'Valaichenai attack premeditated'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 19:07 GMT]
"The 'Hartal' was a pretext for the Islamic extremiststo destroy the Tamil people's economy in Valaichenai. They used guns, claymore mines and grenades to attack us. The Police stood by when Islamic extremists were attacking us with these weapons. Who gave them these weapons?," asked Mr. Ethirmannasingham Kamalranjith, the spokesman for the Tamil community leaders and traders, during a discussion with Sri Lanka's army commander, Lt. Gen. Balagalle, and Minister for Economic Reforms, Mr. Milinda Moragoda in the eastern town Sunday.
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Curfew lifted in troubled eastern town

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 12:39 GMT]
The four-day long curfew clamped in general area of Valaichenai - Oddamavadi 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa was lifted Tuesday morning. Tamil traders and businessmen were Monday permitted to see the gutted remains of their shops and buildings in the Valaichenai bazaar. The area has been under curfew since Friday 28 June.
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Ceasefire has reduced human rights violations - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 11:15 GMT]
Ending a two-week visit to Sri Lanka, Amnesty International (AI) delegates welcomed the positive engagement and cooperation from both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on issues of human rights and the peace process. "The current climate is one of pragmatic hope," Derek Evans, head of the delegation said. "The cease-fire agreement has made a significant impact in reducing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka."
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EPDP snubs official inquiry

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 02:42 GMT]
A Tamil paramilitary organisation whose armed cadres are accused of assaulting senior political cadres of the Liberation Tigers snubbed a request by a Sri Lankan government board to send representatives to an inquiry into the incident, press reports said Saturday. Cadres of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) along with army and naval personnel are accused of assaulting the LTTE’s top political cadre in the islets of the Jaffna and one his team members, on June 21.
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SLA troops advance to LTTE lines - report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 00:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) units in the Kilali-Nagerkoil axis in the Jaffna peninsula have advanced closer to the positions of the Liberation Tigers and taken up positions well inside the minimum separation distance stipulated in the ceasefire agreement, according to complaints received by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Tamil press reports said this week.
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MPs allege Police hand in Valaichenai violence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 June 2002, 16:10 GMT]
The three Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians of the Batticaloa district Saturday alleged that the Police too had a hand in the violence in Valaichenai Thursday and Friday. In a letter to Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe they charged that Police officers in charge of the area had acted partially. They asked the Prime Minister to appoint a Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge to inquire into the violence.
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Youth found shot dead

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 22:52 GMT]
The Chavakachcheri acting Magistrate A.Premashankar Friday ordered an investigation to the unexplained death of a Tamil youth whose body with was recovered with gunshot injuries Thursday evening from a paddy field close to the forward defense line of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp at Eluthumadduval, Thenamaradchchi in Jaffna district.
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Muslim extremists attack Minister’s house

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 15:15 GMT]
A large mob of Muslims led by Islamic extremists attacked and demolished the home of Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister for Fisheries, Mr. Mohideen Abdul Cader, Friday afternoon after prayers at a local mosque in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa. The attackers removed weapons of the Minister’s security unit that were in his home, Police sources in the eastern town said. The extremists had railed Mr. Cader after the Friday’s Jummah prayers for not backing their cause and had incited the crowds at the mosque to deal him justice. Meanwhile, another mob led by the Islamic extremists set fire to a local government body’s office in the town’s Tamil quarter.
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Tamil journalists condemn attack on colleague

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 11:02 GMT]
Tamil journalists Friday slammed the attack by an unidentified group on the residence of a Tamil journalist who had named in a recent report, an extremist Muslim group as behind recent communal violence in the Mutur area of Trincomalee. "We strongly condemn the attack on the house of Mr.Satchivanandam on Wednesday morning," said a statement issued by the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA).
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Dutch Ambassador, deputy meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 01:22 GMT]
The Netherlands Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Ms. Susan Blankhart met the head of the Liberation Tigers' political section, Mr. S.P Thamilchelvan, Thursday, LTTE sources said. The Ambassador was accompanied by her deputy, Mr. Petrus Jan Kuperus, who is also head of the development co-operation section at the Colombo embassy. The two and a half hour discussion at the LTTE's political headquarters in Kilinochchi was described as "very cordial and constructive," by the sources.
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13 injured in attacks by Islamic extremists

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 14:56 GMT]
Thirteen Tamil civilians were wounded and one killed in attacks by armed persons suspected to be members of an extremist Islamic group in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa Thursday. Islamic extremists wounded four Tamils, one seriously, in a grenade attack in the morning and killed one and wounded nine hours after the Police clamped curfew Thursday afternoon to quell the violence. Ten Tamil women were abducted by the extremists in Oddamaavadi near Valaichenai, sources said.
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SLA fishing ban despite Colombo promise

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 14:28 GMT]
A Sri Lanka army imposed ban on fishing in the southeastern parts of the Jaffna lagoon has driven hundred and ninety fishing families to destitution, a spokesman for the Federation of Northern Province Fisheries Co-op Societies said Saturday. None of the families receive relief from the Sri Lankan government, the spokesman said. Colombo promised to remove restrictions on fishing in the northeast ninety days after signing the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers in February this year.
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Thousands march against Jaffna paramilitary

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 11:31 GMT]
More than eight thousand people took part in a protest march and public rally in Kayts in Jaffna Thursday against the activities of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lanka Navy in the islands off the northern peninsula. The protestors shouted slogans denouncing the paramilitary group, a close ally of Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga, and condemning the attack on LTTE political activists in Kayts on 20 June. The organisers of the march and rally said that cadres of the paramilitary had threatened the public in Kayts Wednesday night to prevent them from participating in the protest.
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Support in Batticalo and Amparai for Trincomalee hartal

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 00:43 GMT]
(News Feature) The hartal in the Trincomalee district organised Tuesday by Tamil civil society organisations drew impromptu support from Tamils in Batticaloa and Amparai districts, press reports said. The hartals were in protest against the attacks on the political activists of the Liberation Tigers at Velanai in Jaffna district and the Muttur LTTE political office in Trincomalee district.
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'Torture continues despite stringent laws' -HRC co-ordinator

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 June 2002, 18:57 GMT]
"Almost in every household in the Trincomalee district there would be a complaint of disappearance. Torture still continues in the island although necessary legislation has been enacted to end this humanrights violation against the humanity," said Ms V.Mathiaparanam, Co-coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in Trincomalee at a one-day seminar held Wednesday.
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Islamic extremists attack Mutur journalist's home

