intimidation of the media and left wing activists through killings, abductions and death threats.

On the Feb 5, 2007, the Sri Lankan army intelligence kidnapped Mr. Senaviratna, Mr. Sisira and Mr. Serasinghe. The first two are trade union activists. Mr. Serasinghe is the owner of a typesetting shop and is a left wing activist.

Mr Senaviratna and Mr Serasinghe were abducted at work; Mr Sisira was abducted at home. There was no warning; they were not read their rights; they were simply taken away.

A 'confession' was forced; they were forced to confess their involvement with the recent bombings in the south of Sri Lanka; they were forced to confess to links with the LTTE.

Through such forced 'confessions', the Sri Lankan state is trying to destroy all left wing and working class activism and to criminalise left wing activists in the popular press.

As President Mahinda Rajapakse has intensified the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), his government and the military have imposed what amounts to a regime of de facto censorship.

In December, Rajapakse reintroduced and extended the notorious Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorist Activities legislation that allows for the lengthy detention without trial of alleged "terrorists". New regulations have extended the law to allow for the prosecution of anyone, including journalists and media organisations, on the vague charge of "supporting" terrorism.

President Rajapakse, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse and army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka have called meetings of media representatives on several occasions to warn them against criticising the war on the grounds that it will affect national security and the morale of the security forces.

There is little doubt that many of the attacks on journalists and left wing activists have been carried out either by the security forces or associated chauvinist thugs.

For the most part, the Sri Lankan media establishment has lined up behind the renewed civil war and acts as little more than a mouthpiece for the government's chauvinist propaganda.

Rajapakse is distinctly nervous that any critical reporting of the war, rampant official corruption, worsening living standards and attacks on democratic rights will only inflame popular discontent, including in the military's ranks.

That is the reason for the escalating crackdown on the media and left wing activism.

When the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government signed the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) five years ago, they justifiably triggered a euphoric wave of optimism across the island. The guns had of course been silent for two months already – the LTTE’s Christmas truce had been promptly reciprocated by the UNF government (newly elected with a nod and a wink to the Tamils from the Tigers). Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But when it was unveiled, the CFA had a magical air of finality about it. The international community lavishly praised the truce and called for talks. Norwegian shuttle diplomacy – and not a little input - helped draft it. And, as in all agreements, both the government and the LTTE gained and lost by the ceasefire. But, and this is the crucial truth, both sides were satisfied enough to sign it. They even agreed to international monitoring of their conduct.

Five years on, as the hardpressed staff of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) pointed out last week, bloody battles are once again being fought in the Northeast - alongside a dirty war of terrifying abductions and vicious murders. Since President Mahinda Rajapakse assumed power the simmering ‘shadow war’ between Sri Lanka’s military intelligence and the LTTE has exploded into a major conflict. It is often said that the truce exists only on paper now. In practical terms, this is true. Yet the CFA still has massive potency. Neither side is prepared to serve the two-week notice to quit. That alone attests to the powerful symbolism of the CFA. The agreement is more than a technocratic set of rules. It represents the very principle that negotiation, not violence, must finally settle political questions; that peace is better than war. To abrogate the CFA is to repudiate this. Which is why both the state and the LTTE refuse to do so. It is also why the warmongering Sinhala nationalists have demanded the CFA be torn up from the moment it was inked.

The CFA has been pilloried from the outset. Chandrika Kumaratunga, the President whose abortive ‘war for peace’ concluded with the truce was its most powerful critic. Yet she never dared exercise her considerable Presidential powers to abrogate it. Her chagrin that Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe usurped her authority and signed the CFA was tempered by a recognition of the extent of international backing for the truce and the mood amongst most Sri Lankans. The question then is why the CFA is now being ignored so blatantly by both sides?

There are many reasons why the CFA failed to fulfill its promise and pave the way to a negotiated peace. There are other reasons, some of which are related, why it collapsed into renewed war. Naturally, depending on one’s political loyalties, blame is apportioned differently. But one thing is quite clear. In the past five years, international support for the CFA has tangibly faded. Nothing symbolizes this more starkly than the international silence that marked the truce’s fifth anniversary this month. Norway’s lone voice trotted out an obligatory salute and a plea for the ceasefire to be honoured. Meanwhile there is a shameful thundering silence from that mighty institution which appointed itself to manage Sri Lanka’s transition to peace: the Co-Chairs. When the United States, European Union and Japan joined Norway in 2002/3 to underwrite the peace process, they put a pile of money on the table and imposed conditionalities on both parties. But unable to micromanage the outcome they wanted, they simply abandoned the peace-building project. Frustrated at the LTTE’s refusal to follow the marked out route to disarmament, they condemned the movement. They also abandoned the conditionalities and gave the money to the Sri Lankan state anyway.

Meanwhile, a peculiar ‘counting’ of violations was introduced as a much-quoted scale of wickedness by which to judge the two parties. We wonder how many violations the killing of 50 children in an airstrike constitutes? How does this compare with the recruitment and subsequent release of 50 under-18s? Can we numerate the continued occupation by the military of the homes of 30,000 Tamil families, even now, five years on? Yet we are emphatically told that the LTTE violated the truce ‘more’ than the government. Whilst not the most important aspect of Sri Lanka’s fiasco, the impact of the SLMM’s methodology on respect for the CFA and especially its own standing, should not be underestimated. How much outrage, really, was provoked when Sri Lankan artillery barrages compelled SLMM chief to huddle in bunkers. Not once, but twice.

Most importantly the CFA’s collapse last year can be linked directly to the international community changing its mind on the efficacy of military force. Whilst maintaining the mantra that ‘there is no military solution,’ the international community has set about helping Sri Lanka unabashedly pursue a military victory over the LTTE. Of course the justificatory logic was that the Sri Lankan state had to be helped to defend itself against the LTTE – which is unquestioningly deemed the aggressor in this ‘internal’ war. The premise that underpinned the CFA (that there are two belligerents) was discarded. Amongst the one-sided condemnations, the exasperating international bias went from being a disrupting influence in the Norwegian peace process to being the underpinning principle of a new round of conflict: President Mahinda Rajapakse would not have resumed a full-scale war against the LTTE without being assured of international support.

Undeniably, both the LTTE and state’s armed forces have breached the CFA. However both sides have specific and compelling reasons to court international support and sympathy: the state to retain its diplomatic, military and, above all, financial support; the LTTE to pursue political legitimacy and make a case for governance. Therefore, as long as the international community was committed to opposing the use of military force to settle Sri Lanka’s political question, there could be no war. Low intensity violence would continue and occasionally flare, but there would be no return to open conflict.

Yet last year the government launched a full-scale war. The suicide bomb attack on Army Chief Sarath Fonseka last April was the casus belli. Yet almost exactly three years earlier, when the military attacked and sank an LTTE ship in March 2003, restraint, not retaliation was demanded – and exercised. In June 2003, an LTTE oil tanker was similarly destroyed. In each case, a dozen LTTE cadres, including at least four commanders were killed. Yet the truce held. It is precisely because the international community has given President Rajapakse a green light to militarily destroy the LTTE that the ceasefire collapsed so spectacularly last year.

The ramifications of this internationally endorsed new ‘war for peace’ are exactly the same as the last one. Hundreds of thousands of Tamils will be displaced. Our people will endure starvation and disease amid international embargoes as the world maintains a studied silence – irrespective of Diaspora lobbying. Large numbers will of die or be maimed. And it will continue until either the Tamils end their opposition to Sinhala rule or a new balance of forces emerges from the battlefield our homeland has once again become.

11 February

● Police in Valikamam East recovered the bodies of two men with gunshot wounds and torture marks. Chelliah Mylvaganam, 53, and Navaratnam Arultheepan, 27, were abducted from their homes in Siruppiddy by armed men driving a white van half an hour before being killed.

● Sri Lanka Government forces in a cordon and search operation arrested three upcountry Tamil youths, Madavan Naguleswaran, Madavan Maheswaran and Uthayakumar of Hatton, who were waiting at Kandy railway station to travel to Colombo.

● About forty-five persons were taken into custody by the police in cordon and search operations in Chilaw. Although the ethnicity of the arrested were not fully revealed, residents in Chilaw said only some of the arrested are Tamil. Many of the arrested were accused of engaging in criminal activities in the area.

