Japanese Ambassador visits Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 11:47 GMT]
The Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Sciichiro 0tsuka, visited Vavuniya Monday and reviewed resettlement now being undertaken in the northern district. The Ambassador's visit was intended to study how his government could assist about nine thousand villagers who have been resettled in more than twenty villages in the Nedunkerny divisional secretariat area, Vavuniya Government Agent, K. Ganesh, said.
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NE District Unions in new Consortium

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 01:56 GMT]
A new organisation, the Consortium of North East Thrift and Credit Co-operative Societies Unions (TCCS) has been formed with its headquarters in Trincomalee. Eight district member unions of the NorthEast province which had been aligned with the Sri Lanka Federation of TCCS Ltd with its headquarters in Colombo became members of the TCCS.
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Six arrested entering Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 August 2002, 17:09 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam police arrested six people who entered LTTE-held Vanni without permission in two separate incidents on August 4, Tamil press reports said Monday. Among those arrested were three weapon-carrying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who attempted to infiltrate into LTTE-held areas.
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Navy vacates three schools in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 August 2002, 14:56 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Friday handed over three government schools, whichthey had been occupying in the Trincomalee district, to the northeast provincial department of education. The handing over event took place at Iranakerni Government Tamil Mixed School hall, one of the three schools, Friday afternoon. The Contingent Commander of the Nilaveli SLN Jayantha de Silva handed over the documents related to the schools to the Trincomalee Zonal Director of Education Mr. K. Thilakaretnam. The other two schools vacated Friday are Thiriyai Tamil Maha Vidyalyam and Sakarapura Sinhala Vidyalyam.
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SLA vacates Hartley College, Morakkoddanchenai School

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 July 2002, 13:34 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Monday vacated the Morakkoddanchenai Ramakrishna Mission School in the Batticaloa district after twelve years of occupation and handed two buildings of the Point Pedro Hartley College in Jaffna. Students and parents who object that the SLA's continues to occupy several private homes and public buildings, including the local library and village council surrounding the school in the heart of Morakkoddanchenai, boycotted the event.
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T. E, S. L Police investigate Madhu murder

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 July 2002, 12:21 GMT]
The Tamileelam Police service Sunday afternoon handed over to the Sri Lanka Police the bodies of three persons from Kandy, suspected to have been murdered in the Madhu region last week. The Government Agent for Vavuniya arranged the transfer, officials said. Mr. Manikavasakar Ilancheliyan, the Vavuniya district judge who inspected the bodies Sunday at the Vavuniya hospital, directed the Police to seek, through the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, evidence, productions, witnesses and suspects arrested in connection with the murder in the LTTE controlled Vanni region.
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Kanniya resettlement begins after 12 years

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 July 2002, 10:11 GMT]
Displaced Tamil families from the predominantly Tamil village Kanniya, 7 km north of Trincomalee town are returning to their own land. More than one thousand families had been displaced since 1990 from Kanniya due to violence by the State armed forces. "Under the first stage, about one hundred displaced families are to be resettled ,"said Mr.Iynkaran, the Head of the LTTE’s Political Division for the Trincomalee district Sunday.
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SLA re-opens Varani road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 July 2002, 18:05 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army re-opened the main road through Varani in Jaffna this week. The SLA was encamped in the heart of the village, astride the Kodikamam - Pt. Pedro Road, occupying private property in the area, including many homes. Varani residents who were evicted from their homes and properties by the SLA wrote to Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe after he signed the Cease-fire Agreement with the Liberation Tigers, urging him to open the road and return the village centre to them.
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Legislators trade blows in parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 July 2002, 16:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliamentary sitting was suspended Wednesday morning for about fifteen minutes when a group of ruling and opposition members exchanged blows in the well of the House. Pandemonium erupted when the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, made a statement calling for an apology from, and the resignation of, Commerce Minister Mr. Ravi Karunanayake on the grounds that he had accused the President of carrying a bomb in her handbag.
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LTTE, SLN give evidence on Kayts assault

