Tigers mourn death of senior commander

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 September 2002, 18:36 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Jaffna Tuesday mourned the death of one of their most senior commanders. The northern town was lined with red and yellow pennants as the dead LTTE commander’s remains were taken to the Jaffna Hindu College where a meeting in homage was held Tuesday afternoon. Col. Raju (Kuyilan), who had served as the special commander of the LTTE’s elite Leopard Commandos and had played a key role in developing the Tigers’ artillery division, died on 25 August due to a terminal ailment, Tiger officials in Jaffna said.
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Colombo gets ready for 'People's Power' rally

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 September 2002, 20:22 GMT]
Colombo city has been put on security alert from Sunday night, with more than ten thousand police personnel manning various strategic points, as thousands of supporters the United National Front (UNF) government started arriving to attend a mammoth rally scheduled to be held Monday evening. The UNF government organised this campaign to show its strength and support of the masses for its peace efforts, ruling party sources said.
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Help displaced obtain documents, government told

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 September 2002, 20:20 GMT]
The government should take immediate steps to address the needs of the displaced people of the northeast, a conference was told Saturday. Displaced people in the Northeast face several problems in obtaining government assistance as they do not possess vital documents, said Mr. Mr. C.V.Vigneswaran, Supreme Court Judge, speaking at the tenth anniversary celebrations of the Legal Aid Foundation. The authorities should take immediate steps to attend these shortcomings and make life of the displaced similar to that of others who enjoy the benefits provided by the State, he added.
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Point Pedro high security zone to remain

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 September 2002, 22:58 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary said Saturday that Point Pedro Hartley College and Methodist Girls High School in Jaffna district are within in the high security zone, which encompasses the harbour, courthouse, rest house and some other public offices. The roads leading to these schools will not be opened to the public, he said.
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Sixth Amendment threat looms over peace talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 September 2002, 19:08 GMT]
(Newsfeature) President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance and the Sinhala nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) vowed Friday to fight the United National Front government for lifting of the ban on the Liberation Tigers. The spokesman for the People’s Alliance Dr. Sarath Amunugama said the party will take legal action and start mass protests against the de-proscription. He was addressing a press conference at the opposition leader’s office in Colombo Friday.
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Mines, apathy balk temple zone re-settlers

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 September 2002, 19:02 GMT]
Hundreds of families that were driven out of the environs of the historic Thiruketheeswaram temple in Mannar twelve years ago by Sri Lanka army operations are unable to go back to their villages because their paddy fields are mined and homes have been razed to the ground, rehabilitation officials in the district said.
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Black September remembrance in Batticaloa university

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 September 2002, 21:53 GMT]
Batticaloa marked the beginning of Black September Thursday with a largely attended function at the Eastern University in Vantharumoolai on the 12th anniversary of the massacre of 174 refugees who had sought asylum on the campus during Sri Lanka army operations in the area in 1990.
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Hartley and Methodist Girls reopen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 September 2002, 21:28 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Thursday agreed to allow Hartley College and Vadamarachchi Methodist Girls High School in Point Pedro to reopen starting from Monday September 9. "These schools were shut down to enable the SLA to rebuild and strengthen the sentry and check points which were damaged by students during the agitation Monday. We have now strengthened our positions around these schools," Jaffna district SLA area commander Major General Sarath Fonseka said at a conference held Thursday at the Vadamaradchi Methodist Girls High School.
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Hakeem and Balasingham meet in London

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 September 2002, 15:40 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, and the leader of the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress, Minister Rauf Hakeem, met Tuesday for two hours in London, a press release by the Norwegian government said. It was agreed that Mr. Hakeem will join the Sri Lankan government delegation in the first round of peace talks, the statement said. The "constructive and cordial" meeting, which Norwegian facilitator Erik Solheim also attended, was held at the residence of Oslo's ambassador to UK.
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Jaffna students storm SLA positions

