SLA exacerbates war fear in east

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 May 2002, 15:47 GMT]
Residents in the east coast villages of Kiran and Maankerni said Thursday the actions of the Sri Lanka army here is exacerbating fears among them that the war might erupt again soon. Soldiers from the SLA camp in Kiran, 28 kilometres north of Batticaloa, told people in the area Tuesday to make coffins and expect the war to break out again anytime. Residents of Maankerni, 47 kilometres north of Batticaloa, said that the SLA is photographing the members of every family in the village and has bulldozed the local cemetery to reinforce its defences.
Full story >>

Army urged to quit Jaffna hotels

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 May 2002, 19:38 GMT]
Sri Lankan military personnel occupying the well known Subash Hotel in Jaffna have been asked to vacate the premises, press reports said this week. In letters to the military authorities, Mr. Ranasinghe, Principal of the Sri Lanka Schools of Hotel management, requested that soldiers be withdraw from the Hotel so that it could resume functioning.
Full story >>

General Ratwatte released on conditional bail

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2002, 17:39 GMT]
The Court of Appeal Friday ordered the release of the main suspect in the Udathalawinne massacre case, former Deputy Defense Minister General Anuruddha Ratwatte on conditional bail. General Ratwatte has been banned by the court from travelling abroad. He was asked to surrender his passport at the Teldeniya magistrate's court.
Full story >>

Point Pedro students protest army presence

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 May 2002, 11:39 GMT]
Hundreds of students from two high schools in Point Pedro Thursday protested demanding the immediate removal of Sri Lanka Army camps from their schools’ premises. The demonstration, which started at 9 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m., was held in front of the Hartley College, but students from the nearby Vadamaradchi Methodist Girls' College also joined in, sources said.
Full story >>

Death threat to Magistrate investigated

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 May 2002, 16:59 GMT]
A "top level" investigation is being conducted into the death threat received in the mail by the Teldeniya Magistrate Ms. Inoka Ranasinghe, who is investigating the Udathalawinne massacre case, said State Counsel Achala Vengapuli, appearing on behalf of the Attorney General when the case was taken up by the Magistrate on Wednesday.
Full story >>

Tamil mine-clearers struggle without equipment, funds

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2002, 18:20 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) The estimated 1.4 million pieces of live ammunition, including 86,700 anti-personnel mines, remaining in territory formerly controlled by the Sri Lanka Army are taking a long time to clear due to the lack of equipment and funding, according to the official in charge of clearing the unexploded ordnance.
Full story >>

SL armed forces said violating children's rights

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2002, 17:38 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army and the Special Task Force haven't come up with a schedule for leaving more than eighty schools occupied by them in the districts of Jaffna, Mullaithivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai although they should have started doing so soon after the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers came into effect on 24 February 2002, Northeast Provincial Education Ministry officials said Wednesday.
Full story >>

Ratwatte, his sons remanded again

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2002, 10:24 GMT]
The Teldeniya Magistrate Monday further remanded for former Deputy Defense Minister General Anurudha Ratwatte, his two sons Lohan and Chanuka and fifteen other suspects till May 22.The Magistrate, Ms Inoka Ranasinghe, discharged twenty-one suspects including nineteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers from the Udathalawinne massacre case in which ten Muslim youths were shot dead on the day of general election held in
Full story >>

PA leader slams truce agreement

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2002, 00:49 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s main opposition People’s Alliance (PA) party Thursday launched a bitter attack in Parliament on the permanent ceasefire signed by the ruling United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers in February, accusing the international truce monitors of being biased towards the Tigers.
Full story >>

SLA concedes on cyanide capsules

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 May 2002, 00:48 GMT]
Twenty-eight Liberation Tigers entered Jaffna last Monday under the terms of the permanent ceasefire, but only after disagreements with Sri Lanka soldiers manning the checkpoint at Muhamalai over body searches, press reports said this week. Following a heated argument over the LTTE cadres’ cyanide capsules, the Army commander has reportedly accepted that the carrying of these was henceforth not to be opposed.
Full story >>

Tamil journalists still face danger - RSF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 19:02 GMT]
The Reporters Sans Frontiers, the French media watchdog, said in its annual report on press freedom released Wednesday that working conditions for Tamil journalists remain very dangerous in Sri Lanka, especially when they report on human rights violations. "They are easily accused of supporting the Tamil Tigers guerrilla movement. The 1998 Emergency Law allows security forces to arrest anyone suspected of maintaining relations with this banned separatist organisation. But how can anyone work in the north and east of the country without having contacts with the Tamil Tigers, who are everywhere?" the RSF report said.
Full story >>

