Security pretext for extortion - MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
"The the arrests and detention of Tamils has become big business" said Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham TULF MP for Batticaloa speaking on the adjournment motion on mass arrets and detention of Tamils in the Sri Lankan Parliament today.
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Rape witness said burned alive

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Vadamaradchi East issued the following information to TamilNet's Vadamaratchi correspondent, which contradicted that which had earlier been given to TamilNet's hospital sources by the Sri Lankan authorities.(TamilNet's correspondent says that the version which was originally given out by official sources was apparently aimed at creating confusion to cover up the truth.)
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Youths beaten up at STF camp

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
More than a dozen youths, mostly from the village of Eruvil, 38 km south of Batticaloa, were severly beaten up by the Special Task Froce (STF) with clubs and steel wires yesterday when they reported to the Kaluwanchikudy STF camp to notify their presence by signing a speccial register, said sources in the area.
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US designation "not welcome" - Tamil parties

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Tamil party leaders who met US President's special envoy Bill Richardson during a brief meeting yesterday in Colombo told him that it is essential that the Liberation Tigers should take part in the talks to bring about peace in Sri Lanka.
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Mystery shrouds Razeek cadre's death

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Another soldier of the Razeek group which operates in Batticaloa as an extension of the Sri Lankan army died today under mysterious circumstances. A spokesman of the Razeek group said this afternoon that the soldier, Nadarajah Thevathaas, had been drinking too much arrack in his village of Koolavady on the outskirts of the Batticaloa town this week during the Tamil new year leave.
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Tigers confirm twin attacks

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers told the TamilNet's Vadamaradchi correspondent who met them this morning at Naagarkovil that one of their attack groups had fired mortar shells last night around 7.30 p.m. on the SLA camp at Vaalaithottam in Varani in the Vadamaradchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula killing more than three soldiers and wounding several others.
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Goldsmiths beaten, then worked

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Thirty eight youth who were rounded up yesterday in the village of Annamalai, about 36 kilometers south west of Batticaloa, were severely beaten up by the Special Task Force for not reporting to its camp in the area on their arrival from Colombo where they are employed as goldsmiths. The boys had come home to Annamalai on leave for the Tamil New year.
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Senior US official to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Ambassador Bill Richardson, the most senior US official to visit Sri Lanka since 1972, will arrive in Colombo on Saturday April 18 with a special letter from President Bill Clinton to Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge Bandranaike.
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Police fire injures civilian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A leading businessman of Batticaloa, K. Jegathees, was seriously injured in the early hours of the morning today around 5.30 a.m. by Sri Lankan Police fire while on his way back with his family from the Maamaangam Temple where he had attended the Tamil New Year Pooja. His wife and two children who were with him escaped unhurt.
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LTTE warns collaboration

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers put up printed posters in the Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi divisions of the Jaffna peninsula this weekend warning people who give information to the Sri Lankan army about their activities. The posters appeared in areas which are under the control of the Sri Lankan army overnight.
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Porn theatre manager re offended

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A porn movie theatre operator in Kalviankaadu near Jaffna town who was arrested, interrogated, warned and released on April 9 by the PLOTE has run into trouble again with the ex-Tamil militants. The person was released after the principal of a leading school in Kalviankaadu, allegedly a patron of the theatre, intervened on his behalf.
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Explosion in Jaffna town

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
One woman was killed and sixteen civilians were wounded in a grenade blast this evening around 5.20 p.m. (11.20 GMT) in the heart of Jaffna town. The explosion, suspected to be a powerful grenade, went off in front of Sivaganeshan Stores (formerly Malayan Cafe building) on the Power House Road in Jaffna town.
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Cash liquidity problem

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Jaffna was hit by an unprecedented cash shortage Thursday. Business and advance payments to government servants for the Tamil New year were affected by this cash liquidity crisis. The SLA is said to be flying in further supplies of paper money, said sources.
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SLA appoints new Vadamaradchi chief

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The SLA commander of Jaffna's Vadamaradchi division, Col.Larry Wijeratne is to be transferred out of the area with effect from April 20. Col. Wijeratne has been considered by the SLA as one of its best officers in the Jaffna peninsula. He was praised for keeping the activity of the Liberation Tigers under complete check in Vadamaradchi since 1996.
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Identity cards to Hindu priests

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
In view of Hindu priests being arrested or subjected to harassment by the Sri Lankan Security Forces, the All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) has requested trustees of the temples at which the priests serve, to issue a certificate which establishes the priests' identities, said the ACHC in a statement.
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Tamil gunmen operating with Colombo troops

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Armed men in civilian clothing who accompany uniformed Sri Lankan security forces personnel, including police, during cordon and search operations in Colombo are strongly suspected to be members of certain ex-Tamil militant groups now working with the SLA as para-military units, a human rights lawyer, who was not willing to be identified, told TamilNet.
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In the eye of the beholder?

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sinhala and Tamil new year is a time of good will between people. But the beauty contest held at the Maruthanaarmadam Ramanathan College as part of new year festivities yesterday where both SLA women soldiers stationed in the area and Tamil girls took part did not quite strike the note of cordiality that might have been expected on such occasions.
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SLA's offer to Jaffna fishermen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is bargaining with the fishermen of Kaakaitheevu near Jaffna town that longer hours of fishing off coast in that area will be permitted if they are willing to go on a procession denouncing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said sources in Jaffna.
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PLOTE raids porn theatre

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A video parlour showing pornographic films near Kalliyankadu bus halt on the Jaffna - Pt. Pedro road in the Jaffna peninsula was raided yesterday morning by the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) while a show was in progress said a spokesman of the group. The PLOTE had taken in three persons who were running the 'mini theatre'.
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Home guards bound for warfront

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Seven thousand home-guards have been issued automatic assault rifles and are now being trained by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to man the forward defence lines (FDLs) on the Anuradhapura - Vavuniya border that divides the war torn north-east Sri Lanka from the rest of the country, said military sources.
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