● In Mylankadu, Chunnakam, Jaffna, armed men in a white van abducted Nagalingam Yoganathan, 45, father of three.

● Rajalingam Suresh, 19, was abducted from his residence in Mulli Road, Ariyalai Jaffna, by men in a white van.

● Armed persons shot dead N. Gunadasa near Vipulananda School in Pandarikulam, Vavuniya, after hiring his auto.

10 February

● Armed men shot dead a trader at Aiyankerny in Eravur, Batticaloa. The killers called Maheswaran Uthayasekaran, 32, of Kommanthurai, a father of two, out of his house as he was having dinner saying they wanted to buy a phone card and shot him. He was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

09 February

● The train service between Dematagoda and Maradana in Colombo was halted for several hours following a tip off that an anonymous parcel was lying on the track between the stations. The SLA bomb disposal squad rushed to the site and stopped all public movements in the area. Railway authorities were warned not to allow trains on the track till the investigations were over. On examination security forces found no explosive in the parcel – only some pieces of paper.

● Sri Lanka Government forces arrested 11 Tamil civilians during cordon and search operations in Munthal, Uddapu and Munneswaram areas in Chilaw. The detainees are from Killinochchi, Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu in the Tamil dominated northeast province. Police said they were taken into custody as they failed to produce legal documents to prove their identity and credible reasons for their stay in the locality.

● Two SLA soldiers were injured when gunmen fired at a foot patrol in Nellukulam, Vavuniya. Sri Lanka Military high command strengthened security and increased the number of road patrols amidst escalating violence in Vavuniya district.

● A Tamil youth, who recently returned from working abroad, was shot dead in Madduvil North, Thenmaradchi, Jaffna. Gunmen stopped Rasaratnam Pushparajah, 30, from Musiri in Madduvil North, as he was riding his motorbike, shot him dead at point blank range, and absconded on his bike, which they abandoned a few kilometres away. Police found five gunshot wounds on Pushparajah's body.

● Gunmen shot dead a teacher in Pattanichchur Puliyankulam, Vavuniya, making him the sixth person to be killed by armed men in Vavuniya in February. Thambirajah Thileepan, 40, was a teacher at the Vavuniya Poonthottam Government Mixed School. Of the six victims killed by armed men in Vavuniya this month, four were identified as civilians, one was a SLA officer, and the last was a home-guard.

● Pulmoddai police recovered the body of Sinniah Palaniappan, 59, along the beach in Pulmoddai village, Trincomalee. There were injuries on the body but the exact cause of death was not revealed.

08 February

● Several SLA troopers were feared killed in a claymore attack on a bus carrying soldiers along Palaly Road, Jaffna, less than 50 meters from Urelu SLA camp. Palaly military command did not release official details on the attack. The damaged bus, belonging to the Ceylon Transport Board, was taken inside Urelu camp, which is a key SLA camp and serves as the main camp of the SLA intelligence wing.

● A husband and wife, parents of two children, were shot dead in Maharambaikkulam, Vavuniya. Aarumukam Sakthivelai, 47, and his wife, Maheswaray Sakthivelai, 42, were shot in the early hours while they were sleeping.

● Seven STF troopers and three civilians were injured in a mortar attack from LTTE held areas on the Vavunathivu SLA camp. The SLA fired mortars in retaliation. A new STF camp is being constructed near the current SLA camp.

● Armed men abducted a fisherman at Santhiveli, Eravur, and shot him dead later in the day near his house. Myilvaganam Ravichandran, 33, is the neighbour of a Hindu priest, Chelliah Parameshwara Kurrukal, shot dead the previous day, allegedly by armed men attached to SLA military intelligence.

● Three civilians, fearing threat to their lives from Sri Lankan armed forces and allied paramilitaries, took refuge with the Jaffna SLHRC, who handed them over to the Jaffna prison officials to be kept in protective custody. Prison officials have warned of a possible humanitarian crisis in the prison as youths seeking protection, and criminals are kept in the same facility. Jaffna prison, which is already in a deplorable condition without adequate facilities, will struggle to accommodate any additional youths, prison officials said.

07 February

● SLA troopers lying in ambush along an interior road in Thatchanthoppu Pillayar temple area at Karaveddy, Vadamaradchi, Jaffna, opened fire on a youth, killing him on the spot. However, military reports from Colombo said the SLA killed a youth who had attempted to hurl a hand grenade at the troopers.

● Armed paramilitaries visited the house of Kiddinan Kirushnarasa, 34, a civilian in Paththini Amman Kovilady, Valvettiththurai, Vadamaradchy, and forcibly took him away.

● A shell exploded near the Navalar Community Development Centre in Velanai, on the island of Kayts off the Jaffna peninsula, forcing the villagers to scatter in panic. No one was injured in the explosion, but some nearby buildings sustained minor damage.

● Ramachandran Jeyachandran, 33, an auto-rickshaw driver and father of two, was shot dead at Kooman kulam, Vavuniya. Jeyachandran had previously lost a leg during the war.

● SLA troopers of a field motorcycle unit opened fire on a young farmer at Mirusuvil in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna. Kurnaathy Muhunthan, 24, of Kudavian, Varani, was seriously injured in the shooting.

● SLN marines shot and seriously injured a man driving a tractor in Ward 4, Velanai east, Jaffna, allegedly for not giving way to SLN marines on a motorcycle behind the tractor. The SLN, however, said that the firing was a warning shot and was not intended to harm Kailayapillai Balachandran, 47.

● A Hindu priest, who had been forcefully taken to Vaharai from Santhiveli by the SLA to garland Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse during his visit to Vaharai on February 3, was shot and killed by armed men allegedly attached to SLA military intelligence. Chelliah Parameshwara Kurukkal, a father of three, was shot near his house, a few meters from the Santhiveli SLA camp. He had been taken to Vaharai by the military under the pretext of performing a pooja and made to garland the visiting president. Santhiveli residents alleged that the priest, who was unhappy over the forced pooja in Vaharai, has been victimized by the military intelligence. Dignitaries of all faiths have been forced to be present at the opening ceremonies of various paramilitary offices in Batticaloa and Amparai during recent months.

● The body of an unidentified male was found washed ashore in the Salaipaiaru seacoast in Kuchchaveli, Trincomalee.

● Six Tamil youths were arrested in Dankotuwa in a cordon and search operation by the Sri Lankan forces. All were employed in a bakery and are natives of upcountry and eastern province. Police said they were taken into custody as they failed to prove their identity and the reason for staying in the area.

06 February

● A hand grenade explosion in Colombo wounded 18 at an exhibition when a STF trooper was demonstrating how to use the devise. Two STF personnel, 2 Buddhist monks, 4 females and 2 children were among the injured at the military exhibition at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall. Colombo police said the explosion, which took place inside a STF exhibition stall, was accidental. The exhibition was organised by the government to mark Sri Lanka’s 59th Independence Day.

● SLAF MI-12 helicopters fired rockets in Kadawanaikulam and Morawewa areas of Trincomalee for more than 30 minutes. Military sources in Colombo claimed the attack was aimed at a concentration of LTTE cadres in Kadawanaikulam, close to Kalmuttiyankulam reservoir where a SLN camp is located. The town is also close to Morawewa where a SLAF camp is located.

● Armed men shot dead two youths in Kankeyan Odai area, Kathankudy, Batticaloa. Preliminary police investigations revealed that Kirupairatnam Sathurik, 24 and Sivaramalingam Govintharaj, 23 had been abducted and killed.

● Armed men abducted a married man from Kuruchi Four Tamil village in Eravur, Batticaloa. Veerapan Uthayakumar, 36, a father of two, is a native of Hatton who had been a resident of Kurichi Four Tamil village for six years. He was abducted on his way to the shop from his home.

● Armed persons, who identified themselves as SLA soldiers, took Sinnaththurai Vijayaruban, 23, of Kadduvan Road, Mallakam in Valikamam, for questioning in the presence of his parents. Vijayaruban's whereabouts are unknown.

● Unidentified men abducted Louis Moraes Satkunanathan, 59, retired Grama Sevaka Officer and father of three from Sinnakadai in Mannar town, with his motorbike as he was going along Mannar-Talaimannar main road to supervise construction work he had undertaken in Talaimannar.

