SLFP power struggle goes to court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 July 2002, 15:55 GMT]
The Colombo District Court Tuesday issued a restraining order on the senior leaders of the main opposition, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) preventing them from suspending the party membership of Colombo district parliamentarian Mr.A.H.M.Fowzie. The District Judge said that his restraining order will be valid till 31 July this year. The SLFP is the major constituent of the main opposition Peoples Alliance (PA).
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STF arrests LTTE cadre

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 July 2002, 03:07 GMT]
Sri Lankan police commandos last Thursday arrested an unarmed member of the Liberation Tigers, Tamil press reports said. The arrest occurred as Sri Lankan government officials assured international monitors and the LTTE that arrests of Tamil Tigers by the security forces - which are violations of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides - would not be permitted.
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TNA requests India to release 'VAIKO'

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 July 2002, 17:22 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance has appealed to the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu state government to release Vaiko Y.Gopalasamy, leader of the Makkal DMK and others who have been arrested. "The arrest of 'VAIKO' on the ground that he was supportive of the LTTE and his being remanded causes deep anguish to the Tamil people in Sri Lanka," said in a statement issued by the TNA Friday.
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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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Mine weeding in Pallai yields 25000

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 July 2002, 16:43 GMT]
The de-mining unit of the Liberation Tigers removed more than 25 thousand mines and unexploded ordnance from the general area of Pallai in Jaffna since March this year. The head of the LTTE's de-mining unit in Pallai, Mr. Kunaratnaraj Jeyananthan, about half the area of the Pachchilaipillai Division, in which the war ravaged town is situated, has been cleared of mines.
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Black Tiger day marked at site of first attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 July 2002, 01:40 GMT]
Over five thousand people gathered in Nelliady in the Jaffna peninsula Friday to mark Black Tigers day - the first time the event had been held here since 1995. July 5 is the anniversary of the death of the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller, who was killed destroying a Sri Lanka Army base located in the Nelliady Madhya Maha Vidiyalyam - the site of the commemoration this Friday. His mother was amongst those who paid their respects to fallen Black Tigers.
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Trinco arrests violate ceasefire agreement - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 20:37 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday expressed its strong disapproval of a tendency on the part of some sections of the Armed Forces, to take in custody unarmed members of the Liberation Tigers, who are entitled to freedom of movement in the north and east under the provisions of 1.13 of the cease-fire agreement. "The arrests of five unarmed members of Liberation Tigers Wednesday in Trincomalee by the security forces are a violation of the said provision of the cease-fire agreement," said Mr. Mr.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the TNA and the Trincomalee district parliamentarian in a statement issued Thursday.
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MoD says 'no case' amid public protests

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 01:18 GMT]
(News Feature) A Sri Lankan Defence Ministry inquiry into the assault of two senior political cadres of the Liberation Tigers on June 20 ruled that "there was no evidence ... to establish a case against any individual or person," state media reported. The Defence Ministry statement was issued Wednesday, the day after a massive demonstration in Kilinochchi to protest the attack by Sri Lankan naval personnel and members of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) on the LTTE cadres.
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Vanni returnee abducted, beaten up in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 July 2002, 18:05 GMT]
A father of two children who returned to Point Pedro in Jaffna after more than six years in LTTE held Vanni region Wednesday complained to the Police that he was abducted, beaten up and kept in a dilapidated building for six days. He said that the abductors had chained his hands and legs. Informed sources in Jaffna said his abductors are suspected to be members of the army intelligence unit.
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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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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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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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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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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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'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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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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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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"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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