PTA detainee released - confessed under torture

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2000, 19:27 GMT]
The Vavuniya High Court acquitted Balasingham Illakanakanthan, who had been charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), on the basis that the confession of the accused was obtained under duress whilst in Sri Lanka Army custody. The accused had been in remand for about eighteen months.
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Missing man's wife battles in Court

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2000, 00:39 GMT]
The Eastern High Court on Friday re-issued notices on the Inspector General of Police, the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense and the Trincomalee Headquarters Inspector of Police to appear on December 12 in the matter of an application for an order in the nature of a Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by the young wife of a missing Tamil civilian, Vairamuthu Jeyakili.
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State of Emergency extended

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 November 2000, 16:07 GMT]
A motion extending the state of emergency by a further month was approved in Parliament Thursday by a majority of 98 votes. 113 parliamentarians of the ruling Peoples' Alliance voted for the motion. 15 voted against it. MPs of the TULF, JVP, TELO and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress voted against the motion.
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Sri Lanka revives devolution package

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2000, 18:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Monday morning met the leader of the opposition and the United National Party, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe at the Parliamentary Complex and discussed Norway's role in finding a negotiated political solution to the island's protracted ethnic conflict. The talks lasted over ninety minutes, parliamentary sources said.
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Ex-SLA spokesman elected deputy speaker

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 October 2000, 11:41 GMT]
Members of the Sri Lanka cabinet will take their oaths at 9.a.m Thursday at the Presidential secretariat in Colombo. The portfolios, however, are yet to be announced. Mr. Anura Bandaranaike's name was proposed by Prime Minister Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka and was seconded by opposition leader Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe when the new Parliament met Wednesday. Former Sri Lanka Army spokesman Maj.Gen.(ret) Sarath Munasingha was elected the deputy speaker of the house.
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Sinhala nationalists squabble and split

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2000, 13:15 GMT]
Sihala Urumaya, the hardline Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, split Monday over who should represent it in the Sri Lankan Parliament. The President of the party Mr.S.L.Gunasekera told a press conference in Colombo Monday that he and seven members of the Sihala Urumaya's central committee had walked out in protest Sunday from a meeting that had been convened to select one of its senior members as the national list MP of the party. The Sihala Urumaya got only one seat in the Parliament on account of the total number of votes it polled island wide at the general elections on October 10.
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Wickramanayaka PM, UNP to sit in opposition

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 October 2000, 08:41 GMT]
People's Alliance sources said that the Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka will be sworn in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka at three p.m. Friday. They said that the PA is confident of obtaining the support of the majority of MPs in Parliament to form the government. Meanwhile, the leader of the United National Party Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe told a press conference in Colombo Friday noon that his party would sit in the opposition.
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LTTE names fighters killed in action

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 October 2000, 05:32 GMT]
Liberation Tigers and Sri Lanka Army soldiers continued to exchange heavy artillery and mortar fire in Nagar Kovil, Vadamaradchi East and in Thenmaradchi sector, said sources in Jaffna.
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Parties windup election campaign

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 October 2000, 12:44 GMT]
Political parties and independent groups contesting parliamentary elections will end their campaigning Saturday midnight, 48 hours prior to election date as stipulated in the parliamentary election Act. Meanwhile the police has stepped security measures in Colombo and its suburb as major political parties are holding their final rallies in the capital.
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Civilians massacre in Trinco

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2000, 16:26 GMT]
Reports are emerging from Eastern Trincomalee about a massacre of seven Tamil civilians, including a woman by members of Home Guards, a militia group operating with the Sri Lankan security forces, at Poomaraththadichenai, a remote hamlet in Mutur, on Monday evening.
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PA chief perpetrator of polls violence- watchdog

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2000, 12:06 GMT]
An independent body monitoring election violence in Sri Lanka said that the ruling party was the alleged perpetrator of 368 incidents, including arson and thuggery. According to a press release Tuesday by the Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), the Police have acted in a partisan manner in favour of ruling People's Alliance candidates in the districts of Puttalam, Kurunagala, Moneragala, Gampaha and Kandy and that a Police officer had attempted to take action against ruling party supporters has been transferred from his post.
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PM ignorant of Jaffna predicament- SLFP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2000, 18:27 GMT]
"The Prime Minister does not know much about the Jaffna situation" said the chief organiser of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in Jaffna, responding to a question about the hawkish pronouncements of Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka during a press conference in the northern town Saturday.
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Two-third majority no hurdle to pass new constitution - PM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2000, 17:44 GMT]
The new People's Alliance (PA) government will abolish the executive presidential system and will introduce the new constitution even without a two-third majority, said Prime Minister (PM) Ratnasiri Wickremanayake in a press briefing today.
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Three killed in Kalmunai bomb

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2000, 16:07 GMT]
Two police officers and an informant were killed when a bomb went off in Kalmunai town around 3.30 p.m. Monday. The explosion occurred as a bomb disposal unit from the Special Task Force (STF) was about to de-activate the explosive devise concealed in a van. Seven policemen were also wounded in the blast said sources.
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No compromise with LTTE promises PM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2000, 18:06 GMT]
While addressing a People's Alliance (PA) election rally at Kurunagala, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said that his government will not enter into any cease-fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers, despite the calls being made repeatedly by the United National Party (UNP) to establish cease-fire with the LTTE and to stop the war.
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SLA attempts another offensive in Jaffna suburb

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2000, 08:10 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted from this morning in the southeastern suburbs of Jaffna town when the SLA began another operation towards the positions of the Liberation Tigers in Colombuthurai amidst criticism that the massive offensive code named Rivi Kirana (Sun ray) launched Sunday 3 September to take this suburb had led to unjustifiable loss of manpower for the army and had failed to achieve any of its objectives. The Sri Lanka army's Chief of Defence Staff, General Rohan Daluwatte, has offered to resign over the Rivi Kirana fiasco.
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EPDP threatens UNP candidates

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2000, 21:17 GMT]
Two more candidates contesting Parliamentary elections in Jaffna withdrew from the race due to threats by the pro-government armed Tamil group, the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) opposition sources said. The two, Sabaratnam Jeyaratnam and Sithamparapillai Rasathurai, are candidates of the United National Party (UNP).
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Indian fishermen released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2000, 14:59 GMT]
The High Court in Vavuniya Wednesday released four Indian fishermen who were arrested off the north-western coast 11 months ago and had been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act at Mirihana Detention Centre.
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SLA weighs Colombuthurai losses

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2000, 05:40 GMT]
"It cannot be denied that the loss of lives was greater than what was achieved" Jaffna Sri Lanka army spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratna told the Jaffna daily Uthayan published Wednesday, referring to the heavy losses sustained by the SLA when it attempted to take a section of Colombuthurai, the southeastern coastal suburb of Jaffna town. "There is no point in capturing mere territory " the brigadier told the paper, adding that the Liberation Tigers are continuing to vehemently block the army from constructing new defence lines in Colombuthurai. The SLA's forward defences here were damaged and destroyed in a fierce counter attack by the Tigers on Monday.
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PA aligns with hard-line Sinhala party

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2000, 11:19 GMT]
The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) and the Peoples' Alliance (PA) have signed an electoral agreement, to compete the forthcoming general elections together. PA General Secretary D.M.Jayaretna and MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardene signed an agreement in this regard Sunday.
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