● Anestine Kathirkumar, 31, and Christie Balendran Croos, 29, were abducted when they were returning home on motorbike on Mannar-Talaimannar main road after buying provisions at Mannar bazaar. The two fishermen are residents of Pesalai.

05 February

● Three Sinhala friends, all leftist journalists or activists were abducted in Colombo. Leftist activists have alleged that the three friends were kidnapped by an abduction squad operated by the Sri Lankan military.

● A SLA officer was killed and a trooper injured when armed persons attacked a road patrol unit at Pandarikulam road in Vepankulam, Vavuniya. The body of the officer, Captain Dammika Kumara, was taken to hospital and then the SLA camp, while the trooper was rushed to Vavuniya Military hospital. The SLA claimed the ambush was launched by LTTE cadres who escaped.

● The SLA said three troopers were injured in an attack by the LTTE at Macanar road in Sector 5, Vavuniya. Vavuniya police claimed that an LTTE cadre was killed in SLA retaliation.

● The decomposed body of a young man, believed to be about 25, washed ashore at Karaithivu beach, Samanthurai, Amparai. The body had gunshot wounds, its hands tied behind and its throat tightly bound by rope. The unidentified body was buried at the site due to its decomposed state.

● Sri Lankan government security forces arrested 42 Tamils, including female students, in a cordon and search operation in Kohuwela, Colombo. Police allege those arrested failed to prove their identity and the purpose of their stay in the area, but relatives said the police refused to release the detainees even after these details were supplied.

● Thirteen upcountry Tamils were arrested in Dankotuwa in a cordon and search operation by Sri Lankan forces. Although Police allege the detainees were taken into custody as they failed to produce their identity and reasons for their stay in the area, relatives said they were employed in Dankotuwa and that they had submitted legal documents to prove their identity.

● Seven upcountry Tamils working in a coir factory were taken into custody by government security forces in a search operation in Nattandiya, Negombo.

● Armed men shot dead a Tamil, believed to be a resident of Killiveddy, Serunuwara, Trincomalee, at Kantalai railway station. He had gone to Kantalai, accompanied by his mother, to go to Batticaloa by train. He was shot while coming out of the station rest room.

● A SLN sailor was seriously injured in grenade attack on a group on security duty at Pesalai, Mannar. About four thousand Pesalai residents sought refuge in the local church soon after the grenade attack, fearing increasing violence.

● Two unidentified youths were killed and one civilian critically injured when LTTE cadres and members of the paramilitary Karuna group engaged in a fire fight in Kaluthavalai, Kaluwanchikkudy, Batticaloa. S. Jegajothirajah, 50, the Depot Manager of Kaluwanchikkudy Peoplised Transport Board, was injured while travelling in a bus along the main road to Colombo.

● A Home Guard trooper was killed in an attack on the 18^th guard post at Kurumankadu, Vavuniya. The Home Guards, paramilitary fighters deployed in the Sinhala border villages of the northern and eastern areas, are trained by the SLA and police. The Home Guards Service was formed in 1985 as a supplementary force to support and assist the three forces and the police by protecting border villages and the main supply routes.

● Men dressed in military fatigues abducted Selliah Siventhiran, 25, from his home in Madduvil East, Chavakachcheri, Thenmarachchi, Jaffna.

18 February

● SLA soldiers shot dead a final year Art faculty student of Jaffna University close to the SLA 52-4 Brigade Head Quarters and near his house in Iyattalai, Varani, Thenmaradchi. Krishnan Kamalathas 24, was shot dead while he was going towards a private tutory to teach classes (see separate story).

● A SLN sailor was killed and nineteen others injured when the bus transporting a group of sailors from Habarana to Trincomalee met with an accident at Kantalai. The sailors were returning to report to the Trincomalee navy headquarters after vacation when the bus carrying them ran off the road.

● A Muslim civilian was killed and a Tamil man injured when police fired indiscriminately following a grenade attack by armed men at Chenkalady Police Post in Eravur, Batticaloa. Mohammad Cassim, 60, of Kaththankudy, who died, and Samithamby Thanabalasingam, 44, of Batticaloa, who was injured, were both bystanders when the police started firing.

● Armed men shot and seriously injured Kanapathipillai Thiyagarajah alias Ananda, 67, at Central Camp in Amparai. The armed men called him out of his house and searched his house before shooting him.

17 February

● Two SLA soldiers of the 51-2 brigade were killed and 12 troopers wounded in a road side claymore ambush along the A9, 300 meters from the Jaffna District Secretariat and inside a SLA High Security Zone. A child, believed to be around 5, was rushed to hospital with shrapnel wounds, but died at the hospital. SLA soldiers opened fire, cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. Three civilians were wounded. The injured soldiers were identified as Soorasinghe, 32 and Premadasa, 42. The injured civilians were identified as A. Chithra, 24, of Ariyalai, K. Mohan, 46, and E. Jesuthasan, 55.

● One civilian was killed and two injured when the SLA opened fire in Kumankulam, Vavuniya, but Vavuniya Police said they received no information about the incident. Sinnarajah Suresh, 18, was killed, and Kumar Raguvaran, 17, and Logeswaran, 36, were injured.

● Assailants triggered a claymore mine in Pandarikulam, but no injuries to SLA soldiers or Police officers were reported. Residents of Pandarikulam said SLA soldiers fired indiscriminately for 30 minutes after the attack, but no one was injured.

● A male body with gunshot injuries recovered from Uppuveli, Trincomalee, was identified as Sivalingam Senthooran of Aathimoddai village along Trincomalee-Nilaveli road. His body was found blindfolded and with hands tied behind and he had been shot dead by unidentified persons. His wife said three unidentified persons went to her house Friday night and abducted him.

16 February

● SLAF bombers attacked Muhamalai, Kilali and Vadamaradchi East as the SLA launched a heavy artillery barrage using Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers. Four SLAF bombers dropped more than 20 bombs, while the SLA stepped up its artillery barrage on the two separate FDL positions, one from the northern FDL towards Muhamalai, Kilali and Vadamaradchi east and the other from Manalaru SLA camp in Mullaitivu towards LTTE held areas.

● The SLN attacked two fishermen, fishing in deep seas from Vadamaradchy east coast, and arrested both with their boats. Two other fishermen witnessed the incident and fled to safety. The arrested fishermen, Karunakaran Jegathesan, 27, from Vathirayan, and Sivanantharajah Sureshkumar, 30, from Maruthankerni, were internally displaced from Vadamarachchy East region and lived temporarily at Puthu Maththalan in Mullaithivu.

● An attempt by Jaffna Police to send youths who surrendered to police fearing for their lives from SLA and paramilitaries working with SLA, to rehabilitation centres in the South, was stopped by the intervention of the Jaffna District Judge. The Police tried to send the youths to rehabilitation centres in south for further interrogation and "rehabilitation." Their parents took the matter to Jaffna Court, and the judge, with the support of the Sri Lanka Attorney General, ordered the police to keep them in Jaffna. Although people who fear for their lives seek refuge in prisons, prisons themselves are not safe in Sri Lanka. On 23 and 25 July 1983, Sinhala prisoners at Welikada Prison beat 53 Tamil political prisoners to death. On 25 October 2000, 25 Tamil detainees were hacked to death and 16 others were seriously wounded when hundreds of Sinhala villagers assisted by Police attacked the Bindunuwewa detention centre.

● Kandy Police and SLA soldiers arrested 14 civilians, including nine Tamils, three Muslims and a Sinhalese, in a cordon and search operation following a tip off that a bomb had been placed in the Kandy bus stand. The SLA bomb disposal squad rushed to the site, but no bomb was found. Police took the civilians into custody as they failed to prove their identity and the purpose for the stay in the area. Of the three Muslims one is a woman. The Tamil suspects are all natives of Jaffna or Vavuniya, and were taken into custody when they were returning to their temporary residences after attending Maha Sivarathiri poojah at the Hindu Temple in Kandy town. The police arrested them even after they showed their national identity cards to prove their identity.

● Vavuniya Police said armed men gunned down a former PLOTE cadre, Kumaraswamy, in Thirunavatkulam in Vavuniya.