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 July 2002, 16:42 GMT]
The independent commission inquiring into the alleged assault of a political worker of the Liberation Tigers by Sri Lanka Navy personnel in the island Kayts in Jaffna visited the scene of the incident Thursday. The chairman of the commission, Air Vice Marshall (retd) Harry Gunatillake, urged civilians from the area to come forward without fear to give evidence about the incident.
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Mosque leaders, Tigers to defuse tensions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 July 2002, 21:09 GMT]
Tamils and Muslims "should not allow the miscreants amongst us" to undermine communal harmony and derail peace efforts, said Mr. Tilak, a senior official of the Liberation Tigers in Trincomalee, when addressing a group of religious leaders and leading citizens of Muslims in the east port town Saturday morning.
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Legal aid plan for internally displaced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 July 2002, 20:53 GMT]
Over seven hundred thousand people are internally displaced in Sri Lanka as a result of the ethnic conflict and have been deprived of the rights and privileges enjoyed by other citizens, Mr. S. S. Wijeratne, Chairman of the Legal Aid Foundation of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said in his key note address at the inaugural event of the Free Legal Aid clinic held Saturday morning in Trincomalee.
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Ferial Ashraff demands revision of cease-fire agreement

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 July 2002, 15:36 GMT]
The National Unity Alliance (NUA) Friday demanded a complete revision of the cease-fire agreement that has been signed by the Prime Minister and the LTTE leader. The NUA is one of the constituents of the main opposition People's Alliance (PA). The Executive President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge is the leader of the PA.
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Pathuman expresses serious concern to SLMM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 July 2002, 21:11 GMT]
The commander of the Liberation Tigers in Trincomalee, Mr.Pathuman, Thursday expressed his serious concern over the arrests of unarmed members of the organisation by the Sri Lankan security forces, to the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. The LTTE commander held discussions, lasting two and half hours, at his office in Sampoor in the Mutur-east with the head of the SLMM head, (retd) Major General Trond Furuhovde Thursday morning.
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Bank workers protest privatisation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 July 2002, 18:20 GMT]
Employees of Sri Lanka's largest banks Thursday launched a major campain against measures stipulated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to privatise the island's financial giants.
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Karuna reiterates commitment to peace

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 July 2002, 12:35 GMT]
"There were insidious forces behind the recent troubles in the east. These forces should not be allowed to disrupt the peace process," said Col. V.Karuna, the commander of the Liberation Tigers for the districts of Batticaloa and Ampara, during a discussion with the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and representatives of the Sri Lankan government in Kokkaddicholai, southwest of the eastern town Wednesday.
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Sri Lanka opposition exhorts rejection of cease-fire deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 18:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition parties and several Sinhala nationalist groups held a large public rally of more than five thousand in Colombo Tuesday, condemning peace negotiations between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe's government and the Liberation Tigers as a conspiracy to divide the island. The main speakers at the rally exhorted the Sinhala people to reject the cease-fire agreement between Colombo and the LTTE.
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SLA permits visit to temple in Palaly

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 02:49 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Monday permitted devotees to visit and clean the premises of the Sri Rajarajeswari Amman temple near the Palaly military airport. The temple is among more than hundred places of worship occupied by the SLA in Jaffna's Waligamam North division. More than 2000 residents who lived in the temple's neighbourhood were evacuated by the SLA in 1987 and 1990 for expanding the defence perimeter of the Palaly military base and airport.
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'Military testing our patience' -Trinco LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 July 2002, 12:42 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan security forces test our patience frequently. But we won't violate the cease-fire agreement signed by our leader with the Sri Lankan government. At the same time we will not do anything that will derail the ceasefire agreement," said Ms Krishna, Trincomalee district women wing secretary of the Liberation Tigers presiding over the events to mark Black Tigers Day in Trincomalee town Friday evening.
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Police charge student demo in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 19:57 GMT]
Four students were wounded when riot Police baton charged a large demonstration in downtown Colombo Thursday against World Bank/IMF recommended privatisation of university education and the slashing of higher education subsidies in Sri Lanka.
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