Diplomats of forty nations shown Jaffna by FM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 March 2002, 15:28 GMT]
Diplomats from forty countries visited Jaffna Thursday, accompanied by Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mr. Tyronne Fernando and Minister for Rehabilitation Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena. The high commissioner of India, Mr. Gopalakrishna Gandhi, was among the diplomats who toured Jaffna Thursday. The group saw the burnt out shell of the Jaffna public library and the ruins of the Chavakachcheri town before visiting the SLA's Forward Defence Line on the A9 highway at Eluthumadduval where work on the entry point to the peninsula scheduled to open on 8 April is in progress.
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CPJ criticizes tardy investigation of journalist's murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2002, 22:36 GMT]
The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report on 'Attacks on the Press 2001' released Tuesday that Sri Lanka Police ignored evidence suggesting that militias backed by a pro-government party may have murdered Nimalarajan in retaliation for his reporting on vote rigging and intimidation during the 2000 parliamentary elections in Jaffna.
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Thamileelam Police celebrates decade of service

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 March 2002, 13:33 GMT]
The Police Service of Thamil Eelam, which is responsible for maintaining law and order in the regions held by the Liberation Tigers, celebrated the tenth year of its founding in Puthukudiyiruppu Saturday, according to a press note issued by the Tamileelam News and Information Service.
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Govt., TE request ICRC's help to open A9

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 March 2002, 12:05 GMT]
The government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have officially requested the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to assist in opening the A9 highway to Jaffna from Killinochchi. "We received the official request from the government and the LTTE on Friday. However we have not decided on the date of opening the A9 highway," said Mr. Arjuna Ranawana, Information Officer of the ICRC addressing Trincomalee district journalists Saturday morning at Seven Islands Hotel.
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Batticaloa GA complains ceasefire violation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 March 2002, 21:43 GMT]
The Government Agent for Batticaloa, Mr. S.Shanmugam, told Scandinavian cease-fire Monitoring Mission Sunday that the Sri Lankan army is violating the terms of the agreement signed by Colombo and the Liberation Tigers in the eastern district. He said that the SLA is harassing civilians at Mylambaveli, 8 kilometres north of against the terms of the agreement and that it is still imposing undue restrictions on the supply of unregulated commodities.
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Tamil paramilitaries pose risk to truce – Karikalan

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 March 2002, 16:11 GMT]
(News Feature) The deputy leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the head of its Batticaloa - Amparai section said this week that the movement was committed to the terms and conditions of the permanent ceasefire agreement and that the LTTE was engaging in the peace process from a position of strength. In an interview to TamilNet at the LTTE’s district political head office in Kokkaddicholai, Mr. Karikalan said that harassment of civilians by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the Batticaloa-Amparai district was continuing and Tamil paramilitaries working with the army had not been disarmed yet.
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Pall over last obstacle on road to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 March 2002, 17:14 GMT]
The defence lines of the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army in Eluthumadduval are separated by less than 200 meters of the A9 highway. A high tarpaulin hides everything behind the SLA's defence position which straddles the road, the last obstacle on the northern peninsula's main land link to the rest of the island. "We have cleared all the mines on our side as you can see. We got ready to open the road to Jaffna soon after the cessation of hostilities was announced.
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US envoy's concern for children said hypocrisy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 March 2002, 20:12 GMT]
"More than hundred and fifty innocent Tamil children under five are being held in Sri Lankan prisons under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Scores of little children were massacred when the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed the Nagar Kovil School in Jaffna. Thousands of Tamil children whose parents were murdered in cold blood by the SLA are destitute orphans in the northeast today. The US ambassador's humanitarian concern was blind to the plight of these Tamil children until this week.
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Grenade attack kills 5 at UNP meeting

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 March 2002, 06:59 GMT]
Five civilians were killed and at least twenty others were wounded in a grenade attack at the ruling United National Party (UNP) election meeting held at Kohuwala area, a suburb of Colombo, Friday night, police said.
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Restriction on Colombo Tamils lifted