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 June 2002, 11:36 GMT]
Armed persons said to be members of an extremist Islamic militant group attacked the home of Tamil journalist, Mr. P. Satsivanantham, in Mutur town Wednesday afternoon, causing considerable damage to equipment and property, Sri Lanka Police sources said. Hundreds of Tamils in Mutur sought refuge in the local Church as armed gangs of an Islamic group calling itself 'Osama Front' went on rampage through the eastern town Wednesday morning, attacking houses in the Tamil neighbourhoods of the eastern town.
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'Lack of transparency in NGO activities'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 June 2002, 02:14 GMT]
There was a lack of transparency in the activities of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the north and east, with some aid workers putting their personal betterment ahead of the interests of the people they ought to be assisting, speakers told a two-day workshop on the Poverty Alleviation Programme organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry assisting Vanni Rehabilitation and sponsored by the Northeast Provincial Planning Secretariat in Trincomalee Sunday. The workshop concluded with a play enacted by a group of artistes who specially came to Trincomalee from the Vanni region.
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Protest march in Trincomalee against attacks on LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 June 2002, 15:17 GMT]
"The Tamil people of Trincomalee district urge the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to intervene using its good offices and see that the offenders are brought to book and to ensure that similar incidents are not repeated or if not, it will only be proper that the LTTE cadres are allowed to be armed to guard their offices," states the memorandum handed over to the Norwegian Head of the SLMM in Trincomalee Ms Victoria Lund Tuesday.
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Mutur town under curfew after clashes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 June 2002, 14:27 GMT]
(News Feature) Mutur town in the Trincomalee district has been put under night curfew from 12 noon Tuesday till Wednesday morning following clashes between Muslims and Tamils which ended in several injured on both sides, police sources said. Five people have been admitted to the Trincomalee hospital and two are said to be in critical condition, medical sources said.
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General shut down in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 June 2002, 10:22 GMT]
The eastern port town of Trincomalee ground to a halt Tuesday in response to the call by several Tamil organisations in the district for a general shut down to protest against the attacks on the political activists of the Liberation Tigers at Velanai in Jaffna district and the Mutur LTTE political office in Trincomalee district.
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Ampara monitors say govt. apathy hampering work

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 June 2002, 21:10 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces continue to occupy two hospitals, ten schools and five Hindu Temples in the Ampara district. Speaking at a discussion arranged by a local journalists' association, Mr. Svein Myklebust, acting head of the SLMM for the Ampara district, said seventy-four complaints of cease-fire violations in the region have been received so far, adding, "the number of complaints is not a reflection of the ground reality." Meanwhile, the two LTTE nominees of the Ampara SLMM told TamilNet Colombo's apathy regarding their status is seriously hindering them from carrying out their duties as cease-fire monitors.
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Trinco Rotary President spotlights Mutur-east villagers' plight

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 June 2002, 20:54 GMT]
"Our services should reach the masses suffering in the remote villages in the Mutur-east for want of enough food for their survival," Mr. Ramalingam Thirkumaranathan, Attorney-at-Law made this observation when delivering his presidential address after being installed as the 24th President of the Trincomalee Rotary Club Monday evening.
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LTTE adopts UN policy on recruitment

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 June 2002, 08:00 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have set the minimum age for recruitment to their organisation at 18, the head of the movement's political section, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, said last week. The LTTE made the policy decision following the adoption by the United Nations of a treaty on recruitment earlier this year, LTTE sources told TamilNet Sunday.
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"Attacks on LTTE premeditated" -TULF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 20:16 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front Sunday appealed to the United National Front government to conduct an impartial inquiry into the attacks on Liberation Tiger leaders at Velanai in Jaffna district and the Mutur political office of the LTTE in Trincomalee district and to bring the culprits before the court of law. The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front, main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance, which met Sunday, passed a resolution vehemently condemning these attacks. "These attacks on Liberation Tigers should be considered not only as cease-fire violations but also to be viewed as a premeditated action to derail the peace process by provoking the Liberation Tigers to react," said the resolution.
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New TNA national list MP from Muttur east

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 20:12 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front Sunday unanimously decided to appoint Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham from Mutur-east as its National List parliamentarian to fill the vacancy created by the demise of late leader Mr. Murugesu Sivasithambaram. The Secretary General of the TULF Mr.R.Sampanthan will inform the decision of the party to the Speaker of the parliament next week, party sources said.
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US urges ceasefire implementation followed by talks

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 07:58 GMT]
(News Feature) The United States' Ambassador to Sri Lanka said his government urges a negotiated settlement to the island's ethnic conflict and said the Tamil people have "legitimate grievances about the way that they have been treated in this country." Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Mr. Ashley Wills said: "We agree with [Sri Lanka's policy of talking to the LTTE], and that we don't see a military solution to the conflict. We do see a political solution." Calling on the LTTE to renounce its armed struggle, the Ambassador expressed confidence the LTTE wanted to participate in talks.
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Monitoring chief to visit as SLMC urges calm

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 01:34 GMT]
The head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Trond Furuhovde is scheduled to visit Trincomalee by next week urgently to sort out two major complaints - including an attack on the Liberation Tigers' office in Mutur allegedly by Muslim militants - and some other matters pertaining to the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, SLMM sources said. Sri Lanka's largest Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), said "sinister elements" were seeking to forment communal strife and urged calm.
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Navy seeks safe keys

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 01:29 GMT]
The Commander of Sri Lanka Navy in the islands off the Jaffna coast has ordered all cooperative stores, government departments and offices in the area to hand over a copy of the keys to their safes, sources said.
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Independent probe into Velanai assault - SLMM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 01:18 GMT]
The head of the international ceasefire monitors in Sri Lanka, Major General Trond Furuhovde, has called on the government to appoint an independent commission into the assault of two members of the LTTE's political section in Velanai village on the Jaffna island of Kayts. “In addition to this, the Army, Navy, Police and LTTE will each do a separate thorough investigation on the alleged assault,” the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said in a statement Saturday. The SLMM also said it would establish a permanent presence in the islands.
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'Poverty alleviation program neglects Tamil poor in Trinco' -TRO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 June 2002, 23:15 GMT]
A large number of Tamil people in Mutur East, in the Trincomalee district, live under the poverty line; they eat yams and green leaves in their areas, and malnutrition has affected many pregnant women and children, but their needs have been neglected by the government, according to Mr.S.Kumaragurparan, Secretary of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
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Island attack said test for Colombo's bona fides

