britishtamil.com

“Frequently now I wonder whether Sri Lanka would have been a much more peaceful and much more homogeneous place if say 40% or so of the Tamil speaking population had been Buddhists and not exclusively Hindu or Christian. Is taking the Buddhist religion to Tamil people such a difficult task?” wonders Niranjan de Silva Deva-Aditya, Member of European Parliament (MEP) from U.K. and Honorary Ambassador-at-Large for Sri Lanka, in a statement after his recent visit to Sri Lanka as Vice-Chairman of the EU delegation. The Sinhala speaking MEP is tagged with a title, ‘Vishwa Keerthi Sri Lanka Abhimani’ (universally famous pride of Sri Lanka), bestowed onto him by the Buddhist clergy of Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, Major. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri announced fresh measures that would further curtail travel out of the peninsula and the use of CDMA wireless phones in the peninsula in a meeting held Wednesday morning in Thellippalai area in SLA Palaali High Security Zone (HSZ). Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, Heads of government departments and corporations and representatives of various organizations participated in the meeting.

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Eleven Tamil civilians were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted from 6:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. Wednesday in Mt.Lavinia area in Colombo division by the Police with the assistance of about one hundred members of the Civil Volunteer Force (CVF). Police used sniffer dogs and metal detectors to trace explosives in vehicles and in public places, sources said.

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Twenty four year-old Tamil youth Armugam Jaishankar was shot dead by unidentified armed persons arrived in a white van Wednesday evening around 4:30 p.m at Potkerni in Thampalakaamam police division in Trincomalee district.

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Twenty five year-old Tamil youth Kirubakaran Nitharshan was abducted Tuesday night from his house located in Nelukkulam in Vavuniyaa police division by a group of eight armed persons arrived in four motorbikes, according to complaints lodged by his wife Wednesday morning with the Vavuniyaa police and human rights groups.

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Unidentified armed men opened fire on the bodyguard of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian, T. Kanagasabai, Wednesday around 5:15 p.m at his house in Eruvil area in Ka?luvangchchikudi police division in Batticaloa district. The seriously injured bodyguard was rushed to the hospital, initial reports from Batticaloa said.

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Unidentified armed men opened fire on the bodyguard of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian, T. Kanagasabai, Wednesday around 5:15 p.m at his house in Eruvil area in Ka?luvangchchikudi police division in Batticaloa district. The seriously injured bodyguard was rushed to the hospital, initial reports from Batticaloa said.

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Colombo Additional Magistrate Ms. Malini Abeyratne ordered Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) police to submit the medical examination reports of journalist Tissanayagam, Equality Press Manger Vadivel Yasikaran, and Valarmathi who underwent medical examination 27 May 2008, on the request made by Defence counsel K. V. Thavarajah when the three defendants were produced in Colombo Magistrate Court Wednesday, legal sources in Colombo said.

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People traveling from north to south in Sri Lanka cannot pass through Mathavaachchi Sri Lanka Army (SLA) check post if they do not have their National Identity Cards (NIC). Passport, driving license, and documents of identification related to professions were earlier accepted in place of NIC. People without NIC are now being sent back by the SLA in Mathavaachi check post, sources in Vavuniyaa said.

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Unidentified armed men on motorcycle shot and seriously injured a Muslim paddy trader Tuesday around 8:15 p.m at Maavadippa?l?li in Chammaanththu?rai police division in Ampaa?rai district, sources in Kalmunai said. The victim was riding home from his paddy shop in Chammaanththu?rai, when he was shot. The armed men took away the trader?s motorcycle and the money he had in his possession.

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