Northern plight - Jaffna MP carts in protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2000, 14:44 GMT]
United National Party MP for Jaffna Mr.A.Maheswaran led a protest Wednesday against the high price of goods in Jaffna and the government embargo on essentials to the Vanni by riding a bullock cart to the Sri Lankan Parliament. Six UNP Parliamentarians, including Dr.Jayalath Jayawardena and Mahinda Samarasekera joined him in the protest. Mr. Maheswaran told TamilNet that he was protesting over the exorbitant rates charged for taking goods to Jaffna by sea, adding that it is very much cheaper to ship things from Pakistan to Sri Lanka than from Colombo to Jaffna.
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Sri Lanka determined to continue war - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2000, 22:38 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government's continued silence on Liberation Tigers' offer of unconditional peace talks last week cast doubt on Colombo's commitment to peacefully resolving the conflict, Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's theoretician and political advisor said Saturday. Sri Lanka's President Kumaratunge seemed determined to prosecute the war, he said in his Heroes' Day address in London. Nevertheless, the Liberation Tigers were seriously considering a Norwegian proposal for staggered and gradual de-escalation of the conflict, he said.
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Youth identifies farmer's killers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2000, 06:07 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army soldiers allegedly involved in the murder of a young farmer, Arunasalam Chandramohan, in Sithaandy in the eastern Batticaloa were identified by a fourteen year-old witness in an identification parade held before the Batticaloa Additional Judge, on Wednesday.
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Tigers call for "unconditional talks in conducive climate"

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 November 2000, 12:57 GMT]
In his annual Heroes Day speech, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr.Velupillai Pirapaharan declared Monday that his organisation is prepared for unconditional peace talks with the Sri Lanka government but insisted on a process of de-escalation of war and the creation of a conducive climate of goodwill and normalcy in the Tamil homeland to facilitate such talks. A translation of Mr. Pirapahran's speech released by the LTTE from its London offices quoted him as saying that by normalcy he meant "the restoration of normal civilian life by removing the economic blockade and other restrictions imposed on the Tamil people".
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British minister arrives in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 November 2000, 07:48 GMT]
Concluding his four-day visit to India, British Foreign Office Minister Mr. Peter Hain arrived Colombo Wednesday morning on a two-day visit. This is his first visit to the island as a Foreign Office Minister and the first by a British Foreign Minister since the late Derek Fatchett visited in 1998.
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Buddhist monks burn effigy of Solheim

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2000, 15:24 GMT]
Hundreds of Sinhala nationalists Thursday evening picketed out side the Royal Norwegian embassy in Colombo and burnt an effigy of Oslo's special envoy to Sri Lanka, Erik Solheim. The majority of the participants were Buddhist monks. Earlier around 4 the far-right Sihala Urumaya party organized a public meeting at Narahenpitiya in Colombo protesting against Norway's involvement in finding a solution to the island's conflict.
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Justice demanded in Bindunuwewa massacre

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2000, 11:22 GMT]
The Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) has requested the President of Sri Lanka and her government to bring to justice those responsible for planning, instigating and carrying out the Bindunuwewa massacre, including those who were responsible for the poster campaign prior to the event.
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Solheim briefs Kumaratunga on Prabaharan meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2000, 14:40 GMT]
Norway's special envoy Erik Solheim had a two-hour meeting with the Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Friday night to apprise her about the discussion he had with the LTTE leader, V.Pirapaharan at Mallavi in the Vanni on Wednesday.
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JVP slams "secret" talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2000, 13:13 GMT]
The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, (JVP) the Marxist party which secured 10 seats at last month's Parliamentary elections, the third largest tally, Friday condemned the "secret" talks between the Norway's special envoy Eric Solheim and the LTTE leader V.Pirapaharan held at Mallavi in the Vanni region on Wednesday.
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Tigers seek "normalcy in Tamil areas"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2000, 17:20 GMT]
Norway's Special envoy Mr.Eric Solheim who returned from Vanni after meeting the leader of the Liberation Tigers, V.Pirapaharan told journalists in Colombo Thursday that the LTTE had not laid down any precondition to begin talks with the Sri Lankan Government. He said the LTTE leader brought to the notice of the Norway's delegation that the Tamil areas the island was suffering under the economic embargo imposed by the Sri Lankan government and that he wanted quick return of normalcy in the northeast, Mr.Solheim said.
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Norway meets LTTE in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2000, 16:32 GMT]
A delegation of the Norwegian government met with the leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr.Velupillai Pirapaharan, and other LTTE officials in the Vanni this week, the organisation said Wednesday in a statement from its London offices. The discussions, described as "cordial and constructive" covered "several pertinent issues" including the issue of political negotiations, statement said.
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SLA disarms TELO "in revenge"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2000, 13:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troops Thursday raided the camps of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Mannar town and Vavuniya around 4 p.m. and seized more than 90 assault rifles from them. Prasanna, a TELO leader in Colombo, told TamilNet that the government is taking revenge on his organisation "for refusing to compromise the national interests of the Tamil people".
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SLMC split over backing PA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2000, 12:56 GMT]
Differences between the co-leaders of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Mrs.Ferial Ashraff and Mr.Rauf Hakeem, that had been brewing this week over the nature of the party's support to the People's Alliance spilled, into the open Tuesday as the majority of the party's MPs said they backed the former's decision to join the government.
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SLMC to reap numbers game advantage