15 February

● Three LTTE cadres and a Home Guard were killed, and two other Home Guards wounded in a fire fight at a remote boarder village in Amparai. The policemen and Home Guards manning Komattalawa sentry point foiled an LTTE attack, killing three attackers. The Police recovered the three bodies and two T-56 assaulted rifles' Amparai police said, but the LTTE has not commented on the incident.

● Moratuwa Police took into custody 19 Tamils, all of them from areas of NorthEast, in a midnight to dawn cordon and search operation in the Soysapura Flat area in Moratuwa, Colombo. The police said the suspects, aged between 19 and 40, were taken into custody as they failed to produce legal documents to prove their identity and the reasons for the stay in the locality.

● The Colombo Chief Magistrate ordered the release of 18 Tamil civilians arrested on February 9 in a cordon and search operation in Borella and Mirihana, Colombo, after police said there was no evidence to implicate the suspects in any offence. The Sri Lanka government troops and police took the civilians into custody on suspicion and they were detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and interrogated.

● A decapitated body washed ashore at Nadukkudah in Mannar. Fishermen in Pesalai witnessed more than four dead bodies, packed inside polypropylene fertilizer bags, floating in the sea. More than 10 persons had been reported missing in Pesalai area in the previous 20 days, according to the Mannar SLHRC. Fishermen from Vankalai, Thalvupadu and Southbar reported bodies floating at sea to the Sri Lankan Police, but were told that they had to report to the SLN as the police would only handle bodies once they reach the shore.

● A journalist working as Vadamaradchi correspondent for two Tamil dailies, Thinakural and Valampuri, went missing after ending his private tuition class. Subramaniam Ramachandran, 37, a father of two, who also runs the private education institute at Arasady, Karaveddy, Vadamaradchi, went missing after he closed his institute and was on his way home on his bicycle. Ramachandran, described as an "energetic correspondent," by the editorial staff of Yarl Thinakural, worked for the two dailies for 5 years since the signing of the Cease Fire Agreement in 2002. He is a native of Thunnalai in Karaveddy, Vadmaradchi.

14 February

● Ten SLA soldiers were injured when more than forty shells fired by the LTTE hit their camp in Meesalai, Jaffna. SLA command did not release details of the attack and casualties. Shells were also directed towards several other key camps in Kodikamam and Meesalai. An elderly pedestrian, C. Kulasekaram, 64, from Allarai North, Kodikamam, was seriously injured and several civilians sustained minor injuries when a shell fell near the main road in Kodikamam during a crowded market.

● Armed men shot dead Somapala Wijepalan in Anpuvallipuram, Trincomalee. No other details about the victim or the motivation for the killing were released.

● The SLA conducted a cordon and search operation in Vankalai, Mannar, following an attack on the sentry point the previous night. The sentry was attacked with small arms by a group of three who travelled in a boat by sea. The SLA said the attackers had fled from the shore, leaving the boat, when they retaliated. Soldiers had recovered two T56 rifles, two hand grenades and five magazines with live bullets from the boat they captured.

● The SLN in Delft, an islet of Jaffna, issued a directive banning fishing and using boats on the Delft Sea between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Ninety percent of the population of Delft depend on fishing for their livelihood, and are seriously affected by the ban. Delft, under the control of SLN and SLN-backed paramilitaries, has until now escaped SLN restrictions on fishing.

● Armed men in a white van, alleged to be members of Karuna Group, abducted five youths from the Central camp in Amparai over two days. The parents of T. Srithas, 17, Thambipillai Sritharan, 18, Tharumarajah Thayaparan, 20, all from Sangapura area, lodged complaints with Central camp police. Parents of the other two abducted youths are hesitating about making complaints as they fear retaliation.

● A special police team from the Criminal Investigation Department arrested three Tamil teachers in Ragala, Nuwara Eliya and took them to Colombo for interrogation. Police said the three were arrested on information from one of the three Sinhala journalists, arrested earlier in Colombo, on charges of having received arms training from the LTTE. Vaithilingam Mahendran of Alkaranoya Barathi Vidyalayam, Suthanthirakesari Sugasenan of Konaipitty Tamil Vidyalayam and Rajaretnam Jeyaseelan of Mahauwa Tamil Vidyalayam, are all said to be members of the New Democratic Party (NDP). The national organizer of the NDP appealed to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse to release the teachers, saying they were innocent. Meanwhile, the police arrested two Sinhalese civilians in Ratnapura in Uva Province also for having connections with three Sinhala journalists.

13 February

● Gunmen shot and killed Ariyaratna Silva, a Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council member of the main opposition UNP, inside his office in Dehiwela, a suburb of Colombo.

● Two youths from Sirupiddy, Valigamam east, Jaffna, fearing threat to their lives from the government armed forces and allied paramilitaries, sought safety at the SLHRC and were placed under the protective custody in Jaffna prison. The parents said that armed persons were searching for their sons at nights following an incident where the bodies of two men abducted from their homes in Sirupiddy were found dumped in Nilaavarai. The parents were scared that their sons' lives were also in danger, and sought safety with the help of the SLHRC.

● Armed men on a motorcycle chased a youth and shot him dead as he was returning from Kodikamam town to Kachchai along the road behind Kodikamam police station in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna. Kasipillai Vasanthakumar, 17, had more than six gunshot wounds on his dead body.

● Gunmen shot dead a man driving his tractor along Navatkuli-Kerativu road, one hundred metres from the Navatkuli SLA camp in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna. Rasathurai Thavanesan, 26, a father of one, from Thachanthopu in Kaithady, had been stopped by his assailants, who spoke to him before opening fire.

● Six troopers were injured in a mortar attack by the LTTE on the Vavunativu STF camp. The STF retaliated but information on LTTE casualties was not released.

● Two family men, one aged 34, from Kalvayal in Chavakacheri in Thenmaradchi, and the other aged 32, from Kokuvil area in Jaffna, fearing threat to their lives from Sri Lanka armed forces and allied paramilitaries sought safety at the SLHRC and were placed under protective custody in Jaffna prison.

● Sri Lanka Police recovered a decomposed male body from a well in Vaharai. The body was bound inside a sack. The SLA has not permitted former residents to resettle in Vaharai after LTTE cadres withdrew from the region and the SLA took control last month. Only the armed forces and allied paramilitaries are currently in the area.

● Karuna group armed paramilitaries in military fatigues waylaid a Colombo bound civilian bus from Kathankudy, Batticaloa, and robbed Rs. 1,500,000 rupees, several national identity cards, 15 hand phones and jewellery from the passengers. The armed robbery took place between Mavadi SLA camp and Murakodanchenai SLA camp, near which there is an office of the Karuna group. The bus had begun its journey from Kathankudy to Colombo with 45 passengers and was waylaid near Sithandy Murugan temple junction in Eravur. Police said that small vans had been robbed at the same place, but this robbery was the biggest.

12 February

● Six Sri SLAF Kfir bombers dropped 18 bombs in LTTE controlled Visvamadu, Mullaithivu, Vanni, near civilian settlements.

● Sri Lanka government security forces conducted a cordon and search operation covering fishing hamlets in Kallaruwa, Pudavaikattu, Pulmoddai and other coastal areas of Kuchchaveli, Trincomalee town.

● Sri Lanka military reports from Colombo claimed that they had destroyed one of the two LTTE boats sailing towards Pulmoddai from Mullaitivu, and taken the other boat into custody. The LTTE did not comment on the claim.

● Two gunmen pretending to be customers entered a meat stall in Chavakacheri Modern public market and shot rapidly with pistols, killing an employee on the spot and seriously injuring another, who later succumbed to his wounds. The victims were identified as Rajendram Tharsan, 22 of Madduvil, Chavakacheri and Sellathamby Selvarupan, 27 of Allary.

● The bodies of two unidentified men were recovered by police at two different locations in Colombo. One body was found at Kettarama bridge area and the other at Galkissa seashore.

● A Jaffna employee of the international humanitarian de-mining organization, Halo Trust, was reported "missing" since Friday. Nagarasa Narenthiran, 27, of Temple road, Nallur went to work as usual to the head office of Halo Trust at Nallur Cross road, Friday morning, his wife told the SLHRC in Jaffna, but never returned home. Eleven Halo Trust workers have been either reported "missing" or killed during the past 6 months.