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 June 2002, 16:51 GMT]
Mr. Pulithevan, a senior official of the political division of the Liberation Tigers, told a conference attended by the Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna, Major General Sarath Fonseka, Vice Admiral Mohan Wijewickrema of the Sri Lanka Navy, Mr. Kirthie Gajanayake, Deputy Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police and the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (Retd) Trond Furuhovde in Jaffna Saturday that a full inquiry should be held on the attack on Mr. Semmanan, the head of the LTTE's political division for the islands off Jaffna, and that the culprits be brought to book if Colombo is serious about stabilizing the island's peace process.
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LTTE blames SLN for sabotaging peace efforts

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 22:35 GMT]
The Jaffna district political unit of the Liberation Tigers Friday issued a statement condemning the brutal attack carried out jointly by the Sri Lanka Navy and the para military group Eelam People's Democratic Party.
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'Velanai attack an attempt to derail peace process' - TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 22:34 GMT]
"The Tamil National Alliance views the Velanai attack on Liberation Tigers political activists by the Sri Lanka Navy and some men wearing masks as an attempt to derail the peace process and to disrupt the implementation of the ceasefire agreement," said TNA parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan in a statement issued Friday night.
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Mutur LTTE political office destroyed

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 17:52 GMT]
A group of unidentified persons beleived to be members of an auxiliary force destroyed the Mutur political office of the Liberation Tigers Friday evening around seven, residents said. At that time of the attack, the LTTE office had been closed for the day. Tension prevails in the Mutur town following the attack, residents said.
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Colombo to recruit 1600 for STF

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 17:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Minister for Interior, Mr. John Amaratunga, told troops frontline in Mannar Thursday that his government will recruit 1600 to the Special Task Force (STF), the elite counter insurgency arm of the island's military. Speaking among STF commandos and military trained Policemen manning forward defences on the border separating the Vanni region held by the Liberation Tigers at Kannatti, Mr. Amaratunga dismissed rumours that Colombo intends to downsize the elite counter insurgency force.
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Paramilitary, Navy assault LTTE political worker

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 12:01 GMT]
A group of armed persons suspected to be troopers of the Sri Lanka Navy and cadres of a paramilitary group working with it in the islands off Jaffna assaulted and attempted to abduct the head of the Liberation Tigers' political division in Kayts, Mr.Semmanan, Thursday night, LTTE sources in Jaffna said. The armed persons had attempted to force Mr. Semmanan into a vehicle at the 'Bus Company' near the Velanai junction Thursday night around 9.15 p.m.
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Sri Lanka to expand paramilitary auxiliaries

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 10:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka's government said this week that paramilitary forces working alongside the military in the eastern province are to be expanded. The home guards will be given additional training and the force will be expanded from its current strength of 23,000 members, Interior Minister John Amaratunga said Monday.
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Veteran British mine clearers in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 09:52 GMT]
A British mine clearing organisation, the HALO Trust has begun a five year project in the Jaffna peninsula, Sri Lankan state media reported Thursday. Halo’s activities will begin with a six month survey of northern Sri Lanka, the charity said.
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Jaffna humanitarian agencies slam Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 June 2002, 16:17 GMT]
The Council of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) in Jaffna Thursday slammed the Sri Lankan government for ignoring the plight of thousands who want to resettle in their villages in the northern peninsula. "In Jaffna, restoring normalcy as promised in the cease-fire agreement means the resettlement of internally displaced people.
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Fishermenís pass restriction to stay

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 June 2002, 01:28 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Navy has refused to implement an agreement on passes for Tamil fishermen announced after a recent conference between the latter's representatives and the Defence Ministry officials in Colombo, sources said.
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Protests as SLAF expands airbase

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 22:56 GMT]
There were massive protests Wednesday in Batticaloa demanding an end to the occupation of zone 'C' by the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF), the continued occupation by the Sri Lankan armed forces of schools, temples and public buildings and the continued blocking of public travel on several important roads. The SLAF has begun expanding its base in Batticaloa, incorporating a nearby temple and school and triggering outrage amongst locals.
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Tamils, Sinhalese welcome LTTE in Nainativu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 22:38 GMT]
Tamil residents of Nainativu and Sinhalese who are there on pilgrimage gave a rousing welcome to the Liberation Tigers when they entered Nainativu Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers began political activities in Nainativu, one of the main islands off the Jaffna peninsula, Wednesday.
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25,245 Vanni children not getting schooling

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 20:34 GMT]
Due to the poor education facilities in the Vanni region, 25,245 students in five education zones in the region are not attending school regularly. Prior to the research conducted by the Rural Economic Research and Development Corporation during education awareness week, the number was assumed to be 21,000.
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TRO assists resettlement in Kanniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 20:17 GMT]
The Trincomalee branch of Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), Wednesday handed over a cheque for fifty thousand rupees to Swami Sugasthanandaji to facilitate the resettlement of displaced Tamil families in and around Kanniya village by constructing resting hall ('madam').
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Jaffna displaced protest, demand resettlement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 19:28 GMT]
A large number of displaced families from Valikamam north Wednesday picketed in front of the Divisional Secretariat at Tellipalai from dawn to dusk, demanding that they be allowed to resettle in their own lands. The Valikamam north Rehabilitation Society, with the Federation of Farmers Associations and students organizations, organised the picket and protest march.
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"cease-fire agreement has not conferred normalcy on Tamils in northeast" -TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 19:24 GMT]
"The cease-fire agreement signed by the government with the Liberation Tigers 120 days ago, has not yet conferred on all the Tamil people of the Northeast all the freedoms to carry on a normal life, freedoms that have been conferred on all other people in all parts of the country, including the Northeast," the Tamil National Alliance delegation Wednesday told the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe at a conference held at the parliament complex.
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'Thiriyai destruction deliberate' - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 15:47 GMT]
"The destruction of the Thiriyai Tamil village appears to have been deliberate: there were no attacks and counter attacks in the village in the course of which the destruction could have occurred. The destruction has also been total. Such a deliberate attack should have had a clear objective. It appears to me that the objective was to prevent the displaced Tamil people returning to Thiriyai," Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentarian from Trincomalee, told the Prime Minister Wednesday morning at a discussion between the delegations of the TNA and the United National Front government.
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JVP opposes lifting LTTE ban

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 02:41 GMT]
Thousands of the public and supporters of the Sinhala nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna demonstrated in downtown Colombo Wednesday against lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers and granting them the interim administration of the northeastern province. The protestors, including Buddhist monks, held up placards and shouted slogans against granting Tamils the right to self-determination.
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Tigers begin political work in Delft

