MP reads out raped woman's letter

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2000, 17:03 GMT]
Speaking on the extension of the emergency in Parliament Thursday, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) MP for Batticaloa Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham read out a letter written to the Sri Lanka's National Human Rights Commission by a seventy year old woman of Neervely in Jaffna who was raped and robbed by Sri Lankan army personnel on May 31. The MP said that he was bringing the letter to the attention of the house as the matter had been suppressed under the censorship. Mr.Pararajasingham pointed out that about 1500 Tamil youth have been detained for more than four years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act without trial.
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Ronnie de Mel joins PA again

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2000, 12:10 GMT]
A senior Sri Lankan opposition Parliamentarian joined the ranks of the government Thursday afternoon. Mr. Ronnie de Mel who served as minister of finance for eleven years from 1977 when the United National Party was in power in Sri Lanka has joined the government amidst speculation that a group of opposition MPs may cross over so as to enable the ruling People's Alliance to secure a two thirds majority in Parliament necessary for amending the constitution and prolonging the life of the national legislature sans the elections that are due between August and November this year.
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Detained student admitted to hospital

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2000, 21:03 GMT]
A GCE A/L student from Muttur has been detained at the Trincomalee Police Headquarters since last month. While being interrogated by the Police during this period he has been admitted twice to Trincomalee base hospital for medical treatment for injuries inflicted on him, relatives said.
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More casualties due to SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2000, 15:16 GMT]
One civilian died and two suffered severe injuries whenthe Sri Lankan Army (SLA) intensified their shelling inthe Thenmaradchi sector of the Jaffna Peninsula.
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Civilians hit by SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 June 2000, 11:22 GMT]
A civilian was killed and two others were wounded when shells fired by the Sri Lanka Army hit the Madduvil area in the Thenmaradchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula Sunday, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said.
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Casualties from Jaffna fighting

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 June 2000, 12:08 GMT]
Twenty-five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, including a senior officer, were killed and about 50 others were wounded in the heavy fighting that erupted at Sarasalai in the Jaffna peninsula yesterday, SLA sources in Colombo said.
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MSF brings Jaffna wounded to Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2000, 17:19 GMT]
Four civilians wounded in shelling in the Thenmaradchi division of Jaffna were transferred from Mallavi to Vavuniya hospital Monday by Medicins Sans Frontiers. The four are from the village of Madduvil south which was captured by the Liberation Tigers when they advanced on Chavakachcheri and its environs on May 19-20. They were brought overland through the Vanni from LTTE held sectors of Jaffna by the MSF.
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SLA vacates camps north of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2000, 13:17 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army vacated two key camps north of Batticaloa on Friday. The pull out was acknowledged in the situation report put out today the Special Media Information Centre set up under the regulations of the Public Security Act.
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Police investigate EU media seminar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 May 2000, 20:34 GMT]
The Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) of the Sri Lankan Police questioned today a senior Tamil journalist regarding a seminar sponsored by the European Union (EU) in Batticaloa last month. The CSU interrogated Mr.R.Thurairatnman, the Batticaloa correspondent for the Tamil daily Thinakaran, the Daily News and the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation, and recorded a statement from him this afternoon regarding the participants and purpose of the EU sponsored seminar.
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President discusses crisis with opposition

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 May 2000, 20:31 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President and the leader of the opposition held a two hour meeting to discuss crisis over the military debacles in the northern part of the island today. The United National Party delegation had asked the President to remove the stringent censorship on all war related news and to convene the Parliament by May 5 according to a press communique issued by the Presidential secretariat this afternoon.
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Tigers advance towards Pallai -radio

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 April 2000, 07:59 GMT]
The fighting units of the Liberation Tigers engaged operation in "Unceasing Waves 3" have advanced one and a half km. from Puthukadu junction towards Pallai, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said in its noon news broadcast Friday.
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Protestors blockade Jaffna Kachcheri

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 April 2000, 13:18 GMT]
Hundreds of people blocked the entrance of the Jaffna Kachcheri from this morning demanding that the civilians in the war zone in Jaffna's southern sector be allowed by the Sri Lanka Army to move out of their villages forthwith to safer areas in other parts of the peninsula. An urgent note to the Sri Lanka army's 52-2 brigade in Kodikamam was sent by the Government Agent for Jaffna following the blockade urging the officers there to do the needful for the civilians' release. There was no reply to his note until 5 p.m. today, Kachcheri officials said. The blockade of the Jaffna District Secretariat continues.
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Dvora survivor swims ashore, helicopter hit

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 April 2000, 05:20 GMT]
A wounded sailor who escaped from one of the Israeli built Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FACs) that were sunk last evening by the Liberation Tigers swam to the Amban coast in southeastern Jaffna early this morning. The sailor, R.M.S.Seneviratna, 21, of Mihintale told the TamilNet's Vadamaradchi correspondent who spoke to him in Amban soon after he arrived in the village that only he and another survived the Tiger attack on their FACs last night. Military sources in Jaffna said that a helicopter gunship was hit and damaged by fire from the coastal anti-aircraft gun positions of the Tigers last night in Vadamaradchi east.
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Bill defeat - UNP wants Govt. out

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 14:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition, the United National Party, boycotted Parliament this afternoon to protest against the government's refusal to step down over the defeat of a bill to dissolve the Paddy Marketing Board, a money losing public enterprise. According to the UNP, the Sri Lankan President who is also the Minister for Finance had stated in her budget speech on February 14 that the Paddy Marketing Board would be dissolved by her government. Therefore the defeat of the bill to scrap the PMB is in effect the defeat of the Statement of Government Policy argued the UNP.
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Court unseats controversial opposition MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2000, 13:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal held today that controversial opposition Member of Parliament Dr.Rajitha Senaratne has no right to hold office as Member of Parliament, to sit or to vote in Parliament in the case filed by Deputy Minister for Justice Dilan Perera charging that the opposition politician was engaged in business with a government institution in contravention of the law at the time he was sworn as an MP.
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Four killed - VOT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2000, 19:36 GMT]
Four fighters of the Liberation Tigers were killed on March 25 and 26 in two separate clashes with the SLA, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) said today in its night news broadcast.
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Thousands march for peace in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2000, 12:22 GMT]
More than six thousand people took part in a peace march and rally in Jaffna town today. The March began around 9.30 a.m. this morning from the outer precincts of the Nallur Kandaswamy Temple and wound its way through the town, reaching the Duraiappa Stadium by noon. The peace march and public rally were organised by the People's Council for Peace and Goodwill (PCPG).
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SLA arrests seven in east

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2000, 19:05 GMT]
Seven Tamil villagers were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) this morning near the district border between Ampara and Batticaloa. Eight persons including an eight year-old boy were travelling in a tractor from 13th milepost towards Malayarkadu in Ampara district for work. The SLA arrested the seven adults near Malayarakadu. The eight-year old boy was abandoned alone at the spot.
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Memorial for Vanthaarumoolai disappeared

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 March 2000, 06:41 GMT]
Relatives and people of Batticaloa are planning to erect a memorial as a rememberance to the 158 civilians who disappeared from the refugee camp at the Eastern University at Vanthaarumoolai, Batticloa, after being arrested and taken to the army camp by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) in 1990.
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British High Commissioner visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 March 2000, 20:45 GMT]
The British High Commissioner Ms.Linda Joy Duffield arrived in Jaffna this afternoon by ship from Trincomalee on a four day official visit to the northern peninsula. The Deputy High Commissioner of the Australian embassy in Colombo, Ms.Cathy Klugman, also came in the same vessel with the mission's press officer Mr. Rukshan Ratnam (formerly of the Colombo FM station, Capital Radio).
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