● Kanapathippillai Kirushnapavan, 35, a family man, who went to see his abandoned house situated near a SLA camp in Thondamanaru in Vadamarachchy, has not returned home. His wife told the SLHRC officials that his motorbike, the house key and some clothes were seen at the entrance to the house.

25 February

● Armed men shot dead S. Sathiyaseelan, 24, a daily wage earner of Veeramunai, as he was riding his bicycle to purchase goods at Veeramunai, Sammanthurai, Amparai. Sathiyaseelan's brother is a LTTE cadre and the killers may have interrogated him about his brother and then shot him dead.

24 February

● Palaly SLA announced that troopers conducting a sudden search at Kopay Training college found a T-56 type rifle concealed in the roof of the students hostel. Last week troops claimed telecommunication equipment and hand grenades were found in a room in a catholic church near the residence of Bishop of Jaffna. Also, SLA alleged hand grenades were found in a Hindu temple in Neervely. The claim of finding weapons in the midst of HSZs has raised suspicions among the local residents that the SLA is seeking excuses for the harassment of students and religious dignitaries, who have lead civil rights campaigns against abuses.

● Batticaloa district plunged into darkness due to interruption of electricity supply following a 15 minute heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher barrage by the SLA from Batticaloa Brigade camp and Mylambaveli SLA camp on LTTE held territories. SLA shells exploded in Ayithiyamalai, Karadianary, Pankudaveli and other areas in the LTTE held territory.

● The body of a young man with gun shot injuries to his head was found dumped at 8th lane in Vepankulam, Vavuniya. The man was wearing denim jeans and his hands were tied together.

● Two 15 year old students of Udupiddy American Mission College are missing. Poovathasan Yaseetharan and his friend Kunasekaralingam Sivaroopan, both from 15 mile post Udupiddy in Vadamaradchy, disappeared while riding bicycles to attend class at a local private education centre. Family members said they suspect SLA troopers had arrested them, as SLA troopers were conducting an extensive cordon and search in the area where the students were last seen and local witnesses say they saw SLA troopers taking two boys away.

● SLA soldiers cordoned off and searched Kondavil, Mallakam, and Tellipallai in Jaffna soon after the expiration of the overnight curfew. Soldiers entered residential houses, and examined the National Identity Cards of residents. Several road blocks were placed along Jaffna-KKS Road where the troopers checked the documents of all passers-by.

● SLA soldiers fired artillery and multi-barrel rockets towards jungle areas of Kumburupiddy, Trincomalee, from their camps at Monkey Bridge, Morawewa and other surrounding areas.

● Batticaloa District TNA parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy charged that SLA soldiers are dismantling civilians’ homes in Vaharai and stripping them of furniture and equipment. IDPs who fled Vaharai before the SLA entered the area have been prevented from returning by soldiers guarding the entry points. Refugees from Sampoor had complained that the roofs of their houses have also been removed by the SLA.

● Nine Tamil civilians from Valaichchenai, Batticaloa, were arrested by the Sri Lanka security forces in a cordon and search operation in Hatton, Nuwara Eliya. Police said they were taken into custody and detained as they did not possess national identity cards and also failed to provide valid reason for their stay in Hatton.

● 24 Tamil civilians arrested in several search operations in Hatton were produced in Court and remanded for fourteen days on an application by the police. Majority of them are natives of northeast province and a few are residents of Hatton.

● Sivarajah Kokilaraj, 23, was critically injured when armed men on a motorbike fired at him at Thulasipuram, Trincomalee, while he was walking along the road.

● Iyathurai Rathakrishnan, 28, of Suthumalai, Manipay, Jaffna, was abducted. Although extra judicial arrests, killings and disappearances have escalated in Jaffna, and the Sri Lankan armed forces and collaborating paramilitaries are alleged to be behind the disappearances, no actions have been taken.

23 February

● SLA Jaffna command in Palaly announced that in addition to the 11 hour night curfew already in place, there will be further restrictions of civilian movement during the day. SLA directed the public to avoid certain roads during a three and a half hour period, between 10:00 a.m. and 12.00 noon and 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. The announcement also advised the public to avoid using main routes including Palaly Road, KKS road, Jaffna-Point Pedro road passing through Vadamaradchi and A-9 Highway, pointing out that these are the main SLA supply routes. Though the announcement from Palaly ‘advised’ the public to avoid these roads, SLA troops patrolling these areas began to strictly impose the new ruling.

● S Kesavan Jeyakumar, 23, was abducted on Nallur-Saddanathar road, within Jaffna municipal council area.

● SLA troopers, stationed at Thenmaradchy FDL in Muhamalai and adjoining areas, unleashed a barrage of artillery fire and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher shells towards LTTE held areas. Despite the intensified attack, the SLA and the Libration Tigers avoided direct confrontations. SLA forces posted along the coast of the peninsula also continued to launch artillery and MBRL fire towards LTTE held areas. Areas around the Jaffna lagoon including Pooneryn and other places were also subjected to SLA attacks.

● Armed men shot dead Ravichandran Ashok, 27, of Palugamam, a member of paramilitary Karuna Group, in Kaluvanchikudy as he was on his way to market.

● Several plantation Tamils were taken into custody in cordon and search operations by Sri Lanka security forces in Talawakelle, Pundoloya and Lindula in the central province. All were released after their identities were checked except three Tamils who remain in detention.

● The body of a Tamil youth, residing in Parapankandal, Mannar, with his family after being displaced from Jaffna, was recovered at Palaikudi Junction in Nanattan with severe cut injuries. Unidentified persons had abducted Mariyathas Girithas, 26, and killed him by inflicting severe wounds to his neck and chest with a sharp instrument, before dumping his body at Palaikudi Junction.

● Gunmen shot dead Stanley Robert, 42, a resident of Annai Velankanny Road in Trincomalee, a three-wheeler driver, at Palayoothu, Trincomalee. 

22 February

● Armed men lying in ambush opened fire on SLA troopers at Chenkalady public market, Eravur, Batticaloa, killing one – M. Saman Navaratne, 36, of Komanthurai SLA camp. SLA troopers fired at random and more troopers were deployed at the site. A cordon and search was also launched though no one was arrested.

● The SLA conducted a house-to-house search with the assistance of local police in Bogowantalawa, central province. Most Bogowantalawa residents are Tamils of Indian origin. Police took several residents, mainly Tamils, into custody for interrogation. Police said the search was conducted on a tip off about LTTE infiltration in the town. A special sentry was put up at the entrance to the town during the search operation and all vehicles entering and exiting Bogowantalawa town were subjected to severe check.

● Fifteen Tamil civilians, majority of them residents of northeast and Colombo, including a woman, were released from Boosa detention camp in Galle after about one month detention, as no evidence to implicate them with terrorist activities were found after extensive inquiry. About 95 Tamil civilians, including women, are detained in the Boosa camp and are being investigated to ascertain if they are involved in terrorist activities.

● Atchuvely police recovered the body of a male aged around 30 from shrub land close to a civilian settlement at Vatharavathai, Puthur East in Valigamam East, Jaffna. The body, bearing gun shot wounds, was handed over to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for postmortem examinations. Residents said they observed the presence of SLA troopers the previous night at the site where the body was found and heard gun shots from the area.

21 February

● Twenty Tamil detainees, taken into custody by the Sri Lankan police and military since 2003 and detained in Magazine prison in Colombo, began a fast-unto-death campaign urging Sri Lankan authorities to expedite the investigations against them or release them if there were no charges against them. The fasting detainees are Arumugam Senthilkumar and Murugathas Sivaroopan from Jaffna, Isidor Arokyanathan from Kotahena, Muthaiah Sahathevan from Kirilapone, Iyampillai Rajkumar from Boganthalawa, Manickam Thamilinian from Pasarai, Solaimalai Jegatheeswaran and Thevarajah Kirupakaran from Mannar, Thankarasa Surenthiran from Wellampity, Rohithan Thineshkumar from Vavuniya, Arumugam Sashikumar from Kilinochchi, Kanthasamy Paheerathan from Poonery, Anthony Sathiyanathan from Mulankavil, Rangan Janahan of Badulla, Rathinam Ananantharajah of Mallakam and Perinpanathan Kangatharan, Sebestian Sohaspiriyan, Mahendran Puvitharan, and Mahenthirarasa Paranthaman, all from Batticaloa.