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 June 2002, 19:56 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Tuesday entered the islet of Delft in the Jaffna district for political work. A large number of residents gathered to receive the Tiger cadres, who were led by the head of the LTTE's political section in Delft, Mr.Kannan.
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"End discrimination against Tamils in education" -CTTU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 June 2002, 19:14 GMT]
The Ministry of Education under the United National Front (UNF) government continues the discrimination of Tamil people in the sphere of education, the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) has told an advisor to the Prime Minister (PM).
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Tigers start political work in Jaffna islands

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 June 2002, 20:32 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers began political work in the islands of Jaffna Monday amid objections and hindrances by the Sri Lanka Navy. They were delayed at Allaipitti, the main entry point to the islands when the Sri Lanka Navy objected to the LTTE's women fighters wearing belts and refused to let them pass. The public welcomed the Tigers near the entry point when the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission resolved the issue.
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MP lists occupied temples, schools in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 June 2002, 16:10 GMT]
Trincomalee parliamentarian R. Sampanthan Monday sent a letter by fax to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe listing schools, places of worship, private lands and public buildings in the Trincomalee district which have not been vacated by the State armed forces even one hundred and fifteen have passed after signing the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers on February 23. The list included five places of worship, twelve schools and eighteen public buildings and private lands which are still in the hands of State armed forces.
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VoT hosts Jaffna cultural show

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 June 2002, 10:07 GMT]
Thousands of Tamils in Jaffna gathered Sunday for a cultural performance put on by the Arts & Culture section of the Liberation Tigers, in the first such event in seven years, the Uthayan newspaper reported. The 'Muththamil Kalai Arangam' road show took place at Nallur's Ilam Kalaignar Hall and was presented by the 'Voice of Tigers' radio.
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Sri Lanka tourism awaits peace dividend

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 June 2002, 09:18 GMT]
Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka have not shown any significant increase despite the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Liberation Tigers, Tourism Minister Gamini Lokuge told The Sunday Leader.
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Samurdhi ministry discriminates against Tamil villages

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2002, 22:01 GMT]
Several civil groups Sunday complained that Tamil villages in the Trincomalee district have been discriminated when allocating funds for implementing agricultural development projects under the Poverty Alleviation (Samurdhi) Programme. The Department of Samurdhi (Poverty Alleviation) is functioning in the Trincomalee district secretariat under the supervision of the Government Agent.
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India to train Sri Lanka Special Forces

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2002, 12:07 GMT]
India is to provide combat training to special forces of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) following a request from the Colombo government, the Sunday Times reported this week.
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SLA reinforces Nagarkovil base

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2002, 03:07 GMT]
The Nagarkovil Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base, which is part of the military's Forward Defense Line (FDL) in Vadamaradchi East, is being expanded with additional troops moved from SLA positions in Eluthumadduval, Muhamalai and Mirusuvil in the Thenmaradchi sector, the Thinakural reported Saturday.
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Nine thousand SLA devices destroyed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2002, 02:12 GMT]
The civilian demining unit of the Liberation Tigers in a single week unearthed and destroyed almost nine thousand active mines and pieces of ordnance left behind by the Sri Lankan Army in Vavuniya North.
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Mines wound four

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2002, 02:11 GMT]
Three children and a man were injured in three separate incidents in Jaffna recently after triggering landmines. Of the three children, one boy has lost sight in one eye while another lost all ten of his fingers, sources said.
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Peace secretariat official's visit to China deplored

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 18:25 GMT]
"It is most disturbing that a member of the Peace Secretariat has gone to China along with the Defence Minister and the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy presumably to procure arms and to modernize the Navy at the expense of the poor people of this country. This has to be viewed in the context that Tamil fishermen in the northeast view the Sri Lanka Navy as an undisciplined force," said Tamil Human Rights lawyer Mr.K.Sivapalan Saturday. Mr. Sivapalan is a member of the Trincomalee Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.
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Jaffna journalists said facing 'calculated discrimination'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 18:18 GMT]
"Journalists in Jaffna do not have the same rights and privileges that their colleagues enjoy in the south. None of the governments that came to power in Colombo bothered to look into the grievances and problems we face here. We feel that the discrimination against us is calculated. In this context I would like to draw your attention to the tardy pace of the investigations into the dastardly murder of our colleague Mylvaganam Nimalarajan. This wouldn't have been the case if he had been a journalist in the south," said Velupillai Thavachelvam, the President of the Jaffna Journalists' Association, speaking at a conference Saturday called by Sri Lanka's media minister, Mr. Imtiaz Bakeer Makkar who is on a visit to the northern peninsula this weekend.
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SLA stops fishing boats coming ashore

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 14:22 GMT]
Fishermen in Inparutti near Pt. Pedro in Jaffna blocked the main coastal road Saturday when the Sri Lanka army refused to let more than 24 catamarans and 12 boats come ashore as these had not obtained permits from the military to fish in the sea. Fishermen in Inparutti said that they had set out to sea Friday evening without obtaining permits from the SLA because Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence had promised Thursday to lift draconian controls on fishing following an agitation by the Federation of Fisheries Co-op Societies in Northern Province last week.
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Navy threatens Kayts businessmen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 11:45 GMT]
Sri Lankan Navy personnel Thursday threatened Tamil businessmen in Kayts who had joined residents in the rest of the Jaffna peninsula in observing a general strike (hartal) on Wednesday to protest the armed forces failure to implement the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers. Navy personnel visited the businesses in a pickup truck and warned the owners that they should not close their establishments “based on newspaper stories,” the Sudar Oli reported Friday.
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LTTE opens third office in Ampara

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 11:39 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' third political office in the Ampara district began work last week, press reports said. The new office in Kalmunai, located near the Fatima college on the Kalmunai-Batticaloa main road, was inauguarated Friday last week, the Virakesari reported on Tuesday.
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Military harassment continues in east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 11:30 GMT]
Police personnel manning the checkpoint in Kaddaiparicchhan, Muttur in the Trincomalee district have again started harassing Tamil youths, local press reports said. People traveling from Muttur East are stopped and questioned at the checkpoint and those not carrying sufficient identification are barred from crossing, the Uthayan reported last week.
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MP lists occupied temples and schools in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 June 2002, 22:10 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.Jospeh Pararajasingham Friday sent a list of places of worship, schools and public buildings now being occupied by the Sri lankan armed forces in the Batticaloa district to the Prime Minister. According to the list, 8 schools, 5 temples and several public buildings in Batticaloa are either occupied by government forces or situated within the perimeter of their camps.
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Ratwatte, his sons, still suspects in massacre

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 June 2002, 20:01 GMT]
Seven more suspects in the Udathalawinne massacre case were released Friday by the Teldeniya Magistrate as no evidence was produced against them. However, the former Deputy Defence Minister General Anurudha Ratwatte and his two sons and eight others are still in the list of suspects in the case.
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Displaced find others in their homes