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 September 2002, 14:15 GMT]
(News Feature) Over two thousand protesting Tamil students Monday forced their way into Sri Lanka Army positions and camps in Point Pedro in the northern Jaffna peninsula, destroying barriers, sentry points and checkpoints. Students demanding the withdrawal of troops from public places also blocked the main entrance of the SLA's 52-4 Brigade headquarters. Troops fired tear gars and live rounds and assaulted students, journalists and local officials of the Liberation Tigers' political wing who intervened.
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PM Secretary meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 September 2002, 12:22 GMT]
Prime Minister's secretary and advisor Bradman Weerakone met the head of the Liberation Tigers' political section, S.P. Thamilchelvan at the Political Head Office in Kilinochchi at 10 am Sunday. Mr. Weerakone who arrived in Jaffna Saturday morning, travelled to Vanni by land.
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PM secretary told Jaffna difficulties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 August 2002, 20:58 GMT]
The difficulties faced by the students and fishermen of the Jaffna district were highlighted at a conference Saturday morning at the Jaffna district secretariat, despite the existence of the ceasefire agreement. The Prime Minister's secretary, Mr. Bradman Weerakone, attended the conference. Education officials said that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) still occupies sixty schools and students fear to attend classes in several schools, which arestill surrounded by SLA camps.
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Displaced DS office moves to Kuchchaveli

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 August 2002, 20:56 GMT]
The office of the Kuchchaveli Divisional Secretariat, which temporarily functioned at Nilaveli, has shifted to its original place after a lapse of seventeen years. The Kuchchaveli DS office was displaced in 1985 due to the mass displacement of people from the villages of Thiriyai, Kuchchaveli, Thennamaravadi and Kumburupiddy, which come under its administration.
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Vanni artistes highlight detainees' plight

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 August 2002, 05:46 GMT]
A Tamil parliamentarian Thursday called for the repeal of Sri Lanka’s notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) under which hundreds of people continue to be detained. Mr. K. Thurairatnesingham, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was addressing people assembled at Trincomalee St. Joseph's College auditorium Thursday evening to view the play enacted by the Vanni Teachers' Aesthetic Society, a group of teacher-artistes of Vanni region.
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International help to Vanni demining operations

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 August 2002, 00:13 GMT]
The Humanitarian Demining Unit (HDU), a subsidiary of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) has begun operations in Vanni with modern protective gear provided by the British demining agency Mine Action Group (MAG), UK with the assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
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Leadership training for Trinco war widows inaugurated

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2002, 18:47 GMT]
The first phase of leadership training for war widows in the Trincomalee district was inaugurated Tuesday in Trincomalee by the District Planning Secretariat and sponsored by the World Food Programme.
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'Released Tamil youths harassed by Police' -Selvam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2002, 18:21 GMT]
"I wish to bring to the notice of the Defence Minister that the Tamil youths released from prisons are being harassed by the Police. These youths find in difficult to live in peace in their homes due to unwanted interference by the Police," said Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tuesday, in parliament participating in the second day debate on the no-confidence motion against the Interior Minister moved by the opposition.
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TRO launches new scheme in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2002, 17:18 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in Trincomalee has decided to launch a scheme called 'Grama Dhrasanam' (Village Vision) in the district, giving priority to the rehabilitation of the displaced families. A decision to this effect was taken at its directors' meeting held Tuesday.
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High Court discharges accused in PTA cases

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 August 2002, 20:05 GMT]
The Eastern High Court Monday discharged two men indicted by the Attorney General under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) when the Defence counsel submitted that the two key police officials who recorded the confession purported to have been made by the accused had failed to appear on all the trial dates.
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Sea Tiger convoy sails under SLMM aegis

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 August 2002, 20:25 GMT]
The first Sea Tiger convoy sailing from Mullaitivu under a working agreement between the Sri Lankan Navy and the Liberation Tigers brokered by international ceasefire monitors arrived in Vaakarai Sunday. Two patrol boats of the Sri Lanka Navy provided escort to LTTE boats.
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