'Colombo's largesse stained with Tamil blood' -Selvam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 November 2001, 21:35 GMT]
"Every rupee that the Sri Lankan government gives you through its quisling to buy your vote is stained with the blood of our people who were killed in places of refuge and worship, the tears of our women who were gang raped here in Mannar and in every part of the north and east. The Chandrika regime is liberally spending money through its Tamil lackey to bribe our people, to pacify them and thereby show the world that our struggle for justice is a terrorist problem. The people of Mannar have always been patriotic.
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EPDP attacks Tamil Alliance in Pottuvil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 November 2001, 12:27 GMT]
Five supporters of the Tamil National Alliance, including a woman were severely assaulted and wounded by armed cadres of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party in Pottuvil, about 116 kilometres south of Batticaloa in the early hours of the morning Wednesday, Police sources in the east said. The TNA’s campaign office was also attacked, alliance spokesman Henry Mahendran said. Following the attack, one of the TNA supporters, Mr. S. Sathasivam, a librarian, had sought protection from the Police in Pottuvil fearing for his life, that the EPDP cadres may kill him. But the EPDP’s chief candidate for the Ampara district, Gunasekeram Shankar, had gone inside the Police station with his handgun and threatened Mr. Sathasivam, according to Mr. Mahendran.
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Policemen killed, UNPer assaulted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 November 2001, 10:06 GMT]
A military trained policeman was shot dead by gunmen suspected to be Liberation Tigers Tuesday morning around 10.30 at a checkpoint on the main road in Vammiyadi, 14 kilometres north of Batticaloa. Police at the checkpoint retaliated by firing at random in the area, killing a civilian who was identified as Subramaniam, 40. Meanwhile, Mr. Arasatnam Sasitharan, a UNP candidate for Batticaloa, was admitted to hospital after he was assaulted by a ruling party candidate and his armed bodyguards in the morning around 1.30 a.m.
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'Colombo lacks consistency, commitment'- TNA manifesto

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 November 2001, 15:29 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Monday said that the Sri Lankan State lacks comprehension and consistency in its "purported efforts to evolve a just solutionî to the Tamil national question. The Alliance released its manifesto in Colombo Monday evening. "The commitment of the Sri Lankan State (to peace) has been called into serious question," the Tamil alliance manifesto states. The manifesto reiterated that the ban on the Liberation Tigers should be lifted in Sri Lanka and that Colombo should stop the war and begin negotiations with Norwegian mediation.
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"Tamil parties' alliance formed to support liberation struggle"-TULF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 October 2001, 18:45 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front said Sunday that the Tamil parties' alliance has been formed to muster support of the Tamil people and their political forces for the freedom-struggle of the Liberation Tigers in and out parliament and not aimed at elections."The time has now come for all the Tamil political forces in the northeast to unite under one banner to give full support for the militants who are involved in the freedom struggle," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and the chief candidate of the Tamil parties' alliance for the Trincomalee district addressing alliance activists Sunday morning at his residence.
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4160 candidates contest parliamentary elections

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 October 2001, 10:08 GMT]
4610 candidates are contesting the forthcoming general elections scheduled to be held on 5 December to elect Sri Lanka's 12th parliament. Of them 3196 candidates have been fielded by registered political parties in the twenty-two electoral districts in the country. The rest are candidates nominated by independent groups, the Election Secretariat said Sunday.
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Sihala Urumaya, JVP, UNP enter fray in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 October 2001, 07:50 GMT]
The Sinhala Nationalist party, Sihala Urumaya, and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the People’s Liberation Front of Thamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Tamil national alliance filed nominations for the general elections on 5 December at the Jaffna District Secretariat (Kachcheri) Saturday. The chief candidate for EPDP in the northern district is Mr. Nithiyanandan ‘Douglas’ Devananda and for the Tamil alliance, Mr. V. Anandasangaree. The EPRLF (Varathar faction), JVP, UNP and two minor left groups, the New Left Front and the Democratic Left Front, have also filed nominations to contest the general elections in Jaffna on 5 December.
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Tamil Alliance files nominations in East and Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 October 2001, 16:42 GMT]
The Tamil national alliance filed nominations for the electoral districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara and the Vanni Friday. The Alliance could not file nominations in Jaffna because its list of candidates for the northern electorate has not been finalised, Tamil party sources said.
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Eight civilians wounded, 2 killed in shelling

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 October 2001, 13:46 GMT]
Eight civilians, including an infant, were wounded and two were killed in shelling by the Special Task Force, an elite arm of the Sri Lankan security forces, on the villages of Ambilaanthurai and Thumbankerni, south west of Batticaloa town Tuesday.
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Three school boys arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 October 2001, 09:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Police arrested three schoolboys in Jaffna Thursday. The three are students at the Sri Parvathi Maha Vithiyalayam in Nayanmaarkattu near Jaffna town. Their parents informed the Human Rights Commission about the arrests today. Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Unit of the Police Thursday produced in the Mannar courts a youth who had been taken into custody for possessing a mobile phone. The Sri Lankan government prohibits the use of mobile phones in the northern and eastern parts of the island. Tamil civilians from other parts of the island are, however, allowed to carry their mobile phones when visiting the army controlled parts of the east or the Vavuniya town.
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S.L govt. faces collapse as more desert