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 June 2002, 11:22 GMT]
People displaced from Manpity in Navanthurai are unable to return to their homes because the Ministry of Rehabilitation has settled other people into their homes, which were originally constructed by the Housing Authority as a housing scheme for fishermen.
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SLA occupies more Jaffna homes

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 June 2002, 11:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan armed forces are expanding and bolstering a chain of sentry posts along the Jaffna coastline, the largest circulating daily in the peninsula, the Uthayan, reported Thursday. Meanwhile, in Nunavil East, the SLA has taken over more than ten homes for their camp, and is constructing bunkers, residents told TamilNet.
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Navy should completely move out of Thiriyai - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 June 2002, 22:33 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka Navy should vacate Thiryai village completely, enabling the displaced Tamil families to resettle in the area. No resettlement or rehabilitation is possible with the presence of a large number of SLN personnel in the village," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Trincomalee district parliamentarian, speaking at a conference held Wednesday evening at the office of the Kuchchaveli Divisional Secretariat.
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PM to meet TNA over government cease-fire violations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 June 2002, 22:31 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has invited the leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for talks on June 19 at the Parliamentary complex. The invitation was sent to Mr.R.Sampanthan, the leader of the TNA parliamentary group.
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'Just solution will end armed struggle'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 June 2002, 14:10 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers are committed to the ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan government and will honour its terms and conditions, but must remain strong until the rights of the Tamil people have been secured, a senior LTTE commander said Monday.
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Navy blocks resettlement of Tamil families in Thiriyai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 June 2002, 21:41 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday refused permission to a group of displaced Tamil families to enter their destroyed village, Thiriyai- a Tamil village about 42 km north of Trincomalee town- to make preliminary arrangements for their resettlement.
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General shut down in Jaffna, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 June 2002, 13:49 GMT]
School, government offices, shops and business establishments were closed Wednesday in the Jaffna and Batticaloa districts in response to a call by the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) in Jaffna. The Jaffna CHA called the general shut down to protest against fishing restriction, destruction of coconut and palmyra farms in the northeast province and setting up of new camps in the northern peninsula.
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Amnesty to meet LTTE in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 June 2002, 11:49 GMT]
Amnesty International will, for the first time, meet the leadership of the Liberation Tigers during a visit to Sri Lanka this week, the London based human rights group said Wednesday. “[The delegates] will travel to the Vanni to meet with the LTTE leadership during the first week and then return to Colombo to hold meetings with the new Sri Lankan government,” Amnesty said in a statement.
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Navy builds Karampon base

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 June 2002, 10:27 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Navy is constructing a new base in Karampon, Kayts, near the Kannaki Amman landing point, a central location from where boat services are conducted for people traveling to Analaitivu, Eluvaitivu, Nainativu and other islands, the Jaffna based daily Uthayan reported on Tuesday.
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Changes in SLA senior ranks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 June 2002, 23:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Army Tuesday announced changes in some of its senior ranks. Major General L. C. R Goonewardene has been appointed new Chief of Staff while Major General A.E.D Wijendra has been appointed his deputy. Meanwhile press reports said SLA Commander Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle would serve an extended term with the approval of the United National Front government.
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New SLA camp at Sakkottai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 June 2002, 21:40 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has established a new camp at Sakkottai, Vadamaradchi division in Jaffna district. The SLA personnel are engaged in constructing bunkers around the new camp, residents said.
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TRO's Trincomalee office begins work

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 June 2002, 13:16 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) branch in Trincomalee town is taking action to reconstruct the Karadipuval village, destroyed by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and to conduct rehabilitation work in the Kapalthurai village, said Mr.C. Kumarakuruparan, the branch secretary, at a TRO musical night held Sunday in the eastern town.
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Paper lists public places occupied by military

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 June 2002, 12:36 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military is occupying at least 139 places of worship, 74 schools and 113 public buildings across the north and east of the island in violation of the permanent ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers, the Tamil Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday. The London-based weekly published the details, categorised by type and district, of the public locations it said are presently under military occupation.
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Jaffna protests planned over truce breaches

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 June 2002, 06:32 GMT]
The Jaffna Humanitarian Organisations' Committee called on all residents in the peninsula to observe a day's strike on Wednesday in protest at the Sri Lankan government's reluctance to fulfil the requirements set out in the ceasefire accord it signed with the Liberation Tigers. The organisation appealed for all residents to remain in their homes to demonstrate the strength of their feeling.
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Fury after worship is blocked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 June 2002, 06:22 GMT]
Devotees who were prevented from travelling through a Sri Lanka army checkpoint in Omanthai staged an impromptu protest opposite the offices of the International Committee of Red Cross Monday. Over three hundred people were denied passage through the checkpoint after 1 pm for the annual Pongal festival at the Nagathambiran temple in Puthur.
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"New fishing regulations breach cease-fire agreement" - SLMC MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 17:03 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka government's gazette notification of the fishing restriction issued last month is a clear breach of the cease-fire agreement the government signed with the Liberation Tigers," said Mr.K.M.Thowfeek, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress parliamentarian for the Trincomalee district at a discussion organised by the Trincomalee Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) held at the Kinniya divisional secretariat Monday morning.
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Police officer remanded for harassing Indian fishermen

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 16:42 GMT]
The Mannar District Judge Monday remanded a Sinhalese police officer for allegedly harassing Indian fishermen, robbing their catch and threatening them with death in the mid sea.
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Jaffna university closed after clashes

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 12:26 GMT]
The Jaffna University was closed down Monday following violent clashes between student groups. At least three undergrads have been admitted to a private hospital. The Vice Chancellor has ordered all residential students to vacate the hostels immediately, university authorities said.
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Protests over fishing restrictions continue

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 11:47 GMT]
Jaffna fishermen continued their picketing campaign for the third day, Monday in front of the District Secretariat (Kachcheri) and the Divisional Secretariat, demanding their freedom to fish without military restrictions. Activities at the two offices have come to a standstill following the picketing by the fishermen, secretariat sources said.
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Students boycott classes over Army presence

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 11:43 GMT]
The students of Point Pedro Hartley College and Methodist Girls College in Vadamaradchi division in Jaffna district Monday boycotted their classes demanding that the Sri Lanka Army should vacate their schools immediately as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement signed by the government and the Liberation Tigers.
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Quit notices on Linganagar Tamil families withdrawn

