Most voting cards not claimed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Of the approximately 12,000 poll cards sent to the postmaster of Kayts, an island northwest of the Jaffna peninsula, only 3000 have been issued up to 2.00 p.m. today, postal department sources told the TamilNet correspondent.
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President appeals for 'valuable' vote

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Leaflets from Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga exhorting the people of Jaffna to cast their vote at the forthcoming local elections are being distributed from today by the Sri Lanka Army, said sources in Jaffna.
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Tigers attack STF patrol

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers attacked a Special Task Force (STF) patrol in the Ampara district last evening killing four STF commandos including an officer and a reserve Police constable.
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Sri Lanka govt. bans the LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government has banned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The ban was announced over the state media tonight.
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20 detainees injured in road accident

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
20 civilians arrested in a cordoned and search operation in the villages in the Valaichenai area, north of Batticaloa, were wounded when the tractor they were being transported to Peythalai SLA camp rolled over with its trailer, this morning at 10.30 a.m.
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Communal violence in Kandy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Communal violence broke out in Kandy, about 110 km from Colombo, this after noon when Sinhalese mobs went on rampage damaging several Tamil shops and burning one completely. Kattukalai Hindu temple was also attacked by the mob. The large Hindu cultural hall in Kandy was also attacked by the mobs which beat up Tamils gathered there for weddings.
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SLA imposes travel restrictions on teenagers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The SLA has placed further restrictions on Tamil boys and girls from travelling to Colombo. Earlier, boys and girls between the age of 14 and 21 could travel to Colombo on the basis of priority letters recommended by the Grama Sevakas (village officers) in their respective areas of residence.
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Batticaloa prisoners transfered to Kalutara

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan prison authorities removed 60 Tamil political prisoners from the Batticaloa jail to the Kalutara prison at noon yesterday. The prisoners were taken in a covered bus to Colombo.
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Mud flies in Jaffna campaigns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The propaganda for the Jaffna local polls took an acrimonious turn with the main contenders attacking each other of human rights abuses and corruption. The PLOTE put out a pamphlet today accusing the EPDP of massacring 72 Tamil youths who were taken away by the group when it moved into Allaipiddy, in the island of Kayts with the Sri Lankan army in late 1990.
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Suresh case adjourned

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A hearing on the merits of stay order on the deportation of Tamil activist, Mr. Manickavasagam Suresh, which took place yesterday was adjourned till Monday. Mr. Suresh's lawyer Ms. Barbara Jackman presented his case.
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EPDP preparing for massive rigging

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The EPRLF accused the EPDP today of setting the stage for a major rigging operation in the Jaffna local polls by collecting the polling cards of persons in the Gurunagar area who are either dead or are resident abroad.
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TULF's first campaign meeting today

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The TULF will hold its first campaign meeting for the Jaffna municipal council elections this evening around 4 p.m. at the Gandhi community centre in Ariyalai, a large suburb of the Jaffna town. The party spokeman Mr. Anandasangari will address the meeting said TULF sources in Jaffna.
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SLA defacing election posters - Tamil groups

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Representatives of the Tamil groups fighting local government elections in Jaffna met officers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna, to lodge complaints about the military defacing election posters and other problems, said sources in Jaffna.
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Three lorries taken from Yala

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A group of heavily armed persons took away three lorries around midnight yesterday on the Kadirgamam (Kattaragama in Sinhalese) - Buttala road at a place called Galgeywanguwa near the Yala national wildlife park about 260 kilometers south of Colombo.
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EPDP wounded brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The EPDP admitted to the Jaffna general hospital this morning, six of its cadres who were wounded in the predawn attack by the Liberation Tigers on it positions in the island of Punguduthivu.
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Kachcheri to be counting centre

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
All senior officers of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) in the peninsula were told by the Commissioner of Elections today to report at the Jaffna Kachcheri on January 27th, two days before the local government elections in the Peninsula, said Kachcheri sources in Jaffna.
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Returned cards reflect missing residents

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Of the 92,858 polling cards supplied by the Commissioner of Elections to the post offices in the Jaffna Municipal Council (MC) and the Nallur Pradheshiya Sabha (PS) for distribution among the voters of the two local council areas, only 23,399 cards have been distributed, the chief post-master of the Jaffna District Mr. Abraham Kodeeswaran told the TamilNet correspondent. The balance has been returned.
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Man commits suicide after assault

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A young man, Sivakumaran (30), committed suicide in distress after being assaulted by members of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) who had beaten him up for condemning TELO activists for killing a youth in cold blood in Aaraipattai seven kilometers south of Batticaloa, said sources in that village.
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TULF's first campaign meeting tomorrow

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The TULF will hold its first campaign meeting for the Jaffna municipal council elections tomorrow evening around 4 p.m. at the Gandhi community centre in Ariyalai, a large suburb of the Jaffna town. The party spokeman Mr. Anandasangari will address the meeting said TULF sources in Jaffna.
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LTTE to help AWOL soldier get home - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers are expected to help a soldier of the Sri Lankan Army return home soon, said the 'Thinamurasu' the largest selling Tamil weekly in Sri Lanka which hit the streets today.
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