A key base of now vanquished Tamil Tigers at Poonaryn in northern Sri Lanka has been converted into a police station.

Poonaryn in Wanni, which was liberated from the LTTE in November, 2008, was the strategic location for the rebels for controlling the southern shore of the Jaffna lagoon.

The new police station located on the 98 km long A32 highway was opened yesterday by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mahinda Balasuriya.

The Police Chief said the station would [...]

The LTTE, vanquished by the Sri Lankan army in May after a three decade bloody civil war, procured most of their arms from the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine as well as China, a former rebel commander has said.

The LTTE purchased most of its weapons from Ukraine," Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, best known as Col. Karuna Amman said.

There were many other supply sources in Asia and Africa, but the main source was Ukraine," the stocky Karuna, a former bodyguard to [...]

The reported remarks of a Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister that Pakistan, gripped by a wave of terror strikes, is "in a total mess" since the mid-seventies has led to objections from Islamabad, which said the comments were "unfair".

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha had reportedly said that destabilisation started in Pakistan after the coup by military leader Zia Ul Haq and that the state of affairs has remained the same since the last three decades.

"Look at Pakistan. The country is in [...]

Riding high on his victory against LTTE, Mahinda Rajapaksa says he plans to call for early Presidential Elections in Sri Lanka by the beginning of next year, nearly two years ahead of schedule.

The President said his government was ready to go a "little bit further" to resolve the Tamil question by going beyond the 13th Amendment of the Constitution which provides decentralisation and the establishment of provincial councils.

"This provision (13th amendment) was not enforced because of the war. We [...]

Initiating a fresh probe angle in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the CBI is now preparing a questionnaire for LTTE financier Kumaran Padmanathan on the basis of decade-old findings of MDMA, which has been investigating the conspiracy behind the former prime minister’s killing.

Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA), which has been granted another extension by the government despite noting for closure of this unit, has begun the work of preparing questions that would be sent to Sri Lanka where Padmanathan alias [...]

Even after routing the LTTE, the Sri Lanka army is all set to recruit up to 50,000 personnel to consolidate its position in the Wanni region once the stronghold the Tamil tigers.

Observing that the security strength needed to be beefed up to consolidate its presence in the liberated areas in the Wanni, Sri Lankan army chief Jagath Jayasuriya said the government proposed to recruit an additional 20,000-50,000 personnel to the army.

"We need more people", he said in his first [...]

India on Monday underlined its commitments to the early resettlement of the displaced Tamils, as it handed over fresh consignment of relief materials for the civilians displaced during the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

India provided over 6 lakh packages of relief material valued at USD 3 million for the Tamil IDPs in Northern Sri Lanka. The supplies, which arrived arrived in Colombo on August 8, consisted of grocery items, utensils, plastic mats, clothing materials including children’s clothing, footwear, jerry [...]

The possibility of the Tamil Tigers regrouping again has been "thwarted completely" with the arrest of their new leader Kumaran Pathmanathan, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said in remarks published on Sunday.

According to Rajapaksa, Pathmanathan, better known as KP, was arrested in an Asian country and flown to Colombo on the night of August 06.

"The arrest of the LTTE mastermind KP has thwarted completely the possibilities of LTTE raising its ugly head again," Rajapaksa was quoted as saying [...]

Several Tamil officials who had served in formerly LTTE-held areas in northern Sri Lanka were being meted out "shabby treatment" and one of them has been detained, a senior Tamil leader has claimed, seeking the intervention of the President in the matter.

"I wish to draw your attention to the shabby treatment given to public servants who served in LTTE-held areas. Not a single public servant served in Kilinochchi or Mullaitheevu on his choice," Tamil United Liberation Front President V Anandasangaree [...]

A top LTTE intelligence operator was nabbed by the authorities on Tuesday from the national capital along with high explosives, months after the group was annihilated by Sri Lankan Army.

Pakyaraja Pradeep, a prominent LTTE cadre, was arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) and when overpowered was carrying cyanide capsules.

The intelligence officials are questioning the man whether he was in the capital to carry out any suicide attack.

When caught, Pradeep was found to be carrying 7.5 [...]

Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Wednesday said that the early resettlement of some 300,000 Tamils displaced in Sri Lanka will get "top billing" in talks with Colombo.

"We have impressed upon the Sri Lankan government that the immediate need to resettle 300,000 Tamils should get top billing in our agenda," Krishna told Indian journalists ahead of his meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama.

"They have assured us (that) within 180 days they will be able to resettle [...]

A top United Nations official has said that there is a steady improvement in camp conditions for internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka as the government is taking steps for resettlement of refugees.

The acknowledgment came from the UN Assistant Secretary-General Jordan Ryan who recently visited Sri Lanka from July 12 to July 15. The World body has been pressurising Colombo for an early resettlement of the internally displaced Tamil people by early disbanding of the special camps.

Ryan held [...]

India today said it has asked Sri Lanka to take "effective measures" to address the concerns of displaced Tamils, as relations between the two neighbours would hinge on the issue.

Recalling his meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe at Shram-el-Sheikh this week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the Rajya Sabha that "bulk" of the meeting was focussed on the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.

"We are deeply concerned. I explained to him (Rajapakshe) we have legitimate concern about the [...]

Tamil Nadu Government incurred an expenditure of Rs 44.34 crores in 2008-09 for providing various relief measures to Sri Lankan Tamils living in refugee camps against Rs 39.90 crore spent in the previous year.

At present, a total of 73,451 Sri Lankan Tamils belonging to 19,705 familes had been accommodated in 115 refugee camps, including two special camps, located in 26 districts, according to the Public Department policy note tabled in the Assembly by State Finance Minister K Anbazagan [...]

Doctors treating displaced Tamils in the government-run welfare camps in Sri Lanka’s north have written a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa complaining about inadequate facilities and shortage of medical staff.

"It is difficult to stay in these shelters. The doctors examine patients from 7 o’clock in the morning to 7 o’clock in the night (in the Menik camps in Vavuniya). They need a proper place to sleep. The doctors do night shift. They are virtually alone there. There is [...]