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 05:13 GMT]
The Trincomalee Divisional Secretary (DS) has decided to withdraw ejectment applications filed in the magistrateís court under the State Lands (Recovery of Possession) Act against several Tamil residents who live on state lands in the Linganagar area, a suburb in Trincomalee, when the defense counsel submitted that the affidavits of the prosecution were bad in law and not in conformity with the land.
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SLMM denies commenting on gazette

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 02:44 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Sunday denied a report by the Daily Mirror that Hagrup Haukland, Deputy head of the SLMM, had stated that the Sri Lankan government’s gazette notification of fishing restrictions issued last month conflicts with the provisions of the ceasefire agreement the government signed with the Liberation Tigers.
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SLA positions bar temple access

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 02:27 GMT]
Claims by the Sri Lanka Army that its troops have moved out from temples and schools occupied Kommanthurai, located on the Valaichenai road between Vantharumoolai and Chenkalady is a sham since the sentries, roadblocks and restrictions on access to the area continues, local civil society leaders said.
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Jaffna fishermen's protests set to continue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 June 2002, 14:41 GMT]
Fishermen continued their picketing campaign for the second day on Friday in Jaffna in front of the Secretariat (Kachcheri) and the Divisional Secretariat, demanding their freedom to fish without restriction in the northern waters. Since even the Friday protest failed to produce any result, the Federation of Fishermenís Unions said it has decided to continue with the protests on Monday.
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500,000 palmyra trees said destroyed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 June 2002, 02:19 GMT]
Around half a million palmyra trees have been destroyed by the Sri Lanka armed forces and the practice continues even after the ceasefire agreement came into effect, press reports quoted Mr Sivapatham, Head of Palmyra Development board as telling BBC radio. The local populace seems to be losing faith due to the armed forces continuing to build new bunkers during the peace process, he added.
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Students await Tamil leadership to end discrimination

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 June 2002, 02:05 GMT]
Discrimination by successive Sri Lankan governments at all levels of education can only be ended when a Tamil leadership assumes responsibility for education in the north and east, the Tamil Eelam Student Foundation said in a statement released to coincide with the ‘Day of Uprising of Tamil students’ on June 6.
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Police ordered to halt temple withdrawals

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 June 2002, 18:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Police in Batticaloa said Saturday that it has stopped work on vacating four of its camps in the district situated in places of religious worship on orders from the Inspector General of Police (IGP). "We just got the orders and stopped dismantling the defences. We do not know the reason," said the Officer in Charge of the Maamangam Pillaiyar Temple Police camp Saturday.
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‘SLA constructions undermine truce’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 June 2002, 18:04 GMT]
The construction of new camps and bunkers by the Sri Lankan military in Jaffna was undermining the restoration of normalcy and violated the spirit of the ceasefire agreement between the LTTE an the government, the head of the Liberation Tigers' political section in the northern peninsula, Mr. T. Ilamparithi, told a press briefing Saturday.
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Prohibition on unauthorised felling of treess

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 June 2002, 09:29 GMT]
A notice prohibiting the unauthorized felling of trees in the north and east of Sri Lanka was issued by the Tamil Eelam Forest Conservation Unit of the Liberation Tigers on June 5, to coincide with World Environment Day (WED). Disciplinary action would be taken against violators, a notice published in the Vanni Wednesday said.
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Vanni demining efforts continue

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 June 2002, 22:29 GMT]
Volunteers involved in demining efforts in the Mankulam and Katkadankulam areas have unearthed and disabled 4,887 pieces of unexploded ammunition and mines as of the end of May.
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‘LTTE committed to ceasefire’

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 June 2002, 22:20 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will fully implement the ceasefire agreement between themselves and the Sri Lankan government and are determined to ensure the truce does not fail, a senior member of the LTTE’s political division in Jaffna told a protest rally by students in the northern peninsula Wednesday , according to local press reports.
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Thamilchelvan, Tigers pay homage to 'Siva'

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 June 2002, 16:44 GMT]
The body of Mr. Murugesu Sivasithambaram, the leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front, was taken to Kilinochchi Friday afternoon. The head of the LTTE's political division Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan and other members of the organisation paid their last respects to 'Siva' at the Thooyavan College for Political Studies where the cortege lay this afternoon for homage by the public.
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Jaffna court seeks EPDP's weapons list

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 June 2002, 12:26 GMT]
The Jaffna magistrate Mr. R. T Vignarajah Friday directed the Sri Lanka Police to serve notice on the Eelam People's Democratic Party's (EPDP) deputy organiser for Jaffna, Mr. K. Manipallavarajan, to appear in court on Monday, 10 May with the list of weapons the paramilitary group had in its possession when the journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, was murdered. Mr. Nimalarajan, Jaffna correspondent for the BBC, the Tamil daily, Virakesari and the TamilNet was killed at his home on 19 October 2000 by gunmen suspected to be members of the EPDP, a key ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
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Development Forum awaits 'urgent change'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 23:54 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government needs to move faster in securing peace and implementing economic reforms, the Vice President of the World Bank's South Asia region, Mieko Nishimizu, said Thursday in her concluding statement to the Sri Lanka Development Forum meeting in Colombo.
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Youths continue to face STF threats

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 18:06 GMT]
The four Tamil youths from Karaithivu whose arrest and vicious assault by the Special Task Force last Wednesday drew criticism from ceasefire monitors are said to have received new threats from the police commandos. Fresh complaints in this regard have been lodged with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Ampara, officials said.
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Tamil Eelam police celebrate anniversary

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 16:45 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Police Service (TEPS) held a sports tournament at the Malathi Stadium in Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu as part of the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of its formation. In his address, the head of the TEPS, Mr. P. Nadesan, saluted the service’s exemplary performance during the past decade, which he said had been rendered amidst difficult conditions of embargo and equipment shortage.
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'Wont fall for provocations to break truce' - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 16:28 GMT]
"The power of our people is greater than the power of the gun. We have come into areas controlled by the Sri Lanka army because we trust the might of the Tamil masses. The commandos of the Special Task Force are telling our people to make coffins when the whole world is exhorting all of us to make peace. In truth, the STF is trying to bury the peace process in those coffins," said Mr. Karikalan, a senior official of the LTTE's political division, addressing a rally of more than five thousand students in Thambiluvil, 76 kilometres south of Batticaloa, Thursday.
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Jaffna fishermen tell Colombo to lift controls