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2000, 13:09 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress that won nine seats (five on PA list) to emerge Thursday as the key player in the numbers game to form a coalition government in Sri Lanka said it will not join the PA unconditionally. A party spokesman in the Ampara district told TamilNet that the PA should honour the conditions on which the SLMC supported the government in the elections to the Parliament. Meanwhile, Mr. A.L.M Yaseen, the SLMC's Ampara district secretary said his party would iterate the position of its late leader regarding PA strong man A.H.M Fowzie.
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SLMC crucial for PA forming government

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2000, 17:00 GMT]
The People's Alliance and its minority allies, the Eelam People's Democratic Front and the National Unity Alliance, together have obtained enough seats to form the government in Sri Lanka. However, the decision of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress will be crucial for the PA in forming the government this week. Six SLMC candidates, four who contested on the PA list and two on the NUA list, have been elected.
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No franchise for Mullaithivu Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 21:10 GMT]
None of the Tamil voters in the Mullaithivu district will be able to vote in elections to Sri Lanka's eleventh Parliament Tuesday 10 October. They have been precluded from the polls due to a decision by the Sri Lankan government not to have any polling booths in the district except one for 996 Sinhalese in Ibbanweva, a state backed settlement in the southern corner of Mullaithivu. "This is tantamount to denying them the exercise of their sovereignty as Sri Lankan citizens through the franchise or, in real terms, disfranchising them" said a political analyst in Colombo Monday asked to comment on the Mullaithivu situation.
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Skirmish in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 October 2000, 08:32 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier was killed and at least five others wounded in an attack by the Liberation Tigers near vavunathivu SLA camp about 5 km. west of Batticaloa town around 8.30 a.m. Sunday said sources.
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Tigers move towards SLA's Thenmaradchi MSR

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2000, 12:30 GMT]
Battle units of the Liberation Tigers, having overwhelmed Sri Lanka Army positions on the supply route linking the SLA garrison in Nagar Kovil with the main military base in Eluthumadduval, have crossed the road in the direction of the general area between Mirusuvil and Varani, civilians who fled the war zone Saturday told TamilNet. The Sri Lanka army Saturday allowed about 1500 civilians fleeing the war zone in Jaffna's southern sector to leave Thenmaradchi according to TamilNet's Vadamaradchi correspondent.
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Priest held over Nelliyadi shooting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2000, 19:19 GMT]
A Tamil temple priest was arrested by the Sri Lanka army in connection with an attack on three soldiers at Mooththa Vinayakar Koilady on the Jaffna-Pt.Pedro road near Nelliyadi Saturday morning. A soldier was killed and two were injured when an unidentified gunman shot them as he was stopped at the Mooththa Vinayakar Koilady road check point yesterday.
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Partial lifting of censorship said dubious

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2000, 18:52 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government said Friday that it has temporarily relaxed some of its draconian emergency regulations banning processions and meetings in view of the elections to Parliament next month. It claimed that the censorship was being lifted partially too, though the terms set by the government censor Mr. Ariya Rubasingha are nebulous, legal sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Inspector General of Police (IGP) issued a directive today which appeared to be contrary to the government's decision to relax emergency regulations related to processions.
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