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2002, 17:41 GMT]
The United National Front (UNF) government Friday decided to suspend immediately the practice of providing information about Tamil civilians residing in Colombo and its suburbs to the Police. Till Friday permanent residents and owners of boarding houses and lodges in Colombo had to furnish information about Tamil civilians who come from outstations, especially from the Northeast province and stay with them, to the police.
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LTTE leader compliments Norway for historic peace agreement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 March 2002, 15:10 GMT]
Mr Vellupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Wednesday hailed the truce agreement between the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers as a historical achievement that laid a strong foundation for the peace process and negotiated political settlement. The LTTE leader praised the Norwegian facilitators for their sincere and untiring effort to bring peace in the island when he met the head of the Norwegian monitoring mission, the retired Norwegian army general Trond Furuhovede in Killinochci, northern Sri Lanka Wednesday evening.
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LTTE accuses Kumaratunga of conspiring to sabotage ceasefire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 March 2002, 08:34 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday accused President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her adviser Mr Laksman Kadirgamar of conspiring to sabotage the historic truce agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE brokered by Norwegian facilitators and hailed by all major international governments including India, the Commonwealth and the European Union. When contacted by TamilNet over the President's comments Friday, Mr Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and the political strategist of the LTTE, categorised Kumaratunga's response to the truce agreement as "irresponsible, injurious and ill-advised."
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Despondent paramilitaries mull arms surrender

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2002, 15:48 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army has given 48 hours to Tamil paramilitary groups operating in the Batticaloa district to disarm or join the military and serve outside the Northeast, the regional Tamil daily, Thinakathir reported Tuesday, quoting sources in SLA's 23-3 Brigade Headquarters in the eastern town.
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Norway announces permanent ceasefire in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 February 2002, 10:16 GMT]
The Norwegian government Friday declared the commencement from Saturday of a permanent ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers. In a statement, Jan Petersen, Foreign Minister of Norway, said his government had been asked to make public the agreement signed by LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
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PTA indictments withdrawn for want of evidence

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2002, 18:10 GMT]
The Supreme Court Monday allowed an application by the Attorney General to withdraw indictments against four Tamil civilians under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for want of evidence. Hence the SC made order discharging the accused.
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A9 opening

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2002, 06:22 GMT]
(Photographs) The TamilNet correspondent for Vavuniya visited the Vanni after the A-9 highway was reopened on Friday, February 15 from Vavuniya up to Killinochchi, as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) opened the A9 highway northwards from Omanthai and the Liberation Tigers opened the southern end of the section of the road which falls within their areas.
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Tamil paramilitaries’ extortion under scrutiny

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 20:51 GMT]
The Vavuniya Magistrate, Mr.M.Ilancheliyan, Friday directed police to investigate several complaints made by civilians about cadres of a Tamil paramilitary group, working alongside the Army, which has been extorting money from villagers in suburbs of Vavuniya claiming they were representing Liberation Tigers, court sources said.
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LTTE prepared to open Kilinochchi-Jaffna highway

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 15:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Friday that they are willing to open the remaining part of the A-9 highway from Kilinochchi to Jaffna in the near future, if the Sri Lankan Government responded favourably. This was stated by Mr.Thangan (Sutha), Political Administrative Secretary of the organisation when speaking at the ceremonial function of the opening of A-9 highway from Vavuniya to Killinochchi Friday morning.
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A9 highway reopens

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 11:14 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka's main A9 highway, the target of an abortive and bloody 18-month Army offensive in the mid nineties was reopened Friday morning from Vavuniya up to Killinochchi, as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The move provides greater access for people and supplies to the Liberation Tigers held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped an economic embargo for more than a decade. Goods were scheduled to flow into the area Friday, while seven hundred people waiting on either side of the former separating line had been cleared to cross. "Civilians would be allowed to travel to and from LTTE held Vanni region through these roads after their identities are checked and only five days a week between 8 am and 5 pm," authoritative sources told TamilNet.
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AG to withdraw indictments under section 5 of PTA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 February 2002, 17:41 GMT]
The Attorney General has instructed all State Counsels who appear on behalf of the AG's department in High Courts to withdraw two categories of cases filed under Section 5 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Tamil youths who have been indicted for failing to provide information about the LTTE members in their respective areas and those who have been indicted on their own confession purported to have been made due to severe torture after the arrest are to be freed according to AG's instruction, legal sources said.
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