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 15:59 GMT]
Hundreds of protesting fishermen paralysed the Jaffna District Secretariat and blocked traffic in a busy part of the northern town Thursday, demanding that Colombo should do away with restrictions on fishing. Colombo promised to lift draconian controls on fishing in the Northeast within ninety days when it signed the cease-fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers on 24 February. Tamil fishermen, however, say that many restrictions remain. "Don't sell our seas to China", the protesting fishermen shouted, objecting to an alleged proposal by the Sri Lankan government to allow the Chinese start a fisheries project on the Jaffna coast.
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Tamil students' rallies, protests in Northeast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 13:27 GMT]
Thousands of students in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai held rallies Thursday to observe the Tamil Students’ Upsurge Day, protesting against decades of discrimination by Colombo, bombing of schools, chronic dearth of teachers, classrooms, teaching and science equipment, arrest and detention of schoolchildren, and the presence of Sri Lankan security forces in their schools. Student leaders who addressed the rallies demanded that Tamil students too be granted equal opportunities in education by Colombo, denied them for more than three decades under partisan education schemes.
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Monitors say Navy restrictions violate truce

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 00:19 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s gazette notification of fishing restrictions issued last week under the Prevention of Terrorism Act conflicts with the provisions of the ceasefire agreement the government signed with the Liberation Tigers, press reports Thursday quoted international truce monitors as saying.
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STF disruptions continue in southeast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2002, 19:28 GMT]
Commandos of the Special Task Force, the elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan security forces, harassed and tortured a youth who went to get medicine in the Thirukkovil District Hospital in the Amparai district, according to a complaint taken up the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) this week. The STF has been encamped in the premises of the district hospital in Thirukkovil, the large Tamil village on Sri Lankaís southeastern coast, for more than 17 years, despite protests by residents and local human rights activists.
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Disabled soldiers march for peace

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2002, 18:33 GMT]
Sri Lankan soldiers maimed in the war against the Liberation Tigers Wednesday marched in downtown Colombo in support of the current peace talks to end the island's conflict. They handed over a memorandum to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
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Sivasithamparam's funeral in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2002, 18:08 GMT]
The funeral of the TNA leader Mr. Murugesu Sivasithamparam will be held at his birthplace Karaveddy in Jaffna district Sunday noon, party sources said. Mr.Sivasithamparam body now lies at his residence at Havelock Road, Thimbirigasaya, in Colombo.
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Donors seek ‘meaningful and lasting reforms’ first

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2002, 12:50 GMT]
(News Feature) Donors to Sri Lanka should see practical implementation of the government’s stated commitment to reforms before providing funding, the Vice President of the World Bank’s South Asia region said Wednesday. Furthermore, without peace, any prosperity would be fragile, just as without growth ‘with equity to all,’ peace would be vulnerable, Ms. Mieko Nishimizu said, addressing the Sri Lanka Development Forum meeting in Colombo.
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LTTE ban to go ten days before Thailand talks - PM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2002, 11:48 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe Wednesday assured the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be removed ten days ahead of the commencement of the peace talks in Thailand. The Prime Minister met a delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for a discussion on the peace process held Wednesday morning at his office in the parliament.
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Senior Tamil leader Sivasithamparam dead

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2002, 03:04 GMT]
Mr. Murugesu Sivasithambaram, President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance, passed away peacefully early Wednesday morning around two at the age of seventy-nine. The death occurred at the Colombo national hospital after a brief illness.
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SLA builds Nunavil supply route

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 21:10 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is rapidly constructing a new road connecting Nunavil, located on the Jaffna-Kandy Road (A-9) in Chavakachcheri East, to the Maravanpulo Junction. The SLA is moving forces from parts of Chavacachcheri into a major new 100-acre base established at Nunavil, press reports said.
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New Army base in Columbuthurai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 20:50 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is constructing a new base near the Maternity Home in Nedunkulam, Columbuthurai in the outskirts of Jaffna town, local press reports said Tuesday. The Army is bulldozing the walls, fences and trees on both sides of the Nedunkulam Road in preparation, the Uthayan newspaper reported.
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SLA bars IDPs returning by sea

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 19:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Tuesday refused to permit more than 32 fishermen and their families who came by sea from the Mullaithivu coast to land in Sakkottai, a fishing village near Pt. Pedro in Jaffna, from which they were displaced by the war in 1995. "The fishermen have come with their gear and other belongings to resettle in their village. It is too expensive for them to bring their boats, out board motors and fishing gear by road to Jaffna. They are stranded in mid sea with women and children because of the SLA is refusing to consider their plight", an official of the Federation of Fisheries Societies in Vadamaradchi told TamilNet.
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"LTTE too taking risks with peace" -TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 18:01 GMT]
"There must be no assumption that it is only the government of Sri Lanka which is taking risks; it must be realized that even the LTTE is taking risks when it is engaged in the peace process," said Mr.Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group when moving an adjournment motion Tuesday in the Sri Lankan parliament. He appealed to the international Community on behalf of the Tamil National Alliance not to take any step that would prejudice the legitimate struggle of the Tamil people for equality of this country.
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Buddhist monk wants STF out of school

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 17:52 GMT]
The Ven. Miragalle Dharmalankara Thero, the principal of a Sinhala school in the Ampara district, said Tuesday he has complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that the Special Task Force, an elite counter insurgency unit of the Sri Lankan security forces, should vacate his school. "The Sri Lanka army occupied my school in 1987. Then the STF moved in. I have been requesting all the government that came to power since 1987 to pull out the troops from the school. But nothing was done. This is why I am complaining to SLLM now. It is a great wrong perpetrated on the children of this school. If anyone says that the troops should remain in the school, then his head has to be examined," the priest said in a letter faxed to the press in Batticaloa Tuesday.
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Ratwatte's return provokes commotion in Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 17:49 GMT]
Pandemonium prevailed in the Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday morning when the controversial former Deputy Defense Minister General Anurudhha Ratwatte entered the legislature. Members of the ruling party and the opposition shouted at each other when they saw General Ratwatte who was released on bail last week, walking to the well of the House to take his seat. The United National Front accuses him of unleashing violence, intimidation, election rigging and murder while he was the powerful deputy minister of defense in the People's Alliance government from 1995 to 2001
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Sri Lanka's conditions for talks create an 'impasse' - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 12:42 GMT]
The Norwegian peace initiative in Sri Lanka has been delayed by the government’s failure to implement the terms of the permanent ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers and is threatened by the hostile intervention of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the LTTE’s chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, told the Tamil Guardian this week.
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Parliament to debate TNA motion on cease-fire agreement

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 June 2002, 22:21 GMT]
The adjournment motion submitted to the Speaker by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is scheduled to be taken up for a three-hour debate in the parliament Tuesday morning. The motion urges the United National Front government to take immediate steps to fully implement the confidence building measures embodied in the cease-fire agrement signed by the government and the Liberation Tigers in order to ensure that the objective of the agreement of finding a negotiated solution to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is fulfilled.
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Islamic group threatens journalist