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 October 2001, 06:19 GMT]
The Peopleís Alliance regime was plunged into crisis as eight government MPs crossed over to the opposition in the Sri Lankan parliament Wednesday morning. The government may not have the required number of votes to defeat the no confidence motion against it by the opposition Thursday, sources said. The government members who crossed over today are: former cabinet ministers Prof. G.L Pieris, Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera and S. B Dissanayaka and Wijepala Mendis, Ananda Munasingha, Ediriweera Premaratna, Jeyasundara Wijekon and Bandula Nanayakkara. The desertion has reduced the PA-JVP alliance to 111 in the 225 member Parliament. A ruling party MP crossed over Tuesday.
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Tamils propose Prof. Sivathamby too for council

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 October 2001, 20:00 GMT]
Tamil opposition parties in Sri Lanka's Parliament Saturday night proposed the names of Prof.Karthigesu Sivathamby, Dr.Devanesan Nesaiah, former judge Mr.T.Suntharalingam and former Treasury Secretary Mr.A.Shanmugalingam after a legal hitch precluded the nominee they selected Thursday. The three parties told the Prime Minister to appoint one from among the four names proposed by them to the constitutional council.
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Tamils nominate lawyer, express reservations on council

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 October 2001, 07:25 GMT]
The three opposition Tamil parties in the Sri Lankan Parliament Thursday night unanimously elected Mr. R. I. Thambiratnam, a leading lawyer, to represent the Tamil people of northeast province in the constitutional council. However, Mr. 'Selvam' Adaikalanathan, MP for the Vanni and the leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) said, "The constitutional council and the independent commissions on Police, elections, judicial services and public service are clearly aimed at clipping the powers of the executive presidency. They are intended to make the unitary state machine run more efficaciously. But the unitary state is the root cause of Tamil grievances. The council and the commissions would ensure more democracy for the Sinhala people but not the Tamils. One would have no illusions about this when one considers how these Sinhala parties which united to pass the 17th amendment dumped the equal opportunities bill."
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PA further restrained from expelling SLMC MPs

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 September 2001, 22:46 GMT]
The Colombo District Court Friday extended the enjoining order restraining the Mr.D.M.Jayaretna, General Secretary of the ruling People's Alliance (PA) and three others from expelling three Sri Lanka Muslim Congress parliamentarians A.L.A.Athaullah, M.S.M.Thowfeek and Risvie Sinnalebbe from parliament.
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Tamil MPs walk out in protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 September 2001, 08:53 GMT]
The MPs of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) walked out in protest when the bill on the 17th amendment to Sri Lanka's constitution was presented by the Prime Minister in the Parliament Monday morning. Tamil parties are protesting that the government is rushing the 17th amendment according to the dictates of the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna by ditching the effort to find a solution to the ethnic problem. "For more than fifty years you did not take any interest in solving the Tamil question. If you continue to ignore our problem in this manner, a united Sri Lanka would soon be a thing of the past," said Selvam A. Adaikalanathan, MP for Vanni, addressing the house before walking out with other Tamil MPs.
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PA govt. faces no-confidence threat afresh

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 September 2001, 23:34 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's People's Alliance government said Saturday that the no-confidence motion which is expected to be submitted by opposition parties next week afresh would be defeated with the support of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.
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Govt-opposition agree for debate on 17th amendment

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 September 2001, 17:17 GMT]
Leaders of all political parties Friday unanimously agreed to debate the 17th amendment to the constitution Monday. At a meeting held at parliamentary complex chaired by the Speaker Mr.Anura Bandaranaike, parliamentarian Mr.Wimal Weerawanse of the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna moved that the 17th amendment should be taken up on Monday and be debated to a finish the same day. Leaders of other political parties attended the meeting agreed to this suggestion, parliamentary sources said.
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Ministers' resignation poses new threat to PA govt.

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 September 2001, 20:10 GMT]
The political crisis in Sri Lanka's ruling People's Alliance (PA) government took a dramatic turn Thursday with the sudden resignation of four senior ministers. The resignation of these ministers came under severe scrutiny at a discussion held between President and Prime Minister Thursday evening, ruling party sources said.
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Fear said stifling Batticaloa massacre memory

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 September 2001, 15:51 GMT]
The brutal massacre of 184 Tamil villagers, including 42 children below the age of ten and several pregnant women, on 9 September 1990 in the Sri Lanka army camp in Saththurukondaan, on the outskirts of the Batticaloa town was commemorated Sunday in Valaichenai. A public meeting was organised by the Koralaipattu Human Rights Organisation (KHRO) in Valaichenai town to mark the eleventh anniversary of the massacre.
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Referendum cancelled, Parliament meets on Sept. 6

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 September 2001, 10:38 GMT]
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge Monday issued proclamations cancelling the referendum fixed for October 18 and reconvening prorogued parliament on Thursday, a day earlier of the scheduled date. Meanwhile a top-level discussion is now in progress between the ruling People's Alliance and the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna at the Prime Minister's official residence, government sources said.
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