Soldiers-Tamil youths clash in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 April 2002, 21:22 GMT]
A clash between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Tamil youths in Trincomalee town Sunday evening left three soldiers and a police constable in hospital and four youths under arrest. One of the arrested Tamil youths was later admitted to Trincomalee base hospital, with injuries sustained after a severe assault whilst in police custody according to sources.
Full story >>

Tumultuous welcome in Jaffna for Tigers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 April 2002, 11:58 GMT]
(News Feature) Residents in Jaffna gave the Liberation Tigers who entered the northern town Monday a tumultuous welcome, press reports in the northern peninsula said Tuesday. Over fifty thousand people thronged the Sri Lanka Army held northern side of the Muhamalai crossing point to meet the fifteen cadres from the LTTE’s political section, the Uthayan reported. Violence broke out as troops blocked the crowds from reaching the crossing point, the paper, Jaffna’s largest circulating daily said in a front page report Tuesday.
Full story >>

SLA opens road to Trinco's southern interior

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 April 2002, 19:34 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army reopened the main road linking the LTTE held southeastern interior of the Trincomalee district Friday following protests by the public. The main road, which runs close to Mahindapura army camp, was closed down for several years by the Sri Lanka Army. The reopening of this main road now enables thousands of Tamils living in more than ten villages in Eachilampathu area, southeast of Mutur to travel without getting down at Mahindapura army checkpoint from buses and other vehicles and walk through along a muddy track, Mutur sources said.
Full story >>

Crowd confronts SLA for delaying LTTE arrival

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 April 2002, 05:30 GMT]
The arrival of the Liberation Tigers in the Sri Lanka army controlled part of the Mannar district under the terms of the cease-fire agreement signed by Colombo and the LTTE in February was delayed Tuesday over the list of names sent to the army by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The large crowd comprising community leaders, traders, civil society activists etc., from Mannar who were waiting at the SLA's Uyilankulam entry point to welcome the LTTE from 8.30 in the morning got into a heated altercation with the military over the delay in letting the Tigers pass through. A section of the public then came to blows with soldiers who trying to video film the crowd and attempted to grab the SLA's camera.
Full story >>

Four SLA women soldiers remanded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 April 2002, 10:38 GMT]
Four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) women soldiers in Jaffna were remanded by the Chavakachcheri Magistrate A.Premashankar Monday in connection with the death of a fellow woman soldier. The Magistrate further ordered cash and surety bail for another six women SLA soldiers in this connection.
Full story >>

CPJ criticizes tardy investigation of journalist's murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2002, 22:36 GMT]
The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report on 'Attacks on the Press 2001' released Tuesday that Sri Lanka Police ignored evidence suggesting that militias backed by a pro-government party may have murdered Nimalarajan in retaliation for his reporting on vote rigging and intimidation during the 2000 parliamentary elections in Jaffna.
Full story >>

Four thousand demonstrate against SLA in east

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 March 2002, 13:47 GMT]
More than four thousand people Thursday demonstrated against the Sri Lanka army in Kiran, 26 kilometres north of Batticaloa, blocking traffic on the main road to Colombo from the eastern town for more than an hour. The demonstration and meeting were organised by civil society groups, NGOs, students and trade unions in the area to condemn the SLA for stripping and pulling down Annai Poopathy commemoration pandols and decorations in the villages of Kiran and Santhively Wednesday.
Full story >>

SLA pulls down Poopathy remembrance pandols

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 March 2002, 17:18 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Wednesday stripped decorations and pulled down wood and paper memorials in the Kiran and Santhively, 26 kilometres north of Batticaloa, that were put up to mark the 14th death anniversary of 'Annai' Poopathy, the woman who fasted unto death in April 1988 in a protest against atrocities by the Indian army in the island's northeastern province.
Full story >>

"State forces' cease-fire violation would harm govt." -PM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 March 2002, 21:10 GMT]
"Cease-fire violations by the State armed forces knowingly or not, would cause irreparable harm to the Sri Lankan government," the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe told soldiers and commanders of the Sri Lanka Army at Palali main base in the Jaffna peninsula Thursday. Mr.Wickremasinghe arrived Jaffna morning by a special Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter accompanied by Defense Minister Mr.Tilak Marapane and Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Minister Dr.Jayalath Jayawardene.
Full story >>