● Unidentified persons detonated a cycle bomb, killing a police inspector and two civilians, and injuring fourteen including 5 Police officers, at Ottamavadi, Valaichenai, Batticaloa. The attack targeted a jeep carrying a police team that was relieving the constables stationed there. The dead were identified as Karunaratne, 39, Inspector of police, and civilians Meera Lebai Ahamed Usanar, 45 of Piranthuraichenai and Sehuth Ali Kileel Rahuman, 32, father of 1 of Ward No. 4, Valaichenai.

● Five students including two girls, and a teacher were injured in a bomb explosion in front of the SLA sentry post which guards the Main Office of the EPDP in a Jaffna HSZ. The SLA said that a hand grenade lobbed into the sentry missed its mark, landed in front of the sentry and exploded. Eyewitnesses and the injured however said that no one had lobbed the hand grenade into the SLA sentry post. P. Muhunthan, 33, teacher from Annaikottai, Jaffna, V. Gowritharan, 19, of Madam Street, Kantharmadam, Jaffna, R. Janakan, 17, of Jaffna town, M. Sinthuja, 19, of KKS road, Jaffna, G. Thanusha, 18, of Vannarpannai, Jaffna and T. Thamonuthan, 17, Point Pedro Road, Jaffna, were injured. The teacher and students had finished their class at a private education centre near the SLA sentry post and were on their way home when the explosion took place.

● Thiyagarajah Mahendrarajah, 28-year old family man, was shot dead by men ridding a motorbike, at Ukulankulam, Vavuniya. The carpenter, working at Kovil Kulam, was taken on motorbike by armed men to Thiruchenthur Mill junction in Ukulankulam and executed. A SLA captain was shot dead at the same place recently.

● Armed men shot dead a woman at Gandhinagar, Trincomalee. Five men on two motorbikes called P. Sivatharshini, 33, out of her house and shot her dead.

● Armed men shot dead a Tamil youth on the border of Thuwarankadu-Anpuvalipuram, Trincomalee. Ponnan Mahendran, 28, three wheel driver, was a resident of Uppuveli.

● Armed men shot dead a farmer at Potkerni, a suburb in Thampalakamam, Trincomalee. The victim was identified as Sinnathamby Thevapalan, 51.

● Eight fishermen who left from Kalpity for fishing went missing, relatives complained to the police. The fishermen are residents of coastal areas in Negombo, Kudakarai and Kalpity. The SLN has deployed several fast attack crafts to patrol the seas from Colombo harbour towards Kalpity following recent skirmishes.

● Additional troops and police were deployed in Minuwangoda, western province, to quell any racial disturbance following the killing of Mohamed Fazil, 38, a member of the main opposition UNP and a former Muslim councillor of the Minuwangoda Pradesya Sabha. Tension prevailed in the area between the Sinhalese and Muslim communities. Minuwangoda Police took a Sinhalese person, Sooti Malli, into custody. Black flags were seen on houses and shops and business establishments were closed down as a mark of respect to the murdered local politician.

● Unidentified persons stabbed a Tamil civilian to death on at Kandiah Road in Mihinthupura, Trincomalee. Kathiravelu Paramananthan, 56, and a retired watcher of a state bank branch in Trincomalee town, had been a resident of Channel Lane in Trincomalee town and was killed with a blunt weapon.

20 February

● Two SLAF Kfir bombers attacked Parasankulam, Vavuniya, killing 2 civilians and wounding one. Two hours later, the bombers dropped 12 bombs in another location, at Karipaddamurippu where a civilian house was narrowly missed.

● A van belonging to Nedunkerni hospital narrowly escaped a claymore explosion triggered by a SLA DPU at Manavalanpaddamurippu, Mullaithivu. Nine people, including the driver, were in the van, travelling from Nedunkerny to Puthukudirippu. The attack was triggered at the same place in Nedunkerny where in August 2006 five people including the doctor were killed in a similar attack on a Nedunkerny hospital ambulance. That attack too was allegedly carried out by a SLA DPU team.

● A civilian vehicle on Nedunkeni Periyakulam route narrowly escaped from another claymore allegedly triggered by a SLA DPU

● SLA soldiers were seen moving heavy military hardware, including more than fifteen T-54 type tanks and Main Battle Tanks along Point-Pedro Kodikamam road towards Thenmaradchy FDL, further fuelling speculations of renewed war in Jaffna.

● Sri Lankan armed forces stationed in Jaffna Peninsula were placed on red alert in the aftermath of a claymore explosion in the heart of the city Saturday, and another unexploded claymore recovered 300 meters from the 51.2 Brigade head office on Monday. The armed forces introduced a new security measure, and ordered all civilians and vehicles to keep a distance of least 100 meters when a military convey passes along a road.

● Immanuel Kenthira Vivilian, 28, of Hospital Road, Jaffna and David Arulnesan, 36, from 5th Cross Street, Jaffna are missing after they left to Jaffna town from their homes.

● SLA troopers in a Hiace white van arrested Thiyagarajah Saran, 25, at his home in Avarankal East, according to the complaint made by his family members at SLHRC.

● Thavarajah Subramaniam, 48, was arrested by SLA troopers in a white Hiace van at his house in Atchuvely South.

● Visuvasam Amalraj 19, a resident of Navakiri, riding on motorcycle along Rasa Veethy in Navakiri is missing and is thought to be abducted by SLA troopers in a white van.

● A group of armed men attempting to rob a house at Arumugathankudirippu, Eravur, Batticaloa, shot dead two civilians who tried to prevent the robbery. The victims were identified as Mamankam Vadivel, 41 and his cousin Kanapathy Kandiah, 60.

● Armed men on motor cycles, alleged to be members of Karuna paramilitary group, abducted two youths at gun-point at Temple road in Kalmunai in Amparai district. The two youths are Sivarasa Denish, 18, the owner of a video shop close to Kalmunai police station, and Suveehan, 19, both residents of Temple Road in Kalmunai. The armed men called the two youths out of their house and abducted them, threatening them with pistols.

● Vavuniya police recovered bodies of three youths with several cut wounds to their neck and chest, inflicted by sharp instruments, near Pandarikulam Amman temple in Vavuniya. Local residents informed the Vavuniya Police of the abandoned bodies lying in the area. A written note, signed 'Peoples Well-wishers,' was found beside the bodies said the three are being punished for their involvement in extortion of money from the public.

● Two armed men on a motorcycle chased a fisherman on his motorbike along Thumpalai road in Point Pedro, Vadamaradchi, Jaffna and shot him dead ten minutes after he returned from the SLA 524 Brigade camp close to his house, where he had sought permission to hold his sister's wedding. Jaggopu Iruthaya Jenyraj, 32, a bachelor of Manal Lane in Point Pedro, was on his way to the Village Officer's office to get a ration card for food items needed for the wedding.

● Another Tamil civilian sought protection with the Jaffna SLHRC. The 24-year old from Allaippiddy in the Jaffna islets was staying as an IDP at a camp in Our Lady of Rosary church when he sought safety with the SLHRC. Ho told officials that unidentified men had come to the camp in search of him. Fearing for his life, he with his wife and two children called in at SLHRC office next to the church and in front of the 51.2 Brigade Head office.

19 February

● Nine Tamil civilians including seven from Vaharai, Batticaloa, were arrested at Norwood in Hatton Police Division in a cordon and search operation by Sri Lanka government security forces. Police said they were taken into custody as they failed to produce necessary documents for their visit to Norwood area.

● Government troops conducted another search operation in Bogantalawa in central province and arrested fifteen upcountry Tamils.

● The houses of four fisher families were gutted and a vehicle used for transporting fish, valued at two million rupees, was completely destroyed in a fire at Vankalaipaddu in Mannar. The fire started in one house and spread to the other properties before residents were able to extinguish it. The loss has been estimated to the tune of 3 million rupees. Ms. Stanley de Mel, Mannar Divisional Secretary visited the site and viewed the damage, before directing village level officials to submit a report after assessing the damage.