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 June 2002, 22:18 GMT]
Mr. Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy, the correspondent for the Tamil dailies Virakesari and Thinakkural, in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa, said Monday he was threatened by an armed group backed by local Muslim politicians for his coverage of a simmering dispute in the region over the creation of an administrative division which Tamils oppose on the grounds that it grabs their lands and is meant as another ethnic wedge to disrupt the contiguity of the Batticaloa district. Mr. Jeyanandamoorthy said that the group, comprising mostly Muslims who deserted the Sri Lanka army and ex home guards, vowed to kill him in a warning delivered Monday.
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Major projects not possible in Jaffna yet - World Bank

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 June 2002, 16:58 GMT]
The World Bank said Monday that the situation in Jaffna is still not suitable for starting long term development projects in the northern peninsula. The Vice President of the Bank (South Asia Region) Mr.Mieko Nizhimisu and its Sri Lanka co-ordinator, Marianna Todorova, visited the Kopay College ofEducation, the destroyed Chavakachcheri town, and the Jaffna District Secretariat Monday. The Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Thomas Soundranayagam, told the World Bank team when it called on him later in the day that 60 percent of the houses in the peninsula have been damaged by the war.
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Kumaratunga ally slams PA's chauvinism

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 June 2002, 16:55 GMT]
The Lanka Sama Samaja party (LSSP) Monday accused the main opposition Peoples Alliance (PA) led by President Chandrika Kumaratunge that "it does not maintain a definite position regarding the ongoing peace efforts and the government's economic programme". The general secretary of the LSSP and a former minister in the PA government Mr. Batty Weerakone said the PA has joined the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna to whip up racial hatred in the country, forgetting the economic problems of the masses.
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Sri Lanka tightens fishing restrictions under terrorism act

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 June 2002, 05:52 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government has issued a gazette notification retrospectively dated 23 May, 2002 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act specifying areas in the Northeast that have been restricted for fishing. The government will appoint a Competent Authority in charge of the newly demarcated restricted areas under this gazette notification. The new PTA regulation includes punishment for those violating restriction on fishing in the specified areas.
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SLA threats stop war-dead remembrance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 18:16 GMT]
A function in Pt. Pedro, Jaffna, to mark the death anniversary of an officer of the Liberation Tigers had to be abandoned by his relatives and friends Sunday following intimidation and death threats by the intelligence unit of the Sri Lanka Army's 524 Brigade, residents said.
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SLA builds large camp in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 17:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is constructing a large new base on a 450 acre site near Chavakachcheri, taking in many homes and fields, residents in Thenmaradchchi said this week. Construction work started last Friday in Nunavil East to the north of the Kandy road.
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Ministry officials complain army harassment at Muhamalai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 17:57 GMT]
A team of officials from the Ministry of Social Services said Sunday that they were subjected to undue search by Sri Lanka Army personnel at the Muhamalai entry point in when they were on their way to Jaffna yesterday. The officials came to Jaffna Saturday with a consignment of tricycles, spectacles and sewing machines for war affected persons in the peninsula. They were on a two-day tour in Jaffna with Sri Lanka's Minister for Social Services Mr. Ravindra Samaraweera who arrived Saturday by air.
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Vehicle shortage hampers Jaffna development

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 17:53 GMT]
A persistent shortage of official vehicles for civil administrators is hampering rehabilitation and reconstruction work in war-ravaged Jaffna, officials in the northern town said. Four Divisional Secretaries in the Jaffna district have not been provided with vehicles for development work by Colombo. The official vehicle of the Chankanai Divisional Secretary (DS), which was commandeered by the Sri Lanka Army under Emergency Regulations for requisitioning of vehicles and property, is yet to be returned.
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SLA refuses to vacate Hartley College

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 14:17 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army refused to remove its camp from one of Sri Lanka's leading schools, the Point Pedro Hartley College in Jaffna. The SLA's Jaffna commander has conveyed the decision to the District Additional Director of Education this week.
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Four returning refugees drown

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 12:21 GMT]
Four Tamil refugees coming home from India drowned in the seas off Mannar on 23 May when the boat up to seventeen people were travelling in capsized in strong winds, press reports said. The dead included a five-month-old baby and her mother. Two other women also drowned.
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SLA holds Valaichchenai temples

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 11:39 GMT]
The Sri Lanka armed forces have not yet vacated several places of worship they are occupying in the Valaichchenai area, 32 kms north of Batticaloa district as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement signed between the government the Liberation Tigers, residents said.
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Jaffna drive against ‘kassipu’ trade

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 11:36 GMT]
A new drive by local residents to stamp out the illicit liquor trade is underway in Urumpirai, Urelu and Karanthan areas of Jaffna with the support of the police, participants said last week. Meanwhile, in a statement released in Trincomalee, the Liberation Tigers banned the production and sale of illicit liquor, press reports said last week.
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Kalkuda residents seek return of church, temples and homes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 June 2002, 20:35 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lanka army camp at Kalkuda junction , encompassing several public buildings including places of worship, a post office, a rest house and the thirty homes of local people, is being maintained in violation of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Liberation Tigers, a petition to the international monitors by the village’s residents said Friday. Kalkuda is 32 km north of Batticaloa in eastern province.
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‘Help Vanni demining’ plea to UN agencies

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 June 2002, 12:06 GMT]
The demining effort in the Vanni is suffering from limited resources and is in desperate need of international assistance, a meeting of local and international non-governmental organisations, including UN agencies, was told by the coordinator of efforts in the region last week .
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New licence rules hamper Jaffna travel

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 June 2002, 11:47 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army has ordered that all vehicles entering Jaffna through the Muhamalai check-point - and all vehicles on the roads in Jaffna - need to have Sri Lankan Motor Vehicle Authority-issued license plates. As a result, many people in the Vanni region are unable to travel to Jaffna, with only few vehicles having been able to obtain registrations with the SLMVA.
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SLMM frees arrested youths

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 June 2002, 11:35 GMT]
Four Tamil youths arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) and subsequently released without charge have protested their abductions to the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) office in Ampara, press reports said. The youths were released after the intervention of an SLMM official.
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Truce monitors protest military conduct

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 June 2002, 10:38 GMT]
(News Feature) Tensions between the Sri Lankan armed forces and local residents increased this weekend in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts following new incidents of violence and harassment by the military, reports said Saturday. The vicious assaults of four fishermen by police commandos prompted the head of the local ceasefire monitors' head to plead with the security forces "to desist from violating the ceasefire and arresting and torturing innocent youths under various pretexts," press reports said.
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