● Sri Lanka's Post Master General directed all post offices not to accept medicine or food parcels addressed to Jaffna residents until further notice. He told the media that the Commissioner General of Essential Services has informed him that enough food is available in Jaffna. He also said the postal department had incurred heavy expenditure in sending food parcels by air and sea. People are handing over food parcels more than 5 to 6 kg to post offices, he said.

● The body of a fisherman, who was reported missing with another fisherman in Mullathivu since Saturday, washed ashore at Koriyadi, Vetrilaikeni, Vadamaradchi east. SLN gunboats had fired at the fishermen in the seas off Mullaithivu. Sivananthan Suresh, 32, father of one, displaced from Maruthankerny in Vadamaradchi East, was missing with fellow fisherman Karunaharan Jegatheeswaran, 22, from Vathirayan north in Thlayady in Vadamaradchi east. The decomposed body, with gunshot wounds in chest, was handed over to the family. Suresh and Jegatheeswaran had not returned home from the sea until Friday and fellow fishermen went looking for them in Mathalan Sea. They were able to find only their fishing net and not their boat with the outboard engine worth more than two hundred thousand rupees.

● Thirty Tamil civilians were arrested in Kandy and Teldeniya in the central province in a cordon and search operation by the SLA and police. Most of the arrested are natives of North East and Colombo. Government security forces blocked all roads and searched all vehicles on a tip off. Police said the detainees taken into custody as they gave contradicting statements as reasons for their stay in the locality. Tamils who proved their identity were also taken into custody.

Paramilitary leader Karuna (c) pictured visiting one of his camps in the east. File photo TMVP.

When Karuna (Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan), then one of the Tamil Tigers’ top commanders, broke away from the LTTE, exactly three years ago, his rebel yell was ‘freeing the east from the domination of the north.’

At the time, the expectation amongst many - not just his fellow rebels - was that Karuna, as leader of a new Tamil outfit in the east, was going to play a role comparable to LTTE leader Veluppillai Pirapaharan.

Karuna attempted to gain recognition as another party, alongside the LTTE and the Sri Lankan state, to the protracted conflict. He asked Colombo, foreign governments, including peace-broker Norway, and other international actors to treat his breakaway faction accordingly.

Meanwhile, Karuna’s fellow rebels and supporters addressed him as 'thalaivar' (leader). A new oath of allegiance was drawn up for them. Their new goal was to liberate the Tamil people of the east from the oppressive Sinhala state and northern Tamil domination.

Karuna named his new movement ‘Tamil Eela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal’ (TMVP) - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam People.

But Karuna’s fiefdom collapsed after just six weeks. However, even after fleeing the east with a handful of loyalists and going underground, he did not abandon efforts to (re)establish a bastion in the east.

Karuna knew only solid control over a piece of territory, no matter how small, could ensure him a respectable position in any future bargaining for his ambitions.

Vowing to ‘liberate the eastern Tamils from Vanni domination’ Karuna and his cadres began launching raids against the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan military is accused of forcibly recruiting boys for the Karuna Group. File photo TMVP

The TMVP projected these attacks in which a few Tiger cadres were killed from time to time as significant military achievements.

He projected his group as a parallel to the LTTE, asserting that it was essentially a liberating force of the eastern Tamils.

Copying Pirapaharan, Karuna even issued a policy statement on Nov 27, ‘Heroes Day’ – the day on which the Tigers remember fellow fighters killed in three decades of struggle and the LTTE leader makes his much-anticipated annual speech.

With a measure of territorial control his primary goal, Karuna based his strategy on his own military experience and his group’s armed capability.

Aware of the TMVP's limitations, he exchanged his inside knowledge about the LTTE and the services of his menfor the protection, weapons and other assistance that Sri Lankan Military Intelligence (MI) was eager to provide him with.

Since then the Karuna Group, as the TMVP has come to be known, has engaged in a murderous dirty war against the LTTE with the increasing support of MI.

But last year the Sri Lankan government launched direct military offensives against the Tigers.

And with the fall of Vahari in January, Karuna’s position regarding his political goals and bargaining power has changed drastically.

This was starkly apparent when Karuna appeared on Derana TV, a Colombo based private channel in early February. In an interview, Karuna was now advocating ‘peace.’ His agenda for the east was, notably, ‘development and education.’

Amid the very difficult socio-economic conditions of the east, such pledges have long been the mainstay of political campaigns there.

What was curious in this instance was a liberation war veteran promising to court the state's largess.

His ‘liberation force’ would, he said, solicit governmental assistance to ‘satisfy’ the people of the east.

The Tamils of the east, he argued, would quit their freedom struggle once the government commenced social development and educational programmes. They would not even ask for federalism or devolution, he asserted.

Meanwhile, his group’s name had became ‘Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal’ with ‘Eelam’ notably being dropped.

Karuna went on to praise President Mahinda Rajapakse and his policies as outlined in the hardline Sinhala-nationalist election manifesto, ‘Mahinda Chinthana.’

Karuna even denounced former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for bretraying ‘Mother Lanka’ during the Norwegian-brokered peace talks.

Questioning Ranil’s loyalty to the nation, the born-again Sri Lankan patriot also cast aspersions on the credibility of the Norwegian facilitators.

Karuna then thanked the Sri Lankan Army for ‘liberating’ the Tamils of Vaharai from the LTTE and said the Sinhalese should be assured of his determination to engage in peaceful politics.

Last weekend Karuna came out in public and visited some of his camps in the east. Wearing a pistol belt and accompanied by heavily armed guards, he addressed hundreds of unarmed conscripts.

“We believe today in the rule of law, democracy and pluralism,” he declared.

“Sri Lanka is our Motherland. We consider that it is our duty to respect the country’s Constitution and also the President and the Government of Sri Lanka,” the liberation fighter said.

“The liberation of the Tamils of the east was possible because of the correct political leadership of President Mahinda Rajapakse and his Army commander Lt-Gen, Sarath Fonseka.”

“The Tamils should remember the few hundred soldiers who sacrificed their lives to liberate Vaharai from the ruthless Vanni Tigers.”

This drastic about turn in Karuna’s policies can be illuminated by an examination of the recent and drastic changes in his circumstances.

Unfulfilled military promise

When Karuna decided to split from the LTTE, he invited the media to his stronghold in Batticaloa. Protected by grim-faced guards, he gave interviews with hundreds of well-trained fighters and 120mm heavy mortars lined up in the background.

The message was clear: whoever (the government, the LTTE or the Norwegian facilitators) considering negotiations should bear in mind his military assets and 6000 strong military force.

The Karuna Group's conscripts and recruits pictured awaiting Vinayagamoorthi's speech during his visit to the paramilitary camps in the east. File photo TMVP.

Prior to his rebellion, Karuna had been the Commanding Officer of the Jeyanthan Regiment. At the time of the split, this elite force was deployed at Nagerkovil in northern Vanni.

Six weeks later a sizeable contingent of the Jeyanthan Regiment advanced past Karuna's defence lines in Verugal and bore down on his main camp, Meenakam, warning strong action against those who opposed its intent to bring the east under the control of the LTTE’s central command.

Ahead of the offensive, the LTTE had appealed through the media for eastern community leaders to encourage Karuna’s cadres to desert.

Shortly after the collapse of Karuna's frontlines at Verugal, a large crowd of local people forced their way into Meenakam, where for many weeks newspapers had been barred and radios confiscated.

Upon hearing of the LTTE offensive from the civilians, the fighters vacated the Meenakam camp, leaving their weaponry behind. (According to Karuna, he disbanded and released them to avoid a battle).

Karuna, with a handful his loyalists, fled to Colombo. He was now without any independent military capacity.

Nevertheless, he continued to believe that he could rebuild this capability and eventually claim equal status to the LTTE.

Sri Lankan military intelligence, believing Karuna could pose a challenge to the LTTE whilst being kept under their control, began to assist him.

Camps were established for Karuna’s cadres in the jungle on the border between Batticaloa and Pollannaruwa districts. MI assisted Karuna overtly (for example to forcibly recruit Tamil youths – including minors) and covertly assisted him to attack LTTE border positions.

Though Karuna was able to kill a number of LTTE officials and fighters, it was at a heavy price to the TMVP. He lost most of his key loyalists including his brother, Reggie (Vinayagamoorthi Sivanesathurai) in a series of clashes.

Meanwhile LTTE intelligence infiltrated into Karuna's hideouts, as deep as Koddawa in Colombo and Vannathurai in Welikkanda, and inflicted severe losses.

These developments alarmed MI’s commanders. Concerned the TMVP could be a conduit for LTTE penetration of their own structures, they limited contact with the Karuna Group to specific operatives and started to keep it at arm’s length.

Rather than allow Karuna free rein against the LTTE, when MI thought his recruits were sufficiently trained, they took them along on attacks and ambushes against the LTTE.

In late 2006, as the Sri Lankan military stepped up direct offensives against the LTTE in different parts of the east, Karuna Group cadres were incorporated into the attacks.

On Sep 6, 2006, Karuna Group sub-commanders Jeyam and Pillaiyan jointly lead Karuna men in an operation to capture an LTTE base in Kanchikudicharu area. (Before the split, Jeyam was an LTTE company leader and Pillaiyan was in the finance section.)

They were given a temporary operational base in the Kanchirankuda Special Task Force (STF) camp. From there, they gave orders to their 150-strong unit.

But the Tigers had mined their own base and set up an ambush with mortars and snipers. As Karuna’s men began torching the unprotected huts, claymores went off followed by a barrage of 60mm mortars.

In their hasty retreat, the Karuna Group team ran straight through an STF unit functioning as a rear guard and forward control post for artillery in Kanchirankuda and Thandiyadi STF bases.

Caught in LTTE heavy weapons fire being directed at the Karuna Group, the STF took heavy casualties.

Subsequently, when the STF launched a final push to capture the LTTE bases as Kanchikudicharu and Vinayagapuram LTTE bases, they avoided using Karuna Group cadres.

In neighbouring Batticaloa, an infantry unit of Sri Lankan Army (SLA) had a similar experience.

Though a Karuna Group team and a rearguard unit of SLA soldiers managed to infiltrate as far as Aliyavodai in Thoppikkal jungle, they triggered an LTTE response and staged a chaotic retreat.

They barely escaped a cordon and search operation reportedly led by Colonel Jeyam, the LTTE's special commander for Battiacaloa in the Vadamunai bush. Supporting SLA artillery killed four LTTE cadres, but yet a Karuna Group cadre was captured and the body of another left behind.

In the early phases of the Vaharai offensive, SLA units operating under the instructions of Major General Pannipttiya, Commanding Officer, Security Force (East), deployed Karuna Group men differently.

They were given specific tasks such as neutralizing an LTTE position or establishing one of their own at a location within LTTE-controlled area.

Karuna Group cadres, given their knowledge of the territory and the Tamil language, scored a success in an initial mission on Oct 6, 2006. Masquerading as LTTE fighters, Karuna Group cadres approached an unsuspecting group of Tigers and shot them all at point-blank range. The Tigers lost eleven fighters in that incident.

But the element of surprise was now lost.

In the subsequent phases, in a series of fire-fights with LTTE cadres, the Karuna Group sustained heavy losses. Over forty cadres were killed, seriously wounded or captured in different attempts to infiltrate Vaharai.

The losses lead to friction with the SLA amid the Karuna Group’s complaints that the extent of artillery and air support being extended to them was much less than that received by SLA units.

Just as the STF had in Amparai, in the final stages of the Vaharai battle, the SLA removed Karuna Group cadres from the area of operations.

Limited options

However, despite the dismal performance of his fighting cadres, Karuna maintained a high profile in the media. The TMVP’s media reports about operations jointly carried out with the SLA against the LTTE, often contradicted the military’s versions.

Each claimed the anti-LTTE operations were carried out without the other's assistance. The contradictions came to a head when four Tiger dead bodies were recovered along with some weapons near Miyankulam on the A11 highway on December 13, 2006.

The Karuna Group's claims were creating disquiet in the south and undisguised irritation within the military. The issue went up the chain of command to President Rajapakse himself.

The instructions from the top were clear and final. In contrast to the early days of the ‘shadow war’, Karuna was instructed not to make any claims on recent successes against the Tigers. Further publicity for the Karuna Group in the south would be unhelpful, he was told.

Indeed, in his interview in early February on Derana TV, Karuna disclaimed his fighters' involvement in the Vaharai battles.

“The SLA is now capable of handling these matters,” he said. “They did not ask. … We did not go.”

On Oct. 8, 2006, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) collected the bodies of eleven SLA soldiers from the LTTE in Vaharai. However, they were not permitted to collect another six bodies of Karuna Group cadres killed alongside the soldiers.

Meanwhile, amid increasing complaints of criminal activity, Karuna was asked to discipline his cadres, whose conduct was embarrassing the security forces in the Muslim area of Kattankudi.

In general, the TMVP was told, it should concentrate on its political agenda for the time being.

Karuna is thus in a bind. Unlike Douglas Devananda, who heads the paramilitary EPDP or the militant turned politicians in the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), he is not used to parliamentary politics.

Without no credible and sustainable military capability, Karuna desperately needs a political support base for his survival. But that produces another problem: what political slogan can woo the eastern Tamil constituency?

The Tamils in the east have too many stakeholders for a newcomer, especially one with a track record of cooperation with the Sri Lankan military which has a particularly brutal history in the eastern province.

Even in last year’s local government elections in Ampara and Trincomalee, the Tamils demonstrated they were not prepared to vote for the parties backed by military. Instead, the LTTE-backed TNA did well.

As the results show, the majority of the Tamil community are likely continue to take this stance. The remaining votes will be equally contested by anti LTTE groups - PLOT, EPRLF (Varathar) and EPDP – other than the Karuna Group.

Even if, as has been unsuccessfully tried before, Karuna unites the ant-LTTE Tamil groups in the east behind him and with the help of the military gets a sizeable electoral backing, this alone cannot give him control of the east.

Over the years the demography of the Eastern Province has been deliberately and (often) violently manipulated to create equal representation of all three communities: Muslim, Tamil and Sinhalese.

Karuna therefore cannot afford to make political statements that could undermine his possible future alliance with other communities’ representatives. Such an alliance would be unavoidable to secure even a provincial portfolio for the TMVP.

Which is why, addressing his recruits this weekend, Karuna asserted: “We want to live equally with the majority Sinhalese and minority Muslims.”

There is one other, time proven, way for Karuna to establish himself in the east: to strike a bargain with Sri Lanka’s most powerful office, the executive presidency.

Which is why Karuna is unabashedly singing hosannas for Mahinda Rajapakse. The oddity of the former Tamil liberation fighter praising ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ is not entirely inexplicable.

His overt praise of his former foes, the Sri Lanka Army and its commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, is a strategy of exaggerated subservience to defuse rising Sinhala doubts that one day this Tamil terrorist will ‘revert to type’ – or perhaps, by his actions, invite unwanted external interventions.

As he told his cadres last weekend in comments reported in the south: "When we left the LTTE on 03 March 2004 we decided to enter into the main stream politics of Sri Lanka.

“When we left the LTTE, we also gave up the policy of Separate state or Tamil Eelam. We do not believe in such a utopian politics any more.”

Three years after launching his rebellion against the LTTE, Karuna is very far from where he was on March 2, 2004.

For Rajapakse, he is a fortuitous dual-purpose (military and political) tool. Though Wickremesinghe’s party claimed credit for creating the split in the LTTE, Karuna belongs exclusively to the President.

For the TMVP’s sub-commanders, his personal political ambitions are the only means by which financial security and legal immunity (an increasing necessity amid rising accusations of murder and gang-rape) are possible.

For the Sri Lankan military he is an initially welcome but now problematic counterinsurgency asset that needs to be handled with care: on a tight leash, but at arm’s length.

For the Sinhala polity, he is another element to undermine the Tamils’ unity against the discrimination of the Sri Lankan state.

For the other anti-LTTE Tamil groups, he is an unwelcome – and dangerous - player in their limited political pool.

For the Tamils of the east, he is the latest in a long line of Army-backed militants whose extortion, conscription and unrestrained violence they must endure.

For the LTTE he is one more informant to eliminate.